Shtisel creator is working on series covering the father of Zionism

The writer and co-creator of Shtisel is working on a mini-series about Theodore Herzl. The Austrian-Jewish journalist and playwright was fundamental in the founding of the state of Israel and the series from Ori Elon will be based on his personal diaries, following his journey to become the leader of a nation.

Born in 1860 to middle class parents in what is now Budapest, Hungary, Herzl’s career was devoted to journalism and literature. He worked at a newspaper in Vienna before becoming a correspondent in Paris, where he attended the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a renowned political scandal and anti-Semitic event which saw a French-Jewish army captain falsely convicted as a spy for Germany.

The event made a Zionist out of Herzl and he believed then that Jews needed a nation to call their own. He founded and was the president of the Zionist Organization, a modern political movement to establish an independent Jewish state.

Elon is best known as the co-creator and writer of Netflix’s hit series Shtisel, about a Haredi family living in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem. Such was its success that its stars Michael Aloni, Dov Glickman and Shira Haas have become household names.