Page 50 - big friday
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Independence. For a moment I imagined being in Philadelphia in the US, as one
of the signatories on the American declaration of independence. It was an elevated,
exalted feeling. Immediately after signing, I joined a drab meeting of the Council."
3. Mordechai Bentov: A n open-necked shirt
M r. Bentov was a member of the People's Administration representing Mapam. In
the days leading up to the declaration he was busy in meetings of the People's Council
where the wording of the Scroll of Independence was under discussion.
"We believed that this was a scroll that represented the large majority of the nation,
which is not religious, and therefore it did not need to include any special religious
expression. Eventually the formula "Rock of Israel" was agreed upon, as a sort of
compromise, because "Rock" can be understood in different ways. I was also busy
at that time establishing the Ministry of Labor at the government headquarters; it
started out as two rooms, a few chairs and… no telephone.
T he ceremony was to take place on Friday. The Scroll was still written on paper
(there was a parchment scroll for signatures; this was attached afterwards…), because
the scribe said that he wouldn't be able to copy it in a single day. During the ceremony
there was restrained exaltation, because we were afraid that the bombardment could
begin at any moment, and we regarded ourselves as fortunate to leave the place without
anything having happened. After the ceremony I walked about for a bit in the streets,
to see people's responses. When I came out onto Nahalat Binyamin Street, I saw a
policeman writing a ticket for a car that was parked illegally. This was a policeman
who, until 4:30pm, had represented the Mandate, but now he was a policeman of the
State of Israel. For me, that was a symbol of the smooth transition without any sense
of collapse in the order of things."
W e asked Mr. Bentov, who is known to be a member of a party that favors "open
collars", what he wore to the ceremony. He smiled: "The late Mr. Zisling and I wore
open collars, without ties. Mr. Ben-Gurion wore a tie! Ten years later, on the 10th
anniversary, we held a reenactment of the ceremony at the museum. All those who
were still alive were invited. Kaplan and Remez were already absent at the table of the
provisional government. This time David Ben-Gurion arrived with no tie…".
4. Y itzhak Ben-Zvi: The no. 1 citizen signed 5 weeks later
"That day we were cut off from Tel Aviv, where the People's Council had gathered,"
says the President, Mr. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, when asked to recall how he had signed
Israel’s Declaration of Independence ten years ago.
The President, who is extremely busy this week receiving delegations of important
visitors from overseas, told us briefly about that historic day when the members of
the Provisional State Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum to sign the declaration
48 The Friday That Changed Destiny
of the signatories on the American declaration of independence. It was an elevated,
exalted feeling. Immediately after signing, I joined a drab meeting of the Council."
3. Mordechai Bentov: A n open-necked shirt
M r. Bentov was a member of the People's Administration representing Mapam. In
the days leading up to the declaration he was busy in meetings of the People's Council
where the wording of the Scroll of Independence was under discussion.
"We believed that this was a scroll that represented the large majority of the nation,
which is not religious, and therefore it did not need to include any special religious
expression. Eventually the formula "Rock of Israel" was agreed upon, as a sort of
compromise, because "Rock" can be understood in different ways. I was also busy
at that time establishing the Ministry of Labor at the government headquarters; it
started out as two rooms, a few chairs and… no telephone.
T he ceremony was to take place on Friday. The Scroll was still written on paper
(there was a parchment scroll for signatures; this was attached afterwards…), because
the scribe said that he wouldn't be able to copy it in a single day. During the ceremony
there was restrained exaltation, because we were afraid that the bombardment could
begin at any moment, and we regarded ourselves as fortunate to leave the place without
anything having happened. After the ceremony I walked about for a bit in the streets,
to see people's responses. When I came out onto Nahalat Binyamin Street, I saw a
policeman writing a ticket for a car that was parked illegally. This was a policeman
who, until 4:30pm, had represented the Mandate, but now he was a policeman of the
State of Israel. For me, that was a symbol of the smooth transition without any sense
of collapse in the order of things."
W e asked Mr. Bentov, who is known to be a member of a party that favors "open
collars", what he wore to the ceremony. He smiled: "The late Mr. Zisling and I wore
open collars, without ties. Mr. Ben-Gurion wore a tie! Ten years later, on the 10th
anniversary, we held a reenactment of the ceremony at the museum. All those who
were still alive were invited. Kaplan and Remez were already absent at the table of the
provisional government. This time David Ben-Gurion arrived with no tie…".
4. Y itzhak Ben-Zvi: The no. 1 citizen signed 5 weeks later
"That day we were cut off from Tel Aviv, where the People's Council had gathered,"
says the President, Mr. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, when asked to recall how he had signed
Israel’s Declaration of Independence ten years ago.
The President, who is extremely busy this week receiving delegations of important
visitors from overseas, told us briefly about that historic day when the members of
the Provisional State Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum to sign the declaration
48 The Friday That Changed Destiny
