Prime Minister David Ben Gurion address the Knesset Plenum on its tenth birthday, 1959

Knesset Speaker Joseph Shprinzak:

Members of the Knesset. We shall close this short sitting in a few words in honor of our Knesset’s day of celebration.

On this last 15th of Shvat, a decade has passed since the founding and establishment of the Knesset, the Jewish house of legislatives in the Jewish land.

When I come and bless this extraordinary occasion in the history of Israel, before me is the vision of that cherished day that took place ten years ago, in the home of the World Zionist Organization, in which we announced: “Representatives of Israel! We have planted today a new sapling as charged by past generations and for future generations to come; we have planted today the tree of Independent Israel.”

When I bestow the holiday blessings, before me are ten years of the Knesset protocols, which to me are like a new and secular Jerusalem Talmud – secular though sacred in its yearning for a new Jewish life, in its efforts and deliberations that pave the way for the return to Zion and for its defense.

And when I come and bestow the blessing, I remember with excitement the wonderful saying of Jacob James de Rothschild: “May it be the will that the building of the Knesset shall be viewed by the world as a symbol for the eternity of the State of Israel.”

I see in the resurrection and the existence of our Knesset as one of the great and innovative miracles after the renewal of the Hebrew language, and among the miracles that occurred in the process of the implementation of Zionism and the reestablishment of the State of Israel in the land of the prophets, in the land of pioneering construction and defense.

The renewal of the Hebrew language as a language of the living, the nation and the state, is one of its kind with no counterpart, and therefore I am exalting these miracles.

A parliament has no Jewish origin. Parliaments have existed for centuries and continue to be established in states and nations currently gaining independence. However, as a house of representatives that was established while a state was formed and settled, while a nation gathered from the Diaspora, and while its members are descendants of various cultural and political backgrounds, this Knesset is a blessed and wonderful miracle to the Jewish people in that its 120 representatives sit together. The Knesset enacts its legislation under customary parliamentary procedures, and this has enabled unusual stability these days for running the state and its affairs.

In recognition of the ways of creation and ongoing action, it is clear that the Knesset is an esteemed institute, one of the basic assets of the nation being regenerate in its country.

Knesset Speaker Joseph Shprinzak surveys the Knesset Guard on the tenth birthday of the Knesset, 1959

The Knesset, whatever the criticism on it may be, is a profound expression of our democratic regime in which we take pride, as we are proud in the freedom of opinion and freedom of speech found in our state.

As I stand here, I am not in liberty to mention the perversions, which unfortunately find their way into the process of freedom of speech and opinion. I do think that the freedom of speech and opinion in the Knesset is at times abused. Outside of the Knesset we can also find inappropriate disclosures in that establishment that enjoys the freedom of speech – the press – a service which has taken a great part in the history of Zionism, the state, and the Knesset. These perversions are the same for me – they are an assault on the dignity and value of the Jewish parliament.

The dignity of the Knesset, its educational value and the admiration towards it from people in the Diaspora, obligate much consideration, concern, courtesy, and respect while not placing any constraints on the freedom of speech and the freedom of opinion.

The Knesset wisely learned in a short time to become entrenched in its work and in its parliamentary procedures, and it gained recognition as one of the noteworthy parliaments. We have learned much from others, though we did not copy, and it is in our obligation to say that the core of our tradition we had taken from our own – from the Zionist Congress, as well as from the Assemblies of Representatives. I do not ignore the fact that we may need further improvements, but the Knesset did gain a respectable place among parliaments.

Over the ten years that have passed, the Knesset has had great days and tough days, but even with all discrepancies and passing events, the Knesset is alive and existing, and it is the sole authority of the people in their country.

I am happy to have had the privilege to greet the people and the Knesset on the day marking a decade since its establishment. A happy holiday to the people and to the Knesset!