EVENTS

Herzl: Up Close and Personal

May 2-12 • Located in the hallway between Olan Sanctuary and Tobian Auditorium

Click here to view a sample of the exhibit >>

Theodor Herzl, the man who dreamed the Jewish state into being, still speaks to us with relevance and immediacy about Jewish independence and identity. In May, as Jews everywhere celebrate the 60th birthday of Israel, Temple Emanu-El will host the traveling exhibition Herzl: Up Close and Personal, tracing the life and accomplishments of the Zionist pioneer through his own public and private words and the observations of scholars who have elaborated on his leadership for the past century.

“All the deeds of men are only dreams at first,” Herzl wrote in his description of the building of a Jewish nation that would be a model for the world. “Visions alone grip the souls of men. And anyone who has no use for them may be an excellent, worthy, sober-minded person, but he will not be a leader of men, and no trace of him will remain.”

The traces of Herzl the visionary are prominent and indelible throughout Jewish society. For Herzl was more than a dreamer; he was also a man of action. He wrote a blueprint for a safe haven for Jews in their ancient homeland with fiery zeal to inspire deeds, then performed them as he dashed about the globe to confront popes and presidents, kings and sultans to bring the vision into reality.

Austrian born in 1860 and heir to privilege in Vienna, Herzl grew up under enlightened assimilation, barely conscious of his Jewishness. But as a young man he encountered anti-Semitism personally, and as a journalist witnessed first hand the virulent bigotry that condemned Alfred Dreyfus in the travesty of his trial in Paris. It was a life-altering revelation, and one that galvanized young Theodor Herzl. In 1896, his tract, The Old New Land, argued that only a self-governing Jewish homeland could free Jews of the curse of anti-Semitism. He brought the Zionist idea to the forefront of Jewish dialogue, and pressed it home with detailed visions of how his proposed state would again make the desert bloom, provide a just and free society and bring about "a new blossoming of the Jewish spirit."

In 1897, his tireless efforts brought together the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland which produced the World Zionist Organization, embodiment of the movement and a concrete step toward realization of the dream. At the end of the Congress, Herzl confided what seemed an outlandish boast to his diary: "In Basle, I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this out loud today, people would laugh. But perhaps in another five years, certainly in another 50, everyone will recognize it." Fifty-one years later, another driven Zionist, David Ben-Gurion, declared Israel an independent state.

At the young age of 44, Herzl’s passionate heart failed him, consumed, no doubt, by the intensity of his quest. But a century later, his message remains fresh and vibrant, and his vision remains a work in progress to be embraced by a new generation. The exhibition is an opportunity to meet Herzl, up close and personal, and take your rightful ownership of his legacy.