Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 - 2 January 1927), primarily known by his
Hebrew nameHebrew 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 nameA 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
ZionistZionism 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 ZionismCultural 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 HerzlTheodor 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
SkvyraSkvyra 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
KievKiev 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
HasidicHasidic 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.
