Nachman was fortunate to have his friend Yitzhak Rabin as Chief of staff.  This was he may have found it easier to sell his unorthodox ideas, which were world embracing and overstepped  the limits of the Army’s immediate needs. General Yitzhak Rabin spoke about their relations on

16.8.78.  

It’s a year since Nachman was taken from us.  We have gathered here tonight, family, friends and others who cherish his memory  and value his deeds. 

Nachman had a unique personality.  He encompassed a sensitive soul, an unusual intellectual curiosity with wide horizons which touch on reality and on dreams - of the Israeli and the Jew.  Flaming faith in whatever he was doing, perseverence and obstinacy, loyalty and the spirit of a warrior.

He was endowed with an unusual talent to develop immediate relations

with many and different people.  He could easily converse with people holding  different and even contrary opinions; he could immediately find the road to the hearts of Israelies, Diaspora Jews, and Foreign political leaders from all over the world.  There are not many people who came in contact with Nachman  that  were not taken by his personal charm, or were not convinced with his reasoning. There was never an idea raised by him, or an activity he wanted to accomplish – fantastic as it may be – that Nachman could not accomplish.  He always knew how to convince, how to enlist others, with enthusiasm for the task. His life was dedicated to the security of Israel .  He was one of the fighters and leaders of the IDF.

I met Nachman after one of the hardest chapters in the history of our country, and in his own life – the War of Independence.  

Nachman, as a spokesman for the whole generation of fighters and leaders of the Jewish entity in Eretz-Israel, knew that indepence is not bought with words alone.  He was one of the first Field Commanders of the Hagana that turned into the IDF during the war itself.  He did not stay in the back.  He was on the supreme testing ground of the fighter-warrior – the battle front. He fought as a commander , and paid a very heavy personal price – wounded on the battlefield and lost his right arm, in the fiercest war Isdrael had known since our achieving independenc, a war when thousands were killed and three times as many wounded. Nachman was wounded physically, but his spirit became even stronger.  He made an obstinate decision to continue and come back to the fighting.  After a month he came back into the fighting units and continued to be a partner in forming the IDF – this  most wondrous creation of the Indepence Generation.  He had to fight his way in the army, and indeed found new horizons, and many various tasks to which he could contribute everything he had. His spirit, his ability, and his many talents.  

In the beginning of the fifties he was appointed Army Spokesman.  He was entrusted with a very difficult  and complicated task.  How to bring to the consciousness of the public what is happening within the IDF.  How to express the special entity of the IDF, who at the same time is the melting pot and its defender.  These were times of doubts in how to build up the IDF.  Nachman faced these hard times as he faced all other times in his life – with integrity, dignity , honesty and talent.  

The time has not yet come to disclose his many achievements in his sensitive tasks in the Intelligence Corps,  during the period of murderous raids against our settlements.  There were fresh ideas, unorthodox operations against the terrorists, initiated  and executed under his leadership.  The Gathering Department in the Intelligence is being envigorated – new horizons open up, for military actions under his  command.   

The jewel in the crown of Nachman’s service in the Defense Forces of Israel  and  the Ministry of Defence , was in the area of Military and Defence Assistance to many other countries.  He was the soul, the initiator, and the executor of this rare, wondrous and great project.  This was the time when all of Nachman’s special talents came into use; his wide knowledge of the military problems in all their scopes, his all encompassing political understanding of the different areas, and his unique ability to establish contacts and find a common tongue with all people on earth.  He considered this action as both political and human to the benefits Israel can bring to the  peoples of the Third World .

He believed, with his whole heart, that Israel could and should share her wide range of  acquired experience and knowledge with the people of the Third World .  He saw his task here as a special mission, beyond considerations of  real-politics.  He saw in it an expression of the moral uniqueness of the Jewish and Israeli spirit; a small nation indeed, but willing and able to assist those who need her in achieving independence and forming their Nations, and learning to defend it themselves.  

It was a rare treat to tour with Nachman in the Asian and African  Countries  His was an encyclopedic wealth of knowledge  about these countries.  Their problems, and the personalities that lead them.  Everyplace we visited – be it Kampala in Uganda , or Seoul in Korea , Nachman received as a friend.  I sometimes felt he knew more about their needs than their own leaders; he knew the past and problems of each country, knew the culture.  His sensitivity. wisdom and his sense of Humour always destroyed barriers very rapidly, and created an atmosphere which enabled us to deal and confront the problems smoothly as if we had known the leaders for many years.  

