British Uganda Programme

Jews needed safety, and they needed it fast.

So Herzl brought the Uganda plan to the sixth Zionist Congress of 1903, making sure to emphasize that this would be temporary, just a stopover on the way to the Promised Land.

"Moses wandered 40 years," he argued.

"We can take a detour." When he finished his speech, the hall exploded.

But not everyone was rending their garments in anguish.

Once the delegates collected themselves, the Congress proposed sending a commission to Uganda, and the motion passed.

Among the delegates who voted yes for the Uganda plan was Rabbi Yitzhak Yaakov Reines, student and disciple of Rabbi Samuel Mohilever.

If Rabbi Mohilever had opened the door to a religious-secular partnership, Rabbi Reines walked right through it.

He opens intense negotiations with British ministers.

And this pivot directly leads to serious British proposals for temporary Jewish settlements, such as the El Irish Plan in the Sinai Peninsula, and later, the highly controversial Uganda Scheme in East Africa.

So this massive failure with the German Empire wasn't just a dead end in the history books.

It was the crucial learning curve.