Madam Speaker,
Distinguished Guests,
Those who honor the memory of Theodore Herzl,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Members of Knesset,

On the central wall of this Knesset hall, hangs the portrait of the State visionary, Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl.

I often look at that portrait, at the noble appearance, at the majestic countenance and especially at his expression – in which there is determination, power and also great vulnerability.

Sometimes, the eyes say everything.  For behind the cultural flowering in Europe, and beyond the emancipation of the Jews, the anti-Semitic poison continued to drip, and as the Jews succeeded in moving up the social, economic and cultural ladder, the drips increased until they became a destructive stream.  With his own eyes, Herzl saw how the anti-Semitic poison infiltrated the depths of the consciousness of many Europeans – from all strata of the public.  He heard the call of “death to the Jews” from the mouths of an angry mob, he read accusatory pseudo-scientific articles of hate-filled intellectuals, and understood that the stream was quickly becoming a river of pure evil.  The significance was clear.  Faced with this damage, the Jewish people had to take its fate in its hands, organize itself and take charge of its future.

“A people we are, one people,” he said, and began to awaken from its coma an ancient idea – the establishment of a Jewish state.

Herzl himself led the Jews on this historic journey, and during his short life was privileged to see only its beginning.  However, the longer journey to Zion did not stop.  It crossed chasms of pain, and continued on the path to the heights of national joy – the establishment of the State of Israel in the Land of Israel.

Herzl joined a long list of heroes in Jewish history, and left behind him an important legacy of writing, of thinking and primarily of leadership.  He was a leader in the full sense of the word.  Bold of purpose, but pragmatic in his actions.  A charismatic and persuasive leader, who knew how to deal with the minute details as well as the grand ideas.  A leader who knew how to develop a plan of action for the short-term from a far-off vision, and to plant a magnificent dream in the ground of reality.  Herzl succeeded in raising the Jewish question not only on the agenda of Jewish public opinion, but also on the agenda of international politics.

The liberal and humanistic spirit in which he was educated did not hide from him the deep connection between national Jewish identity and the legacy of Israel.  “Zionism is the return to Judaism even before the return to the Land of the Jews,” he said in the opening speech of the First Zionist Congress in August 1897, and in the introduction of his book, “The Jewish State”, when he referred to the obligatory step of the migration of Jews from their countries, he wrote:

“No man is strong enough or rich enough to move a people from one home to another.  Only an idea can do so.  The idea of a state has such power.  During all the darkness of their history, the Jews never stopped dreaming the dream of sovereignty – ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’ – is our ancient motto.  Now we have to show that from this dream may grow an idea as bright as daylight.”

Madam Speaker,
Members of Knesset,

Even from its inception, the Zionist movement was subjected to serious disagreements – disagreements which touched on the roots of world perception.  Herzl himself, more than once, stood in the face of intense criticism, which hurt him and his leadership.  However, even under the weight of criticism, he knew how to maintain the common characteristics of the Jewish people and the Zionist movement.  He did so in the closing speech of the Sixth Congress, in the shadow of the tempest surrounding the Uganda plan, when he cried to the cheering crowd, “If I forget thee oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning”.

Herzl never considered Uganda an alternative to the Land of Israel, but rather a possible way station before realizing the great vision.  Perhaps Herzl was mistaken when he raised the idea on the agenda of the Zionist movement.  However, in hindsight we know that only to the ancient paths from which we left could we, as a people, return.

And despite this, this does not cloud his greatness.  Because, even if there are no flawless ideas in the world, even if there are no flawless institutions and even if there are no perfect leaders, decisions must be made.  That is how one should lead under conditions in which idleness is worse than deeds in which there are mistakes.  These were the conditions under which Herzl operated.  Herzl understood this, and so too have other great leaders who continued in his path, and realized his vision.

The secret to the strength of the Zionist movement is in the fact that these deeds were never the sole burden of one political stream, one group or one class.  Zionism has always succeeded in sharing the burden, and in moments of truth, can act with shared strengths.  Even among people between whom a vast ideological and cultural gap existed, they knew to join hands and together realize the shared vision – despite polemics, despite arguments, despite disagreements.

It is we, the public leaders of the State of Israel, who daily face a storm of criticism and believe in the existence of the necessary argument regarding the path, it is we who can admire Herzl’s greatness, not only as an intellectual and a dreamer, but also as a man of political and diplomatic action, of meager means and without official status, who placed the Zionist movement on the world map.

Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl’s portrait, which hangs here in this hall, symbolizes the shared vision which can bring together all the members of this house.  This is the vision of a tolerant, pluralistic and advanced Jewish state, a state which practices freedom of conscience and respect for all religious faiths and political beliefs, a state which is an example for the peoples of the world.