Trudy Gold
Chaim Weizmann and Arthur James Balfour
Trudy Gold - Chaim Weizmann and Arthur James Balfour
- Yes, of course, it’s the 4th of July. So to all our Americans, happy, happy, happy 4th of July. I’ll just tell you a funny story about that. When the MGM Studios closed for the holidays, they never really knew if it was for Louis B. Mayer’s birthday or for the 4th of July because he took that as his birthday. But before I start, I’d like to mention some of you of a serious nature. I just got back from an extraordinary trip to Vienna and one of the areas that we visited was the big synagogue, we went to the synagogue, but we went to the big cemetery. Now, the reason we went to the cemetery was because my grandson wanted to see the graves of some of the great musicians, but obviously there’s a large Jewish section, so we went there. I should say that the Jewish Museum and the Wall of Names, which the wonderful Hannah Lessing was behind, which lists all those who died in Vienna, who were murdered in Vienna, is absolutely peaceful and a very, very dignified memorial. But what I found a little bit upsetting was in the large cemetery, where there is a very large Jewish section, people died and were buried there way before the war before Hitler, but nobody visits because obviously the families, there’s no stones on any of the graves, obviously the families were either killed or they’ve left the country, so there’s no one to remember. And I just thought that because of lockdown and because while I was on my travels, I did meet someone from lockdown university, you can’t help it, can you?
But I would say if any of you are visiting Vienna, it would be a lovely gesture to go to the Jewish section of the big cemetery, just to say Kaddish. And can I reiterate that Vienna, for all the problems with it, it was such an extraordinary city, particularly in the years between 1885 and 1914. And it is a place to visit even to this day, although of course you would have very mixed motives and mixed feelings about it. And before I get onto the subject of today, I also want to mention that something Patrick Bade told me, he’s in Paris at the moment and he contacted me, he was with some American lockdowners at the flea market when a woman came up to him and recognised him and evidently she was a listener from Chile. So I just wanted to say, it is so wonderful to be part of this kind of international group, it’s absolutely extraordinary. And today I’m looking at two extraordinary characters who were so, so very different and yet both were instrumental in the history of Zionism. And before I actually begin the presentation, I’m going to read you a couple of reflections on them by important writers. Can we see the first slide, please? Thank you, Arthur James Balfour. And this is from Jonathan Schneer in his brilliant book, The Balfour Declaration. A.J. Balfour looms large in the history of Zionism for the declaration that bears his name for his role in events leading up to his release and for his sympathetic attitude afterwards. Yet he seems an odd protagonist see on as he was of the aristocratic Cecil political dynasty which began in the 16th century with Lord Burley, the advisor to Queen Elizabeth I and extended down the years to Balfour’s uncle, the third Marquess of Salisbury who had served as conservative prime minister after Disraeli.
The line had continued to the present with Balfour himself as its most eminent representative amongst a stable of successful relatives who served in parliament, the foreign office and the diplomatic corps. Balfour’s manner betrayed his background. He indulged in a sort of aristocratic indolence and imperturbability. Tall and willowy, he rarely stood straight but leaned against a wall. In the house of commons, he slouched low in his seat, boots on the railings before him. His spoken interventions in the commons were so graceful that even when he criticised or directly attacked his opponents, they almost appreciated the attention. In fact, there was a steel beneath the creamy surface. When he was Irish home secretary and his uncle Lord Salisbury, his appearances initially earned him the ridicule of home rulers who called him Daddy Longlegs and Nimminy Pimminy. Then when he defended policemen found guilty of willfully murdering three tenants at Mitchelstown during a rent strike, they learned to call him Bloody Balfour. Eventually, Daddy Longlegs confounded them even more completely by climbing to the top of the greasy pole, Disraeli, replacing his uncle who resigned as prime minister in 1902. Critics often accused him of laziness because he couldn’t be bothered to read blue books. They accused him of dilettantism because politics was only one of his myriad interests. He belonged to the Royal Society, to the British Academy and the Society for Psychic Research. He wrote thoughtful works of philosophy, attempting to reconcile Darwinism and religion. Acute, subtle, detached and profoundly conservative, he was no Democrat. He believed in a representative parliament for the British and for their kin, but for few others, even in the West.
He once pointed out to cabinet ministers, parliamentary institutions have rarely been a great success except amongst the English speaking peoples. He shared the attitudes of his time and class with regards to the various races of the world. They have been different and unequal since history began, he once said, and different and unequal, they are destined to remain. He supported British imperialism because he thought it was a good thing for Britain and good for the world. In short, he was not on the face of it, a likely ally for the much despised Jews. Now, he does become, of course, a great ally for the much despised Jews, and I’ll be discussing why. This is now, can we see the next slide, please? Now, this is the great Isaiah Berlin, his analysis of Chaim Weizmann. He wrote a wonderful little book called “Personal Impressions,” where he gave in-depth accounts of people, eulogies of people he’d known and really respected, and he was quite close to Chaim Weizmann at one time, and this is what he said about him. “Weizmann, of course, one of those giants who bestrode the world as far as Zionism was concerned. No one who spent any length of time in his company could doubt that he was in the precedence of a prodigiously endowed personality, a human being with an intellect more massive and powerful, a will stronger and more concentrated, emotions richer and more responsible, above all, a view of human affairs larger and more profound than are commonly to be found even amongst the most capable and successful men, in short, in the presence of a man of genius.” The capacity for defying obstacles and dominating history by willpower and the ignoring of complexities is a quality in Jabotinsky and Trotsky as well.
