in view of the rise of jewish nationalism during the last decade, especially during the war, it is understandable why the fancy of the jewish masses should be directed to the future of the jewish state in palestine and that quite premature questions as to the form and character of the jewish state should be asked.
there are no prophets nowadays. no serious-minded man would even dare to anticipate the development of many generations and attempt to foresee the character of the time which is deeply enshrouded in the bosom of the future. sociology has not yet discovered laws with the help of which one can predict future material happenings. nevertheless, serious-minded jews, especially nationalists, should give a thought to the question of possible future developments and should ask themselves in which direction they have decided to go.
an unequivocal answer to this question will help to clarify matters and will deprive the enemy of many of the weapons which he is always ready to use against us.
when theodor herzl appeared before the zionist congress in 1906 with his famous uganda proposition, the jewish people was amazed. how could a man like theodor herzl, whose love for palestine was beyond doubt, propose to the jews to settle in east africa, on a stretch of territory not only outside the pale of jewish traditions but even outside the pale of civilization? if it had been a question only of enabling the then badly persecuted russian jews to emigrate to other countries where they could live in relative freedom and happiness, were there not plenty of civilized countries where the jews could find a refuge? these and similar questions were raised after herzl brought forth the uganda proposal. but those who were on intimate terms with the great leader later explained this apparently strange mood.
it was in 1903 that von plehve began his policy of pogroms, and from 1903 to 1906 hundreds of pogroms were perpetrated against the jews in russia and poland. theodor herzl, who witnessed the development of the tragic dreyfus affair and who had some experience with western european anti-semitism, knew perfectly well the prevailing hatred against the jews everywhere, but he could not imagine that a christian state, forming a member of the family of nations, should in the twentieth century resort to such barbarities as pogroms, in order to carry out its anti-semitic policy. man of delicate and fine feelings as he was, he became so disgusted with the situation and so downhearted on account of these pogroms that, in a moment of despair, he said to himself, "we would rather live among the hottentots and other savages in africa than among the civilized christian nations in europe." the entire uganda proposition can be understood as an expression of disgust with european civilization on the part of our great jewish statesman and artist. in short, uganda was a loud protest against christian civilization and christian political methods.
in a lesser degree zionism, also, is partly a protest against european christian civilization, which is an inheritance of ancient rome. we want to go back to palestine not only because we want to live a national life of our own there, but also because we are utterly repelled by european civilization and because we do not believe in a civilization that leads to the murder and pillage of entire nations and the reign of horror and brutal might. we are disgusted with this civilization because we do not believe that "might is right," because we do not believe in the political heritage of ancient rome.
we cannot say whether or not every nationalistic jew is conscious of this fact, but the conscientious historian who does not believe in the inheritance of rome will certainly ascribe the revival of jewish nationalism not only to the national memories of the jews, but also to the radical difference between jewish and roman political ideas and ideals and to the difference in the concept of life of the jew and those who live on the political inheritance of ancient rome. we, for one, firmly believe that zionism, in spite of its purely political aspects, has the ethical consciousness of the jewish nation as its basis and as its driving power; zionism is thus to our mind not only a political, but also an ethical movement—or even a revolutionary movement, in the sense that the jewish people revolts against a system of civilization from which not only entire humanity has suffered, but from which it has[146] suffered most. now, since zionism is also an ethical movement, one can easily see to what its realization should lead.
though the jewish people lived in a europe dominated by roman ideas for two thousand years, it did not become an adherent of the roman school of thought. we have remained jews, still cherishing jewish ideals of justice and equity, and we mean to go back to palestine not as "europeans," but as jews pure and simple. it cannot possibly be our desire to erect in palestine such a system of civilization and to establish there such an order of things as have created the present state of affairs in europe. we are going to palestine not only to begin a new national life, but also to create a new system of civilization. this is the justification of zionism from a broad ethical point of view. we are going to realize there not the old roman inheritance but the old jewish inheritance. we have for the last 2,500 years had a political philosophy of our own, a political philosophy that is just the opposite of the roman political philosophy. we believe that the political philosophy of the old prophets is just as human and at least as near to reality as the political philosophy of the ancient romans, and we believe that our national political philosophy, which considers men not only as physical beings but also intellectual and spiritual beings and urges them to live up to their spiritual and intellectual nature, is at least as sound as the one-sided roman political philosophy, which takes into account only the physical nature of man and hence teaches that "might is right."
it is our firm conviction that jewish national ideals of old, though buried in books for the last two thousand years, can be turned into reality and be applied to life. this is what we are going to do in palestine. but, people will ask, if the jewish ideals are based on life's reality, why did not the jewish people succeed in making its ideals a force in life when it lived on its own soil and enjoyed independence? to this we reply that the ancient jewish genius, which devised such grand plans of life, failed, for reasons which we cannot enumerate here, to create the technique and methods, with the help of which these grand plans could have been carried out. the romans, on the other hand, invented a wonderful technique of life, but failed to devise a plan of life which would make life more worth living than it is now. we have lived under the system of roman civilization for nearly two thousand years. we have not been imbued with roman ideals. we have not accepted the roman doctrine of life, but we have learned a great deal from roman technique, and we are therefore now equipped with both—with the jewish idealistic traditions and with the experiences of roman civilization and roman technique. now we are in a position to apply our ideals of old to life, because we possess the methods and the technique of the application. we know today a great deal about administrative and constitutional technique, of which our ancestors knew next to nothing. we know today a great deal about organization, of which our ancestors had not the slightest idea. having gone through the roman school, we today know something about organization and this knowledge of organization we are going to apply to our political traditions, to our philosophy of life; we are going to create in palestine that synthesis of civilization which will be jewish to the core in its contents and roman in shape and form. might will not be right, because man is not only a physical but also an intellectual and spiritual being. justice and equity will be thoroughly organized and will not be left to the conscience of the idealistic individual only, as was the case in ancient judea.
whether the future jewish state in palestine will be a republic or a monarchy does not matter. the form of government never testifies to the soundness of the state; there are good monarchies and bad republics. one thing is as clear as day: if there is going to be a jewish palestine, it will be a land of justice and freedom, where right will prevail and where the demands of the spirit will be complied with. all forms of life will have to be different from what they are in the pale of roman civilization. "thou shalt be a light unto the nations." this must be our ambition.
jews as individuals can accomplish very little for judaism, cannot help to realize its ideals and cannot possibly make it a force in life. for two thousand years we have lived in the diaspora as individuals, and what did we accomplish for the realization of our old ideals, of which we are so proud? nothing. only feeble-minded rabbis, who are constantly talking of the mission of judaism without knowing what they are talking about, can speak of the mission of the jews in the face of the present catastrophe. jews as individuals cannot have any jewish mission in life, but a people can, if it is inspired by ideals.
what we have failed to do as individuals for two thousand years—to make humanity recognize that the political philosophy of the old prophets is much stronger than that of the old romans—we may be able to realize in palestine as a people. it is only with reluctance that we use the much abused phrase, "jewish mission," but if there is such a thing as the jewish mission, it will only be realized when the jews are reorganized as a people on the soil of their ancestors and lead such a life as to justify the prediction of the prophet of old: "thou shalt be a light unto the nations." this is the true meaning of the jewish mission. this and nothing else.
