Some 1,400 people will celebrate the 1897 event after which Theodor Herzl declared to his diary, “At Basel I founded the Jewish state.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, will be the guests of honor at the quasiquicentennial of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland on Monday.

Herzog will deliver the keynote speech at the special gala marking the watershed event organized by Theodor Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism.

The First Zionist Congress took place August 29-31, 1897 at the Stadtcasino Hall, in the northwestern Swiss city of Basel, which dates back to medieval times.

While in the country for an official state visit that includes a meeting with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, centering around topics including “important diplomatic security and economic issues,” Herzog said that the upcoming Basel speech will be the most important part of his trip.

“The heart of this visit is a historic milestone,” Herzog said. “The 125th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, was a formative event for the Jewish People and for humanity at large.”

“Zionism is the ideal combination of Judaism’s deepest roots with groundbreaking innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. As the president of the nation-state of the Jewish People, I am astonished and filled with pride every day anew at the sight of Herzl’s vision coming to life in front of our eyes, and I feel the heavy duty and responsibility for the future of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

The three-day conference that begins Sunday is a celebration of the gathering of 208 Jews from all over the world to establish the Zionist Organization.

The attendees approved the Basel Program, which formulated Zionism’s goal as “establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine.”

Three days after the delegates went home, Herzl famously wrote in his diary, “Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word – which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly – it would be this: At Basel I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today l would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in 50 years, everyone will perceive it.”

Fifty years later, on November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition what was then British-ruled Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. While the Arabs rejected the proposal, the decision set off celebrations in Jewish communities in Palestine and around the world, and the Jewish State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.

Some 1,400 people are slated to attend the gala, which will have two parts: the Herzl Leadership Conference focusing on modern Zionism, and the Impact Conference for Social and Economic Entrepreneurship, with the participation of 125 invited leaders in high-tech fields.

There will tight security, as the Swiss government has received warnings that pro-Palestinian and pro-BDS protests are being planned to take place near the hall. Although the Rhine River which adjoins Basel is a vital transport route for cargo, it will be closed to ship traffic for the duration, as will the airspace above the city.

The conference was organized by the World Zionist Organization in cooperation with the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities and the government of the Canton of Basel.

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The founder of modern Zionism was born on May 2, 1860 – 160 years ago.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

The Herzl Institute held an all-day conference to commemorate the contributions of Zionism’s founder on the 160th anniversary of his birth. Theodor Benjamin Zeev Herzl (May 2, 1860 – July 3, 1904) founded the Zionist Congress and set the Jewish people on the path to statehood.

An Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and playwright, Herzl became obsessed with the “Jewish question.” Influenced by the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, a French military captain who was falsely accused of treason because he was a Jew, as well as the rise of anti-Semitism in his hometown of Vienna (eventually leading to the election of Mayor Karl Lueger), Herzl concluded that a Jewish state was the only solution.

Herzl recognized that the emancipation of Jews in Europe wasn’t enough. It needed to be followed by the legal recognition of the Jewish people and the founding of a Jewish State. There, all Jews could find a homeland, a life of freedom, labor and honor.

Herzl put his ideas into a book, The Jewish State, which was published in February 1896. The book, according to reports of the time, hit the Jewish people like a thunderbolt. Herzl found himself thrust to the forefront of a movement that had already begun to coalesce.

On August 29, 1897, the first Zionist Congress assembled in Basle, Switzerland, organized by Herzl. It became a kind of parliament-in-exile for the Jewish people.

In a quite remarkable prophecy, Herzl wrote in his diary on his return to Vienna following the Congress:

“If I were to sum up the Basle Congress in a single phrase – which I would not dare to make public – I would say: In Basle I created the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, and certainly in 50 everyone will know it.”

It was 50 years and eight months after Herzl wrote these words, on May 14, 1948, that David Ben-Gurion announced the birth of the State of Israel. A picture of Herzl looked down at the proceedings.

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If you’re familiar with Wagner’s anti-Semitic politics, Tannhäuser might seem an odd choice of entertainment for the founder of political Zionism.

By Ben Kaplan, The Algemeiner

To understand Theodor Herzl, it’s helpful to think about opera.

In the summer of 1895, a distraught Herzl wandered the streets of Paris, contemplating the fate of the Jews. In January, he had witnessed the degradation (public shaming) of Alfred Dreyfus, and in April, the rise of an antisemitic party to power in his home city of Vienna. In June, he began his Zionist diaries.

Herzl’s only consolation during those hot summer nights in Paris was the opera. He attended performances at the Paris opera of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and during this same time, he formulated his scattered thoughts into a plan to save the Jews of Europe, which he later published as The Jewish State.

If you’re familiar with Wagner’s anti-Semitic politics, Tannhäuser might seem an odd choice of entertainment for the founder of political Zionism; in fact, Wagner was — despite his well-known political views — beloved by German-speaking Jews of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

That tension between art and politics, between German-speaking and Jewish identity, characterizes the complexity of Herzl’s life and identity: an Austrian and a Jew — a man of the theater, and a man of politics.

