Begin Center Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 26

Volume 3, Issue 26
April 11, 2007

Total Number of Visitors Since October 2004: 272,931

Full House Over Chol HaMoed Pesach

Hundreds and hundreds of visitors—many of them from overseas—filled the Begin Center on all the days of Chol HaMoed Pesach. They were anxious to see the building and to visit the museum and other features of which they had heard. Among them were also several hundred soldiers from different units who are soon to receive ranks and to advance in their military careers. When they came out of the museum, they said it was a moving experience and very exciting.


Three of the Top Ten!

In an article by Ehud Asheri, published in Haaretz on the eve of Pesach, various rhetorical skills of Israeli personalities was discussed and Asheri, a noted critic, listed the 10 most outstanding speeches in the history of the state. Menachem Begin was included three times for his Reparations Speech in 1952, his White House Lawn Peace Treaty Speech in 1979 and the "Tzachtzachim" Speech in Kikar Malachei Yisrael in 1981. The others were David Ben-Gurion announcing the proclamation of the State, Moshe Dayan's eulogy of Ro'i Rutenberg in 1956, Levy Eshkol's "Stammered" Speech in 1967, Yitzhak Rabin's Mt. Scopus speech, 1967, Rabbi Shach's "Rabbits and Pigs" speech, 1990, Rabin's Oslo Peace speech, 1993 and Haim Ramon's "Whales" speech, 1994.


Tammuz Premier at the Begin Center

The Jerusalem premier of an exciting documentary movie entitled Tammuz about the Israel attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor in Osirak near Baghdad is to be shown in the Begin Center on Friday morning, April 13. So great has the interest been in this event that there are three showings—in the Reuben Hecht Auditorium, in the seminar room and a second showing in the afternoon.

The movie outlines the preparation for what Abba Eban described as the "most remarkable decision of the atomic age." One of the persons appearing in the film says that it was one of the most important decisions by Israel since the creation of the State. The decision was made by Menachem Begin after he came to the premiership in 1977. He had every aspect of the problem posed by Iraq at that time thoroughly investigated and after he decided to proceed with the act, he called the heads of the military and secret services to put it into effect.

Ten years later, he received a letter signed by 100 members of the Knesset thanking him for what he had done.

The event will be presided over by Herzl Makov, Director General of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.


Meir Feinstein's Tanach

A unique occurrence will be marked at the Underground Prisoners Museum in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem next Thursday evening, April 19, when the memory of the two heroes, Feinstein and Barazani, will be honored at a gathering headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The Head of the Begin Center, Mr. Harry Hurwitz, will speak on behalf of the Center.

It has now been revealed that when the two heroes, Meir Feinstein (of the Irgun) and Moshe Barazani (of the Lehi/Stern Group) were to be executed by the British, Feinstein gave his Tanach, with a suitable inscription, to the British guard—Sgt. Thomas Henry Goodwin. He had kept it in his home until he passed away in 2005. Now the family has sent the Bible back and entrusted it to the Underground Prisoners Museum.


Visitors

Leo and Susan Noe of London England and members of their family who were in Jerusalem for the whole Pesach holiday visited the Begin Center and its museum on Chol HaMoed Pesach. They were greeted by Harry Hurwitz who accompanied them on the tour. Then they were shown the Reuben Hecht Auditorium, the Junior Knesset and the Beit Midrash Menachem, which is the source of the Rohr Family Parashat HaShavua program. All the group was greatly impressed by what they saw.

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Members of the Falic family from Florida, USA, were very impressed by the Begin Center and its museum and its other facilities. They are friends and neighbors of Mrs. Sisel Klurman of Miami, Florida, who asked them especially to visit the Begin Center. They were shown the Samuel Aba and Sisel Klurman Research Department in the building.

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David and Ronit Zwebner brought two couples to the Begin Center this week. They were Mr. and Mrs. David Kornbluth, the Israeli Ambassador to Unesco in Paris, and Mr. and Mrs. Pinhas Rothem of London (brother of Knesset Member David Rothem). They were very impressed by everything they saw in the building and in the museum.