עברית 
Español Processing the Video
• Each participant will write down two thoughts prompted by the video. These may be
something that surprised them, frustrated them, made them think, or any other reaction.
Chapter 5 – Dreams, Identity and the Next Generation
Workshop – Dreams, Identity and the Next Generation
To download the lesson plan
Part 1
Watch Video:
Part 2
Each participant receives a timeline with three points: Where am I? Where are the Jewish
people? Where is the State of Israel?
• First, complete the timeline for five years from now. Hold a brief sharing round.
• Then complete it for twenty years from now and share responses.
• Finally, complete it for fifty years from now and share again.
Discussion
Analyze the different rounds of responses:
• Is there a connection between your personal future and the future of the Jewish people or
the State of Israel?
• Do any common dreams emerge that link all three?
Part 3
1. Read a short text about Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl and discuss the famous quotation from his
novel Altneuland.
2. Ask each participant to write a short letter in response to Herzl: Has his dream been
fulfilled? Was his vision correct? Share the letters with the group.
3. Conclude by saying: Everything we have seen in the video about the State of Israel began
with the dreams of people- first Herzl, then Ben-Gurion, and many others. The achievements
of the state are closely connected to human dreams and visions.
Discussion:
• Do we have the power to change our personal and national reality?
• Are dreams alone enough?
• What is required in order to make them come true?
Conclusion
Just over a hundred years ago, the idea of establishing a state for the Jewish people was
nothing more than a dream. Very few believed it could ever become a reality.
Today, the State of Israel exists and continues to thrive, even as many challenges still lie ahead. The Jewish people came close to destruction during the Holocaust, yet they proved
and continue to prove, their resilience, vitality and enduring future.
The future of the Jewish people depends on each and every one of us: on our dreams, our
actions and on our willingness to turn those dreams into reality.
Benjamin Ze’ev Theodor Herzl
1860–1904.
Benjamin Ze’ev Theodor Herzl was a Jewish-Hungarian journalist, lawyer, author, and
playwright who is widely regarded as the father of modern political Zionism.
Herzl founded the World Zionist Organization and championed the idea of Jewish
immigration to the Land of Israel with the goal of establishing a Jewish state.
Because of his Zionist activity and vision, he became known as “The Visionary of the State.”
Herzl is mentioned explicitly in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, where he is described as
“the spiritual father of the Jewish State.”
Diplomacy was at the heart of Herzl’s Zionist work. Through his travels across Europe, he
spread the Zionist message among Jewish communities and sought international support for
the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
At Herzl’s initiative, the First Zionist Congress convened in August 1897. Its success, and the
congresses that followed, transformed Zionism into an organised national and political
movement among Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora and among the Jews living
in the Land of Israel.
“If you will it, it is no dream… and if you do not will it, then all that I have told you is and will
remain a dream… For all the deeds of humankind begin in a dream and to the dream they
ultimately return.” Herzl, Altneuland
Altneuland
(literally: Old-New Land) is a utopian novel by Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl, originally published in
German in Leipzig in 1902.
Through its narrative, Herzl presents his vision of the future Jewish society that would arise in
the Land of Israel.
The book’s title page is the source of Herzl’s most famous slogan:
“If you will it, it is no dream.”
