First Zionist Congress

And so he tried initially, almost single-handed, to establish a homeland for the Jewish nation.

As a consequence of Theodore Herzl, a congress met in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland, called the First Zionist Congress.

At the end of that first congress, Theodore Herzl went up to his room, took out his diary.

You can see his diary in the museum in Israel.

See his desk, see his Bible, uh, see that it was given to him by a godly Christian who wrote on the flyleaf and encouraged him to read certain, uh, texts which he had, uh, depicted there in the Bible, all of messianic prophecies.

And in his diary after that first Zionist congress, he wrote, "Today," 1897, "I have founded the modern nation of Israel." Now I'm quoting.

He said, "It will become a reality in five or 50 years." That sounds awfully strange to me.

I, I, I can't envision myself writing, "It will become a reality in five or 50 years," but that's what he wrote.