he classics.

The Jewish world, not alien to her, did not find expression through
her; her conscious efforts were all directed toward implanting the
German cultural heritage in her children. Of even deeper significance
was her sympathetic attitude toward the pride which showed early in
her son, and her skill in transferring to him her sense of form, of
bearing, of tactfulness and of simple grace.

At about the age of twelve he read in a German book about the
Messiah-King whom many Jews still awaited and who would come riding,
like the poorest of the poor on an ass. The history of the Exodus and
the legend of the liberation by the King-Messiah ran together in the
boy's mind, inspiring in him the theme of a wonderful story which he
sought in vain to put into literary form.

A little while thereafter Herzl had the following dream: "The
King-Messiah came, a glorious and majestic old man, took me in his
arms, and swept off with me on the wings of the wind. On one of the
iridescent clouds we encountered the figure of Moses. The features
were those familiar to me out of my childhood in the statue by
Michelangelo. The Messiah called to Moses: It is for this child that I
have prayed. But to me he said: Go, declare to the Jews that I shall
come soon and perform great wonders and great deeds for my people and
for the whole world."

It may be to this period (of his _Bar Mitzvah_) of reawakened Jewish
sensitivity, of heightened responsiveness to the expectations of his
elders, of resurgent interest in Jewish historical studies--it may be
to this period that the dream of a dedicated life belonged. It is
almost certain, too, that for the great event of the _Bar Mitzvah_ the
old grandfather of Semlin came to Pest. About this time, again,
Alkalai, that early, all-but-forgotten Zionist, passed through Vienna
and Budapest on his final journey to Palestine. Whether or not each
one of these circumstances had a direct effect on the boy, the whole
complex surrounds his _Bar Mitzvah_ with the suggestion of the mission
of his life, and, certainly, occasion was given for the awakening in
him of the feeling of dedication to a great enterprise.

The attention, energy and time which Herzl devoted to literature, at
fifteen, his absorption in himself, his activity in the school
literary society meant of course so much less given to his school
work. He found no time at all for science; Jewish questions likewise
disappeared from his interests; he