HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

234 ASHER WILCHERFranko's roommate, witnessed the meeting of the Ukrainian writerand the founder of the Zionist movement. Forty-four years later (in1937) he described the event in the Jewish Polish-language newspaperChwila, published in Lviv.The ideas sounded out during that meeting found their way intosome of Franko's рге-''Mojsej" poems, and then into the ideology of"Mojsej." Thus an analogy between the aspirations of the Jewish andUkrainian nations to freedom, statehood, and independence constitutesthe basic concept of "Mojsej." Faith in the power of a lofty ideaor a spiritual value to affect the soul of an entire nation, and the imageof a self-sacrificing groundbreaker for that idea or value, likely to bestoned by a society as yet unready for it, are expressed in such poemsas "Refleksija," "Bulo se try dni pered mojim śljubom," "Blaźennyjmuź, śćo ide na sud nepravyx." Eventually, they had their highestexpression in Mojsej, where they affect at once the Ukrainian nation asa whole and the life and work of Ivan Franko himself.Interestingly enough, in 1898, Herzl himself planned to write adrama entitled "Moses." He never realized that plan, but the outlineof the work, as recorded in Herzl's diary, has some points in commonwith the poem Franko produced:The drama is to show how he [Moses] becomes inwardly weary, while retaininghis will to the full. He is the leader because he does not want to be a leader.Everything is swayed to his will because he has no personal desires. His aim isnot fulfillment, but wandering. Education and training by wandering. . . .Aging, he recognizes ever again Korah, the golden calf, the eternal characteristicsof slaves. All these things weary him, and yet he must urge the othersforever forward with fresh energy. It is the tragedy of a leader of men who isnot a misleader. . . . 4The following is the relevant part of Śćurafs memoiristic article: 5— Cieszy mię bardzo, że pana poznaję — odezwał się Herzl do Franki. Bo jużparę razy wspominał mi o panu mój kolega. 6Mało powiedzieć: wspominał.4Alex Bein, Theodor Herzl: A Biography (London, 1957), pp. 265-66.5Wasyl Szczurat, "Wówczas było to jeszcze mrzonka," Chwila poranna, 5 August1937, p. 5. The title of the article is taken from the motto of Herzl's book DerJudenstaat: "If you will it, it is no legend."6Friedrich Samuel [Salamo] Krauss (1859-?), secretary of the "IsraelitischeAlliance," Slavic ethnographer, publisher and editor of the folkloristic monthlyAm Urquell published in Vienna. In a letter to Myxajlo Drahomanov of 3 June1893, Franko mentions his acquaintance with Krauss, who firstinvited him to hishome in Vienna in December 1892. Ivan Franko, Tvory, vol. 20 (Kiev, 1956)p. 486.