The Doctrine of Beitar

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Perhaps we are not at all worthy to eulogize Herzl's broken hope. Let us speak of our own hope—may we be distinguished for long life...

Let the reader not be angered by my words about living children at this somber time. I too am a father and understand how much this hurts. But is it not true that many of us, who saw in the newspaper the two bitter tidings from Budapest, also felt a pain in their hearts? – And not only a pain of empathy in sorrow, of shame, of fear, but also of concern for oneself?

Every young generation surely seems in our eyes to precede its elders on the path of mortals in the ways of life; but never have these words resounded with such a spiritual hold as they do today. That they preceded [us] in Bordeaux is surely something uncommon, a terrible exception, a thing that calls for reflection. But even an exception can sometimes serve as a symbol and as a model for the future; I do not suppose that Hans and Pauline Herzl were not young, that they had no contact with this generation growing before our eyes, and yet, this bitter news was a warning to many of us to examine our path, and our deeds.

And therefore I ponder and am about to write of things that have no connection to the tragedy in Bordeaux, and perhaps not to the psychology of those two victims either. But to one thing they do have a connection: to bearing the golden chain. Herzl was one, a second to him we shall not have soon. But many of us also pull on the chain of the Zionist enterprise. Smaller than him, small, tiny—each according to his strength and his importance—but in any case, the chain is of gold. And thousands of those who pull on the small chains, yet on a golden chain, will more than once have to write, proofread, or think: today I finished one chapter in the enterprise of Zion, and today my son reached his tenth year of life. The world asks her [Zion's] binders the ancient question: will they, when I am no more, continue to pull on the golden chain?

A chain of rebellion is not for us, O God, but this one was forged of hammered gold. To the eye it appears dark, dusty, and gray, but show it to one who understands, to one who knows—even if...