Upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, I recognized the name but knew nothing about the man. David Ben-Gurion, born David Grün in a Russian-occupied Poland in 1886, was the primary founding father and first prime minister of Israel. He moved to Palestine in 1906 and changed his name three years later. His life’s passion was Zionism, the movement to restore the Jewish nation in Palestine and to now protect and develop it.
In 1935, he became the preeminent leader for the Jewish people during the British Mandate (from 1920 – 1948) under the terms of the League of Nations. Following the Holocaust of World War II, on the 29th of November, 1947, a resolution was passed by the United Nations to establish the Jewish State. Then, on May14, 1948,David Ben-Gurion officially declared the formation of the nation of Israel. He helped to write the Israeli Declaration of Independence and then was the first to sign the document. He was the Israeli prime minister from 1948 – 1963, with a brief pause from 1954 – 1955.
As prime minister, his goal was to develop the country and bring in vast numbers of Jewish people from around the world.
According to my host, Avital, at one point in time, Ben-Gurion came to southern Israel for the dedication of a bridge. Along the journey, he spied a few Jewish settlers who were in the process of establishing a kibbutz in the Negev Desert. The prime minister stopped to talk to them. This man who helped to start his nation and worked side-by-side with other world leaders said he was jealous of what these people were doing to cultivate the desert. These people were trailblazers. In the brief span of time when Ben-Gurion retired as prime minister, 1954 – 1955, he and his wife Paula became members of Kibbutz Sde Boker and lived in a modest home. Called “Ben-Gurion’s Hut”, the area overlooks the Tsin Canyon and the Avdat highlands. Upon his retirement from political life in 1970, Ben-Gurion returned to Sde Boker, the desert kibbutz, where he lived until his death in 1972. Time Magazine named him one of the most important People of the 20th Century.
The Negev is a Rocky desert. If comprises 55% of Israel but is home to just 8% of the population. A large portion of the population lives in Be’er Sheva, the “Capital of the Negev”. Be’er Sheva is about evenly split between Arab and Jewish people. Some of the Jewish people were expelled from Arab lands, but they have been joined by Jews from India, the Soviet Union, and Ethiopia. Soviet Jews have made chess a major sport in the area. The city of Be’er Sheva is home to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev as well as the Degania School where I painted.
My mural host, Avital, and her family live in Midreshet Ben-Gurion (also called Midreshet Sde Boker), a community development next to the kibbutz that the prime minister loved so well. It has a population nearing 2,000 people, which would thrill Ben-Gurion who wanted the desert to blossom. His hope was for the area to become a “Hebrew Oxford of the Negev”. The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, and the local high school all emphasize environmental studies.
Everywhere in the community is within walking distance. On my day to explore, I had a short bucket list. I wanted to locate the gravesite for David and Paula Ben-Gurion. It’s a national landmark in Israel. PROBABLY EVEN MORE THAN THAT, I wanted to photograph the ibex that roamed freely about. It would be very difficult to visit Midreshet Ben-Gurion and not see these wild goats. The gravesite for the prime minister and his wife borders a park/garden area that boasts local vegetation. It’s where the ibex come to munch. These critters must have been very used to humans. I got close enough to get photos to satisfy my artist’s eye. When it started to rain, which is rare for the area, I returned home.
It's always nice when your dreams come true. Ben-Gurion dreamed to create a homeland for his people. Check. He wanted the community around Sde Boker to blossom. Also check. And, as for this artist, I have long wanted to paint murals in the Holy Land. I am just about halfway done with this check.
