If You Will It, It Is Still a Dream

On Friday, 24 January 1902, Herzl awoke in the early hours of the morning in a reflective mood. “Zionism was the sabbath of my life,” he wrote. Without elaborating, he then moved on to a moment of candid self-assessment: “I believe my effectiveness as a leader may be attributed to the fact that I, who as a man and a writer have had so many faults, made so many mistakes, and done so many foolish things, have been pure of heart and utterly selfless to the Zionist cause.”¹ These statements reflected a state of emotional intensity, but not the melodrama