Who was David Ben-Gurion?

I miss the “old man.” Israel had one real leader from its independence in 1948, and it was David Ben-Gurion. 

Some politicians made their careers out of empty words and promises. They are masters of saying much and doing little. Few and unique are the leaders who not only have a vision for the future but also take real action to make that vision happen. 

I met Ben-Gurion as a child. Believe it or not, I even sat on his lap for a few seconds. 

My father was a close follower of the old man. I traveled with him to one of his meetings with Ben-Gurion in Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert. Maybe the fact that I was a chubby child with big eyes and huge cheeks made the Old Man talk to me for seven seconds. Since then, I have become a Ben-Gurionist. 

A life dedicated to Israel

David Green (later David Ben-Gurion) was born in Poland. At the age of 18, he moved to Warsaw, where he earned a living by teaching in a Jewish school and preparing for higher education. It was during that time that he experienced the overwhelming desire to immigrate to Israel. 

In 1906, Ben-Gurion arrived at the Jaffa coast. In Israel, he was active in the Zionist-Socialist party, which believed in the creation of a political Zionism and that all Jews should come and live in Israel. 

In 1917, he married Paulina Moonvez (1896–1968), who had come to the United States as a teenager. Ben-Gurion participated in all the important decisions of the Zionist movement, including the Biltmore Conference, which was held in New York and opened the struggle for the immediate establishment of a Jewish state.

After World War II, all zionist leaders spoke about how to fight against the British. For them, Britain was the enemy. Ben-Gurion was the only leader who saw that the greater threat was far closer to Israel’s borders. He warned of attacks by Arab countries on the Jewish state in Israel and, in his speeches, demanded that security issues be placed at the forefront of Zionism’s concerns. 

After our independence, Ben-Gurion became the first prime minister of Israel. He dedicated his life to the Zionist cause and to the construction of Israel.

Three dates—his birth, his death, and when they did Aliah — are carved into his and Pola’s tomb. The word Aliah means to go up, to climb. We in Israel use that term for every Jew who comes to live in our homeland. David Ben-Gurion always said he was born twice: first from his Mother’s womb and second when he made Aliah to Israel. 

An example in the desert

At the age of  77, Ben-Gurion retired from politics and “took” his wife Pola to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert. He understood a crucial point in Israel’s military history. Kings from the time of Judea through the Roman Empire realized that to control and defend Israel, you must control the Negev desert. 

The Negev is 50 percent of Israel and provides a buffer zone before you reach the heart of the country: Jerusalem. 

Ben-Gurion dreamed of thousands of Israelis going to the desert to make it green. Agriculture, industries, and mining minerals were part of the dream to push the population to that area. 

In an act of leadership, he and his wife moved to the Negev to help make it happen (although Pola complained about the sand in her shoes). They sought to join Kibbutz Sde Boker, though the people of the Kibbutz had to vote on whether to accept them.

Ben-Gurion explained that he could be a shoemaker in the kibbutz. Some members answered, “You can also go back and be the Prime Minister.”

It’s hard to believe how humble and simple our greatest leader’s life was, devoid of the cigars, champagne, and private planes that our prime minister enjoys today. 

How to make history

Ben-Gurion’s library included some 30,000 books. If you asked the Old Man which is the most important, he would say the BIBLE. Many of us go once a week to our bible study to search and learn deeply about THE BOOK. The Old Man did the same in his house. 

Ben-Gurion saw the Bible as the most important book not only for the Jewish people – but “for all of humanity:” a book that gave the world faith in one God alongside “high human values, values ​​of human brotherhood, values ​​of justice and equity, truth and kindness, equality of peoples and peace, which are the essence of the teachings of the prophets and the morality of Judaism.”

Israel is faced today with some of the hardest decisions since the establishment of our nation: the relationship between Orthodox Jews and the state, how to rebuild the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the war in Gaza, and the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran.

Though these dilemmas can seem recent, Israel has faced existential threats since its founding. As Israel looks to respond today, we would do well to remember David Ben-Gurion’s words: “You don’t write History; you make History.” And he looked to the Bible for guidance on how to do just that. 

Will you?