The Challenge of Building a State

     After surviving the War of Independence, the nascent state of Israel was in desperate straits. We'd lost a full one percent of our population (a much higher percentage than America lost in World War II) and the country had been devastated by war. And, one of the first things we did was welcome in two groups of immigrants: Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees who had been kicked out of Arab countries (ironically a very similar number of Jews were kicked out of Arab countries as Palestinian Arabs who lost their homes for various reasons during the War of Independence). As you can imagine, the vast majority of these immigrants were unprepared to be productive members of a modern economy due to lack of skills and/or the incredible trauma they'd been through. Israel addressed this problem in several ways. On the expenditure side, we instituted severe rationing of everything from food to furniture. On the income side, we solicited donations from Am Yisrael worldwide,  sold government bonds, and, controversially, accepted money from the German government to compensate for the slave labor and material losses of the Holocaust. This proposal led to vigorous debate in the Knesset at the time and huge riots in the streets. David ben Gurion, ever the pragmatist, wanted to accept the money. Menahem Begin, as a matter of principle, demanded that we refuse. Who do you think was right? What should we have done?