Begin Center Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 25

Menachem Begin Heritage Center Bulletin Vol. 5 No. 25 | 7 April 2009


TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS SINCE OCTOBER 2004: 481,072

CHAG PESACH SAMEACH!

WISHING OUR READERS A CHAG PESACH SAMEACH V'KASHER!


A FEW WORDS ON FREEDOM

Before Irgun soldier Dov Gruner was hanged by the British on April 16, 1947, just after the Pesach holiday, he wrote a letter to Menachem Begin in which he stated that he did not regret his role in the Irgun Zvai Leumi and that he believed in what he was fighting for, even though it eventually led to the final moment in the hangman's noose.

Menachem Begin wrote at that time:

"Great is the courage in Israel at a time of destruction and in this time of resurrection. We will be proud of them all and in all of them we will recognize holiness. But in the ladder of Jewish heroism, there is one level which is supreme. And from that level arise those who are Harugei Malchut. They were fighters whose fighting was not passive. It was active. They were revolutionaries whose revolution was not without choice but initiated. They went to the gallows and their heroism was not once. It is eternal. From their bleeding hearts, a song of freedom was sung. The song that sang how there is no purpose in being slaves anymore and that liberty would win and justice would arrive. And now, G-D of Israel, I tell You: Because You have given Israel such children as these, I say ‘Yitgadal V’Yitkadash Sh’mei Rabbah’."



** On Holocaust Remembrance Day and on Memorial Day, the tours of the museum have been cancelled that would cause visitors to be inside the museum when the national siren takes place. This means that on Holocaust Remembrance Day there will be no tours at 9am or 9:30am and on Memorial Day there will be no tours at 10am or 10:30. Otherwise, the museum hours are as usual until 7pm.

We remind all our visitors to make reservations in advance to avoid disappointment, especially during the holidays. Reservations can be made at 02-565-2020.


LINKS

A few links to special coverage of various items:

From the Begin Center Diary Blog, readers may want to review Yehuda Avner's recollections of the peace process HERE.

Or read Ted Mann's account of that time period HERE.

Reader's may also want to peruse the speech that outgoing Prime Minster Ehud Olmert gave at the special session of Knesset that was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Treaty with Egypt HERE.

Finally, a video recording was made at the commemoration for Rabbi Aryeh Levin. The Chief Rabbinate Choir performed the song Ana B'Choach which can be viewed HERE.


NO BULLETIN NEXT WEEK

In honor of the Pesach holiday, we will be liberating ourselves from writing the bulletin next week. We will return on April 23 with coverage of Pesach events.