They became legendary heroes, not merely in the eyes of their followers, but in their own. It was Herzl’s exoticism, his remoteness from the common preoccupations of mankind, his deeply romantic conceptions of the Jews and their past and future that inspired somewhat supernatural quality of his image. He was tied to his people, not by strands of real unbreakable connection, but by something born in his own intense power of political fantasy. And the fantasy became a reality because there was something in this that sprung from a genuine overmasting need and because it did touch a central chart in Jewish experience. But Herzl remained outside, sublime, remote, an object of worship. Chaim Weizmann was the opposite. Herzl received homage in part because although he was a Jew, some of his qualities were those of a gloriously free, noble Gentile. Weizmann possessed qualities Jewish to the highest positive degree. He was sceptical, ironic, acute, humane, perspicacious, brilliant, and possessed of a capacity for understanding both human beings and situations given to no one else in the 20th century. Now that’s quite an extraordinary accolade from Isaiah Berlin.
And I just should say that when Isaiah Berlin, a year before he died, he was interviewed by the Guardian and the banner headline, the greatest living Englishman. And at the end, he was asked, how did he feel about, because of course he was born in Latvia. How do you feel? He said, well, I’m a Jew. Going on with Chaim Weizmann, he understood his people through and through. He knew their virtues and vices and were attached to both. Everything that was exotic, exaggerated, fanatical, obsessed, unnaturally intense, repelled his sane, humorous, harmonious, realistically generous, constructive nature. Where the inspired leaders burnt with a violent flame, Weizmann preserved an exquisite sense of proportion. Was Weizmann a man of the right or left? The question appears almost meaningless. He was a national leader. So I wanted to start with a couple of descriptions of these characters, because they are going to meet and that meeting is going to have an important effect on the history of the world. I just want to give you one more quote about Arthur Balfour. This is from George Wyndham. The thing about Arthur Balfour is that he knows there’s been one ice age and they think that there’s going to be another. So let’s begin by looking at the life, the early life of Arthur James Balfour. So can we see the next slide, if you don’t mind, Judi? It’s good to have you back, Jude.
That is the house he was born in. He was born in East Lothian, Scotland. His father was a Scottish MP, as was his grandfather, James. It was a huge estate. This is one of the big estates and it’s his mother who was a member of the Cecil family. She was the daughter of the second Marquess of Salisbury and sister to the future prime minister. His godfather was the Duke of Wellington. He is named Arthur for the Duke of Wellington. So he was born into the most extraordinary privilege. He comes from the rarest part of the British aristocracy at a time when they really did, when I think a lot of foreigners really did believe, to quote, God was an Englishman. Can we go on, please? Now, this is where Chaim Weizmann was born. Chaim Weizmann was born in a little village, Motul, near Pinsk. He was one of 15 children. His father was a lumber merchant. So you can’t really get a more disparate background. Can we go on, please? Let’s go back to Balfour now. So Balfour, he has the traditional education. He was educated at Eton. Then he went to Cambridge, Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read moral sciences. He was the eldest son and heir of his father. He was the third child of eight of them. And as far as his personal life is concerned, can we see his godfather, by the way?
Let’s see the Duke of Wellington. Yes, he was his godfather. So it’s important that you take on that Balfour came from the absolute highest rungs of English society. He was the aristocrat par excellence, absolutely born to a life of total privilege. His love life was rather strange. He was a lifelong bachelor. He declared his love for his cousin, but she died of typhus in March, 1875. And she’d been ill for quite a few months. Was it true love? He only visited her once during her serious illnesses and was soon accepting invitations. He remained a lifelong bachelor. His household was actually run by his unmarried sister. Alice, can we see the next picture, please? The Wild Windows, a wonderful book about them. He had a 40-year relationship with one of them, a woman called Mary Charteris. She was one of the three. She’s the one at the edge, the top. Evidently, read the book, but evidently, it was a very strange sadomasochistic relationship. He didn’t like emotions. He wrote about it. He said, the discomfort of stirred up feelings. And what we do know is that, let’s have a look at the, there she is. There is the woman who was as near to a mistress as he ever had. And also a confidant. The letters between them are absolutely extraordinary. His mother was the most important person in his life.
