About Zionism · Albert Einstein
ASSIMILATION AND NATIONALISM
(1) Before we can effectively combat anti-Semitism, we must first of all educate ourselves out of it and out of the slave-mentality which it betokens. We must have more dignity, more independence, in our own ranks. Only when we have the courage to regard ourselves as a nation, only when we respect ourselves, can we win the respect of others; or rather, the respect of others will then come of itself. Anti-Semitism as a psychological phenomenon will always be with us so long as Jews and non-Jews are thrown together. But where is the harm? It may be thanks to anti-Semitism that we are able to preserve our existence as a race; that at any rate is my belief. When I come across the phrase “German Citizens of the Jewish Persuasion,” I cannot avoid a melancholy smile. What does this high-falutin’ description really mean? What is this “Jewish persuasion”? Is there, then, a kind of non-persuasion by virtue of which one ceases to be a Jew? There is not. What the description really means is that our _beaux esprits_ are proclaiming two things: First, I wish to have nothing to do with my poor (East European) Jewish brethren; Secondly, I wish to be regarded not as a son of my people, but only as a member of a religious community.
Is this honest? Can an “Aryan” respect such dissemblers? I am not a German citizen, nor is there anything about me that can be described as “Jewish persuasion.” But I am a Jew, and I am glad to belong to the Jewish people, though I do not regard it as “chosen.” Let us just leave anti-Semitism to the non-Jews, and keep our own hearts warm for our kith and kin. (1920) (2) Until about a generation ago the Jews in Germany did not regard themselves as belonging to the Jewish people. They felt themselves only members of a religious community, and many of them still hold this point of view. They are, in fact, much more assimilated than the Russian Jews. They have been to mixed schools, and have thus adapted themselves to German national and cultural life. Nevertheless, and in spite of the equal political rights which they have secured, there exists in Germany a strong movement of social anti-Semitism. And it is just the educated circles who have set themselves up as carriers of this anti-Semitic disease. They have built up for themselves a “culture” of anti-Semitism, while the educated Russians, at least before the war, were on the whole philo-Semitic, and made frequent and honest endeavours to fight the anti-Semitic movement.
This phenomenon in Germany is due to several causes. Partly it originates in the fact that Jews there exercise an influence over the intellectual life of the German people altogether out of proportion to their numbers. While, in my opinion, the economic position of the German Jews is very much over-rated, the influence of Jews on the press, in literature and in science in Germany is very marked, as must be apparent to even the most superficial observer. This accounts for the fact that there are many anti-Semites there whose anti-Semitism is not just hatred of the Jew, but is based on arguments in which they honestly believe. They regard Jews as of a nationality different from the German, and therefore are alarmed at the increasing Jewish influence on their national life. Although perhaps the percentage of Jews in England is not much less than in Germany, English Jews certainly do not exercise the influence on English society that German Jews do in Germany. This notwithstanding that the highest professional positions are accessible to them, and a Jew can become Lord Chief Justice or Viceroy of India, whereas in Germany the attainment of such positions by a Jew is unthinkable.
In many instances anti-Semitism may be determined by political considerations. It often depends, in other words, on the political party to which a man belongs whether he becomes a professed anti-Semite. A Socialist, for instance, even if he is an anti-Semite by conviction, will not proclaim his creed or act up to it, because it is not in the programme of his party. Among Conservatives, however, it is different. Anti-Semitism in their case arises from a desire to exacerbate for their party purposes the ill-feeling inherent in the populace. In a country like England, this influence is smaller than in many others, while the existence of old and deep-rooted liberal traditions hinders the rapid growth of anti-Semitism. I say this without any personal knowledge of the country. I have never until now been in England. That, I would add in parenthesis, perhaps accounts for the enthusiasm with which my theories were received here. But in Germany the judgement of my theories depended on the party politics of the press, while English science did not allow its sense of objectivity to be disturbed by political views. The English people have had a great influence on the development of science, and so have tackled the examination of the theory of relativity with particular energy and particular success. Whilst in America, again, anti-Semitism knows only social forms, in Germany communal anti-Semitism is much stronger even than social. As I view the matter, the fact of the racial peculiarities of Jews is bound to have an influence on their social intercourse. I believe that German Judaism is thus being influenced to a great extent by anti-Semitism. With increasing wealth and increasing education the religious customs which formerly prevented the mixing of Jews with Gentiles have tended to disappear. There was thus nothing but the antithesis which Jews represent, and which is called anti-Semitism, to preserve Jewish separateness. Without this antithesis assimilation in Germany would have been complete long ago.
