Speaking these words on February 1, 1944, Menachem Begin, then Commander of the underground army Irgun Tzva'i Leumi (known as the ETZEL, the Hebrew acronym for National Military Organization), began the Jewish revolt against the British empire for liberty and independence in Eretz Israel.

"We shall fight, every Jew in the homeland will fight. The God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts, will aid us. There will be no retreat. Freedom or Death!

"The fighting youth will not flinch from tribulation and sacrifice, from blood and suffering. They will not surrender until they have renewed our days as of old, until they have ensured for our people a homeland, freedom, honor, bread and justice. And if you will give them your aid, you will see in our days the return to Zion and the restoration of Israel."

This four-year struggle against the might of the British army, reminiscent in many ways of the American Revolution for its freedom from England, ended in victory when the British withdrew from Israel and an independent Jewish State was declared on May 14, 1948. Leading such a courageous revolt and achieving the 2,000 year-old dream of Jewish independence would alone have reserved for Menachem Begin an honored place in the annals of Jewish history.

Yet this remarkable man, a great leader but always modest, a fighter and a scholar, would eventually be elected Israel's sixth prime minister and in that capacity win the Nobel Peace Prize for signing the historic peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. When Menachem Begin died of a heart attack on March 8, 1992, the Jewish people lost one of its greatest heroes.

Menachem Begin was born on August 16, 1913 in Brisk (now Brest-Litovsk), then part of the Russian empire. His birth occurred on Shabbat Nachamu, the first Shabbat after Tisha B'av. It is customary to read on that Shabbat the haftorah from Isaiah which begins with the words, "Be comforted, be comforted, my people."

While Tisha B'av commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples and the loss of Jewish sovereignty, Shabbat Nachamu has always been an occasion for comfort and Jewish hope. Menachem, the youngest of three children born to Zev Dov and Hassia Begin, was named for that shabbat and in his heart always carried the hope and desire for the restoration of Jewish independence.

Begin was raised in an enlightened yet religious home where Jewish nationalism was an integral part of Jewish tradition. Zev Dov instilled in his children a fierce Jewish pride that was backed up by action and commitment.  Menachem remembered once seeing his father bravely attack Polish anti-Semites who were brutally cutting off the beard of an elderly rabbi. Begin never forgot his father's courage and later said of him, "I have never known a man braver than him...I shall never forget how my father fought to defend Jewish honor."

The Begin family was forced to flee their home during World War I but returned to Brisk, then part of a new independent Poland, at the end of the war. Menachem attended a Polish high school and excelled in his studies, though he never forgot his Jewish identity. Once he received an "F" in Latin for refusing to take a test on Shabbat. In fact, Begin remained a traditional observant Jew throughout his life. He put on tefillin and davened daily, kept kosher, studied Tanach and, as prime minister, walked to Anwar Sadat's funeral because it took place on Shabbat. Menachem Begin graduated from high school and enrolled in 1931 in Warsaw University, which four years later granted him a law degree.

It was in the 1930s that Begin became active in the Jewish-Zionist Youth Movement, Betar, founded by Zeev Jabotinsky. The goal of Betar was to prepare Jewish youth for the struggle to create an independent Jewish State in Eretz Israel. Jabotinsky warned the Jews of Europe that unless they left the "Galut" (The Jewish exile, or Diaspora) the "Galut" would liquidate them!  Sadly, Jabotinsky's prophetic words went unheeded by most European Jews.

Begin, however, was moved by Jabotinsky's teachings of Jewish pride and action and eventually, in 1939, became head of Polish Betar, one of the most influential positions of Jewish leadership in pre-Holocaust Europe. Jabotinsky would remain Begin's mentor throughout his life. Begin later wrote of him, "To those of us who were his pupils, he was not only our teacher, but also the bearer of our hope." When Jabotinsky died in 1940, it was Begin who kept that hope a flame among the members of Betar.

At the outset of World War II, Menachem Begin encouraged the emigration of thousands of Polish Jews to Israel. Yet precisely at that time, the British government shut the gates to the Jews' "Promised Land."  Begin never forgot that as the Nazi Holocaust began, the British were crushing the Jews' last hope for salvation.

