14 | MAY 11 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER
Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) is
considered the spiritual father of
modern Israel. An Austrian-Hungarian
lawyer, journalist, writer and activist,
Herzl become convinced that Jews
needed a homeland. To champion this
cause, he published Der Juderstaat (The
State of the Jews) in 1896. Herzl then
convened and chaired the first Zionist
Conference in Basel, Switzerland, in
1897. This was the birth of Zionism, or
the idea that Jews should one day return
to “Zion.
”
Herzl proclaimed, “If you will
it, it is no dream.
” Although he
did not live to see the birth of
modern Israel, his dedication
and efforts were the beginning
of serious efforts to promote the Zionist
ideal. European Jews began to purchase
and move to lands now within the
borders of modern Israel. The World
Zionist Conference still meets and,
today, the Israeli Soldier’s Memorial is
on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Two decades later, as the first World
War (1914-1918) devastated Europe,
the United Kingdom (U.K.) took an
important step toward the creation
of Israel. On Nov. 2, 1917, it issued
the Balfour Declaration. This paper
formally declared the U.K.
’s support
for a Jewish homeland after WWI in
the area known as British Mandate
Palestine.
After WWI, France and England
received “mandates,
” that is, control
over lands and people that were
formerly part of the Ottoman Empire.
The U.K. received a mandate over
areas designated as “Palestine” and
Transjordan (now Jordan), in which
lived Jewish, Arab, Christian and other
religious and ethnic groups.
THE ZIONIST CAUSE
Many Jewish Detroiters supported
the Zionist cause. The Detroit Jewish
Chronicle, the city’s only English-
language Jewish newspaper in 1916,
published reports about Jewish
communities in the future British
Mandate Palestine. This area was
known to Jews as the Yishuv, which is a
word describing Jewish residents who
aspired to form a modern Jewish State
in the Land of Israel (
Eretz Yisrael).
The idea of Zionism and the creation
of a Jewish homeland, however, was a
controversial subject in America and
Detroit in the 1920s and 1930s. This
was an era of virulent antisemitism in
the U.S., promoted by public figures
such as the infamous Father Charles
Coughlin of Royal Oak, the “Radio
Priest” with a nationwide audience;
pioneer flyer Charles Lindbergh
and his “
America First Committee,
”
an organization that promoted
antisemitism while masquerading
as a protector of American values;
and local automaker Henry Ford and
his viciously antisemitic Dearborn
Independent newspaper.
For many Jewish Americans, Zionism
was a difficult movement to support.
Many believed that if they professed
support for a Jewish state, they would
be publicly accused of disloyalty to the
United States. America was a relatively
good place for Jews.
Other Jewish Americans, however,
feared that the pervasive antisemitism
of the pre-WWII era in America
continued from page 13
“IF YOU WILL IT,
IT IS NO DREAM.”
— THEODOR HERZL
lived Jewish, Arab, Christian and other
the Zionist cause. The
language Jewish newspaper in 1916,
published reports about Jewish
known to Jews as the
continued on page 16
Wednesday, June 21 I 7:00PM
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The J, 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322
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