The First Zionist Congress in 1897 electrified the Jewish masses – and stirred the (kosher) doubting Thomases. Critics came not only from the assimilationists and the fundamentalists but from some Zionists. Veteran activists resented Theodor Herzl as an ignorant Johnny-come-lately so pleased he had discovered something they had known for years.
Early on, when he was still trying to fit in, there were clear signs that the Theodor Herzl that always was was the Theodor Herzl he eventually became.