In Herzl’s mind, the latter two were closely linked: politics was theater. Desperate to become a playwright, he eventually finds success as a journalist before devoting himself to the cause of Zionism. But even after this transformation, he never ceases to think of himself — or life, for that matter — in theatrical terms.

The Herzl one encounters at the First Zionist Congress is a theater impresario par excellence, dictating all aspects of the mise-en-scene, insisting, most famously, that everyone in attendance dress in black tie, complete with top hats and tails. “I am still as ever the dramatist in all this,” he writes in his diary. “I take poor, destitute people off the street, dress them in wonderful clothes, and have them perform before the world a marvelous play of mine.”

The opera I’ve written with composer Alex Weiser, State of the Jews, focuses on the last year of Herzl’s life and explores this history. We are often asked why we chose to write an opera about Herzl, and the truth is that Herzl himself was already larger than life — operatic.

In the span of a few years, he met with an emperor, a sultan, and a pope; he mobilized a mass political movement made up of thousands upon thousands of devoted followers (and many critics); and like Moses, he died before reaching the Promised Land.

His wife Julie — as crucial a character in our opera as he is — and their three children all died tragic deaths after him. In their lifetimes, there was little redemption to be found.

But why was Herzl so obsessed with opera? To begin with, it would have been one of the most exciting forms of popular entertainment in his time. And Wagner, with his emphasis on creating an immersive, emotional experience filled with mythology and grandeur, was the captivating avant-garde artist of his era. So too does content dictate form: a big idea requires an epic format; opera, with all its idiosyncrasies, deals with grandeur.

Herzl drew inspiration from the opera for his big idea, and our opera, State of the Jews, grapples with the meaning of that history. Rather than take a stance on the political issues at play, the opera seeks to dramatize the costs of pursuing such a big idea, to show the collision of the personal and the political. Julie Herzl, a woman mostly lost to history, emerges in this opera as someone struggling to maintain her individual dignity and agency amidst unimaginable difficulties. The question we’ve asked ourselves is: if history cannot redeem her, can art?

I find myself drawn to Herzl’s naivete, perhaps foolishly. Despite his personal flaws — and there were many — he saw his project not, as many may believe, as a purely tribalistic enterprise. Rather, he believed Jewish emancipation would “react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity,” as he writes at the end of The Jewish State. That might seem naive to some today — to imagine we could transcend our tribal affiliations of politics and background and come together for the sake of mutual benefit. But is it?

Herzl wasn’t just insistent about top hats for their style — he saw the staging of identity as a chance to assert individual dignity. Maybe we too could assemble — say, at the opera, or some other hall — across our differences, and envision something new.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, librettist Ben Kaplan studied literature and theater at Williams College. He currently serves as Director of Education at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where he directs programs that teach Jewish history and culture to a broad and diverse audience.

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Here is a recap of the top Israel news stories on August 7, 2019.

And in case you missed our last recap…

The post WATCH: Daily Israel News Recap – August 7, 2019 appeared first on World Israel News.

The curtain draped the coffin of the modern Zionist visionary when he was buried in Jerusalem in 1949.

By World Israel News Staff 

After 70 years of searching, a curtain which had draped modern Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl’s coffin when he was buried in Jerusalem has been found in a Jewish National Fund (JNF) warehouse in Tel Aviv, reports Israel Hayom.

Herzl is considered the father of modern Zionism. His 1896 book The Jewish State electrified the Jewish world at the time. He later went on to lead the Zionist movement, establishing the Zionist Congress and meeting with world leaders to build support for a Jewish state.

The newspaper reports that after going missing in 1949, the curtain was found this week, as part of the move of JNF, known in Israel as Keren Kayemeth Le’Yisrael (KKL), to a different building where the Museum for the Preservation of Zionist History is also housed.

Herzl’s coffin cover. (Wikipedia)

During the cleaning out of the historic building, the curtain was discovered, says Israel Hayom.

Herzl died in Austria in 1904. He had expressed his desire to be buried in the Land of Israel, and in 1949, the year following the establishment of the modern Jewish State, his wish was fulfilled when he was re-interred.

The curtain is colored sky blue and white with the image of a lion embroidered inside a Star of David alongside seven gold stars aligned in a circle symbolizing the insignia which Herzl had envisioned for the flag of the Jewish state and the seven-hour workday which he promoted, says Israel Hayom.

The cover that adorned Theodor Herzl’s coffin. (Wikipedia)

“Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel,” is the verse from the Book of Ezekiel sewn on the upper part of the curtain. A verse from the Book of Psalms, “Those that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” is included at the bottom.

The Zionist visionary is buried on a Jerusalem mountain which bears his name, Mount Herzl, and is also the resting place of Israeli leaders and the location of Jerusalem’s military cemetery.

JNF CEO Danny Atar says that the curtain will now be placed on display at the organization’s museum in Tel Aviv.

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