Yosef Trumpeldor was a selfless hero whose death not only inspired a generation but also left the Jewish people without a leader that could have united the people during one of its most fateful historic periods.
What is a ḥalutz? Is he a worker only? No! The definition includes much more. The ḥalutzim should be workers but that’s not all. We shall need people who will be ‘everything’ – everything that Eretz Yisrael needs. A worker has his labor interests, a soldier his esprit de corps, a doctor and an engineer, their special inclinations. A generation of iron-men; iron from which you can forge everything the national machinery needs. You need a wheel? Here I am. A nail, a screw, a block? – here take me. You need a man to till the soil? – I’m ready. A soldier? I am here. Policeman, doctor, lawyer, artist, teacher, water carrier? Here I am. I have no form. I have no psychology. I have no personal feeling, no name. I am a servant of Zion. Ready to do everything, not bound to do anything. I have only one aim – creation.
