This coming Saturday, the 25th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, is the 76th anniversary of the murder of Avraham (Yair) Stern, the head of the pre-state Jewish paramilitary organization known as the Lehi.
Stern was one of the senior figures of the Irgun, another paramilitary organization, but his disagreements over the proper path to pursue ultimately had him create his splinter group, which the British dubbed the Stern Gang. He brought with him many other Irgun fighters who wanted to fight the big empire of the time, Great Britain.
Apart from being a statesman and a fighter, he was also a Ph.D. candidate in literature and a poet. He proved that being a superb fighter is not just about engaging in combat, and he successfully taught his followers that it was possible to defeat the British by combining their physical action with an ideological war to prevent the division of the Land of Israel.
After his faction broke away from the Irgun, Stern published his own manifesto that would serve as the ideological basis for all his fighters: "Principles for National Revival." Most of the tenets in that document mentioned the importance of holding on to territory with the ultimate goal of establishing a Jewish state. But Stern also felt as strong connection to his Jewish heritage and therefore it was only natural for him to end his manifesto, which talks about the past the future, with a call to create a third Jewish temple. This was his way of making us look at the bigger picture rather than focusing on our own time and era.
He understood that the conflict on this land is not about territory, as some parties have suggested, but largely religious. He said the Jews must counter the Arab claims with historical facts that prove our ties to this land, with our past temples serving as the ultimate proof.
He would put on tefillin on a daily basis, he tried to keep Shabbat and insisted on eating kosher, but he was not a religious Jew in the regular sense of the word. That said, he saw the conflict as a theological struggle and believed that when two religions fight over a piece of land, especially when those two religions are Islam and Judaism, the Jews must use their heritage as the ultimate response to make their case.
The British refused to call Lehi an underground or paramilitary group and insisted on calling it the Stern Gang, as if his people were just a collection of ragtag youths. But the British treated the group as a very serious threat and went out of their way to target it.
Moreover, the British press ultimately decided to refer to the group as an underground movement, just like those in Ireland and India. This was a major public relations victory on the path toward ending the foreign occupation of the Land of Israel.
After he was murdered, the Lehi leadership realized that power, arms and money are not the only key to victory, but also sophistication, courage and an understanding of how to manipulate the media. By doing that, they wisely chose to continue marching down the same strategic path charted by Stern.
That is why they sent letters to the families of the British soldiers stationed in Mandatory Palestine, warning them their loved ones would be hurt if they do not pressure their government to pull out. The battle was more than just about taking action against the British; it was about winning the hearts and minds of the British people.
One can disagree with the path Lehi took, but you cannot ignore the important historical role the organization and its leader had on the struggle for Israel's independence.
