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David Ben-Gurion on Israel’s Mirage Dispute with France and George Washington’s 1790 Letter
March 30, 1971
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 773
In a 1971 letter, David Ben-Gurion discusses Israel’s Mirage dispute with France and references George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation, reflecting the enduring overlap between personal correspondence and affairs of state.
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Young John F. Kennedy Condemns Harry Truman's Reversal to Support the Partition of Palestine
April 4, 1948
Autograph Manuscript
2 pages
SMC 149
At a dinner of Jewish veterans, John F. Kennedy, then a congressman from Massachusetts, condemns Harry Truman's withdrawal of support for the partition of Palestine as "one of the most unfortunate reversals in American policy. Kennedy also called for the US to lift the arms embargo in order to give Israel a chance to protect herself in the ensuing war.
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Truman on the Recognition of the Jewish State and the "very dark" situation in Palestine
May 17, 1948
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 370
Two days into the Israeli War of Independence, Harry Truman thanks a rabbi for his offer to assist the President, and refers to the fledgling state's situation as "very dark."
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Document Signed
1 page
SMC 2295
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Ephemera
1 page
SMC 2291
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Typed Letter
1 page
SMC 219
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Palestine, Truman Says, is a “Matter of Considerable Disturbance” to be Determined by U.N.
February 9, 1948
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 686
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Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 731
Theodor Herzl tries to garner support for his vision of a Jewish State amongst the Hasidic Jews of Europe. Herzl sets forth his ecumenical vision, where Jews would be free to practise (or to not practise) their religion in their own way, with no "falling out over matters of religion." Herzl mentions the first Zionist Congress, confident that the Jews will obtain their ancestral homeland of Palestine.
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Theodore Herzl Admits to Exhaustion But Swears to Continue "The Great Campaign...As Long as I am Able"
November 10, 1896
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 732
Theodore Herzl admits to exhaustion but vows to continue the "great campaign" for as long as he is able.
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Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 739
Theodor Herzl considers, and ultimately rejects, a lecture tour in the United States.
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Ben-Gurion: Had a Jewish State Been Established in 1937, Millions of Jews Would Not Have Died in the Holocaust
January 8, 1956
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 765
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David Ben-Gurion Compares, Favorably, the Fledgling IDF to George Washington's Revolutionary Army
January 27, 1956
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 766
At a critical juncture, when Israel was vastly outnumbered, Ben-Gurion compares the fledgling IDF to "an army that had been established by the owner of an estate in Virginia." Though Ben-Gurion compares the IDF to George Washington's Revolutionary Army and wishes to learn from it, he also claims that the Jewish people's situation is "different from any other nation."
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 769
David Ben Gurion tells his correspondent that Israel was founded by pioneers but now needs immigrants from free countries, most notably the United States, to come and populate it.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 771
David Ben-Gurion encourages Ida Camelhor Silverman, an eighty-six year old Hadassah officer, to visit Israel, citing the Biblical Sarah and Moses Montefiore as examples of people who travelled to Israel at advanced ages. Two years after receiving this letter, Silverman actually settled in Israel, where she would die two years after making Israel her home.
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Fifteen Years as Prime Minister is Enough, David Ben-Gurion Says: Now He's Writing the History of Israel
June 27, 1966
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 772
David Ben-Gurion explains to an admirer that he left politics because no single person should be practically synonymous with a country. He has a different and important task at hand: writing his epic history of Israel from 1870-1965.
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Chaim Weizmann to Orde Wingate's Widow About a Memorial for Wingate at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
October 27, 1944
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 374
Writing to Lorna Wingate, the young widow of Orde Wingate, the British champion of the Jewish Zionist cause, Chaim Weizmann advises her about the political necessities in undertaking a memorial to her late husband at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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Chaim Weizmann to Lorna Wingate on the Jewish Brigade: "There is No Shortcut to Jerusalem"
January 23, 1941
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 375
Chaim Weizmann tells Lorna Wingate that the Jewish Brigade, and future army, is a long game, and will come with hard work and fortitude.
