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Chaim Weizmann was a scientist, leader of the Zionist movement for almost 30 years (1917-1946), and the first President of the State of Israel.
Weizmann was born in 1874 in Motol, Russia. When he moved to Pinsk for his studies, he distinguished himself for his scientific ability and also began his Zionist activities. In 1892, he moved to Germany to continue his academic studies. In 1899, at the age of 25, Weizmann was awarded a doctorate in science at the University in Switzerland. Two years later, he was appointed lecturer in chemistry and began his political career as well. From that time onward, Weizmann divided his time between Zionist activity and science.
Throughout his life, Chaim Weizmann thought that working to develop institutions of education for the people was no less important than diplomatic activity in the international community.
Weizmann joined the activities of the Zionist movement from its inception. In 1901, together with other young activists, he established the “Democratic Fraction.”
When the Zionist movement split over the issue of the “Uganda Plan” in 1903 (a British proposal to allocate 13,000 square kilometers in its protectorate in eastern Africa for Jewish settlement), Weizmann was among the young delegates who opposed the plan, declaring, “there is no Zionism without Zion.”
Weizmann's Zionist doctrine is reflected in his words: “Even if all of the kings of the East and West were to give us a state, it would only be words. But if the Jewish people were to rise up and build the land of Israel, then the State of Israel would be a fait accompli.”
Indeed Weizmann took action – both in the practical sphere of settlement, science, and education, and in the diplomatic realm to realize the goal: a state for the Jewish people in the land of Israel.
In 1904, at the age of 30, Weizmann emigrated from Switzerland to Great Britain, taking a position as senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of Manchester.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the scientist, was involved in scientific discoveries, for many of which he received patents (121). His discovery related to the process of producing acetone, a solvent used in making explosives, helped Britain's war effort during World War I and brought him into close contact with English statesmen, among them Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.
It was because of Weizmann's contact with statesmen and journalists, along with his personal contribution to the British war effort, that he became an influential figure in discussions that led to Britain's “Balfour Declaration” in 1917.
The declaration's main point stated: “His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
In 1917, Weizmann was elected President of the Zionist Federation of England.
Great Britain did not rush to fulfill its obligation to establish a national home for the Jewish people under the Balfour Declaration. Despite this failure, Weizmann continued, indefatigably, with his diplomatic Zionist activity. On 4 June 1918, he met with Amir Faisal, who later became the king of Syria and Iraq. Weizmann spoke with him about Jewish-Arab cooperation. In January 1919, an agreement was signed between them, but the treaty was not honored by the Arab side.
Dr. Weizmann's diplomatic involvement made him a major figure in the Jewish community and in the Zionist movement. In 1918, a British government delegation was formed, the purpose of which was to make recommendations about how to settle the land of Israel and develop it. Weizmann was appointed head of the Zionist delegation to the land of Israel in this context. In April of that year he laid the cornerstone for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In 1920, at the London Convention of the World Zionist movement, he was elected its President and became its main contact with the British government. Weizmann served in this position until 1946, except for 1931- 1935. During his term of office, he established the expanded Jewish Agency (1929) as an umbrella organization for all joint activity of Jewish and non-Jewish Zionists; he was one of the founders of Keren Hayesod (1920), a fund-raising organization created to realize the Zionist endeavor in the land of Israel.
In 1925, the Hebrew University was inaugurated at Mt. Scopus, which was the result of Dr. Weizmann's efforts and initiative.
Dr. Weizmann believed in practical work in the land of Israel and contended that Jewish society would be built only “house by house, dunam by dunam.” His decision in 1934, at the age of 60, to establish his residence in Rehovot, was the direct result of this belief.
That same year, the “Daniel Sieff Research Institute” was established though Weizmann's initiative and the funding of the Sieff family. This research institute was the foundation of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Dr. Weizmann advocated a moderate policy toward the Arabs. Until 1937, he supported a plan for political cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the land of Israel, without taking into account the demographic differences. From 1937, he supported the partition plan and the establishment of two separate states for Jews and Arabs.
