in ancient times, nationality and state were identical. the destruction of the state always involved the destruction of the nationality. this was, in fact, the case with many peoples whose states were destroyed by conquerors. only the jews are an exception to the rule. the jewish state was destroyed, the jewish nationality was not. even the dispersion of the jews all over the globe could not destroy and did not destroy the jewish nationality. on the contrary, the diaspora life of the jews, with all its evils and troubles, woes and tribulations, sorrows and pains, only served to intensify the national consciousness of the jews and to strengthen their hopes of national redemption. but the chancellors of the governments, always in the habit of dealing with concrete facts, did not take the sentiments of jewish individuals into consideration. seeing that the jews have no homeland, no national sovereignty and not even an intellectual and spiritual centre, they pronounced the jewish nationality dead forever. from the point of view of this now antiquated conception of nationality, the european governments could not be blamed for their attitude toward the jews as a people, for the orthodox notion of nationality always implies an ethnic unit that enjoys national sovereignty, or, at least, is living on its own land, even though it may be dominated by others. the governments, in their attitude toward the jews as a people, followed a certain principle that had to be maintained as long as no substitute could be found for it. today it seems that the old principle of nationality has been replaced by another and that the present notion of nationality does not necessarily imply that an ethnic group must either enjoy national sovereignty or live on its own soil. the jews, who have now been recognized as a nationality not only by great britain but, as we have been informed, by several other great powers, are still living in dispersion and have none of the characteristics of the concrete makeup of other nationalities.
this change was brought about both by the jews themselves, who for the past thirty or[80] forty years have begun to assert their nationality and to claim the right to which every nationality is entitled, namely, a national homeland, and by the peculiar discrepancy between principle and life. the european governments, following a certain principle, refused to consider the jews a nationality, but in practical life the jews were always considered a nationality of their own. while the modern state emancipated the jew on the condition that he emancipate himself from judaism, modern society, on the other hand, refused to admit him just because he was a jew, and thus counteracted and opposed the emancipation policy of the government. modern society is intensely nationalistic and will only recognize those as its true members who belong to it, not only socially and economically, but also nationally and racially. since the jews are not slavs or teutons or anglo-saxons but jews, they simply were not admitted as full-fledged members in the society of these races and nations, and whenever they made an attempt to penetrate into society by force and en masse, they were only too quickly ejected by a wave of anti-semitism. so that while the states emancipated the jews, on the condition that they[81] become full-fledged frenchmen, germans, italians, austrians, etc., because it considered the jewish nationality dead and done for, the nations themselves, being nearer to life and its movements than the bureaucrats of the government chancelleries, felt that the jews do form a national society of their own and are by no means nationally dead. the official recognition of the jews as a nationality on the part of a modern state will, we are convinced, put an end to this difference in attitude and policy towards the jews on the part of the government and of the nation.
besides the national self-assertion of the jews during the past thirty years, we find that their rôle as intellectual and spiritual factors in history led to the present change of mind of the european governments in regard to jewish nationality. it is by no means pure accident that two mighty anglo-saxon nations and governments, great britain and the united states of america, should be the first among the great powers to recognize the right of the jews to a national homeland of their own and thus to recognize publicly the nationality of the jews. if the ancient jewish mind, as it expressed itself in the bible, ever influ[82]enced a great race and helped to shape its destinies and policies, it was the anglo-saxon race that it influenced. for the past four hundred years the greatest production of jewish genius, the bible, has been a powerful factor in the life of the anglo-saxon race, and as soon as the anglo-saxons freed themselves from medievalism, they began to treat the jews living among them with consideration and fairness, even before they were officially emancipated.
besides, the american government is the only government of the great powers that never pursued any hostile policy against the jews, because its very establishment was based on emancipation from medievalism. of all the powers which have now come to recognize the jewish nationality and its right to a homeland, america is, we dare say, the only one that is inspired solely by motives of pure idealism. for america surely has no political interests or ambitions in the near east and is led only by the unselfish wish that the jews, after a life of exile of two thousand years, should return to a normal national life and enter the great family of nations on equal terms. in saying this, we by no means wish to imply that the other great powers who have recognized the jewish nationality have done so from political motives only, and that politics only were instrumental in bringing about their decision to help the jews establish a homeland in palestine. we are, moreover, convinced that england and italy, russia, and probably france, which, as we have been informed, are now taking a very favorable attitude toward the establishment of the jewish homeland in palestine, have done so because they recognized that the jews are a people in themselves and that they are entitled to be given the possibility of living a normal national life. these powers, inspired by noble motives, now say to the jews, "go and build up a national life of your own and we shall help you. go and be jews as much as you like and we shall not interfere with your jewish affairs and your national happiness."
