Found Altalena Boat Recalls the Rebbe’s Sharp Words

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu recently announced the discovery of the wreck of the Altalena, the ship whose sinking off the coast of Tel Aviv in 1948 remains one of the most painful chapters in the early history of the State of Israel.

Israeli divers located the vessel intact at a depth of 503 meters, about 20 kilometers off the coast, after months of searching with advanced sonar technology.

The Altalena was carrying weapons and Jewish immigrants for the Irgun militia, led by Menachem Begin, just weeks after the establishment of the state. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, concerned about the existence of a rival armed force outside the newly established IDF, ordered the ship shelled as it approached the shore. The vessel caught fire and eventually sank.

Sixteen Irgun members and three IDF soldiers were killed. Begin himself was aboard the ship and narrowly escaped. The episode brought the fledgling state to the brink of civil war, and the deaths, for which Ben-Gurion bore responsibility, left deep scars on Israeli society that have never fully healed.

The Rebbe addressed the episode in a letter to Harav Shlomo Yosef Zevin, part of which was later published in Likkutei Sichos, volume 7, and Igros Kodesh, volume 19, letter 4356. Discussing the danger of remaining silent when serious lines are crossed, the Rebbe cited several examples of actions that were pushed through in the name of the public will, while those who could have objected remained silent, and some even applauded.

Regarding the individual responsible for the Altalena affair, the Rebbe writes that he had become entangled in the three cardinal sins, for which one is required to give up his life rather than transgress, using the language of shefichus damim.

Reportedly, the Rebbe also refused to accept Prime Minister Ben-Gurion for yechidus due to his involvement and responsibility in the Altalena affair.

As a young bochur, Reb Shimshon Stock had a yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe after being orphaned from his mother. During the yechidus, he asked whether he should travel to Eretz Yisroel. The Frierdiker Rebbe advised him not to go, explaining that it was not the right time to leave his father alone. It later became clear that the boat Reb Shimshon had planned to take to Eretz Yisroel was the Altalena.

The wreck lies at a depth that makes raising the vessel impractical, according to officials. The Heritage Ministry is considering options for commemorating the site, including a floating monument or a maritime heritage center, while continuing to document the wreck where it lies.

The location of the Altalena had previously been reported almost 15 years ago, when a possible wreck was identified at a shallower depth off the coast of Rishon LeZion. That identification, however, was never followed by a recovery operation.

_{Photos: Benjamin Bubash, an Israeli Navy serviceman who participated in the evacuation of the Altalena.}