On his First Yahrzeit
Last week was Menachem Begin’s first Yahrzeit. This and the following articles were written with the reverence and love, which we, former soldiers of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, felt for the commander in the years when he led the underground struggle against Britain.
1
Israel’s Declaration Of Independence does not mention explicitly the name of G-d. The Last paragraph reads in English translation: “Placing our trust in the Rock of Israel (Tzur Yisrael) we affix our signatures….”
The demand of the Mizrachi representatives for a stronger reference (such as Tzur Yisrael VeGoalo) was not granted because the leftists maintained that it involved “coercion to believe.”
The late Rabbi Y.L Maimon (Fishman) who was one of the signatories and who, after the reading of the Declaration, recited the blessing of Shehechiyanu could not acquiesce! When it came to signing, he added the initials of “Be’ezrat Hahem” to his name.
In 1977 a man rose to power in Israel who on election night, after he had learned of his party’s victory pronounced the blessing of Shehehiyanu, and who would mention the name of G-d in all his speeches and declarations: B’ezrat Hashem! Im Yirtzeh Hashem! Before, too the name of G-d had always been on his lips, but now he demonstrated his deep belief while serving as Prime Minister.
2.
The election of Menachem Begin as head of the government, signified not only the establishment of a new regime after 30 years of rule by Labor, but also denoted a radical change in the spiritual climate of the country.
Writing after the death of Begin in The Jewish Press, Rabbi Menachem Porush, veteran Agudist member of the Knesset recalled a telephone call he received from Begin on the morrow of the 1977 Knesset elections:
“My honorable friend Rabbi Porush. For 12 years we sat next to each other in the Knesset Law and Justice Committee. I am sure you remember that always,” and he stressed again, “always, whenever you raised any issue regarding religion, I was with you, hand by hand, shoulder to shoulder. Therefore,” Begin continued, “go to your Rabbonim, the great sages and tell them that now is the time to make a revolution to bring an end to your having to fight, beg and plead for religious rights. From now on you can get what you need, because you have the right to get it.”
Begin granted the religious demands of the religious parties in 1977 when he formed his first cabinet and again in 1981, when he became Prime Minister for the second time.
Speaking to his followers in New York in December 1981, Begin declared that he acceded to the religious demands because he personally agreed with them Singling out the demand that El Al stop flying on Shabbat, Begin said that he told the religious representatives: “This is not only your demand! It is my demand!”
“There will be no more El Al flights on Shabbat,” Begin declared at the New York meeting.
“The Jewish people have given the world the Shabbat, the day of rest. Neither ancient Greece, nor Rome, nor Egypt of old had known a weekly rest. The Shabbat is one of the Jews’ gifts to mankind.
“It is only befitting the dignity of the Jewish state that the Shabbat be observed by all of its public institutions” Begin said.
(Continued next week)
Friday, March 5, 1993
Continued from last week
3.
Begin himself demonstrated in public, on various occasions, his great reverence for the Shabbat.
Before long the political leaders of other countries became aware of Begin’s strong attachment to traditional Jewish laws and values and had to allow for it in their dealings with Israel.
In August 1977, Begin paid a visit to Romania. About a year later my wife and I traveled to that country. Begin’s visit was still the talk of the Jewish community. Chief Rabbi Dr. David Moshe Rosen told us the following:
“The Romanian government ha placed a villa outside Bucharest at the disposal of Begin and his entourage.
“However, a few days before his arrival a message was received from Jerusalem that Begin planned to attend Shabbat services in the synagogue and to wait there on foot. He would therefore have to stay in a place within walking distance of the synagogue.”
The Romanian authorities were bewildered. They did not know what to do,” Rabbi Rosen said. “There is no luxury hotel in the vicinity of the synagogue. Senior officials and high ranking officers got in touch with our community to coordinate the preparations.
“Hotel Modern was completely emptied and prepared for Begin and his entourage.
Rabbi Rosen did not have to explain to my wife and me what and where Hotel Modern was. We had stayed there the first night after our arrival in Bucharest. It is a good hotel, but not one in which a host government would normally place a visiting head of state.
4.
On November 28, 1977, Begin informed the Knesset that the U.S. Embassy had received a letter addressed to him by President Carter. The ambassador had been instructed by the President to wait with the delivery of the letter– a friendly and important communication– until the end of Shabbat. It was not to be delivered any time earlier!
“The Jewish state will respect the Shabbat in front of all the world. President Sadat, too understood that if he wanted to visit us, he must calculate the times so that the Shabbat will not be desecrated,” Begin exclaimed. “We will respect the day of rest of the Moslems, which is Friday; we will respect the Christian day of rest, which is Sunday, and we ask all nations that are near and those that are far away to respect our day of rest. They will do so only if we ourselves respect our Shabbat. Putting on a Yarmulke, Begin said deeply touched that he had reread the eternal words: “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the L-rd they G-d hath commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath in honor of the L-rd, thy G-d….”
He continued reciting the entire passage (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) commented that the Sabbath was one of the great ideas in the history of mankind and declared again: Let it be known that we respect our Shabbat and we appeal to our friends among the nations to do likewise.”
5.
Dinners tendered by foreign governments in honor of Begin were, of course strictly Kasher. Though Jewish newspapers and the general press have referred to this on various occasions, we permit ourselves to quote again some observations of Rabbi Rosen, because they relate to a visit by Begin to a country which was then ruled by a Communist regime.
“Menachem Begin was the first Jewish leader who demonstrated Kiddush Hashem in a Communist country,” Rabbi Rosen said.
In a country whose regime taught that religion was opium for the people, Begin stressed his attachment to the religion and traditions of his people, conscientiously observing Shabbat and Kashrut and displaying his high regard for the rabbinate.
Prime Minister Manea Manescu gave a dinner in honor of Begin. The meal was prepared by the Jewish communal kitchen, which also prepared the food for Begin and his entourage during their entire stay in the country.
“Our Mashgiach wearing a Yarmulke was in charge of the food in the prime minister’s palace,” Rabbi Rosen told us with a smile.
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 12, 1993
Continued from last week
6.
Exceedingly proud of the heritage of our people, Begin, on occasion, felt the need to explain Jewish values and customs to gentiles.
Elyakim Rubinstein, secretary of the government who was a member of the Israeli delegation to the peace negotiations in Camp David, told me about Begin’s Shabbat there.
“Begin and his wife invited President Carter, his wife Rosalynn, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and others to the Friday evening meal. Ezer Weizmann and the late Moshe Dayan were also there. Begin spoke about the Shabbat and its ritual. He made Kiddush and I made the Motzi. He then sang Zemirot. Begin’s personal physician led in the saying of the Grace after Meals.”
In an article he wrote on the occasion of the Shloshim of Begin, Rubinstein enlarged on Begin’s comportment in Camp David.
On the second Shabbat of their stay there, Begin asked Rubinstein to make Havdala in the presence of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s National Security Advisor. As Shabbat was about to end, Begin asked Rubinstein several times whether it was time for Havdala. Rubinstein went outside, waited for three stars to appear in the sky, returned to the cottage, prayed Ma’ariv and then made Havdala. During the Havdala– he wrote– several of those present, among them the late Moshe Dayan, covered their heads with a kerchief.
Rubinstein added that Begin acted thus also on other occasions– Jewish festivals and days of remembrance– especially when he was abroad.
7.
Following in the footsteps of David Ben Gurion, President Shazar and other leaders of the Jewish state, after becoming Prime Minister, Begin hosted a weekly Bible study group in his home.
Yonah Cohen, veteran correspondent of the daily HaTzofeh was a member of the group which met every Saturday night. After Begin’s death he wrote about the latter’s participation in the studies.
He was a very active participant taking part in all discussions. He seemed to have done his homework well, preparing for the class during Shabbat.”
Occasionally high officials of a foreign government or Jewish leaders from abroad dropped in on Begin at the time the class was held. They were either invited to join in the studies or told to return at another time.
Once during the Lebanon war, U.S Presidential Emissary, Phillip Habib, paid an unexpected visit to Begin. “We were asked to wait until Begin would conclude his talks with the emissary.” Cohen wrote, “Begin returned after 10 minutes and said to us, “I told Habib that a very important meeting was in progress in the house. We study Torah!”
