Sejarah Zionisme, 1600-1918/Volume 1/Bab 48

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS

The general impression—The proclamation of the Jewish national idea—The Basle Programme—The first Executive Central Committee—Prof. ♦Hermann Schapira—Christian visitors at the first Congress—Letters of the Grand Rabbin of France, M. Zadoc Kahn, and of the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of London, Dr. Moses Gaster.

The first Zionist Congress met in Basle on August 29th, 1897.

This gathering will one day be surrounded by a halo of mythical significance and glory. There were about 200 delegates from almost every country in the world at this Jewish national assembly, the first convened since the Exile by the Jewish people themselves. The enthusiasm was beyond description. For the first time in the Diaspora the Jewish people felt strong and free. Divided by exile, it was again united by national ties as well as by those of a history of common suffering and common hopes. The convener of the Congress received endless ovations. All those present realized the historic event in which they were taking part. The Congress solemnly proclaimed to the listening world that the Jews are a nation. It pictured accurately the Jewish situation.

This picture was black. It was terrible, but it was true. Regarding it to-day, we must confess it to be prophetic. And it was not unfolded for the purpose of lamentation or protest, but with the object of impelling to strenuous action and self-help. The Congress formulated its intentions in the following programme, which was carried unanimously with the greatest enthusiasm:

The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law. The Congress contemplates the following means to the attainment of this end:—

1. The promotion, on suitable lines, of the colonization of Palestine by Jewish agricultural and industrial workers.

2. The organization and binding together of the whole of Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, local and international, in accordance with the laws of each country.

3. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and consciousness.

4. Preparatory steps towards obtaining Government consent, where necessary, to the attainment of the aim of Zionism.

Dr. Theodor Herzl was elected President of the Congress and Dr. Max Nordau, Dr. Salz and M. Samuel Pineles first, second and third Vice-Presidents respectively. The Executive Central Committee elected by the First Congress consisted of:—

Vienna: Dr. Theodor Herzl, Dr. Schnirer, Dr. Oser Kokesch, Dr. Müntz, Julius M. Kremenezky. Austria (other than Galicia): Dr. Sigmund Kornfield. Galicia: Dr. Salz, Dr. Korkis. Bukovina: Dr. Meyer Ebner. France: M. Bernard Lazare. Germany: Rabbi Dr. Isaac J. Rülf, Dr. Bodenheimer. Russia: Rabbi Samuel Mohilewer, Prof. Max Mandelstamm, Dr. Jacob Kohan-Bernstein, Isidor Jasinowski. Roumania: Dr. Karl Lippe, Samuel Pineles. Bulgaria and Servia: Prof. Gregor Belkovsky. Orient: Jacques Behar.

One of the most prominent members of the First Congress was Dr. Hermann Schapira (1840‒1898), Professor of Mathematics at the University of Heidelberg. He was a native of Russia, and had a most remarkable career. Being too poor to study, he turned to trade, and when he had saved sufficient money became a student once more. He was then already forty years of age, but his keen intellect and industry soon brought him to the forefront in mathematics, which he had studied privately without the help of a school or a teacher. He first learned his science from old Hebrew books, and then from books written in other languages. So much was his pre-eminence recognized that, notwithstanding his being a Jew and a foreigner—a Russian subject—he was appointed to the Professorship of Mathematics at Heidelberg University. He remained in appearance, in manners and in mentality as typical and picturesque a member of his people as any old Rabbi. He was an excellent Hebrew scholar, and well versed not only in ancient Jewish history and literature, but also in modern Hebrew literature. Like the whole modern Hebraist school, he regarded Hebrew as a living tongue. His heart and soul were in the “Lovers of Zion” movement and in the Hebrew revival. At the first Zionist Congress he solemnly called upon the delegates to declare allegiance to the cause. When differences of opinion arose, the old Professor in impassioned language appealed to all to sink their differences and personal prejudices and to work unitedly with one heart and soul for the common cause. A dramatic scene followed. The Professor called upon every delegate present to raise his right hand, and they all did so and repeated after him:—

“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,

Let my right hand forget her cunning” (Psalm cxxxvii. 5).

