Theodor Herzl is the founder of modern Zionism.
He is born on May 2, 1860 in the city of Budapest and is raised in what today would be considered the reform Jewish tradition.
Though he starts out as an assimilated Jew with his mind far from Jewish cares, antisemitism – that he first encounters as a student at the University of Vienna – will gradually draw his attention to the Jewish condition.
It will take years before he stumbles on the answer: a Jewish state.
Photo credit: National Library of Israel
