Thank you for your generous,
tax-deductible contribution!
The Menachem Begin Heritage Center is the national commemoration project for the sixth prime minister of Israel and first Israeli Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The “Begin Law” was passed in the Knesset in 1999 to establish a center to honor the life, work, achievements, and legacy of Menachem Begin.
The Begin Law required that all funds for the physical building be from donations, so the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation was created. The Foundation is a legal foundation in Israel with Friends organizations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The Menachem Begin Heritage Center building has been completely paid for and carries no outstanding debt. The Foundation pivoted its mission to help support the Center’s programs, scholarships, and other initiatives.
Based on the concept of a US Presidential Library, the Center houses an archives, research library, research center, a high-tech museum, and an education department. The events department hosts many community events in Hebrew, English, Russian, and French, both in person and online.
The longest-running program is the Junior Knesset program for 14–15-year-olds to learn civics and parliamentary procedures in class for a semester. The students complete the course by coming to the Begin Center to go through a role-playing process to pass a law. They also visit the museum.
Along with the Junior Knesset program, the education department hosts a nationwide Begin quiz, developed “escape boxes” to gamify learning how underground groups operated, and created a number of leadership courses for soldiers and officers to explore how to handle leadership dilemmas using personal values.
The high-tech experiential museum is the main contact with the public and takes the visitor on a journey through Menachem Begin’s life, allowing him to tell his story in his own words and in his own voice. In many ways, it is also the story of Israel and European Jewry.
The research center has made much of Menachem Begin’s writings available online and publishes books and articles on Begin’s principles and interpretation of nationalism-liberalism.
Other initiatives are linked to the principles and values Menachem Begin held dear or are related in some way to the life experiences that made him the leader he became. For example, in our exhibition space, we have included art exhibitions related to the Jewish communities in Poland between the wars; another exhibition was related to the Anders Army; another related to letters Menachem Begin wrote as prime minister to members of the public. The weekly Torah Study session exists because Menachem Begin valued Jewish learning and held his own weekly sessions open to anyone who wanted to attend.
The Begin Center takes the lessons of Menachem Begin’s life and achievements and uses them to build a vibrant, active institute of learning to inspire future generations.
For more information, please be in contact with Ilana Brown ilanab@begincenter.org.il
Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation
6 Sh. A. Nahon Street
Jerusalem ISRAEL
+972 2 565 2008
ilanab@begincenter.org.il
(Amuta # 580230001)
US Friends of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation
4525 Saguaro Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46268-2557
USA
(Tax exemption # 35-1895773)
Canadian Friends of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation
Suite 601, One Yorkdale Road
Toronto, ON M6A 3A1
CANADA
(Tax exemption # 1007004-21)
UK Friends of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation
45/46 Bond Street
London W1S 25F
UK
(Charity # 1049229)
