do in Vienna or Paris. His image of the flag of the Jewish state – seven stars
in a circle – exemplified its lack of Jewishness: seven stars symbolized the
seven-hour work week.
Herzl presented much of this vision in the Basle Program that he issued at
the First Zionist Congress. This program elicited strong criticism from five
directions, three from outside the Zionist movement and two from within it.
Socialist Jews regarded Zionism as capitalist and as an imperialist ploy.
Orthodox Jews, disturbed by its secular character, condemned Zionism as reli-
gious heresy. Zadok ha-Cohen Rabinowitz of Lublin, the principal Orthodox
critic of Zionism, regarded Zionism as a ruse by Reform Jews:
For me the matter is perfectly plain. The enlightened ones and the
Reformers who imperil the existence of our people have discovered that
through blatent unbelief they will not succeed in driving Israel from its
faith and religion. Therefore, they have thrown off the garment of assim-
ilation and put on a cloak of zeal so that they appear to be zealous on
behalf of Israel.Reform rabbis were equally critical, regarding Zionism as pure folly and con-
trary to the natural course of history:
What more can one say if people are so naïve as to believe that
European Jews will hand over their money to purchase Palestine from
the Turks to create a Jewish organization that will reverse the entire
development of the Jewish nation. Eighteen hundred years ago history
made its decision regarding Jewish nationhood with the dissolution of
the Jewish state.”Within the Zionist movement itself, two critiques of the Basle Program
emerged. Some Zionists believed that the pressing need for a refuge super-
seded the need to secure the Land of Israel as the Jewish homeland. These
Jews came to be known as Territorialists, and broke with the Zionist move-
ment in 1903 when the movement rejected the British government offer of
Uganda as a Jewish homeland. In addition, there were Russian Zionists, most
notably Ahad Ha’am, who regarded Herzl’s Zionism as too narrow, not
attuned to the needs and lifestyle of eastern European Jews, and lacking a
plan to transform the Jews themselves.
The notion of transformation was incorporated into Zionism soon after the
First Zionist Congress by Max Nordau. In an essay called “Muscular Jews,”
Nordau envisioned Zionism as a way to transform Jews into physically
stronger people, thus alleviating what he regarded as the central malady of
diaspora Jews: “In the narrow Jewish street our limbs soon forgot their gay
movements ... the fear of persecution turned our powerful voices into fright-
ened whispers.” With this aim in mind, Nordau helped Zionists found sports
192 Anti-Semitism and Jewish responses, 1870–1914