Integrationist

A second critique of Herzl, this one from the point of view of a European Integrationist (those Jews that saw Judaism as a religion rather than a nationality and desired to be integrated as full participants in European society).

The Jewish Chronicle, March 1896
To the Editor:
Following the assertions made in your journal by Dr. Theodore Herzl January last and Mr. Ahad Ha’am last month, I felt I could not keep silent. I, an Englishman, write in opposition to Dr. Herzl’s outrageous political scheme and in defense of Western Jews against Mr. Ha’am’s declaration that we wish to create for ourselves a “Western nation.” I have no need for a Western nation. I am happily living in one as a full citizen. Mr Ha’am, Dr. Herzl does not speak for all of us. He speaks for himself and himself alone.
Dr. Herzl, I wish to believe that you write with the best of intentions. But I must tell you, sir, that you instead threaten to undermine all which we have striven toward and accomplished. We, the so-called “assimilated” (I do not see how this word has come to be negative, or what condescending tone it can possibly be associated with) Jews of England, have proven to our fellow countrymen that Jews are fully capable of everything another Englishman is. We have shown ourselves to be different from other Englishmen only in our religious practices. Your statement of Judaism as a nationality rather than a religion is an affront to our progress on this matter and an insult to our faith itself. Jews no more form a separate nation than Christians. And just as one can be a Christian Englishman or a Christian German, so too can one be a Jewish Englishman or a Jewish German. I practice the religion of my father, just as my business partners practice the religion of theirs. Yet we are all English – proudly and truly.
Jews do not need a state in which to practice their own religion. The Enlightened world is giving emancipation to all, and freedom to follow their own faith traditions. A Jewish state, rather than protecting Jews from Antisemitism, would serve only to tell the outside world we view ourselves as separate and different as they do. Jews would be better served to instead seek to show non-Jews just how similar we are. In the wisdom of Mendelssohn, we must demonstrate to our fellow countrymen that the only difference between the two of us is the way in which we honor and worship our Sovereign Lord. Once this has been accomplished – as it has for many Jews in England – Antisemitism will cease and Jews will be able to live happily anywhere and with anyone.
A concerned Englishman