Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am (, lit. 'one of the people', ), was a Hebrew journalist and essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. He is known as the founder of cultural Zionism. With his vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Eretz Israel, his views regarding the purpose of a Jewish state contrasted with those of prominent figures within the Zionist movement such as Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism. Unlike Herzl, Ahad Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews".

Biography

Ginsberg was born in Skvyra, in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) to wealthy Hasidic parents. The town was located in the Pale of Settlement, which constituted an area in the Russian Empire in which Jews were legally allowed to reside. Ginsberg felt little affection for the town, describing it as "one of the most benighted spots in the Hasidic districts of Russia." Jewish segregation in the Russian Empire as well as his strong Orthodox upbringing served to cultivate an identity fundamentally based in Jewish Nationalism. At eight years old, he began to teach himself to read Russian. His father, Isaiah, sent him to heder until he was 12. When his father became the administrator of a large estate in the village of Gopitshitza in the Kiev Governorate, he moved the family there and took private tutors for his son, who excelled at his studies. Ginsberg felt uncomfortable with taking the identity of mitnaged (non-Hasidic Orthodox Jew) or maskil (Jewish Enlightener), so he simply referred to himself as "Ohev Yisrael", or "Lover of Israel". He married his wife Rivke at the age of 17. They had three children, Shlomo, Leah, and Rachel. In 1908, following a trip to Palestine, Ginsberg moved to London to manage the office of the Wissotzky Tea company. He settled in Tel Aviv in early 1922, where he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the city council until 1926. Plagued by ill health, Ginsberg died there in 1927. Instead he hailed the spiritual value of the Hebrew renaissance to counter the debilitating fragmentation (hitpardut) in the diaspora, he believed that the ingathering of Jews in Palestine was not an answer. Kibbutz galuyot was a messianic ideal rather than a feasible contemporary project. The real answer lay in achieving a spiritual centre, or 'central domicile', within Palestine, that of Eretz Israel, which would form an exemplary model for the dispersed world of Jewry in exile to imitate; a spiritual focus for the circumferential world of the Jewish diaspora. He split from the Zionist movement after the First Zionist Congress, because he felt that Theodor Herzl's program was impractical. In an essay entitled The First Zionist Congress (1897), he supports: <blockquote>"the emancipation of ourselves from the inner slavery and the spiritual degradation which assimilation has produced in us, and the strengthening of our national unity by joint action in every sphere of our national life, until we become capable and worthy of a life of dignity and freedom at some time in the future." </blockquote>His criticism of political Zionism would give way to the development of his doctrine of cultural Zionism. From 1889 to 1906, Ginzberg flourished as a preeminent intellectual in Zionist politics.

Journalism career

Ginsberg's literary career began after moving to Odessa in 1886, adopting the pen name "Ahad Ha'am". His first article was published in 1889.

Ginsberg named the publication Ha-Shiloah after a river in the Bible. The river in the Bible was known for water that goes softly, and he wanted his monthly to reflect the slow, methodical development of Hebrew literature he hoped his monthly would curate.

Visits to Palestine

thumb|Ahad Ha'am with [[Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design|Bezalel Art School founder Boris Schatz against backdrop of "The Wandering Jew" by Samuel Hirszenberg]]

Asher Ginsberg travelled frequently to Palestine and published reports about the progress of Jewish settlement there. The essays were generally critical, focusing on the shortcomings of the movement. They reported on hunger, on Arab dissatisfaction and unrest, on unemployment, and on people leaving Palestine. In an essay soon after his 1891 journey to the area he warned against the 'great error', believing the movement was doomed to failure with resistance in land purchases, local attitudes, economic feasibility, and lack of nationalist motivation.

Truth from Eretz Israel

Asher Ginsberg first visited Palestine (the Ottoman Vilayet (province) of Beirut and the Sanjak (district) of Jerusalem) in 1891, to observe the progress of the First Aliyah, or the first wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine (1882-1903). When he returned home, he published a series of five essays in the St. Petersburg-based Hebrew paper Ha-Melitz entitled "Truth From Eretz Israel". The essays were a comprehensive critique of the immigration efforts from both logistical and ethical perspectives, presenting a somber report of future Jewish colonization efforts there.

Importance of Hebrew and Jewish culture

Ahad Ha'am's ideas were popular at a very difficult time for Zionism, beginning after the failures of the first Aliya. His unique contribution was to emphasize the importance of reviving Hebrew and Jewish culture both in Palestine and throughout the Diaspora, something that was recognised only belatedly, when it became part of the Zionist program after 1898. Herzl did not have much use for Hebrew, and many wanted German to be the language of the Jewish state. Ahad Ha'am played an important role in the revival of the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, and in cementing a link between the proposed Jewish state and Hebrew culture.

