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egin, ze’ev binyamin
Sharon, with Begin’s approval, embarked on Operation Peace
for Galilee, which was meant at first to involve the occupation
by the IDF of a 15-mi. (40-km.) strip in Southern Lebanon,
and the ousting of the PLO from that land. Begin’s slogan for
the operation was: “No more Katyushas on Kiryat Shmonah.”
However, as the situation in Lebanon became more complex,
and following the death of his beloved wife and his own failing
health, Begin decided to resign from the premiership in
October 1983. After his resignation Begin seldom left his home
until his death in 1992.
His writings include Ha-Mered (1950; The Revolt,
1964), which describes the struggle of IẓL; Be-Leilot Levanim
(1953; White Nights, 1957), reminiscences of his imprisonment
in Russia; and Ba-Maḥteret: Ketavim u-Te’udot (4 vol.,
1959–61), a collection of writings from his days in the underground.
Begin’s son, Ze’ev Binyamin *Begin (1943– ), was also
active in politics.
Add. Bibliography: A. Golan and S. Nakdimon, Begin
(Hebrew, 1978); U. Benziman, Rosh Memshalah be-Maẓor (1981); T.
Preuss, Begin la-Shilton (1984); E. Silver, Begin: the Haunted Prophet
(1984); S. Haydemann, The Begin Era: Issues in Contemporary Israel
(1984); I. Peled, Begin’s Foreign Policy (1987); A. Perlmutter The Life
and Times of Menachem Begin (1987); S. Sofer, Begin: An Anatomy
of Leadership (1988); Y. Aḥimeir, Hamanhig she-Hevi et ha-Shalom
(1992); Arie Na’or, Begin ba-Shilton: Edut Ishit (1993); H.Z. Hurwitz,
Begin: His Life, Words and Deeds (1994); M. Karniel, Morashto shel
Menaḥem Begin (1995); S. Sandler (ed.), Yisra’el ba-Mizraḥ ha-Tikhon:
Moreshet Menaḥem Begin (2000); M.H. Isaacson, Begin (Hebrew,
2003).
[Yohanan Bader / Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]
BEGIN, ZE'EV BINYAMIN (1943– ), Israeli geologist
and politician. Member of the Twelfth to Fourteenth
Knessets. Ze’ev Binyamin Begin was born in Jerusalem, the
son of Menaḥem *Begin. He studied geology at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and received his doctorate from the
University of Colorado in the United States in 1978, later
working in the Geological Survey of Israel as head of the
environmental unit and the unit for the mapping of maritime
geology. He entered politics in 1988 at the behest of his
father. As a Knesset member. he was always noted for his
modesty, and the fact that he usually arrived at the Knesset
by public transportation. When Yitzḥak *Shamir invited
Reḥav’am *Ze’evi to join his government in February 1991,
he was one of several members of the Likud who objected,
because of Ze’evi’s advocacy of the transfer of land to the
Palestinians.
Begin contested the leadership of the Likud in March
1993, following the party’s defeat in the elections to the Thirteenth
Knesset, but was defeated by Binyamin *Netanyahu. In
the government formed by Netanyahu after the elections, he
was appointed minister of science. Despite being part of the
government, Begin strongly criticized Netanyahu’s contacts
with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser *Arafat,
and Netanyahu’s willingness to fulfill Israel’s undertakings under
the Tab’a Agreement for a partial withdrawal from Hebron.
He made constant efforts to prove that the Palestinians were
systematically violating their commitments under the Declaration
of Principles of September 1993, especially abrogation
of the articles in the Palestine National Covenant that spoke of
the destruction of Israel. After voting in the government twice
within one week against resolutions proposed by the prime
minister, Begin resigned from the government. Together with
two additional members he left the Likud-Gesher-Tsomet parliamentary
group and set up a new parliamentary group by
the name of Ḥerut. Begin did not run for election in the Fifteenth
Knesset and returned to his previous work as a geologist,
on rare occasions coming out publicly on an issue, such
as opposition to Prime Minister Ariel *Sharon’s plan in 2004
to dismantle all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and
several in Northern Samaria.
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]
BEHAK, JUDAH (1820–1900), Hebrew writer. Behak, who
was born in Vilna, was a member of the Vilna group (M.A.
*Guenzburg, A.D. *Lebensohn, S.J. *Fuenn, and I.E. *Benjacob)
which had a decisive influence on the Haskalah movement
in Lithuania. He wrote for Pirḥei Ẓafon, the first Lithuanian
Haskalah journal, and for Ha-Karmel. In 1848 he joined
the staff of the newly established Vilna Rabbinical Seminary,
and in 1856 moved to Kherson (most of his writings were
signed Ish Vilna be-Kherson, “A Vilnaite in Kherson”). Behak
devoted himself to the study of the Hebrew language. His
main work was Eẓ Yehudah, linguistic studies of the Bible and
the Talmud (5 vols., 1884–1901, Vilna, Odessa, Berdichev).
His book Yod ha-Rabbim, a study of Aramaic, was published
posthumously (1901). Behak also edited J.L. Ben-Ze’ev’s Talmud
Lashon Ivri (with Ẓ.H. Katznellenbogen, 1848) and S.
Levisohn’s Meḥkerei Lashon (with A.D. Lebensohn, 1849), and
wrote commentaries for I.E. Benjacob’s and A.D. Lebensohn’s
Bible, Mikra’ei Kodesh (1848–53).
Bibliography: E.R. Malachi (ed.), Kitvei P. Turberg (1953),
52–62; P. Sandler, Ha-Be’ur la-Torah shel M. Mendelssohn ve-Si’ato…
(1941), 178–9.
[Getzel Kressel]
BEHAR, LEON (1898–1957), Mexican Jewish community
leader. Behar was born in Salonika, Greece, immigrated to
Mexico in 1920, and a few years later started his communal
activity, first among the Sephardim and later in the community
at large. He took part in the establishment of the Asociación
Israelita Sefaradí La Fraternidad (Sephardic Community) in
1924 and was its president for two years. In the 1930s he participated
in the foundation of many important institutions,
including the Sephardic Zionist Organization (serving as its
president for several terms) and the Comité Central Sionista
(as its vice president). Behar also presided over the joint aid
committee for Jewish refugees in Europe and was active in
other Jewish institutions. One of his most important activities
262 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3