János Rónai, the brave Zionist from Hungary

I was always surprised by the variants of Hungarian-breed Judaism, and most specifically but their strong Hungarian patriotism that prevented many to see the terrible plans the rest of the population was preparing for them. I have the same curiosity for the way of thinking of the Satmar Hasidic group but also for the Modern-Reform orientations.

Of course, we do not have to forget that Herzl is of Hungarian origin, for example. In my search for understing Hungarian Zionism and Hungarian Jews in general, I discovered János Rónai, who set the basis of the Zion Society in Hungary. 

I should continue the search and the process of understanding. 

Photo: The tomb of Herzl on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem

Esterhazy Peter

on writing:

"My admittedly conscious use of language, I think, was not conscious. It was my hand or my stomach that knew. In short, I didn’t approach writing from the vantage point of theory, but from the side of practice – much like a stonemason".