There is a difference between Begin the political speaker and Begin the lecturer. Begin’s political oratory is packed with emotion whereas the tone of his lectures is serene. There pathos enforces the power of logical argument. Here his reasoning and explanations flow gently and quietly.
Different is also his oratory in Hebrew and Yiddish from that in English or French. There he speaks in the languages of his childhood—the languages of his people—every word of which is charged with the nation’s memories, with its tears and anger. Its sorrow and joy. The Italian says: “Traduttore e traditore”, a translator is a traitor. Begin’s speeches in the languages of his people to the hearts of his people are intranslatable. Here—in French or English—he speaks in languages which he had acquired later in life and which had become the daily language of parts of our people at a late stage in our history.
Yet even when he speaks in English, even in his serene gently flowing lectures, Begin’s power and art of oratory are great and brilliant.
“Exodus—facts and fiction” was the theme of Begin’s recent lectures in this country.
In “Exodus” the Irgun Zvai Leumi is not mentioned by named. “Maccabees” is the connotation applied to them. Remarked Begin: We know of the Maccabees of our distant past, but who are the “Maccabees” who had fought in the Land of Israel between 1944 and 1948? Have you heard about them? There might be ghost writers, but there can be no ghost-fighters!
According to “Exodus” the people who joined the fighting ranks of the “Maccabees” read: Irgun Zvai Leumi—did so, not so much of idealism, but because they harbored a grudge towards the world. Does this correspond with reality—asked Begin, the man who commanded the Irgun and had sent its men into battle. The Jew who is persecuted, oppressed and beaten and does not want or cannot fight back—he naturally harbors a grudge towards the world. But not those who rose in arms, to fight back and to free and liberate the people!
Speaking about the high ethical standard which had guided the Irgun in all its activities and about the moral caliber of its soldiers, Begin declared: “In classical Greece they used to say: Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. Paraphrasing this we can say, Tell me the manner of your fighting and I will tell you what you are fighting for. This criterion may well be applied to every revolution from you until this day.”
Uris writes in his book that every action by the “Maccabees” caused a weakening of the Jewish position in the struggle for Palestine. Begin cited figures and facts, read statements and declarations by British statesmen and policy makers to show how the attacks and exploits of the Irgun had forced the British to abandon their policy and to hand the Palestine problem to the Untied Nations, which finally decided upon the establishment of a Jewish State. Exclaimed Begin: “There—in “Exodus”—you have fiction pulled out from the blued, here I present you with facts of red blood.”
Coming towards the end of his lecture Begin declared: Great was the Jewish struggle for freedom. It is in fiction. It was still greater in reality!
Begin had not only come to explain the past. His lectures were to serve the future.
He had not come to stretch forth his hand and plead: Give me a tear for Dov Gruner, a sigh for Dov Drezner and his comrades who had gone to the gallows. He had come on our behalf and for our own sake. Because woe to the people who does not honour and accord recognition to the fighters and heroes of its past; such a people does not deserve of and cannot have a great and happy future.
Jewish Press
January 20, 1961