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Chaim Weizmann in 1943: "Nothing Short of a Miracle if We Do Get Something Out of this War"
December 10, 1943
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 376
Writing during World War Two, Chaim Weizmann assures Lorna Wingate that her husband Orde is on the mend after a bout of typhoid. In the interim, he comments that many things are happening in Palestine that would provoke the British, though he hopes they will not allow themselves to be provoked. It would be "nothing short of a miracle if we do get something out of this war," he ruefully remarks.
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 378
Chaim Weizmann agrees to stand as Godfather to the son of Major General Orde Wingate, Orde Jonathan Wingate.
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Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 379
Chaim Weizmann writes to Lorna Wingate, the widow of Major-General Orde Wingate, to tell her that the British government finally approved the creation of the Jewish Brigade. Weizmann's feelings are mixed, though, as Wingate - who died five months earlier - would have made this Brigade "a powerful force."
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Chaim Weizmann Analyzes British Partition Plans and Prerequisites for Statehood; Blasts American Jewry
June 20, 1937
Autograph Letter Signed
5 pages
SMC 380
Chaim Weizmann accepts Wingate's offer to organize guerilla night squads to defend against Arab terrorism, analyzes the British Partition Plans, and blasts American Jewry - all in one letter.
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Ben-Gurion Predicts Victory Under Dayan in 6-Day War; Discusses How Many Arabs Equal One Israeli Soldier
June 6, 1967
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 385
Moshe Dayan is appointed minister of defence; Ben Gurion predicts that Israel will triumph over Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in the coming Six Day War.
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Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 392
Rather than an independent Jewish state, Einstein would like to see a "secured bi-national status in Palestine with free immigration," adding that it defies common sense to "ask to be given the political rule over Palestine where two thirds of the population are not Jewish."
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 508
David Ben Gurion places responsibility for peace with the Egyptians at their feet, but also remarks that "a great deal depends on Russia."
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Calling Card
2 pages
SMC 540
Here, future Prime Minister Golda Meir, then Labor Minister Golda Myerson, signs her name, in Hebrew, on her Calling Card, sometime between 1949 and 1956 – before, that is, Ben-Gurion ordered her to Hebraicize her name.
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Chaim Weizmann Thanks Clark Clifford for His Help In Getting President Truman to Recognize Israel
February 20, 1949
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 647
Clark Clifford, President Truman's aide, argued against Secretary of State George Marshall "as if it were a case to be presented to the Supreme Court." Truman immediately recognized the Jewish State, and Weizmann, on his first day as President of Israel, thanks him.
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David Ben-Gurion on God’s Promises to His People: Strength and Peace – One Given, the Other, Coming
July 22, 1971
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 664
Two years before the Yom Kippur War, and quoting from Psalms, David Ben Gurion tells a correspondent that there is definitely trouble brewing with Egypt, yet God promises his people two things: strength and peace. The former is obtained, and the latter, Ben-Gurion has faith, is coming.
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 235
Max Nordau co-founded the World Zionist Congress with Theodor Herzl, and was his psychiatrist and friend. Here, still reeling from Herzl's death, thanks an American journalist for not only writing an article about Herzl, but also for his kind depiction of Nordau in the article.
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Autograph Document Signed
1 page
SMC 237
Mordecai Manuel Noah and Isaac Leeser propose relief for the poor Jews of Palestine, albeit through different channels. This typifies their differences of opinion and approach where the restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land was concerned.
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Orde Wingate: A Man of Genius Who Might Have Become a Man of Destiny
September 10, 1944
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 293
On his way to the second Quebec conference, Winston Churchill remembers that a year ago, he, Orde, and Lorna Wingate were on their way to the first conference. Churchill offers his condolences to the newly-widowed Lorna.
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Winston Churchill Thanks Ormsby-Gore for Accepting Post to the Permanent Mandates Commission
February 24, 1921
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 294
Winston Churchill Thanks Pro-Zionist Ormsby-Gore for Accepting Post to the Permanent Mandates Commission Responsible for Palestine.