His father had died when he was very young. And he later said that his debt to his mother was absolutely incalculable. He evidently was a very strong woman. She had huge courage and principles. Now, she was an evangelical Christian, and we’ve already discussed evangelicalism. And if you remember, I gave a presentation on it because he’s a Scottish aristocrat, actually. That’s where his land is. They are low church. They are evangelical. And he would have read the Bible. He would have known the Bible inside out. He’d studied moral philosophy. He wasn’t intellectual, but he would have been at home in the stories of the history of the Jews as he would in the stories of his own families. And this, and the Jew, and I think it’s important to remember this tiny people in the world, because they are so instrumental in the development of Christianity, particularly amongst 19th century Victorians. There was this move to evangelise the Jews. And there was also this move to be interested in what was going on in the Middle East. And don’t forget, it fits in politically because we’re dealing with the decline of the Turkish Empire. And it has, and of course it was Disraeli who bought the Suez Canal for Britain. Lord Shaftesbury had already set up a mission in Jerusalem. So already there’s a great deal of interest. And his mother imbued him with a terribly strong dislike of Catholicism. Catholicism was his bete noire. And he really was well-educated. She insisted on reading French novels to the children. And evidently, whilst he was still at prep school, the head told his mother, quote, your son’s conversation was more like that of a boy of 18 than a boy of 12.
And he later told his niece and his biographer, Blanche Dugdale, that philosophy was constantly on his mind. Even before Eton, he was fascinated by ideas. And it was really his escape from the political world. In 1898, like many young aristocrats, of course, he does the European tour. He met Cosima Wagner. And this is what she said about him. It’s, if you have the time, read a good biography of Cosima Wagner. Of course, she was a violent Jew-hater. But she does have some interesting insights into some of the characters of Europe. This is what she said. “It seemed to me that the prerogative of England is that her greatest statesmen have the gift of contemplation and find their retreat from hard practical questions in ascending the summit of idealism, where no doubt they return with larger views and deeper solicitude. It’s also important to remember, this was a period when Germany and England intellectually were very close. And I think that’s very important to take on. And of course, it’s going to have huge repercussions later on that we’ll be discussing. He left Cambridge with a second-class degree. He wrote, it’s an unimportant episode and he spent his time, remember, I’ve already read a description of him as being very languorous. He spent time drifting until his mother intervened. She said to him, do it if you like, but you’ll have nothing to write about when you’re 40.
Aged 22, he bought Carlton Gardens, overlooking the Mull. And two years later, when he became master of the family estate, Whitting Dean in Scotland, he was now one of the wealthiest men in the British empire. And in 1874, he does what all wealthy aristocrats do. He enters parliament for Hertford. He’s going to remain there till 1885. He was under the patronage of his mother’s brother, the prime minister, Lord Salisbury. And those of you who come from Britain will know the expression, Bob’s your uncle. I don’t know if those of you in other places know, it means you’re doing well, you’ve got a favour. Bob’s your uncle. And it actually originates from this period when the papers had a lot to say of Balfour’s rise through Lord Salisbury. He didn’t speak in parliament for two years, but he accompanied the delegation to the Congress of Berlin whilst Disraeli was still prime minister. And this is where he gained real experience of politics, because at that time, Disraeli was prime minister. It was after Disraeli’s death that Salisbury takes over the Conservative Party. He also became quite famous in the world of letters. In 1879, he wrote the Defence of Philosophical Doubt. So what he’s doing mainly, he’s dividing his time between politics and academic pursuits. Can we have a look at the picture of his uncle? Here you see Lord Salisbury, yes. His father, his mother’s brother, quite a dour-looking individual, but he adored Disraeli. It’s fascinating how Disraeli, the Judas spirit of Gladstone, he was so popular with these high-minded Tory individuals. Anyway, he had, in fact, Balfour had a very cordial relationship with Disraeli. Also with Gladstone, he was politically, can we go on, please? He becomes MP for Manchester.
Can we see the, let’s have a look at Manchester at the time. Now, I want you to remember what Manchester was like in the 1890s. It is one of the economic heartlands of the British Empire. And of course, it was to Manchester that back in the 1790s, Nathan Rothschild had come. And it’s in this bustling industrial town that now we see Balfour having a seat, which is fascinating when you think of his languor and how he loved to be surrounded by beauty and luxury. And can we see a picture of Lord Randolph Churchill? Because he was also close to Randolph. And if you remember Randolph Churchill, that another, I suppose, how would you describe Randolph Churchill? Also a bit of a cavalier. He’d married the extraordinary Jenny Jerome. And an American heiress. And he had many, many Jewish friends and acquaintances. And it’s this period, of course, that Balfour would have met many of the wealthy Jews that we’re going to look at when we look at Edward VII’s circle. Because so many of these characters, the Rothschilds, the Sassoons, and I’m very pleased to tell you that we’re going to have an exhibition of the Sassoons next week. So it’s all coming together. The Rothschilds, the Sassoons, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, Sir Ernest Cassell, they’re all part of this kind of set. Anyway, he’s politically associated with Lord Randolph Churchill until Randolph breaks away. And tragically, he has syphilis. And his career, he resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer. And his career ends ignominiously.
