- Joined
- Saturday July 11, 2009
You may like this anecdote:
Jehuda Avner, the Israeli diplomat, once related how, in British Mandate Palestine, David Ben Gurion, who would later become the first Prime Minister of the Jewish state, attended a formal dinner at the British High Commissioner's residence in Jerusalem.
It was a warm evening and Ben Gurion thought nothing of removing his jacket. He was promptly passed a handwritten note from the High Commissioner which read: “Mr Ben Gurion, please respect British etiquette and replace your jacket.†Ben Gurion turned the note over and wrote his reply: “I have been given permission by your Prime Minister to keep my jacket off.â€
At the end of the evening, the High Commissioner asked the inevitable question, “How can you possibly have had permission from the Prime Minister to remove your jacket at this dinner?â€
Ben Gurion smiled and said, “On a recent visit to Britain, I was a guest of the Prime Minister at dinner at 10 Downing Street. During the dinner I removed my jacket. Mr Attlee noticed what I had done and immediately wrote a note which was passed to me by a waiter. It read: “Mr Ben Gurion, when you are in Jerusalem you may do as you wish … but here in Britain we keep our jackets on.'â€
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...illiams-israel-visit-meant-much-british-jews/
Jehuda Avner, the Israeli diplomat, once related how, in British Mandate Palestine, David Ben Gurion, who would later become the first Prime Minister of the Jewish state, attended a formal dinner at the British High Commissioner's residence in Jerusalem.
It was a warm evening and Ben Gurion thought nothing of removing his jacket. He was promptly passed a handwritten note from the High Commissioner which read: “Mr Ben Gurion, please respect British etiquette and replace your jacket.†Ben Gurion turned the note over and wrote his reply: “I have been given permission by your Prime Minister to keep my jacket off.â€
At the end of the evening, the High Commissioner asked the inevitable question, “How can you possibly have had permission from the Prime Minister to remove your jacket at this dinner?â€
Ben Gurion smiled and said, “On a recent visit to Britain, I was a guest of the Prime Minister at dinner at 10 Downing Street. During the dinner I removed my jacket. Mr Attlee noticed what I had done and immediately wrote a note which was passed to me by a waiter. It read: “Mr Ben Gurion, when you are in Jerusalem you may do as you wish … but here in Britain we keep our jackets on.'â€
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...illiams-israel-visit-meant-much-british-jews/