Honorable President,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
Honorable Chief Rabbis,
Weizmann and Sharett Families,
Distinguished Guests,

Our Sages of Blessed Memory determined the first day in the month of Nissan as the “New Years of Kings”.  It is true that we are not kings, nor the sons of kings, and the kingdom of Israel is still waiting for a future generation, but we were privileged – thank G-d – to have the presidents and prime ministers of our generation, from the hour of the renewal and rebirth of Israel sixty years ago.  Today we commemorate, with honor, appreciation and gratitude, the memories of the presidents and prime ministers of the State of Israel who have passed away.

As with every year, this official event marking the personalities and activities of the presidents and prime ministers who are no longer with us is special.  Ezer Weizmann and Moshe Sharett are the figures whose accomplishments we remember today.

Ezer Weizmann was, first and foremost, a captivating man.  The pace of his speech, his rough language, the freedom he allowed his tongue, his manners, his laugh, his smile, the naughty light sparkling in his eyes, all inspired fascination.  He was a charming man, enthusiastic, uninhibited – an original, special species unique to the Land of Israel.  It was easy to misinterpret Ezer and attribute to him a lack of seriousness, insolence and excessive self-confidence.  However, Ezer was one of our most prudent, original and thorough leaders.  In his spirit and under his leadership as Commander of the Air Force, the Force was built up and evolved, through meticulous, imaginative and bold operational planning, into one of the leading air forces in the world.

In his position as Minister in the Government, as a political leader and member of Knesset, he strove for large goals and wide horizons.  He, Ezer, who was a hawk among the hawks as long as the window to peace had not been opened, did not remain anchored and bound by fixed thinking.  With the creation of an opportunity for a breakthrough – he charged forward full-force.  For Ezer saw the bigger picture and was an optimistic and persistent man, a maximalist Zionist who followed the path which viewed achieving peace as the zenith of the Zionist vision.

He believed that time should be utilized and that no opportune moment to paving the path of peace should be missed.  When elected President – he was enveloped by the love of the people.  He left his mark on the presidency and he determined binding rules for those who followed him – to visit bereaved families with sensitivity and love during their time of grief and to personally and directly deliver, as First Citizen, the condolences of the country.  Ezer Weizmann was an unforgettable figure.  As I remember him now, I see his expression, his winking eyes, his smiling lips, his familiar voice mischievously thundering in my ears.  I miss him and remember him also as a friend whose opinion, advice, reprimand and hug – will always serve as a source of encouragement.

Moshe Sharett is not as engraved in the current public memory as Ezer Weizmann was, because he belongs to an earlier period, the period of the “country to come” and the first years of the State.  However, in the pages of Israel’s history, a place of honor is reserved for him.

As head of the political division in the Jewish Agency before the establishment of the State, and as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel during its first eight years, he stood at the head of the foreign service, shaped the patterns and course of Israeli diplomacy and how the young State was represented in the international arena.

He was David Ben-Gurion’s partner in the strategy of partition and to stand firm, after the War of Independence, in the face of international pressure to reduce the territory of the State and open its borders for the return of refugees.  However, he also took independent stands and disagreed with Ben-Gurion on other important matters.  For example, he objected, like many others at the time, to Ben-Gurion’s bold tactic of declaring Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel when faced with wall-to-wall international protests.  He especially rejected Ben-Gurion’s security policy, which was based on retaliatory operations and proposed an alternative policy to deal with security problems.

His short tenure as Prime Minister – less than two years – was not enough to establish his stature and prove the superiority of his methods.  He opened secret channels of dialogue with our neighbor to the South, but the time was not ripe.  Moshe Sharett, educated and blessed with many talents, was an artist of pure, polished and precise language, both written and spoken, and was a zealot of proper Hebrew.  His influence as a senior political and moral personality was evident even after his retirement from the Government in his last position as Chairman of the World Zionist Organization.

We remember and honor the seventh president, Ezer Weizmann, and the second prime minister, Moshe Sharett, along with all the other presidents and prime ministers who have passed away.  They all played a role and provided a legacy in the building of the country, the development of the economy, the defense of our security and the advancement of peace.  We will follow in their light and in their footsteps.

May their memories be blessed.