I have noticed this sort of thing in myself. Until two years ago I lived in Switzerland, and during my stay there I did not realise my Judaism. There was nothing that called forth any Jewish sentiments in me. When I moved to Berlin all that changed. There I realised the difficulties with which many young Jews were confronted. I saw how, amid anti-Semitic surroundings, systematic study, and with it the road to a safe existence, was made impossible for them. This refers specially to the Eastern-born Jews in Germany, who were continually exposed to provocation. I do not believe that their number is large in Germany as a whole. Only in Berlin are they at all numerous. Nevertheless, their presence has become a public question. At meetings and conferences and in the press there is a movement for disposing of them quickly or interning them. Housing difficulties and the economic depression are used as arguments for these harsh measures. Facts are deliberately exaggerated in order to influence public opinion. These Eastern-born Jews are made the scapegoat of all the ills of present-day German political life and all the after-effects of the war. Incitement against these unfortunate fugitives, who have only just saved themselves from the hell which Eastern Europe means for them to-day, has become an effective political weapon, employed with success by every demagogue. When the Government contemplated the expulsion of these Jews, I stood up for them, and pointed out in the _Berliner Tageblatt_ the inhumanity and the folly of such a measure. Together with some colleagues, Jews and non-Jews, I started University courses for these Eastern-born Jews, and I must add that in this matter we enjoyed official recognition and considerable assistance from the Ministry of Education.
These and similar happenings have awakened in me the Jewish national sentiment. I am a national Jew in the sense that I demand the preservation of the Jewish nationality as of every other. I look upon Jewish nationality as a fact, and I think that every Jew ought to come to definite conclusions on Jewish questions on the basis of this fact. I regard the growth of Jewish self-assertion as being in the interests of non-Jews as well as of Jews. That was the main motive of my joining the Zionist movement. For me Zionism is not merely a question of colonisation. The Jewish nation is a living thing, and the sentiment of Jewish nationalism must be developed both in Palestine and everywhere else. To deny the Jew’s nationality in the Diaspora is, indeed, deplorable. If one adopts the point of view of confining Jewish ethnic nationalism to Palestine, then to all intents and purposes one denies the existence of a Jewish people. In that case one should have the courage to carry through assimilation as quickly and as completely as possible. We live in a time of intense and perhaps exaggerated nationalism. But my Zionism does not exclude cosmopolitan views. I believe in the actuality of Jewish nationality, and I believe that every Jew has duties towards his co-religionists. The meaning of Zionism is thus many-sided. To Jews who despair in the Ukrainian hell or in Poland it opens out hopes of a more human existence. Through the return of Jews to Palestine, and so to a normal and healthy economic life, Zionism involves a creative function, which should enrich mankind at large. But the main point is that Zionism must tend to enhance the dignity and self-respect of the Jews in the Diaspora. I have always been annoyed by the undignified assimilationist cravings and strivings which I have observed in so many of my friends.
Through the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine, the Jewish people will again be in a position to bring its creative abilities into full play without hindrance. Through the Jewish University and similar institutions the Jewish people will not only help forward its own national renaissance, but will enrich its moral culture and knowledge, and will once again, as it was centuries ago, be guided into better ways of life than those which are inevitably imposed on it in present conditions. (1921) (3) The rebuilding of Palestine is for us Jews not a mere matter of charity or emigration: it is a problem of paramount importance for the Jewish people. Palestine is first and foremost not a refuge for East European Jews, but the incarnation of a re-awakening sense of national solidarity. But is it opportune to revive and to strengthen this sense of solidarity? To that question I must reply with an unqualified affirmative, not only because that answer expresses my instinctive feeling, but also, I believe, on rational grounds. Let us glance at the history of the Jews in Germany during the last century or so. A hundred years ago our ancestors, with very few exceptions, still lived in the Ghetto. They were poor, and were separated from the Gentiles by a barrier of religious traditions, secular forms of life and legal restrictions. In their spiritual development they were confined to their own literature, and were influenced but faintly by the immense impetus which the Renaissance had given to the intellectual life of Europe. But in one respect these men, humbly placed and scantly regarded as they were, had a distinct advantage over us.
Each one of them was bound by every fibre of his being to a community which embraced his whole existence, of which he felt himself a full member, and which made on him no demand that ran counter to his natural mode of thought. Our ancestors of those days were rather cramped both materially and spiritually, but as a social organism they were in an enviable state of psychological equilibrium. Then came emancipation. It opened undreamt of vistas of progress. Individual Jews rapidly became at home in the higher strata of economic and social life. They eagerly absorbed the brilliant achievements of Western art and science. They threw themselves with ardour into these developments, and themselves made contributions of permanent value. In the process they adopted the ways of life of the non-Jewish world, became increasingly estranged from their own religious and social tradition, acquired non-Jewish habits, customs and modes of thought. It seemed as though they were going to be completely dissolved in the surrounding peoples, so much more numerous than themselves, so superior in their political and cultural organisation, and that in a few generations no visible trace of them would remain. The complete disappearance of the Jews in Central and Western Europe seemed inevitable. But things turned out differently.
