Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, together with Deputy Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana, hosted a meeting of the traditional Tanakh Circle at Ben-Gurion House in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening.
Also attending the meeting were Begin Center Deputy Director General Ariel Morali, Dr. Micha Goodman, IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Eyal Vered, Prof. Myron Isaacson, Prof. Zaki Shalom, Rabbi Avichai Katzin, Maya Ohana Moreno, Amotz Asael, Tamar Biton, attorney Yehoshua Argaman and Prof. Haviva Pedya.
After the circle meeting, Prime Minister Bennett visited the private home of the first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and his wife Paula, which has stood since 1930. During the tour, the Prime Minister took note of the thousands of books in the house.
Prime Minister Bennett at the start of the circle meeting, "Once in 2,000 years there is an opportunity to establish a Jewish state in the land of Israel and without the brave decision and restraint of Menachem Begin not to return fire in the Altalena incident, the State of Israel would not have been established."
"Even so, the establishment of the Jewish state was touch-and-go and if he had done what those around him were telling him to do – you must be strong, listen to the base, shoot back – that same historic window would have been missed. He gave us a great gift and paid a very heavy personal price: They mocked him, laughed at him and treated him with contempt. He wept in his response speech. They laughed at him and for almost 30 years he was in the opposition. It is not certain that he would have been Prime Minister at all," added Bennett.
"But without his decision there would not have been a state."
"It is indeed a great honor to continue the marvelous tradition of the Tanakh Circle. The Tanakh is the foundation of our existence. The relevance of the Tanakh is unending."
"Every Shabbat I teach my children various sections of the Tanakh and every time we go over the same section we discover new angles, as a child, as a young person, as a soldier, as an adult, as a parent, as a minister and as Prime Minister. I always learn new angles on the same section every time," the Prime Minister said.
"I asked that we focus on the issue of tribalism vs. the unity of the Jewish people. Almost all of us grew up on 'Because of baseless hatred Jerusalem was destroyed'. I admit and confess that as a child this seemed to me to be folklore, Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. They teach it to us but Jerusalem wasn't really destroyed for this. Jerusalem was destroyed because the Babylonians and the Romans conquered us. We have just entered the 75th year of the State of Israel. In another six years, with G-d's help, we will be the first Jews ever, in a sovereign and united Jewish state in the land of Israel. All of us here intend that we will be here forever as a sovereign and united state."
"The challenge is to have unity in the real world, not in words but in the real world, in the face of reality. Not a Utopian reality but a genuine reality. It is very large and it demands character and our self-control as a people, and putting the country above private desires, and even above sectoral interests. This is incredibly difficult because every side is certain that it is right but no – the country is above all. I am very moved by this special opportunity," concluded Bennett.
Ben-Gurion House in Tel Aviv Director Nelly Markman said, "Ben-Gurion House in Tel Aviv is the most fitting place for resuming the Prime Minister's Tanakh Circle. In the private home of David Ben-Gurion countless meetings of the historic Tanakh Circle were held with the participation of religious and secular, people from east and west, passers-by and statesmen, people of letters and culture sitting around a table and learning Torah together. Now more than ever, the people of Israel need to follow in the path of the first Prime Minister, a path of which the lion's share was paved in the time of the Tanakh."