Clermont–Tonnerre, "Speech on Religious Minorities and Questionable Professions" (23 December 1789)
"We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals. We must withdraw recognition from their judges; they should only have our judges. We must refuse legal protection to the maintenance of the so-called laws of their Judaic organization; they should not be allowed to form in the state either a political body or an order. They must be citizens individually. But, some will say to me, they do not want to be citizens. Well then! If they do not want to be citizens, they should say so, and then, we should banish them. It is repugnant to have in the state an association of non-citizens, and a nation within the nation. . . . In short, Sirs, the presumed status of every man resident in a country is to be a citizen."
הָקִיצָה עַמִּי! – יהודה ליב גורדון
הָקִיצָה עַמִּי! עַד מָתַי תִּישָׁנָה?
הֵן גָּז הַלַּיִל, הַשֶּׁמֶש הֵאִירָה.
הָקִיצָה, שָׂא עֵינְךָ אָנֶה וָאָנָה
וּזְמַנְּךָ וּמְקוֹמְךָ אָנָּא הַכִּירָה.
הֲכִי עָמַד הַזְּמָן וּכְנָפָיו רָפוּ
מִיּוֹם אֶל כַּנְפֵי הָאָרֶץ יָצָאתָ,
אוֹ שָׁנִים אֲלָפִים לֹא תָּמוּ סָפוּ
מִיּוֹם תַּם חֻפְשְׁךָ וּבְאֶרֶץ נוֹד בָּאתָ?
מֵאָז עַד עַתָּה דּוֹרוֹת רַבִּים סָפוּ,
יַמִּים וַאֲרָצוֹת מִשָּׁם יַפְרִידוּנוּ,
וַחֲלִיפוֹת מַאֲלִיפוֹת בָּאוּ חָלָפוּ,
אַף קֹרוֹת אֲחֵרוֹת עַתָּה עִוְּדֻנוּ.
הָקִיצָה עַמִּי! עַד מָתַי תִּישָׁנָה?
הֵן גָּז הַלַּיִל, הַשֶּׁמֶש הֵאִירָה,
הָקִיצָה, שָׂא עֵינְךָ אָנֶה וָאָנָה
וּזְמַנְּךָ וּמְקוֹמְךָ אָנָּא הַכִּירָה.
הָאָרֶץ בָּהּ עַתָּה נִחְיֶה נִוָּלֶד
לִגְלִילוֹת אֵירֹפָּה הֲלֹא נֶחְשָׁבָה --
אֵירֹפָּה הַקְּטַנָּה מֵחֶלְקֵי חָלֶד
וּבְחִקְרֵי חָכְמָה מִכֻּלָּם נִשְׂגָּבָה.
אֶרֶץ עֵדֶן זֹאת הֵן לָךְ תִּפָּתֵחַ,
בָּנֶיהָ "אָחִינוּ" לָךְ יִקְרְאוּן עָתָּה.
עַד מָתַי תִּהְיֶה קִרְבָּם כָּאוֹרֵחַ,
לָמָּה מִנֶּגֶּד לָהֶם תֵּלֶך אָתָּה?
וּכְבָר גַּם יָסִירוּ שִׁכְמְךָ מִסֵּבֶל,
וּמֵעַל צַוָּארְךָ עֻלְּךָ יָרִימוּ,
יִמְחוּ מִלִּבָּם שִׂנְאַת שָׁוְא וָהֶבֶל,
יִתְּנוּ לָךְ יָדָם, לָךְ שָׁלוֹם יָשִׂימוּ.
הָרִימָה נָּא רֹאשְׁךָ, הַיְשַׁר גַּבֶּךָ,
וּבְעֵינֵי אַהֲבָה אֵלֵימוֹ הַשְׁגִיחָה,
וּתְנָה לַחָכְמָה וָדַעַת לִבֶּךָ
וֶהְיֵה עַם מַשְׂכִּיל וּבִלְשׁוֹנָם שִׂיחָה.
כָּל בַּעֲלֵי בִינָה בָּךְ חָכְמָה יִלְמָדוּ,
פֹּעֲלִים וָאֳמָנִים כָּל מַעֲשֵׁה חֲרֹשֶׁת,
אַמִּיצֵי הַלֵּב בַּצָּבָא יַעֲבֹדוּ,
אִכָּרִים יִקְנוּ שָׂדוֹת וּמַחֲרֶשֶת.
אֶל אוֹצַר הַמְּדִינָה הָבֵא חֵילֶךָ
וּבִנְכָסֶיהָ קַח חֵלֶק וָזֶבֶד.
הֱיֵה אָדָם בְּצֵאתְךָ וִיהוּדִי בְּאָהֳלֶךָ,
אָח לִבְנֵי אַרְצֶךָ וּלְמַלְכְּךָ עָבֶד.
הָקִיצָה עַמִּי, עַד מָתַי תִּישָׁנָה?
הֵן גָּז הַלַּיִל, הַשֶּׁמֶש הֵאִירָה;
הָקִיצָה, שָׂא עֵינְךָ אָנֶה וָאָנָה
וּזְמַנְּךָ וּמְקוֹמְךָ אָנָּא הַכִּירָה.
Wake My People! - Yehuda Leib Gordon (1863)
(Translation Primarily by Hillel Halkin)
Wake my people! How long will you slumber?Night is over. The sun shines.Open wide your eyes, exploreNew surroundings and new times!
Has time stood still with drooping wingsSince, shorn of freedom, your exilesBegan their worldwide wanderingsAnd their two-thousand years of trials?
This country of your domicile and birthBelongs to Europe, whose expanse,Though a small part of the globe’s girth,In spirit is the most advanced.
Wake my people! How long will you slumber?Night is over. The sun shines.Open wide your eyes, exploreNew surroundings and new times!
Its paradise can now be yours.Its sons and daughters call you “brother.”Why go on being sojournersAnd insist that you are other?
Their yoke upon your neck has easedIts heavy burden. They extend—Their ancient hatred of you ceased—Their hand in greeting like a friend.
Raise your head high! Stand tall!Look around with approbation.Educate yourself! Learn all!Speak the language of the nation!
Your students to the university!Your workmen to their crafts and trades!The bravest of your sons to the army!Your farmers to their plows and spades!
Make a contribution of your own!Be a brother to your countrymen;A servant of the king and crown;A Jew at home—abroad a citizen.
Wake, my people! Sleep no more!Night is over. The sun shines.Open your eyes wide, exploreNew surroundings and new times!
Yehuda Leib Gordon's Passover Greeting in Hamelits (1882)
'If we all agree on one thing, it is that we have no choice but to leave the vale of tears that is this country. The only argument is over which direction to choose and whether to end this year’s seder with “Next year in Jerusalem!” or “Next year in America!”’
עַל הַשְּׁחִיטָה – חיים נחמן ביאליק
שָׁמַיִם, בַּקְּשׁוּ רַחֲמִים עָלָי!
אִם-יֵשׁ בָּכֶם אֵל וְלָאֵל בָּכֶם נָתִיב –
וַ אֲ נִ י לֹא מְצָאתִיו –
הִתְפַּלְּלוּ אַתֶּם עָלָי!
אֲ נִ י – לִבִּי מֵת וְאֵין עוֹד תְּפִלָּה בִּשְׂפָתָי,
וּכְבָר אָזְלַת יָד אַף-אֵין תִּקְוָה עוֹד –
עַד-מָתַי, עַד-אָנָה, עַד-מָתָי?
הַתַּלְיָן! הֵא צַוָּאר – קוּם שְׁחָט!
עָרְפֵנִי כַּכֶּלֶב, לְךָ זְרֹעַ עִם-קַרְדֹּם,
וְכָל-הָאָרֶץ לִי גַרְדֹּם –
וַאֲנַחְנוּ – אֲנַחְנוּ הַמְעָט!
דָּמִי מֻתָּר – הַךְ קָדְקֹד, וִיזַנֵּק דַּם רֶצַח,
דַּם יוֹנֵק וָשָׂב עַל-כֻּתָּנְתְּךָ –
וְלֹא יִמַּח לָנֶצַח, לָנֶצַח.
וְאִם יֶשׁ-צֶדֶק – יוֹפַע מִיָּד!
אַךְ אִם-אַחֲרֵי הִשָּׁמְדִי מִתַּחַת רָקִיעַ
הַצֶּדֶק יוֹפִיעַ –
יְמֻגַּר-נָא כִסְאוֹ לָעַד!
וּבְרֶשַׁע עוֹלָמִים שָׁמַיִם יִמָּקּוּ;
אַף-אַתֶּם לְכוּ, זֵדִים, בַּחֲמַסְכֶם זֶה
וּבְדִמְכֶם חֲיוּ וְהִנָּקוּ.
וְאָרוּר הָאוֹמֵר: נְקֹם!
נְקָמָה כָזֹאת, נִקְמַת דַּם יֶלֶד קָטָן
עוֹד לֹא-בָרָא הַשָּׂטָן –
וְיִקֹּב הַדָּם אֶת-הַתְּהוֹם!
יִקֹּב הַדָּם עַד תְּהֹמוֹת מַחֲשַׁכִּים,
וְאָכַל בַּחֹשֶׁךְ וְחָתַר שָׁם
כָּל-מוֹסְדוֹת הָאָרֶץ הַנְּמַקִּים.
On the slaughter - Chaim Nachman Bialik (1903)
Translation by A.Z. Foreman
O heavens above, beg mercy for me! If a god be in you, with a path in your round, A path that I have not found Pray unto him for me! My heart is dead, prayer drained from my tongue. The hands are limp, and hope has gone. How long shall we suffer? How long? Executioner! Here is a neck for you To ax with your arm. Butcher me like a dog. All the world is my slaughtering-block, And we are just a few. My blood's fair game. Strike the skull and spray Murder's blood; blood of babes and old men on your clothing Will never be washed away. If Justice there be, let it now come round. But if I am blotted from under the sky Ere it comes, let Justice die And its throne for all time be cast down, And heaven rot with eternal wrong. Then, ye wicked, go forth in this your brute force. Live and bathe in your blood, and be strong. And cursed be he that shall say: avenge this! Fit revenge for the blood of a little child The Devil has not yet compiled. No, let blood pierce the abyss Let it run through great deep of all creation And eat away in the darkness, breaching This earth's whole rotting foundation!
Poetry of Ze'ev Jabotinsky - in his introduction to the Russian Translation of Bialik's In the City of the Slaughter
In That town,
I spied in the debris
The torn fragment of a parchment scroll
And gently brushed away the dirt to see
What tale it told.
Written on it was "In a Strange Land" -
Just a few words from the Bible, but the sum
Of all one needs to understand
Of a pogrom
הייעוד הלאומי של מעמד הפועלים - דוד בן–גוריון
הפועל העברי לא בא הנה כפליט המחפש לו מקלט באשר ימצא והחוזר אחרי אמצעי קיום מכל הבא ליד.כשליח העם עלה לארץ וכחלוץ המפעל הגדול של המהפכה העברית כבש את עמדותיו בעבודה, במשק וביישוב.
בכל מעשה ובכל מפעל, קטן או גדול, בעבודתו בכפר ובעיר, בבניין משקו החקלאי והחרשתי, בכיבושי השפה והתרבות, בשמירה ובהגנה, במלחמה על ענייניו וזכויותיו בעבודה, בסיפוק צרכיו המעמדיים והלאומיים, בהקמת מוסדותיו והסתדרותו – ריחף לפניו הייעוד ההיסטורי של המעמד אשר עליו הוא נמנה ואשר להקמתו בארץ פילס נתיב: הייעוד ההיסטורי של מעמד הפועלים לקראת המהפכה אשר תשליט את העבודה בחיי העם והארץ.
הפועל העברי שילב בעבודת חייו את דבר הגאולה הלאומית ובמלחמתו וביצירתו המעמדית צרר את כל התוכן של מאוויי העם וצרכיו ההיסטוריים.