And it’s Churchill, who one of his main ambitions is to rehabilitate his father. And his first speech, when Churchill enters Parliament, his first speech is a vindication of his father. Anyway, going back to Balfour, in 1895, he is appointed the President of the Local Government Board. The next year, he’s Secretary of State for Scotland, which gives him a seat in the Cabinet. Then he becomes the Chief Secretary for Ireland. Because he was such a languorous character, very tall, willowy, very lazy, an English aristocrat par excellence. He was very much the butt of the cartoonists who wrote of him that he drifted languidly from one country house to another. Actually, he was a brilliant debater and politically became incredibly ruthless. 1891, he becomes First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House. In 1898, Salisbury was ill, so he becomes in charge of the Foreign Office and member of the government responsible for the Transvaal negotiations. And of course, he was up to his neck in the Boer War, which was seen by the left and the liberals in Britain as a totally colonial war. Already they are turning against it. And not only that, there were many who, many on the left, who accused the British government of supporting a war to support Jewish interests. But we’ve already discussed that. No doubt we come back to that when I look at Lord Nathaniel Rothschild. He then becomes Prime Minister. Can we see Balfour as Prime Minister? In 1902, he is Prime Minister. He presides over the Entente Cordiale, which Edward VII was very involved in. He resigned in 1905 over the abandonment of free trade. He did suffer a lot of public anger in the later stages of the Boer War, and also the importation of Chinese labour into South Africa.
It was seen as slavery. Now, in 1906, the Conservatives suffered a landslide defeat. He lost his seat, but he does re-enter Parliament in 1908. He continues as leader of the opposition through crisis of Lloyd George. And he comes back to power in the First World War as First Lord of the Admiralty in Asquith’s coalition. And in December 1916, he is the Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George’s coalition government. And that is why, as Foreign Secretary, he is the man behind the Balfour Declaration. To continue with his career, he served in senior positions throughout the 1920s. He dies in 1930, aged 81, having spent a vast inherited fortune. He once stated, nothing matters very much and few things matter at all. Winston Churchill, who was such a brilliant raconteur and wit, he compared Balfour to Asquith. He said, "The difference between Balfour and Asquith is that Balfour is wicked and loyal, while Asquith is good and immoral.” And this is what Beatrice Webb, who we’ve already met, had to say about him. A man of extraordinary grace of mind and body, delighting in all that is beautiful and distinguished, music, literature, philosophy, religious feeling, and moral disinterestedness, aloof from all greed and crying of common human and arguing of common human nature.
He seemed to be above it all. But a strange paradox, as Prime Minister of a great empire, I doubt whether foreign affairs even interested him. For all economic and social questions, I gather that he had an utter loathing, whilst the machinery of government administration would seem to him a disagreeable irrelevance. He was often attacked. Don’t forget though, he was also a very profound philosopher. So he’s a bit of an enigma. Now, what about his relationship with the Jews before he meets Chaim Weizmann? During the debate on the Aliens Act, which we’ve already covered. And this is what he had to say. “The treatment of the jewish race is being disgraced to Christendom, a disgrace which tarnishes the fair name of Christianity, even at this moment, which in the Middle Ages, gave rise to horrors, which whoever makes themselves acquainted with them, even in the most superficial manner, reads of them with shuddering and feelings of horror, lest any trace of the blood guiltiness, then incurred should have fallen on the descendants of those who committed the deeds.
Now, this is really strong stuff. So I’m going to repeat it for you. You really need to take this on. The treatment of the Jewish race has been a disgrace to Christendom, a disgrace which tarnishes the fair name of Christianity, even at this moment, which in the Middle Ages gave rise to horrors, which whoever makes himself acquainted with them, even in the most superficial manner, reads of them with shuddering and feeling of horror, lest any trace of the blood guiltiness then incurred should have fallen on the descendants of those who committed them. Now, having said that, he also was part of the government. He was prime minister at the time of the Uganda offer. Now, he does though, this is before that, in a letter of 1899 to Mary, Elpho, his mistress, I believe he talks of a supper party. I believe the Hebrews were in the majority. And though I have no prejudice against the race, quite the contrary, I begin to understand the point of view of those who object to alien immigration. And this is another letter in 1911. This is after he’s met Weizmann. The Jewish eager interest in all things of the mind, instead of attracting, half repels. It all seems so much on the surface. And his prime minister, what is so fascinating, when the act is actually passed through parliament, he’s prime minister. And this is what the Jewish conical had to say. How could the prime minister be moan the tarnish on Christianity left by the persecution of the Jews and with the next breath, refused asylum to Jewish refugees? Like so many of that period in time, they did have the prejudices of their class.
But what I’m also saying about Balfour, he’s an evangelical. And also he steeped in Jewish history. Which of those trends is going to come to the fore? This is by the way, what Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann writes to his fiancee Vera about the Aliens Act. And he’s castigating Anglo-Jewry. I wish you wouldn’t ask me how English Jewry is reacting to all this. They are petrified. They’re committing a second pogrom. They’re giving money on condition that their unfortunate Russian brethren do not emigrate to England. I lack words to express my indignation. He does write another letter at the time of the Aliens Act to Mary. The Jews were not only a most gifted race, but had proved themselves ready and able to take part in the national and religious and civic life of the countries in which they settled. He said he was sorry that they didn’t intermarry. Just to go on a little. He believed that the root of the Jewish problem was that they wouldn’t really integrate. And he said in the house, a state of things could easily be envisaged. It would not be to the advantage of the civilization of the country that there should be an immense body of persons who however patriotic, able and industrious, however much they throw themselves into the national life, still by their own actions remain a people apart. Not merely hold a religion differing from the vast majority of their fellow countrymen, but only intermarry amongst themselves. He really does seem to have a problem with the Jews. What he sees as the separateness of the Jews. Please remember that he’s anti-Catholic, but please remember that the Jews are the only non-Christian minority of any size in Britain at this time.
