Throughout history, it has always been the norm for those who are inclined to bend the knee to be in the majority. It has only been the force of selection which leads to the survival of those with courage, who choose to stand up and be counted. Max Nordau concluded his speech at the Second Zionist Congress, in which he also coined the term "muscular Judaism", with this very point.
"Suddenly, Zionism emerges and calls out to these Jews: "Arise! Strengthen yourselves! Take action! Earn for yourselves and your people a place under the sun! Do not rest, do not cease until you have convinced the indifferent and even hostile world that you possess the right to live as a people, like other nations, and to enjoy your lives!" Suddenly, the lazy Judaism, the belly-Judaism, the passive stagnation in inherited habits, all come to an end. These pseudo-Jews then resist with a force of outrage that should actually amuse us humorously. "Yes, if finding joy in Sabbath dishes is no longer a sufficient expression of our Jewish sentiment, then we will no longer participate," they declare indignantly, and they declare a war of annihilation against us evil disturbers. Here, the rabbis strike out from the prayer book the call of hope and promise that has truly become meaningless for them: "Next year in Jerusalem!" There, the rabbis protest against Zionism as an innovation forbidden by the Jewish religion. A Jewish historian, highly esteemed by me, who writes a yearbook of Jewish history on behalf of a Jewish society, manages to write the history of the Jews in the year 1897 without even mentioning a word about the first Zionist Congress in Basel. Another Jew has the audacity to claim that we whimpered at our congress last year, that we wanted to cowardly flee from our persecutors, while he, the hero, offers his cheek bravely to the hailstorm of slaps raining down on him and courageously presents his backside to the kicks of antisemitic governments and peoples.
"These phenomena are painful, but they are natural and should not discourage us. We are such an ancient society that everything has already occurred in our thousands of years of history. Nothing new can really happen to us anymore. When Moses wanted to free his people from Egyptian slavery, it was the Jews themselves who first rebelled against him and threatened to report him to the Egyptian authorities. When Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Zion, the wealthy, educated Jews, the lovers of comfort and readers of Heine of that time, remained in Babylon and Hesse, ridiculing and likely relieved to abandon the idea of being a nation again. It will not be any different now. So be it. The group of Ezra and Nehemiah was a small minority among the Jews of that time, but we are all descendants of that minority. The vast majority, on the other hand, has disappeared without a trace in the sea of nations in the Near East. The Zionists may also be a minority among today's Jews. But it is through them that Judaism will rejuvenate, through them it will continue to exist and be preserved into the distant future. The Jewish opponents of Zionism, however numerous they may be today, are destined to disappear as Jews. Perhaps this is their secret heartfelt wish. It will surely be fulfilled. Therefore, it is incorrect to speak of a Zionist party within Judaism. We reject this designation with mockery and contempt. The Zionists are not a party; they are Judaism itself. Their number, their current number, is irrelevant. The seed of the mightiest lime tree is a very small structure, but it is the culmination of the entire life force of the tree, the goal of all its organic efforts. The lime tree lives on in its seed, not in its wood and bark. Everything that is alive in Judaism, everything that is a Jewish ideal, that embodies dignity and the desire for development, is Zionist. On the other hand, those who feel comfortable in slavery, who revel in contempt, or who hope for the imminent natural death of Judaism, stand indifferently aside or fiercely fight against us. With reference to a well-known verse by the Austrian poet Grillparzer, the Zionists can proclaim: 'In our camp is Israel! You others are scattered remnants.'"
Throughout history, it has always been the norm for those who are inclined to bend the knee to be in the majority. It has only been the force of selection which leads to the survival of those with courage, who choose to stand up and be counted. Max Nordau concluded his speech at the Second Zionist Congress, in which he also coined the term "muscular Judaism", with this very point.
"Suddenly, Zionism emerges and calls out to these Jews: "Arise! Strengthen yourselves! Take action! Earn for yourselves and your people a place under the sun! Do not rest, do not cease until you have convinced the indifferent and even hostile world that you possess the right to live as a people, like other nations, and to enjoy your lives!" Suddenly, the lazy Judaism, the belly-Judaism, the passive stagnation in inherited habits, all come to an end. These pseudo-Jews then resist with a force of outrage that should actually amuse us humorously. "Yes, if finding joy in Sabbath dishes is no longer a sufficient expression of our Jewish sentiment, then we will no longer participate," they declare indignantly, and they declare a war of annihilation against us evil disturbers. Here, the rabbis strike out from the prayer book the call of hope and promise that has truly become meaningless for them: "Next year in Jerusalem!" There, the rabbis protest against Zionism as an innovation forbidden by the Jewish religion. A Jewish historian, highly esteemed by me, who writes a yearbook of Jewish history on behalf of a Jewish society, manages to write the history of the Jews in the year 1897 without even mentioning a word about the first Zionist Congress in Basel. Another Jew has the audacity to claim that we whimpered at our congress last year, that we wanted to cowardly flee from our persecutors, while he, the hero, offers his cheek bravely to the hailstorm of slaps raining down on him and courageously presents his backside to the kicks of antisemitic governments and peoples.
"These phenomena are painful, but they are natural and should not discourage us. We are such an ancient society that everything has already occurred in our thousands of years of history. Nothing new can really happen to us anymore. When Moses wanted to free his people from Egyptian slavery, it was the Jews themselves who first rebelled against him and threatened to report him to the Egyptian authorities. When Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Zion, the wealthy, educated Jews, the lovers of comfort and readers of Heine of that time, remained in Babylon and Hesse, ridiculing and likely relieved to abandon the idea of being a nation again. It will not be any different now. So be it. The group of Ezra and Nehemiah was a small minority among the Jews of that time, but we are all descendants of that minority. The vast majority, on the other hand, has disappeared without a trace in the sea of nations in the Near East. The Zionists may also be a minority among today's Jews. But it is through them that Judaism will rejuvenate, through them it will continue to exist and be preserved into the distant future. The Jewish opponents of Zionism, however numerous they may be today, are destined to disappear as Jews. Perhaps this is their secret heartfelt wish. It will surely be fulfilled. Therefore, it is incorrect to speak of a Zionist party within Judaism. We reject this designation with mockery and contempt. The Zionists are not a party; they are Judaism itself. Their number, their current number, is irrelevant. The seed of the mightiest lime tree is a very small structure, but it is the culmination of the entire life force of the tree, the goal of all its organic efforts. The lime tree lives on in its seed, not in its wood and bark. Everything that is alive in Judaism, everything that is a Jewish ideal, that embodies dignity and the desire for development, is Zionist. On the other hand, those who feel comfortable in slavery, who revel in contempt, or who hope for the imminent natural death of Judaism, stand indifferently aside or fiercely fight against us. With reference to a well-known verse by the Austrian poet Grillparzer, the Zionists can proclaim: 'In our camp is Israel! You others are scattered remnants.'"
fantastic, thanks
I have yet to find anyone who has read Herzl except in wikiquotes slugs. thank you for this.
It's so long i need to read this in 3 sittings i cant wait to finish
[RE: I’m not quite sure exactly what he means by his concluding paragraph...]
I think by "Society" Herzl meant the upper classes, that is to say, the (quasi?) aristocracy.