Background
Levi Shkolnik was born in the Ukrainian village of Oratova (now Oratou), Russia, on Oct. 25, 1895.
Levi Shkolnik was born in the Ukrainian village of Oratova (now Oratou), Russia, on Oct. 25, 1895.
Levi Eshkol studied traditional Jewish subjects in Vilna (present day Vilnius, Lithuania). Having joined a Zionist youth movement as a teenager, he imigrated to Eretz Israel in 1914 and became an agricultural worker, before serving in World War I in the Jewish Legion which he described as “a collection of Palestine pioneers and London tailors.”
In 1920 Levi Eshkol was one of the founders of Kibbutz Degania B and became active in the self-defense force (Haganah), the Labor Federation (Histadrut) in arms acquisition. and in the development of water resources. One of the leaders of the Mapai Labor party, he served as the powerful secretary of the Tel Aviv Workers’ Council from 1944 to 1948.
During Israel’s War of Independence he served as deputy defense minister under David Ben-Gurion. His expertise in finances (he was the Haganah’s treasurer) led to an eleven-year stint as minister of finance (1952-1963), in which capacity he oversaw the absorption and integration of almost a million immigrants, the creation of hundreds of settlements, and the establishment of Israel’s industrial and agricultural infrastructure.
Chosen by Ben-Gurion to succeed him as prime minister in 1963, he also took over the defense portfolio and played a key role in preparing the Israel army for a future war.
On the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War the public demanded that he resign altogether or at least give up the defense ministry in favor of Moshe Dayan, the hero of the 1956 war. Under mounting pressure from within Mapai, he yielded to the demands and acquiesced to the creation of a government of national unity with Dayan in charge of defense.
Few Israelis credited Eshkol with the stunning victory of the Six-Day War; the credit went to Dayan and the army generals. Eshkol’s final two years were bitter. He realized that an addition of a million Arabs in the territories was placing Israel under an intolerable moral, financial, economic, security, and demographic burden. But as long as the Arab states clung to the doctrine of no peace, no recognition, and no negotiations with Israel, he reluctantly agreed to preserve the new status quo created by the war. His last major act was to preside over the unification of the Labor Party when rival factions ceased their independent existence. Underrated during his life, since his death many Israelis have come to view him as one of their most successful leaders.
Eshkol was given honorary citizenships of towns and cities in Israel and abroad: Philadelphia (1964), Chicago (1964), El Paso (1964), Tirat Carmel (1965), Kiryat Gat(1965), Nazareth Ilit (1965), Beer Sheva (1965), Beit Shean (1965), Afula (1965), Dimona (1967), Ashdod (1968), Jerusalem (1968), Petach Tikva (1968)
Levi Eshkol was awarded with honorary doctorates by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1964), Roosevelt University (1964), Yeshiva University (1964), University of Liberia (1966) and Hebrew Union College (1968).
Levi Eshkol was known as a person who got things done calmly and with good humor, a person who was able to bridge differences and reduce personal tensions and conflicts. His reputation as a mediator was such that a joke went around that once when asked Tea or coffee? he replied, Half and half.
Eshkol was married three times and had four daughters.
