Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl, founder and president of the
Zionist Organization, which helped establish a Jewish state, felt ambivalent about Friedrich Nietzsche's ideology, owing to Nietzsche's history of mental health issues. Even so, Herzl's idea of the “new Jew” was profoundly similar to that of Nietzsche's “new European man” or
Übermensch. This he believed to be necessary for the Jewish renaissance. The two thousand years of the Jewish diaspora, Buber maintained, transformed physical energy into spiritual energy within the Jews. Buber was well aware that Nietzsche used the philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer to mold his authentic self; likewise, Buber used Nietzsche for the same reason. believing that the Jews lacked power and seeing in Zionism a phenomenon that would steer the Jews toward power and freeing themselves. Whether Weizmann's intention was conscious or not, his ideas relate to Nietzsche's ideal of the
Übermensch. Although he believed that the Jews contained sufficient intellect to understand and incorporate the writings of Nietzsche into their lives, Weizmann believed this could not be done on a mass-scale. ==See also==