Prime Minister’s Office
Communications Department
Translation
June 2, 2008
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Eulogy for Former Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Justice Yosef (Tommy) Lapid
Tommy – it is difficult for me to speak of you and not to you, the most amusing and most
irritating man, the most loyal friend I ever had; the man who spoke the truth with a
sharpness, wit, bluntness, great love and emotional intelligence – in a manner which never
left us indifferent.
When we wanted a bit of moderation – you were extreme; when we wanted a bit of
tolerance – you would reprimand us; when we asked that you join with the common
consensus – you insisted on saying the opposite. We expected your ability to be
unexpected as something to be taken for granted.
Two weeks ago we met at your home, as was our habit, on the night of the Sabbath – to
celebrate the promising results of the innovative treatment you received at Sloan-Kettering.
In your regular way, you stood there, in the doorway of your apartment at LaSalle 20,
embracing us and happily widening your eyes as if in surprise, welcoming us with some
provocative remarks and suggestions about life before we sat down in good company to
resolve the rest of the problems of the world. As was your manner, you were resolved,
unambiguous, overflowing with knowledge and insight, full of emotion and warmth, but
also contemplative, as one who knows clearly what we have yet to notice – perhaps feeling
what only you could feel about your condition, until you gently hinted to us that you were
tired and we made ready to leave, something which had never happened before.
When I asked you what moment best expressed what you had gone through, you
responded: when I was privileged to serve as Minister of Justice of the State of Israel and
Deputy Prime Minister. There is nothing stronger or more genuine than your own
testimony. The pinnacle of that moment was your trip as Minister of Justice of the
sovereign Jewish state to Budapest, when the motorcade of police motorcycles and cars
cleared your path. Who knew that in the official vehicle of the Israeli Minister of Justice
was also the same hungry boy who had hidden from the carpet bombing in the basements
of the Jewish ghetto in the city hosting him.
You were the most prominent representative of the wonderful revolution our people
underwent in recent generations. You well remembered where you came from and never
stopped expressing your pride in the freedom granted to you by your Israeliness, and in the
3 Kaplan St. Hakirya, Jerusalem 91950
Prime Minister’s Office
Communications Department
fact that the State of Israel was a source of pride, happiness and hope, and except for your
family who you so loved, the greatest miracle of your life.
You, a native of Novi Sad, who grew up in Hungary, wrote better Hebrew than the nativeborn Israelis; you thought in Hebrew and spoke Hebrew and, together with your friends
Kishon and Dosh, played a role in shaping our spoken language. You contributed to
Israeli humor and rhetoric, to our renewed playwriting about the Israeli way of life which
you adopted and shaped with grace and so much talent.
Do not tell me now, Tommy, with your characteristic impatience: enough Udi, stop, don’t
exaggerate. But I am not. I do not exaggerate. And if I do overstate things a little – it is
only because of my love for you. During all the storms through which we helped one
another for so many years, you were like a fortified wall, the first person I would call
during those moments when one wants to hear a deep, sane, wise, sincere and brave voice.
And even now, last Tuesday at your bedside in the oncology department, I watched you
carry out the steps involved in ending the journey. You were exhausted and pale, but had
the same determination and independence of spirit with which you ran your life and
influenced our lives, the lives of those who surrounded you.
Good night, Tomush. We will carry on and carry with us some part of your unique and
special personality, that one-of-a-kind personality that we were lucky enough to live near,
that which has no replacement.
3 Kaplan St. Hakirya, Jerusalem 91950