Israel, Founding of

Scholars differ widely as to the weight of the leader's personality in shaping historical events. Opinions range from that of the nineteenth-century Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle, who said that history is simply the biography of leaders, to the argument put forward by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who said that historical processes are deterministic and that leaders are simply borne along on the waves of history. The story of Israel's establishment is a rare example of a case in which the leader was indubitably the decisive factor in the historical event. Without the leadership of David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), the sequence of events would almost certainly have been different, and the State of Israel might never have been established.

Historical Background

“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” (Psalms 137:5 JPS). For centuries these words were uttered by Jews in their prayers in the more than seventy countries of the Diaspora. The yearning for the homeland was expressed in prayers and rituals, in the written and oral heritage. True, such themes exist in the collective consciousness of many emigrant communities, but the Jews' return to their ancient homeland more than two thousand years after they were forcibly exiled has no parallel in the history of nations. This unique historical phenomenon was made possible in large measure because of the efforts of two men. The first was Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), a Viennese Jew and one of the darlings of the western Europe intelligentsia, who reached the conclusion that the growing problem of anti-Semitism had to be solved by political measures—by the establishment of a Zionist movement that would serve as a tool for returning Jews to their historical homeland. The second was David Ben-Gurion, who fulfilled Herzl's vision fifty years after the latter's death. Herzl is seen as the prophet who predicted the rise of the State of Israel and BenGurion is regarded as the builder of the state.

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David Ben-Gurion, one of the founders of the State of Israel, planting a tree in 1963.

David Rubinger/Corbis; used with permission.

No metaphor for Ben-Gurion's leadership could be more apposite than “builder of the state.” The process of building includes designing and sketching the entire building, planning the stages of building, and executing the plan while constantly dealing with problems that arise in the process. The equivalent in terms of leadership consists of charting a clear course (derived from a vision) and motivating the people to stride resolutely along that course even if it is fraught with difficulties and dangers. In the case of Ben-Gurion, his weight was decisive both in sketching the future picture and in steering the people along the path, although many, including most of his partners in leadership, sometimes experienced moments of despair. BenGurion's leadership at those moments was the only thing that prevented the total loss of hope.