Meyer Weisgal: The . , Great Builder
rs om eh ovot„ Weizmann, - Ingitute
By AMOS ELON'
and the awful solitude of his last'
Author of "The Israelis —
years. Whether he is wildly en-
Founders and Sons" - thusiastic or severely critical,
It is said of veteran Zionists whether he is pained or rejoicing;
that although they sometimes die, whether he writes in love or in.
they never resign f rom office. haired — Weisgal always is un--
Meyer Weisgal, who resigned from failingly himself — personal, sub- -,
the presidency of the Weizmann jectiVe, unrestrained -- adjectives-
Institute in 1969 — thus finding which are the hallmarks of a good:
time to write his memoirs ("Meyer autobiography.
Weisgal . . . .So Far," Random
"Could you perhaps give me a-
House) — is therefore, a unique list of all your friends and ene-'.
figure in the impressive, though mies?" a journalist asked him not
rapidly dwindling company of the long ago. "My dear," -replied Weis,:
great founders, dreamers and gal, "your newspaper is far too
builders, the marvelous "Mad- small to contain such a list-"
men," the accomplishers and the these memoirs Weisgal. is less:
achievers who imprinted their per- cautious, or, perhaps because :lief
sonalities so deeply on the fabric is now a free man, he is truer
of Israel's life, society and insti- to himself, and, resultantly, there
tutions. is something about this particular
MEYER W. WEISGAL
Weisgal's resignation came as autobiography that makes it far
a blow to his friends at the Weiz- ' more gripping; far more informa- mann's personal political, represen-
mann Institute.; the Institute, to five and far more- revealing than tative in the United States; . after-
a large extent, was the work of many other more formal chroni- wards the Director of the Jewish
his hands. His dynamic leadership, cles. It allows us to meet and Agency for Palestine in New York,;
which permitted almost total free- come to know a vigorous and most in his role as an impresario, he
dom of action and thought to the unusual man, one of the master- produced the first great Zionist
scientists, gave rise, within what builders of ,this country, and also pageant w
_ hich was seen by hun-
was relatively a short period of to learn meaningful things about dreds of thousands of people; a*
time, to the kind of conditions for his life and times.
editor of a small Zionist . journal,
research and study which had
Weisgal was born at the end of he made a considerable name for
never been known before- in this the last century in the tiny Jewish himself by persuading Winston
country, and which, in turn, served village of Kikl in Poland. The book Churchill to contribute a pro-Zionist
to place the Weizmann Institute begins with a typical Weisgalian article. This journalistic feat cos ts
in the forefront of research insti- statement: "Like most Jews I was $1,000 (an astronomic sum in those
tutions throughout the world. j born in Kikl," and, through these days) and it almost ended Weis-
The relationship between I words, Weisgal recreates an ex- gal's public activities. But even
Meyer Weisgal and the Insti- perience which cannot be limited then Weisgal believed in doing
lute's staff was marked by i to specific geographic borders and things on a large scale, in the
mutual - and deep loyalty. The which took place in an area whose American mode, - unconventionally,
young scientists admired, even j true frontiers were not in space with a fine disregard of narrow-
adored Weisgal, and it was no but 'rather in time. • His partly minded orthodoxy and pettiness, a
accident that they forged ahead nostalgic, partly scathing descrip- disregard which was to flower in
at a speed,- and in a manner,
tion of the shtetl conjures up a the fine design and building of
that far outdistanced what was world that is lost — the sensitive, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.
then possible at the conservative intense world of Eastern Europe Only the best was good enough
Hebrew University in Jerusslem at the end of the century — which for Weisgal then and always.
or the Technion, Israel's insti- contained bottled up within itself When he produced "The Eternal
tute of technology.
the tremendous forces that later Road," this yearning for the best
Those who so profoundly re- were to lead to and make tangible resulted in a singular combination
gretted Weisgal's relinquishment the vision of national revival. of talent; Franz Werfel wrote the
of many of these activities will
Weisgal's father was a chazan, libretto, Kurt Weill composed the
now find some small measure of
m
his step-mother a revolutionary. music
and Max Reinhardt directed
consolation in his memoirs — the
It is Interesting to learn that the show.
fruits of his retirement. Had he
Weisgal• settled in Israel in
Weisgal, who was destined to
not retired, it is most doubtful
1949, continuing to insist that
spend so much of his adult life
that his book could ever have been
things
be done properly, profes-
in
the
company
of
capitalist
mil-
written, had it not been written,
sionally, and on the appropriate
lionaires, was raised in an en-
we would have been much the
scale.
Possibly,
he is the most
vironment that combined, in a
poorer.
successful fund-raiser 'ever to
most special way, both Jewish
His book is a rarity in the large
have been associated with the
traditionalism and socialist radi-
assemblage of Zionist memoirs
Zionist cause. The sums of
calism, a combination that - was
published within the past two dec-
money
that Weisgal himself
entirely
characteristic
of
the
ades.
raised, without recourse to a top-
Weidgal's memoirs teach us. Zionism of Eastern Europe,
heavy
organizational apparatus,
among other things, that the auto- which made it possible for the
or the public appearance of mili-
biograohk:.; of a Zionist, however warmth and continuity of family
tary
heroes
and Israeli cabinet
tradition
to
co-exist
with
taking
serious its ub'ect matter, can still
ministers, totals hundreds of •
to the barricades, that made it
evoke delta e laughter; however
millions
of
dollars.
