My grandfather, David Ben-Gurion
Nearly 300 JNF supporters were captivated by stories Alon Ben-Gurion shared about his famous grandfather, David Ben-Gurion…stories of a brilliant man, who was a pragmatist as well as a dreamer.
Dan Springer, Pam Kraill and David Moses
“He was, for me, a grandfather,” Alon says. “To other people, he was the prime minister and the leader of Israel. I always knew his greatness, but as time passes, you see what a giant he was.”
Speaking at the JNF NSW AGM Alon recalls a time near the end of his grandfather’s life where he visited a primary school South of Beer-Sheva. A student asked him, “Were you ever satisfied in your life?”
“He said, ‘Satisfied? No, never. If you’re satisfied in your life that brings complacency. No, I will never be satisfied because the job is never done.”
Alon spoke about the Negev’s strategic importance to Israel and praised JNF Australia for continuing to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. He recognised the instrumental role JNF plays in realising his grandfather’s vision of settling the Negev, a region David Ben-Gurion referred to as the “cradle of Israel”.
Alon never gets tired of speaking about his grandfather. “He lived his life for one thing – to build a state, a place where all Jews would come”. Alon said if he could ask his grandfather one question today he would ask him “if Israel was on the right path?
“I think I know the answer he would say – stay the course.”
JNF Australia paid tribute to the outstanding service of both their National President Peter Smaller and NSW State President Pam Krail who complete their terms in 2019 and welcomed incoming NSW President David Moses.
Mazel Tov to Rafi Franklin, who won the Sylvia Smaller-Winnikow Award which honours the outstanding service of a Young Volunteer to the Jewish Community. Rafi has been a Green Sunday volunteer for 4 years. JNF also celebrated the incredible achievements and contributions made by Hatzolah by awarding them the Sydney D Einfeld Memorial Award for outstanding service by an organisation to the Jewish Community. The presentations concluded with the NSW Blue Box Worker of the Year being awarded to Phillip Lake, who has been collecting blue boxes in the Bondi area for 53 years.
Peter Smaller will be succeeded next month as the JNF National President by Melbourne’s Marcus Rose.
