Part 22

Some of our prosperous men may say that the pressure is not yet severe enough to justify emigration, and that every forcible expulsion shows how unwilling our people are to depart. True, because they do not know where to go; because they only pass from one trouble into another. But we are showing them the way to the Promised Land; and the splendid force of enthusiasm must fight against the terrible force of habit.

Persecutions are no longer so malignant as they were in the Middle Ages? True, but our sensitiveness has increased, so that we feel no diminution in our sufferings; prolonged persecution has overstrained our nerves.

Will people say, again, that our enterprise is hopeless, because even if we obtained the land with supremacy over it, the poor only would go with us? It is precisely the poorest whom we need at first. Only the desperate make good conquerors.

Will some one say: Were it feasible it would have been done long ago?

It has never yet been possible; now it is possible. A hundred--or even fifty years ago it would have been nothing more than a dream. Today it may become a reality. Our rich, who have a pleasurable acquaintance with all our technical achievements, know full well how much money can do. And thus it will be; just the poor and simple, who do not know what power man already exercises over the forces of Nature, just these will have the firmest faith in the new message. For these have never lost their hope of the Promised Land.

Here it is, fellow Jews! Neither fable nor deception! Every man may test its reality for himself, for every man will carry over with him a portion of the Promised Land--one in his head, another in his arms, another in his acquired possessions.

Now, all this may appear to be an interminably long affair. Even in the most favorable circumstances, many years might elapse before the commencement of the foundation of the State. In the meantime, Jews in a thousand different places would suffer insults, mortifications, abuse, blows, depredation, and death. No; if we only begin to carry out the plans, Anti-Semitism would stop at once and for ever. For it is the conclusion of peace.

The news of the formation of our Jewish Company will be carried in a single day to the remotest ends of the earth by the lightning speed of our telegraph wires.

And immediate relief will ensue. The intellects which we produce so superabundantly in our middle classes will find an outlet in our first organizations, as our first technicians, officers, professors, officials, lawyers, and doctors; and thus the movement will continue in swift but smooth progression.

Prayers will be offered up for the success of our work in temples and in churches also; for it will bring relief from an old burden, which all have suffered.

But we must first bring enlightenment to men's minds. The idea must make its way into the most distant, miserable holes where our people dwell. They will awaken from gloomy brooding, for into their lives will come a new significance. Every man need think only of himself, and the movement will assume vast proportions.

And what glory awaits those who fight unselfishly for the cause!

Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again.

Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a State will have it.

We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes.

The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness.

And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE CONGRESS ADDRESSES. New York, Federation of American Zionists, 1917. 40p.

EXCERPTS FROM HERZL'S DIARIES. New York, Scopus pub. co. 1941. 122p.

GESAMELTE SHRIFTEN (In Yiddish). New York, Literarishe Verlag, 1920. 2 vols.

GESAMMELTE ZIONISTISCHE WERKE. 3rd ed. Berlin. Juedisher Verlag (1934) 5 vols. Contents: vol. I Zionistische shriften; vol. 2, 3, 4, Taegebuecher, vol. 5 Das neue Ghetto; Altneuland, Aus dem Nachlass.

DAS JUDENSTAAT; Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage. Neue Auflage mit einem Vorwort von Otto Warburg. Berlin, Juedischer Verlag, 1918. 88p. Various editions.

OLD-NEW LAND tr. by Lotta Levensohn with a preface by Stephen S. Wise. New York, Bloch pub. co. 1941. 296p.

THE TRAGEDY OF JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 2nd ed. New York, Zionist organization of America, 1920. 47p.

ABOUT THEODOR HERZL

Bein, Alex. Theodore Herzl tr. by Maurice Samuel. Phil. Jewish. pub. society, 1940. 545p.

Brainin, Ruben. A Life of Herzl. Vol. I, New York, 1919. (Hebrew)