The Doctrine of Beitar

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And he needs friction and immediately a stage, upon which to show his prowess, and if not—he moves to a second-rate theater. This is simple and understandable: this segment of the youth is composed of poor and meager human material.

Like everyone, I too am a great admirer of the youth. And there is a certain segment of the youth, in particular, in whom I personally place the greatest hopes. But even this segment cannot demand that I speak flatteries. And I say openly and without flattery: no flattery for those who respond to a disaster that befalls their nation from without—a catastrophe from within, by fleeing to a more cheerful street or perhaps even just for the mood to dress up in more cheerful rhymes—such people are not worthy of being called youth. A true youth has only one answer to catastrophes and disappointments: (Precisely) (in the face of the whole world's wrath and fury) (nevertheless) (and despite everything) (come what may).

One noticeable flaw among the good elements of the youth in our generation is the self-esteem of an only child. The historical conditions are partly to blame for this: the Jewish separation and the ongoing catastrophe from Eastern Europe closed the gates of Zion for a long time to the adult generation of Jews—to the father and his wife and other sons. And for this reason, the pioneering element was left to us as the sole colonizing-historical material, instead of being a part of it and weaving itself into it. And this interferes with the building enterprise to a tremendous extent. But in this they are not to blame—they worked, and therefore the eternal national "splendor" is due to them, which I have no intention of taking from them. But because of this, a murky and one-sided perspective has developed, which today is expressed among some of them in a state of "You have chosen us" and in rhetoric. A month ago I participated in the "Tarbut" conference in Warsaw and heard their words there: You will surely recognize for yourselves that the only hope of Zion is—us, the working youth...

Ultimately, this overestimation is not dangerous at all. It is good if a person has an exaggerated opinion about the value of his place, his generation, his city. It is good that the merchant takes pride in the role that commerce plays in economic life, and that the functionary believes in the value of his giant newspaper. Berman Nosn-Sofia