The Ashkenazi Revolution

139When we come to test the doctrines of the Labor movement, from thisperspective, it becomes clear to us immediately that within their ideologicalfabric there are far more shrewdness threads than there are faith threads.These combinations between monastic ethics, such as that of Aaron DavidGordon, and Augustian nationalism, the marriage between laborers who areproud of their status and between the bourgeoisie that give them money inorder to realize their prideful status through building a specific economy,the steady waving of two flags, the constant belonging to two worldssimultaneously, such as that of “Hashomer Hatzair” – all of theseideological fabrics have more threads of shrewdness than threads of faith.When it comes right down to it, all these faiths are not faiths but, first andforemost, shrewdness.The fading away of values, and the loosening of values, which the Labormovement is so wont to speak of these days, is therefore not a fading awayof faith. God forbid. Faiths do not fade away quickly like this. Theimpression of a loosening of values in the Labor movement is naught but aloosening of the many threads of shrewdness that pass through the lengthand width of their ideological fabric. The threads are coming apart, andthrough this, shrewdness proves that it is of a lesser level, and that it isrelegated to a secondary position after faith. At the same time as thethreads of shrewdness loosen, the strength of faith increases, all faith, boththat that is included in the religion of Israel and the faiths of Herzl and ofAvraham Stern. The day of mourning for shrewdness is a day ofcelebration for faith. It is very unfortunate for the multitudes of innocentsof the Labor movement who gave their faith to the threads of shrewdness,and believed them to be threads of faith. Here is hidden a great tragedy.Sanctity and innocence, enough to sustain very many generations, wereinvested in the Labor movement, but this holy and innocent faith places itstrust in an unstable ideological foundation, whose parts are held together bythreads and nails of shrewdness.An inevitable result of the almost infantile level of ideology of the Labormovement is its weak-willed tension regarding anything having to do withthe final goal. The main human capital of the Labor movement is of the