Today marks 155 anniversary of the birth of Ahad Ha’am. “Ahad Ha’am deserves a special chapter in the history of Zionism. He was the most prominent literary figure in the Hovevei Zion movement, and he is the most respected and influential representative of modern Hebrew literature.”

Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), who renamed himself as Ahad Ha’am (One of the People), felt that without the traditional Jewish values, the Zionist dream would turn into a secular state devoid of  inherent Jewish values. A great lover of the Jewish people, it was he who encouraged Chaim Weizmann in 1917, to persevere in his destiny as a leader of the Jewish people in their quest for a Jewish state – the impact, the Balfour Declaration was passed later that year.

He is known as the founder of  Cultural Zionism. With his secular vision of a Jewish “spiritual center” in Palestine he confronted Theodor Herzl. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ha’am strived for “a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews.”

In 1889 he wrote his first article criticizing practical Zionism, called Lo ze haderech (This is not the way). 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 Al parshat drachim (At the Crossroads).

Al parshat drachim app is Hebrew language audiobook for iPhone  with selection from this book. Recording is in Hebrew and includes the following chapters read by Omri Lernau:

• This Is Not the Way - ‎לא זה הדרך
• Slavery in Freedom ‎- עבדות בתוך חרות
• Some Consolation ‎- חצי נחמה
• Between Sacred and Profane ‎- בין קדוש וחול
• Early and Late in Life - מוקדם ומאוחר בחיים
• Past and Future ‎- עבר ועתיד
• Imitation and Assimilation - חיקוי והתבוללות
• Priest and Prophet‎ – כהן ונביא
• Moses – ‎משה

Time: 4:10

App: אחד העם ‫-‬ על פרשת דרכים (Hebrew audiobook – At the Crossroads by Ahad Ha’am)

Compatible: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
Category: Books
Released:  February 25, 2010
Publisher: Anton Rozen & sefershema.com
Price: $0.99 (buy app)

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