He did, I’ve already told you though, he did believe in the inequality of the races. This is from a debate in 1906. We have to face facts. Men are not born equal. The white and black races are not born with equal capacities. They are born with different capacities which education cannot and will not change. In fact, it wasn’t until he’d lost, just before he’d lost the premiership that he met Chaim Weizmann for the first time. He meets again in, they meet again in January, 1906. And that’s when things are really going to happen. This is Isaiah Berlin’s analysis of Balfour’s support for Zionism. He had a deep knowledge of the Hebrew Bible from his mother, who was an evangelical Christian. His knowledge and sentiment also strengthened by his Scottish upbringing and also his time as chief secretary for Ireland. It very much fits into his Weltanschauung. He thought that the Jews were able and industrious. And he’s later going to see, as the British empire extends into the Turkish empire, after all, that was one of Britain’s main war aims, that it’s going to be in the interests of the British empire to have this able and industrious people settling in what will become British Palestine. So never forget that. So it was actually when Balfour was at the Queen’s Hotel in Manchester with Charles Dreyfus, who was Jewish and his local chairman, that Weizmann and Balfour are first going to meet. Now, he was, Charles Dreyfus was president of the Manchester Zionist Society.
He was a member of the Manchester City Council and a leading figure in the East Manchester Conservative Association. And it was at his suggestion that Balfour met Weizmann, who’d been introduced to him by a Zionist writer and activist, a man called Joseph Messel. Messel was one of those characters. You know, you have to be, history is often made up by accidents of meeting. He was a scholar who lived in Manchester. He translated English classics into Hebrew, including Samson Agonistes and Longfellow’s Judas Maccabeus. He also was, he wrote a lot of Hebrew poetry and he was the first person in Manchester that Chaim Weizmann knew why, because he also would attend Zionist congresses. And when Weizmann came to Manchester, it was to Messel’s house that he went for his Friday night dinners. Messel knew Charles Dreyfus and that’s how in the end Weizmann got to Balfour. And Weizmann reported on the meeting to his fiancee Vera. And this is what he said. I had a meeting with Balfour today and had a long and interesting talk with him about Zionism. He explained that he sees no political difficulties in the attainment of Palestine, only economic difficulties, nothing new. But 40 years later, Weizmann recollected the meeting in detail. This is of course in his monumental trial and error. Balfour asked me, why are some Jews so bitterly opposed to Uganda? Just to refresh your memory, the British government under Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain as foreign secretary, offered the Jews a homeland in Africa. It’s called the Uganda offer. It was actually in Kenya. Joseph Chamberlain had been to Africa. He was also minded.
He was an industrialist. He was a man of the people. He was minded to help the Zionists and he had been infatuated by Herzl. So he offered Uganda. And Herzl was minded to take it as a stepping stone because of the Kishinev pogrom, but it was turned down by Russian Jews, including the delegation from Kishinev who believed only in their ancient homeland could they regenerate Zion. And it’s very, very interesting this because later on Israel Zangwill, who I’m going to talk about next week, Israel Zangwill, who was such a supporter of Zionism, he created the territorial association looking for land anywhere. So there’s so many splits within Zionism. So, but Balfour has this meeting and this is how Weizmann recorded it. So he asked, why are some Jews so bitty opposed to Uganda? I replied, I plunged into a long harangue on the meaning of Zionism. I dwelt on the spiritual side, nothing but a deep religious conviction expressed in modern political terms could keep the movement alive. Any deflection from Palestine was well a form of idolatry. I added that if Moses had come into the sixth Zionist Congress, he would surely have broken the tablets once again. Of course, Weizmann had voted against the Uganda offer. And remember, Balfour is religious.
He’s an evangelical and he knows the Bible. Then suddenly I said, Mr. Balfour, supposing I was to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it? He sat up and looked at me and answered, but Dr. Weizmann, we have London. That is true, I said, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh. He asked, are there many Jews like you? I answered, I believe I speak the mind of millions of Jews who you will never see. To this he replied, if that is so, you will one day be a force. Balfour then said, it’s curious, the Jews I meet are quite different. I answered, Mr. Balfour, you meet the wrong kind of Jew. He also said, I’m convinced that none but people who are prejudiced would deny that the case of the Jew is absolutely exceptional and must be treated by exceptional means. He also said this about the Jews to Harold Nicholson. The Jews have many material attributes and a wide spiritual foundation, but only one idea. That idea is to return to Zion. He’s talking now after, of course, his meeting with Weizmann, and then another meeting in 1914 and 1915, and he becomes convinced that Weizmann is right. By depriving them of that idea, the world has diminished their virtue and stimulated their defects. If we can help them attain their ideal, we shall restore to them their dignity. Upon the basis of this dignity, their intelligence will cease to be merely acquisitive and will become creative. The new Jerusalem will become a centre of intelligence and Judea, an asylum for the oppressed. As I said, he met Weizmann again in 1914 and 1915, and when he succeeded Churchill as first Lord of the Admiralty, because what happens is, of course, Weizmann is going to be incredibly useful to the British in his invention of acetone.
