The Odd Couple: Begin and I

...Thus a high-ranking American official, a resident in Israel counseled me, and through me the Presidents' Conference, to restrict our activities to pressure for U.S...

...indeed, our relationship flowered beyond the functional into strong bonds of personal affection...

...The Likud victory stunned the American Jewish community, especially its establishment...

...He mumbled something like "What's wrong with holding a Torah, rabbi...

...He was and is a superb spokesman for his nation...

...Now, suddenly, all the familiar landmarks were gone...

...It is this irrepressible quality, I believe, which gives him so much of his charm—but which also keeps many from according him that complete confidence for highest office to which his endowments and leadership qualities otherwise might entitle him...

...Yadin was kind enough to give us a good deal of his time...

...Early next morning we met with Prime Minister Rabin...

...Indeed, if there is an apprehension in Israel today it is that these risks are too grave, the Left voicing its criticism from the Right...

...Yet I always felt free to give expression to my disagreements when I deemed them of sufficient worth...

...My fundamental conviction, however, remained unshaken: in the end Begin would prove himself a statesman, not just an ideologue...

...And which the mystic within me responded to Begin's mystical love for the Land, I also felt his respect for the integrity of every Jewish community, not just for those communities built on holy soil...

...And so he labeled Begin and Schindler "the odd couple...

...I repeated it to the entire American Jewish community (which, I strongly suspect, would have remained united in its support of Israel even without me and my journey—although I may have helped a little...

...He analyzed the then-present problems confronting Israel in the foreign policy arena, evincing his considerable grasp of the geo-political factors at play...

...The Israel Bond Organization was especially helpful in making certain that this message reached every city, town, and hamlet of our country...

...But most other columnists and editorial writers had a field day in invective...

...My own great fear, prompted by the ill-conceived Saunders mission, is that the American government will not allow either Israel or Egypt sufficient time to adjust to the new realities which Camp David created, and that President Carter's undue haste to push ahead immediately and relentlessly to a comprehensive solution risks the very peace which he helped to fashion...

...He felt spent...

...By curious coincidence, Begin's son, then studying at an American university in the West, called me up to bemoan the media's tone and to ask what I, what he, could do to alter things...

...But Moshe Raviv, who met us at Lod, as was his wont, whisked us off to see his minister, Yigal Allon, first...

...You get to know him with a knowledge of the heart, to feel him, as I felt Begin—and I responded to what I felt...

...He was in a mellow mood, loose, loquacious, most gracious in his reception...

...I very much fear that his final card will not be the one you expect and which peace demands...

...Be that as it may, while still at National Airport, I dropped some coins into a pay phone, reached Begin at the Sharon Hotel in Herz-liyah, wished him a "Shabbat Shalom" and set the hour of our meetings...

...Anguished as I was, I understood my friends...

...Even during our pre-election meeting and now again at our breakfast—all this long before the Sadat Jerusalem journey—Weizman expressed his conviction that a Likud government could and would achieve a separate peace agreement with Egypt and even Syria...

...At midnight, after the first Yadin session, we received a call from Dan Patir's wife, Yael, to tell us that Dayan had just been proposed as the Foreign Minister of the new government...

...Most of our national organizational presidents had spent a life-time working with the leaders of Israel's Labor Alignment, so much so that they had come to identify them with the State...

...Begin's final card was a statesmanlike flexibility for which he properly shares the Nobel Peace Prize...

...His familiarity with the mindset of the Arab world was well-known and he was perceived to be a flexible, skilled negotiator...

...To be sure, the New York Times adopted a "wait and see" attitude, perhaps reflecting Washington's still uncertain reaction (when it comes to Israel the New York Times almost always dances to the tune which the oval office plays...

...He was on television fending Begin's rights within an hour after the election results were announced...

...He felt that this forum could provide the Labor Party an opportunity to regroup its forces and to develop new leadership...

...I had asked Yehuda Hellman to cover that base while I was en route to see Philip Habib at State...

...About all I could do was lamely to reply that the American pattern is different...

...In the main, however, I knew Begin only by reputation and through his writings, and what I knew did not presage our close companionship of recent years...

