Signed, Sealed, Delivered? Herzl Rosenblum

Herzl Rosenblum was born in 1903, a year before the death of his namesake, Theodor Herzl, who – of course – was also a journalist. In so naming him, Rosenblum later remarked, his parents had left him little choice but to spend the rest of his life in service of the Zionist cause.

In his autobiography, he claimed that he had never met two people more different in both temperament and character than his own parents. His father, Avram Motl, was an eternal optimist and a fervent Zionist, whereas his mother, Rode Iteh, was an ardent Bundist with such a bleak outlook on life that he referred to her as “Schopenhauer in a dress.”

Though he was a public figure his entire life, Rosenblum’s career as an elected politician was brief. It began (and promptly ended) when he was in high-school, in Kaunas, where – as head of the student union – he organized a general strike. Given that three-fifths of the school’s student body was Jewish, he noted, the language of instruction ought to be the ancestral tongue of the Jews – Hebrew. He made it clear that till his demands were fully met, not a single Jewish student would enter the classroom. But things didn’t go as planned. Within a few days, almost all the other Jewish pupils had broken ranks, Rosenblum himself had been deposed as head of the student union, and – as if all that wasn’t enough – he was expelled. It was only thanks to a desperate plea from his highly-respected older brother that he was eventually allowed to return to school, matriculate, and go on to study at the University of Vienna.

In 1935, after stints in both Paris and London, and armed with a doctorate in law, he moved to Palestine with only one firm conviction in mind: not to work as a lawyer. Without any real knowledge of Hebrew and with no experience whatsoever as a journalist, he met with Yosef Haftman, the editor of the HaBoker daily, and asked him to accept dispatches from the upcoming Zionist Congress in Lucerne, to which Rosenblum had been invited as a participant.

Haftman agreed, and the deal was that Rosenblum would be paid if, and only if, HaBoker actually ran the articles. Realizing that this was his one shot, Rosenblum went all in: He took notes, drafted, crafted and had the pieces translated into Hebrew on his own dime. To his delight, the effort paid off and Haftman, the editor, bought all ten of his dispatches. That ultimately launched Rosenblum’s career, which would include a 38-year stint as editor-in-chief of Yedioth Ahronoth, one of the country’s most popular newspapers.

Ideologically, Rosenblum was a disciple of Ze’ev Jabotinsky – the Odessa-born journalist and orator whose writings laid the cornerstone on which the Israeli right was founded. In a 1986 interview, he called Jabotinsky the greatest journalist the world has ever known, and said that, “my entire career as a publicist I have lived under the spell of his enchanting power.”

As one of only three Revisionists to sign the Declaration of Independence, Rosenblum was a staunch right-winger. In his editorials he opposed the 1952 reparations agreement with Germany and – later on – avidly supported Jewish settlement in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Sinai Peninsula. He often argued that peace would only come once the Arab citizens of Israel “accept that they will, with full equal rights, forever be a minority in the State of Israel.”

He retired from Yedioth Ahronoth in 1986, and two years later lit one of the torches in the central ceremony celebrating Israel’s 40th birthday. He died in Tel Aviv in 1991, at the age of 87.

The end song is Be’Toch Niyar Iton (lyrics – Kobi Oz, music – traditional Moroccan), performed by Teapacks. (Licensed by Israel Story through Acum)

About Israel Story: Israel Story is the award-winning podcast that tells extraordinary tales about ordinary Israelis. Often called “the Israeli ‘This American Life,’” we bring you quirky, unpredictable, interesting and moving stories about a place we all think we know a lot about, but really don’t. Produced in partnership with The Times of Israel.

Subscribe to Israel Story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript of this episode: