It is only natural that the speakers, including Israel\u2019s president and prime minister, will argue that Herzl\u2019s Jewish identity endured thanks to his grandfather, who also planted the first Zionist seed in his mind. They will rightly celebrate the establishment of the State of Israel and pledge to defend it.<\/p>\n
But will anyone mention how far Israel has drifted from Herzl\u2019s vision?<\/p>\n
It was laid out in two works. Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), published in 1896, two years before the First Zionist Congress, provided the intellectual foundation for the Zionist movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a memorial ceremony for Zionist leader Theodor Herzl at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on July 5, 2026. (credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY\/POOL)<\/p>\n
In 1902, two years before his death at 44, Herzl published Altneuland (Old-New Land), a novel depicting the future Jewish state. Together, the two books offer not only a political program but also a moral compass.<\/p>\n
Given his principles, how would Herzl respond to the widening inequality in Israel today? How would the man who founded a movement on behalf of a persecuted minority react to the overwhelming rejection of political partnership with Arab citizens in Israel, simply because of their national identity?<\/p>\n
Writing in a Europe marked by stark class divisions, Herzl nevertheless imagined an almost egalitarian society<\/a>. Health care, education, and housing would be guaranteed to all, and so would human dignity.<\/p>\n One episode\u00a0in\u00a0Altneuland\u00a0is\u00a0particularly revealing. Two candidates compete for a leadership position in the Jewish commonwealth: an Arab engineer from Haifa and a Jewish politician of German origin who seeks to deny equal rights to non-Jews. Herzl, a successful playwright and journalist, before turning to politics, causes the racist to lose.<\/p>\n A separation of church and state<\/p>\n Herzl also addressed the relationship between religion and the state. He respected every faith and its leaders, but believed their primary role belonged in religion and culture, not government. Rabbis, he argued, should not intervene<\/a> in affairs of state. A doctor of law, Herzl envisioned an independent, professional judiciary worthy of a liberal state. The country he imagined would be administered by experts, with clear institutional separation between political authority and economic management, thereby avoiding conflicts of interest and preserving public trust.<\/p>\n Although Herzl tirelessly sought financial backing from wealthy supporters, he refused personal compensation. He invested his own money, and that of his wealthy wife, in the Zionist cause. When he died, his family was essentially left destitute.<\/p>\n It is not difficult to imagine what Herzl would think of the polarization that characterizes Israeli politics today. Throughout his career, he sought the broadest possible coalition. He spoke to religious Jews in their language and to intellectuals in theirs, while searching for common ground that would allow the movement to advance with a united purpose.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he championed education, science, and knowledge as the engines of progress and prosperity. Will any of the speakers acknowledge the growing influence of religion in Israel\u2019s public sphere, or the long-term consequences of an expanding population that is not receiving a core secular education?<\/p>\n