125 years after the first Zionist Congress, Jews from dozens of countries return to Basel.
This time they are leaving behind the Hebrew kingdom you dreamed of.
They arrive in Basel not by trains or carriages - but by flight, in a flying metal capsule;
They converse in fast Hebrew;
You hold in your hand a device with technology developed in Israel, and through it you book a place in an Israeli restaurant that serves dishes from Jewish cuisine from all over the globe.
Herzl in Basel, photo: Pikiwiki
Herzl, look - in the Land of Israel, she rose on her own, which in terms of economic prosperity, diplomacy and policy, military and security, science and education, culture and social diversity, surpasses everything a Jew could have imagined in 1897.
Exceeds "Altneuland".
Exceeds your fertile and abundant imagination, Herzl.
In this Jewish country, the life expectancy and standard of living are among the highest in the world.
Jews whose parents lived in a village in Ethiopia manage complex financial projects in this country today.
Jews whose grandfathers survived the furnaces of the Holocaust command classes and battalions in the Israel Defense Forces.
Every evening, weddings are held in this country where Jewish men and women of European, Asian, American and African origin marry each other.
In the well-kept gardens on its streets, children of all colors play together.
The kibbutz of the postcards is almost complete.
The congress that you, Herzl, initiated in Basel - was financed by a private Dutch banker named Jacobus Kahn.
Today's Congress is led by one of the most important national bodies in the Jewish people, the World Zionist Organization, which you founded.
The Zionist Congress 1964, photo: Moshe Friedan
On the axis cards that you distributed to the congress visitors, a picture of a farmer sowing furrows that continue to the Western Wall was drawn.
These were your dreams.
About 12 million people visit the Western Wall every year.
Israel is a leader in agricultural technology, exports and productivity.
The plow did not reach the Western Wall due to transportation constraints, but it crosses the length and breadth of the country, including in the Negev desert, and brings in tens of billions of shekels every year.
Look, Herzl, at the delegates in your congress.
Only five generations after you, the descendants of those ancestors will live in the Israel you dreamed of.
It will be one of the leaders in the world in the human development index, one of the most educated and richest countries in the world.
Remember the deputies who argued with you about whether it makes sense to wear a frock and a tie at ten in the morning?
Their great-grandsons, citizens of the startup nation, wear jeans and a t-shirt to work.
Herzl's grave, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Not everything is perfect, Herzl.
We would be happy to report to you an optimal completion of your vision.
At the closing of the first congress, spontaneous singing broke out in the hall with the words "for next year in Jerusalem".
We still say the same words every year on Seder night, because climbing the ladder is not over yet.
We still have a lot of work ahead of us, there is still no model society here - in encouraging immigration and absorbing immigration, in protecting security, in reducing gaps, in connecting the parts of the people.
Carl Lipa, from the "Zion Lovers" movement, the elder of the delegates in your Congress, ended his speech with ancient words that aroused excitement: "Blessed are you, our Lord God, the King of the world, that we have lived and existed and reached this time."
We say "amen" to it to this day.
Yaakov Hagoel is the chairman of the World Zionist Organization.
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