On Friday, May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion won the declaration of independence of the Jewish state. The event took place at the Tel Aviv Museum on the leafy Rothschild Boulevard, a two-story building considered less vulnerable to Egyptian aerial bombardments than the larger Van Bimah Theater down the street
." Thus ended the turbulent month between the establishment of a unified leadership for the country on the way and the solemn event in which the establishment of the State of Israel was announced. In those great days, when independence was hanging in the balance, officials and leaders of the Yishuv debated, formulated, edited and refined the wording of the scroll.
Five main drafts were written for the announcement, and many more working papers. The story of the tension that combines a racing clock, the fog of battle, and a clash of values ??designed to bring together a wall-to-wall agreement, and the plots of the last and long night in which Ben-Gurion wrote the text of the declaration, the narrator of the book is the State of Israel.
Beyond the human drama, the broad worldviews embodied in the various drafts are analyzed, the consequences intended for them and the alternative paths marked for Israel at the time of its birth, and continue to influence it to this day.
"Neil Rogchevski and Dov Ziegler wrote a rare and valuable book: the story of Israel's founding involves fascinating research and is deeply rooted in political thought. This is an instructive work that historians, philosophers, and in fact anyone who wants to understand Israel owe it to themselves."
Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University
