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Ben-Gurion:
The Jews
..."Everything we are as Jews, including our drive occasion
ally to grope beyond traditional bounds, comes directly from
the Bible. In size we are nothing as a people and never have
been. Had we not been children of the Book, who would have
heard of us? We should be lucky to occupy a mere footnote in
history. As things stand, a large part of history is our doing. We
have never been far removed from the mainstream, often
unhappily so and at peril. ”
Eretz Israel
..."This country has passed through many hands. It has been
conquered incessantly and incessantly abandoned. It has known
the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans,
Arabs, Seljukes, the Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottoman Turks
and the British, apart from ourselves and the Canaanites before
us. The Canaanites exist no more. Other than they and the
Jews, the land has never been a home to anyone. It has been a
battlefield, conquered territory, a place to plunder, a crossroads
or a grazing ground. Only the Jews have loved the land for
itself have worked it, improved it, made it theirs through their
care for it.
..."This was true two thousand years ago, it is equally true
today. Israel is ours in the twentieth century not because we
fought wars over it...but because we settled it.”
Pioneer
..."I became a ploughman, working with two oxen: Though
the work was hard, with food and living conditions very spar
tan, / enjoyed every minute of it. ”
Israel and the Diaspora
..."If there is a communication gap between the Jewish
world and Israel, it is up to the former to close it. We are mak
ing history, living history. The Jew in Argentina, France, the
United States, India, Russia, New Zealand, South Africa and
elsewhere is a watcher on the sidelines... The Jews of the world
are coming to realize this, and they are making a choice. Many
will cease to be Jews, will assimilate into other cultural tradi
tions. We wish them well. But many more will see dheir link
with us and reach over to grasp our hand of friendship. They
will learn Hebrew, will come and will cherish their re-insertion
into history.”
Desert
..."In Hebrew, ‘Negev’ is a word for south. The Jewish
attraction to the southland wastes, which extend down to the
tip of that Red Sea inlet, known in our times as the Gulf of
Eilath, is an old story beginning with the original Hebrew,
Abraham itself. This land of the Negev is the true cradle of
Judaism. In its present desolation, it constitutes a national
weak point and danger zone. But here also lies Israel’s greatest
hope for the future.
...“The desert is a reproach to mankind. It is criminal waste
in a world that cannot feed its population. Even for Israel, the
barrenness is a reproach. The majority of Jews who come to this
country go to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. / am against big cities.
They bring out the worst in man. ”
His True Love
...“Paula was a remarkable woman. She started life with lit
tle Zionist or even Jewish feeling. Her background was Ameri
can. When we decided to marry, I told her she would have to
live in Israel. 7 want only two things: Eretz Israel and you. And
believe I shall have both.' I wrote to her in those early years.
Because she loved me, she came. ”
Quality and Quantity
...“Israel, I know, will survive on the basis of quality. It is a
small stale and already it exists because of the quality and forti
tude its inhabitants have shown under hardship. Now ur
require quality in every sphere of activity to carry out the mis
sion of enlightenment worthy of our ancient people. But to get
quality, we must have quantity. The more Jews who come, the
more scope we shall have to improve our aptitudes and profi
ciency in diverse domains. ”
What he had to say
Reading the Declaration of Independence: “We...hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz
Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.”
Having tea with Eleanor Roosevelt at his home in 1952, discussing the Israel Bond C ampaign.
Peace
...“Nevertheless, on a more practical plane, it is my belief
that the hostility we face today will continue for some time to
come and that we had better reconcile ourselves to riding out
the status quo as best we can. Our plans for the future are very
simple and very pragmatic. We must live on and build the
country, receive immigrants and put them to work, extend our
education to ever higher levels for an increasing mass of citi
zens, settle the desert so as to make Israel economically self-suf
ficient, and utilize every effort, short of undermining our
national integrity, to bring about peace."
East and West
...“Most important, Israel is not just an Eastern nation or
just a Western one. It is both! In itself, it invites the two great
streams of the Jewish people: the Ashkenazim whose traditions
are Western, and the Sephardim whose cultural links are with
the East. Here is another task for Israel: to marry the East with
the West and thus again to serve as an example of unity and
brotherhood to all mankind.”
Holocaust
..."/ think that Hitler did much to retard, not advance, our
nationhood... Nazism proved that Jews could live for five
hundred years in peace with their neighbors, that they would all
but assimilate in national society save for a few traditions and
separate religious practices. They could believe themselves inte
gral citizens of states professing freedom of belief and granting
full rights to all inhabitants. Such was the situation prevailing
in Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Denmark, and Norway.
Yet one raving maniac could blame the world’s troubles on a
At Avdat, a ruined Nabatean group constituting less than six percent of Europe’s population
city in the Negev. an( j ( ^ e holocaust was at hand. ”
PAGE 15 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 17, 1986