Teaneck—Israel’s sixth prime minister, Menachem Begin, a man who lent a profoundly religious dimension to Zionism, was the subject of a community-wide Yom Yerushalayim event at Congregation Keter Torah, co-sponsored by Yeshiva University and the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County. In addition to a screening of I Am a Simple Jew, a documentary about the life of Begin, Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik, head of YU’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, gave a talk entitled “What Menachem Begin Taught Me about Zionism.”
“To him, Zionism was, fundamentally, in a very real way, a continuation of the covenantal story of the Jewish people. And of course, the concept of ‘B’rith,’ the idea of the Jewish covenant, demands that there be a God,” said Soloveichik in an interview.
Soloveichik explained that he refers to Begin’s philosophy in terms of someone “who understood that it is the concept of the covenant, between those who are here and those who are not here, that binds the generations together. And that is how Begin thought of modern Israel—this spiritual bond between all Jews. Jews of the past, the present, and the future,” he said.
The event was part of the Year of Begin event series, made possible by a $100,000 grant given by the Hasten family, with additional support by the Rosen family, which created a partnership between Jerusalem’s Menachem Begin Heritage Center and Yeshiva University. The partnership supports a year of programming around the legacy of Begin, beginning on what would have been his 100th birthday in August of 2013.
Administered at YU by the Straus Center and Rabbi Soloveichik, the Year of Begin grant funded two special academic course offerings, several large public events around the region, a national speaking tour, and a conference in Manhattan upcoming on June 1. An e-book of the conference proceedings will also be funded by the grant.
“The goal of the Year of Begin is to help American audiences and the wider YU community be exposed to his teachings and his messages, as well as his story and what he believed,” said Dr. Stuart W. Halpern, the Straus Center’s assistant director.
The two academic courses were both taught at YU by Rabbi Soloveichik: They were a first-year honors seminar called “Political Zionism and Covenantal Judaism,” and the second was an elective on Menachem Begin’s legacy for rabbinical students. The presentation in Teaneck was essentially a one-off presentation of highlights from the topics covered in the seminars, Halpern said.
Rabbi Soloveichik indicated that the opportunity to help share the legacy of Begin with American audiences was personally important to him. He started with the fact that both Begin and Soloveichik’s own great-uncle, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (known as the Rav), were born in Brisk.
“It is this fact that makes my emotional connection to Begin so profound. In the Begin Museum at the Heritage Center in Jerusalem, as part of the first exhibit showing his childhood and the town in which he grew up, there is a quote from Begin that says: ‘No, I will not go back to Brisk, but Brisk will always go with me.’ And that, to me, captures everything that made Begin unique as a Zionist leader. For him, Zionism was not merely a new moment in Jewish history. Rather, it was a moment that was linked profoundly to the Jewish history that had gone before,” said Soloveichik.
As many may know, the Rav was the first member of the Brisk rabbinic dynasty who joined the Mizrachi, or Religious Zionist movement. “Before that, there was, on the one hand, some tension. But on the other hand, Begin was consistently proud of the fact that he emerged from the home of the Soloveitchik family.”
Soloveichik explained that Begin delivered a speech in 1972, on the 30th anniversary memorial for the Jews of Brisk murdered by the Nazi—including many members of Begin’s family and the Soloveitchik family.
“He talks about what it was like growing up in Brisk. How everyone in Brisk was so proud of the fact that they came from the town of my great-great-grandfather and my great-grandfather,” he said. “This was about five years after the capture of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, and Begin connected the love that Jews of Brisk felt for their house of prayer with the centuries-old yearning of the Jewish people for the ancient Temple. He linked those murdered Jews of Brisk with the modern State of Israel, pointing out that by redeeming the Temple, Israel is keeping their sacred memories alive,” he said.
Soloveichik said that when he read the speech privately for the first time, he became quite emotional. “Tears came forth as I realized how Begin weaved everything together: the Zionist dream, our family’s proud heritage, the yearning of the Jewish people.”
More information about the upcoming conference “Menachem Begin’s Zionism,” taking place June 1 in Manhattan at 4 p.m., following the Celebrate Israel Parade, is available here: http://www.yu.edu/straus/ news-events/.
