The Doctrine of Beitar

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A true youth, who has earned this proud name, has two roles in the life of society.

The first role I will liken to a flywheel in a machine. It sometimes happens that the parts of the machine find themselves in such equilibrium that the machine cannot move: this is the “dead point.” For this purpose, there is a special wheel in the machine called a “flywheel,” and you push it by hand and the motion pulls the rest of the wheels after it; the dead point is overcome and the machine moves.

In the life of society, too, moments of paralysis will come, when the people want something and at the same time fear it, and between the desire and the fear an equilibrium is formed, to the point of immobility, to the point of stagnation. And the flywheel of humanity, his name is Youth, to set the people's mechanism in motion and pull it after him...

The second role of the youth I will liken to a compass. The compass does not steer the ship; the one who steers is the captain, the man of knowledge and experience. But in the compass, there is a crystal pivot, possessing a special quality: it feels, always and with vigorous clarity, where the highest star among all stars is lit in the high heavens.

This is the Youth: he cannot steer and is forbidden to steer. But woe to the ship whose captain is unwilling to heed the whispered counsel of the compass, and sevenfold woe to the ship that has lost its compass needle and cannot point to the stars.