The Ashkenazi Revolution

161“Me’oznaim”, the monthly of the Association of Authors, came out with itsHeshwan, 1961 issue, with an article by the heavy-hitters under the heading“Excessive Attack Against Literature”. Among other things, this articlestated:Verily, the writer must say what is in his heart, but from the moment he didthis – those words become part of the public domain, with the goal ofincreasing benefits, to educate, to form, to influence and, in short: To takepart in the formation of private life and to influence public life.In other words, the values of Hebrew Literature took on the authority ofOracle-like apostlism. They are not writings that the public can eitheraccept or reject, but from the very start, and retroactively, it is required toaccept them, and if a man has the audacity to question their value, he isculpable for his own life.At the Conference of Authors during Passover, 1962, one of the heads ofthe literary group, Haim Hazaz, shot a powerful shot at the government ofthe State of Israel, a shot that came in the form of his speech at thatconference. The conclusions that were reached in this speech, which wasstructured after the literary method, such as that the State of Israel“suddenly became old”, have as much weight and relevance to the truth asthe conclusions of Brenner that the People of Israel is parasitic, such asAhad ha’Am’s ridicule of Herzl’s diplomacy, Bialik’s ridicule of the visionof a Hebrew nation, and so on. Hazaz’s speech was nothing more than ahail of Hebrew words and that’s it. There is no content in this speech, but,on the other hand, there is an expression of the will to rule that allows nocompromise at all. From the mouth of Hazaz came the proclamation thatHebrew Literature would only consent to the existence of a Hebrew nationon the condition that it would rule this nation, otherwise – HebrewLiterature would be willing to destroy the nation. Ben-Gurion wasimmediately punished for his “brazenness”. The chapter of Lavon was anevent of great importance in the life of Mapai, the life of the nation and thelife of Ben-Gurion himself. In this battle, Hebrew Literature stood behindLavon and offered him heavy artillery as effective aid. This moment was