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The Betar Movement is a world Zionist youth movement founded 85 years ago by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. Betar members played important roles in the creation of Israel. Today the Betar Movement is active in many world branches and is involved in Jewish and Zionist activism.
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| The Idea of Betar |
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| Ideology | ||||||||||||||||
Page 8 of 14 8. BETARIAN DISCIPLINE The building of Betar is founded upon the principles of discipline. Our aim is to make Betar such a world organism which, at a sign from the center, will be able simultaneously to move tens of thousands of hands in the cities of all countries. Our adversaries say that it is "unworthy of free men", that it means being made into a machine. I propose that we should not be ashamed to reply, and proudly to boot: "Yes - a machine". For it is the highest achievement of a mass of free men, if they are capable to act in unison, with the absolute precision of a machine. Only free, cultured people can do so. When ten thousand Czech soldiers are stationed somewhere and at a sign from their commander they all make the same gesture at the very same moment, every onlooker feels that in this there manifests itself the highest self-respect of a free and civilized nation. When we listen to a choir or an orchestra hundred participants of which follow implicitly one conductor and so create an impression of absolute unity, it is a certain proof that each individual gave his best efforts to achieve such a result. Of course, it was not the conductor who forced things: it was the artist himself who desired a complete unity of tone. Into such an "orchestra" we want to transform the Jewish nation, and the first step is Betar. Likewise, no young man is being forced to enter the Betar ranks and there remain, it is his own free will which makes him recognize as the first characteristic of mankind the ability to unite one's individuality with that of others for the sake of a common goal. Indeed the entire conception of "mankind", in its deepest and most delicate sense, is centered in unity. The salvation of Israel will dawn at the moment when the Jewish Nation will learn how to act together and in unison, preferably as a "machine"; when humanity as a whole will learn art, salvation will come to the world, and warring particles will be transformed into one world family. Discipline is the subordination of a mass to one leader; that leader must subordinate himself to his superior, the superior to somebody higher than himself, etc. It does not signify, however, that one subordinates to a stranger's will - for the leader is but the executor of your own will, your representative whom you freely empowered to conduct your "orchestra". Otherwise, you would not have joined the Betar or remained there indefinitely. The meaning of Betarian discipline too lies in the very important fundamental law of Monism, We all have one will, we build together the same structure, we, therefore, listen to the call of that architect, is accurate in his planning, we pave stones and hammer in nails as instructed. The leader, the conductor, the architect may either be an individual or a body - a committee, for instance. Both "systems" are equally democratic as long as leadership is couchsafed by a mass agreement. In France, there reigns a collective body, the cabinet, in the United States, solely the President - yet both are strictly democratic republics. For Betar the American system is better suited because it, Betar is a combination of both "school and army" and a class of pupils or a regiment of soldiers is best led by one teacher or one commander, not by a group with divergent opinions. Nevertheless, the first and last source of this complete hierarchy of Betar is expressed in the will of the Betarian mass because it freely elects the highest functionary of the movement - Rosh Betar. The growth of Betar and its-conception of discipline form a happy and healthy union between freedom on one hand, and monistic harmony on the other. |
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