Ahavat Yisrael - at all costs!

The first truce during the Israeli War of Independence took place in June 1948. At that time, an Irgun ship carrying weapons and men arrived in Tel Aviv. Then Prime Minister David Ben Gurion ordered the Irgun to turn over the arms; Menachem Begin, the leader of the Irgun, refused. Under Ben Gurion`s orders, the ship was fired upon by the newly formed I.D.F. and 15 men were killed. Begin, however, refused to return fire! He was determined to prevent civil war at all costs....This love and care for the Jewish people was a constant that led Begin throughout his life.

Rabbi Noam Himelstein studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and served in the Tanks Corps of the IDF. He has taught in yeshiva high schools, post-high school women’s seminaries, and headed the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem, and lives with his wife and six children in Neve Daniel, Gush Etzion.