The struggle over the settlement of the land of Israel against the British government, which published its “White Paper” in 1939 in an attempt to limit the rights of Jews over the land and, thus, prevent Jews from immigrating to the land of Israel, forced Dr. Weizmann to stay in London and invest efforts in trying to change the hostile British policy. Despite their inimical policy, Weizmann reasoned that it was only with the mediation of England that a national homeland could be achieved. His moderate, tolerant attitude toward the British aroused antagonism in the Zionist movement, especially among the Jews living in the land of Israel (the yishuv).
In 1942, when the United States joined World War II, President Roosevelt asked Dr. Weizmann, who was staying in London at the time, to come to the United States to help find a solution to the problem of manufacturing synthetic rubber for the war effort. Weizmann accepted this request.
As the Weizmanns waited for the car that would take them to the airport on their way to the United States, the bitter news reached them that their younger son Michael, a pilot in the Royal Air Force, was missing in action. The news of the death of their son dealt the couple a harsh blow. Weizmann's activity continued, but mourning always hovered in the background.
In May 1942, the Zionist Convention assembled at the Biltmore Hotel in New York. In the days before the convention, there was an open dispute between Dr. Weizmann, who served as head of the Zionist organization, and David Ben-Gurion, who was the head of the Jewish Agency. Dr. Weizmann contended that the delicate negotiations with Britain should be continued to establish a Jewish army and to cancel the white paper restrictions, while working for the aliyah of thousands of Jews, who would gradually comprise a majority in the land of Israel, thus avoiding an open confrontation with the British government.
At this convention, Dr. Weizmann supported the “Biltmore Plan” as formulated, together with David Ben-Gurion, but the tension between the two continued to grow.
Dr. Weizmann's moderate policy did not suit the struggle that had begun to brew in the yishuv against British policy in the land of Israel after the white paper was issued. Weizmann's absence from the land of Israel intensified his lack of connection from the rest of the members of the Zionist administration and reduced his influence.
In 1946, at the 22nd Zionist Congress in Basel, Weizmann did not win the support of the voters for his positions, and he resigned his post as President of the Zionist movement. In his resignation address, he warned against short cuts: “I regard terror to be the greatest catastrophe, morally and politically. It is a cancer in the body of the yishuv. Do not let it spread because it can swallow the entire movement and the yishuv and destroy everything that we have built.”
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations Assembly decided to partition the land of Israel. The British announced that they were ending their mandate on May 15, 1948. At the end of January 1948, the Jewish representatives in the U.S. called Dr. Weizmann to travel there to help persuade the American President to support and recognize the state that was about to be established. After some effort, Dr. Weizmann was received in the White house on February 18, 1948 (thanks to the intercession of a personal friend of President Truman, Mr. Eddie Jacobson). Through the connections and ties forged with the President Truman, it was promised that the Negev would remain part of the Jewish state, and American recognition for the Jewish state was guaranteed. The morning of the declaration of the State of Israel, Weizmann telegraphed 100 members of the Zionist administration to inform them of the establishment of the state and, indeed, that same day, David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel.
On May 17, 1948, Weizmann received a telegram in the United States with an invitation to serve a as the President of the Provisional People's Council of State: “On the occasion of establishing the Jewish state we send our greetings to you, who have done more than any other person living among us to create it. Your determination and your help have strengthened us all. We look forward to the day when we will see you President of the State of Israel which will be established in peace.”
In February 1949, on Tu B'Shvat, the day the Knesset was established, Weizmann was elected President of the state and this is what he said in his speech: “We must build a new bridge between science and the human spirit. I have always known that above science there are other noble values which can offer a remedy to the ills of mankind: the values of justice and honesty, peace and brotherhood. Zion will be redeemed in justice and those that return to her with righteousness.”
In November 1949, in honor of his 75th birthday, the Sieff Institute was expanded, and the Weizmann Institute of Science was inaugurated with the support and consent of the Sieff family.
The duties of the President were defined as primarily an honorary role, and his poor health prevented Dr. Weizmann from taking a more active role in charting the course of the new state.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann died in his home in 1952 at the age of 78. At his request, he was buried in the courtyard of his home in Rehovot.
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