One of the obstacles to establishing the Jewish state was Jewish prosperity. Why bother with an independent state when Jews were making profound changes to the entire world? Examples of Jewish success are the Hollywood movie moguls and Marx, Freud and Einstein- three Jews who made the 20th Century.

One of the obstacles to establishing the Jewish state was Jewish prosperity. Why bother with an independent state when Jews were making profound changes to the entire world? Examples of Jewish success are the Hollywood movie moguls and Marx, Freud and Einstein- three Jews who made the 20th Century.

Theodor Herzl abandoned assimilation- the idea that Christian society would accept Jews who quit being Jewish- when he saw angry crowds at the Dreyfuss court-martial who wanted to kill the Jews. Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat, "The Jewish State," and started the Zionist organization that established Israel.

Before Herzl were a handful of Zionists, people who had a vision for Jews living in Israel long before others even thought about it, people who did not get to see the fulfillment of their dreams.