Giant Collection of Letters Signed by Elite Israeli Politicians, from the Archive of Miriam ben Porat, State ...

Giant Collection of Letters Signed by Elite Israeli Politicians, from the Archive of Miriam ben Porat, State Comptroller of Israel

Collection of 120 personal letters from the leaders of the State of Israel that were sent to the supreme court justice and state comptroller, Miriam ben Porat at different points in her career. Includes letters that she wrote at various opportunities related to a wide variety of subjects regarding her personal life and the public roles she filled. In addition to the letters related to her work, this collection includes official letters appointing her to the various positions she held [including the original document appointing her lawyer for the very first time in the Government of Palestine in 1945] and much more.

Highlights of this collection include: Ben Porat's registration certificate as lawyer in Palestine from 1945 [in her maiden name, Miriam Shimshon]; official letter signed by Chaim Herzog and Minister of Justice, Moshe Nissim; congratulations from President Shimon Peres to Justice Miriam Ben Porat, when she won the Nachshonit Award at the conference "Activism from a Female Perspective," with his signature; Ben Porat's letter of appointment as Supreme Court justice on the 12th of Adar, 1977, signed by Efraim Katzir and Chaim Tzadok; letter of appointment of justice Dina Moyal as judge at the regional court signed by then President Moshe Katzav and Minister of Justice, Tzipi Livni; New Year's greetings signed by Shmuel Tamir; New Year's greetings signed by Dorit Beinish; Happy Passover greetings written and signed by Dov Shilansky; congratulations for an evening held in honor of Miriam Ben Porat, written and signed by judge Meir Shamgar; congratulations written and signed by Ora Namir; congratulations upon receiving the Israel Prize in 1968, written and signed by Shimon Agranat; letter from 1969, in which Dr. Joseph Burg extols Miriam ben Porat for her work assisting children, signed in his hand; letter from 1965 signed by Minister of Justice Dov Yosef; condolence letter following the death of her husband, written and signed by Amnon Rubinstein in August, 1990; New Years' greetings from 3/10/1976 signed by Dov Shilansky [wishing her success in her new appointment to the Israeli Supreme Court "...when I was a boy, during the long winter nights in Shibli, we would gather together in the clubs of the youth groups (me in Beitar) and we would listen thirstily to the words of those slightly older than us, who would tell us about the Land of Israel and everything related to it, about the Zionist activity around us, and particularly in Kovno the capital, about the families that "breathed Zionism" and the special characters, and your family was among them (you'll be surprised: I still remember their name and images from those days). In our youthful imagination, we saw these figures as giants. I met some of them in the Dachau camps and suddenly I saw them in reality, face to face, skinny, gaunt, skeletons, in our "slang": they were muselmann...they were really giants - giants of the spirit. That's the way I saw them in our daily battle for life, and as they died ..."]; thank-you letter written and signed by Ben Porat to Miriam Bertonov ["the truth, the guilt, the pursuit of justice were always the elixir of life and the goal of our desires ...], and other letters in her hand and with her signature; personal letter written and signed by justice Aharon Barak; another letter with his signature; letter signed by Minister of Justice Dov Yosef on the 4th of January, 1956; letter signed by Yitzchak Navon about the publication of Ben Porat's deceased husband's poems; letter signed by Shlomo Yifrach ["the truth is that I have admired you throughout the many years of our acquaintance"]; letter signed by Dr. Michael Dor; letter signed by Professor Amnon Rubinstein, letter signed by Dorit Beinisch; letter written and signed by Edna Arbel; letter written and signed by Eitan Haber; letter signed by Teddy Kollek; honorary invitation to a special meeting of the Knesset in honor of the president of The Republic of Croatia; official invitation to the funeral of Rechavam Ze'evi; letters written and signed by Yair Tzaban; and many other assorted signed documents. 

Among the letters we will mention an unusual letter in the handwriting of Joseph Menkes, who was accused of involvement in the murder of Kasztner and sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence (which eventually earned him a pardon). In the letter, Menkes turns to Ben Porat in harsh language and in fact accuses her that for her career she sent her to prison for no fault of his own : 'I had no connection and have nothing to do with the murder of Kasztner ... Miriam Ben Porat went in the same way the Nazis, K. and. D. For the sake of her career, she has already received the salary promised to her now and she is judging at his own expense and at the expense of a mother with three children (Menkes' wife and three sons), if this is justice. And after a few days ... he pulled out a pistol and wanted to shoot Miriam Ben Porat. The prosecution and the police and all of them put together all that will not reveal the lies ... Miriam Ben Porat did all the dirt on my account for the coolness promised at my expense and at the expense of a mother with three children, if that is the justice and the path of the State of Israel. Where is the justice of the people of Israel ...? ' [Joseph Menkes, 1917-1994, was a member of underground activity in the Zerifin underground. He was charged with involvement in the murder of Dr. Israel Kasztner in 1957 and sentenced to lengthy imprisonment, but eventually was pardoned.

Miriam Ben Porat [1918-2012] was a justice in the Israeli Supreme Court and State Comptroller in the 1990s. She was the first woman to fill these roles in the State of Israel. Over the decades of her career she received many honorary prizes and accolades for her public activities.

The collection has not been thoroughly inspected. Overall very fine condition.