Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his
Hebrew name and
pen name,
Ahad Ha'am (, lit.
one of the people, Genesis 26:10), was a
Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state
Zionist thinkers. He is known as the founder of
cultural Zionism. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Israel, he confronted
Theodor Herzl. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews".