A memorial website

Mordechai
Gazit

Motke · 1922 ‎—‎ 2016

His story,
and the history of a country.

At 25 he was severely wounded in the battle for Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter and lost a lung. At 51 he sat beside Golda Meir at the secret meeting with Jordan’s king, eleven days before the Yom Kippur War. There was a whole life between those events. This is a place to start getting to know it.

Meet him in five minutes

Mordechai Gazit — a black-and-white portrait from the family album — Gazit family album / Shy Adam · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0

In loving and grateful memoryMeet the man MORDECHAI GAZIT

Did you know?

Six doors into his story

Swipe the card to either side1 / 6

Who was Mordechai Gazit

A letter home, a cable to Washington.

This website is dedicated to the memory of Mordechai Gazit. A letter he sent his parents from hospital in 1948, cables from the Yom Kippur War and archive films in which we hear his voice offer a closer look at his life and work.

These materials also tell us something of Israel’s history, and of a generation that is gradually disappearing.

In his own hand · 19 June 1948

A letter home, from hospital

A month after he was wounded in the Old City, Motke wrote to his parents. He told them the food was unreliable, that a parcel had come from Tel Aviv, and that he was engaged:

“By the way she is now taking care of me in Hospital from morning to evening and cooking special dishes for me.”

Only at the end did he add: “I forgot to tell you that I was wounded in the chest (lung)”.

Read the whole letter, with the scanned pages →

Mordechai Gazit Archive (Truman Institute), The Digital Archives for Middle Eastern Studies and Israel Studies, The Library Authority, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The places of his life

Eight cities across three continents: a geographical journey, distinct from the detailed life timeline. Jerusalem keeps coming back: the city he fought for, worked for and came home to. Play the journey, or go stop by stop.

Place chapter 1 of 11

Istanbul 1922

Portrait of Mordechai Gazit from the family album — Family-album portrait, not a photograph of Istanbul. Date unknown. Gazit family / Shy Adam, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Born in Istanbul

Mordechai Weinstein, later Gazit, was born here on 5 September 1922. The family immigrated to the Land of Israel during his childhood.

Beginnings in Istanbul

About 1,170 km from Jerusalem, as the crow flies

For the full chronology: explore the life timeline →

8 cities
3 continents
11 place chapters
56,000+ km, as the crow flies

On film · 1977

See him, and hear him

14 January 1977. Gazit, then Israel’s ambassador to France, explains to reporters why he has been recalled for consultations, during the crisis with France over the Abu Daoud affair. 4:34 minutes, from the AP Archive.

All the films and interviews

Rina and Mordechai Gazit sitting beside one another in a colour photograph from the family album. — Mordechai and Rina Gazit · From the family album

Through his family’s eyes

To us, Grandpa Motke.

The album includes Mordechai, Rina and Shlomo in January 1949, and the two brothers together many years later, at what the family remembers as his 90th birthday. Alongside the photographs are the words his grandson wrote in his memory.

Open the family album

“If only he were still here, for one last embrace, with love and appreciation from us all.”

Dan-Eyal Gazit, his grandson · Translated from Hebrew

Did you know Motke? A memory, letter or photograph can add to his story. Write to the family