We visited Uganda in 1963, where we met with the designated Prime-Minister – Mr. Obote.  After my opening, Nachman continued.  It took one hour only, and we reached  a complete understanding and an agreement of cooperation  between Uganda and Israel , in all areas where we had common interests.  Nachman charmed Obote.  I felt he was willing to do anything Nachman would suggest.  This indeed was where a long-lasting agreement of cooperation between the two nations was reached.  

When we wished to  widen the Israeli assistance to Asian countries, Nachman and I set for a visit in East Asia , in March l966.  We visited eight countries, starting with Singapore to Japan , from Noisy Hong-Kong to mysterious Cambodia ; from Burma , with whom we had held relations for some time to divided Korea , living in the shadow of the wars she had experienced.  A new world for  us, two Israelies wondering alone in an unfamiliar world that knows nothing about Israel .  A whole month together, hour by hour, and day by day.  A voyage like that puts to test any personal relations.  But I have had only pleasant memories from this journey.  It’s all due to Nachman.  He had this sixth sense what should be done and what ought not to be done.  He knew how to relieve a tense momet with an amusing anecdote, put everything at its right place in suitable proportions.  I admired him for the way he handles his physical disability.  A disability that can lie heavy on such a long and difficult journey.  But God help the man who tried to make it one of the considerations. When I sometimes tried to influence the itinerary of a particular visit to a remote place , or in taking part in Army excercises, he would notice right away, and give me this look of his, which said “beware”/  No words were said, but I understood, and did as he wished.  After the first ten days together, I understood that I am not to suggest any changes in all the plans that were prepared for us, out of considerartion for Nachman.

When we returned from this voyage I knew that if I ever needed to go an another tour, I couldn’t find a better partner than Nachman.  I am hopeful that he felt the same about me  

Nachman had to fight against orthodox conception here and abroad, when he extended the work of the department of assistance to Developing Countries  He put in a lot of effort to win the hearts of people  in Israel who were indifferent towards these activities, and make them join the cooperative effort.  It was not always easy, and I have seen him  discouraged, but he never gave up.  It is still to early to evaluate what Israel has gained, politically and humanity wise through this great effort, which Nachman headed.  Indeed today it seems that Israel has been disappointed  by some of the  partners of those days, but I have no doubt that when the History of Foreign Relations of Israel is written from the right perspective, this great project will take its place  as one of the unique expressions of little Israel, in reaching to the world. He was a man of original and creative ideas.  Every conversation with him was an intellectual challenge.  As a Man of the Defence ,he lived and breathed creative Defence  ideas.  He focused mainly on three areas that were beyond the immediate needs of Defence, but related to them: Foreign Assistance, the close connection with Diaspora Jewry – primarily – the Jewiish Community of America , and the relations between Israel and the United States .  

Nachman loved the Jewish People with all his heart, and they returned his love.  He was sought  by the Jewish Communities to come and talk to them.  When he was in the USA , as  a Military Adviser and Member of our delegation to the UN, he widened his contacts with the Jewish Communities. In his so very special way he knew how to combine harsh talk with pleasant ways.  He knew many personally.  They became his friends and stood by Israel in its hours of need.   

He realized the importance of Israel relations with the United States , much before it was made first priority by everybody else.   His enlightened  and  wide-scoped grasp of the situation brought him to the conclusion that it is towards the United States that Israel should strive.  He never tired in trying to convince everyone that this will be the right way for the survival of Israel .  

Nachman was a loyal and devoted friend, and a rock for a friend in need.

He was a  field fighter and commander.  He fought fiercely.  But fate had deemed it necessary that his hardest and longest battle will be for his own life against the malignant disease that was devouring him .  Here too his special personality expressed itself.  During all this time his friends were not allowed to relate to it. What interested him were the problems facing

The nation.  Even when he guessed how serious his situation was, he continued to battle – erect and bold.

When I visited the United States as Prime Minister, in March l977, we decided to meet for a chat.  I wanted to come over. He refused. He will come to me, it is his place to visit the Prime Minister, as if he was signalling “I’m O.K. – I do not concede to this disease thst is limiting me”.  

Nachman’s close friends were next to him during his last year.  Some literally next to him, others with prayers and hope that he will overcome.

This is the way Nachman was – fighter, friends, a courageous and sensitive man, embodying in his image and life, the best and most beautiful of this generation of fighters and dreamers, and this is how we shall remember him.