To Be Continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 19, 1993
Continued from Last Week
8.
Prof. Shraga Abramson- outstanding Jerusalem scholar, author of many studies in Talmudic and rabbinic literature, editor of Rishonim, interpreter of medieval Hebrew poetry and authority on early Hebrew grammarians- lectured frequently at the study group on topics of the Sidrah and other Biblical subjects. He told me that during the two hour sessions, Begin would receive telephone calls, seemingly on urgent government matters. The late Prime Minister excused himself, left the room, and returned soon afterwards. It never happened that Begin would ask to shorten the studies on account of the important government affairs he had to attend to. One Motazei Shabbat, early in June 1981, Begin received more telephone calls than usual. When the Iraqi atomic reactor was bombed the following day by the Israeli Air Force, the participants of the study group realized when the telephone calls to Begin were about. Even at the time of preparations for a vital world shaking and danger-fraught military action, the Bible studies at Begin’s home proceeded as usual, with but minor interruptions!
According to Prof. Abramson, Begin used to say at the weekly Sunday meetings of the government that the hours he spent with the study groups were the best of his week and from them he drew strength for the entire week.
Begin appreciated greatly Prof. Abramson. Moshe Nissim M.K. (he is a son of the late Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim and was a member of the Begin and Shamir Cabinets) told me: “Begin loved Abramson. He called him: A great Talmudist! Otzar Yediot (a treasure trove of knowledge.)Professor Abramson for his part became very much attached to Begin. Whenever the late Prime Minister travelled abroad, Abramson was at the airport to see him off. After Begin withdrew from public life, Prof. Abramson used to phone him every erev Shabbat.
Prof. Abramson as well as Moshe Nissim told me that even before the Bible study group began to meet at Begin’s home, the late Prime minster used to review the weekly Sidrah every Shabbat morning. I was also told this by Yehiel Kadishai, Begin’s longtime confident and secretary, who used the expression: “Begin Kava Itim LaTorah” (Begin fixed times for the study of Torah).
9.
An interview given by Rabbi Yaakov Rakovsky, chaplain of the Haddasah Medical Centers to HaTzofeh correspondent Yifat Baer, offers us some glimpses of Begin’s conduct in private. Rabbi Rakovsky, who became friends with Begin, when the latter was visiting his ailing wife in the hospital, told the correspondent some little stories- which indeed, were great ones– about Begin.
When Begin himself was hospitalized, he asked Rabbi Rakovsky to prepare for him for Shabbat, Lehem Mishne, wine or grape juice for Kiddush and Havdala and besamim for Havdala.
The rabbi readied all these, attaching a note to them: “We are indeed fortunate to have a Prime Minister who observes Shabbat so conscientiously.”
On one occasion, when Begin noticed Rabbi Rakovsky coming towards him, he remarked, “When I see you, rabbi, I feel assured that the food I am served here is kosher.”
The rabbi also informed the correspondent of having been told by the nurses that they saw Begin put on Tefillin.
Recently I met Rabbi Rakovsky at the Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem. He told me that Lubavitch people have been visiting the hospital, asking patents to perform the mitzvah of Tefillin. They would not enter Begin’s room, when the late Prime Minister was confined there. for he was always under guard. However, once a Lubavitcher succeeded in getting near the late Prime Minister. When he asked Begin to put on Tefillin, the latter said to him, “Dear sir, do you want me to put them on twice? Believe me, I already put on Tefillin.”
(To Be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, March 26, 1993
(Continued from last week)
After Begin’s death, the religious weekly Yom Hashishi wrote that the late Prime Minister once told some Lubavitchers who wanted him to perform the mitzvah of Tefillin, that during his entire life, he had never missed a day putting on Tefillin.
10.
In an earlier article we referred to the reports in the general and Jewish newspapers about the kosher food Begin and his entourage were served at dinners and luncheons given in their honor by the governments of the countries they visited.
May we add, that precautions were taken at those affairs to assure that the waiters served the Israeli guests the kosher food prepared for then, and no other.
“At an official dinner tendered in our honor in Brasov Romania, all guests were given cards,” Yehiel Kadishai, Begin’s longtime secretary, who accompanied the late Prime Minister on his journey told us. “Our cards bore two black stripes. They signified to the waiters that we were the ‘kosher people.'”
