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Today this is nothing but from the truth of history alone. But from the truth of history, we must learn something, and for that reason it is desirable to determine: who is truly to blame that the Hebrew people lagged behind during the war years – and if, God forbid, it is not over, has thus lost the lion’s share? No one was to blame, neither the assimilationists nor the Zionists; not assimilationism, not the sectors, not the rabbis, and not the fathers and mothers. True, all the aforementioned elements were at that time unenlightened, provincial, political-bourgeois; but the fate of a living nation does not depend on the righteousness of the adults, the heavyweights, who cling with malice to the saying, "history crushes orphans." To what does this refer? If life was indeed harmed. With us, the great hour of decision found only a minority of the youth possessing grace and enthusiasm. And this minority did all that was in its power, but from ten thousand men it is impossible to create an army of one hundred thousand. And the overwhelming majority of the Hebrew youth of that generation, young people who could have volunteered and did not volunteer—they are to blame that the Hebrew people lost and missed such an unparalleled opportunity in the years 1914-1918.

This I believe; it is an exceptional case in the history of nations. To explain and to miss a good moment is not a rare thing with them, but usually it does not happen because of the youth's fault; on the contrary, usually there is the youth's "eruption" towards bold deeds, and the adult generation interferes and castrates it and shouts: "Hush!" And perhaps not only their failures but also their victories stem from games of fate: those in which the youth constitutes the driving force and the adult generation "restrains" and watches from the outside. But with us, this fate did not exist. The youth, in its decisive way, also added its "Hush."

Among the nations of the world, when their youth is imbued with a spirit of enthusiasm for battle, it is very bad and dangerous; and this can truly cause war. But it is ridiculous to use the same yardstick in relation to us, the Jews. With the Jewish youth, the objective situation of the Hebrew people of course prevents this in advance; for even if all of us together had wanted war – it would not have happened. This too is helpful: we, the Jews, cannot cause a war nor strive for it through provocation. And therefore to...