Sejarah Zionisme, 1600-1918/Volume 1/Bab 17

CHAPTER XVII.

THE ZIONIST IDEA IN ENGLAND

The spirit of the time—Different currents—Thomas Witherby—Dr. Joseph Priestley—Anti-Socinus, alias Anselm Bayly—John Hadley Swain—William Whiston—Bishop Robert Lowth—Dr. Philip Doddridge—David Levi.

In the early years of the nineteenth century religious ideas exercised considerable influence on the English mind, and penetrated deeply into the soul of the nation. Public opinion was, therefore, favourably disposed towards Zionism, and prepared to accept it from the religious point of view. But that was not the only point of view from which Zionism was advocated and accepted. Zionism had two aspects, corresponding to the two meanings expressed by the words “Restoration of Israel.” Those words sometimes denoted simply the tendency towards a Jewish national revival, an aspiration as elementary and natural as any other of the kind; at other times the idea of the “Restoration of Israel” was connected with the realization of religious prophecies, and it was held that Judaism or Christianity (according to the point of view) was to be glorified by the resettlement of Jews in Palestine. As religion, and especially the Bible, was one of the most potent agencies in the formation of political and moral theories in England, it came about that the history of the Zionist idea was interwoven with that of religious opinions. But, on the other hand, it is impossible to overlook the influence of nationalist ideas which supported the Zionist cause from another point of view, and were expressed in a different tone and spirit. While on the one hand religious imagination gave to the conception the richness and warmth that belong to sentiment, statesmanship contributed the clearness and firmness that reason alone can give.

Every keen student of the literature of that epoch concerning Zionism will readily notice that there were two different currents of thought. We will refer only to one writer who was altogether averse to conversionism, yet adopted the Zionist view—Thomas Witherby (1760‒1820). He was a London solicitor of repute, who after his retirement lived at Enfield and took up the study of political and social problems. He wrote An Attempt to Remove Prejudices Concerning the Jewish Nation (Appendix xlv), and was opposed on some important points to Mr. Bicheno’s prophecies (Appendix xlvi), but, essentially, shared the latter’s opinions concerning the rights of the Jewish nation. He was the first English author who dealt with the imaginary incompatibility of Jewish citizenship with Jewish national claims to Palestine. He confessed that prejudices against the Jews, though not as vigorous then as they had been in times gone by, were still very strong. He admitted “the sad conduct of Christians against Jews”; he praised “the Jewish sincerity and their attachment to their nationality and religion,” and on those grounds he defended the claim of the Jews’ citizenship. “Bad Jews would be bad citizens; good Jews would be good citizens.” According to his view, the just demand for equality of rights for the Jews does not conflict with the claim of the Jewish nation to a land of its own, in which he decidedly believed. We may let him speak for himself:

“Previous to the great and most conspicuous return of the Jews to their own land there will be a partial restoration of many of them to their land, which will probably be effected by the Protestant powers who may renounce their prejudices against them, and see that the non-acceptance of the Christian doctrines is not the bar to their restoration to the favour of God.”

He recognized both the right of the Jews to decide for themselves in matters affecting the preservation of the race, and the independent validity of the considerations which lead to the recognition of Jewish rights in all countries. It was his opinion that while humanity and justice must refuse to recognize anything in the laws of any country which was at variance with the principle of equality, they should be the more ready to admit the higher claim of the Jewish nation to a home of its own.

Witherby stood, then, for the Restoration of Israel as well as for Jewish Emancipation. There can be no stronger and more convincing protest against the fallacious assumption of the irreconcilability of Zionism and Emancipation than Witherby’s interesting and instructive pamphlet. His ideal—a noble and statesmanlike ideal—was to do justice to those Jews who lived in the country, and accordingly formed an integral part of the organism of the State, working like others for the prosperity and safety of the realm. Equally he considered it a sacred duty of humanity to enable this ancient and disinherited nation to rebuild a central home for those of its members who saw the necessity of such a home, and had the inclination to go there. The policy of the State towards the Jews was to be based on these broad principles. Witherby was a man of practical sense and clear sight; he stated clearly and forcibly the anomalies of the Jewish position, and, unhampered by petty prejudices, sought earnestly for a solution of the Jewish problem in its entirety.

In concluding this part of the review of the Zionist idea in Christian England, we may mention the name of Dr. Joseph Priestley (1733‒1804). Dr. Priestley was an eminent English philosopher, theologian, and chemist. Though not a conversionist in the true sense of the term, he was nevertheless somewhat influenced by that point of view. He was assisted by the Rev. Anselm Bayly (1719‒1794), LL.D., Sub-Dean of His Majesty’s chapels, alias Anti-Socinus, and John Hadley Swain. In his Letters to the Jews (Appendix xlvii) and in A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses ... And An Address to the Jews on the present state of the World (Appendix xlviii) he threw his arguments into a series of hypothetical syllogisms, the only defect in which is that his premises could hardly be proved. Yet the stress which he laid on the acknowledgment of Israel’s dignity atones for the sophistry of the argument. Having cast a good idea in the stereotyped mould of conversionism, he seems to have expected that a great impression would be produced upon the Jews; but, naturally, his conversionist methods evoked a storm of protest.

He found a strong opponent in David Levi (1742‒1808), a Hebraist and well-known author of books dealing with Jewish theology and ritual. In his controversies with believers and non-believers David Levi attempted to show that the divine mission of the prophets was fully established by the present dispersion of the Jews. He published a reply—Letters to Dr. Priestley, in answer to those he addressed to the Jews; London, 1787 (Appendix xlix)—in which the orthodox standpoint of passive, religious Zionism is defined in the following terms: “And, as all the calamities that were to befall our nation, in consequence of our transgressing the Law, as foretold by that great prophet, and divine legislator, Moses, have been fulfilled in all respects; consequently, those great and glorious promises, also foretold by the same prophet, must likewise have their full completion.

“But the exact time of this accomplishment is not known to any, save the eternal God Himself;... These prophecies, Sir, are our consolation in this long, and dreadful captivity, and have been our support, in enabling us to bear up against the many grievous and miserable persecutions, we have suffered....” (pp. 2‒3). In this way Levi withdraws Messianism altogether from human experience and the operation of the ordinary laws of thought.

On the other hand, William Whiston (1667‒1752),¹ Bishop Robert Lowth (1710‒1787)² and Dr. Philip Doddridge (1702‒1751),³ supported the idea of a speedy restoration of the Jews, and, with the exception of the liberal-minded Whiston, adopted the conversionist view. There was, unfortunately, too much hasty and captious objection on the one hand, and of settled and inveterate prejudice on the other; too strong a tendency to lose sight of the broader features of the main question in the eagerness to single out particularly salient points of attack. Nevertheless, the steady progress of the Zionist idea is unmistakable on both sides of the controversy. Regardless of all these polemical discussions, public opinion began to understand that Zionism was not opposed to and did not interfere with the Christian Millennium or the Jewish Messiah, but was simply a definite conception of the way in which humanity has to prepare for the realization of the great ideal.