...He is rigid and will never change...

...The only other member of the "old guard" with whom we had a lengthy meeting on this journey was Shimon Peres...

...Privately, I told Eizenstat of my projected journey...

...Allon, while dismayed by the election results, seemed not dejected...

...As matters transpired, we delayed our journey for a day, because of Begin's sudden hospitalization...

...My ultimate purpose in coming to Israel, of course, was to meet with Begin, to get to know him and his program so that on my return to America I could help reshape his image, so grossly distorted by the media...

...In their substance they were not memorable by any manner of means...

...THE ODD COUPLE BEGIN AND I ALEXANDER SCHINDLER Some time ago, an Israeli journalist published an article in Ma'ariv, in which he spoke of the relationship between Israel's Prime Minister and the author of these lines, then the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations...

...While still on the plane, then, I radioed ahead to make arrangements...

...I don't mean to suggest that Begin "can't do wrong by me...

...There they were given a full hearing by the Prime Minister as well as in other influential quarters...

...Begin (pronounced like Fagin)" screeched Time Magazine, limning the level of the day's editorial discourse...

...I was only a spectator and this is how / saw the play...

...And so I disregarded his advice...

...The candor of our relationship was set even at the hospital when I told Begin that his Kadum appearance had not exactly served to soften his image...

...He was held personally responsible for all acts of terror in the Middle East, those which had been committed in the past and those which would yet be committed in that war which was now imminent because of his election...

...But he, too, must have realized that all this was wistful, wishful thinking, for in our conversations— just as soon as I had given him a brief report on reaction in America—he addressed me not so much as Chairman of the Presidents' Conference but rather as the head of America's Reform Jewish community...

...This may not be a fair assessment as I was not in on the actual negotiations and the other side may well not have been willing to deal...

...The media were not at all receptive to the voice of patience...

...I called the Foreign Minister-designate to congratulate him and offered to arrange a meeting with Sam Lewis, the American ambassador...

...Especially painful was the disaffection of my erstwhile companions of the Left and many of my close friends who felt that I had been had, that I had allowed personal feeling to blind me to reality, that my support for Begin was actually a hindrance to peace in that it encouraged him in his obduracy...

...When he rejected some counsel I offered he always took the trouble patiently to explain just why he could not do as I hoped...

...Urge you to join the government as quickly as possible...

...His wit had not dampened as had his confidence, for when Begin introduced him as "our Sadatolog," Weizman quickly rejoined "I am glad you did not call me your Sadatist, Mr...

...And the little they knew, they didn't like...

...I said it again at the press conferences which followed these visits...

...he thought it a good idea and asked me to come to the White House immediately on my return to the United States...

...Stressing the wide divergence of those paths which brought us together—the Prime Minister is a traditionalist, I am a Reform rabbi...

...each man was on his own...

...He will bring further honor to that already highly honored post of Israel's presidency...

...Many had met Begin, to be sure, but they really didn't know him...

...Why should Alex commit himself so soon," he said...

...Officials at the State Department had a similar reaction...

...I agree that he may not be able to form a government...

...Dayan more cautiously so ("I am not at all pessimistic...

...He who gets there first ends up with the best...

...Political considerations were not at all a part of my thinking...

...In fact, when we entered his office we found him sitting, pencil in hand, carefully counting the Knesset votes to show how Begin might just miss in his efforts to gain majority support— assuming, of course, no Labor defections and a holding-of-theline by Dash...

...It is fed by the fire of the nekudayehudit, of the pinteleyid I returned to America to say what in all candor I had planned to say no matter what, but could now say with deep-felt conviction: that Begin is a patriot...

...Be that as it may, at our final meeting, Rabin was most kind...

...His message was too alien to my ears...

...It was difficult to escape the conclusion that the Presidents' Conference and those organizations of which it is comprised did not rank very high on the scale of the Prime Minister's priorities...

...He spoke of the World Zionist Organization and his desire for increasing involvement in its work...

...His abilities were widely recognized, and in America the events of 1973 had left none of those deep wounds which were still bleeding on the Israel scene...

