Blue and White Pages 2018

“We… hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel…”

The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the State of Israel and is regarded as an expression of the nation’s vision and its central beliefs. As such, it is similar to France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Britain’s Magna Carta, and the US Declaration of Independence. Although it was composed in a time of great tension, the declaration is succinct, written in expressive but not flowery language. While it conveys the spirit of those dramatic days, it also addresses itself effectively to the future. Because there was no time to spare, the Declaration was read from a mimeographed sheet, and the 37 signatories – members of the Provisional Council of State – signed their names to a blank parchment sheet. The official copy of the Declaration was later inscribed by an artist. It was laid out in the form of a scroll and placed in a silver case.

The scroll is composed of three parts. The two upper sections are made of parchment-like paper, while the lower section, containing the signatures, is made of real parchment. The three parts were treated and made to look identical. It is sealed with wax and a cotton tassel attached. The Declaration of Independence is kept under special conditions at the Israel State Archives, and is being shown here to the public for the first time in many years.

For a French translation of Israel’s Declaration of Independence Here

Arrangements to the Declaration

The Declaration of Independence was a courageous move, considering the tensions regarding the decision at the time. The Provisional government sent a secret invitation only to a limited number of members on 13.05.1948 asking them to keep the details of the invitation a secret.

Invitation to the session of the State Declaration

However, on Friday, May 14, 1948 at 4 PM – eight hours before the official end of the British Mandate – David Ben Gurion read out Israel’s Declaration of Independence at a moving ceremony at the Tel Aviv Museum. Although only a limited number of people attended the event, it was broadcast live on the radio, and was thus imprinted on the collective memory of the nation.

A crowd surrounds David Ben-Gurion’s car after the declaration of the State of Israel, 1948, Benno Rothenberg

A crowd surrounds David Ben-Gurion’s car after the declaration of the State of Israel, 1948, Benno Rothenberg

Signatories of the Declaration of Independence

Daniel Auster, David Ben-Gurion, Yizhak Ben-Zvi, Eliyahu Berligne, Peretz Bernstein, Wolf Gold, Meir Argov (Grabovsky), Yitzhak Gruenbaum, Avraham Granot, Eliyahu Dobkin, Meir Vilner, Zerach Warhaftig, Herzl Rosenblum (Vardi), Rachel Cohen-Kagan, Kalman Kahana,  Saadia Kobashi, Yitzhak-Meir Levin, Meir David Loewenstein, Zvi Lurie, Golda Meir, Nahum Nir-Rafalkes, Zvi Segal, Yehuda Leib Maimon, David-Zvi Pinkas, Aharon Zisling, Moshe Kol, Eliezer Kaplan, Avraham Katznelson, , Pinchas Rosen( Felix Rosenbluth), David Remez, Berl Repetur, Mordechai Shatner, Ben-Zion Sternberg, Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, Moshe Shapira, Moshe Sharett.

Rabbi Fishman Maimon signs the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, 1948, Beno Rothenberg

Additional photos of the signers of the Declaration are available Here

The first President of Israel: Dr. Chaim Weizmann absent signature

Dr. Chaim Weizmann did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he was not in Israel at the time. Years later, Weizmann absent signature was felt, and attempts were made to integrate his signature into the declaration. Unfortunately the attempt failed, including the following proclamation published by President Shazar on the activities of Dr. Weizmann.

Read more about the attempts described in the “Declaration of Independence” file.

Proclamation published by President Shazar on the activities of Dr. Weizmann.

Interviews with the signatories of the Declaration of Independence

A few months after the declaration of independence, an independent journalist, Eliezer  Whartman, conducted interviews with the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. The interviews were conducted in the form of questions and answers, in which the interviewees describe where they were at the time of the UN’s declaration, their role in the Provisional Government and more. Eliezer Whartman gave the interviewees the final transcrips for comments, and later transferred them to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s office. Later on, the interviews were deposited in the State Archives, including additional recordings. Eliezer Whartman died on 08/05/2017.

Questionnaire of the Interviews with Signatories of the Declaration

Part of an interview with David Ben-Gurion regarding the Declaration of Independence, 1961

For more interviews, examine the file Abstracts of Intreviews’ with Signatories of the Decleration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

For all the files and interviews conducted by Eliezer Whartman Here

Silver storage case for the Declaration of Independence

About a year after the Declaration of Independence, the question of proper storage facilities for the scroll was addressed. Government Secretary Ze’ev Sharef asked for the assistance of the Bezalel Academy, regarded as the country’s foremost art school. The Bezalel administration gave the job to one of the academy’s instructors, master silversmith David Heinz Gumbel. Gumbel submitted a draft design for a silver case, which was approved by the prime minister. In early December, 1949, the case was presented to the government secretariat, which entrusted it to the Israel State Archives. Along with the Declaration of Independence, the silver case was first displayed to the general public at an exhibition of the State Archives on Independence Day, 1950.

The original silver case is kept in the State Archives, but additional copies may exist, like the following one:

A copy of the silver case of the Declaration of Independence, designed by David Heinz Gumbel (from a private collection not in the State Archives)

The original silver case kept in the State Archives

Drafts of the Declaration of Independence

Mentioning God’s name in the Declaration

Disagreements arose among the members of the drafting committee on the issue of whether to mention the “God of Israel” and the “Torah of Israel” in the text of the declaration. Representatives of the religious parties who made this demand encountered opposition from the left-wing parties, who viewed the inclusion of such terms as religious coercion. The notes before us, written prior to the declaration by David Zvi Pinkas, one of the representatives of the “Mizrachi” in the People’s committee, illustrate the dilemma in choosing the appropriate terms that will be agreed upon by all parties. In the end, it was decided to use the words “placing our trust in the ‘Rock of Israel’” – a phrase which could conform with religious principles without being seen as religious coercion. At the time of the signing of the document, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman prefaced his signature with the Hebrew letters bet, ayin, zayin, hey, yud, initials which stand for “with the help of God, blessed be He.”

Notes and drafts of the Declaration of Independence, written during the final stages of composing the document

The final version of the Declaration of Independence was preceded by several drafts. The proposal shown below was prepared by attorney Zvi Berenson, at the request of Felix Rosenblueth (later Pinhas Rosen), the head of the Legal Department of the People’s Administration (which became the Provisional Government). Zalman Shazar, later the president of Israel, also took part in the drafting. According to Berenson’s own account, he was given only 48 hours for this task. He chose to aim for a concise version which would include a statement of the Jewish people’s historical claim to the Land of Israel and set out the fundamental principles which would govern the new State and its main institutions. Since a final decision had not been made yet on the actual name of the state, a blank space was left in place of the name to be declared.

A committee of the People’s Administration, headed by Moshe Shertok (later Sharett) was set up to prepare another draft of the Declaration. This version was written by Shertok, on the basis of Berenson’s proposal and an earlier draft by Shazar. The final version was the work of David Ben-Gurion himself.

Proposal for the Declaration of Independence, Tel Aviv, May 9, 1948

The Final Discussions

On 13:50 Friday afternoon, 14th of may, at the JNF House in Tel Aviv, the Chairman of the People’s Council, David Ben-Gurion, presented the final Declaration for approval:

Protocol of the third People’s Councle Meeting, May 14, 1948 13:50 Page 2

Proclamation

The many legal hearings that took place in the provisinal government on the eve of the declaration of the state focused on the legal framework that would exist in the newborn state. As a result of these discussions, it was decided to publish, at the same time as the declaration, a Proclamation setting out the most basic arrangements regarding legislation in the country.

State Proclamation No. 1 is a legal addendum to the Declaration of Independence that was also read out by Ben-Gurion during the ceremony on 14 May 1948, (Including corrections by David Zvi Pinkas in handwriting.)

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