Postcard from Seventh Zionist Congress addressed to “our friends in Toronto,” Signed by: Francis Montefiore, Prof. O. Warburg, Dr. M. Nordau, Saul Pineles, Dr. N. Katzenelsohn, Chaim Weizmann, M. Gaster, H. Pereira Mendes

(ZIONISM)

(27 July-6 August)

Basle

1905

The postcard depicts a mythic Herzl reviewing a line of Jews of all stripes, including the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, and a white-bearded rabbi. This was the first Zionist Congress after Herzl’s untimely passing. The signatories on this memento represent a broad spectrum of the Jewish community. Sir Francis Abraham Montefiore (1860-1935) was, in a sense, the heir to the immortal Sir Moses Montefiore. Sir Moses died in 1885 without issue, and his title died with him. However, half a year later, another Baronetcy was conferred on Francis, grandson of Sir Moses’ brother and partner, Abraham. (See P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain, p.163, n.3; p. 571.) Prof. Otto Warburg (1859-1938), a native of Hamburg, Germany, distinguished himself in the field of botany. A close adviser to Dr. Herzl, he would serve as the third president of the World Zionist Organiztion. Dr. Max Nordau (1849-1923), a Parisian physician, was the co-founder of the World Zionist Organization. Before his death on July 3, 1904, Herzl named Nordau his successor as president of the W.Z.O., a role which Nordau declined. Samuel Pineles (1843-1928), a prominent Rumanian Zionist, participated in all of the first ten Congresses and was a member of the Zionist General Council. Kfar Pineles is named after him. Dr. Nissan Katzenelsohn (1862-1923), a native of Bobroisk, Russia, completed his studies in physics in Berlin. He too was a close aide of Herzl, and accompanied Herzl on his trip to Russia in 1903. Active in the Russian liberal Kadet party, Katzenelsohn was elected to the first Duma (1906). Dr. Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), would go on to become president of the World Zionist Organization (1920-31, 1935-46), and first president of the State of Israel Moses Gaster (1856-1939), Haham of the English Sephardi community, had a troubled relation with the W.Z.O., at times dissociating himself from official Zionist policy partly as a result of his failure to satisfy his ambition of becoming the official leader of the organization. Though not a major player in the W.Z.O., delegate Henry Pereira Mendes (1852-1937), Rabbi of Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese Congregation of New York, was an important leader of U.S. Orthodoxy. The post card was sent by Clarence De Sola (1858-1920), who had been sent as a delegate to the Congress by the Federation of Canadian Zionist Societies, which he served as president. Clarence was a member of the distinguished Sephardic rabbinic family De Sola of Montreal. See EJ, Vol. V, col. 1563.