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From Prison, a Defiant Alfred Dreyfus Writes to his Family Swearing to Clear His Name
January 14, 1895
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 295
Alfred Dreyfus writes to his family from prison, and attempts to lead his family by example by keeping his head held high and not weakening in the fight to clear his name from the stain of treason.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 302
Ben-Gurion claims that as long as the USA and the USSR fight the Cold War by proxy in the Middle East - by arming Arab countries - there will be no peace in the region, and Israel will have to continuously fight for its survival.
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Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 330
Writing to a minister's wife who was horrified by the 1929 anti-Jewish Hebron massacre in Palestine, President Herbert Hoover responds coolly to her "interesting observations."
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Signed Photograph
2 pages
SMC 332
Photo of Herzl signed on the verso with a reference to the day he spent in Jerusalem.
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Signed Photograph
2 pages
SMC 335
A rare signed photograph of Theodore Herzl, addressed to Fraulein Fini Ungar of Vienna.
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Signature
1 page
SMC 155
Rare Hebrew University postcard signed by Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein, who, as much as anyone, made the dream of a Hebrew University in Jerusalem a reality.
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Autograph Manuscript Signed
1 page
SMC 167
Robert Frost expresses his identification with, and friendship for, the "brave… little" nation of Israel. He also recommends reading the story of Nehemiah, possibly as a prelude to the modern-day restoration of the Jews to Israel.
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Calling Himself a "Wandering Jew" Chaim Weizmann Dreams of a Jewish University "Of Our Own" In Jerusalem
July 18, 1906
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 178
Chaim Weizmann, who was instrumental in establishing the Hebrew University, writes here of how it would be a "dream" to receive a degree from a Jewish University "of our own," imagining a graduation ceremony atop Mt. Zion.
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Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 189
David Ben-Gurion recalls Dwight D. Eisenhower as a "lovely person," who wanted to help the Jews immediately after World War II, but was prevented from doing so by the British Foreign Office and the American State Department.
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Typed Letter Signed
5 pages
SMC 194
President Lyndon B. Johnson writes to Dr. Max Nussbaum, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, to add his congratulations to Sir Winston Churchill on receiving the Theodor Herzl award for his contributions to the Zionist cause.
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Theodor Herzl, Hurt and Frustrated, Considers Quitting-in 1896, the First Year of the Zionist Movement
October 19, 1896
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 195
Herzl requests from the Lemberg Zionists a copy of a letter in which he reputedly said that an English millionaire was willing to sacrifice 150 million guilders – a "gross distortion or silly misunderstanding" of what he actually said. He is also hurt by the tone in which he was discussed in this connection - so much so, in fact, that he is considering resigning from the Zionist movement.
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Theodor Herzl Sends Postcard From Jerusalem to Menachem Ussishkin Ahead of Meeting With Kaiser Wilhelm
October 31, 1898
Card Signed
2 pages
SMC 207
In 1898, Theodor Herzl came to Jerusalem to ask Kaiser Wilhelm to appeal to the Turks for the creation of a Jewish state under a German protectorate. He sent Menachem Ussishkin a postcard from the Holy City.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 111
T.E. Lawrence writes to his superior at the Arab Bureau, General Clayton, to ask if he should send a letter he wrote to Sir Mark Sykes, the man responsible for divvying up the Middle East between the English and the French. Here, Lawrence mentions to Clayton that the "Jewish section" should be cleared up, and when they fight the French, the French section will fall into English hands, as well.
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Signed Photograph
1 page
SMC 2316
Perhaps the most iconic photo of Theodor Herzl, taken on the balcony of the Three Kings Hotel in Basel, Switzerland, in December of 1901. Signed.
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David Ben-Gurion Asks a Manuscript Collector About a 1945 Photograph, At the Start of the Six-Day War
June 6, 1967
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 774
A day into the Six-Day War, David Ben Gurion asks manuscript collector and Lincoln scholar Justin Turner for a photo.
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Chaim N. Bialik on the Jewish Persecutions in the Diaspora and the Determination to Make a Home in Zion
May 19, 1934
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 782
Writing in 1934, Bialik affirms that the latest persecutions of the Jewish people necessitate the creation of a Jewish state.
