The relationship between Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon began even before they were even born:
the National Library reveals a rare photograph from 1906 from the city of Brisk, showing Begin's father and Ariel Sharon's grandfather, who together established both the First Bank for Jews and the Organization for the Protection of Jews in Russia.
The historical and unique photograph from 116 years ago - now exposed to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Begin, the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel - shows the connection between Begin and Sharon, which began before they were born and lasted even when Sharon's grandmother was Begin's infant, and of course in Begin's government. Who appointed Sharon as defense minister.
This photograph, like hundreds of thousands of historical photographs documenting Jewish and Israeli history from the middle of the 19th century, is scanned and accessible in the National Library's catalog.
Seated: Sheinerman and Begin, members of the management of the first Jewish bank in the Tsarist Empire, Photo: National Library
According to Dr. Hezi Amior, curator of the Israel Collection at the National Library, "This is a black-and-white photograph pasted on a cardboard board, showing the management and staff of the first Jewish bank in the Tsarist Empire, established in 1905, to assist with lending and savings services to Jews."
The source of the photo is Shmuel Sheinerman, the father of Arik Sharon, who was one of the founders of Kfar Malal.
"Protective force for the Jewish people"
Amior added that the bank was established in the city of Brest-Litovsk ("Brisk Delita") in Belarus, which was part of the Russian Empire and is now in Belarus, and operated until the outbreak of World War I.
"Two members of the bank's management, Mordechai Sheinerman and Zeev Dov Begin, had descendants who became leaders and prime ministers of the State of Israel - Menachem Begin, son of Zeev Dov Begin, and Arik Sharon, grandson of Mordechai Sheinerman.
"In the same year that the bank was founded, the two also cooperated in the organization of Jewish self-defense in Brisk, during the pogroms of the spring of 1905 in Russia.
"Lessons learned from the pogrom in Kishinev two years earlier, was an important milestone in the national awakening of the Jews in Russia, and in the understanding that the Jewish people needed their own protective force.
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