Description:

Ben-Gurion David

Autograph Letter Signed "D. Ben-Gurion," 1 page, 4.5" x 8.25". Tel Aviv [Israel], September 2, 1965. Lightweight lined paper perforated at right margin. To "Avraham Tzivion / College / Sde Boker / Negev." In Hebrew with partial English translation. Small portion missing from upper right blank edge. Fine condition.

In part, "I was happy [to receive] your telegram informing about the beginning of the studies in the … school. Prof. Bergman contacted the manager of Mifal Ha'Payis [Israel's national lottery] (profits per year are over 50 million Israeli liras) asking him to … from the Payis monies to the college. Dr. Landau replied that according to the regulations of Mifal Ha'Payis, the organization can give money for … and for investments but not for ongoing expenses. In addition, for investments, an approval from the Ministry of Education is required … We must first get from Dr. Landau's (director of Mifal Ha'Payis) consent to allocate funds for the building…"


Robert Gamzey, author of Miracle of Israel, wrote in an article published in the May 7, 1967, edition of The Hartford Courant, about the college and the recipient of this letter, Avraham Tzivion. In part, "When David Ben Gurion, the 80-year-old George Washington of Israel, toured the United States recently on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal, he made Americans conscious of his desert kibbutz homer here at Sde Boker, and of the College of the Negev which already has 600 students … the question persisted: 'How do you inspire youth to study and settle in the desert?' Colonel Avraham Tzivion, director of the Sde Boker College, said it is being done by following Ben-Gurion's principles. 'Our teachers set the example by living with the students at our desert school, not by preaching to go to the Negev and the teachers commuting from the cities,' said Col. Tzivion, who formerly headed the Israel Army Adult Education School at Camp David Marcus in Haifa…'" Ben Gurion raised $1,200,000 for the Sde Boker Midrasha (College) in the United States through the UJA-Israel Education Fund.


Politically, Ben-Gurion, with the support of Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres, among others, were challenging the powerful Mapai Party which he had helped found. On September 2, 1965, the very day Ben-Gurion wrote this letter, a five-member court of the Mapai Party decided that Ben-Gurion and his colleagues were no longer members. The court ruled that the former Prime Minister had expelled himself by forming a separate party, the Rafi. On July 14, 1965, Ben-Gurion had led a breakaway of eight Members of the Knesset from the ruling Mapai Party including Dayan, Peres, Chaim Herzog, and Teddy Kollek. The Mapai secretariat expelled him on July 23rd and when he challenged its authority to do so, a court was set up to hear his plea. The Rafi then challenged the Mapai, led by Ben-Gurion's successor as Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol.


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