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Forum: For the Problems of Zionism, World Jewry and the State of Israel
- Abstract
It is still hard for us to realize just how remarkable the success of Zionism has been. Only fifty years separate the first Zionist Congress from Israeli independence, and Chaim Weizmann could live to be president of the republic he did not expect to see with his own eyes. In their improbable state Israelis learn mathematics and biology in Hebrew, they read about Hollywood in Hebrew, they run for office in Hebrew, they quarrel and are reconciled in Hebrew. We take all this Hebrew for granted, but Ernest Renan, a great Semitist as well as a subtle and learned mind, reproved the folly of enthusiasts yearning to do the impossible and restore life to a dead language. These successes, the political and the cultural, are unique in modern history.
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