Asher Ginsberg
Overview
 
Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 - 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name
Hebrew name
Hebrew names are names that have a Hebrew language origin, classically from the Hebrew Bible. They are mostly used by people living in Jewish or Christian parts of the world, but some are also adapted to the Islamic world, particularly if a Hebrew name is mentioned in the Qur'an. When...

 and pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

, Ahad Ha'am, , was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 thinkers. He is known as the founder of Cultural Zionism
Cultural Zionism
Cultural Zionism is a strain of the concept of Zionism that values Jewish culture and history, including language and historical roots, rather than other Zionist ideas such as political Zionism...

. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Palestine he confronted Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl , born Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl was an Ashkenazi Jew Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.-Early life:...

. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews."
Ginsberg was born in Skvyra
Skvyra
Skvyra is a town in the Kiev Oblast of central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Skvyra Raion , and is currently a municipality of raion subordinance. Skvyra currently has a population of about 18,009 and an area of ....

, near Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 in what was then Russia, to pious well-to-do Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

 parents.
Quotations

הנביא אינו מבחין בין אדם לאדם, אלא בין צדיק ורשע.

Ha'navi eyno mavhin beyn adam l'adam, ela beyn tzadik v'rasha

האדם הבינוני- כל תוכן חייו אינו אלא חיקוי של חיי אותו כלל שהוא חלק ממנו.

Ha'adam ha'beynoni - kol tokhen hayav eyno ela hikuy shel hayey oto klal she'hu helek mimenu.

כל זמן שיעריצו ויקדשו העמים את גבוריהם בגלל ההרג והאובדן שעשו בשונאיהם, לא תחדל המלחמה מהעולם.

Kol z'man sh'ya'ritzu v'yekadshu ha'amim at giboreyhem biglal hahereg v'ha'ovdan sh'asu b'son'ehem, lo tehdal hamilhama m'ha'olam.

כל קיבוץ של בני אדם הוא בעל נפש אחת כללית השפלה בתכונותיה מן הנפשות הפרטיות של הנקבצים כשהם לעצמם.

Kol kibutz shel b'ney adam hu ba'al nefesh ahat klalit hashfela b'tkhunuteyha min ha'nefashot ha'pratiot shel hanikbatzim k'shehem le'atzmam

טועים הם החושבים כי יש איזה הבדל עצמי המושרש בטבע העמים בתחילת דרכם, כאילו חוש מוסרי מיוחד ניתן לישראל בלבד.

To'im eleh ha'hoshvim ki yesh eyze hevdel 'atzmi ha'mushrash b'teva' ha'amim b'thilat darkam, k'ilu hush musari m'yuhad nitan l'yisrael bilvad

The less their ability, the more their conceit.

 
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