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Quotes on Judaism & Israel: Chaim Weizmann

On Israel as Haven for Jews

“There are now two sorts of countries in the world, those that want to expel the Jews and those that don't want to admit them.”

On the Opening of Hebrew University

“It seems at first sight paradoxical that in a land with so sparse a population, in a land where everything still remains to be done, in a land crying out for such simple things as ploughs, roads and harbors, we should be creating a center of spiritual and intellectual development. But it is no paradox for those who know the soul of the Jew. It is true that great social and political problems still face us and will demand their solution. We Jews know that when the mind is given fullest play, when we have a center for the development of Jewish consciousness, then coincidentally, we shall attain the fulfillment of our material needs.”  - April 1, 1925

On Why Jewish Homeland Should be in Palestine

A member of the House of Lords asked Chaim Weizmann, “Why do you Jews insist on Palestine when there are so many undeveloped countries you could settle in more conveniently?” Weizmann said: “That is like my asking you why you drove twenty miles to visit your mother last Sunday when there are so many old ladies living on your street.”

“I said, ‘Mr. Balfour, if you were offered Paris instead of London, would you take it?’...He looked surprised. He said: ‘But London is our own!’ I said, ‘Jerusalem was our own when London was a marsh.’ He said, ‘That’s true.’”

- “Weizmann’s Answer,” Commentary, (October 8, 2007); Balfour quote in Moment, (May/June 2009), p. 22.