Abstract

The article focuses on David Ben-Gurion’s past image using a series of programmatic and widely distributed speeches he made during Israel’s first Independence Days (1948-1958). The article argues that while the founding of the state was defined as a turning point it was certainly not portrayed as a ‘beginning’, and that both the ancient sovereign and the exilic Jewish experience had a central place in Ben-Gurion’s relevant past. At the centre of discussion stand five main characteristics of the speeches: the continuation between the state and the Jewish ancient past; the central place of a secularized messianism as a bridge between the exilic past and the sovereign present; the attempt to portray a widely accepted shared past using consensus-based terminology; the simplification of the Zionist rebellion against the exile; and the fundamental differentiation between the Jewish symbolic past and the realistic Israeli present. These five elements are analysed against the background of other texts by Ben-Gurion and his image in the research. Finally, this case study is placed within a wider context which demonstrates the Israeli quest for a Jewish framework of meaning that would authenticate the new national myths and charge them with meaning.

摘要

这篇文章重点介绍了大卫·本·古里安（David Ben-Gurion）的过去形象，他在以色列首次独立日（1948-1958）期间发表了一系列程序化且分布广泛的演讲。文章认为，虽然国家的建立被定义为一个转折点，但它当然并没有被描绘成一个“开始”，古代的君主和流亡的犹太人的经历在本·古里安的相关过去中都处于中心地位。在讨论的中心，演讲的五个主要特征是：国家与犹太古代历史之间的延续；世俗化的弥赛亚主义的中心位置，是流放的过去与君主现在之间的桥梁；试图使用基于共识的术语描绘一个广泛接受的共享过去；犹太复国主义者对流亡者的叛乱的简化；以及犹太人的象征性过去和现实的以色列现在之间的根本区别。本·古里安（Ben-Gurion）和他在研究中的形象是在其他文献的背景下对这五个要素进行分析的。最后，本案例研究放在更广泛的背景下，表明以色列对犹太人意义框架的追求，这将证实新的民族神话并将其赋予意义。