Theodore Herzl

By: Daniel Egozi

Early Life • May 2, 1860

•Born in Budapest, Hungary to Jewish family

• Studied law, journalism, and literature in Vienna at 18 years old

• Became literary editor of Neue Freie Presse and wrote plays for Vienna Theater

• He was engaged in a young German activist group

Family

• Father was Jacob Herzl – highly successful business man

• Sister was Pauline Herzl – year older than Theodore and her unexpected death from typhus impacted Theodore greatly

• On June 25 1889 he married Julie Naschauer, a non-Jew and had three kids, Pauline, Trude, and Hans

• They had a miserable marriage

• most of his family is buried with him

Early Influences• His Grandfather, Simon Loeb Herzl, attended Judah Alkalai’s synagogue and had one of the first copies of his 1857 pro Zionist pamphlets

• As a reporter for Neue Freie Presse, Herzl covered the Dreyfus Affair in 1894 , where a Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish army captain, was wrongly convicted of spying for Germany

• Following the conviction Herzl witnessed mass rallies where people chanted, “Death to the Jews”

• He then wrote a play called a new ghetto, which showed the lack of equality for Jews in Vienna

Zionist Leader• Herzl’s belief in Zionism began to spread

• Theodore Herzl met with the Sultan of Turkey in 1896 to ask for a Jewish home in Palestine but the Sultan rudely refused, saying that Palestine would always remain Muslim

• In 1897, Herzl planned the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland and he was elected President

• In 1898, he began a series of initiatives to build a Jewish country

• He was received by the German emperor several times and he attended the Hague Peace Conference

• In 1902-03, Herzl negotiated with the Egyptian government to have the Jewish state in Al’ Arish, in the Sinai Peninsula

Zionist Leader • In 1902-03, Herzl tried to obtain support for the Jewish homeland from Pope Pius X, but the Pope couldn’t support the Jews if they didn’t accept the divinity of Christ

• In 1903, the British government offered Herzl British East Africa, Uganda, to be the Jewish state

• Herzl, being threatened by the Russian government, when to Russia to beg the government to treat Jews in Russia better

• Herzl was in favor of taking Uganda as the Jewish state because of all of the pogroms in Russia so he proposed the offer at the Sixth Zionist Congress

• The Seventh Zionist Congress however, voted against it, saying that the Jewish homeland must be in the Promised Land

Death and Burial• Herzl died July 3, 1904, before the Uganda plan was rejected

• Died at age 44 of heart failure and pneumonia

• He wished to have a poor funeral without speeches or flowers, and to be buried in a vault by his father until his remains could be taken to Palestine

• In 1949 his body was taken to the new State of Israel where it was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, his memorial, cemetery, and major tourist attraction

• It is know Israel’s army cemetery, and many famous Zionist leaders were buried there, such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Levi Eshkol

• Most of Herzl’s family is also buried there, alongside him

• Herzl is forever known as the leader of Zionism and the man who pushed for a State of Israel

Facts• Two of his uncles and one of his aunts completely rejected the religious aspect of Judaism

• Herzl’s wife, a non-Jew was mentally unstable and so were his children, causing them to die tragically

• Pauline died of a mental illness and a drug addiction

• Hans converted to Catholicism and committed suicide

• Trude, also mentally unstable, died in a Nazi death camp

• Herzl’s only grandchild, Stephan, jumped off of the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge

• Herzl’s children lost his wife’s ashes accidentally

• Herzl’s only son was uncircumcised

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E212ggKqKt0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwv-W0bvV20&feature=youtube_gdata

Eliezer Ben Yehuda

By: Daniel Egozi

Early Life• Born January 7, 1858 in Luzhki, Lithuania as Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman

• At three, he started to attend a cheder where he studied Hebrew and Bible

• By 12 years old he was reading large portions of Torah, Mishna, and Talmud

• His parents wanted him to become a Rabbi, so they sent him to a yeshiva

• He continued to learn ancient Hebrew but later learned French, German, and Russian

• Sent to Dunaburg for more education

Family•Parents were Yehuda Leib and Feyga Perelman

•First wife, Devora Jonas, died in 1891of tuberculosis, leaving him with five small children

• She wanted him to marry her younger sister, Paula Beila whose Hebrew name was Hemda, and he did

• Three of his children died of diphtheria, all within 10 days

Early Influences• Eliezer Ben Yehuda read the Hebrew language newspaper, HaShahar and became fully acquainted with the language and Zionism

• With his knowledge in the belief of Zionism, he was convinced that the revival of the Hebrew language could unite all Jews worldwide

• Moved to Paris to study at Sorbonne University

• Studied history and politics of the Middle East and advanced Hebrew classes

• He was then convinced that the revival of the Hebrew language was practical

The Making of the Hebrew Language• In 1881, Eliezer Ben Yehuda immigrated to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem

• Motivated by ideas of Zionism, he set out to create a language that would replace Yiddish

• He successfully renewed the Hebrew language

• Raised his son entirely on Hebrew

• Established the Committee of the Hebrew language, later known as the Academy of the Hebrew language

• Some words never caught on

Journalistic Career• Editor of several Hebrew language newspapers: HaZvi, Hashkafa, HaOr

• HaZvi closed down for a year because of Orthodox Jews’ objection to the use of Hebrew, “the holy tongue,” for everyday conversation

• Wrote first modern Hebrew dictionary

• His second wife, Hemda, was one of the editors for the newspaper, allowing him to concentrate on creating the language

Death and Commemoration• Died December of 1922 at age 64 of Tuberculosis

• He is buried on Mount of Olives

• 30,000 people went to his funeral

• Eliezer Ben Yehuda is forever known as the reviver of the Hebrew language

• One of the most popular streets for tourists in Israel is Ben Yehuda Street

Facts• Eliezer Ben Yehuda and his first wife, Devora, raised the first ever modern Hebrew speaking family

• His son Ben Zion Ben Yehuda was the firs child ever raised on the modern Hebrew language

• Eliezer Ben Yehuda refused to expose his child to any other language

• When he caught his wife singing his child a Russian lullaby, he scolded her

• He changed his name from Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman to Eliezer Ben Yehuda in 1879

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVBM1_9EttY

Song Lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgnHCVmrzw