Editing David Ben-Gurion (section)

== Views and opinions ==
[[File:DAVID BEN GURION SPEAKING AT THE CORNERSTONE LAYING CEREMONY FOR THE HISTADRUT BUILDING IN JERUSALEM. דוד בן גוריון נושא דברים בטקס הנחת אבן פינה לבני.jpg|thumb|right|Ben Gurion speaking at the cornerstone laying ceremony for [[Histadrut]] building in Jerusalem, 1924]]
=== Leninist views ===
According to his biographer [[Tom Segev]], Ben-Gurion deeply admired [[Lenin]] and intended to be a 'Zionist Lenin'.<ref>On his return from Moscow in 1922 he outlined what he admired in Lenin: "A man who disdains all obstacles, faithful to his goal, who knows no concessions or discounts, the extreme of extremes; who knows how to crawl on his belly in the utter depths in order to reach his goal; a man of iron will who does not spare human life and the blood of innocent children for the sake of the revolution ... he is not afraid of rejecting today what he required yesterday, and requiring tomorrow what he rejected today; he will not be caught in the net of platitude, or in the trap of dogma; for the naked reality, the cruel truth and the reality of power relations will be before his sharp and clear eyes ... the single goal, burning with red flame—the goal of the great revolution." [[Tom Segev]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=eb9uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT108 ''A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion''], [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]], {{isbn|978-1-429-95184-5}}. p. 182.</ref><ref>Assaf Sharon, [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/11/04/david-ben-gurion-obstinate-little-man/ "This Obstinate Little Man"], ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', 4 November 2021. p. 45.</ref> In ''Ben-Gurion: A Political Life'' by [[Shimon Peres]] and [[David Landau (journalist)|David Landau]], Peres recalls his first meeting with Ben-Gurion as a young activist in the [[HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed|No'ar Ha'Oved youth movement]]. Ben-Gurion gave him a lift, and out of the blue told him why he preferred Lenin to [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]]: "Lenin was Trotsky's inferior in terms of intellect", but Lenin, unlike Trotsky, "was decisive". When confronted with a dilemma, Trotsky would do what Ben-Gurion despised about the old-style diaspora Jews: he manoeuvred; as opposed to Lenin, who would cut the [[Gordian knot]], accepting losses while focusing on the essentials. In Peres' opinion, the essence of Ben-Gurion's life work were "the decisions he made at critical junctures in Israel's history", and none was as important as the acceptance of the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|1947 partition plan]], a painful compromise which gave the emerging Jewish state little more than a fighting chance, but which, according to Peres, enabled the establishment of the State of Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/147083/secrets-of-ben-gurions-leadership/?p=all |title=Secrets of Ben-Gurion's Leadership |date=5 December 2011 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=17 May 2015}}</ref>

===1937 letter===
{{Main|1937 Ben-Gurion letter}}

The 1937 Ben-Gurion letter was written when he was head of the executive committee of the [[Jewish Agency]], to his son Amos on 5 October 1937. The letter is well known to scholars{{sfn|JPS|2012}} as it provides insight into Ben-Gurion's reaction to the report of the [[Peel Commission]] released on 7 July of the same year. It has also been subject to significant debate by scholars as a result of scribbled-out text that may or may not provide written evidence of an intention to "expel the Arabs" or "not expel the Arabs" depending on one's interpretation of whether such deletion was intended by Ben-Gurion.<ref>{{cite journal|title=JPS Responds to CAMERA's Call for Accuracy: Ben-Gurion and the Arab Transfer|last=JPS|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=41|number=2|year=2012|pages=245–250|publisher=University of California Press|jstor=10.1525/jps.2012.XLI.2.245|doi=10.1525/jps.2012.xli.2.245| issn=0377-919X}}</ref>

===Role in 1948 exodus of Palestinians===
{{Main|Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus#Planning by Ben-Gurion}}

