Melvin I. Urofsky. American from Herzl to the Holocaust. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. xv + 538 pp. ISBN 978-0-585-33995-5.

Reviewed by Peter S. Margolis

Published on H-Judaic (August, 1997)

American Zionism from Herzl to the Holo‐ and gave heavily to create and maintain a Jewish caust is a monument to the interplay between the state, but European and Palestinian could Zionism of America and that of Europe, resulting never admit that their brethren in the United in the creation of a thoroughly American move‐ States had other things to ofer besides cash" (p. ment with worldwide infuence. Urofsky credits 113). the unique character of the American variant to Those "other things" included responsible and Louis D. Brandeis, who translated the imported accurate disbursement of funds, an emphasis on European ideology into a variety of American pro‐ practical, concrete tasks, and a guiding commit‐ gressive reform. This was the cause of many in‐ ment to social justice. It was a program guaran‐ ternecine political struggles and much misunder‐ teed to put the Americans on a collision course standing, and continues to fog the relationship be‐ with European Zionists. The latter saw marginal tween Israeli and American Jews. Jews substituting an essentially non-Jewish Amer‐ The First World War decimated European ican progressivism for their ignorance of Jewish Zionism at the precise moment when the need for culture. As proof, the Europeans pointed to the a haven for Jews had never been greater. When unwillingness of their American counterparts to American Jewry was called upon to fll the organi‐ make Zionism the central element in their lives. zational vacuum, it could feld only a bankrupt, , for example, had immediately divided, and inefective Zionist movement. Bran‐ relinquished his chair at the Manchester Universi‐ deis was approached to serve as a sort offgure- ty when ofered leadership of the European move‐ head Herzl: a wealthy and assimilated Jewish ment; by contrast, Brandeis never seriously con‐ brahmin who, it was hoped, would grant the sidered giving Zionism primacy over his Supreme movement access to the pocketbooks of his peers. Court appointment. What the Zionists got was, in today's jargon, a The Europeans failed to appreciate that new paradigm: a Zionism for the Jew who would American Zionists were fghting on a front never live in , yet would sacrifce both uniquely their own. In order for Zionism to suc‐ time and treasure to make it possible for others to ceed in America, Urofsky maintains, it had to deci‐ do so. Long on philanthropy and short on ideolo‐ sively counter Reform charges of dual loyalty. gy, Brandeis nevertheless was well aware that a Zionists needed "a positive approach portraying was the unstated goal of any form of Zionism as a fulfllment of obligation and Zionist Zionism. Urofsky writes: "In time, American Jews work as the natural extension of Jewish and did become the fnancial backbone of Zionism American ideals" (p. 115). Only by exemplifying H-Net Reviews what he considered the best of Americanism ing on rebuilding Palestine by fscally conserva‐ could Brandeis hope to attract to Zionism Jews tive methods, Brandeis "made Zionism acceptable who had struggled mightily to establish them‐ to American Jewry his emphasis on practical selves in America. work in the re-building of Palestine gave Ameri‐ The result was a sharp contrast with the vis‐ can Jews the concrete task they needed to trans‐ ceral yiddishkeit and messianic overtones of Zion‐ form a Zionist philosophy into terms relevant to ism in Europe: a Zionism with no detectable cul‐ them" (p. 297). tural program, ignorant of Hebrew, disinterested On the other hand, Weizmann "tapped a in philosophizing, prone to somnambulence in reservoir closed to the rational approach of the the absence of external stimuli, yet superbly capa‐ American leadership Weizmann's messianic out‐ ble of rising to meet the needs of any crisis. The look, his near-mystical approach to restoration" ebb and fow of American Zionist membership (p. 298) linked Zionism organically to the common rolls refected Jewish fortunes worldwide and the psychological and historical experience of the ecomonic situation at home; in parallel ran the Jews. ongoing clash of the Zionist exemplars Weizmann Unable by virtue of temperament to see that and Brandeis and their respective followings the movement needed both the rationalism of through the 1920s and 1930s. Urofsky amply doc‐ Brandeis and the emotionalism of Weizmann, the uments the seminal conferences, the bitter argu‐ two split the movement, to be reunited only in re‐ ments, the wounded egos, the ultimatums and sponse to progressively more severe crises, begin‐ compromises, the forming and re-forming of fac‐ ning with Arab riots and culminating in the Holo‐ tions, the charges and counter-charges slung back caust. Inevitably, a synthesis took place. Weiz‐ and forth between men ^ and a few women ^ mann's expanded Jewish Agency in the 1920s, de‐ striving to ameliorate the Jewish situation accord‐ signed to attract funds from non-Zionists, was de‐ ing to their own lights. cidedly Brandeisian both in its pragmatism and Serious friction between the American and its fnancial accountability. And the deterioration European Zionists leaders was precipitated by the of the Jewish condition overseas lent an urgency reorganization of the Zionist Organization of to the need for a Jewish homeland that contrib‐ America in 1918. Brandeis presented his plan at uted to the return of the Brandeis faction in 1930. the ZOA convention in Pittsburgh on June 25, But rather than vindication, the Brandeisists 1918, the frst major Zionist gathering following found that "the great depression had cut the f‐ the and the capture of nancial ground from under their feet at the same Jerusalem. His Pittsburgh Plarform virtually time that foreign afairs forced a radical rethink‐ equated Zionism with the parameters of Ameri‐ ing of Zionist policy" (p. 371). can social reform, ignoring the religious senti‐ That rethinking grew out of the British repu‐ ments, nationalism, and Hebraic cultural issues so diation of the Balfour Declaration in the face of vital to the European Zionists. Arab rejection, coinciding with Hitler's rise to The disparate conceptions of Zionism in‐ power. It became clear that neither Britain nor evitably led to a clash of titans between Weiz‐ the United States would do anything substantial to mann and Brandeis in an acrimonious schism in rescue European Jews from the impending Nazi 1921. Urofsky summarizes what seemed at the onslaught. The British applied their policy of ap‐ time to be unbridgeable diferences as follows: peasement to Palestine as they did to Czechoslova‐ By de-emphasizing Jewish nationalism and a kia; the United States, with isolationist pressures distinctive Jewish culture in favor of concentrat‐

