Messiah or Messenger: The Rabbis of Religious Zionism and Their Attitude Towards Theodor Herzl

The character and significant actions of Theodor Herzl continue to fascinate us more than a century after his death. Herzl's dominance has influenced the Zionist movement from then until today. In this context, every angle and approach was examined to understand his personality and the meaning of his actions. At the same time, in this article I try to illuminate a topic that has hardly been researched: How did rabbis from various ethnic groups who supported the Zionist movement relate to Herzl himself? I compare rabbis from Europe with rabbis from Spain and North Africa. Examining the words and statements of these rabbis reveals a substantial gap between the positive attitude towards Herzl, though with some reservations, seen in some rabbis, especially those from European countries, and the nearveneration that was especially prominent among the rabbis of North Africa. There are several reasons for these significant differences, most notably the European rabbis' fear of consequences similar to those of the Shabbtai Zvi case, fear of the reformers, and the harsh reaction of rabbis from the ultra-Orthodox stream.