Israeli historian [[Benny Morris]] wrote that the idea of expulsion of Palestinian Arabs was endorsed in practice by mainstream Zionist leaders, particularly Ben-Gurion. He did not give clear or written orders in that regard, but Morris claims that Ben-Gurion's subordinates understood his policy well:<ref name="MorrisMorris2004">{{cite book|author1=Research Fellow Truman Institute Benny Morris|author2=Benny Morris|author3=Morris Benny|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA597|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6|pages=597–|quote=But no expulsion policy was ever enunciated and Ben-Gurion always refrained from issuing clear or written expulsion orders; he preferred that his generals 'understand' what he wanted. He probably wished to avoid going down in history as the 'great expeller' and he did not want his government to be blamed for a morally questionable policy.}}</ref>

{{cquote|From April 1948, Ben-Gurion is projecting a message of transfer. There is no explicit order of his in writing, there is no orderly comprehensive policy, but there is an atmosphere of [population] transfer. The transfer idea is in the air. The entire leadership understands that this is the idea. The officer corps understands what is required of them. Under Ben-Gurion, a consensus of transfer is created.<ref name = "Morris-20080108">{{Cite web |url=http://www.logosjournal.com/morris.htm |title=Morris in an interview with ''Haaretz'', 8 January 2004 |access-date=20 July 2007 |archive-date=4 April 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404115018/http://www.logosjournal.com/morris.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

=== Views on Arab relations and coexistence ===

Ben-Gurion published two volumes setting out his views on relations between Zionists and the Arab world: ''We and Our Neighbors'', published in 1931, and ''My Talks with Arab Leaders'' published in 1967. Ben-Gurion believed in the equal rights of Arabs who remained in and would become citizens of Israel. He was quoted as saying, "We must start working in Jaffa. Jaffa must employ Arab workers. And there is a question of their wages. I believe that they should receive the same wage as a Jewish worker. An Arab has also the right to be elected president of the state, should he be elected by all."<ref>Efraim Karsh, "Fabricating Israeli history: the 'new historians'", Edition 2, Routledge, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-7146-5011-1}}, p. 213.</ref>

Ben-Gurion recognised the strong attachment of [[Palestinian Arabs]] to the land. In an address to the United Nations on 2 October 1947, he doubted the likelihood of peace:

<blockquote>This is our native land; it is not as birds of passage that we return to it. But it is situated in an area engulfed by Arabic-speaking people, mainly followers of Islam. Now, if ever, we must do more than make peace with them; we must achieve collaboration and alliance on equal terms. Remember what Arab delegations from Palestine and its neighbors say in the General Assembly and in other places: talk of Arab-Jewish amity sound fantastic, for the Arabs do not wish it, they will not sit at the same table with us, they want to treat us as they do the Jews of Bagdad, Cairo, and Damascus.<ref>David Ben-Gurion, statement to the Assembly of Palestine Jewry, 2 October 1947</ref></blockquote>

[[Nahum Goldmann]] criticised Ben-Gurion for what he viewed as a confrontational approach to the Arab world. Goldmann wrote, "Ben-Gurion is the man principally responsible for the anti-Arab policy, because it was he who molded the thinking of generations of Israelis."<ref name=Goldman>Nahum Goldmann, ''The Jewish Paradox'' A Personal Memoir, translated by Steve Cox, 1978, {{ISBN|978-0-448-15166-3}}, pp. 98, 99, 100</ref> [[Simha Flapan]] quoted Ben-Gurion as stating in 1938: "I believe in our power, in our power which will grow, and if it will grow agreement will come..."<ref>Simha Flapan, ''Zionism and the Palestinians'', 1979, {{ISBN|978-0-85664-499-3}}, pp. 142–144</ref>

Goldmann reported that Ben Gurion had told him in private in 1956:<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Jewish Paradox |last=Goldmann |first=Nahum |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |year=1978 |isbn=0-297-77494-8 |location=London |language=en |url=https://archive.org/details/jewishparadox0000gold/page/99/mode/1up?q=%22Why+should+the+Arabs+make+peace%3F%22|access-date=30 December 2023 |translator-last=Cox |translator-first=Steve | page=99}}</ref>