2 H-Net Reviews at home, was unwilling to antagonize the British, The writing of history is itself an historical seeing them as the frst bulwark against Nazism. act: in discussing an aspect of the past, the histori‐ With the world's democracies efectively par‐ an illuminates the spirit and concerns of his own alyzed and European Jewry abandoned to a fate moment. Urofsky's thesis is both convincing and that would exceed anything previously imagin‐ thoroughly supported, with over 80 pages of notes able, a process of radicalization took place in the and bibliographical materials. More than that, the American Zionist movement. From a Depression- re-issue of American Zionism to coincide with the era low of 13,000 members, the roster of the ZOA centenary of Zionism is compelling in a very con‐ grew to 46,000 in 1941 as Brandeisian pragmatism temporary sense. The State of Israel, while better was harnessed to try to save European Jewry by established and more secure than its founders raising funds for some sort of practical work. could have envisioned, is fghting for its inner life America's entry into the war in December of 1941 in a perilous struggle between the polarized ide‐ removed the impediment of isolationism from the ologies of secularism and religious fundamental‐ American Zionist demand that more must be ism. Perhaps the practical genius American Zion‐ done for European Jewry. The frustration of help‐ ism will once again contribute to a synthesis, this lessness gradually crystallized around a single time one that can stimulate the emergence of Jew‐ point: where in the past American Zionists could ish pluralism in Israel. hope for a Jewish place of refuge under the Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights re‐ British , opinion now galva‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft nized around the unequivocal need for a Jewish educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ state. thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ That radicalization efectively bridged long- tact [email protected]. simmering ideological rivalries and eradicated most remaining non-Zionist sentiments. It found ofcial expression at the Biltmore conference in New York in May of 1942. In what would become known as the Biltmore Declaration, the assembled Zionist delegates unanimously rejected British policy and demanded that "Palestine be estab‐ lished as a Jewish Commonwealth integrated in the structure of the new democratic world." Urofsky sees this as a new beginning for American Zionism, the conclusion of the uneasy symbiosis with the European movement, and a Hegelian synthesis of the two: "The Brandeisists taught the Eastern Europeans how to rebuild Zion utilizing American techniques^and laid down as a cardinal rule that only by being American could Zionism succeed in this country. In turn, the east‐ ern Europeans taught that Zionism had to be something more than men, money, and discipline, that it had to involve the heart as well as the mind" (p. 428).

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Citation: Peter S. Margolis. Review of Urofsky, Melvin I. American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. August, 1997.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1246

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