...His gifts of mind and spirit are rich...

...The next day I sent the Prime Minister-designate a congratulatory cable pledging our community's support, and I called on America's Jews to provide that support...

...Sometimes he even becomes Secretary of State...

...In America, latecomers don't catch the bus or, if they do, get only a back seat...

...Yitzchak Navon was present at this meeting and joined our conversations, which took on something of a nostalgic tone, a remembrance of things past...

...This journey, interesting for its many encounters, gave me a chance for conversations with Menachem Begin and set the course for our future relationship...

...I felt him to be a man of integrity, moved by the highest ideals of our people, in whose pattern of worths the quest for peace is a predominant design...

...I believe my faith has been requited...

...It was an assurance which did not waver until his Salzburg meetings with Sadat...

...The turning point came with Begin's election victory and my journey to Jerusalem which followed it...

...But even if he does, he won't last long...

...In any event, I felt it only just and right to give the newly elected Prime Minister an opportunity to form his government, to refine his program, and to present it to his nation, to America and the world...

...Turning to the future, I urged Navon to consider seriously the presidency of the World Zionist Organization, for which his name had already been informally proposed...

...Our conversations revealed my ignorance of Israel's political system and the wide gap obtaining between its mode of operation and politics on the American scene...

...His puzzlement was understandable...

...Yehuda Hell-man, the Conference's devoted Executive, called me late on election day to confirm the final count, and I spent the remainder of the night adjusting to the new reality and weighing the options which were open to us...

...They were afraid of the unknown, afraid of the direction for the future which his past presaged, afraid of how the American people would react to this new leadership...

...He was the first Israeli leader, sometimes I think even the only Israeli, who ever said to me, "I think you've got a point...

...This, then, was the making of what an Israeli journalist called "the odd couple...

...Yet I honestly feel that I got to know the man...

...Think of some of those snares which are no longer under foot because of it: the involvement of the Russians as guarantors of the peace, the laundering of the PLO into a fit partner for the negotiations, the demand for an immediate independent Palestinian state, a Geneva scenario which assigned veto power to hardliners and rejectionists...

...Weizman felt that the opportunity had slipped through Israel's fingers and despaired of the summit's success...

...David Levinson of Bank Hapoa-lim, who was on our flight, shared my concerns and conclusions and urged me to see Yadin as soon as possible...

...The issue is foreign policy...

...I had accepted the conventional wisdom which predicted a diminution of Labor's plurality but still left the Alignment in power...

...He did confess, though, to some "lightness of spirit" which came with the transfer of ultimate responsibility to other shoulders...

...But not so the Israel Embassy...

...As a case in point, when I enjoined Yadin to move quickly, to approach Begin at once to offer his support and to set his party's counter-requests, he replied to the effect that "Dash has 15 seats, let him come to me...

...To be sure, I had met Mr...

...And I faithfully undertook the task of relaying those views—albeit privately and not through the front pages of the New York Times—to Israel's leadership...

...At times I even harbored the suspicion that Rabin viewed the Presidents' Conference not so much as an instrument to marshall support of America's Jews but rather to "manage" them, to keep them out from under foot...

...When Kennedy won the presidency by a fraction of one percent, a touch over 100,000 votes out of the tens of millions cast, nonetheless he was the President and everyone came to him...

...and that while he is an ideologue from one end of the political spectrum, he would undoubtedly be "sucked in by the center," as Walter Lippman put it, compelled to respond to the consensus of the nation...

...In curious contrast, Chaim Herzog's instincts were sounder...

...Chosen to be the Minister of Defense, he had already been briefed concerning the state of Israel's forces and resources and was most pleased with what he had learned...

...Labor was Israel and Israel, Labor...

...I was moved solely by my desire to maintain American Jewish unity: the broader the representation in Israel's administration the larger the number of American Jews who would be able to identify with it...

...He is, by nature, a cheerful, optimistic man...

...Little did I know then that he was destined for far higher office...

...I don't believe that stuff you have been peddling at the State Department and in the White House," he said...