{{Cquote|Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?}}

In 1909, Ben-Gurion attempted to learn Arabic but gave up. He later became fluent in [[Turkish language|Turkish]]. The only other languages he was able to use when in discussions with Arab leaders were English, and to a lesser extent, French.<ref>Teveth, Shabtai (1985) ''Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs. From Peace to War.'' Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-503562-9}}. p. 118.</ref>

=== Stances on British rule ===
The British [[White Paper of 1939|1939 White paper]] stipulated that Jewish immigration to Palestine was to be limited to 15,000 a year for the first five years, and would subsequently be contingent on Arab consent. Restrictions were also placed on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs. After this Ben-Gurion changed his policy towards the British, stating: "Peace in Palestine is not the best situation for thwarting the policy of the White Paper".<ref>[[Shabtai Teveth]], 1985, ''Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs'', p. 199</ref> Ben-Gurion believed a peaceful solution with the Arabs had no chance and soon began preparing the [[Yishuv]] for war. According to Teveth "through his campaign to mobilize the Yishuv in support of the British war effort, he strove to build the nucleus of a 'Hebrew Army', and his success in this endeavor later brought victory to Zionism in the struggle to establish a Jewish state."<ref>S. Teveth, 1985, ''Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs'', p. 200</ref>

During the Second World War, Ben-Gurion encouraged the [[Yishuv|Jewish population]] to volunteer for the [[British Army]]. He famously told Jews to "support the British as if there is no White Paper and oppose the White Paper as if there is no war".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bgarchives.bgu.ac.il/moreshet/ben_gurion/horshi.html |title=Ben-Gurion's road to the State |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060215143209/http://bgarchives.bgu.ac.il/moreshet/ben_gurion/horshi.html |archive-date=15 February 2006 |publisher=Ben-Gurion Archives|language=he}}</ref> About 10% of the Jewish population of Palestine volunteered for the British Armed Forces, including many women. At the same time Ben-Gurion assisted the illegal immigration of thousands of European Jewish refugees to Palestine during a period when the British placed heavy restrictions on Jewish immigration.

In 1944, the [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], two Jewish right-wing armed groups, declared [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|a rebellion]] against British rule and began attacking British administrative and police targets. Ben-Gurion and other mainstream Zionist leaders opposed armed action against the British, and after Lehi assassinated [[Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]], the British Minister of State in the Middle East, decided to stop it by force. While Lehi was convinced to suspend operations, the Irgun refused and as a result, the [[Haganah]] began supplying intelligence to the British enabling them to arrest Irgun members, and abducting and often torturing Irgun members, handing some over to the British while keeping others detained in secret Haganah prisons. This campaign, which was called the [[The Saison|Saison]] or "Hunting Season", left the Irgun unable to continue operations as they struggled to survive. Irgun leader [[Menachem Begin]] ordered his fighters not to retaliate so as to prevent a civil war. The Saison became increasingly controversial in the Yishuv, including within the ranks of the Haganah, and it was aborted at the end of March 1945.<ref name=Hoffman>[[Bruce Hoffman|Hoffman, Bruce]]: ''Anonymous Soldiers'' (2015)</ref><ref name=Bell>[[J. Bowyer Bell|Bell, Bowyer J.]]: ''Terror out of Zion'' (1976)</ref>

