Rabbi Josh Zweiback

January 5, 2007

Teddy Kollek:  Builder of Jerusalem    

The great poet Yehudah Amichai once wrote: “It's sad to be the mayor of Jerusalem--it's terrible. How can a man be mayor of such a city? What can he do with it? Build and build and build…”

On Tuesday, Teddy Kollek, the man who built Jerusalem , the man who was its mayor for almost 30 years, died at age 95.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called Teddy the greatest builder of Jerusalem since Herod the Great. The Israel Museum , the Jerusalem Theater, the Cinematheque, the Kahn Theater, and the restored Jewish quarter were all developed under Teddy’s watchful eye.

Teddy Kollek. His story is the story of the State of Israel. And his greatest teaching is one of hope. A lesson we need in the dark of winter, during a time when things in the Middle East seem rather bleak.

Teddy Kollek was born Theodor Herzl Kollek on May 27, 1911, in Budapest . What a name for a boy who would grow up to be mayor of the capital city of Medinat Yisrael , the State of Israel. The country dreamed up and made real by Teddy’s namesake.

As a child, Teddy was active in Zionist youth groups including Habonim.

As the Nazis took power, Teddy worked to smuggle refugees into British Mandate Palestine. He made aliyah in 1935 and helped found Ein Gev, a Kibbutz on the shores of the Sea of Galilee . As was unfortunately typical for the pioneers of Teddy’s generation, he contracted typhoid and malaria many times as he worked to drain the swamps of the Galilee , turn deserts into green pastures, and realize the promise of the Promised Land.

In 1938, Teddy went to England to work for a Zionist youth group. There he worked to help Jews get out of Austria using British entry permits. After Kristallnacht, the night of Broken Glass in November, 1938, three thousand Zionist youth groupers and pioneers in training throughout Germany were sent to Concentration Camps. Teddy somehow managed to get a hold of 3,000 British entry permits for agricultural workers and thus save the lives of almost all of those who’d been arrested.

In 1939, Teddy traveled to Vienna where he met with Adolf Eichmann. He somehow convinced Eichmann to let a large group of Austrian Jews emigrate to England on British visas.

The next time Teddy would meet Eichman was in Israel in 1961 when Kollek was put in charge of the logistical arrangements for Eichman’s trial in Jerusalem .

It was during his time in England that Kollek met David Ben Gurion, the future Prime Minister of the Jewish State and the man who would later get Teddy involved in politics.

Teddy proved himself to be a great fund-raiser, moving to New York to raise money to help arm the fledgling state. In one day in 1948 shortly before Independence , he raised a million dollars to help buy planes for Israel ’s air force.

Teddy remained in Israel for the next few years, serving as liaison between the CIA and Israel ’s foreign intelligence services.

In 1952, Ben Gurion asked Teddy to come to return home to become director general of the Prime Minister’s office. Teddy served as Ben Gurion’s right hand man for the next 12 years. During that time he played a key role in such mundane, everyday tasks as purchasing the Dead Sea scrolls for the State of Israel and creating the Tourism Department.

When Ben Gurion left office, Teddy devoted his energies to a project that he’d been dreaming about for years: the creation of the Israel Museum . Many felt that an art museum was a luxury item that a young, embattled, impoverished state could ill afford. But Teddy argued that Israel needed “expressions of culture and civilization.” Practically single-handedly, Teddy raised the money for the museum and personally oversaw the acquisition of most of the art. If this magnificent museum had been his only contribution to Jerusalem , his only gift to the Jewish people and the world—dayeinu, it would have been enough. But Teddy wasn’t done. He hadn’t even gotten started.

A few years later, Ben Gurion encouraged Teddy to run for mayor of Jerusalem . Ben Gurion’s son was less supportive of the idea. “What will happen if you win?” he asked Teddy. “You’ll be in charge of collecting the garbage?”

Teddy was in charge of that and more for the next twenty-nine years.

But shortly into his tenure, his job got a lot bigger. In June of 1967, Jerusalem was reunited and Teddy suddenly became the mayor of over 100,000 Arab residents of East Jerusalem . When Teddy was touring the Old City shortly after reunification, a soldier joked proudly, “We have made our city bigger!” Teddy replied, “A bigger headache you mean?”

