GAIL DRAKE: A grandmother elected to lead a nation

“Village life ceased until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.” Judges 5:7

The 71-year-old woman sat quietly, surrounded by the assembly of men. Her gray hair was pulled into her signature bun, revealing lines on her face that belied a lifetime of poverty and service.

She had tried to retire, citing exhaustion and ill health. She had already served several decades in numerous government leadership roles, traversing four continents. She had served through three wars that directly affected her people. And secretly, she had just been diagnosed with lymphoma.

But she had been called upon by her party to serve, and she would honor that decision as she had prior decisions. So on March 7, 1969, a Russian Jew born in Ukraine, who grew up in Wisconsin, was voted the fourth Prime Minister of Israel — and the only female head of any government in the Middle East.

Golda Mabovitch was born in Kiev, Ukraine, to an impoverished Jewish family residing in the Russian Empire in 1898 during the reign of the Russian czars. Her father traveled to America to find work — eventually as a carpenter in the railroad yards, and her family immigrated. She grew up in Milwaukee and worked in her mother’s grocery store while attending grade school. She lived with her sister in Denver for a year, and there was introduced to contemporary issues of Zionism, women’s suffrage, socialism and trade unions.

These gatherings forged her convictions. She also met her future husband, Morris Meyerson, a painter and socialist.

Returning to Milwaukee, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin and taught at a Yiddish school. On Christmas Eve 1917 she married her groom — but her precondition was that they would immigrate to Israel. However, the U.S. entered into World War I, and she directed her energies to Zionist fundraising activities.

In 1921, Golda and her husband moved to Palestine, what was then part of the British Mandate. (From 1800 to 1918, the region was part of the Ottoman Empire.) They were eventually accepted into a kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley, and she worked in the fields and kitchens. Before long the kibbutz chose her to represent them to the Histadrut, the General Federation of Labour. They had two children.

In 1928 she was elected to the first of several political positions and traveled to the U.S. for fundraising (and medical treatment for her daughter). Ten years later, she was called upon by President Roosevelt to discuss the issue of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. Among 32 nations, only one — the Dominican Republic — was willing to take in Jewish refugees. She told the press, “There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore.”

Through World War II, she served in several key roles in the Jewish Agency, the functional government of British Palestine. She changed to her Hebrew name, “Meir,” and served as negotiator, field representative, and fundraiser of $90 million from the U.S. On May 14, 1948, she was one of two women who signed the Isreali Declaration of Independence, establishing the nation of Israel. She was then appointed as diplomat to the Soviet Union, a position she disliked as she did not drink, ballroom dance, gossip and had no interest in fashion.

She was further concerned about the Soviet’s anti-religious institutions. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion offered her the role of Labor Minister, where she flourished, orchestrating extensive immigration, housing and road construction projects, as well as schools, hospitals and business centers.

In 1969, two years before she was elected, Israel was suddenly attacked — and prevailed — during the Six Day War. In 1972, Jewish athletes were massacred at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants. Meir ordered Mossad to hunt down the suspects. On Oct. 6, 1973, on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, Syrian and Egyptian forces launched a surprise full-scale attack. Prior military intelligence had been inconclusive but alarming. However, Meir followed the counsel of her advisors instead of her instincts, and Israeli forces were not timely mobilized. While Isreali forces ultimately prevailed, more than 2,600 Jewish soldiers lost their lives. Meir resigned and carried to her grave regrets for not acting on her instincts.

Golda Meir is remembered today for her unusual leadership and her outspoken quotes:

“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”

“Not being beautiful was my true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources.”

“A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.”

“You cannot negotiate peace with someone who has come to kill you.”

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

On Oct. 7, the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Israel suffered another surprise attack.