So shall we have a little bit of a look at Chaim Weizmann now? There’s the horrible Aliens Act, of course, and that is a picture of Balfour and Weizmann. Unfortunately, it’s a much later picture, but can we go on, please? There’s Berlin in 1894. All right, so Chaim Weizmann, he’s born in 1874 in Lottal near Pinsk. As I told you, he is the third of 15 children. His father’s a timber merchant. He had a traditional Teder education. He went to high school in Pinsk. He was brilliant, had a talent for sciences, especially chemistry. He graduated with honours in 1892. He’s already a Zionist, and there is a letter in the archive in Rehoboth where he actually says, "England will help us. We will turn to England.” You know this notion that there’s something special about England. He went to Darmstadt to study at the Polytechnic, and he kept himself. There was not much family money, and how did he keep himself? By teaching Hebrew at a Jewish boarding school, and then in 1894, he travels to Daselin, Berlin to study at the Technical Hochschule. He joined a circle of Zionist intellectuals, and in 1897, he moved to Switzerland to complete his studies. He couldn’t attend the first Zionist Congress, but he was there at the second Zionist Congress in Baal. And of course, one of his highlights when he was in Switzerland was he got into debate.
You’ve got to remember everybody was, everyone, the Bundists, the Zionists, the socialist Zionists, the international socialists, they’re all looking for the souls of the same young Jewish intellectuals, and he got into debate with the international socialists, and evidently, he very much, he beat them. In his personal life, of course, he fell madly in love with, he was already engaged, but he fell madly in love with a young chemistry, a young medical student called Vera Chatzman from Rostov-on-Don. I should say that as a Zionist, he was never completely in sympathy with Herzl. Let’s have a look at the Zionist Congress. I think this is the first, not the second. You can see Herzl in the front with that incredible beard of his. Don’t forget that Herzl demanded that the Zionist Congresses have huge dignity and ceremony. Everyone had to wear frock coats, and it was to be held in Munich, the first one, but the Jews of Munich were terrified of dual loyalty, so it switches to Barg in Switzerland, and it lasts for three days, each Congress. And what is so important is the majority of the delegates came from Russia, where Zionism was already a reality, the first, and then later on, the second Aliyah, and already there were many great thinkers, Zionists in Russia, so important to remember that Chaim Weizmann is there at the first, the second Zionist Congress.
Later on, he’s going to go into partnership with the other firebrand, and later on, his bitter opponent, Vladimir Jabotinsky. He was never completely in sympathy with Herzl, but what he did do, he lobbied for an institute of higher learning in Palestine. One of his great dreams was the Hebrew University, and Martin Buber actually presented a document on that to the fifth Zionist Congress. He, later on, it was, the idea of technical excellence in Palestine was, comes to fruition, of course, in the founding of the Technion in 1912, and you’ll be interested to know that for a long time, they wanted the language of the Technion to be German, but of course it wasn’t, it was in the end Hebrew. Now, he moves to London, he moves to England in 1904, ostensibly to take a place at Manchester to study chemistry. He takes a lectureship in chemistry because it’s a great centre, and also it is a place where he believes that Britain is the main centre for Zionism, and he wants to be where the action is, and of course, in, can we go on, please? There’s Vera Chatzman, she was much younger than him, and it’s interesting because her parents weren’t at all impressed by the bald Chaim Weizmann, but she was completely insistent, and in fact, they do marry, and she, by the way, those of you ladies who are involved in WITSO, which was founded in London, she was one of the five founders of WITSO, so Vera Chatzman, very much his helpmate, and a totally committed Zionist, and of course, in Manchester, not only does he meet up with both Balfour and Chaim Weizmann, and also with Winston Churchill, who also becomes important.
You see, this is where the personality of Weizmann is so important to Zionism. He had the manner where he could deal with the great statesmen of the world on equal terms. It’s fascinating when you look at the four main pillars, and I’m still going to stick my neck out, Weizmann, Ben-Gurion, Jabotinsky, and Begin. Of course, there are many, many others who have to come into the picture, people like Ahad Ha'am, Leon Pinsker, et cetera, et cetera, but I’m picking on those four because in the end, they all had such different personalities, but you needed them all in the end to create the Jewish state, and Weizmann’s great talent was people. He was arrogant, there’s no question of that. He didn’t suffer fools. He was brilliant at networking. Looking Manchester, he became friendly with the Seeke family, with the Sacker family, and also with C.P. Scott, who was the editor of the Manchester Guardian, who was instrumental in pushing him into British political circles, so he makes all these contacts. Let’s have a picture of the University of Manchester. There it is in 1904. Can we go on, please? There’s Balfour and Weizmann again, and another one, please.
