Letter from Israel: Remembering Ben-Gurion
By Nechemia Meyers
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I was surprised and pleased recently when Yotam, my 6-year-old grandson, was able to identify David Ben-Gurion, after whom his school is named, as Israel's first prime minister. That is a feat that other Israelis his age, and others much older, could not emulate. If the name means anything at all to them, it relates to the country's main airport and/or to central streets in various parts of the country. Last month, for example, scant attention was paid to the 100th anniversary of Ben-Gurion's aliyah.
I find this rather distressing, as I was in reasonably close contact with Ben-Gurion when he was prime minister and I worked in the Israel Government Press Office. There, one of my tasks was to translate some of his speeches into English for members of the foreign press corps. The prime minister would often go over my translations, and then return them to me—with corrections in his scratchy handwriting—so that the final versions would be as accurate as possible.
In retrospect, this was an extraordinary experience, made possible by virtue of the fact that I was around practically from the moment that Israel was born and the founding fathers were still alive and active.
That stands in sharp contrast to the first period of my life, when I learned about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but looked upon them as historical figures rather than as human beings.
For most young Israelis today, Ben-Gurion is what Washington and Jefferson were to me back in Los Angeles 65 years ago, figures from the past with little or no relevance to the contemporary scene, Yet for Israeli old-timers, the past is important and relevant.
For some years I lived in one of those early settlements, Urim, and remember our far-from-easy existence.
Former Milwaukeen Carmi Pollock, an old-timer who still lives in Urim, recently described this.
"On our arrival from Haifa port, they arranged a 'home' for us. It was one room in a wooden structure that had four small rooms and a joint porch.
"The furnishing consisted of two single iron beds tied to one another, a small wooden cabinet and two packing boxes.
"Water was available from a faucet outside, toilet facilities (an outhouse) was some distance away as was a tin structure that served as a communal shower-house.
"Communication between the sexes was facilitated by the fact that the tin sheet that separated the male and female sections had many holes in it."
Ending on an ironic note, Carmi concludes: "In short, we enjoyed all the conveniences that we had had in America."
Living conditions have improved enormously at Urim and elsewhere in the Negev, including Kibbutz Sde Boker, where Ben-Gurion spent his last years living in a modest cabin. The dwelling is not up to the standards of Mount Vernon or Monticello, but its symbolic importance is just as great for those of us who remember the man who lived there.
Nehemia Meyers is a writer in Rehovot, Israel.