§10. Herzl
Throughout the nineteenth century, Palestine had commanded the increasing attention of the Jews; but it lacked the vivifying touch of a genius who was to make it monopolize their hopes and ambitions.
Such a genius was Herzl, 'the tall figure with the black-bearded Assyrian head that drew all eyes'. He was the founder of the modern idea of Zionism, and in the brief space of ten years from the publication of his Jewish State was able, by his fascinating personality, which impressed itself upon high and low, Jew and Gentile, Court circles and the proletariat of the Russian Ghetto, to bring the secular aspirations of Jewry into the sphere of practical politics. He gathered round him the philosopher, the student, the oppressed, the dissatisfied, and the enthusiast, into a sort of Cave of Adullam.
At first he was looked upon askance by the great bulk of Western Jews, who, in easy circumstances and sometimes in high positions, were well on the way to assimilation in the countries of their birth and adoption. Even in eastern Europe, ultra-orthodox Jews viewed his projects with disfavour, because they feared that his schemes were independent of religious ideals, and saw in him a political enthusiast but not a descendant of the prophets. They could not recognize in the courtly and well-spoken journalist anything approaching their traditional picture of a Messiah or even his precursor. Herzl's most famous saying was that the return to Zion would be preceded by the return to Judaism.