RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Zinzendorf Zionism
The first of these colonies was started in 1878, and they saw their greatest extension in the eighties and nineties of the nineteenth century.
The Jewish national movement had spread also into Austria; especially among the students at the University of Vienna. Immediately upon the publication of Herzl’s pamphlet, the Zion Society of that city promised its adhesion, and Herzl was enabled to send out an invitation for the first interna-
tional Jewish congress to be held in 2. Inception Munich. It was this call that gave
of the prominence to the inception of the new Movement movement. Herzl had supposed that and its the Jews in all parts of the world would
Congresses. rally to his assistance, and it is true
that large numbers did, especially among the intellectuals. But the opposition to any attempt to put his theories into practise revealed great strength. Many of the orthodox-minded imagined that this was an attempt to ‘force the hand of Providence,” that the religious sanctions were wanting, and that salvation for the Jew—in other words, the final ingathering—could come only with direct divine help. Others, again, feared that they might endanger their recently acquired emancipation; and it was openly said that Zionism would give a fillip to anti-Semitism. The project to hold the first congress in Munich was dropped out of deference to the opposition manifested by the Jews of that city, and the place of meeting was changed to Basel in Switzerland. There, on Aug. 29-31, 1897, 204 delegates assembled and drew up what is known as the “ Basel Program,” stating that the object of Zionism was ‘‘ to establish for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine.” Thus, the new movement attached itself to the old hope of a restoration. Since 1897, ten congresses have been held, those of 1898, 1899, 1901, 1903, 1905, and 1911 in Basel. The congress of 1900 sat in London, that of 1907 in The Hague, and that of 1909 in Hamburg.
The Zionist organization is thoroughly democratic, the supreme power residing in the congress, which is made up of representatives chosen by the various groupings of societies. As long as Herzl lived, the general direction rested in his hands, supported by a smaller “ Actions-Committee,”’ having its seat in Vienna and being elected by the congress. In addition, there is a larger ‘‘ Actions-Committee,”
made up of representatives of the dif-
3. Zionist ferent Zionist federations in which the
Organiza- societies in each country are grouped.
tion. This larger committee meets regularly
in the year in which no congress is
held, or at the call of the smaller committee. Federations of Zionist societies exist in Russia, Germany, England, the United States, Canada, Austria, Galicia, Hungary, Switzerland, the South Slavic lands, Rumania, Belgium, Holland, and South Africa. In addition, societies are to be found in France, Turkey, Bulgaria, Servia, Italy, Scandinavia, Morocco, Egypt, the Argentine Republic, Australia, and China (Shanghai). In 1905 the seat of the smaller “‘ Actions-Committee ”’ was transferred to Cologne, with David Wolfssohn of that city as presiding officer, and the number of members was
Zionism Zobah
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
reduced to three. In 1908 a branch of the central office was opened in Berlin. In 1911 David Wolfssohn resigned; no new president was elected, the smaller ‘‘Actions-Committee ’”’ being empowered to choose its own presiding officer. The seat of the “ Actions-Committee’” was removed to Berlin. Comprising, as it does, Jews living in such various lands, it is natural that differences of views on economic and religious questions have found their expression in peculiar groupings. The ultra-orthodox Zionists are represented by the ‘‘ Mizrachi,” who in 1909 formed a federation of their own, the statutes of the organization having been changed so as to permit all who pay 3,000 shekels to band themselves together. On the other hand, the labor members have formed a group of their own, and are known as the “ Po‘ale-Zion’’ or ‘‘ Democratic Fraction.”