 “I got into this by accident,” Kollek said. “I was bored. When the city was united [in 1967], I saw this as a historic occasion… Jerusalem is the one essential element in Jewish history. A body can live without an arm or a leg, not without the heart. This is the heart and soul of it.”

Teddy was pragmatic more than political. He quickly realized that the development of a poor city like Jerusalem could only succeed with private support so in 1966 he founded the Jerusalem Foundation which has helped build over 2000 projects in Jerusalem including playgrounds, music centers, parks, Teddy Stadium, the Tower of David Museum, and the Biblical Zoo, a Kollek favorite.

About the zoo Teddy said, “[We built it] to bring people together… We have a varied population, Jews from 104 backgrounds, 40 different Christian denominations. All the groups mix at the zoo. If this goes on for a generation, they’ll grow up without having fear of the other group. In Jerusalem , the zoo fulfills a political function.”

Teddy worked hard to build bridges and trust between Arab and Jewish residents of Jerusalem . He approached Jewish-Arab relations pragmatically. According to Tom Segev, historian and Kollek protégé, Teddy would say: “I’d love the city to be empty of Arabs, but since they are here we need to serve them, because if we treat them badly they will hate us more.”

He recognized that it would be easier—only marginally perhaps—to govern a city that was wholly Jewish. But given the “facts on the ground,” there was only one way to respond: build good will, build bridges, work together to make Jerusalem great.

He worked hard to manage tensions between religious and “secular” Israelis. He was a friend of progressive Judaism in Israel , helping the Hebrew Union College to grow.

He was an extraordinary man. A great leader. A great humanitarian.

We should mourn his passing even as we give thanks for his legacy.

His life tells the story of the history of Zionism, of the State of Israel. His is the last generation of the pioneers, the founders, the partisans who built the Jewish State out of the ashes of the Shoah.

I was living in Jerusalem in 1993 when Ehud Olmert defeated Kollek in Teddy’s last mayoral race. Even Teddy’s supporters reluctantly admitted that it was time for new leadership—twenty-nine years was long enough to be mayor of Jerusalem .

When we go to Jerusalem today, thirteen years after he left office as mayor, we are still very much visiting Teddy Kollek’s Jerusalem . We’re walking his streets, visiting his museums, enjoying his parks and views and beautiful Tulip beds. He deserves our gratitude and our praise.

But what can we learn from Teddy Kollek? What can his life teach us?

Tonight on this Shabbat Va’yechi, the last Shabbat in the book of Genesis, I’d like to suggest one lesson.

In chapter 49, verse 1, we read about some of Jacob’s final words to his sons before dying:

“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.’”

Imagine the scene. Jacob is about to die. His sons are gathered around. And this family has had its share of drama. Joseph and his brothers. Dinah. There really hasn’t been a dull moment. And now Dad says that he is going to tell them all what will happen in the end of days.

And it’s like those E. F. Hutton ads. Everyone leans in close to hear what Jacob will reveal. What will happen at the end of time?

Jacob doesn’t really answer. He goes on to tell each son a little bit about his hopes and fears but doesn’t really describe what will happen at the end of days at all.

The commentators try to make sense of it.

The Shla, Rabbi Isaiah HaLevi Horowitz, a 16^th century sage, writes: “Jacob wanted to reveal to his children the secret of Redemption. He said to them, ‘Gather yourselves together.’ Redemption cannot come if there is enmity between the sons. Rather, it will only come if everyone gather together as one unit.” (Itturey Torah, p. 443)

Hey, want to know the secret of redemption?  ¿Up§xœ¨t¥v--gather together! What a creative reading! Not, “gather together and I’ll tell you the secret.” But rather, “I’ll tell you the secret: Gather together!”

Want redemption to come? Want things to get better? ¿Up§xœ¨t¥v! Gather together.

Reflecting on Teddy Kollek’s life might just bring us closer together. His sacrifice, his leadership, his example can bring us together.

Jews and Arabs. Secular and Religious. Reform and Orthodox. He reached out to everyone.

I don’t think Teddy agreed with Yehudah Amichai. I don’t think he thought it was sad to be mayor of Jerusalem . I think he loved building and building and building.

Gather together to mourn, to remember, to give thanks for the life of a great man.

Yehi zichro baruch—May his memory be a blessing.