Page 103 - big friday
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orters for Al HaMishmar – passed her notes with details about what was happening
inside the hall. Ben-Gur aided the anchors at the request of Zvi Luria, who was in charge
of the broadcasts. Luria himself attended the declaration ceremony not only as director of
the radio station that was transmitting the ceremony live, but also as a representative of
Mapam who was called upon to sign the Scroll of Independence.
A t the end of the ceremony, after describing additional details of the formative event,
Persitz was supposed to conclude with the words that she had so longed to utter: "Long
live the State of Israel." Later she recalled that her voice was choked with tears so she took
care to switch off the microphone – and thus it is not clear whether she managed to say
these words.
On many occasions she described how, on the very morning of that historic day, she
had transmitted the last underground broadcast for the Hagana channel, from Mahaneh
Yona (the area of the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv today), and at 4pm she transmitted the first
broadcast of the state channel Kol Yisrael. In a rare historic coincidence, her friends noted,
she had been privileged to close the historic chapter of underground broadcasts – and, on
the same day, to open a new chapter of state broadcasts.
Among the invitees were the owners of two recording companies, and they had been
asked to record the ceremony: Lucien Salzman, owner of the Tslil recording company
(Israeli Electrical Recording Company Ltd), and Hans Hellinger, owner of the Radio Doctor
recording studio in Tel Aviv, along with his son, Ralph, himself a recording technician (at
that time, he was a recording technician in the Kol Yerushalayim studio at the Tel Aviv
municipality, on Bialik Street). Salzman had founded his company in April, 1947, and
was among the pioneers of the recording industry in the country. In one of the rooms
of his apartment on Eliyahu Sapir Street in Tel Aviv, he recorded many artists, including
Bracha Tzfira, Tikva (sister of Yaffa Yarkoni), Sarah Ya'ari, Avraham Wilkomirsky, Hannah
Aharoni, Rivka Mahat, Sonia Voronkov, Ina Gubinska, Naomi Tzuri, and Ester Gamlielit.
Salzman was the recording man for the Philharmonic Orchestra (then known as the Land
of Israel Orchestra), and by virtue of common work connections he was privileged to
record the orchestra in its appearances at different halls in Tel Aviv. This time, too, in
anticipation of this festive event, he was called upon to record the event and document the
participation of the orchestra in this auspicious occasion. On May 13, Salzman received an
invitation from Karl Salmon, then the director of music programs for Kol Yerushalayim.
Salomon knew Salzman well thanks to the Hebrew songs that had been recorded at the
Tslil studios – recordings that had later been broadcast on the Kol Yerushalayim music
programs. The letter was written in the name of the orchestra's General Secretary, Mr.
Menachem Mahler-Kalkstein, and it invited him to come to the orchestra's office for
what it described as a "very urgent matter". The following words were added: "You must
be ready for a recording tomorrow afternoon." "My father showed up at the orchestra's
offices," says his son, Baruch, "and met with the General Secretary, who revealed to him
that the matter involved recording the ceremony of the declaration of the state, the next
day, and furnished him with a license issued by the People’s Assembly to enter the museum
A State is Born 101
inside the hall. Ben-Gur aided the anchors at the request of Zvi Luria, who was in charge
of the broadcasts. Luria himself attended the declaration ceremony not only as director of
the radio station that was transmitting the ceremony live, but also as a representative of
Mapam who was called upon to sign the Scroll of Independence.
A t the end of the ceremony, after describing additional details of the formative event,
Persitz was supposed to conclude with the words that she had so longed to utter: "Long
live the State of Israel." Later she recalled that her voice was choked with tears so she took
care to switch off the microphone – and thus it is not clear whether she managed to say
these words.
On many occasions she described how, on the very morning of that historic day, she
had transmitted the last underground broadcast for the Hagana channel, from Mahaneh
Yona (the area of the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv today), and at 4pm she transmitted the first
broadcast of the state channel Kol Yisrael. In a rare historic coincidence, her friends noted,
she had been privileged to close the historic chapter of underground broadcasts – and, on
the same day, to open a new chapter of state broadcasts.
Among the invitees were the owners of two recording companies, and they had been
asked to record the ceremony: Lucien Salzman, owner of the Tslil recording company
(Israeli Electrical Recording Company Ltd), and Hans Hellinger, owner of the Radio Doctor
recording studio in Tel Aviv, along with his son, Ralph, himself a recording technician (at
that time, he was a recording technician in the Kol Yerushalayim studio at the Tel Aviv
municipality, on Bialik Street). Salzman had founded his company in April, 1947, and
was among the pioneers of the recording industry in the country. In one of the rooms
of his apartment on Eliyahu Sapir Street in Tel Aviv, he recorded many artists, including
Bracha Tzfira, Tikva (sister of Yaffa Yarkoni), Sarah Ya'ari, Avraham Wilkomirsky, Hannah
Aharoni, Rivka Mahat, Sonia Voronkov, Ina Gubinska, Naomi Tzuri, and Ester Gamlielit.
Salzman was the recording man for the Philharmonic Orchestra (then known as the Land
of Israel Orchestra), and by virtue of common work connections he was privileged to
record the orchestra in its appearances at different halls in Tel Aviv. This time, too, in
anticipation of this festive event, he was called upon to record the event and document the
participation of the orchestra in this auspicious occasion. On May 13, Salzman received an
invitation from Karl Salmon, then the director of music programs for Kol Yerushalayim.
Salomon knew Salzman well thanks to the Hebrew songs that had been recorded at the
Tslil studios – recordings that had later been broadcast on the Kol Yerushalayim music
programs. The letter was written in the name of the orchestra's General Secretary, Mr.
Menachem Mahler-Kalkstein, and it invited him to come to the orchestra's office for
what it described as a "very urgent matter". The following words were added: "You must
be ready for a recording tomorrow afternoon." "My father showed up at the orchestra's
offices," says his son, Baruch, "and met with the General Secretary, who revealed to him
that the matter involved recording the ceremony of the declaration of the state, the next
day, and furnished him with a license issued by the People’s Assembly to enter the museum
A State is Born 101
