This week, Jews around the world are marking the 20th anniversary of the death of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin -- a distinguished leader who was honest and courageous, shaped from an exceptional combination of steel and silk. He was an extraordinary Jew who from a young age devoted his life to the idea of returning to Zion, restoring Jewish sovereignty over our land, and fighting for Israels social and moral character. A leader who was born in faraway Brest, Belarus, during the First World War and who was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the capital of an independent Israel, near Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani (two of the dozen pre-state Jewish underground fighters tried in British Mandate courts and sentenced to death by hanging). Menachem Begin indentured himself to Israel and was willing to pay a personal price for values and ideas he believed in -- values based in the heritage and philosophy of his teacher and mentor Zeev Jabotinsky. Begins lifestyle and unique personality, which combined modesty with tenacity, elicited great love and admiration. Today, when the entire country is preoccupied with exalting the self and individual desires, it is especially important to remember Begins legacy of endless devotion to the Jewish and Israeli cause. As the years pass, we increasingly long for the man who integrated dreams with deeds, war with peace, past with future, spirit with substance. I first became familiar with Begin as a child, when my late father carried me on his shoulders to Mughrabi Square in Tel Aviv to hear the distinguished and rousing speaker. His thunderous voice and the excitement that gripped the crowd were among the most powerful experiences of my childhood. Years later, as a teenager, I would go to his modest house on Rosenbaum Street in Tel Aviv, which was something of an open house on Shabbat afternoons. In those days, when Begin was relegated to the political opposition, Irgun veterans would visit him. I was among the youngest in the group, and I will never forget his personal warmth and the modesty of his home. I was injured during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and immediately after being released from the hospital I visited Begin at his home. I told him about the terrible failures which had occurred on the southern front. Begin calmed me down and told me not to use the word failures because it offended Jewish mothers who had lost their sons during the war. It was a remarkable example of human sensitivity. Begins Jewish consciousness served as the basis for his public actions. His concern for the countrys security stemmed from the lessons of the Holocaust. He believed Israels strength and power of deterrence to be of utmost importance. This belief prompted his decision to destroy the nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 and launch the First Lebanon War in 1982. His commitment to democracy prevented a civil war. His concern for human dignity led to an important project to rehabilitate impoverished neighborhoods and promote social justice. His love for his historic homeland motivated him to support the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria. His concern for Israeli childrens futures drove him to sign the peace treaty with Egypt. During these times of deficient leadership, it is important to remember that another model of leadership exists one whose commitment to the public surpasses personal benefit, one that combines steel armor on the outside with silk on the inside, one that is guided by vision and not public opinion polls. In his biography of Menachem Begin, author Avi Shilon writes: It appears that Begin was the last leader of his kind. His style of leadership does not suit present-day Israel. His ability to rouse the masses, his devotion to his job, the importance he placed on principles, the ideological tradition he imbibed -- all of these belong to a different era that is unlikely to return. I pray and hope that Shilon is wrong. Israel needs a return to ideological leadership, one that invigorates the public and is founded on principles, one that can rebuild the country in the spirit of the Zionist vision and Jewish legacy.
Menachem Begins legacy
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
