David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister and a key leader in the Jewish community in Palestine before the state’s establishment, was an avid writer and amateur scholar; often focusing on Hebrew Biblical history. This passion was regularly articulated in his extensive writings and public addresses. Ben-Gurion often provides contemporary justification for the Jewish state through references to biblical texts and the Jewish historic past. The speech, “Vision and Redemption,” written by Ben Gurion in 1958, is one illustrative example of his many lengthy and nationalistically conscious presentations of his greater vision for Israel and its place in the continuum of Jewish history and continuity. The speech is eventually reprinted by the American Zionist Youth Foundation in 1969. (source)