Learn more about the new documentary UPHEAVAL: The Journey of Menachem Begin, "the bold and compelling portrait" of one of Israel's greatest political leaders
Lessons in Leadership
from Menachem begin
Survivor. Prime Minister. Nobel Peace Laureate.
PM Menachem Begin addressing the audience attending the mass rally held in Ariel on Independence Day, 1981. (Saar Yaakov/GPO archive)
Menachem Begin survived the Holocaust and a Siberian labor camp to become the leader of the Jewish underground before Israel's independence, the head of the major opposition party in Israel for three consecutive decades, and in the greatest political upset in Israeli history, the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. In 1978, Begin shared the Nobel Peace Prize for securing the first peace treaty that Israel signed with its Arab neighbors.
Menachem Begin has much to teach us—about Israel, about Jewish peoplehood, and about strong, ethical leadership in the face of violence and insurmountable odds. More than ever, with the real and rising threat of antisemitism in the US and around the world, there has never been a more relevant time to study and share the legacy of a man who never compromised when the dignity of the Jewish people was at stake.
Honorable Joseph Lieberman
Former US Senator
Last year, a young woman got up at a conference and said what bothers her most is the number of Jewish students on campus who don’t care. And I said, “Why do you think that is?” She replied: “I don’t think they understand or know about Jewish history – they know there was a Holocaust but, honestly, they don’t know about anything else.” We have to find a way to teach them. And I can’t think of a better way than for there to be a first-rate documentary about a principled and courageous Zionist, named Menachem Begin, that can be shown on college campuses.
Malcolm Hoenlein
Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents
Menachem Begin’s story is a very important guide for us in meeting the challenges we face today. The strongest weapon we have, as Begin kept saying, is achdut – the unity of the Jewish people. He demanded it of everybody
by his own example... For him what was important is what history would say – that he protected the Jewish people
and the Jewish State.
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Shearith Israel Congregation
How can we as Jews, wherever we live, remain loyal to the values and the ideals of those who came before to whom we owe so much as we fight to preserve the Jewish future? By learning from Menachem Begin.
Begin loved his fellow Jews, did not fear the gentiles, always, always bore the yoke of his childhood with him, and became a leader in Israel the likes of which we may never see again.