There you have Harry Sacker, Israel Seiff, Simon Marx, and C.P. Scott. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find a younger one. I wanted them all to look the same age, that that’s the best that we could do, and of course, and I hope that Sarah Mehron is listening because, of course, she is Israel Seiff’s granddaughter, and he was so instrumental in the Palestine Commission, so these are people that he instals that he really gets involved in the Zionist movement. He also develops, let’s see the next slide, please. He also develops a very close relationship with Ahad Ha'am. Ahad Ha'am, man of the people, who was in London as a representative of the Wisocki Tea Company, fascinating individual. He was a cultural, spiritual Zionist. He said at the first Zionist Congress, I am a mourner at the wedding feast. He didn’t like the fact that Herzl dwelt so much on politics. What he said was that Zion must become the spiritual, cultural, emotional, intellectual centre of the Jewish world, which will radiate light to the diaspora and the whole world. He was a total idealist. He believed in the destiny of the Jewish people, but the destiny through the prophet Isaiah. They used to call him the agnostic rabbi, and he was a great influence on Chaim Weizmann. He lived in Hampstead, and he very much, and Weizmann would visit him and stay with him, and Weizmann himself first visited Palestine in 1907.
He said, a state cannot be created by decree, but by the forces of a people in the course of generations. Even if all the governments of the world gave us a country, it would only be a gift of words, but if the Jewish people will go to build Palestine, the Jewish state will become a reality and a fact. And also, don’t forget that when Weizmann comes in, his invention of acetone is so, and the development of cordite was so important in munitions, so it gave him a real in into government circles, and many government ministers were already benevolent towards Zionism, like Balfour, like Hertz, like, my brain isn’t functioning today, so Balfour, also Lloyd George, also Milner, Herbert Samuel, who was a Jew in the cabinet, there were quite a few of these characters who really were sympathetic towards the ideas of Zion. That didn’t mean that they weren’t, first and foremost, interested in British policy, but once the decision is made that Allenby’s army is going to invade Palestine after the failure in the Dardanelles to enter the soft underbelly of the Turkish Empire, there was this belief that helping create a Jewish homeland in Palestine would help the Jews and also help the British Empire. He also was very friendly with Dorothy de Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann, and she helped to convince some of her family and also the cousinhood that Zionism was a very, very good idea.
This is C.P. Scott, the editor of the Manchester Guardian on Weizmann. Extraordinary, interesting, a rare combination of idealism and the severely practical, which are the two essentials of statesmanship, a clear conception of Jewish nationalism, an intense and burning sense of the Jews as Jews, just as strong, perhaps more so, than that of a German as German and as the English as Englishman. He, so basically, he and Balfour, and Balfour finally, the Balfour Declaration, which is in form of a letter to Lord Rothschild. Weizmann’s biographer actually said it was a present to Weizmann. The reasons behind the giving of the Balfour Declaration are very, very complicated, which I have spent two sessions on, and once lockdown is open to all, you will be able to listen to those lectures, and I don’t want to bore those of you who know the Balfour Declaration inside out, but it takes the form of a letter. It was read at the Royal Opera House to 2,000 people, and it was seen as a huge triumph for Zionism and a huge triumph for, of course, for Chaim Weizmann. So I’m going to leave it at that period because, of course, we’ll be picking it up later on, and so I think, what can we say? The fact that the two met, the fact that they became close, and later on, of course, Balfour did visit Palestine. He was there for the opening of the Hebrew University, which meant so much to the Jews of Palestine, and I think the alumni of the Hebrew University, if you think about it, Weizmann was there, Lord Balfour was the guest of honour at the opening.
He had a very, very close place in the hearts of the early Zionists. So too was, Freud was on the board. So too was Einstein, one of the most extraordinary boards of any university in history, and perhaps we should do a whole session on that, but anyway, important to remember that the coming together of these two men from completely different backgrounds led, in the end, to this declaration, which begins, really, and there you have it. Lord Rothschild, let’s read it. Dear Lord Rothschild, I have much… Why did he send it to Rothschild? Because Rothschild was chairman of the board of deputies and king of the Jews. I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which have been submitted to and approved by the cabinet. His Majesty’s government…
Now, I want you to listen to the words of this very, very, very carefully. His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. I should be grateful if you bring this to the attention of the Zionist Federation of the Balfour. Now, that’s the Balfour Declaration.I’ve taught classes of lawyers that declaration, and it’s fascinating what they do with it, because in 1939, the British were going to say it didn’t mean anything. But at the time, it was greeted as a huge triumph. And ironically, Weizmann was in correspondence with Faisal, the Emir Faisal, and the Emir Hussein, who writes a letter, we wish the Jews a hearty welcome home. And at a time of terrible tension, 100 years ago, there was a chance that the two peoples could actually work together. So I shall finish there. Thank you very much, Judi. And let’s have a look at, see what questions we’ve got.
Q&A and Comments:
Herbert says, Wagner is much too long-winded. My ability to sit through his operas decreases with age. Jennifer, a lot about, it’s a lot about Wagner.
Q: Who pays to maintain the Jewish sections of Vienna cemeteries?
A: I would imagine the Austrian government. Oh, they’re not badly maintained. I’m not just saying, I’m not saying that. It’s just that obviously nobody ever visits it. That’s all. We were the only people there and were other parts of it. That’s all. It’s not, I’m not saying that with any sign of disrespect to anybody. It’s just the families, obviously, the graves are 19th and early 20th century. Who will visit?
This is Esther. My father was the volunteer head of our charity Jewish Cemetery. He didn’t like it when people put stones on his stones because they dulled the mowers. Well, that’s interesting, but the headstones are apart from the, they’re apart from the grass.
