Last Sunday evening, at Congregation Rinat Yisrael, a documentary film that had heretofore been lost to the public was screened. The unique showing, which brought together a large and appreciative audience, was the result of a joint effort between Congregations Beth Aaron and Rinat Yisrael and their sponsors.
The film was introduced by Yefet Ozery of the American Associates of Ben Gurion University, whose connection to Ben Gurion goes far beyond his position at the university.
Ozery was born in Yemen in 1949, at a time when his isolated village of only 40 Jewish families had not yet heard of the declaration of the Jewish state a year before. During a chance meeting with an emissary from Israel, his young father and a friend were told to pack up their entire village and take the two-week trek to the seaport of Aden where an airplane would be awaiting them to transport them to Israel. They didn’t recognize the concept of an airplane, so the shaliach drew an image that reassured the two young men that indeed it resembled the “eagle” on whose wings they were promised in the Bible to be lifted to the land of Israel. Operation Flying Carpet brought the Yemenite villagers to their homeland on an Alaskan Airlines flight. There they felt confident in their new country headed by a David (Ben-Gurion) and a Moshe (Sharett).
Ozery shared, “That airlift from Yemen was done at the insistence of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, against great resistance. There were many in power who were dubious as to whether a local population of only 650,000 Israelis could absorb 1,000,000 under-educated and poor Yemenites. Ben Gurion was insistent and for me he became nothing less than a ‘messiah.’ While in high school, I wrote him 11 letters to which he responded. I invited him to come to my school, and one fine day he simply walked in and greeted us all warmly. That was the beginning of my connection to Ben Gurion, which lasted throughout his lifetime.”
The film,”Ben-Gurion: Epilogue,” produced and directed by Yariv Mozer, was originally filmed in 1968, when the retired former prime minister of Israel, then 82 and recently widowed, was living on the Negev Kibbutz Sde Boker, which he had helped establish. Six hours of interviews were conducted, but until a few years ago both the video and audio components of the film were separated and missing. Fortunately, skilled filmmakers got on the project and the result is an intimate, 70-minute dialogue with one of Israel’s greatest and at the same time most controversial leaders.
As portrayed in the film, Ben Gurion demonstrated that as a founder, mover and shaker of the state of Israel, he had to be an individual who “knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” This historic founding prime minister will go down in history not only for his political successes and sometime failures, but for his futuristic vision and personal commitment to the Jewish state and its people. Ben Gurion truly believed in his people’s status as an “am segula,” a precious, chosen people, and worked against major odds to secure their place as such in the world while training them to live up to this distinction.
The film focused on specific characteristics that best personified Ben Gurion. He had extraordinary communication skills that often conveyed revolutionary ideas but made him a figure who was taken seriously and looked up to even by world leaders who may not have been sympathetic to his causes. Ben Gurion was a man of passion and commitment, both of which gained him many followers who sensed his genuine dedication to the 2000-year-old dream of the Jewish people.
Also emphasized was his positivity, which ideologically, philosophically and inevitably practically, was contagious. He was an innovative, out-of-the-box thinker who often defied his own peers who sometimes felt that he was exceeding the limits of reality. And despite his feistiness, he was a collaborative leader who demonstrated remarkable talent to create alliances, promote partnerships and advocate political, social, cultural and financial cooperation, nationally and internationally.
His insistence upon not being referred to as a Zionist was just one example of his unique thought processes. For Ben Gurion, an individual who does not yet live in Israel can be called a Zionist. However, those who already reside in Israel are Israelis. Finally, his obvious facility with Biblical and Talmudic verses, which he used to corroborate his strategies, was truly impressive.
By Pearl Markovitz
