How did Theodor Herzl, a cosmopolitan and assimilated European Jew, become the leader of the Zionist movement? With his often-conflicting personas (artist and a statesman, rationalist and an aesthete, and stern moralist who also possessed deep, and at times dark, passions), why did scores of thousands of Jews, many of them from traditional, observant backgrounds, embrace Herzl as their leader? Author and historian Derek Penslar draws on Herzl’s vast body of personal and political writing to explore Herzl’s path to Zionist leader and how his short life created his enduring legacy.

This program is in partnership with Jewish Lives and Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning