Handwritten letter by Menachem Begin: “To the members of the executive board of the ‘Tagar’ Institute for National Education, Irgun veterans, Jerusalem” [dated after February 27, 1992 – unsigned]. This is apparently the last letter Menachem Begin ever wrote (see below), serving as a sort of testament before his death, in which he expresses his satisfaction with the commemoration of the heroism of the Irgun fighters.
In his letter, Begin responds to the board members of the Tagar Institute for National Education – Irgun veterans – after receiving their letter dated 23 Adar I 5752 [February 27, 1992], and praises their efforts in producing a video commemorating the heroism of the Irgun. The tone of the letter reads almost like a final testament written by Begin shortly before his passing. In the letter, he writes: “…Your educational initiative is a noble one. If you wish to come and present the video [“which reflects” – correction in the handwriting of Begin’s secretary] the actions of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, in which we were all members and for which we made efforts on behalf of the rebirth of Israel – I will be most pleased and deeply grateful. Please coordinate the date of the meeting with my friend Yechiel Kadishai, with great respect and blessings.”
On March 3, 1992, less than a week after Begin wrote this letter, he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized in serious condition at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. He remained there until his death six days later, on March 9, 1992, at the age of 78. (Already two years earlier, in August 1990, Begin had moved to Tel Aviv after a prior hospitalization at Ichilov. During the last year and a half of his life, he lived in an apartment at 4 Gliksberg Street in Tel Aviv, and was visited regularly by only a very small circle of people.) The style and hurried phrasing of the letter clearly indicate that Begin wrote it in the final days of his life, while in deteriorating physical condition. The additions and corrections in the handwriting of his secretary (appearing twice in the body of the letter) further attest to this.
[1] leaf. Fold mark. Good condition.