Following the signing of the Israeli Egyptian peace agreement, a special dinner was held in Washington. “At each table sat Americans, Egyptians and Israelis. Kadishai related, “The knives of the Israelis were different from those of the others. They had wooden handles. The different handles identified us to the waiters as Israelis who were to be served kosher food.”
There was one instance when Begin refused to eat the meat though it had been prepared by Jews.
“On the last day of his visit to Romania, Begin and President Nicolae Ceausescu met in private at the President’s villa, not far from Bucharest. The meeting was scheduled to last two hours, but it lasted much longer,” Chief Rabbi Dr. Moshe Rosen told us.
“Our community was instructed to bring kosher food too the President’s villa. As the meeting was strictly private, our people were not allowed to enter the conference room, but had to leave the food at the villa.”
Rabbi Rosen stopped for a moment and then continued. “What I am telling you now, I heard from the Rumanian as well as from the Israeli side.”
“When the food was finally served, Begin ate everything but did not touch the meat. The President wondered. Why doesn’t he eat the meat, after all it had been prepared by Jews, but he said nothing.
“Begin confided to me later that he did not touch the meat because it was Basar Shenitalem Min HaAyin (meat which had no identification mark and was not under constant supervision, is always suspect. It might be a piece of non-kosher meat, substituted for the original kosher one),” Rabbi Rosen declared.
When I spoke about this with Yehiel Kadishai, he commented, “I cannot confirm it as an eyewitness, because Begin’s meeting with Ceausescu was strictly private, but I can tell you that I heard about it while I was still in Bucharest.”
11.
Prayer is the language of the believer.
On June 8, 1977, after he was charged by President Ephraim Katzir with the formation of the new government, Menachem Begin prayed at the Western Wall.
He did so again on July 15, 1981, after President Yitzchak Navon — following that year’s general election– entrusted him with the formation of the new cabinet.
Begin’s first journey abroad — in his capacity as Prime Minister was to the United States to meet with President Jimmy Carter. Begin was reported to have said that he prepared himself for this meeting- on whose outcome the relationship between the U.S. and Israel depended — like a Jew prepares himself for Yom Kippur.
Before he embarked on his journey, Begin asked Rabbi Menachem Porush, veteran Agudist member of the Knesset to recommend a prayer suitable for the occasion.
“I pointed out to Begin that some Siddurim feature among the prayers to be recited on Motzaei Shabbat– for a blessed and successful week– the part of Parashat VaYishlach, which speaks of Ya’akov’s preparations for his meetings with his brother, Esau, and of the meeting proper. The reading of this seemed appropriate under the circumstances,” Rabbi Porush told me.
(Continued next week)
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 2, 1993
Continued from last week
12.
Rabbi Porush likes to relate the story of his intervention with Menachem Begin for the release of Georgian Jewish airport employees from work on Shabbat.
One Friday when he was at the airport waiting for the arrival of his friend, the late jewish Press columnist Leo (Eliezer) Gartenberg, Rabbi Porush was approached by several airport employees, new immigrants from Georgia. They complained bitterly that they had to work on Shabbat. Back in Russia they had obeserved Shabbat but here they were told, there was no Shabbat. Shabbat had turned into Tisha Be’Av for them. They were all observant Jews and their children attended the schools of the Chinuch Atzmai
A few minutes later, another group of Georgian Jewish airport employees present him with the same complaint. Before long, a third group approached him asking him to arrange for their exemption for work on Shabbat.
Rabbi Porush took their names and the numbers of their work cards and promised to intervene on their behafl. “Tomorrow is Shabbat, ” he told them. “On Sunday the cabinet meets for the weekly session. Monday I will take the first steps to have you released from work on Shabbat.
Monday morning two cars, carrying about 30 Georgian Jewish airport employees arrive in front of the Mercaz Hotel in Jerusalem. The men had come to see Rabbi Porush. They cried, begged and pleaded with him to do all in his power to free them from violating the Sabbath. Rabbi Porush invited them into his private home. Once there he connected them with the office of the Prime Minister. Yehiel Kadishai, Begin’s long time secretary was on the phone. “come over to the Prime Minister’s office,” Kadishai told them. The men were overcome with excitement. They couldn’t believe they were invited to the Prime Minister! As newcomers from Russia, this seemed to them like receiving an invitation to the Kremlin, which of course, no ordinary mortal could hope for.
