HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

242 ASHER WILCHERof rights which was granted to the Jews on paper is not respected in reality.Higher positions in public service are closed to the Jews almost everywhere.The Jews are discriminated against, differently in different countries, butsystematically. Governments that might want to protect Jews declaredly wouldthereby dig their own graves, because they would become unpopular. Povertycrushes the Jewish masses, but this very same misery and persecution bringsthe Jews together and awakes their sense of solidarity, the sense of nationalcommunity.In Dr. Herzl's opinion the Jewish problem is not an exclusively religiousproblem nor an exclusively social one — it is a national problem. The Jews area separate nation. The Jewish problem will not be solved until this nationreclaims its own country, its own soil to labor on for itself, to cultivate its owntraditions — a country where the nation will feel itself to be on its own.Attempts to colonize the Jews have failed, and it could not have happenedotherwise, because those attempts were sporadic, extraneous, sometimescompulsory —they did not result from the Jews' own desire, they did not takeinto account Jewish historical traditions.The Jews ought to have their own plan and organize their transmigration bymeans appropriate to modern conditions. They will not lack for intelligence orfor capital. According to Dr. Herzl's plan, two organizations must be established:a Jewish association which would take upon itself the moral aspect ofthe plan, that is, would organize and prepare the Jewish masses and wouldnegotiate with the great powers to obtain land suitable for colonization; aJewish company which would take care of the financial side of the plan. Theseorganizations must procure recognition by the great powers of the completeindependence and neutrality of the future Jewish state, and then one canproceed to the plan's execution.The choice, strictly speaking, is between two countries, Argentina orPalestine, but the author evidently tends more toward Palestine because of itsimmemorial historical tradition. If the Turkish sultan were to grant Palestinecomplete independence, the Jews could offer, as recompense, to put his statefinances in order. The colonization of the land, when all its settled inhabitantshave been bought out, would be carried out gradually, starting wih the poorestJews who, in the author's opinion, would be drawn to their new homeland indroves. Next would come the intelligentsia and, eventually, the rich. Thebeginning of this colonization would also mark the end of antisemitism. TheJews would quietly leave Europe; in Asia they would become the bulwark ofcivilization, and if one of them would like to visit Europe now and then, hewould be welcomed as a dear old acquaintance.As we can see, this is an absolute idyll, and the author did not fail to depictits every detail, in particular those that concern the internal organization of thefuture Jewish republic. One cannot deny, however, that his plan is inspired byan eager faith in and a fervent love for his people, especially for those of its