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(which subsequently disappeared) and the blue paper that served as an envelope for the
three pages from which Ben-Gurion read the text.
Dorit handed one invitation to the Director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank (today –
Bank Leumi), Dr. Aharon Bart, whose name had not appeared on the list of invitees to
the ceremony. Rosen asked his permission to deposit the signed proclamation (which, as
an initial stage, was an empty parchment with just 27 signatures) in the bank’s safe. Of
course, he immediately agreed. Following the ceremony, Bart and Rosen went to the bank,
where the officer in charge of the safe awaited them, and they placed the scroll inside.
Over the next few weeks Rosen went to the safe several times to remove the scroll so as
to allow members of the Provisional State Council who had not signed at the ceremony,
to add their signatures.
(From the Independence Hall archive)
The forgotten producer of the
Proclamation of Independence
The ceremony of the Proclamation of Independence is described in detail in Zeev Sharef ’s
book, Three Days, which appeared in 1959. After the book was published, there was at least
one individual who felt frustrated and hurt. He was Avraham Dov Rivkind, director of the
Tel Aviv branch of Keren HaYesod at the time, later to become the first Managing Director
of El Al. Sharef mentions Rivkind in his book only once, as having been responsible for
distributing invitations to the ceremony.
A fter Rivkind passed away in 1960, his brother, Yitzhak Rivkind, decided to
commemorate the part that Avraham Dov Rivkind had played in the ceremony of the
Proclamation of the State in a booklet entitled, The Events of the Ceremony of the
Declaration of the State and the Scroll of Independence. In the Introduction, he wrote:
“I have read many memoirs and articles about the declaration of the state. Many of them
assign honor unfairly, attempting to perpetuate my brother’s initial anonymity, hiding and
blurring his role.” His anger is aimed mainly at Sharef, who omitted to mention the role
of A.D. Rivkind as executive producer of the ceremony, even though he appears in many
photographs of the event, as for example in the picture below:
R ivkind’s book shows that the task of organizing the ceremony, in which his brother
Avraham Dov played a central role, was a difficult and complicated one. For instance,
there was the matter of the invitations: “Rivkind knew that there would be many people
260 The Friday That Changed Destiny
three pages from which Ben-Gurion read the text.
Dorit handed one invitation to the Director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank (today –
Bank Leumi), Dr. Aharon Bart, whose name had not appeared on the list of invitees to
the ceremony. Rosen asked his permission to deposit the signed proclamation (which, as
an initial stage, was an empty parchment with just 27 signatures) in the bank’s safe. Of
course, he immediately agreed. Following the ceremony, Bart and Rosen went to the bank,
where the officer in charge of the safe awaited them, and they placed the scroll inside.
Over the next few weeks Rosen went to the safe several times to remove the scroll so as
to allow members of the Provisional State Council who had not signed at the ceremony,
to add their signatures.
(From the Independence Hall archive)
The forgotten producer of the
Proclamation of Independence
The ceremony of the Proclamation of Independence is described in detail in Zeev Sharef ’s
book, Three Days, which appeared in 1959. After the book was published, there was at least
one individual who felt frustrated and hurt. He was Avraham Dov Rivkind, director of the
Tel Aviv branch of Keren HaYesod at the time, later to become the first Managing Director
of El Al. Sharef mentions Rivkind in his book only once, as having been responsible for
distributing invitations to the ceremony.
A fter Rivkind passed away in 1960, his brother, Yitzhak Rivkind, decided to
commemorate the part that Avraham Dov Rivkind had played in the ceremony of the
Proclamation of the State in a booklet entitled, The Events of the Ceremony of the
Declaration of the State and the Scroll of Independence. In the Introduction, he wrote:
“I have read many memoirs and articles about the declaration of the state. Many of them
assign honor unfairly, attempting to perpetuate my brother’s initial anonymity, hiding and
blurring his role.” His anger is aimed mainly at Sharef, who omitted to mention the role
of A.D. Rivkind as executive producer of the ceremony, even though he appears in many
photographs of the event, as for example in the picture below:
R ivkind’s book shows that the task of organizing the ceremony, in which his brother
Avraham Dov played a central role, was a difficult and complicated one. For instance,
there was the matter of the invitations: “Rivkind knew that there would be many people
260 The Friday That Changed Destiny