In 1940 Begin was arrested by the Soviet Secret Police for his Zionist activities and sent to a Siberian prison. He was forced to endure nine long months in a Soviet Gulag, suffering tortures by his Russian captors and anti-Semitic attacks from his Polish cellmates.

Throughout this ordeal, which Begin describes in his book "White Nights," his spirit never broke. Menachem was released from prison in 1941 and eventually made his way to Israel via Iraq in the ranks of the Polish army-in-exile. In Israel he was reunited with his wife, Aliza, whom he had married in 1939. It was also at that time that he learned, sadly, that both his parents and older brother had been murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

Shortly after his arrival in Israel, Begin was asked to assume command of the Irgun Zva'I Leumi (ETZEL) and in that capacity he led the Jewish underground's struggle for independence. Begin turned the ETZEL into a highly organized and effective underground fighting force. He drafted strategy manuals, procured arms and in 1944 declared the Jewish revolt against the British occupation of Israel.

The British tried to hunt Begin down and offered a 10,000-pound reward for his capture, dead or alive. The ETZEL commander, however, succeeded in outsmarting the British army and secret police by disguising himself as an Orthodox rabbi and hiding in a secret attic of a modest Tel Aviv apartment. Throughout this ordeal his courageous wife, Aliza, stood ever by his side. In attempts to crush the ETZEL's revolt, the English turned to floggings and even hangings, but under Begin's leadership the Jewish underground's determination grew only stronger. Among the most famous of the ETZEL's actions were the blowing up of British headquarters located in the King David Hotel in 1946, and the Akko prison break in 1947, where scores of Jewish underground prisoners were freed from a seemingly impregnable British fortress.

These and other ETZEL exploits (along with the actions of the much larger Hagana and smaller Lechi underground armies) caused worldwide sensation and dealt serious blows to British prestige. Eventually the British were forced to withdraw from Eretz Israel and on May 14, 1948 the independent state of Israel was declared.

Following the establishment of the Jewish State, the various underground armies were merged together forming TZAHAL, the Israel Defense Forces, and Begin turned to politics, forming the Herut ("Freedom") political party with his former ETZEL comrades.

Menachem Begin made a major contribution to Israeli democracy by forging his political party into a tough but loyal opposition to Prime Minister David Ben Gurion's ruling Labor Party.  Begin was famous for his brilliant speeches and provided the Israeli Knesset with drama and high standards of parliamentary performance.

In May 1967, on the eve of the fateful Six Day War, Menachem Begin played an instrumental role in creating a National Unity Government in Israel and served in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio. In times of peace he was a fierce opponent to the ruling Labor Party, but during national emergencies Begin's party always joined hands with their rivals in support of the country's welfare and security. Under Begin's leadership, Herut merged with several smaller factions in 1973, creating the Likud Party.  On May 17, 1977, the Likud defeated Labor for the first time since the establishment of the State and Menachem Begin became Israel's sixth prime minister.

Upon taking office Begin told the Knesset, "Our main aim is to avert a Middle East war. I appeal to King Hussein and to Presidents Assad and Sadat to meet me either in their capital or in neutral territory. Too much Jewish and Arab blood has been shed in this region. Let us put an end to the bloodshed that we all abhor."

A series of secret meetings was soon organized between Israeli and Egyptian officials and on November 9, 1977, Anwar Sadat answered Begin's challenge and offered to come to Jerusalem to talk peace. Two days later Begin issued the formal invitation and on Saturday night, November 19th, President Sadat arrived in Israel to a full state reception.

Though Egypt was still technically at war with Israel, Begin stretched out his hand in peace. Sixteen months of tough negotiations followed between the two countries, eventually leading to the Camp David Accords and the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty signed on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1979.

Begin, the rebel who fought for independence in the 1940s showed the same determination in struggling for peace in the 1970s. In December 1978, Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Menachem Begin was a self-taught scholar who spoke nine languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, Russian, English, German, French, Spanish and Latin). He had a great love for Jewish history and the Tanach. After his election as prime minister, Begin instituted a weekly bible study session at his house, held every motzai Shabbat and attended by rabbis and other Jewish scholars.

