My contributions to science and society.

Not too many of my scientific colleagues have lived, as I have, through the birth pangs of a new state or felt the need to throw themselves into a lifestyle that is critical for their own survival and their nation’s future. If this sounds dramatic, it is no more and no less than what it was like to be a scientist in the emerging and newly established State of Israel for the larger part of the 20th century when the local Jewish population and many Zionists living abroad were devoting all their energies to achieving statehood and then building and protecting the new state after its creation in 1948. Perhaps I may therefore be forgiven if these reflections on my scientific activities are inextricably interwoven with recollections of my life outside science. I have participated in the most significant events in my country during the historic period of its emergence and development as a dynamic new state. At the same time, I have derived enormous pleasure and fulfillment from my chosen path of research and teaching in the life sciences. In 1922, when I was 6 years old and my brother Aharon was 9, my family emigrated to Palestine from Poland. Our first home was Tel Aviv, then a tiny city taking shape on the sand dunes adjacent to ancient Jaffa. After a year we moved to Jerusalem. My brother and I were especially drawn to the natural sciences, and after high school we both decided to continue our studies at the new Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I began in 1932, 2 years after Aharon had enrolled in the university’s first group of biology students. The ascent to Mount Scopus each day on my motor bike, one of the few motorized vehicles in Jerusalem in those days, was always an exhilarating experience with the Old City in front of me flanked by the mighty Judean desert to the west and the stone-colored new city shining in the east. Already in high school it was clear to me that, like all those of our generation, we would have to play our part in activities that had nothing to do with learning but were bound up with the national renaissance. Growing up in Palestine under the British mandate, and especially on the university campus, I was caught up in the ideological and political ferment of that time. Jews were returning to their ancient homeland after 2000 years, filled with the desire to build a democratic state in which we could determine our own future, revive our original language, and revitalize our culture. We were ready to forge a new society, which would be based on the principles of social justice defined by our biblical prophets and would offer a high quality of life enriched by the highest moral and spiritual values. In this exhilarating atmosphere, we threw ourselves with great enthusiasm into activities aimed at fulfilling the Zionist dream. In the 1930s and 1940s the local Arab population, angered by the increasing Jewish presence, often attacked the Jews. We had to protect ourselves, and this we did by joining the illegal Jewish defense organization, the Haganah, which later became the Israel Defense Forces. Thus, while still a student, I had already formed quite a clear idea of my goals in life. I would do what I could to help establish the State of Israel and contribute to its security and its social and economic development. In addition, I would attempt to do some original research while at the same time playing my part in raising a new generation of Israeli scientists and helping to THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY Vol. 280, No. 17, Issue of April 29, pp. 16529–16541, 2005 © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.