AHAD HAAM

Ahad Haam: translation

(One of the People

(1856-1927)

The pseudonym used by Asher Zvi Ginzberg, founder and proponent of the culturalZionismMovement. Born in Skvira, near Kiev, in Russia (see UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS [USSR/RUSSIA]), he began to learnHebrewas a youngster and developed a substantial background in Jewish literature and lore. He later settled in Odessa and engaged in commerce but came to the conclusion that the plight of Russian Jewry could only be alleviated bysettlementinPalestine. He joined the central committee of theHoveve ZionMovement but criticized its ideas and methods. In 1895, he turned to writing as a profession and soon began editingHashiloah, a Hebrew monthly. Ahad Haam became an opponent of political Zionism and theWorld Zionist Organizationestablished in 1897, rejecting the creation of a Jewish state as an immediate object of national policy. He sought instead a truly "Jewish" state that could be achieved only after a substantial period of national education and after the establishment of a cultural center for Jewish life in Palestine. In 1908, he moved to London, where he engaged primarily in business activities. In 1922, he settled inTel Aviv.