What animated a young, assimilated journalist in Vienna to throw himself into the cause of Jewish peoplehood? How did he navigate the often-tempestuous waters of Jewish establishments alternately suspicious of and hostile to his Zionist fantasies even as he was embraced as a hero by ordinary Jews across Europe?
In retrospect, Herzl’s vision of a Jewish state seems an obvious answer to the violence of antisemitism. At the time, his dream seemed fantastical. Yet his seminal work, Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews), and his efforts laid the groundwork for an entirely new Jewish future.
Two of the world’s leading Herzl scholars will discuss ALL THINGS HERZL in a fascinating conversation about the man himself, how far his vision has brought us and how Herzl might perceive contemporary Israel and world Jewry.
Dr. Daniel Polisar, Executive Vice-President and Cofounder of Shalem College and founding chairman of the Israeli Prime Minister’s National Council for the Commemoration of the Legacy of Theodor Herzl.
Dr. Gil Troy, scholar at McGill University currently living in Jerusalem, author of more than a dozen books, including the new three-volume set, Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings, which he edited, and The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland — Then, Now, Tomorrow.
Moderated by Suzanne Berns, Curator, Theodor Herzl Archive at the Central Zionist Archives (CZA), which is part of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
