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על פרשת דרכים At the Crossroads (Selected Essays)

אחד העם Ahad Ha'am

Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (1856 - 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am (literally "one of the people"), was a Hebrew essayist and one of the greatest pre-state Zionist thinkers. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Palestine he confronted Theodor Herzl. Unlike the founder of political Zionism he strove for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews."

In 1889 his first article criticizing practical Zionism, called "Lo ze haddereckh" (This is not the way), appeared in HaMelitz. The ideas in this article became the platform for Bnai Moshe (sons of Moses), a group he founded that year. Bnai Moshe, active until 1897, worked to improve Hebrew education, build up a wider audience for Hebrew literature, and assist the Jewish settlements. This article was the first in a collection of essays published in book form in 1895 (At the Crossroads). The following is a selection from this book. (summary from Wikipedia)