At the end of World War II, the Zionist leadership in Palestine had expected a British decision to establish a Jewish state. However, it became clear that the British had no intention of immediately establishing a Jewish state and that limits on Jewish immigration would remain for the time being. As a result, with Ben-Gurion's approval the Haganah entered into a secret alliance with the Irgun and Lehi called the [[Jewish Resistance Movement]] in October 1945 and participated in attacks against the British. In June 1946, the British launched [[Operation Agatha]], a large police and military operation throughout Palestine, searching for arms and arresting Jewish leaders and Haganah members in order to stop the attacks and find documentary evidence of the alliance the British suspected existed between the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi. The British had intended to detain Ben-Gurion during the operation but he was visiting Paris at the time. The British stored the documents they had captured from the Jewish Agency headquarters in the [[King David Hotel]], which was being used as a military and administrative headquarters. Ben-Gurion agreed to the Irgun's plan to bomb the King David Hotel in order to destroy incriminating documents that Ben-Gurion feared would prove that the Haganah had been participating in the violent insurrection against the British in cooperation with the Irgun and Lehi with the approval of himself and other Jewish Agency officials. However, Ben-Gurion asked that the operation be delayed, but the Irgun refused. The Irgun carried out the [[King David Hotel bombing]] in July 1946, killing 91 people. Ben-Gurion publicly condemned the bombing. In the aftermath of the bombing, Ben-Gurion ordered that the Jewish Resistance Movement be dissolved. From then on, the Irgun and Lehi continued to regularly attack the British, but the Haganah rarely did so, and while Ben-Gurion along with other mainstream Zionist leaders publicly condemned the Irgun and Lehi attacks, in practice the Haganah under their direction rarely cooperated with the British in attempting to suppress the insurgency.<ref name=Hoffman/><ref name=Bell/><ref>[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], ''A History of the Jews'', p. 523.</ref>

Due to the Jewish insurgency, bad publicity over the restriction of Jewish immigrants to Palestine, non-acceptance of a partitioned state (as suggested by the United Nations) amongst Arab leaders, and the cost of keeping 100,000 troops in Palestine the British Government referred the matter to the United Nations. In September 1947, the British decided to terminate the Mandate. In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution approving the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]]. While the Jewish Agency under Ben-Gurion accepted, the Arabs rejected the plan and the [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine]] broke out. Ben-Gurion's strategy was for the Haganah to hold on to every position with no retreat or surrender and then launch an offensive when British forces had evacuated to such an extent that there would be no more danger of British intervention. This strategy was successful, and by May 1948 Jewish forces were winning the civil war. On 14 May 1948, a few hours before the British Mandate officially terminated, Ben-Gurion [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|declared Israeli independence]] in a ceremony in Tel Aviv. A few hours later, the State of Israel officially came into being when the British Mandate terminated on 15 May. The [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] began immediately afterwards as numerous Arab nations then invaded Israel.<ref name=Bell/>

=== Attitude towards conquering the West Bank ===
[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Life of Lt. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, 7th IDF Chief of Staff in photos (17).jpg|thumb|David Ben-Gurion with [[Yigal Allon]] and [[Yitzhak Rabin]] in the [[Negev]], during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]]]

After the ten-day campaign during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948 war]], the Israelis were militarily superior to their enemies and the Cabinet subsequently considered where and when to attack next.<ref name="BM315">Benny Morris (2008), pp. 315–316.</ref> On 24 September, an incursion made by the Palestinian irregulars in the Latrun sector, killing 23 Israeli soldiers, precipitated the debate. On 26 September, Ben-Gurion put his argument to the Cabinet to attack Latrun again and conquer the whole or a large part of West Bank.<ref name="autogenerated1967">Benny Morris (2008), p. 317.</ref><ref>Uri Ben-Eliezer, ''The Making of Israeli Militarism'', Indiana University Press, 1998, p. 185 writes: "Ben-Gurion describes to the Minister his plans to conquer the entire West Bank, involving warfare against entire Jordan's Arab Legion, but to his surprise the ministers rejected his proposal."</ref><ref name="BG-latrun"/><ref name="Benny Morris 2008, p. 318">Benny Morris (2008), p. 318.</ref> The motion was rejected by a vote of seven to five after discussions.<ref name="Benny Morris 2008, p. 318"/> Ben-Gurion qualified the cabinet's decision as {{transliteration|he|bechiya ledorot}} ("a source of lament for generations") considering Israel may have lost forever the Old City of Jerusalem.<ref>Mordechai Bar-On, ''Never-Ending Conflict: Israeli Military History'', Stackpole Books, 2006, p. 60 writes: "Originally, this was an idiom that Ben-Gurion used after the government rejected his demand to attack the Legion and occupy Samaria in the wake of a Mujuhidin's attack near Latrun in September 1948."</ref><ref>Yoav Gelber, ''Israeli-Jordanian Dialogue, 1948–1953'', Sussex Academic Press, 2004, p. 2.</ref><ref name="autogenerated1968">Benny Morris (2008), pp. 315.</ref>

There is a controversy around these events. According to Uri Bar-Joseph, Ben-Gurion placed a plan that called for a limited action aimed at the conquest of Latrun, and not for an all-out offensive. According to David Tal, in the cabinet meeting, Ben-Gurion reacted to what he had been just told by a delegation from Jerusalem. He points out that this view that Ben-Gurion had planned to conquer the West Bank is unsubstantiated in both Ben-Gurion's diary and in the Cabinet protocol.<ref name="Shalom2002p155"/><ref name="Shalom2002p160"/><ref name="Tal2004p406"/><ref name="Bar-Joseph2013p115"/>

The topic came back at the end of the 1948 war, when General Yigal Allon also proposed the conquest of the West Bank up to the Jordan River as the natural, defensible border of the state. This time, Ben-Gurion refused although he was aware that the IDF was militarily strong enough to carry out the conquest. He feared the reaction of Western powers and wanted to maintain good relations with the United States and not to provoke the British. Moreover, in his opinion the results of the war were already satisfactory and Israeli leaders had to focus on the building of a nation.<ref name="Shapira2014p173"/><ref name="Morris2009p79"/><ref name="Shalom2002p174"/>

According to Benny Morris, "Ben-Gurion got cold feet during the war. ... If [he] had carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country -the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan River. It may yet turn out that this was his fatal mistake. If he had carried out a full expulsion rather than a partial one- he would have stabilized the State of Israel for generations."<ref>Ari Shavit, ''Survival of the fittest : An Interview with Benny Morris'', Ha'aretz Friday Magazine, 9 January 2004.</ref>

=== Religious parties and status quo ===
In order to prevent the coalescence of the religious right, the Histadrut agreed to a vague status quo agreement with [[Mizrachi (political party)|Mizrahi]] in 1935.

Ben-Gurion was aware that world Jewry could and would only feel comfortable to throw their support behind the nascent state if it was shrouded with religious mystique. That would include an orthodox tacit acquiescence to the entity. Therefore, in September 1947 Ben-Gurion decided to reach a formal [[Status quo (Israel)|status quo agreement]] with the Orthodox [[Agudat Yisrael]] party. He sent a letter to Agudat Yisrael stating that while being committed to establishing a non-[[theocracy|theocratic]] state with freedom of religion, he promised that the [[Shabbat]] would be Israel's official day of rest, that in state-provided kitchens there would be access to [[Kashrut|kosher]] food, that every effort would be made to provide a single jurisdiction for Jewish family affairs, and that each sector would be granted autonomy in the sphere of education, provided minimum standards regarding the curriculum be observed.<ref>[http://w3.kfar-olami.org.il/asaf/pedagogical/ezrahut/status.doc The Status Quo Letter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716140145/http://w3.kfar-olami.org.il/asaf/pedagogical/ezrahut/status.doc |date=16 July 2011 }}, in Hebrew</ref> To a large extent this agreement provided the framework for religious affairs in Israel till the present day, and is often used as a benchmark regarding the arrangement of religious affairs in Israel.

