An Interview with President Yitzhak Navon B’yachad sat down with former Israeli President Yitzhak Navon to discuss the importance of memory and preserving Israel’s heritage for the next generation. A former Minister of Education and Culture, Navon was named Chairman of Neot Kedumim, a biblical landscape reserve that features plants mentioned in the Bible. He reflected on the challenges of communicating the past to future generations and the importance of experiencing history as it was, in the places where it took place. B’Yachad: Mr. President, why is the past important? Navon: There is no future without the past. Our shared past is essential for the formation of the Jewish people as one. Think of the years when people were making aliyah to Israel from 102 different countries, speaking 81 different languages. The question is, how do you create a nation from all these people? Recently, I was chosen as the chairman of the Haganah veterans; we had a meeting here in Jerusalem of the Organization Secretariat. One of the serious questions raised was: What to do with the younger generation, how to teach them this heritage so that it would be interesting to them? Someone said, “Perhaps it’s over, our generation is finished. We did what we did in the Haganah days, in the War of Independence and later, and now it’s over.” But I don’t agree with that. We must figure out how we pass onto other generations what was important from those days. We give lectures to soldiers in different locations for that very reason: to pass to them our rich heritage in the very places where history unfolded. There is no clear answer on how to do this, but there is nothing like visiting the places where history took place. Israel has a fascinating past, so many fascinating dramas and fascinating stories. We have a story and among us we must find a way to tell it effectively, and to tell a story not everyone can tell. The dramatic tales of Israel’s past help those who hear it the first time identify with it. When I was President, I sat with soldiers and visitors and had many conversations like this. It’s by using these everyday things, which were actually extraordinary, that you can teach people to recognize and know this history.
B’Yachad: How can we make Israel’s history interesting and relevant for today? How do we talk to the next generation? Navon: There are a few important things: the key is what parents and teachers instill in children: the ideals of behavior (derech eretz), contributing to society, justice, volunteerism... But you cannot educate only by slogans, it must also be taught by personal example and actions. The future of the country largely depends on contact with Diaspora Jewry. How do you consolidate Jews from many countries and many languages into one people? You can do this by making the past lively. There are people from different places in the world and with different traditions who can tell their story—what they felt, what they experienced. To describe to Jewish groups from my experience—the personal experience—is very important. B’Yachad: Would you say that places like Independence Hall in Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion’s home in the Negev are significant in telling his heritage? Do you feel that these sites should be modernized to tell the legacy of Ben Gurion in a better way or should they be maintained to reflect that moment in time? Navon: Keeping it in the old way and getting the old feeling. Ammunition Hill, for instance, is a masterpiece… The country is packed with places like Ammunition Hill that carry an heroic history, that tell a story that has a moral ending of—selfsacrifice, concern for others, of friendship— everything that is good. v This is a JNF Heritage Sites program. For more information, visit jnf.org/heritagesites
President Yitzhak Navon