...He led his country to take serious risks for peace: the return of all of the Sinai to Egyptian sovereignty, the dismantling of the Rafiah salient settlements, the recognition of Palestinian Arab claims, and much more...

...On Friday, May 24th, the Presidents' Conference met with Stuart Eizenstat in Washington to be briefed concerning the Carter administration's unfolding domestic program...

...I remember a heated session of the UAHC's executive committee when one of my dear friends, a leader of Reform Judaism's Religious Actions Committee, accused me of "betraying" him and those causes for which we had always stood for together...

...Our conversations were somewhat constrained by the circumstances of our meeting...

...I reminded them that we are not "the servants of a particular party or the instruments of a given governmental coalition" but rather that we were "impelled by love for the people of Israel" and by the "sacred obligation to secure their safety...

...I replied, "There is indeed nothing wrong with holding a Torah, it's what you said when you held that Torah that was troublesome...

...This was a refreshing departure from his past pattern...

...Yet given our common commitments, which are far more fundamental than our differences, our relationship is not so odd...

...As usual, directives of the Foreign Ministry had been slow in coming...

...Dash was the natural first target...

...For ofttimes when you observe a man's reaction in moments of stress or when you see him in the setting of his home, surrounded by friends, responding to his wife and she to him, you can learn a great deal more about him than you can when he wears the mask of office...

...Once the fuller story is told and heard, we will learn just how significant a role Dayan played in those events which culminated in a separate agreement between Egypt and Israel...

...We met with him late one afternoon in his office...

...We met at least twice, the first time for two full hours...

...Rabbi Alexander Schindler is Executive Vice President of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and immediate past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, moment interviewed Rabbi Schindler in February-March 1977...

...When Israel's prime minister resists these undue pressures, as he must, Begin will find me at his side—in the next installment of the "odd couple...

...This time, however, I felt that his view was distorted, that he saw things through partisan rather than patriotic lenses...

...Of course he wanted the truth, he said, what else could he say...

...With that chutzpah to which I am frequently prone, my message—relayed courtesy of the El Al pilot via Eli Eyal, my very good friend and one of Yadin's lieutenants—read something like this: "The issue no longer is electoral reform...

...For 48 hours I sat by the phone, calling reporters, answering their calls—to no avail...

...economic and military aid for Israel and to be silent on all matters afTecting the negotiations...

...I, too, was taken aback...

...he would respond to the consensus of his nation and guide his people to make those difficult decisions which peace requires...

...Dayan's reputation remained virtually untarnished...

...When five American Jewish leaders, I among them, sat with Begin, Dayan and Weizman on the day before Camp David, Begin was supremely confident...

...He was especially impressed with the quantity and quality of weaponry with which the United States had resupplied Israel since '73...

...that he desires above all to bring peace to his people...

...The toughness of her negotiating position yielded fruit...

...My message of reassurance initially received wide acceptance...

...All these have now been dropped from Washington's agenda, at least for the time being...

...Ezer was understandably exuberant and took just pride in his role in spearheading the Likud election victory...

...Besides, he is not well...

...Begin may not even be able to form a government...

...I readily agreed that while no permanent alliance was likely, given our ideological affinity (as manifested by many past joint ventures with the kibbutz movement and in particular with its Ichud faction) ground for common work could indeed be found...

...There were some further endeavors to dissuade us from going...

...I suggested the Israel journey and asked him to ascertain his father's reaction...

...I even shared some of their specific reservations...

...He likened his burden in leading the election campaign to that of a pilot compelled to "fly a plane with two of its wings sheared off...

...he always listened with respect...

...the Prime Minister is a spokesman of Israel's Right, I am an American Jew who had always espoused causes left of center—the Ma'ariv journalist expressed his wonderment that we were able to make common cause...

...Still, I persisted in my judgment and on motze Shavuot—as soon as Yechiel Kaddishai assured us that Begin would be strong enough to see us— Hellman and I enplaned...

...indeed, I subsequendy urged Begin to keep him in Washington as long as possible...

...I certainly did not anticipate such a turn of events...

