Zionism & Print – The Journalist beginnings of Israel

In academic circles of historians, the words “reformation & print” are nearly synonymous. Though the pairing may seem peculiar at first, it is widely recognised as essential to understanding what is often described as one of the most transformative periods in European history. The evolution of the printing press was key for the movements needed for an international change in the existing status quo, and ultimately led to the breakaway from the Catholic Church and the founding of Protestant Christianity – the effects of which do not take much to see in the modern world.

You may be wondering why the creation of a rival Christian church is relevant to Jewish history. As many of us have, in recent months I encountered a growing number of arguments online against Israel and Zionism. One particular stood out: an academic claimed that whilst religious Zionism may trace its roots back over a thousand years, political Zionism is what they described as a “modern phenomenon”.

A fair thought, as for a political campaign to start yearning for a dream after almost 2000 years is wildly unexpected. But for something to be a phenomenon, it would have needed to appear from seemingly thin air into the minds of thousands with a common shared goal that would have not previously been there. But we know the entire Jewish population did not wake up one day having had the same dream of “ahh…Israel!” The topic was debated, refined and argued about (in true Jewish fashion) for decades.

The printing press, well-established by the 1400s, revolutionised Christian Europe. However, in the Jewish world, the first Hebrew or Yiddish newspaper of sorts—Die Kuranten of Amsterdam—wouldn’t appear until 1676. (Some suggest earlier examples, but these were written by Jews, not necessarily for Jews.) Sadly, Die Kuranten folded within a few years, and no other Yiddish or Hebrew publication emerged until 1781.

But then came a shift.

In the 19th century, multiple Jewish newspapers began to flourish. Some were published in local languages such as English, German, or Spanish. But alongside Yiddish, a language gradually emerging was also appearing in print: Hebrew.

Alongside this was the growth of Zionism. This ideal is traceable back as far as 100AD, with the familiar words “Next year in Jerusalem” first recorded in the 15th Century. Although antisemitism and violence remained constant, something was changing – Western Europe began to see a thriving, regular and international Jewish press.

Now, a man in Spain could hear about a massacre in the Russian Empire. A British reader could indulge in philosophical ideas from Vienna, whilst reading about the Sassoons of Bombay. When the Dreyfus Affair shook France, Jewish newspapers offered commentary and debate, even when mainstream European papers largely ignored the Jewish voice.

One prominent journalist who covered this affair and would have an outsized impact on Zionism was Theodor Herzl. He didn’t dream alone in solitude of a homeland for the Jews, he used the medium that his journalistic work taught him – he published. 

In January 1896, he took the front page of Britain’s The Jewish Chronicle, with an article titled “A Solution of the Jewish Question”. At the same time, he published his seminal pamphlet, Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”), arguing that the only viable solution to antisemitism was the creation of a sovereign Jewish state. Herzl’s words travelled rapidly. Within weeks, his ideas were discussed in Vienna, London, Warsaw, and Jerusalem. The response was anything but uniform. The Jewish press lit up with debate.

He had some immediate supporters, like Nachum Sokolow, editor of the Hebrew newspaper HaTzefirah, who translated Herzl’s pamphlet into Hebrew and Polish and used his platform to rally support in Eastern Europe. Others, like Rabbi Isaac Reines, founder of the Mizrachi movement, supported the idea of a Jewish state but voiced concern about Herzl’s secular approach. Meanwhile, many assimilated Jews, especially in Germany and France, opposed Herzl’s vision. The Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums ran editorials warning that Zionism might harm Jewish integration into European society.

Yiddish newspapers were particularly vibrant arenas for this ideological clash. Publications like Der Yidisher Tageblatt in New York had a harsher outlook on Zionism, focusing instead on socialism or cultural autonomy. Others, like Der Tog, evolved over time to support a Jewish state, especially after the Kishinev Pogrom in 1903. The debates were rich, multilingual, and spread across continents.

Who partook in these debates was equally as important. It wasn’t just between Rabbis and the elites. They were Jewish intellectuals, merchants, workers, and laypeople all chiming in. Jewish printing in the late 1800s was no longer limited to prayer books or rabbinic texts; it was brimming with periodicals, newsletters, philosophical journals, and weekly papers that reflected the wide range of views and experiences which formed modern Jewish life.

The evolving technology in travel and print at the time too mustn’t be discounted. By the late 19th century, paper was cheaper, typesetting improved, and the rapid growth of rail and postal services allowed newspapers to travel farther and more frequently. A weekly Hebrew paper from Warsaw could end up in Baghdad. A pamphlet printed in Vienna could reach Tunis.

This new infrastructure allowed the early Zionist movement to become not just a political project but a cultural conversation. It is no coincidence that by the time of the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, it included not just politicians and rabbis, but journalists, editors, and translators. Press coverage of the congress reached Jews as far as the Bukharan mountains in a matter of days, and drew attention even from non-Jewish papers.

Following the congress, coverage of the Zionist cause exploded. Zionist newsletters and bulletins like Die Welt, which Herzl founded in 1897, became critical organs of the movement. It was through such publications that Jews learned of news and opportunities for those wanting to make Aliyah: updates on immigration, internal political disputes between religious and secular Zionists, and calls for volunteers to harvest the land.

Of course, the realisation of a Jewish state would not come about until after Herzl’s passing, and the horrors yet to be seen in Europe. But the idea was planted and growing – Zionism wasn’t a spontaneous miracle. It was the culmination of decades of print-fuelled debate, of ideas exchanged and refined by a global Jewish public. The printing press, as it had once influenced the split of Western Christianity, would once again proveto be fundamental for radical ideas against the status-quo, albeit a few hundred years later.