David Matlow is the owner of the world’s largest private collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia (over 6,000 pieces). He is the Founder of the Herzl Project, whose goal is to inform people about who Herzl was and what he did so as to inspire them to continue Herzl’s work to benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The Herzl Project includes My Herzl (a 53 minute documentary film), Theo the Herzl mascot, numerous podcast interviews and webinars, public appearances across North America and in Israel, a six part series of short films produced by the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (Canada) and other programs and initiatives.

Items from David's collection have been exhibited in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minnesota (commencing May 2024) and a large exhibit of his collection will open in September 2024 at the Bernard Museum at Temple Emanuel-El in New York City.

David writes a weekly column in the Canadian Jewish News (www.thecjn.ca) called Treasure Trove where he takes one historical item from his collection and explains its contemporary relevance. Many of the columns were aggregated into 75 Treasures: Celebrating Israel at Seventy-Five to tell the story of Israel through memorabilia. The book is available for free download on his website.

David’s passion for collecting provides a quirky and novel entry point to discuss important issues relating to Israel including the fact that Zionism as conceived by Herzl is a progressive movement, and Herzl charges us to work towards his vision of Israel being a model society, work that is now and will always be ongoing