...I had first met him some months earlier, at a social gathering in the home of mutual friends, Zvi and Roily Efron, where I adjudged him a man of volatile temperament— impulsive, impetuous, volcanic, ever ready to burst forth...

...Why so great a hurry...

...I said all this at the White House...

...Here, at last, was one familiar landmark which American Jews would recognize, a leader with whom they could readily identify...

...Wisely, Dayan declined, deeming such a meeting prior to his confirmation premature...

...Dinitz had always counseled me wisely...

...And when Hellman finally caught up with me at National Airport, he informed me that Simcha Dinitz had earnestly urged him to restrain me from going to Israel...

...Begin even before his election and our mutual approach had always been warm and courteous...

...Subsequent events, I fully believe, have vindicated Begin's choice...

...Our earlier meetings had always been most formal, cold in fact, a quick in and out, a mumbled word or two, no give-and-take to speak of, scarcely a contact of the eye...

...He has pursued policies with which I disagree, said things which filled me with dismay...

...It is unseemly for him to do so...

...that I deem him capable of making the transition from candidacy to incumbency...

...I even fended for him once or twice—at a Brussels II steering committee session when I seconded a motion he proposed, and during a President's Conference visit to Israel when I insisted both on his right to appear before us and on our need to hear from him and other opposition leaders...

...I don't believe that Begin's present stance is merely a negotiating posture...

...He grumbled some more and I added, "Do you want me to tell you what I think you want to hear or rather what I believe to be true...

...Yadin impressed me as a man who could not easily make up his mind, or else was so constrained by the divergent forces within his own party that he could not move...

...But the fact is that he always listened to what I had to say, no matter how unpleasant...

...One of my purposes in coming to Israel was to do what little I could to enlarge the coalition of the emerging government...

...I made certain that their views were given free voice within the establishment of the American Jewish community...

...As Conference Chairman it was my overriding task to maintain the unity of American Jewry in support of Israel, and there clearly was no way to summon support for a nation without also calling for the support of her democratically elected government...

...Our breakfast session with Ezer Weizman merits mention...

...What you don't need," he said, "is a government which is narrowly clerical-fascist in its make-up," using these terms not in their ordinary meaning but rather hyperbolically, to dramatize the issue in all of its stark reality...

...To be sure, many mistakes were made, especially in the realm of Israel's stagecraft, which has never been quite as effective as her statecraft...

...Josef Burg, the genial, statesmanlike leader of the Mafdal (National Religious Party)—in whose company I always delight for I always learn from him—understood our problem at once...

...I met Begin twice and at some length, first in the hospital and the second time in his modest ground-level, two room Tel-Aviv apartment...

...He had returned to I the prime-ministership for the transition period and was still, therefore, the head of government...

...On more than one occasion Kissinger had told me, "I could not have successfully concluded Sinai II without Dayan's imaginative projections and I say this even though Dayan has frequently taken issue and belittled me...

...I sensed that some dramatic gesture was needed to gain attention, and I conceived of a quick trip to Israel following which, perhaps, someone would listen...

...I had but little choice...

...Derech eretz demanded that we visit Rabin first...

...Dayan's designation pleased me...

...And he wondered whether the Reform movement and Labor might not find common ground for cooperative endeavor here...

...I found Weizman much more even tempered and serious than I had on previous occasions...

...He was a man from the Right, a radical, an extremist in word and deed...

...But as the months passed and especially during the sturm und drang of the past Sadat visit to America, doubts sprang up and skepticism prevailed in many quarters...

...Zalman Abramov counseled: "I've known Begin the better part of my life...

...I see many openings...

...I sensed his abounding love for the Jewish people, which makes everything else, even the machinery of the State, but an instrument of that people's will and need...

...They sharpened their talons and feasted on Begin...

...A hospital room with its inevitable flow of doctors scanning the chest and nurses administering pills does not exactly lend itself to that intellectual probing which such an occasion ordinarily demands...

...I reported it to Secretary of State Vance...

...It seemed so natural a course, given the affection and esteem in which he was held by Jews of every kind in every corner of the world...

...The Defense Minister was dejected...