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
The Berman Center for the Performing Arts

The J, 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322

jewishdetroit.org/awards

