THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, December 9, 1960
Ahad Ha-Am, Nahum Sokolow, Moses Hess
Subjects of Three New Biographical Works
Three great Jewish personali- I Dr. Kling's biography of Na- ! most fitting was the Talmudic
ties, who played important roles hum Sokolow is presented as , title: ish haeshkolot, a living
in molding views on Zionism, the first published life story encyclopedia, a man who had
socialism, the Hebrew language of the late scholar who was absorbed everything. He was a
and the establishment of a Jew- president of the World Zionist brilliant student of all of Jew-
ish national home are the sub- Organization in 1931, for a term ish law and lore. He was master
jects of biographies published that was sandwiched in between of European tongues and secu-
terms of the high office held lar knowledge. He was jour-
this week.
nalist, essayist, biographer,
Moses Hess, Nahum Sokolow by Dr. Chaim Weizmann.
Dr. Sokolow's career is re- poet, playwright, feuilletonist,
and Ahad Ha-Am (Asher Gins-
berg) are evaluated in the three viewed as writer, as statesman short-story writer, historian and
who negotiated with kings and philosopher."
works.
* * *
The Jewish Publication So- diplomats.
The
majbr
volume in this
In
1917
Dr.
Sokolow
ex-
ciety has published the full
length biography of Ahad Ha- plained the aims of the Zionist series of biographies is Sir
NAHUM SOKOLOW
movement to Pope Benedict Leon Simon's "Ahad Ha-Am."
Am by Leon Simon.
Simcha Kling wrote the story XV, and the latter remarked: This JPS volume offers an un-
of "Nahum Sokolow: Servant "What a reversal of his- derstanding of the conflicts of two antithetic conceptions ;
of His People," published by tory! Nineteen centuries ago that arose between Ahad Ha- of Jewish nationalism. Far as
Herzl Press. Rome destroyed Jerusalem, Am and the political Zionists, they were removed from one
"Moses Hess: Utopian Social- and now, desiring to rebuild the differences between the another in almost every im-1
ist," by John Weiss, was pub- it, you take the path to cultural and spiritual Zionism . portant respect, ,whether of
of the Jewish philosopher, whose background and education or of
lished by Wayne State Univer- Rome!"
Dr.
Sokolow
lectured
in
com-
life story is told in the new character and temperament,
sity Press.
* * *
munities throughout the world. book and the political Zionists. they were yet at one in radical-
"Moses Hess", the shortest of He met with leading diplomats The description of the early ism with which each attacked
the three books, issued in an and presented the Zionist case years in Ahad Ha-Am's life that aspect of the Jewish prob-
80-page brochure, is the only to them. He similarly pleaded throw light on 'life in the Rus- lem in which he was particu-
one of the three that does not with Jewish opponents in be- sian ghettos. The reader is 1 I larly interested. Herzl, aroused
deal with the subject's Jewish half of the national homeland enlightened on the Haskalah to an assertion' of his Jewish-
interests. As indicated in the ideal. movement and on the conflicts ness by `the plight of the Jews,'
He converted Hatzfirah "into that stirred young Jews at that saw the futility of the conven-
subtitle, this book is concerned
with Hess the utopian, the so- a vehicle of Zionist expression." time. Ahad Ha-Am's early visits tional palliative measures of
cialist, the associate of Karl He countered opposition with in Palestine, his life in England, piecemeal emigration and diplo-
Marx and the man who had in- logic and in his "gentle and his travels are depicted for an • - matic representations to anti,
fluenced socialist thinking and soft-spoken" ways he clarified understanding of the evolution Jewish governments. He realiz-
philosophy in the last century. "the true nature of Zionism." of his thinking and his atti- ed that -even the best-inten-
tioned and most influential of
Dr. Sokolow was a distin- tudes on Jewish issues.
Moses Hess was one of the
Sir Leon offers an import- philanthropists could not solve
precursors of Theodor Herzl. He guished linguist. He spoke
ant evaluation of Ahad Ha- Lthe problem, and that what was
was the socialist who turned and wrote with fluency in He-
Am's literary career. Lengthy needed was a national effort
Zionist and whose "Rome and brew, Yiddish, Polish, Rus-
quotations from the noted for national independence. Ahad
Jerusalem" is to this day one sian, German, French, Eng-
thinker's works thoroughly Ha-Am, concerned pr imarily
of the .great books on Zionist lish, Spanish and Italian.
ideology. But this aspect in He - was a Maskil who mas- explain his position on Zion- with 'the plight of Judaism,'
ism and describe his warnings was the first to appreciate the
Hess' -Iffe is completely ignored tered the Bible and the Talmud
and "his writings are replete to Jewry in matters involv- dimensions of that problem, to
in Weiss' book.
ing grave issues that arose diagnose its underlying causes,
The biographer states that with Biblical and Talmudical
in the early years of this cen- and to offer a comprehensive
"of all German Socialists before quotations."
solution in place of the super-
As Zionist leader he 'had tury.
Marx and Engels, Hess -vas the
Stating that "Ahad Ha-Am re- ficial expedients by which it
most influential among his con- charge -of political affairs and
temporaries." We are _told That displayed great skill in dealing acted against political Zionism had been shelved rather than
"Hess, like so many young Jew- with diplomats as well as with with his heart no less than with solved. He saw that Judaism
ish intellectuals of the day, Jews who either supported Zion• his head, and attacked it at could not be fitted into the
learned his Latin from Spinoza ism or differed with it. He made times with bitterness which he framework of the modern world
and his German from Hegel." several trips to the United rarely injected into his other by an attempt to forget or con-
"Hess followed. Marx and be- States on lecture tours for the c ontr ov e rsi al writings," Sir teal its national character, and
Leon reviews the conflict be- could • not be made viable by
came a materialist," the biogra- movement.
"Nahum Sokolow was a hu- tween the subject of his biog- mechanical reform of religious
pher indicates. In his last years,
Hess sought to make "a\ syn- man being with the weaknesses raphy and Dr. Theodor Herzl. practice, or by the encourage-
ment of an archaeological inter-
thesis of the two movements and frailties of human beings," He explains:
"Herzl and Ahad Ha-Am est in the Jewish past, or by the
which had inspired his life: Dr. Kling writes. "Of all the
e . tand out as the protagonists t imposition of a 'mission' on the
o hi m, the
epithets appl i e d to
idealism and materialism."
AHAD HA-AM
scattered and harassed remnant
of a people which had lost its
home and its independence: He
realized that nothing less would
suffice than a. revolution in
Judaism, with a shift of em-
phasis from the past to the
future, and a reinvigoration of
the national sentiment and the
national hope."
Ahad Ha-Am's personality
and influence made itself felt,
in London, where he was in
exile during World War I, and
in Palestine, where he lived his
final years.
Sir Leon shows that Ahad
Ha-Am did not found a school
of thought, "wished for no
disciples except such as ac-
cepted his ideas in the exer-
cise of their own independent
judgment, and his - philosophy
was largely the reflection of
his individuality . . ."
Sir Leon expresses the view
that "there seems to be' no
reason why Israel should not
become capable of exercising
the inflenee of a spiritual cen-
ter—`a power-house of the na-
tional spirit,' to use one of
!Ahad Ha-Am's metaphors -- in
the more strictly spiritual sense
as well as in the psychological.
, If this does come about—and
clearly we are in a region of
speculation in which the last
word must be with faith rather
, than with reasoned argument-
Ahad Ha-Am's campaign for the
ideals of spiritual Zionism will
be entitled to rank among the
decisive epis-odes ! in modern
Jewish history."
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