The Doctrine of Beitar

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Life is an episodic image of a wheel, revolving all life long. And so the entire fate of man is given into the hands of the barber. If I arrange your hair this way, in a plucked fashion, you will be brave and satisfied, you will immediately be presented with a battlefield and a license to be handicapped; but if I smooth your forelock with consistency and foolishness—the daughter of Yosef the mayor will fall in love with you, she will beg for you and you will receive a large dowry. He exaggerated in his self-esteem—but specifically because of that, he was surely a good professional.

"You have chosen us" is always there, and yet this is not a bad virtue, in order to develop among people the self-awareness that they will take pride in their profession and their machinations.

However, a state of "You have chosen us" is one thing, and a state of "an only son" is something else entirely. This is the first image, and moreover, it is inseparable, as it does not grow from duty, neither pride nor self-awareness—from it grows excessive closeness, a readiness for freedom, "shorter than the heavens," and if not—I will kick as I please and go to another mother.

I once said in a speech to the youth: Youth, youth—I said—to its glorious name—it has two roles in public life.

The first of them I will liken to the flywheel of a machine. It sometimes happens to a machine that, due to such a weight, it cannot move from its place; this is called—the dead point. For this case, the machine has a special wheel called a "flywheel." They push it by hand, and it securely turns the axle, overcomes the dead point, and the machine moves. In public life, too, such dead-points occur—when the people aspire to something, but also fear it; between the desire and the fear, such an equilibrium is created that they do not move from the spot. And the flywheel of humanity is called: Youth!—In such days this is its purpose—to pull all the forces of the people...

The second role of the youth I will liken to a compass. The one who steers the ship, the rudder—is the captain, a man of knowledge and experience, but in the compass, there is a hard piece of iron that has a special property—to always feel exactly where the North Star, the most exalted of all, is shining. And that is the youth. It cannot and is not permitted to steer, but woe to the ship whose captain does not...