The Ashkenazi Revolution

91would have crystallized into a great power that accomplished importantthings. From his haste to see immediate results, Pinsker made anunforgivable mistake when he compromised his principles for those quickresults. From the time he was accepted, with applause, by the Lovers ofZion, he went with them and they “convinced him”, that is to say, theyforced him to conclude, against his will, that the Land of Israel, and not thespacious lands across the ocean, will bring a solution to the JewishQuestion. The symbolisms of the Lovers of Zion movement adopted, fromPinsker, his more outward and modern attitudes, and the mental andorganizational tools that were needed for activism in the new world. Butimmediately afterward, they betrayed him because his basic philosophywas in complete conflict with their own. After he walked the gauntlet,Pinsker was even forced to concede to the concept of a “spiritual center” inthe Land of Israel. Despite the large grants that the Lovers of Zionmovement received from Pinsker and Baron Rothchild, its activities hadpoor momentum because it gave no specific answer to the Jewish plight.But a man quickly arose who saved the Lovers of Zion movement from thedead end it was in, and just as this man was about to save it, he became itsvictim. I am speaking of the territorialist Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl. Butbefore we commence this story, we should touch on certain otherphenomena.The greatest accomplishment, in the field of activism to save the Jews ofEurope from the disaster that awaited them, was accomplished byrevolutionaries of the type of Pinsker and Herzl, and, obviously, not by thesymbolic Lovers of Zion, but by the circles that encouraged popular Jewishmigration to the countries on the other side of the ocean, first and foremostthe United States. Nearly two million Ashkenazim entered the UnitedStates in the 34 years between 1880 and 1914, and hundreds of thousandsmore Ashkenazim arrived there between the two world wars. The numberof Ashkenazim who migrated to the Land of Israel in the years 1882-1939was around 350 thousand, that is to say, about one seventh or one eighth ofthe number that arrived in the New World. This fact illustrates whichterritories were the natural ones to solve the Ashkenazi Question and howgreat was the loss due fact that we did not strive for the correct solution.