Nations with racial differences appear to have instincts which work against their fusion. The assimilation of the Jews to the European nations among whom they lived, in language, in customs, and to some extent even in the forms of religious organisation, could not eradicate the feeling of a lack of kinship between them and those among whom they lived. In the last resort, this instinctive feeling of lack of kinship is referable to the law of the conservation of energy. For this reason it cannot be eradicated by any amount of well-meant pressure. Nationalities do not want to be fused: they want to go each its own way. A state of peace can be brought about only if they mutually tolerate and respect one another. This demands above all things that we Jews become once more conscious of our nationality, and regain the self-respect which is necessary to our national existence. We must learn once more to avow our ancestry and our history; we must once more take upon ourselves, as a nation, cultural tasks of a kind calculated to strengthen our feeling of solidarity. It is not sufficient for us to take part as individuals in the cultural work of mankind: we must also set our hands to some work which can serve the ends of our corporate national existence. In this way and in this way only can the Jewish people regain its health.
It is from this point of view that I look upon the Zionist movement. History has to-day allotted us the task of contributing actively to the economic and cultural reconstruction of Palestine. Inspired men of genius and vision have laid the foundations of our work, to which many of the best among us are prepared to devote their whole lives. It were well if all of us felt the full significance of the work and contributed each his utmost to its success. It was in America that I first discovered the Jewish people. I have seen any number of Jews, but the Jewish people I had never met either in Berlin or elsewhere in Germany. This Jewish people, which I found in America, came from Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe generally. These men and women still retain a healthy national feeling; it has not yet been destroyed by the process of atomisation and dispersion. I found these people extraordinarily ready for self-sacrifice and practically creative. They have, for instance, managed in a short time to secure the future of the projected University in Jerusalem, at any rate so far as the Medical Faculty is concerned. I also found that it was mostly the middle classes and the ordinary folk, and not those enjoying a high social position or any natural advantages, who had most conspicuously preserved the healthy feeling of belonging together and the willingness to make sacrifices. The impression that I gained there is that if we really succeed in establishing a nucleus of the Jewish people in Palestine, we shall once more have a spiritual centre, notwithstanding that the great majority of us are scattered over the world, and the feeling of isolation will disappear. That is the great redeeming effect which I anticipate from the rebuilding of Palestine.
(1921) (4) I am convinced that our colonising work in Palestine will be successful in the sense that we shall create there a completely coherent community, well fitted to form a moral and spiritual centre for the Jewish people. Therein, and not on the economic side, I see the real significance for us all of the work of reconstruction. In my opinion it is not so important for Palestine to become economically independent at the earliest possible moment as for it to possess a high spiritual and moral value for the whole Jewish people. From this point of view much has already been achieved by the revival of Hebrew. Institutions for the pursuit of the arts and sciences must follow. In this connection I attach the greatest importance to the Hebrew University. Palestine will not solve the Jewish problem, but its development will mean a revival of the soul of the Jewish people. (1923) (5) Generally speaking, it does not accord with my ideal that communities bound together by the bond of race or tradition should make special efforts to cultivate and emphasise their separateness. In so far, however, as a given community is attacked as such, it is bound to defend itself as such, in order that its individual members may be able to maintain their material and spiritual interests. Corporate action is needed to save the individual from those spiritual dangers which isolation necessarily entails. Whoever understands this clearly must approve of united action by all Jews for a corporate purpose, be he never so unsympathetic in principle to nationalism.
It is for me beyond any shadow of doubt that in present circumstances the rebuilding of Palestine is the only object which has a sufficiently strong appeal to stimulate the Jews to effective corporate action. It is the immortal service of Herzl that he was the first to see this clearly and to draw the right practical conclusions. For this reason I am convinced that every Jew who cares at all for the health and the dignity of Jewry must co-operate with all his power in the realisation of Herzl’s ideal. The German Jew who works for the Jewish people and for the Jewish home in Palestine no more ceases to be a German than the Jew who becomes baptised and changes his name ceases to be a Jew. The two attachments are grounded in realities of different kinds. The antithesis is not between Jew and German, but between honesty and lack of character. He who remains true to his origin, race and tradition will also remain loyal to the State of which he is a subject. He who is faithless to the one will also be faithless to the other. (1926) (6) The greatest enemies of Jewish national consciousness and Jewish dignity are fatty degeneration—by which I mean the loss of moral fibre which results from wealth and comfort—and a kind of spiritual dependence on the surrounding non-Jewish world, which is a consequence of the disruption of Jewish corporate life. The best in a man can be brought out only when he belongs entirely to a human group. Hence there is grave moral danger in the position of the Jew who has lost contact with his own national group, and is regarded as an alien by the group among which he lives. Often enough a situation of this kind has produced a despicable and joyless egotism.
The external pressure on the Jewish people is particularly heavy at the present time. Yet our very sufferings have been wholesome. There has set in a revival of Jewish corporate life, of which the last generation but one could not have dreamt. Under the influence of the newly awakened sense of Jewish solidarity, the colonisation of Palestine, carried out by able and devoted leaders in the teeth of apparently insuperable difficulties, has already produced such favourable results that I cannot doubt its permanent effect. This work is of high value for the Jews of the whole world. Palestine will become a cultural home for all Jews, a refuge for the worst sufferers from oppression, a field of activity for the best among us, a unifying ideal and a source of spiritual health for the Jews of every country. (1929)
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.