This was one of the most solemn moments of the Congress. On the other hand, when Professor Schapira first spoke about the necessity of a Jewish National Fund, an idea which he had advocated some time earlier in Hebrew articles, the proposal was regarded as a chimera rather than as a practical scheme. But he did not feel discouraged by the opposition of the “practical people.” During the first year of the Zionist organization, between the first and second Congresses, he devoted himself entirely to Zionist work. He died on a Zionist propaganda tour, during a stay at Cologne.

The first Christian clergyman to encourage Herzl was the Chaplain to the British Embassy in Vienna, the Rev. Dr. W. H. Hechler, who is an ardent student of the Bible and a Christian “Lover of Zion.” With the full knowledge of his chief, the British Ambassador, he supported the Zionist movement, and introduced Herzl to several of his Royal and Imperial pupils and friends. He was the first English clergyman to go to Russia and help the persecuted Jews on the spot: he visited at that time Odessa, Mohilew, Kishinew and Balta. He visited the Holy Land several times, and regularly attended the Zionist Congresses.

Among the most interesting visitors at the Congress were, the famous pioneer of Zionism, Henri Dunant; and the Protestant pastor Dr. Johannes Lepsius, son of Carl Richard Lepsius (1810‒1884), the famous Egyptologist, who is thoroughly acquainted with the East, and had been pastor of a small community in the Harz Mountains. Dr. Lepsius warmly espoused the cause of the Armenians in 1895, and when, as the result of his agitation, the German Government sent him a warning, he resigned his post. He placed his views on the Zionist Congress before a meeting held on the 7th September, 1897, at Basle, in a paper entitled, “Armenians and Jews in Exile; or, the Future of the East with Reference to the Armenian Question and the Zionist Movement.” After referring to points of similarity between Jews and Armenians, both persecuted races, he said: “When the time comes ... will Jewry lay their hands on Palestine and say: this is our land? Will anyone be able to prevent them? Even if the Zionist movement has an exclusively national character, there is yet a strong religious undercurrent. We believe that the Jewish nation has a future before it, and that this future will be a glorious one.” The address was followed by an interesting discussion, in the course of which Professor Carl Friedrich Heman, the Orientalist, of Basle University, heartily endorsed Dr. Lepsius’ views.

The greatest achievement of the new Zionism was the Jewish Congress—the supreme authority in the movement based upon democratic principles—and the creation of a world-wide organization for the resuscitation of the Jewish nationality and for the regaining of Palestine, not by brute force or political adventure, and not by any act against the government or the population of the country or any other government or nation, but by force of conviction, enthusiasm, devotion and self-sacrifice.

M. Zadoc Kahn (1839‒1905), Grand Rabbin of France, addressed a letter of congratulation to the first Zionist Congress. The Grand Rabbin wrote that he would not fail to follow with much interest the deliberations of the Congress. Whatever might be thought as to the utility and opportuneness of the Congress, it could not be denied that it merited every attention. Differences of opinion were inevitable, but he prayed with all his might that God might guide and inspire all the leaders of the movement, and that the debates and the resolutions which would be arrived at would be for the benefit of Judaism throughout the world.

In an interview on the subject of the Zionist movement, which took place immediately after the first Zionist Congress, M. Zadoc Kahn spoke in the highest terms of Dr. Herzl.

“This man of faith is also a man of action. He is an apostle, but an apostle who is doctor of political economy. I know he occupies a distinguished place in the Austrian Press, and that he has excellent relations in the highest political spheres. But he appears ready to sacrifice all for the triumph of his ideas.” M. Zadoc Kahn then criticized in very mild terms the exaggerated “pessimism” of Herzl’s pamphlet, “The Jewish State,” and after dwelling on the religious aspects of the question, he concluded:—

“The sympathy of the French Jews, now awakened, is assured to the Zionists. To ridicule or condemn a project when this project carries with it hope, and thus consolation, to thousands of co-religionists who are molested in their quality as Jews, this the French Jews have not the right to do.”

In opening the proceedings of the final day of the Congress, Herzl announced that several letters and telegrams had been received. The only one he would mention was that sent by the Rev. Dr. Moses Gaster, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in England, who wrote to express his sympathy with the objects of the Congress.