How it really was: To be Begin and Peres on the same weekend
As a speaker I did not have the courage of Abba Eban, who as Israel ambassador to the US and the UN in the 1950s was universally recognized as one of the great orators of the last century.
By AVRAHAM AVI-HAIShimon Peres and Menachem Begin chat at the inaugural session of the 10th Knesset in 1981(photo credit: GPO)
HOW TO be Shimon Peres on Saturday night and Menachem Begin that Sunday? While you think about it, let’s look at some strange occurrences while I was on the “featured speakers” trail.South Africa Apartheid was still going strong. After a speech sponsored by Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal of South Africa in the early 1980s, I came across the usual welcome handshakes, pats on the back and other accolades by members of the audience. (Accolades? Of course, did anyone come up to a speaker – ever – and say, “That was terrible.”)Wrinkled in brow, deeply perturbed, a caring Jew came up to me and said in a choked voice, “Dr. Avi-hai, as world chairman of Keren Hayesod, you visit many countries.”“Yes,” I said.“What is wrong with the Jews of Argentina? Don’t they understand that the military dictatorship is pro-fascist? Don’t they know it will turn against the Jews? Why don’t they leave? Now!”ArgentinaThe same time frame. We were walking to the Israel Embassy. It was disconcerting – if not downright scary – to see three different types of police and soldiers, all armed, and all on the short 50-meter block leading to the building.That evening, after a speech aptly translated from the Hebrew by Enrique Zadof, who not only got the words right, but the cadence as well, I was approached by a caring Jew. Brows furrowed, emotional of voice, he said, “Dr. Avi-hai, what’s wrong with the Jews of South Africa? Don’t they understand? Don’t they know there will be a bloodbath there ?Such true brotherly concern. And such readings and misreadings of history. And my perhaps cynical remark, “Jews always wait till it’s too late.”I was half-right – about South Africa – where those who waited too long suffered from falling prices for their homes. Some of the Argentinians moved to Venezuela, which only proves that history plays its own games. On that South African visit, we were walking from the home of one of our hosts to the hotel where we stayed; the Keren Hayesod representative wore a pistol on his hip. (He was a former Israeli police officer, and easily received a permit to “carry.”) Our men in some South American countries similarly had to be armed.South America was a warm and embracing group of societies, combining Sephardi, eastern European and Latin cordiality and emotion. Naturally, each country on each continent had its unique character and cultural traits.As a speaker I did not have the courage of Abba Eban, who as Israel ambassador to the US and the UN in the 1950s was universally recognized as one of the great orators of the last century. Eban was the key speaker at a UJA dinner in Westchester county, the abode of many of the wealthy who had fled Manhattan to live in easy commuting distance from the metropolis.“Westchester, I was told, is home to the ‘upper crust’ of New York. Not being American, I had to look up the meaning of that term,” Eban said. “I learned that ‘upper crust’ means ‘a bunch of crumbs held together by a lot of dough.’”We had our doubts that Eban, the polished diplomat had actually said that. Years later I had the opportunity to ask Eban if that indeed were true. With a subdued, almost shy smile, he confirmed it.“How did they take it?”“They laughed.”Another unusual speaker’s story came from Abraham Harman, who followed Eban as Israel’s ambassador to Washington and later became president and then chancellor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He had had to face countless chicken dinners at functions of the UJA, Israel Bonds and Friends of the Hebrew University. At one such dinner – after perhaps hundreds of others – he finally let loose his innate Jewish London East End humor.Tapping his glass with a knife, the universal signal for “Silence!,” he rose and solemnly intoned the word “Yizkor” (memorial prayer). The several few hundred startled guests rose to their feet.Said Harman, “In memory of… the thousands of chickens who have given their lives to advance the cause of Israel.”The strangest meeting place for Keren Hayesod-UIA we ever attended was in Hong Kong. Since I do not eat non-kosher meat, the committee met in an Indian vegetarian restaurant. In Hong Kong too, we met Lord Kadourie, who, along with the multiple holdings of his companies, also owned a pig farm. He told us that the Chinese called him “the man who raises pig but does not eat it.”Many people saw my role as world chairman of Keren Hayesod-UIA as fundraising. I saw it as an educational tool to build Jewish life and culture with Israel at its center. We began our world conferences over the weekend with Friday night Kiddush and ended on Saturday night with Havdala, the brief service marking the end of the Sabbath. Once in Mexico at a Shabbat retreat, we recited the Havdala prayer in the darkened hall, as the flickering multi-wick candlelight illuminated the participants. Many –- perhaps reliving old memories –- had tears coursing down their faces.Was there an ideology to be presented with our Zionism and Israel-centered world? There was indeed, as summed up in a talk to the leadership of the Appel Juif Unifié in Paris. “The United Jewish Appeal is l’appel qui unifie les Juifs, the appeal that unifies the Jews.”Another basic tenet was that the entire Jewish people should share the financial burden of keeping the gates of Israel open to all Jews and of helping absorb them. We offered the donors the privilege of participating in changing Jewish history. It was not rhetoric. It was statement that what we were doing was not “charity,” but, if I may coin a probably corny word: “share-ity.”Each memory brings up another; perhaps the most emotional was – again in Mexico. Seated next to the iconic leader of the community, Shimshon Feldman, we were watching on a large video screen the signing of the peace document by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat on the White House south lawn in March 1979. We all cried visibly and unashamedly. Following the video, my speech began by reciting the sheheheyanu blessing, for having lived to reach this point, after so much tragic loss of life.My speech was a triumphal ode to Israel, its leaders and to the founders of the state and army. It was they who had formulated and carried out Israel’s strategic doctrine. Only a strong Israel could reach peace with its neighbors. On that Begin could build.Now, to the opening question. The time I was Peres and Begin during the same weekend was before this, in the winter of 1975, when I was visiting professor at the University of Rochester. Israel Bonds was having a major dinner in Chicago on Saturday night with Peres, then minister of defense, while UJA was hosting Begin, the Likud leader, at a dinner in Hartford the following Sunday night.A crucial vote was due in the Knesset and neither the Labor Alignment nor the Likud could let any member of Knesset be absent; certainly not the No. 2 man in the cabinet, and the leader of the opposition. At the last minute I was called in to replace them; to be Peres and Begin, both, within 24 hours was initially quite easy.“Obviously, ladies and gentlemen, I am not Shimon Peres [or Menachem Begin].” That also meant that I was not there to represent their views.But, nonetheless, to speak in place of Messrs. Peres and Begin was not easy. I had to deliver a speech, which would redound well to the audiences and reflect well on the organizers. All I recall is being bathed in sweat when I sat down.In retrospect, I see this episode as an honor. But back then, my main concern was to make my Monday morning 9 a.m. class.And yes, I did. Avraham Avi-hai was visiting professor at the University of Rochester and at York University in 1975. He was world chairman of Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal from 1978 to 1988.
