Sometimes it takes a Zionist organization to show Israeli Jews that Israel isn’t the only place where Jews have a future.
At least, that’s what the World Zionist Organization and Habonim Dror, the labor Zionist youth organization, managed to do with a whirlwind trip through Europe this month that retraced the footsteps of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism.
The trip, which took four dozen Israeli 20-somethings through four countries in five days, urged them to consider whether and how Herzl’s Zionist ideals can help Israel resolve the troubles it is facing now. But the trip also was meant to help young Israelis move beyond an Israel-only view of world Jewry, organizers said.
Deborah Laks, a Costa Rica native who lives in Tel Aviv, said the tour convinced her that Jews can make a home in Europe.
“What I’ve seen of young Jews and what they’re creating in Europe — they’re more useful here than they would be in Israel,” she said. “If they go to Israel, who’s going to do it here?”
The bus tour started with Herzl’s birthplace in Budapest, Hungary; moved on to Vienna, where Herzl studied law; to Basel, Switzerland, where the First Zionist Congress was held; and finally to Paris, where Herzl covered the infamous Dreyfus Affair as a correspondent for an Austrian newspaper.
“Zionism in its very essence is a concern with Jewish peoplehood. That’s not going to happen only in the land of Israel,” said David Breakstone, vice chairman of the WZO, which helped organize the trip.
Before the trip, Breakstone said, many participants believed they would see only “abandoned synagogues and Jewish graveyards. But the focus of our trip is Jewish future and Jewish revival, not persecution and the Holocaust.
“We certainly weren’t trying to encourage anyone to devalue the importance of aliyah, but I think it’s important that they understand that those who do not move to Israel are not necessarily abandoning a Jewish future.”
The WZO’s first Herzl-centric European tour was held about a year ago, but it wasn’t focused on Israelis. Participants on this month’s Israel-focused trip said the tour helped them think about old questions in new ways.
“The question of whether or not Europe can be a home for Jews — Herzl asked that question in 1890, but now it’s 2011,” said participant Tamar Levi, a Vancouver native who lives in Hadera, Israel.
Breakstone said the trip complements a larger Herzl revival under way in Israel, with Tel Aviv graffiti featuring modern twists on his famous slogans, a college activist group called If You Will It and a satirical TV show featuring an actor dressed as Herzl serving in a Dr. Phil–type role.
Ten years ago, he said, Herzl was barely mentioned in any real way; now he’s part of Israeli culture and politics again.
“This is all part of a reaction to people waking up and saying, where did we go wrong?” Breakstone said. “We’re kind of rudderless. We need to find some direction again.”
Zionist organizations such as Habonim Dror and WZO see Herzl’s vision of an Israel focused on human dignity and social justice as the answer. And they view trips like the Herzl European tour as the perfect way to energize young Israeli Zionists about the man and his legacy.
“There’s a need to replace the old guard with a new generation,” said Silvio Joskowicz, Habonim Dror’s secretary-general. “We’ve come here to receive inspiration for what we must do. We didn’t just come here for a history tour.”