Page 31 - Rehavia advanced 130918
P. 31
Advanced level – רמה מתקדמת
Yitzhak ben Zvi
Yitzhak Shimshelevitz arrived in Palestine with very little money in his pockets. He
was young and inquisitive and came to Jaffa to study the secrets of the Land of
Israel. He rented a room in a boardinghouse and invited his friend, Rachel
Lishinsky, to share the room with him. In those days, it was uncommon for
unmarried men and women to be roommates. The owner of the boardinghouse,
Yisrael Penigstein, requested that Shimshelevitz not fill his boardinghouse with sin.
The owner informed him that either he separate from the young woman or he,
Penigstein, would separate himself from Shimshelevitz. So Yitzhak chose a
different course and proposed to Rachel.
When Yitzhak was chosen to be President of Israel, his wife stood by his side and
assisted him, so much so that there were those who said that his full, formal title
should be "His Honor the President of Israel and his wife".
Yitzhak and his wife were known for their modesty. They refused to move from
their modest home to the elegant President's Residence. The Government of Israel
bought the Valero house, opposite the President's hut and the President and his wife
moved there. Two other shacks were built next to the President's abode, for
hospitality. The idea to build simple shacks came from Ben Zvi himself. He felt it
was unseemly for the President to live in luxurious quarters when most of the new
immigrants were living in huts and tin shacks. Today, these huts are used as lecture
rooms at the Ben Tzvi Institute (Yad Ben Tzvi). Ben Tzvi also fought against
having his salary raised; when he was forced to take a raise while he was overseas,
he decided to donate half of the raise to research. He refused to buy another suit or
pair of shoes. He had to be convinced that he had to buy another pair of shoes, lest
he embarrass the country.
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