Circular Regarding Raising "Shekels", Issued by the Zionist Actions Committee – Vienna, 1900 – Hand-Signed by ...

Circular Regarding Raising "Shekels", Issued by the Zionist Actions Committee – Vienna, 1900 – Hand-Signed by Theodor Herzl
A circular by the Zionist Actions Committee, hand-signed by Theodor (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl and Dr. Oser Kokesch. Vienna, August 30, 1900. German.
Mimeographed typescript circular sent to members of the Zionist Actions Committee. With the committee's stamp; hand-signed by Theodor Herzl as chairman and Dr. Oser Kokesch as secretary.
The circular, written some two weeks after the end of the fourth Zionist congress in London, requests the assistance of the members of the committee in raising funds in the form of the Zionist Shekel: "Experience indicates that immediately after the congress the members are in high spirits and more than ever in the appropriate mood to work for our holy cause; but this convenient moment has been badly used or not used at all".
The circular emphasizes the importance of raising the Zionist Shekel for the regular activity of the World Zionist Organization and warns that "If the work continues at the previous slow pace, we might get caught in a situation in which we will be forced to suspend our activity due to lack of necessary means".
The Zionist Shekel was part of a fundraising program introduced by the World Zionist Organization towards the elections for the second Zionist congress in 1898. The donation certificates were known as "shekel"; donation of a certain amount counted as annual "membership dues", and buying a Zionist Shekel gave one the right to vote and be elected for the congress. The number of Shekels sold in each country determined the number of delegates it was entitled to send to the congress.
[1] leaf, approx. 28 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Some stains and tears to edges.