Nir Bomas, a journalist and a political science researcher in Haifa University, says that this lack of clarity is actually a positive phenomenon. He says it enables an authentic debate on Herzl's legacy, while concentrating the focus on Zionism.
Israel commemorated Herzl Day for the first time this past Thursday. Legislation was passed last year rendering the 10th day of the month of Iyar, Herzl's birthday in 1860, a national day of commemoration of the man who forged and worked for the idea of the modern State of Israel. After he headed the first Zionist Congress in 1897, he wrote in his diary, “In Basel [where the Congress was held - ed.], I founded the Jewish State... If I said this aloud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, and certainly in fifty, everyone will agree.” On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.
A recent poll taken by the Geocartographic Institute in Tel Aviv shows, Bomas noted, that a majority of Israelis feel they "recognize Herzl's legacy," with hareidi-religious Jews and new immigrants largely an exception to this rule. However, their views were mutually exclusive: almost half of the respondents said that Herzl backed a secular state with Jewish symbols, while a quarter said he supported a totally secular state, and the remaining quarter said he favored a totally Jewish state in which religion played a major role. They also disagreed as to whether Herzl wished the state to be a national home, a safe shelter for world Jewry, or a solution to anti-Semitism.
Speaking with Arutz-7, Bomas said that the idea for legislating Herzl Day arose among those - such as Shinui MK Ilan Shalgi, who proposed the bill - who felt that Israeli society does not deal sufficiently with the Zionist legacy. "This day is designed to enable debate, which is currently missing, on Israel as a Zionist and Jewish state, and on questions of religion and state," Bomas said.
The main event of Herzl Day was the inauguration on Thursday of the new Herzl Museum complex on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. Among the participants were President Moshe Katzav, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, Chief Justice Aharon Barak, and Jewish Agency Chairman Salai Meridor. A project of the World Zionist Organization, the new complex includes a state-of-the-art museum with audio-visual features, as well as a Zionist learning center. Among the artifacts on display are the desk on which Herzl wrote “The Jewish State,” and documents from the First Zionist Congress in 1897.
"Herzl's unique status as an assimilated Jew who was far away and came 'home,' Bomas said, "gives him 'first rights' in his political activities to revive the Zionist idea as an organized movement. We should take advantage of that..." He added that Herzl's thinking on unifying the various forces "could help us build a consensus and a new status quo on the backdrop of the disengagement, which demands rapprochement. We must use this day not only to study history, but also to discuss the present reality, to learn the ramifications of the Herzlean vision in the knowledge that just a short time ago, the State of Israel was still a vision."
Rabbi A. I. Kook, in his "Eulogy in Jerusalem" for Herzl, spoke of the contrasting forces of Messiah ben Joseph - "the quest for physical strength and the general appurtenances of national life" - and those of Messiah ben David, which fortify Israel's spiritual strength. Explaining that "the various forces will all end up submitting to the light of the Torah and the knowledge of God," Rabbi Kook implied that Herzl "may have been the harbinger of Messiah ben Joseph, in terms of his role in achieving the great aim of national rebirth in the general, material sense."
Theodor Herzl chiefly saw the need for a Jewish State as a cure to the problem of anti-Semitism. In his 1896 book "The Jewish State," Herzl wrote, "The movement towards the organization of the State I am proposing would [lead to a situation in which] the present anti-Semitism would have been stopped for ever... The departure of the Jews [for the new State] ... will [initially] put an end to anti-Semitism."
Regarding the religious nature of the state he envisioned, Herzl wrote, "Shall we end by having a theocracy? No, indeed. Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests within the confines of their temples in the same way as we shall keep our professional army within the confines of their barracks. Army and priesthood shall receive honors high as their valuable functions deserve. But they must not interfere in the administration of the State which confers distinction upon them, else they will conjure up difficulties without and within."
Regarding language in the new state, Herzl wrote, "We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway ticket in that language! Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of the possibility of a federation of tongues... We shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto languages which we still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues of prisoners. Our national teachers will give due attention to this matter; and the language which proves itself to be of greatest utility for general intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our national tongue."
The first Chief Rabbi of Basel, Switzerland, Rabbi Dr. Asher (Arthur) Cohn - father of Rabbi Kook's friend Dr. Marcus Cohn (instrumental in the fledgling State of Israel’s legislation process), grandfather of the late Shlomo Carlebach, and grandfather of leading Swiss Jewish community member and six-time Oscar award winner film-producer Arthur Cohn - wrote as follows [Of Israel's Teachings and Destiny, Ahron Press, 1972]:
The [First Zionist] Congress proceeded throughout in a most dignified manner. At its head stood Dr. Theodor Herzl, a man of impressive appearance, distinguished and noble manner and frank and upright bearing, which singled him out above the rest as a fitting leader. A Galician Jew rightly applied to him the words, 'He is fit to approach kings' in order to conduct our affairs. At his side, Max Nordau fulfilled the function of Vice President. Nordau, the son of a Hungarian rabbi, is the... most effective speaker I have ever heard... Around these two leaders there assembled more than 200 men of all ages, full of enthusiasm for Zionism and Jerusalem... What an uplifting experience for the believing Jew! ... What wild enthusiasm broke out at the Congress whenever Zion and Jerusalem were mentioned as the object of our hopes..."
Rabbi Cohn wrote that he
"inquired of the Congress whether the settlers might not be hindered in their observance of Jewish laws such as Sabbath and shemittah. Amidst general and widespread applause, Dr. Herzl assured me, in a carefully drafted statement, that Zionism would never hurt the feelings of any religious movement in Judaism."
Regarding the defeat of the religious Zionist Mizrachi proposals at a later Zionist Congress, Rabbi Cohn wrote,
"During the decisive meetings, [Mizrachi] representatives were only allowed to speak in order to offer corrections or suggestions. If Herzl had still been alive, things would have been different. He always showed full understanding of orthodox endeavors, besides he had a noble and sensitive heart. He would not have allowed old, faithful fighters who had served the Zionist cause with great love and devotion [to be so treated]."