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Jehuda Reinharz, Motti Golani, Chaim Weizmann: The Great Enabler. From the Balfour Declaration to the Establishment of the State of Israel, Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience, Volume 40, Issue 1, February 2020, Pages 108–131, https://doi.org/10.1093/mj/kjz028
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In Zionism’s brief history, no figure did more than Chaim Weizmann for the establishment of the State of Israel. Israel and Israelis owe him an immeasurable debt. Yet, he does not receive the recognition he deserves. His omission from Zionist and Israeli history has become so complete that, some years ago, when the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem organized a series of lectures on Zionist leaders, Weizmann was left out. The list of subjects for this important program included figures both well-known and less known, among them Theodor Herzl, Zeev Jabotinsky, and David Ben-Gurion, as well as Louis Brandeis, Haim Arlosoroff, Nahum Sokolow, Berl Katznelson, and Moshe Shertok. Only after we pointed out the glaring omission was his name added.
If Jews, or at least Zionists and Israelis, remember Weizmann at all, it is as Israel's first president, a post he served in briefly, from 1949 to 1952. The better-versed will recall his political haplessness in that capacity, imposed on him by Ben-Gurion, the country's first prime minister. They might also recall a second, earlier episode in Weizmann's life, his role in obtaining the Balfour Declaration, but nothing between that and his presidency. The well-informed might also mention that Weizmann was named president after Albert Einstein turned down the job.
