Theodor Herzl on College Campus
Once a forum for free speech and debate,
Has the campus now lost its noble state?
Unbound, its purpose gets questioned,
What fuels its freedom goes unmentioned.
Do campus agitators know their foe’s best case?
Have they learned it, confronted it, seen its grace?
Only then can they rightly dissect and refute,
Exposing any flaws in their opponent’s pursuit.
Civility demands that serious minds
Grapple with all views, leaving none behind.
Vanquish them not with jeers or piqued shouts,
Use instead the shining light of reason’s doubts.
A century since Herzl’s visionary dream —
A Jewish homeland, his fervent theme.
Though he died in 1904, how would he see
The battles on campus in 2024?
The Jewish people questioned Herzl’s plan,
But he listened, and Europe began to understand.
He made an existential case, without violence,
Breaking ties with those who sought such defiance.
And yet on college grounds today we fight
Those who would deny the Jewish people’s right
To be, to speak, to claim their rightful place
Under the Creator’s watchful, guiding grace.
Herzl lives on, unbowed by anger or might,
Resolute in defense of hard-won liberty.
Where the battle rages for the cherished right
To be, his voice rings, quietly, but free.
And so Herzl’s legacy endures, a beacon bright –
To meet each challenge through engaged debate,
Confronting each foe with reason’s shining light.