Q: And Esther says, I recommend reading “The Nazi Officer’s Wife.” Bernard, could Balfour actually have been gay?
A: Quite common amongst men of his background, but of course not recognised. I’m not going to comment on that. I know he had a very intense relationship with Mary Echo.
Q: What was his background?
A: Rita, I began talking about it. He was an English aristocrat, par excellence, hugely wealthy. We used to say Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt. Boa pronoun, thank you.
Q: What makes Balfour an enigma?
A: Because he was so very laid back, I suppose. That’s why people thought, I think that’s what people thought. He was just languorous, laid back. Have you, you see, I live in Britain. I’ve met people like that. Never underestimate the steel brain behind it though.
This is Arlene. I find it ironic that Balfour lamented that Jews don’t seem to him to marry when today they do so often. Look, they get us when we do, they get us when we don’t.
Not surprisingly, Joanne, this is from Dennis, Johannesburg’s premier Jewish sports venue was Balfour Park. It would seem Balfour had quite a few negative Jewish stereotypes.
Oh yes, Mincy, nothing is ever straightforward.
Q: Did Balfour discuss Zionism with Jewish anti-Zionists or did he take Weizmann’s view instead of Rothschild?
A: I think he would have socialised with the anti, he would have socialised with the Rothschilds. Of course he would. He was an evangelical Christian. He took Weizmann’s view. He didn’t like Jews that much. And you’ve got to, as it’s already been said, he had a stereotypical view of some Jews. Look, Jews are complicated. You know, to the English, to the English of that period, they were terribly complicated. You’ve got the Jews of the East End and the Aliens Act, and you’ve got the Jewish cousinhood who are dining with Edward VII.
And Michael is, acetone was an indispensable ingredient in the manufacture of cordite. Thank you, Michael, for that. Yes, so it’s terribly important to the government.
No women at the Zionist Congress. Yes, there were actually in some set pictures, Gita. I’ve got some set photographs. And yes, of course there were women at the Zionist Congress.
Yes, Michael, of course, Winston Churchill was an MP. Yes, in North Manchester. That’s of course where he had met, that he met Weizmann there. And Balfour was an MP for another Manchester constituency.
Ahad Haʿam wanted Israel to be a spiritual centre. Yes, Ahad Haʿam was an idealist. He dreamt that it would become the spiritual wellspring of all that could light the world, light the diaspora. He didn’t believe the diaspora could empty. But remember, all these people are dreaming and thinking before the Shoah.
Yes, Asher Zvi, Hirsch, Ginsburg, Ahad Haʿam. Vice Count Samuel, who was a member of the War Cabinet, indicated in his memoirs, was based on Samuel’s memorandum on the future of Palestine and the declaration prepared by Lord Malmo.
Michael, it’s such a complicated story. As I said, it took me two lectures to cover it. Samuel certainly is, and what is, who is responsible for the Balfour Declaration and who is behind it? I can think of 30 books just on the Balfour Declaration. And it’s, no, I won’t go into it now because it’s just so complicated. Believe it or not, according to Hugh de Bauer, members of the British Cabinet believed that Jews were the real power in the world.
This is Hugh de Bauer. He said they believed that a pro-Jewish declaration would help get America into the war, even bring Russia into the war under the communists. Okay? And they were also assured that, they were assured by the British ambassador that the Jews in the Turkish Empire would side with the Zionists. So there was this belief in Jewish world power, even though the majority of Jews were dirt poor. You know, we’ve discussed this when we’ve discussed antisemitism. So that was one of the factors. You’re right.
Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Abigail.
Art says, the same experience at the cemetery in Prague at Kafka Grave, yeah. Yes, I should say, Schnitzler’s grave had many stones on it, but it was just walking around seeing so many graves and the grass had not been cut. Look, it wasn’t ill kept. So I don’t want you to go away with that thing, thinking that, but it was just, and there were butterflies everywhere, which was another strange experience. But all I’m saying to you that if you visit Vienna, it’s a very interesting and moving experience to go to the Great Cemetery. Because don’t forget that in those years before the Anschluss, certainly if you look at Vienna, turn of the century, it was 10% Jewish. The Jews were the intellectual life of Vienna. Thank you.
The Balfour Declaration, says Melvin, has no legal force in isolation. It was incorporated into the 1922 mandate. It acquired the power of a treaty. Yeah, but it was ratified by the League of Nations, wasn’t it? Meera, Ha'am is my hero, giant and genius.
Q: Did Weissman’s affairs with different women influence his Zionism?
A: I am not going there.
Well, this is from Diane. The question was asked if women were president of the World Zionist Congress in 1897. I had the honour and privilege of being an Arsha delegate to the World Zionist Congress. Our delegation at the time was the largest from the diaspora, quite an experience, wonderful.
That’s it, Judi. So Judi, thank you very, very much. And I’m actually seeing you, I’m seeing you all tomorrow at seven because I need to fit in a lecture on Lord Alfred Douglas. I’m trying to bring everything together before August, when in August, we’re going to be having a lighter month for you.
Okay, God bless everyone. Thank you.