My wife and I drove to the county seat yesterday to sign a refi. The lawyer's office was full and we had to sit on the faux leather couch in the outer office. I was rereading Herzl's diaries. He had a grandiloquent streak. I came to this passage:
Great things need no solid foundation. An apple must be put on a table
so that it will not fall. The earth floats in mid-air. Similarly, I may
be able to found and stabilize the Jewish State without any firm
support.
I read it to my wife, and she made a face. "An apple is a great thing. Who would ever dismiss an apple? It's an incredible marvel."
I remembered that for years my wife had a quote on the refrigerator from Whitman, whose life substantially overlapped with Herzl's: "A mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels."
I wonder whether my wife's difference with Herzl is cultural or religious or national, then decide it has to do with the poetic spirit vs. the political. Herzl liked to vaporize but he was political, Whitman was poetic.
