Page:Zionism problems and views.pdf/9

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INTRODUCTION
BY
Dr. MAX NORDAU

There is nothing vague or hazy about the tenets of Zionism. It is easy to state them clearly and tersely, as follows:

The Jews form not merely a religious community but also a nation.

There are Jews who sever their national bonds and tend towards the dissolution of the people of Israel in their non-Jewish surroundings. But the large majority of Jews, chiefly in Eastern Europe, desire ardently to preserve their Jewish national identity. Zionism has no meaning for Jews who favour the melting-pot theory. It is the ideal of those who feel themselves to belong to a Jewish nation.

These latter are convinced that in order to work out their possibilities of progress in civilization, to develop their character, to realize their hereditary notions of morals, justice, and brotherhood, and to escape the blighting influence of hatred and persecution, they must be redeemed from

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