בניגוד לשליחי מעמדות אחרים בארץ ובציונות לא העמד הפועל לפני הסתירה שבין צרכיו ומאווייו המעמדיים ובין ענייניו ושאיפותיו הלאומיים. הפועל המכיר בתעודת-מעמדו והנאמן לייעודו ההיסטורי ממלא בבת-אחת שתי שליחויות שהן אחת: שליחות המעמד ושליחות העם כולו. כל המאמץ המעמדי של הפועל בפעולתו המשקית והמקצועית, המדינית והתרבותית, במידה שהיא מכוּונת לתכליתה המרכזית וההיסטורית, יוצר וכובש עמדות לאומיות בארץ ומפלס דרך רחבה לעלייה עממית. מלחמת-המעמדות של הפועלים בהיקפה הפרינציפיוני ובגילוייה הממשיים מכוּונת לא לפילוג העם והחלשתו – אלא, להיפך, לאיחודו האמיתי והשלם ולהגברת כוחותיו והפראתם.
On the National Mission of the Working Class by David Ben Gurion (1925)
(Translation by Ari Ne'eman)
The Hebrew worker did not come here as a refugee, seeking sanctuary in order to make a living from anything that he can lay his hands on. As an emissary of the nation, he ascended to the Land, and as a pioneer of the grand undertaking of the Hebrew revolution, he conquers positions in the workplace, the economy and the community.
In his every action and his every activity, small or large, in his work in the countryside and the city, in the building of agriculture and of industry, in the conquest of the language and of the culture, in guard duty and national defense, in the war against his interests and his rights at work, in the satisfaction of his national and personal needs, in the establishment of institutions and unions - in all these things, floating before him is the historic mission of the class to which he belongs and to which the building of a country opens the path: the historic mission of the working class in preparation for the revolution that will establish the rule of labor upon the nation and the land.
The Hebrew Laborer will unite in pursuit of the work of national salvation and class war to advance a program consistent with the historic needs of the people.
In contrast to the representatives of the other classes in the land and within Zionism, the working class does not have any contradiction between the needs and desires of their class and the business of the nation. The worker sells his skills and is loyally working to fulfill two historic missions that are one: the mission of the working class and the mission of the nation are the same. All the class efforts of the worker, in activities economic and professional, cultural and political, are directed towards a central historical purpose: to create and capture a national position in the country and pave the way towards the immigration of our people. The class war of the workers, both in principle and in actual practice, is not directed towards splitting the nation and weakening it - quite the contrary, instead it creates true unity and completes our empowerment.
Ze'ev Jabotinsky on the primacy of Zionism over other ideologies
"Garibaldi was one of the early dreamers of a League of Nations which would abolish all war, yet he himself directed war during his entire lifetime. I am prepared to believe that the Russian Comunists are, in principle, opponents of militarism, nevertheless, they possess one of the largest armies. An ideal is a creation which does not tolerate any competition. You may have as many convictions as you wish, but you can and must serve only one, and all the others, no matter how nice and precious they may be in your eyes, must be abandoned."
Chaim Nachman Bialik
"We will be a normal state when we have the first Hebrew prostitute, the first Hebrew thief and the first Hebrew policeman.”
Letter from David Ben-Gurion to Dr. L. Lauterbach, Secretary to the Zionist Executive - December 21st, 1953
"Is a Zionist Movement, particularly after the establishment of the State, feasible without the duty of personal immigration, and, if so, what is the difference, if such, difference really exists, as several Zionist leaders abroad maintain, between Zionism without the duty to immigrate and between a love for the State of Israel which is common to almost every Jew wherever he be? What is the ideological content and the special mission of Zionism without immigration, and what personal duty is imposed upon a Zionist by the Movement, by which one may differentiate between a Zionist and between a Jew who assists the State of Israel?
...The Zionist Organisation and its institutions are faced with the danger, of which there are sufficient signs already, of becoming a machinery through which pass the monies that Jews in all countries contribute to the upbuilding of the State. I don't know whether there is need or not for such machinery, but it is difficult to assume that such machinery is worthy of the name of a redeeming movement....
...There is need for a clarification and for an authoritative and binding delineation of the content or contents of Zionism, and such content must necessarily express itself in personal duties, incumbent upon the bearers of the Moyement. Otherwise Zionism will be transformed (possibly it is being transformed now) into a name bereft of all content. The honour of the Zionist past requires the averting of this danger."