Herzl. Hope. Home. |
I am honored to have an exhibit of artifacts from my personal collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. This is my second attempt at doing so. An exhibit was planned for the spring of 2020, which was cancelled because of COVID. A lot has changed since then, but the importance of Herzl has not.
It is critical that the world be reminded (and that we remind ourselves) of who Herzl was and what the Jewish State of his dreams was envisioned to be. He inspired us to remember that we don’t have to be saddled with the world as it is right now, that we can improve our situation to fashion a brighter future. This was a possibility Jews of the late 1800s and early 1900s didn’t envision. It may be that some Jews today don’t envision a brighter future either.
I could not tell Herzl’s entire story in the three glass cabinets that are available. One year ago, I was privileged to have a large exhibit of my collection at Temple Emanu-El in New York. You can enjoy a virtual 3D walk-through of that exhibit here: https://barhama.com/allaboutherzl/tour/. There you will see the full scope of Herzl’s life’s work illustrated by items in my collection.
For Holy Blossom, I curated an entirely different exhibit which focuses on two major Herzl themes which are critically relevant today. They are Hope and Home.
Herzl gave the Jewish people hope. He presented us with a new preposterous idea: that the Jewish people have the right to live safely and freely, just like other people. Zionism is as simple as that. Imagine the spark that that idea lit? I picture Anatevka in Fiddler on the Roof and what it would have felt like to the people of this shtetl when they first heard of Herzl in 1896, and learned of his idea that Jews do not need to live in fear of their neighbors. You might picture the town your parents, grandparents or great grandparents came from, and what........