Page 139 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Immigration and sweatshops

being to divulge and invest in other humans his accumulated
knowledge, ideas, and other thoughts, which might be useful, and it
pleases us to have companions in our accepted ideology. It was my
belief, shared by other Jews who foresaw the future of our people in
the oppressed countries of Europe, that someday we would all have
to have a refuge and a recognized state, no matter how small an area,
but an independent state where the Jewish cause would be
represented by an organized and recognized body.
Of course, no group of people who intend to formulate laws and
regulations for such a community could exist very long if they were
talking in a dozen different tongues, not understanding each other. It
would be confusion, appearing like a masquerade ball where nobody
knows anybody else, and outsiders have most of the fun. It was seen
in the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland that a nation or any
group of people wishing to exist as a unit and be recognized as such
must have three fundamental things. First, a people, meaning a
population sufficient to choose a representative body of lawmakers
and executives. Second, a land, which that population should possess,
claim possession of, or formerly possess and claim the rights to.
Third, an official and hegemonic language, in order for the people to
be able to live together in peace and harmony.
At the Basel Congress, the president, Dr. Herzl, opened the
gathering in German, which was interpreted in Russian, Romanian,
English, French, Yiddish, and Hungarian. The invocation was in
Hebrew. It was at the same time that Zionism was reborn and made
into a practice and a sound plan of action that the claim for the
Hebrew language as the national and everyday language for the future
was born. The Jew had his claim to Palestine; although he had been
absent for centuries, the world lent an ear to his pleading. The
Hebrew language was never absent from the Jewish tongue, even
under the most assimilating periods in Jewish history. It was needed
at least at the rejoicing of birth and for the burial prayers. Those who
were brought up in and understood the language believed in its future
as a state language and carried on propaganda for it amongst the
Jewish youth.

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