Cultural Zionism

The ideas perpetuated through Ginsberg's essays and criticisms regarding the Zionist movement constituted what is known today as Cultural Zionism. This ideology promoted cultural and linguistic revival throughout the Jewish diaspora, and allowed for, but did not require, the creation of a Jewish state which would serve as a cultural and spiritual center for the diaspora. Ginsberg and the ideology of cultural Zionism placed importance on issues plaguing Judaism as an identity rather than the problems of individual Jews. In it, he wrote that the Land of Israel will not be capable of absorbing all of the Jewish Diaspora, not even a majority of them. Ahad Ha'am also argued that establishing a "national home" in Zion will not solve the "Jewish problem"; furthermore, the physical conditions in Eretz Yisrael will discourage Aliyah, and thus Hibbat Zion must educate and strengthen Zionist values among the Jewish people enough that they will want to settle the land despite the greatest difficulties. The ideas in this article became the platform for Bnei Moshe (sons of Moses), a secret society he founded that year. Bnei Moshe, active until 1897, worked to improve Hebrew education, build up a wider audience for Hebrew literature, and assist the Jewish settlements. Perhaps more significant was Derekh Kehayim (1889), Ahad Ha'am's attempt to launch a unique movement from a fundamentalist perspective incorporating all the elements of a national revival, but driven by force of intellect.

He eclipsed nationalists like Peretz Smolenskin arguing assimilative individualism in the west further alienated Russified Jewry, who were seeking to reduce migration: isolating it beggared Eastern European Jewry. Even those in Hovevei seeking to restrict emigration would, he feared, bring the extinguishment of national consciousness; and atomisation of Jewish identity. Only anti-Semitism had made Jews of us. Derekh argued that nations had waxed and waned throughout history, but nationalism had all but vanished from Jewish consciousness. Only a small group of nobles kept it going.

Throughout the 1890s Ahad Ha'am worked to keep the flame of nationalism alive. Emphasis fell on moral concepts, honor of the flag, self-improvement, national revitalisation. A departure occurred in Avdut betokh herut discussing pessimism about the future for independent Jewishness. Critic Simon Dubnov alluded to this but was compromised by his westernised idealizing of French Jewry. For the movement, the preoccupation with assimilation at Odessa was fatal for Ahad Ha'am's progressive Zionism. The requirement arose in 1891 for a "spiritual centre" in Palestine; Bnei Moshe's implacable opposition to his support for Vladimir (Zeev) Tiomkin's ideal community at Jaffa compounded the controversy in Emet me'eretz Yisrael (The Truth from the Land of Israel).

In 1896, he became editor of Hashiloah, a Hebrew monthly, a position he held for six years. After stepping down as editor in 1903, he went back to the business world with the Wissotzky Tea Company.

In 1897, following the Basel Zionist Congress calling for a Jewish national home "recognized in international law" (völkerrechtlich), Ha'am wrote an article called Jewish State Jewish Problem ridiculing the idea of a völkerrechtlich recognized state, given the pitiful plight of the Jewish settlements in Palestine at the time. He emphasized that without a Jewish nationalist revival abroad, it would be impossible to mobilize genuine support for a Jewish national home. Even if the national home were created and recognized in international law, it would be weak and unsustainable.

In 1898, the Zionist Congress adopted the idea of disseminating Jewish culture in the Diaspora as a tool for furthering the goals of the Zionist movement and bringing about a revival of the Jewish people. Bnei Moshe helped to found Rehovot as a model for self-sufficiency, and established Achiasaf, a Hebrew publishing company.

thumb|right|Grave of Ahad Ha'am, [[Trumpeldor Cemetery, Tel Aviv]]

Political influence

thumb|Ahad Ha'am's proposal to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Asher Ginsberg's political influence was relatively small when compared to the impact and proliferation of his published works. His desire to be seen as a neutral, apolitical commentator led to him often staying on the sidelines of political events. He spoke at many conferences and advised prominent leaders, but would avoid opportunities for responsibility and leadership whenever they were presented.

Ginsberg's first significant political action was founding the Bnei Moshe, a secret political organization, in 1889, and assuming leadership. He also joined the Odessa committee, a committee advocating for the immigration of Jewish people to Israel, along with many of his Bnei Moshe brethren from 1891 to 1895.

Ahad Ha'am was a talented negotiator. He used his skills in compromise during the "language controversy" that accompanied the founding of the Haifa Technikum (today: the Technion) and in the negotiations culminating in the Balfour Declaration. Ahad Ha'am was also a close advisor to Chaim Weizmann and other British Zionists at the time of the negotiations. After the Balfour Declaration he held a position on the Zionist "Political Committee", along with being a powerful advisor to the British Zionists as they battled anti-Zionist efforts. Ahad Ha'am and Theodor Herzl would remain rivals for years, and their conflicting views would spark disagreements between Eastern and Western Zionists throughout the early twentieth century. In Petah Tikva there is a high school named after him, Ahad Ha'am High School. There is also a room named after him at the Beit Ariela Library, Ahad Ha'am Room.

Published works

  • Ten Essays on Zionism and Judaism, Translated from the Hebrew by Leon Simon, Arno Press, 1973 (reprint of 1922 ed.).
  • Essays, Letters, Memoirs, Translated from the Hebrew and edited by Leon Simon. East and West Library, 1946.
  • Selected Essays, Translated from the Hebrew by Leon Simon. The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1912.
  • Nationalism and the Jewish Ethic; Basic Writings of Ahad Ha'am, Edited and Introduced by Hans Kohn. Schocken Books, 1962

References

Further reading

  • "Moses": Zionist pamphlet by Achad ha-Am (1904), translated into English by Leon Simon. Jewish Miscellanies website.
  • Ahad Ha'am (Asher Ginsburg)
  • Micha Goodman,Hillel the Elder meets Ahad Ha'am, Eretz Acheret Magazine