Theodor Herzl remains one of the defining Jewish thinkers of the modern era because he recognized a truth that many of his contemporaries preferred not to see. Writing amid the rise of European nationalism and in the shadow of the Dreyfus Affair, Herzl concluded that antisemitism was not a temporary prejudice that education, enlightenment, or assimilation would eventually erase. However successful Jews became, their security ultimately depended upon the acceptance of others.

Looking at nineteenth-century Europe, that conclusion was difficult to dispute. The Jews of France believed emancipation had secured their place in society. German Jews saw themselves as cultured and patriotic members of the nation. Across Europe, Jews entered universities, professions, and public life in unprecedented numbers. Yet their success did not end antisemitism. In many places, it intensified resentment and exposed the limits of emancipation.

Herzl’s answer was revolutionary in its simplicity. The problem was not Jewish behavior but Jewish powerlessness. If the Jewish people wished to determine their own fate, they would need what other nations possessed: sovereignty. The Jewish question could not be solved through acceptance alone. It required self-determination.

History vindicated much of Herzl’s diagnosis. The Holocaust demonstrated with horrifying clarity that even deeply integrated Jewish communities could be destroyed. The establishment of the State of Israel transformed the Jewish condition by restoring Jewish agency, power, and sovereignty. Every Jew alive today inhabits a world changed by Herzl’s vision.

Yet Herzl never had the opportunity........

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