A short time later, they trooped into the assembly room of the Prime minister’s office.
Begin addressed them. “You will not have to work on Shabbat,” he declared. He added that only true Shabbat observers should make use of the dispensation. In an aside, Begin whispered to Rabbi Porush “By adding this condition we made sure that all of them will obligate themselves to observe Shabbat!”
The Georgian Jews were enraptured and thrilled. Gone were the tears of pain and the crying. Joy and exultation filled the room.
Within the next few days all the Georgian Jewish airport employees who wanted to be freed from work on Shabbat — not ony the 30 who had come to Jerusalem, but many more than 100 altogether were granted their request.
“Even nowadays– many many years later== whenever I am at the airport, the Georgian Jews come up to me and thank me profusely for what I did for them,” Rabbi Porush concluded his story.
The late Leo Gartenberg, who was with Rabbi Porush at the time of the above narrated events, many years ago, published in the Jewish Press, personal additions to and reflections on Rabbi Porush’s account of the intervention.)
13.
On May 3, 1982, Prim Minister Menachem Begin annouced in the Knesset that the governemnt ah decided to discontinue the flight of El Al on Shabbat and Jewish holiday.
The announcement was followed by a speech in which the prime Minister stressed the Jewish, human and universal importance of Shabbat, the weekly day of rest, which the Jewish people had bequeathed to all mankind. The Prime minister also speak of the readiness of generations of Jews to undertake great financial sacrifices in order to observe the Shabbat.
Never, never before was such a speech in praise of traditional Jewish values heard in the parliament of the modern state of Israel!
The leftists went wild. They heckled and taunted and speaker and tried to interrupt him. Begin lashed out at some of his critics, deliberately disregarding others and declared emphatically:
“This (the heckling) will be to no avail to you! I will say what I have to say until the very last word…”
And again.
This will be to no avail to you! I will deliver my entire speech as I had prepared it..”
Begin also stated: “we have heared threats before and after the government’s decision! We will ignore them! We are convinced that we have done the right thing in adopting this important decsion. We have shown that in our democratic society, threats will not derterine the decision sof the cabinet and the Knesset”
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 9, 1993
Continued from last week
“Forty years ago I returned from the Diaspora to the Land of Israel,” Prime Minister Begin said in tיe course of his address to the Knesset. “Still carried in my memory, as it had been only yesterday, is the life [endured by] millions of ordinary Jews with nd to support in those sad lands of exile when Jew hatred was rampant and the authorities backed attempts by gentiles to rob Jews of their livelihood. In those days and in those lands of exile, they did not permit the Jews who observed the Shabbat, to conduct their business on Sunday. The Christian day of rest was forced upon them. What did the Jews do? They rested two days in the week, one day in accordance with the decree of the government, and on the seventh day, they did not open their businesses in observance of the commandment: ‘Remember the Shabbat day to keep it holy.’ They lost money, much money. They gave up part of their income, and in certain cases, were even impoverished- but they observed the Shabbat according to its laws.
“There was a great Jewish community in [one of] the lands of exile. Its name was Salonica,” Begin continued. “The majority of the city’s port workers were Jews. On Shabbat all work in the port stopped. The Jewish porters disregarded the loss of income. The general population went along with the stoppage of work in the port on the seventh day of the week, because they knew that the workers were Jewish.”
Once could cite more examples but it is not necessary. The facts are known to all of us. The Shabbat, the weekday of rest, is one of the supreme values of civilized man. The idea is ours, entirely ours. We have bequeathed it all to the nations, even to all regimes.
“We are an old people. The recorded history of our people begins thousands of years ago. There were also other ancient peoples. Let us look at their histories. Egypt developed a great civilization whose products can still be seen. The Egyptians of old did not have a weekly day of rest. Greece brought forth art and philosophy. All nations learned from the Greeks. Maimonides, the great eagle, was a student (of the philosophy) of Aristotle. The Greeks didn’t have a seventh day. Rome established the largest empire, and built thee strongest army. It enacted laws and decrees which became the basis for Europe’s codes of law. The Romans did not have a weekly day of rest. Neither had the civilizations of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, India and China.