=== Religious belief ===
Ben-Gurion described himself as an [[irreligious]] person who developed [[atheism]] in his youth and who demonstrated no great sympathy for the elements of traditional Judaism, though he quoted the Bible extensively in his speeches and writings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/biography-david-ben-gurion/5810.aspx|title=Biography: David Ben-Gurion: For the Love of Zion|website=vision.org|access-date=31 August 2018}}</ref> Modern Orthodox philosopher [[Yeshayahu Leibowitz]] considered Ben-Gurion "to have hated Judaism more than any other man he had met".<ref name="CmPrior2012">{{cite book|author1=Michael Prior|title=Zionism and the State of Israel: A Moral Inquiry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg_9qEmkISsC&pg=PT293|access-date=20 May 2013|date=12 November 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-62877-3|pages=293–}}</ref> He was proud of the fact that he had only set foot in a synagogue once in Israel,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Zvi Zameret|author2= Moshe Tlamim |year=1999 |title= Judaism in Israel: Ben-Gurion's Private Beliefs and Public Policy  |publisher= Indiana University Press|journal= Israel Studies|volume= 4. Fall, 1999|issue=2|pages=64–89|jstor= 30245511 |quote="He prided himself on not having set foot inside a synagogue in Eretz Israel, except on one occasion: "Only once did I go inside, when independence was declared, at the request of Rabbi Bar-Ilan of the Mizrachi Party. However, he added, when abroad he enjoyed attending synagogue on Sabbath. Away from Israel his tastes changed: he viewed the synagogue as a natural meeting place for Jewish brethren, a kind of community center."}}</ref> worked on [[Yom Kippur]] and ate pork.<ref name="Segev2019"/> 

In later time, Ben-Gurion refused to define himself as "secular", and he regarded himself a believer in God. In a 1970 interview, he described himself as a [[pantheism|pantheist]], and stated that "I don't know if there's an afterlife. I think there is."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kinsolving |first1=Lester |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19700131&id=n8tNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7266,3292043&hl=en |title=An Interview with David Ben Gurion |newspaper=The Free Lance-Star |date=21 January 1970 |via=Google News |access-date=31 August 2018}}</ref> In 1969 he combined his Zionism with a moderate religious view: "In 1948 the establishment of a Hebrew state and the independence of Israel were declared, because our people were sure that their prayer would be answered if they would return to the land".<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Ben-Gurion | first1 = David | title = Ben-Gurion looks at the Bible | publisher= [[W. H. Allen %26 Co.|W. H. Allen]] (translated by Kolatch, Jonathan from "Iyunim BaTanach" (Original Hebrew edition, 1969)) | date = 1972  | isbn=0491-00603-9| page = 289 }}</ref> During an interview with the leftist weekly ''Hotam'' two years before his death, he revealed, "I too have a deep faith in the Almighty. I believe in one God, the omnipotent Creator. My consciousness is aware of the existence of material and spirit ... [But] I cannot understand how order reigns in nature, in the world and universe{{Emdash}}unless there exists a superior force. This supreme Creator is beyond my comprehension . . . but it directs everything."<ref name="muse.jhu.edu">{{cite journal|title=Judaism in Israel: Ben-Gurion's Private Beliefs and Public Policy|first1=Tsevi|last1=Tsameret|first2=Moshe|last2=Tlamim|date=1 July 1999|journal=Israel Studies|volume=4|issue=2|pages=64–89|doi=10.1353/is.1999.0016|s2cid=144777972}}</ref>

In a letter to the writer Eliezer Steinman, he wrote "Today, more than ever, the 'religious' tend to relegate Judaism to observing dietary laws and preserving the Sabbath. This is considered religious reform. I prefer the Fifteenth Psalm, lovely are the psalms of Israel. The Shulchan Aruch is a product of our nation's life in the Exile. It was produced in the Exile, in conditions of Exile. A nation in the process of fulfilling its every task, physically and spiritually ... must compose a 'New Shulchan'—and our nation's intellectuals are required, in my opinion, to fulfill their responsibility in this."<ref name="muse.jhu.edu"/>