The land of Jewish worker bees
Without the Jewish worker bees, Israel would never have been established as a modern state. The Jewish worker bees together made a massive and critical difference.
An event I won’t forget from my visit to Tel Aviv University (TAU) earlier this year was a solemn ceremony the Australian contingent performed.
Sophie Fridman z’l left a significant proportion of her estate to TAU. The first we heard about it at Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (Victoria) was when we received a letter from the lawyer acting for her estate. We did not know her and asked the lawyer for some details.
She died without leaving any children or relatives and her husband had predeceased her.
All we could find out was that she was a refugee from Poland. She arrived in Melbourne penniless, worked in a factory and then in an office. Her story was so typical of many post-Shoah migrants in Australia. We didn’t even have a photo of her.
Not one of the 25 or so people at the ceremony knew her, but we were all awed by the significance of the event and the duty we had to be there, to honour her.
The plaque names a lecture hall in the Coller School of Management after her. It is now known as The Sophie Fridman Interactive Lecture Hall.
Generations of students, who are given a better chance at life than her, will walk past her plaque and in many cases, will silently thank her.
Her life was not in vain and her memory lives on. What wonderful ideas will emerge from that lecture hall?
During a very hectic five days, the Aussie group attended unveilings of plaques in honour of Helen and Stanley Grosman and Walter Kastelan as well.
Walking around the park-like campus, we saw several other buildings funded by well-known Australian philanthropists. Respected names such as Besen, Gandel, Lew, Lowy to name some.
After the Board of Governors meetings, I travelled around Israel with my wife Sue, our daughter Tessa and two grandchildren aged eight and 11, and I began to see Israel in a new light.
In so many places we visited, there were park benches, gardens, grottos, monuments and occasionally, buildings, all with plaques on them. Many dated back to pre-Herzl days and often there were names of groups of people, as opposed to individuals.
It really began to dawn on me for the first time, that Israel is really the land of the often faceless Little Jew. In my mind, I named them Jewish worker bees because Jews are so like worker bees. We move in a pack, look after each other, work hard and are strong and survive because of this.
How many Jews from the last 200 years have passed on, with the knowledge in their heart that there is something tangible in the biblical homeland, which is tied to them?
We all know of the major donors who helped to build Israel and we know of appeals which have raised funds from large numbers of people. Pennies in the Blue Box.
Without the Jewish worker bees, Israel would never have been established as a modern state. The Jewish worker bees together made a massive and critical difference. It is really Israel’s strength. There are no oligarchs, strongmen or self-proclaimed leaders calling the shots. It is the masses of Jews from over the centuries, who supported and continue to support and to live in Israel, which make it unassailable.
We are currently hearing so much about how Israel is “tearing itself apart”. What we are not seeing anywhere enough of is the energy and drive of Israelis and the belief that they are an integral component of an emerging new society, which is showering the world with innovative ideas, which just keep coming. It is tikkun olam in action.
I see the recent demonstrations against the judicial overhaul as merely an expression of Israeli democracy in action. Israel has been at crisis point many times before and it always passes through to the other side, stronger than ever. It needs religious Jews and it needs secular Jews and every shade in between.
Visiting the TAU campus and interacting with students talking to us about their research was a truly enlightening experience. On campus, there are no little groups which reflect the various strands of Israeli society, there were just Israelis.
Rich, poor, fee-paying, on scholarships, religious, secular, Christians, Muslims. They are all Israelis.
Roger Mendelson is president of the Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (Victoria) and a member of the TAU Board of Governors.
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