Benjamin Zev Herzl

Benjamin Zev (Theodore) Herzl

picture from: http://www.wzo.org.il/home/portrait/herzl.htm

Theodore Herzl had a dream...He dreamed of the Jewish People having a land that they call their own. A land where Jews would be safe from those who wanted to hurt them. And although, in 1898 when he was the head of the First Zionist Congress, this seemed impossible, he said, "If you want it, it is no dream."

A ZIONIST is a Jewish person who believes that the Jewish People should have a homeland in the Land of Israel. (Zion is another name for Israel). The Zionist Congress was the group of Jews who came together to try to make a Jewish State. Although they had many different opinions about many different things, all of them wanted to work together to help the Jewish People.

Herzl was born in 1860 in Budapest. He was not very religious. He grew up in a home where his parents did not know very much about Judaism. However, he had a strong Jewish soul. As he saw that even people in "free countries" hated Jews, he became even more concerned for his Jewish brothers and sisters. He knew that in order to be truly free, Jews would need a land of their own! He wrote a book called Altneuland in which he talked of the "Old-New Land" where Jews would build a state.

Herzl died in 1904. His dream came true, though he would never see it.