we are, however, afraid that many jews themselves misunderstand or misconstrue the meaning of the decision of these powers. if the jews go to palestine, they must live there with the object of building up in the country of their forefathers a new jewish life and establishing a jewish homeland there; they must do it as jews only, not as russians or ger[84]mans, not britons, austrians or italians, but as jews. they must consider themselves an object in themselves. they must, first of all, look after their own affairs and their own happiness. while always having the welfare of humanity in mind, they must not consider themselves the protégé of a certain state or race or nation, and they must not be under the impression that, when given the possibility of living a national life of their own, they are called upon to defend interests other than their own.
no british or american statesman believes that the establishment of the jewish homeland in palestine is possible without the consent of all the great powers, irrespective of their present mutual relations, and as soon as one power or group of powers finds out that the jewish palestine is not primarily looked upon as the homeland of the jewish nation, but the political stronghold of another power or group of powers, there will be no unanimity in regard to the jewish palestine when peace is discussed; and without unanimity of the powers there will be no jewish palestine, because no belligerent power will continue the war one day longer, only because it is anxious to establish a jewish state in palestine. but as a matter of fact the powers which, led by noble motives, have expressed their willingness to favor the establishment of the jewish homeland in palestine, have only uttered a noble desire. there can be no talk of anxiety on their part, but only of consent to permit us to rebuild our nation. these powers, because they are not led by motives of war politics only, but by political foresight and idealism, do not want us to serve other purposes than our own, because they know that unless we look only after our own affairs we will not succeed.
for the time being, the jewish people are divided into various groups, each group serving the country in which it lives to the best of its ability. today there is not, and cannot be, a supreme jewish leadership, a jewish national assembly or a general jewish congress. each and every jewish group is entitled to work for the future of the jewish people under given conditions only. the english jews can ask their government to do something for the jewish cause and so can the french, italian, russian, german, austrian and american jews; every one of the respective governments can extend its sympathy and help, can promise its help in establishing the jewish homeland in palestine only to the jews of their respective lands, but not to the jewish people at large, for the jewish people are today divided into hostile camps, just as is civilized humanity.
our assimilationists in every country, here as well as in germany, in england as well as in france and austria, have been telling their respective governments that those jews who aspire to establish a jewish homeland in palestine are disloyal citizens and are conspiring against their own country. in england and in america, where the governments follow a broad-minded and liberal policy, no attention is paid to such hypocritical talk. but in austria, germany and turkey, conditions are different. there the influential assimilationists are still personae gratae with their governments, and since they are capable of every crime, if they can only see their way clear to break jewish nationalism, they will no doubt lose no time in pointing out to their governments that jewish nationalists, though they displayed heroism on the battle-field, are not loyal to their countries and are crossing the plans of the central powers in the near east. they will tell the governments that the jewish[87] nationalists are conspiring with the enemies of their governments against the interests of the central powers in the orient; the result may be that the government of the central powers, listening to this misleading talk, may embark on a jewish policy opposing that of the entente and may start to persecute zionists and all who sympathize with jewish nationalism, thus making the life of eastern european jewry, now greatly under the control of the teutonic powers, still more bitter.
therein lies the danger of our misconstruing the high-minded declaration of the british cabinet. the statesmen of the entente powers certainly do not wish to imperil the existence of european jewry, nor do they wish to have their policy misconstrued by the central powers. these statesmen want the liberation of small nationalities and not their oppression. these statesmen also know that if the jews in the new palestine will not be, first of all, pro-jewish, there will not be the jewish palestine which they wish to see established. by misconstruing the declaration of the british government, we are implicitly acting against the spirit and noble motives of this declaration and, needless to say, we are acting against our own elemental interests. a jewish palestine is only possible with the consent of all the powers, and since it is desirable that it should be a product of the consensus of opinion among all the powers, every act on our part must be avoided that may create the impression that in the anxiety to build up a national homeland in palestine the jewish people are becoming political tools of any power or group of powers. this will, in the end, spell ruin for us and might, besides, endanger the life of millions of our people in central and in eastern europe. we have been told on good zionist authority in this country, that the american government, appreciating the present complicated international situation, is anxious to remain in the background with regard to the establishment of the jewish homeland in palestine, though it is a noble and unselfish champion of the cause. we wish that the jews everywhere would take an example from the wisdom and forbearance displayed by the american government.
