Signatures of Ninety Members of the Constituent Assembly and the Chief Rabbis on the Occasion of the First Knesset ...

Signatures of Ninety Members of the Constituent Assembly and the Chief Rabbis on the Occasion of the First Knesset Session, February 14, 1949
A sheet of paper bearing the signatures of ninety of the members of the First Knesset, and the Chief Rabbis, signed on the occasion of the first session of the Knesset in the National Institutes Building, Jerusalem, February 14, 1949.
On Tu Bishvat, February 14, 1949, at 4:00pm, the Constituent Assembly held a festive assembly during which the "Transition Law" was adopted. This law stated that the Constituent Assembly would serve as the First Knesset of the State of Israel. The ceremony opened with the lighting of candles in memory of the Holocaust victims and the casualties of the War of Independence. The session was headed by Chaim Weizmann and attended by the IDF Chief of Staff, IDF Generals, the Chief Rabbis, judges and other dignitaries. Joseph Sprintzak was appointed Chairman of the Knesset after which the members swore allegiance. The headline of the Davar daily announced, "The first session of the Constituent Assembly opens today – people from all over the country are gathering in Jerusalem. The City of David is celebrating the historic event." In honor of the event, the poet Nathan Alterman published his poem "Im Knesset Rishona" in his column HaTur HaShvi'i.
The document presented here is a unique item, being an independent and original initiative: Prior to the session, two young men appeared at the entrance to the hall with a sheet of paper resembling the Declaration of Independence. The handwritten text at the top of the document read, "On Monday, Tu Bishvat, five thousand seven hundred and nine years to the creation of the universe, at 4pm, the members of the Constituent Assembly gathered in the National Institutes Hall in Jerusalem, the capital of eternal Israel, to lay the foundations of justice, law and peace for the State of Israel till the end of eternity. Herewith are their signatures." Full of excitement and in recognition of the moment's significance, the members of the Constituent Assembly stood in line to sign the "Scroll." When the session opened, the Knesset members had to enter the hall; by then ninety of them had signed their names to the document, in four columns.
Amongst the signatories: Yitzchak Ben-Zvi, David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin (with a greeting, "BeVirkat Achim"), Zerach Warhaftig, Joseph Sprintzak, Meir Vilner, Ben-Zion Dinaburg [Dinur], Uri Zvi Greenberg, Nathan Friedman-Yelin [Yelin-Mor], Dov Joseph, Zalman Aharonowitz [Aran], Ada Fishman [Mimon], Akiva Globman [Govrin], Aryeh Baheer, Pinchas Lubianiker [Lavon], Dr. Yochanan Bader, Shraga Goren (Gorochovsky), Zvi Yehudah [Zaltsman], Eliezer Liebenstein [Livneh], Heschel Frumkin, Hasia Drori, David HaCohen, Felix Rosenblitt [Pinchas Rosen], Shmuel Mikunis, Shmuel Dayan, Shoshana Persitz, Avraham Herzfeld, and many others (some signed twice). Many of the Knesset members signed their original, "pre-Hebraized" names (ie prior to their altering their original surnames to Hebrew ones). Several signatures are in Arabic.
At the borders of the leaf, upside down, appear the signatures of the Sephardic and the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis, Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel and Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Halevy Herzog, as well as the signatures of Rabbi Reuven Katz (rabbi of Petach-Tikva), Rabbi Isser Yehudah Untermann, Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Toledano and Rabbi Ya'akov Henich [Hanoch] Sankevitch.
Included is a sheet of paper identical in size, which served as a draft, on which the above-mentioned text appears. This draft was signed by Menachem Begin – who added the dedication "BeVirkat Achim on this holiday, Tu Bishvat" – and Uri Zvi Greenberg.
75.5X27.5 cm. Good condition. Folded into two. Several stains, tears at borders.
To the best of our knowledge, this is a unique item and no similar item has ever been offered at auction.