The secret
possible
for
-
burning
individuality
irritably .. so treaders may re-
of his success? 1plever "a pro-
not to war with the concept of
spond, ior..%in 'We, to Weisgal's
fession'al fund-raiser,"- Some-
criticism of B -Gurion, his at- mutual aid within a group.
He made his way to Israel in one who can raise money for
tempt to adjust nd correct our
anything, Weisgal's success, ap-
stage
s.
One
of
the
stations
—
image of the laSr days of Weiz-
parently, stemmed from his own
mann's life — an image largely America — deeply influenced his personality,
from his' ability to
distorted by anti-Weizmann propa- approach first to Zionism and then
gandists — other readers just to the Jewish State. We follow persuade others of that of which
as certainly respond to.these cor- Weisgal the boy, with his family, he himself was persuaded, from
rections. with intense relief and from Kikl to America, his initia- his unparalleled personal charm
and endless profound enthusiasm
admiration, and the fact •is that, tion there — he was still a very
from this point of view, Woisgal's young man — into the world of —allot' which proved irresistible,
even
to the extremely wealthy.
book does indeed make a most official Zionism a memorable
The more money he siphoned
substantial contribution to Zionist description of Weisgal in those
years was once given by Louis off from his "victims," the more
history
While other Zionist memoirs Lipsky: "A breezy, aggressive, ar- they loved him. One of those vic-
often are heavy in tone and gumentative youth, neither sub- tims, speaking at a dinner in honor
overwhelmingly earnest, Meyer dued by authority, nor respectful, Of another of his victims — Lord
Weisgal's book is filled to the toward law and order ...", through Rothschild—wryly declared: "Any-
brim with an earthy humor that his first m e e t i n g with Chaim one who has dealt with Meyer
is quite uncommon to this genre. Weizmann — a matter of love at knows that it's both an enriching
While other such books are filled first sight, whose effect was to and impovershing experience."
But perhaps the most fascinat-
with pomposity and self --import- wholly redirect the Zionist public-
ance, Weisgal's Is filled with a relations - man - cum - producer and ing chapters in this book have to
refreshing irony of which, by the start him on a path that eventually do with the relationship between
way, be himself is often the lead to the Presidency of the Weiz- Meyer Weisgal and Chaim Weiz-
mann Institute of Science.
target.
mann. Weisgal's love for and un-
But mostly, this is a book in-
These then were the- two main
formed by the author's charac- stations of .Weisgal's life; in be-
Put your
teristic unconventionality and can- tween, he lived fully, colorfully
morf,
dor, by the qualities that won him and seemingly without a minute
so many friends, and not a few of monotony. Eban was to say of
enemies. Sometimes he writes wist- Weisgal, as Pericles said of the
fully, -,sometimes brazenly, some- Athenians, that, born restless him-
times tragically, as in his most self, he was fated to deprive all
Sign up for
moving description of Chaim Weiz- others of their rest.
ILL
mann's fall from political . power
In time, Weisgal became Weiz-
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20 Friday, 'February 111, 1972
flagging loyalty- to- Dr. Weizmann leadership of Mapai -- all these ,
determined the course of his life, because they are seen. from Weis-
from that point in the 1920s when gal's very special point of view,
Weisgal chose to stand with Weiz- form, ID fact,- a substantial Contri-
mann in his struggle against Bran- bution to the fiistory of the Zionist
' deis and up to the last bitter movement, a contribution for
moments in the life of - Israel's which future historians of Israel,
first president - •iwliiise310-C%-emies in. their search for information
1 denied' him even the privilege of about the first and Second decade
signing Israel's Proclamation of of the state's existence, will .un-
Independence, though others were questionably b mose grateful.
permitted to do this retroactively.
In.this episode lies part of the . -
sources of Weisgal's criticism of
It's Nice
Ben-Gurion, but it has other roots
as well. Weisgal sees Ben-GUrion
To
Deal With
as possessed by "a Messianic
complex." The first member of the
Zionist establishment_ (with the
Jut Slatkili".
exception of Pinhas Lavon) to
break the conspiracy of silence.
In his book Weisgal says out
aloud and in public what others
(among them Moshe Sharett and
Yosef Sprinzak) were only pre-
2 r Z 7 W 6 NA
pared to say to each other pri-
vately; in whispers.
Weisgal's assessments and evalu-
534-1400
ations of the struggle that pre-
ceded the establishment of the
&tor
Froorms* To Yoe:
State of Israel; of David Ben-
Gurion; of the so-called Lavon Af-
ECET !TR S EhY10E:
fair; of the psychological and emo-
tional climate prevailing in the
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