Page 29 - big friday
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ate, from the Left and the Right, raised a few reservations, but among the vast majority
there was general agreement on the essence of the document.
T wo votes were held. In the first vote there were 8 abstentions – members whose
reservations had not been accepted; 16 voted in favor; no-one was opposed. A second round
of voting was then held, and the wording of the declaration was accepted unanimously.
T his was not yet a declaration of independence. That was yet to take place, at a special
session. Following the approval of the wording, Felix Rosenblüth (Pinchas Rosen), a
member of the Aliya Hadasha [New Immigration] Party, who was to become Israel's first
Minister of Justice, drafted a manifesto addressing the orders of law, legislation, and legal
system in the new state. Secretary of the People’s Administration, Zeev Sharef, who was
coordinating the preparations for establishment of the institutions of government and
the legal system, documented in his book the events of the last two days of the Mandate
and the first day of independence. He testified that "the debate was conducted in the
same atmosphere that surrounded everything – a spirit of great unity, tolerance, and self-
restraint."
A n hour later, the members of the People’s Council and those who had been invited to
the hall of the Tel Aviv Museum gathered for the ceremonial session where independence
was declared. The ceremony, which was filmed and recorded, has since been watched by a
great many viewers. Ben-Gurion devoted two lines to the ceremony in his diary.
Ben-Gurion's role in this whole process cannot be overestimated, and the words of the
poet Yaakov Fishman to Dov Sadan should be mentioned in this context. Fishman reported
that Yosef Sprinzak had taken him, on the 5th of Iyar, to the hall of the Tel Aviv Museum to
watch the great event, and as they walked together, Sprinzak scorned the occasion, calling
it a "carousel" and joking at the expense of the hero of the day (apparently in an attempt to
suppress the great terror he experienced in the face of this whole process, whose chances of
success, to his mind, had not been properly thought out). Fishman said of himself that by
nature and disposition he was fond of the tradition of the HaPo'el haTza'ir movement, and
he liked its leader, Yosef Sprinzak, but faced with "the revival of the state, here and now",
he said, "I could actually feel his [Ben-Gurion's] power, which consolidated all of our un-
courageous desires within his courageous desire; I was overcome with great and growing
respect towards him and love of him, and I understood – as everyone understands – that
only such people are chosen by Providence for such great matters."
Now or Never. Meir Avizohar and Avi Bareli (eds.), Eynot publishers, Beit Berl, 5749, pp. 511-512
A State is Born 27
there was general agreement on the essence of the document.
T wo votes were held. In the first vote there were 8 abstentions – members whose
reservations had not been accepted; 16 voted in favor; no-one was opposed. A second round
of voting was then held, and the wording of the declaration was accepted unanimously.
T his was not yet a declaration of independence. That was yet to take place, at a special
session. Following the approval of the wording, Felix Rosenblüth (Pinchas Rosen), a
member of the Aliya Hadasha [New Immigration] Party, who was to become Israel's first
Minister of Justice, drafted a manifesto addressing the orders of law, legislation, and legal
system in the new state. Secretary of the People’s Administration, Zeev Sharef, who was
coordinating the preparations for establishment of the institutions of government and
the legal system, documented in his book the events of the last two days of the Mandate
and the first day of independence. He testified that "the debate was conducted in the
same atmosphere that surrounded everything – a spirit of great unity, tolerance, and self-
restraint."
A n hour later, the members of the People’s Council and those who had been invited to
the hall of the Tel Aviv Museum gathered for the ceremonial session where independence
was declared. The ceremony, which was filmed and recorded, has since been watched by a
great many viewers. Ben-Gurion devoted two lines to the ceremony in his diary.
Ben-Gurion's role in this whole process cannot be overestimated, and the words of the
poet Yaakov Fishman to Dov Sadan should be mentioned in this context. Fishman reported
that Yosef Sprinzak had taken him, on the 5th of Iyar, to the hall of the Tel Aviv Museum to
watch the great event, and as they walked together, Sprinzak scorned the occasion, calling
it a "carousel" and joking at the expense of the hero of the day (apparently in an attempt to
suppress the great terror he experienced in the face of this whole process, whose chances of
success, to his mind, had not been properly thought out). Fishman said of himself that by
nature and disposition he was fond of the tradition of the HaPo'el haTza'ir movement, and
he liked its leader, Yosef Sprinzak, but faced with "the revival of the state, here and now",
he said, "I could actually feel his [Ben-Gurion's] power, which consolidated all of our un-
courageous desires within his courageous desire; I was overcome with great and growing
respect towards him and love of him, and I understood – as everyone understands – that
only such people are chosen by Providence for such great matters."
Now or Never. Meir Avizohar and Avi Bareli (eds.), Eynot publishers, Beit Berl, 5749, pp. 511-512
A State is Born 27