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Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 792
Here, Einstein writes a conciliatory letter, appreciating that Selig Brodetsky is not alienated by his gruff manner in handling and discussing the Hebrew University, a cause so dear to his heart. At the time a mathematician at the University of Leeds, Brodetsky would go on to become the Hebrew University's president twenty years later.
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Albert Einstein Disagrees with Louis Brandeis; Argues that Palestine is Not the Key to Jewish Survival
January 25, 1936
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 798
Writing in 1936, Einstein disagrees with Louis Brandeis that a Jewish state is necessary for Jewish continuity. "The persecutions will never cause us to perish," Einstein argues, and the dispersion of Jews around the globe ensures their survival.
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Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 800
Writing in 1942, Einstein reiterates his support for Judah Magnes's proposal that the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine would come to an arrangement themselves, without the intervention of the British.
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Chaim Weizmann Thanks British Zionist Leader for a Copy of His Book, "The Jews, the War and After"
December 14, 1943
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 829
Weizmann thanks the British Zionist leader, Phineas Horowitz, for a copy of his new book, The Jews, the War and After, which he looks forward to reading "with much pleasure and profit."
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Jerusalem Consul Wallace and Chief Rabbi Salant Solicit American Funds for the City's Institutions
1894
Document Signed
8 pages
SMC 836
The situation of two of Jerusalem’s loftiest institutions - the Talmud Torah House and the General Hospital - are in dire straights, Rabbi Salant and Consul Wallace attest: this, the unhappy result of the “terrible loss of employment and income of our brothers in Russia who have heretofore been great supporters.” They appeal to American Jews for funding.
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A "Song of Praise" Celebrating the Yishuv's Welcome of U.S. Consul Lew Wallace to Jerusalem
December, 1883
Ephemera
1 page
SMC 837
Song of Praise written and performed in Hebrew on the occasion of the arrival of the U.S. Consul, General Lew Wallace, to Jerusalem.
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Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 985
Three weeks before many of the stranded colonists would leave Jaffa with Mark Twain on the Quaker City, Governor of Maine Joshua Chamberlain here passes on Secretary of State William Seward's interest in extending aide to 156 American Christian colonists in Jaffa.
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Typed Manuscript
30 pages
SMC 1012
The 1858 Senate report, which details the murder and rape of the Dickson family in their agricultural colony. The author, Jonathan Steinbeck was a descendent of members of the colony, and the "Outrages at Jaffa" is alluded to in his East of Eden. Herman Melville, inspired by the tragic events, wrote his epic poem Clarel.
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Herzl Directs U.S. Zionists to Force McKinley to Protest Turkish Discrimination of Jews in Palestine
February 25, 1901
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1680
In 1900, the Ottoman Empire officially barred Jews from visiting the Holy Land. The Italian government immediately protested this violation of human rights, which distinguished between Jewish and Gentile Italian citizens. Here, Theodor Herzl aims to introduce the debate to Congress or Senate so that a country as powerful as the United States would emulate Italy's example, inspiring other countries to follow suit.
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At the End of His Life, Albert Einstein Writes Check to His Beloved Hebrew University
January 13, 1955
Check Signed
1 page
SMC 1814
The Hebrew University was a dream towards which Einstein devoted a considerable amount of time, including serving on its board, speaking at its inauguration, and bequeathing all of his papers to it. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote this check, in 1955 for $10 (equivalent to $90 in today's money) to the American Friends of the Hebrew University.
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Autograph Manuscript
4 pages
SMC 1921
Rabbi Isaac Leeser reviews the American Zionist Warder Cresson's book The Key of David. Leeser explictly states that he does not "wish to be considered as endorsing all Mr. C. advances." Nor does he regularly read his work. However, he continues, it makes for enjoyable reading to those who are "fond of high-seasoned polemical writings."
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President Millard Fillmore Acknowledges the Gift of "a Beautiful Picture of 'Ancient Jerusalem'"
June 17, 1852
Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2034
The Unitarian President Fillmore thanks the Presbyterian Rev. Septimus Justin for "a beautiful picture of 'ancient Jerusalem.'" Although he has only had time to glance at it, the appears to him to be well-executed.
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