Akademik

(One of the People

(1856-1927)

   The pseudonym used by Asher Zvi Ginzberg, founder and proponent of the cultural Zionism Movement. Born in Skvira, near Kiev, in Russia (see UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS [USSR/RUSSIA]), he began to learn Hebrew as 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 by settlement in Palestine. He joined the central committee of the Hoveve Zion Movement but criticized its ideas and methods. In 1895, he turned to writing as a profession and soon began editing Hashiloah, a Hebrew monthly. Ahad Haam became an opponent of political Zionism and the World Zionist Organization established 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 in Tel Aviv.