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CHAPTER 9 Ahad Ha-ilm and Benei Moshe;' an "Unsuccessful Experiment"? JOSEPH SALMON Benei Moshe was a secret order within Hibbat Zion. It was founded in 1889 around Ahad Ha-Am, with his doctrine as its inspiration and guide. One of Benei Moshe's most distinguished members was the journalist and editor Ben-Avigdor (Abraham Leib Shalkovich), a disciple of Ahad Ha-Am. In 1913 he was to publish a polemic entitled "Ahad Ha-Am and Benei Moshe," censuring his former mentor.1 Not only did he ignore Ahad Ha-Am's contributions as an original thinker and ridicule his philosophy, but he also satirized his role as leader of Benei Moshe. The society, Ben-Avigdor wrote, "was invented through writing, an attempt was made to pour life into it through writing and it perished through writing."2 Ben-Avigdor was not alone in treating Benei Moshe as a mere episode. Ahad H:l-Am himself entitled his account of its history, "An unsuccessful experiment."3 The problem, then, is why, if it was but an episode, so much was written about it by its members, and why Ahad Ha-Am believed Benei Moshe was significant. He stated repeatedly that hi:! intended to write the history of the movement; and when he put his personal papers in order, those connected with Benei Moshe were the objects of his keenest attention.4 The impetus for establishing Benei Moshe came from settlers in Palestine at the end of 1888, who were disappointed with the modest achievements of the Hibbat Zion movement and with its public image as an organization raising money for impoverished settlers in Palestine .5 They believed that the Jewish people were not yet ready for a national revival and that moral and spiritual education had therefore 98 BENEI MOSHE: AN "UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT"? to precede, or at least accompany, practical Zionist activity.6 Even those members of Hibbat Zion who were later characterized as "practical Zionists," such as Leon Pinsker and Moses Leib Lilienblum, agreed with this assessment.7 Yehoshua Barzilai (Eisenstadt), who immigrated to Palestine in 1887, and Avraham Lubarsky of Odessa were the most active initiators of the new order. By 1884, Ahad Ha-Am had already emerged as the leader of a group of intellectuals opposed to the official leadership of the Zionist movement.8 Barzilai and Lubarsky met with him in the winter of 1888.9 They proposed that a league of distinguished educators be established, who would provide the guidance necessary for the spiritual revival of the Jewish people.to In a pamphlet entitled "Derekh ha-hayyim" (The rule of life), Ahad Ha-Am spelled out the program and the rules of the organization .ll His thesis, which he later elaborated, was that the return of the Jewish people to its homeland would be achieved only through moral preparation. The name of Moshe was chosen for the society as a symbol of the moral excellence and devotion to truth to which the group aspired. The society was divided into fourteen lodges, each of which had a minimum of five members and was led by a president and advisers.12 Benei Moshe was organized as a secret society along the lines of the Freemasons.13 Members were initiated in a special ceremony designated kiddushin (consecration) in which they pledged loyalty to the society and secrecy even if they left the order.14 The members called each other ah (brother). They were required to be over the age of twenty, to have a knowledge of Hebrew, and to pay a membership fee of two percent of their income.IS It was agreed that the center of the order would be temporarily in Odessa and that Ahad Ha-Am would serve as both the president of his local lodge and head of the entire society. Planning was concluded in January 1889, and the first meeting was convened on the 7th of Adar, the traditional date of the birth and death of Moses. On that day ten people took the oath of loyalty to the society, each lodge was assigned a special name, and all members were given a secret password.16 Benei Moshe's membership, which eventually grew to one hundred and sixty, was drawn from the leading intelligentsia of the Hibbat Zion movement.17 Members were recruited from Russia, Poland, Palestine-whose branch was one of the most importantand from Germany, France, England and even the United States.18 Ahad Ha-Am had pointed out the deficiencies...

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