It was Herzl’s idea to obtain from the late Sultan Abdul Hamid a charter which would grant certain rights and privileges to the Jews settled in Palestine, in return for a definite sum and an annual payment. With this end in view, Herzl had several
interviews with the sultan, which, how- 4. Enforced ever, resulted in no definite proposals Changes of being made. Two events have ren- Original dered a different orientation of Zionist Purpose. effort necessary; the death of Herzl (July 3, 1904) and the changed régime in Turkey (1908). The first deprived the movement of a trained diplomat who could lead it through the tortuous ways of political negotiations; the second made impossible the granting of a charter with any extended rights. In view of this, Zionist work has been directed toward developing the natural resources of Palestine, and toward securing for the Jews there a preponderating influence, so as to make of it a real home which the Jews shall seek as an abiding place, and to which they may look as a spiritual center. It had been Herzl’s idea that no practical work should be attempted in Palestine before the necessary legal guaranties had been secured, but even Herzl was carried off his feet by the natural impulse of Jewish sentiment; and under the present changed circumstances, every effort is being bent to this practical work, and various institutions have been established to further it.
The practical organization through which the Zionists have worked, and which has taken official part in all the more important negotiations, is the Jewish Colonial Trust,” established in London in 1899. In 1910 this institution had a capital of £446,539. Since 1903 the trust has devoted most of its capital and of its energy toward assisting active work in Palestine. In that year it founded in Jaffa the “ Anglo-Palestine Company ”’ as a Jewish banking-house. Branch offices have since then been opened in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beirut, Hebron, Gaza, and Safed. This com-
Colonial pany has rendered signal service in
Trust and connection with the loan-associations Affiliations. formed to assist colonists and work-
: men. In 1908 the “ Anglo-Levantine Banking Company ”’ was formed in Constantinople. The shares of both these daughter banks are held by the Jewish Colonial Trust. In 1904 the “ Jew-
5. Jewish
ish National Fund” was definitely organized; its seat is also in London, and its purpose is to acquire land in Palestine which shall remain the inalienable possession of the Jewish people. The collections, which come from the use of “ National Fund Stamps,” from free-will offerings, and from payments made to inscribe persons or societies in the “Golden Book,” reached in 1910 the sum of $500,- 000. Nearly $100,000 is added each year to this fund. It is represented in Palestine by the “ Palestine administration,” with its seat in Jaffa, which attends to the various undertakings in which the fund is interested and acts as a bureau of information in regard to economic questions connected with Palestine. It is also charged with the supervision of the work being done by various Zionistic societies, e.g., the Society for Planting Olive-trees, the Palestine Land-Development Company (with its model farm at Kinnereth), and the Palestine Industrial Syndicate. The official organ of the Zionist movement is Die Welt, published in Cologne 1897-1911, since then in Berlin. In addition, there are some fifty other newspapers and magazines published by Zionists in various languages and in different parts of the Jewish world.
The Jewish agricultural colonies in Palestine, while not founded officially by the Zionist body, are due largely to the efforts of individual Zionists. Financial aid to found them and see them through the first years of their existence was furnished by Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris. In 1899 the Rothschild colonies came under the management of the Jewish Colonization Society of London, but since then they have emancipated themselves from this control, and have become self-supporting and
self-governing. In 1911 there were
6. Agri- some 39 Jewish colonies in Palestine, cultural without counting a number of smaller Colonies settlements which do not deserve the and Edu- name of colonies. Of these 17 are in cational Judea, 13 in Galilee, 8 in Samaria, and Workin 1 beyond the Jordan on the Sea of Palestine. Tiberias. These colonies contain about
8,000 inhabitants. Great attention has been paid by the Zionists to the intellectual development of the Jews in Palestine, especially to education. Many of the existing schools are due, it is true, to the initiative of non-Zionist Jewish societies, e.g., the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris, the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden in Berlin, the Chovevei Zion in Odessa, and the Jewish Colonization Society in London. But under the influence of Zionist pressure, a national Jewish character is being given to these schools, especially to those in the colonies, and Hebrew is quickly becoming the common language of instruction, as it is becoming that of intercourse among all the Jews in Palestine. Specific Zionist foundations are the Hebrew high school for boys and the Hebrew high school for girls in Jaffa, the Hebrew high school in Jerusalem, and the Hebrew technical school now in process of building at Haifa. The Bezalel School at Jerusalem deserves special mention—a technical school for the industrial arts, founded in 1905 by Boris Schatz, in which 400 persons are taught carpet-weaving, filigree work in silver, basket-making, and woodwork,