The Ashkenazi Revolution

113Here I wish to inform the public of an important detail that is worthremembering. One of my friends, a very trustworthy man who wishes toremain anonymous, told me that a year before the death of Ahad ha’Am agroup of youths had visited him seeking his blessing for a pamphlet that thegroup was about to publish on Tel Hai day, to commemorate Trumpeldor.Ahad ha’Am responded to this request with words of disdain aboutTrumpeldor and his deed, which was a “foolish deed”. As he continued totell the story, he told me that this was his opinion also of the HebrewLegion, and that he had expressed this opinion in front of Jabotinsky. Myfriend had left the small house next to the gymnasium shocked andashamed.The great political success of Ahad ha’Am can, to a large extent, beattributed to the outstanding technical skills, from the days of rabbinicalrule, that were in his blood. A great and powerful rabbi, who dwelt in asmall city, was, to a large extent, an absolute ruler. Everything needed hisapproval. The rabbi sees this power as understood and, whenever achallenge to his authority is perceived, he thunderously raises his voice,showering rebukes and contempt upon the offender and enforcingobedience - so too with Ahad ha’Am. His talk of spiritual authority, aboutthe prophets and so on, was taken from the authoritarian toolbox of therabbinical world. Ahad ha’Am knew the spirit of this people and knewhow to influence it. He also knew the secret of the magic of imperialauthority hidden within the Hebrew language. Berdichevsky has alreadysaid that Ahad ha’Am never created any new concept, but rather created alanguage, and this language required the instrument of authority. Hebrew,the grasping of the concepts of prophets and miracle men, the view of thepeople as the “wild and untamed masses” that needs the rule of an iron fist,the secret covenant of the “Sons of Moses” – all these were concepts andtools that were created by Ahad ha’Am in order to solidify the authoritarianpower of the New Hebrew Literature and in order to impose this authorityupon the Ashkenazi People.The great popularity of Ahad ha’Am, within the Hebrew Enlightenment,comes from the fact that his grasp was a reactionary grasp dressed as a