An up-close look at the real Theodor Herzl — and the real meaning of Zionism
At Temple Emanu-El, rare artifacts, including report cards, portraits and journals, explore the leader's life and legacy
Theodor Herzl
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Opinion All you need to know about Israel’s founders — an illustrated guide
A portfolio of a few of the men and women integral to the formation of the Jewish state
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Opinion Herzl Against His Christmas Tree
With his iconic black beard, stately tuxedo, imposing physique and stern visage, there was no mistaking him for anyone else, and I was delighted when he motioned me to come over and join him for a coffee and sachertorte. “Again they are sullying my reputation,” he protested. “One recollection scribbled more than a century ago…
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Israel News When Theodor Herzl Lit His Christmas Tree
Natalie Portman made headlines this month when she told the host of “The Tonight Show,” Jimmy Fallon, that she would be decorating her home with a Christmas tree for the first time this year, thus fulfilling “every Jew’s secret wish.” But Portman is far from the first high-profile Jew to deck the halls. In fact,…
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Opinion Shimon Peres Was the Most Romantic Zionist Dreamer Since Theodor Herzl
Anyone who came of political age in the 1980s or 1990s and followed Israel closely will have complex feelings about Shimon Peres. Like so many great democratic leaders, he was also a politician, and in the thick of the country’s internal battles he was never seen inside his own country through the same lens as…
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The Schmooze My Brush With Herzl’s Beard
Just think of Theodor Herzl and what do you see? A long, lush, black beard. There it is on Herzl’s prophetic profile staring out from the hotel balcony in Basel pointing Zion-ward. There it is again groomed in three-quarter portrait, a flowing beard fit for a modern day Moses. No better icon of the Zionist…
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Opinion In WWI, Jews Fought for Britain. So Why Didn’t Britain Fight for Jews?
“Britain has been all she could be to Jews” — a recruitment poster issued at the beginning of World War I reads — “Jews will be all they can to Britain: Join the special Jewish unit.” At the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, it was the policy of the established Jewish community in Britain…
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The Schmooze Did Dreyfus Affair Really Inspire Herzl?
The idea that the trial of Alfred Dreyfus inspired Theodor Herzl to write “The Jewish State” is “simply not true,” Shlomo Avineri declared in a pointed, fluent, and well-received lecture that opened the first full day of London’s Jewish Book Week on February 23. Discussing his biography of the father of modern Zionism, “Herzl: Theodor…
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