The Doctrine of Beitar

88

Is it not so that even according to the laws of pragmatism, one must touch upon a small opening. They will converse at meetings, from the loan fund institution to the main institution in the land—and in their honor, everything will be translated into an "understandable language," until the matter becomes tiresome even for the Hebrew speakers at the meeting, and they themselves will begin to speak a foreign tongue, for the sake of shortening the negotiation. Who, aside from an exception to the rule, will learn Hebrew under such conditions? They will dig for reasons, find excuses, they will hint, hint again, finally they will begin to learn, and then they will stop because of the holidays, or a tour to Egypt, or a change of residence, or a headache. And the many among them will say simply and naively: "Why? There is no need for Hebrew." I have heard these words with my own ears, and not just once.—And perhaps also from the mouths of people who came here and have already learned a little Arabic because their Arab neighbor does not know German.

"With this, save the school, the future generation"... the opponents of zealotry offer as consolation. There is a grain of truth in this, but not the whole truth. The language of the school lays a strong foundation, but even a strong foundation will be eroded if, after leaving school, the young man enters an environment where there is no need for Hebrew. In the end, many factors influence a child, not just the teacher and the company of students; the child is not confined to the school, but rather he knows and hears what goes on in life. The child learns in high school only what he will need as an adult. If the child saw that an ignorant person who cannot read and write is considered an ignoramus and has no place in enlightened society, then he too will rejoice in this study, for everything important, even if it is not pleasant. But if he sees with his own eyes that it is possible to get by in the Land without any Hebrew, and also to enjoy all the social statuses, to be liked by the public, accepted in all strata of society, to participate in the leadership of the Yishuv;—then the value of the school's language will fall in his eyes. And if its value falls in his eyes, this language will not take hold of him, not even while he is a student, and even less so after he has completed his course of study. It is a mistake to think that the language of the school captures the child's soul always and under all conditions. No; it will flourish only if the public supports it: if the public is opposed, or indifferent, the school has no power. What good did the German schools in Poland do? The Polish youth graduated from them, and his language is Polish and not German, because the local public does not support German; so it will be for Hebrew as well, if we make it into a kind of special tongue for infants and teachers, which is not used outside the school or the children's room.