Menachem Begin – a Life:

The second day of the Hebrew month of Adar II marks the 20th yahrzeit of Menachem Begin z”l, Israel’s sixth prime minister, who died on March 9, 1992. Begin dedicated his life to serving the Jewish people — twice reaching the pinnacle of his ambitions – first as the commander of the Irgun Zvai Leumi (IZL) before the establishment of the State, and then as prime minister of the State of Israel. Here is a look at a timeline of his life – culled from information provided by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.

SEPTEMBER 1940 – Begin is arrested in Vilnius (Vilna)

AUGUST 16, 1913 (13 Av 5673) – Born in Brest-Litovsk – then Brisk — Lithuania
JANUARY 1939 – Begin becomes head of Betar in Poland
MAY 29, 1939 – Begin marries Aliza (Ala) Arnold
SEPTEMBER 1940 – Begin is arrested in Vilnius (Vilna) by the Soviet NKVD – the secret police
MARCH 1941 – Begin is found guilty of acting against the Soviet regime and sentenced to hard labor at a labor camp.
APRIL 1942 – Arrives in Palestine as a soldier of the Free Polish Army. He serves in the Polish army for about a year and a half with the rank of corporal.
DECEMBER 1943 – Begin is released from the Polish army and becomes commander of the Irgun Zvai Leumi.
FEBRUARY 1944 – The Irgun issues a “Declaration of Revolt” against the British Mandate.
NOVEMBER 1945 – The three underground organizations (Hagana, Irgun, Lechi) join forces.
MAY 14, 1948 – The British end their Mandate over Palestine and the State of Israel is established. The next day, Israel is attacked by its Arab neighbors.
JUNE 1948 – In the days before a signed agreement to absorb the Irgun into the newly formed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) takes effect, a violent confrontation that became known as “The Altalena Affair” takes place between the IDF and the Irgun, involving an Irgun cargo ship carrying a cache of weapons and fighters.
AUGUST 1948 – Begin leaves the underground and starts the political chapter of his life. He founds a new political party called Herut.
JANUARY 1949 – Begin is elected to the Founding Assembly
JANUARY 1952 – Begin campaigns against the reparations agreement with West Germany.
APRIL 1965 – Gahal (the bloc of the Herut and Liberal parties) is formed
JUNE 1967 – Begin is sworn in as Minister-without-portfolio in the National Unity Cabinet
AUGUST 1970 – Begin resigns from the government on a matter of principle: his refusal to accept the Rogers Plan, which includes a commitment to withdraw from Judea and Samaria.
SEPTEMBER 1973 – Gahal is expanded to form a larger camp, the Likud, in which “the followers of both Jabotinsky and Ben-Gurion had joined forces together.”
MAY 1977 – The Likud party is victorious in the election campaign of the Ninth Knesset and, just short of his 64th birthday, Menachem Begin becomes the country’s sixth prime minister.
NOVEMBER 1977 – Begin welcomes Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem. In five private talks held during the two days of the historic visit, the two leaders and both agree to “No more war.”
SEPTEMBER 1978 – The Camp David Accords – the framework for the peace treaty later signed between Israel and Egypt – are signed.  These agreements include a promise by Israel to withdraw from the entire Sinai Peninsula.
DECEMBER 1978 – Begin and Sadat receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
MARCH 1979 – Begin and Sadat sign the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt on the White House lawn — the first such treaty ever signed between Israel and an Arab country.
OCTOBER 1981 – Anwar Sadat is assassinated.
JUNE 1981 – Begin gives the Israeli Air Force the order to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor near Baghdad
JUNE 1981 – Likud wins the election campaign of the Tenth Knesset
JUNE 1982 – As the terrorists stationed in Southern Lebanon escalate their attacks on Israel’s northern settlements, and in the wake of the attempted assassination of Israel’s ambassador in London, Begin gives order for the IDF to launch “Operation Peace for the Galilee.” The campaign drags on for many months.
SEPTEMBER 1983 – In the aftermath of Operation Peace for the Galilee, the large number of Israeli casualties and the massacre of Palestinian refugees by Christian phalanges in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps torment the prime minister. The Kahan commission report into the massacre (“We are unable to accept [Begin’s] explanation that he was entirely unaware of the danger of a massacre”), the death of his wife, Aliza, in1982, and his own failing health lead Begin to announce his resignation. He spends his final years in sad seclusion.
MARCH 9, 1992 – Menachem Begin died just before dawn on 2 Adar II 5752 at the age of 78. In accordance with his wishes, he was not given an official state funeral, instead laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in a simple, dignified Jewish ceremony without eulogies, wreaths or foreign dignitaries. Tens of thousands filed passed the fresh grave to pay their last respects to a beloved leader, the sixth prime minister of the State of Israel, a Jewish commander, soldier and statesman of the generation of Holocaust and rebirth.

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Menachem Begin, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, December 10, 1978

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“I have come from the Land of Israel, the land of Zion and Jerusalem, and here I stand in humility and with pride as a son of the Jewish people, as one of the generation of Holocaust and Redemption.
“The ancient Jewish people gave the world the vision of eternal peace, of universal disarmament, of abolishing the teaching and learning of war. Two Prophets, Yeshayahu
Ben Amotz and Micha HaMorashti, having foreseen the spiritual unity of man under God – with His word coming forth from Jerusalem – gave the nations of the world the
following vision expressed in identical terms:
“‘And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.’”
–Menachem Begin, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, December 10, 1978

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Menachem Begin Heritage Center

About the Menachem Begin Heritage Center

The Menachem Begin Heritage Center is the national commemoration project of one of the greatest leaders of the Jewish people in the twentieth century. The Center houses a museum, research institute, archives and a library, and hosts conferences, educational programs and more. Open to the public, the Center is located on Ketef Hinnom, overlooking Mt. Zion and the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
For more information visit www.begincenter.org.il