It depends on the Jews themselves whether this political pamphlet remains for the present a political romance. If the present generation is too dull to understand it rightly; a future; finer and better generation will arise to understand it. The Jews who wish for a State shall have it; and they will deserve to have it.—PrefaceTheodor Herzl's passionate advocacy of the founding of a Jewish state grew out of his conviction that Jews would never be assimilated into the populations in which they lived. Born in Budapest; Hungary in 1860; Herzl encountered anti-Semitism when he attended a scientific secondary school. Later; as a newspaper correspondent in Paris; he was shocked and dismayed by the anti-Semitic prejudice surrounding the notorious Dreyfus affair (Herzl said in later years that it was the Dreyfus affair that had made a Zionist out of him). Herzl concluded that the only solution for the majority of Jews would be organized emigration to a state of their own.He discussed the political and historic rationale for such a homeland in this extraordinary and influential book; first published as a pamphlet; Der Judenstaat; in Vienna in 1896. The Jewish question; he wrote; was not a social or religious question but a national question that could be solved only by making it "a political world question to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council." In 1897; at a world congress of Zionism; he declared; "We want to lay the foundation stone for the house which will become the refuge of the Jewish nation. Zionism is the return to Judaism even before the return to the land of Israel."The present volume is a complete and unabridged republication of The Jewish State; reproduced from the edition published by the American Zionist Emergency Council; New York; 1946. Translated by Sylvie D'Avigdor; it includes an introduction by Louis Lipsky; and a biography of Herzl based on the work of Alex Bein. For Jews; scholars; historians; anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th century; The Jewish State is indispensable reading. This edition makes it widely available in an inexpensive high-quality format.
#2180030 in Books 1959-09-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .50 x 5.00l; .46 #File Name: 0472060341192 pages
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Just started itBy rebecca ellen deyI don't know why I love this book. As an american; I find Russia really difficult to fathom. This book is a fairly successful attempt by a Russian to make sense of Russia.4 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Lots of detailed information; not very interestingBy George StancliffeThe Communism that was practiced in Russia had some major differences from the way it was described by Marx and Engels.Nicolas Berdyaev writes a very much needed analysis of where Russian Communism came from.Although there is much to be learned about how the mindset of the average Russian was shaped over hundreds of years by Roman Law and Russian Orthodox religion; the writing style leaves much to be desired. Even though I studied Russian in college for two years and have a serious interest in Russia; I had difficulty finishing this book.I give Berdyaev 5 stars for information and 1 star for the dry writing style. That averages out to 3 stars.--George Stancliffe6 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Historical insightBy William S JamisonI would suggest that R.M. French's translation is not so much dry as a close translation of the Russian. In this I keep in mind the indeterminancy of translation (Quine) and that "Understanding a sentence means understanding a language." (Wittgenstein) This is a period piece and reading it; even in translation; is entering into the mind of a person living in another cultural world. What feels dry is really a "mind-shift" -- even in the structure of the English.Notice even the structure of the sentences feels more Russian than English: (p. 7) "Already in the fourteenth century there existed" follows precisely the word order in the Russian.Beyond this the main issue concerns the purpose of reading Berdyaev. It seems to me that this is a history of philosophy exercise. However; I am aware that many contemporary Russians consider him to be their favorite philosopher. It certainly would take reading him to find out why and doing this should give us some insights into the hopes and dreams of many of our contemporary Russian friends.
