The Ashkenazi Revolution

151that brought failure to Herzl and to the Uganda Proposition. The Labormovement was dragged behind Hebrew Literature in all basic culturalassets. Among the leaders of the Labor movement there was only one, BerBorochov, who brought it tools that enabled it to free itself fromsubservience to New Hebrew Literature, and created wider contact with theAshkenazi masses in Eastern Europe. However, the Labor movementdistanced itself from Borokhov, who was a brilliant philologist of theYiddish language, and turned its back on him.After the death of Ahad ha’Am, Bialik turned into something of a pope inthe spiritual life of the settlement. The most important streets are namedafter him in every city and location, and his poems became an educationalstaple. However, this poet, whom the settlement so valued, was completelyalien to the heroic struggle of the Jews of the Land of Israel, to theirpolitical and defensive wars, to their suffering and their toil in industry andpractical achievements. A great historical campaign took place beforeBialik’s eyes, but the poet did not understand it at all, since the concepts ofhistory were completely foreign to him. It is very likely that he viewed thesettlement as merely a camp of customers who purchase books from hispublishing house, or a camp of servile cultural tenants whom heoccasionally reproached in order to keep an appropriate distance fromthem. Bialik felt comfortable in the “Tent of Shem”, in Sabbath gatherings,at a place where high-culture Jews, who sought relaxation, would gather sothat he could enjoy an abundance of culture. But such gatherings werebasically dead gatherings, for in the period of the eve of the Second WorldWar, Jewish life demanded somebody new and it was impossible to sustainthem from the storehouses of generations past, drawn from the depths, evenif the drawer were the honorable Bialik himself. It was specifically thephenomenal cultural power of Bialik that proved convincingly that it is notenough to remember the assets of the past, and to perfume oneself with thescents of the past. Bialik sank more and more into self-love, into selfpromotion,the promotion of his writings, his beloved hobbies, and ofcourse, also his money. Within the circle of authors and booksellers,unflattering facts circulated regarding Bialik’s business practices thatimplied he was crooked. However, these facts, essential for understanding