“Only one people– one people sought G-d and found Him. A small people heard the Voice and saw the voices at Mount Sinai): Observe the Shabbat day to keep it holy. … do not perform any work, neither your ox, nor you ass, nor any of your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates, in order that you man-servant and your maid servant may rest as you do.
“How did this idea become the heritage of all mankind? Christianity chose the first day of the week. Islam chose the sixth day– but the idea was the same: one day of rest in the week.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 16, 1993
(Continued from last week)
“Immediately after the revolution of November 1917, the Communist regime tried to institute a different day of rest in the week for different enterprises. The experiment did not prove successful. The first days of the week as the weekly day of rest was reinstated.
“Let us note again that the original idea of the people of Israel was accepted by all nations, by all religions and all forms of governemnt, and that this idea has been of major social and moral significance. The weekly rest day has been intended for the slave of ancient times, but for the free worker of today, for the poor. The rich can rest every day. Those who are called the ‘idle rich’ are in no need of a Shabbos legislation. Who needs it? We quoted before the clear answer. ‘In order that your man-servant and your maid servant may rest as you do.’ This is the deep Jewish, human national and universal significance of Shabbat.
“And the Jewish State– I ask you– shall it turn the Shabbat into a weekday? The Christians and the Moslems, respectively, observe their weekly day of rest according to their customs, but the ‘blue-white’ planes should land in the world’s capitals and take off from there on Shabbat? Precisely on Shabbat, as if they carried with them the message that there was no Shabbat in Israel, not in the State of Israel, nor among the people of Israel! We, all of us, who according to our belief heard the Voice and saw the voices (at Mount Sinai), how can we tolerate a situation which, as it were announces to all the nations of the world: Do not remember the Shabbat day to keep it holy. Do no observe the Shabbat day to keep it holy. Forget to keep holy the day of Shabbat.”
Towards the end of his speech, Begin appealed to the employees of El Al. “I want to say to you several words coming from the heart,” he turned to the. “The value of Shabbat- Israel’s eternal asset, for which our fathers were ready to lay down their lives– cannot be calculated in terms of monetary profit and loss! However, if the workers of El AL would grant the company industrial peace for several years- he said– El Al would no more suffer financial losses, which have to be made up by the Israeli taxpayer.”
15.
As mentioned before the leftists fought the law which put an end to El Al’s Shabbat and Yom Tov flights. They taunted Begin and tried to interrupt his speech. The speech and the oppositions’ heckling are fully reported in Divrei HaKnesset, the official records of the sessions of the Israeli parliament.
Less known are Begin’s efforts to convince some members of his own cabinet of the justice of the government decision.
“Some ministers– like members of the opposition- cited El Al’s business losses as their reason for opposing the decision. They also claimed that Begin caved in to pressure and ‘extortion’ of the religious partners of the coalition,” Moshe Nissim, M.K., who was then Minister of Justice in Begin’s cabinet told me. “Begin argued and remonstrated with them with passion.”
He stressed that financial considerations could have no bearing on legislation regarding Shabbat (as he would point out later in his speech in the Knesset, Jews disregarded financial losses in order to keep the Shabbat.) Begin also made it clear that the decision to stop El AL flights on Shabbat and Yom Tov agreed completely with his own deeply felt convictions.
Continued next week
The Jewish Press, Friday April 23, 1993
Continued from last week
“Begin asked the members of his cabinet to observe in public, Jewish laws and customs, especially those relating to Shabbat and Yom Tov and the dietary laws,: Moshe Nissim, M.K. told me, when I sat with him in his office in the Knesset.
“Begin’s constant use of “Barukh Hashem” and “Im Yirtze Hashem” had a tremendous impact on the masses,” Nissim continued. “Our Moroccan brethren, for example who never heard the leaders of the state invoke the help of the L-rd were shy and inhibited from employing these traditional expressions. When Begin came to power and “Im Yirtze Hashem” and “Barukh Hashem” were always on the lips of the new Prime Minister, the situation changed radically. Moreover, people who had never known these expressions began to use them!”
