Israel's Ultimate Insider
- Gedaliah Borvick
- Oct 5, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 4
We had the great honor of marketing a lovely apartment in Jerusalem’s Sha’are Chesed neighborhood for the estate of Yehuda Avner. Standing in Avner’s office, surrounded by photographs of him alongside presidents, prime ministers and other world leaders, felt like strolling through the history of the State of Israel.
For decades, Yehuda Avner had a front-row seat to the defining moments of modern Israel.
You might recognize the name Yehuda Avner as the author of the wonderful book The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership. Avner served as secretary and speechwriter to Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir, and as adviser to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres. In these roles, he was privy to many conversations of historic significance, some of which he recounts in the book. His prose is elegant, his recollections vivid, and his stories riveting.
After serving the prime ministers, Avner held diplomatic posts in New York and Washington, DC, and later served as Israel’s ambassador to Britain, Ireland and Australia.
Yehuda Avner was born in Manchester in 1928 and, after experiencing antisemitism in Britain, became active in the Bnei Akiva religious Zionist youth movement. After graduating from high school in 1947, he moved to Jerusalem. He fought in the 1948 War of Independence and then helped found Kibbutz Lavi. Avner married Mimi Cailingold (sister of Esther Cailingold, a war heroine who died in the battle for Jerusalem’s Old City), and together they raised four children.
In 1959, Avner joined Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and never turned back. Although he wrote glowingly about all the prime ministers he served, one quickly detects his profound admiration for Menachem Begin. A large portion of The Prime Ministers chronicles Begin’s life, from the pre-State years through his tenure as prime minister.
The depth of Begin’s influence on Avner’s worldview is also evident in Avner’s 2013 version of the Ten Commandments, in which he shared ten lessons drawn from a lifetime of public service. It is a brilliant piece, worthy of reading and rereading. For the sake of brevity, let’s focus on two of those lessons:
“When an enemy of our people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him.” This is based on Begin’s response when asked about the most important lesson of the Holocaust. Begin elaborated: “Don’t doubt him [the enemy] for a moment. Don’t make light of it. Do all in your power to deny him the means of carrying out his satanic intent.”
“Protect Jewish dignity and honor at all costs.” Reflecting on the Holocaust, Begin developed this theme: “The seeds of Jewish destruction lie in passively enabling the enemy to humiliate us. Only when the enemy succeeds in turning the spirit of the Jew into dust and ashes in life, can he turn the Jew into dust and ashes in death.”
Yehuda Avner learned from Israel’s founding generation and helped communicate their ideals to the world. A master wordsmith, he used his extraordinary gifts to help shape and share Israel’s story.
Today, as antisemitism again spreads across much of the world, Avner's Ten Commandments are as relevant as ever. May we follow Yehuda Avner's example by using our own talents and strengths on behalf of Am Yisrael.
Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home, a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com. Please visit his blog at www.myisraelhome.com.
