In the article "The Land of Israel" (written against the background of the bloody events of 1920–21, in which "a hundred and twenty people were killed… who sought to live and to bring life to their land"), AZR answers the voices of despair that were ready to give up even the very name "Land of Israel":
"The Land of Israel – this is its name and this is its remembrance for everlasting generations… An eternal spiritual bond has always existed between Israel and the Land of Israel, even when they were far from it. And this bond none of our enemies, from of old until this day, has succeeded in severing." AZR, "The Land of Israel," Ben-Yehuda read/44045.
And just as the Roman "Aelia Capitolina" did not erase "Jerusalem," so, says AZR, the name "Palestine" will pass away and "the Land of Israel" will remain. And his closing words:
"We have suffered and are ready to suffer, but our banner – the banner of 'the Land of Israel' – we shall not let go from our hands; we shall guard it with patience and with hope, for we are a stiff-necked people." Ibid.
Here AZR, a man of the Second Aliyah, makes a rare gesture toward the Old Yishuv, which many of his contemporaries disdained:
"The Yishuv was destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt… In place of the slain and the stricken came others, and again they begin to build their ruined nest… a long, long line of heroes, standing at their post." AZR, "The Old Yishuv in the Land of Israel" (Kuntres, 5680/1920), Ben-Yehuda read/44046.
He praises the shadarim (rabbinic emissaries) who "risked their lives" on forgotten roads to strengthen the love of Zion in the Diaspora, naming among them R. Hezekiah da Silva, the Hida, R. Israel of Shklov, and others. He likens the Old Yishuv to a company of watchmen: "Remember, do not forget your land!" And his gentle prophecy:
"And who knows? Perhaps they, the sons of the heroes of the Old Yishuv, will throw themselves into the work in the era of revival as well, and will show their devotion to honest and fruitful labor." Ibid. (On AZR as a bridge-builder, see "AZR and Rav Kook.")
In the article "Recalling Forgotten Things" AZR quotes letters four hundred years old (R. Israel of Bruna and others) lamenting internal strife in a time of persecution, "and what have we to do with quarrels?… We ought to have been one band," and applies it to his own generation. He then relates an anecdote (Auerbach/Bernays) in which a chilling insight into the fate of the Jews of Europe is embedded. The article is dated Iyar 5693 (1933):
"Such a period we had in Spain… and after some time they again turned their backs on them, and for their love they were persecuted, killed, and driven out… And who knows what may yet happen at some time or another there, in the land of Germany?… 'A remembrance for the children of Israel!' It is the duty of the children of Israel to guard the 'power of memory.'" AZR, "Recalling Forgotten Things" ("Davar," Iyar 5693/1933), Ben-Yehuda read/44043.
The three articles lay down the depth of time as the anchor of Zionism: the Land, whose bond is eternal; the Old Yishuv, which kept the watch for two thousand years; and memory as a national duty. For AZR the revival is no leap out of the void, it is the continuation of "a long line of heroes."