“Begin always carried with him a black Kippa. He produced it and covered his head, whenever he quoted Scripture and quote he did!
“I participated in the autonomy talks with the Arabs. At that time Begin was hospitalized, suffering from transient cerebral ischemia,” Nissim said. “After he recovered I reported to him on the talks and congratulated him on his recuperation. He said: I prayed ‘Cast me not away from They presence and Thy holy spirit do not take away from me’ (Psalms 51:13) and the L-rd listened to my voice.”
17.
“Tell me about the relations between your father, the late Rishon Letzion Rabbi Yitzhak Nisism and Menachem Begin,” I asked Nissim.
“They were friends., very close friends! Do you know when their friendship began? Nissim asked.
“I imagine it started when your late father refused to met the Pope on his arrival in Israel,” I replied.
“It started earlier,” Nissim remarked. “It began with my father’s address at his coronation as Rishon LeTzion.”
The late Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim was crowned as Rishon LeTzion in Nissan 5715 (1955). In his speech he pointed out that the ceremony was not performed in the traditional place where the rabbis were consecrated– in the ancient synagogue bearing the name of Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai, in the old city of Jerusalem.
“The ceremonial was begun with a visit to and a prayer at the ‘Western Wall.’ The would be Chief Rabbi would invoke there the mercy of G-d Almighty to make him successful in his office by performing his duties properly and faithfully. This devotion and inspiration attended the rabbi during his tenure,” Rabbi Nissim said. However, this inspiration can be attained only at the Kotel, from which the Divine Presence has never departed. To our great misfortune and sorrow we are at present unable to go there. It is my prayer and the prayer of all Israel that with the help of G-d these places shall be restored to us before long and we shall pray and worship there to our hearts’ desire.”
Moshe Sharett, who was then Prime Minister, was present at the coronation. He was angry. The new Rishon LeTzion had violated a taboo. To speak about the restoration of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Jewish people was taboo to Sharett and his Labor Friends!
Begin was elated.
The Supreme Court of Israel annulled the election of Rabbi Nissim as Rishon LeTzion on a technicality but the Knesset validated the election retroactively. On that occasion, Begin spoke in the Knesset in praise of Rabbi Nissim. “A chief Rabbi was chosen! An excellent Talmid Hakham, one of the great of the generation, a giant of Torah, a man righteous in all his dealings, and may I add: a man, who upon his election, on the joyous day of his coronation, had the courage — in contrast to the other rabbis– to declare: ‘We will not forget the Old City where our Chief Rabbis were crowned prior to the establishment of the state. I believe with perfect faith that we will return again to Jerusalem, the city of our desire!” Begin said in his speech.
“Begin invited my father to the annual convention of the Herut party,” Moshe Nissim continued his story. “At that time Herut was out of bounds to ‘official’ Israel. The establishment boycotted functions of the Herut people as if they were lepers. My father accepted the invitation. He visited all parties, movements, institutions, Kibbutzim and Moshavim to which he was invited.”
Every year before Tisha BeAv my father issued a proclamation, expressing the hope for the speedy return of the Jews to the Old City. After the Old City was liberated during the Six Day War, father transferred the Supreme Rabbinical COurt, of which he was president , to a building at the Southern Wall, not far from the pace which in ancient times was the seat of the Great Sanhedrin.
“Father died on Tisha BeAv 5741(1981). Begin cut short his vacation in Naharia and came to Jerusalem to Menahem Avel our family,” Nissim said. “On the Shloshim, the Prime Minister eulogized father at Jerusalem’s Yeshurun Synagogue.”
After Rabbi Nissim’s death, Begin became a patron of Yad Harav Nissim,. the study and research center established in memory of the late Rishon Letzion.
18.
It is perhaps, apropos to mention here that Begin was among the many thousands who attended the funeral of Rabbi Velvel Solovetichik of Brisk. Rabbi Velvel and Begin, in some respects, lived in different worlds, but Begin as a native of Brisk regarded it as his duty to pay his last respects to the man who had been the rabbi of his family, and of the Jews of his home town.
The Jewish Press, Friday, April 30, 1993