During one of these meetings in June 1981, Begin spoke about his admiration for Joshua as a military leader. The Prime Minister, who was also serving concurrently then as defense minister, said that Joshua's success as a general was due to his bold, imaginative and unpredictable strategies.

Just days later, Begin ordered the successful Israeli Air Force bombing of Iraq's OSIRAQ nuclear reactor outside of Baghdad. Though world leaders condemned the Israeli action, Jews in Israel gave thanks to their prime minister for his courageous decision. Today, the entire world owes Menachem Begin its gratitude for ensuring that Saddam Hussein was not equipped with nuclear weapons. In retrospect, the rabbis who attended that June 1981 Tanach study session must have wondered what had been Menachem Begin's inner thoughts when he spoke about Joshua that night. Inspired by such heroes of the past, Begin proved capable of meeting the challenges of his day and ensuring a secure future for his people.

One of Begin's greatest achievements as prime minister was on the domestic front.  Menachem Begin will always be remembered as the Israeli leader who helped bridge the social gap between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews in Israel. Begin opened the doors of the Israeli establishment to the country's Sephardic Jews, who had felt like second class citizens under the previous Labor governments.

Begin initiated Project Renewal, whereby Jewish communities around the world joined Israel's war on poverty and neglect in its poor neighborhoods and towns. While Begin's domestic policies paid off at the polls, his motivation came from a warm, Jewish heart and the sincere desire to right an injustice that threatened the fabric of Israeli society.

Once during Begin's administration, the Israeli government discussed raising the prices of basic food commodities such as milk and bread.  When Begin came home for lunch, his cleaning maid told him that such price raises would severely hurt the nation's poor, especially large families with many children. That afternoon, Begin returned to his cabinet and ordered the cancellation of the price raises.

Begin respected, listened to and cared for the common man and as with King David, the common people loved him. It should also be remembered that it was Menachem Begin who initiated the movement to rescue Ethiopian Jewry that led to "Operation Moses" and successfully culminated in "Operation Solomon."

Begin was re-elected prime minister in June 1981 and his second government was soon forced to confront rising Arab terrorism from Lebanon. Terrorist attacks planned in Lebanon soon hit Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, while katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon rained down on Israeli towns and settlements in the Galilee.

In June 1982, Israeli troops invaded Lebanon in "Operation Peace for the Galilee" with the goal of destroying the P.L.O. infrastructure there. Though the 1982 war in Lebanon did achieve some of its goals and an Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon insured years of peace for Israel's Galilee settlements, the price Israel paid was considered by many to be too high. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers fell in battle and many Israelis questioned the conduct of the war.

Debate over the Lebanese War caused a great rift in Israel. This and the loss of Israeli lives sorely pained Begin. In November 1982, Begin was invited to Washington D.C. for top-level talks with President Reagan. The Prime Minister hesitated in accepting because his beloved wife Aliza, was very ill, but when her condition improved temporarily, she convinced him to attend the important summit and Begin flew off to the United States.

While preparing to address an important gathering in Los Angeles, Menachem Begin was informed of his wife's sudden death. He was not only bereaved by her death, he was pained by the fact that he had not been by her side in her last hours. Less than a year later, on September 15, 1983, a grief stricken Menachem Begin submitted his resignation as prime minister, many believing that the loss of his wife and the high number of Israeli casualties in Lebanon had broken his heart and his spirit to rule the country.

Begin spent his remaining years in seclusion, alone with his thoughts and family, and succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 78. He was buried on the Mount of Olives in a simple religious funeral with no official ceremony, as requested in his will. His funeral, attended by tens of thousands of the common people who loved him, ended with his family and former comrades in arms singing the Betar anthem that closes with the verse "To Die or To Conquer the Mountain!"  These words poetically express the values of sacrifice and determination, love of Am Israel and commitment to Eretz Israel that Menachem Begin personified in his life.

Yossi Katz made aliyah to Israel in 1978. He is a Jewish educator at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel and resides in Hod Hasharon.