the sixtieth anniversary of ahad ha'am, the foremost hebrew thinker of his time, is a notable event in hebrew literature, and will no doubt be celebrated by hebraists all over the world in a manner worthy of the man and of the thinker. next to bialik, the great hebrew poet, ahad ha'am is today the most popular jew among the jewries of the east and the best known representative of hebrew thought among jewish intellectuals in the west. his name is identified with the formulation of the program of hebrew nationalism and the creation of a hebrew cultural centre in palestine. unlike other thinkers who consider their convictions their own private affair, ahad ha'am had the courage of his convictions and defended them against great odds. he had the courage to take his stand against the giant, herzl, and the powerful dialectician and publicist, max nordau. he knew that the fight against herzl, when the great leader of zionism was at his height, would not win him friends, but he had the daring to take up the fight.
for ahad ha'am the question of political zionism and that of cultural zionism as represented by himself, were matters of principle and had to be fought out sooner or later. while ahad ha'am fought against herzl and nordau and against the other powerful representatives of political zionism, he had no personalities in mind and fought for principles only. the whole position of things was such that ahad ha'am could at that time have had no hope to win the struggle because political zionism was at its height and because theodor herzl was the shining star in the firmament of jewish political life. but disregarding the disadvantageous position in which he found himself, he fought courageously until he believed the danger was passed.
we mention this fight against herzl and nordau because it best characterizes the man, ahad ha'am. though his philosophy of life is a philosophy of abstract ideas, he is at the same time a man full of life and temperament, a hard public worker and a political jew in the best sense of the term. a great deal of his popularity must be ascribed not only to his philosophy and his system of jewish politics, but also to his manliness and wonderful qualities of character.
as a hebrew thinker, ahad ha'am represents the last point in the line of jewish thought which can be characterized as hebrew intellectualism as distinguished from hebrew irrationalism and mysticism, which found its expression in the teachings of the hassidic sect.
since the rise of the theoretical kabbalah in spain in the thirteenth century, which must be considered a reaction against the system of intellectualism as laid down by maimonides, we can observe in jewish history two spiritual tendencies striving for dominance: irrationalism in all its forms and intellectualism in all its aberrations. ahad ha'am represents the line of development, of maimonides, the gaon of wilna, krochmal. the parallel line to the theoretical kabbalah is the practical kabbalah which began in palestine in the sixteenth century and hassidism which originated in poland in the eighteenth century. the intellectualists maintain that the prime essential of the soul is intellect and that judaism is based not on metaphysical will but on intel[66]lectual cognition. for our mediaeval intellectualists and those of the eighteenth century, this premise resulted in the conception of a judaism which lays more stress on knowledge (torah) than on the practice of the religious ceremonies (avodah). it is, of course, understood that the older representatives of jewish intellectualism were as god-fearing and observing as their mystical opponents. but basing judaism on knowledge and cognition, they maintained that the first thing a jew should do is to study and accept the advice of old: thou shalt recognize the god of thy fathers.
in opposition to these teachings is the conception of judaism as represented by kabbalists and hassidim. these lay more stress on the practice of judaism, claiming that judaism is primarily a matter of will and not of knowledge. it is not a coincidence that while among jewish intellectualists in the east (mithnagdim) the knowledge of the talmud and of rabbinic judaism is widely spread because they consider this the first duty of the jew, there prevails among the hassidim ignorance of the talmud and of rabbinic judaism.
[67]ahad ha'am is today the representative of intellectual judaism as conceived by his time, as the gaon of wilna was in his day the representative of intellectual judaism. it is very characteristic of this jewish school of thought that a man like the gaon of wilna has written a system of geometry and was interested in mathematics and logic. with his logical mind he created a new method of studying the talmud which is marked by simplicity and clearness. ahad ha'am achieved in the domain of hebrew thought and literature what the gaon of wilna had achieved in talmudic methodology. as the gaon of wilna did away with "pilpul" sophistry, so ahad ha'am did away with the confusing and unproductive "hakira," unsystematic discussion of abstract thought, and introduced economy of thought and of expression—a clear terminology and a systematic formulation of principles and ideas. that is what has given him the leading position in modern hebrew literature.
ahad ha'am's greatness does not consist of these formal innovations only. he has enriched hebrew literature with a philosophic ideology of his own which has greatly influenced modern hebrew thought. ahad ha'amism, as this system is called, was not less productive at the beginning of the twentieth century than the yeshibah of volozhin, the work of the wilna gaon, at the start of the nineteenth century. as a matter of fact ahad ha'amism is the modern development of the ideas which came from volozhin. without volozhin there would be no modern hebrew literature, no modern hebrew thought and no ahad ha'am.
while the jewish teachings of ahad ha'am can easily be explained as the continuation of a certain historical tendency in judaism, the philosophy of ahad ha'am consists of many different systems and cannot be so readily surveyed. his own disciples claim that he is following in the footsteps of krochmal and that he is thus a disciple of hegel. this, however, is only partly true. one finds, moreover, in the philosophy of ahad ha'am elements of kant, spencer, of modern french sociology and even of nietzsche. the unifying and productive mind of ahad ha'am has absorbed these various philosophic elements and turned them into an organic unit. for this reason ahad ha'am cannot be called an eclectic. even kant had his predecessors, was influenced by various philosophers and took up their suggestions.
ahad ha'am is one of the few modern hebrew leaders who is as much european as jew, and who is not on less intimate terms with european thought than with jewish. owing to these facts he succeeded in europeanizing hebrew literature and in raising it to the high level it now holds.
in the last few years ahad ha'am has made peace with zionism because he thinks that zionism has accepted his views on palestine. his appearance at the 11th zionist congress at vienna was thought by friend and opponent alike to mean that he had made peace with the zionist organization. he has in any case supported the zionist organization in its efforts in palestine and has approved the plan to establish a system of hebrew educational institutions in the holy land. but whether ahad ha'am became more political or whether the zionist organization has come nearer to ahad ha'amism remains a question. the many pupils of ahad ha'am, however, and the zionists in all lands, are happy that the uncontested leader of modern hebrew thought and literature is to be found today with the rank and file of zionism.
