YITZHAK NAVON CENTER FOR A SHARED SOCIETY

YITZHAK NAVON – PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE “We ought to cultivate and celebrate our ethnic heritage and traditions. Our communities must join hands and work together, and, in time, our people will find a common path.” Yitzhak Navon, Our Way of Living

The memory of Yitzchak Navon, the fifth president of the State of Israel, is enshrined in the chronicles of Israel and the Jewish people. He is remembered as a leader who dedicated his life to inspiring a sense of mutual responsibility between diverse ethnic groups, social sectors, cultures, and religions, toiling to narrow the socio-economic gaps between them and encouraging social cohesion. He embraced cultural diversity and unveiled the beauty of Sephardi culture. Yitzhak Navon served history and became a part of it. Navon was born in Jerusalem in 1921 to a family whose presence in the city dates back centuries. His father’s family originated in Spain, moved to Turkey following the Expulsion, and arrived in Jerusalem in 1670. His mother was a descendant of the renowned Moroccan-Jewish Kabbalist and author of Or HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim Ben Atar, who settled in Jerusalem in 1884. When elected president on May 29, 1978, Navon brought unprecedented prestige and moral fortitude to the office. With his wife, Ofira, by his side, he succeeded in generating a sense of unity and national pride that reflected a love of Israel and its numerous and diverse communities, cultures, and religions. He encouraged others to adopt the same fondness, firstly in regard to themselves. “If we want to make of our people something other than what we are, we must first ensure that each community be proud of itself and recognize that it has something to contribute to the whole and not only to take from it,” he asserted, adding that the next step is for each community to get to know the other, “as one tends to hate the unfamiliar.” Onlythenwouldtheprocessof integrationreallybeabletobegin. Practicing what he preached, and out of genuine concern for the underprivileged sectors of the population, President Navon traversed Israel from north to south, reaching out to the geographic and social peripheries and embracing the disadvantaged. He opened the President’s House to everyone and for all needs. For all these reasons andmore, YitzhakNavon earnedthewell-deservedappellation, “Presidentof thePeople.”

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