Theodor Herzl needed only six days of action to establish a state. Or at least that period of time to understand and absorb that, in this short time, he laid the foundations for the political existence of the Jewish people.
On 1 Elul, 5647 (1897) Herzl was still running around the Stadtcasino concert hall in Basel, starching flags, commenting – like a skilled editor – on the delegates’ speeches that were sent to him ahead of time. He then reprimanded Max Nordau and sent him back to the hotel to change his casual clothes into a frock coat, in accordance with the ceremonial dress code. On Friday, 6 Elul (1897), after the 208 delegates had returned to their relevant countries, Herzl wrote in his diary: “At Basel, I founded the Jewish state.”
What made Herzl realize that the Jewish state had been founded at the special conference of the First Zionist Congress? After all, another fifty years passed until the actual declaration of independence, during which time the Jewish people faced a real danger of annihilation. Herzl had, in fact, launched a vision that expressed a desire. In the following lines in his diary, he wrote: “The foundation of the state was already laid in the people’s desire for a homeland.”
One word in the Hebrew language expresses the transition from the metaphysical event of the First Zionist Congress to the physical event called the State of Israel more than anything else, and that word is “chozeh.” In English, there are two separate meanings for the word “chozeh.” One is “visionary,” and Herzl, who was defined as the State Visionary, represents the vision and belief in the establishment of the Jewish state. The second is “contract,” and Herzl was the one who drafted the contract between the Jewish People and their homeland. In Hebrew, it sounds so much better, clearer, and more real.
