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...for a hundred acts of devotion to Germany, Germany answers the Jew with a spit. A community with a name of millions—erased. The difference is whether one commits suicide by shooting or by bayonet. Under Kordoi—Sharmonim.

12. Zionism and Communism

A. This is a response to a private letter. Its content is roughly as follows: "I want to pose a sincere question to you and ask you for advice. Although it is forbidden for me, of course, to commit to act myself—for five years I have been active in one of the Zionist youth associations, a formless one between right and left, not Revisionist and not Socialist. But during the last year, my socialist worldview has changed from one extreme to the other. I no longer believe in the bourgeois regime, and I feel disgust for social-democracy—it is somehow similar to General Zionism among us: they rely on "ideology," engage in petty phraseology and, without willing it, arrive at betrayal. Communism influences me and suits me much more. But first I would like to see my people established in the Land of Israel, or—at the very least, at the beginning of a secure establishment. And I cannot in good conscience dedicate myself to the war for the new regime. I expressed these views to my friends in the association and it caused friction, which is not worth recounting. What can you advise me? Am I permitted to remain in a Zionist association with such views? Or must I leave? In general, what should a young person in my situation do?"

The question is truly sincere, and apparently, it is a sign of the times. Here there is no reason to "evade" by stammering. Whoever has lost his Zionist hope has ceased in his soul to be a Zionist; such a person does not need to strive at all, not to raise difficult questions, but rather to go where his heart leads him. Artificially, it is impossible to "employ" or even "keep" a Zionist. A Zionist is born, either yes—or no. Zionism is a crystallization of pride, of self-respect—it does not allow...