The elected Constituent Assembly opened in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM on February 14, 1949, ט״ו בשבט 15th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, with חיים ויצמן ḤAYIM WEIZMANN addressing its representatives. Election had given the assembly a mandate; its opening made that mandate a working national institution. The February 16 law subsequently named the assembly the First כנסת KNESSET.12

What did the opening address claim?

The next day’s JTA issue published an English version of Weizmann’s address. It begins:

{dir=ltr lang=en} It is with a feeling of deep reverence and consecration that I rise to open the Constituent Assembly3

The speech connects political ציונות ẒIYONUT, עלייה ALIYA, settlement and wartime sacrifice to elected government. The following day’s JTA publication preserves an English address that also invokes the destruction of communities in Europe and obligations toward יהודים YEHUDIM abroad. This is an argument about national continuity, not a claim that the state created the people it represented.4

What did the assembly accomplish that day?

Representatives made their declarations and יוסף שפרינצק YOSEF SPRINZAK was elected to preside. The legislature had 120 elected seats. Its constitutional work remained open; convening did not itself adopt the Transition Law or form a new cabinet. The first-day sitting must remain distinct from subsequent committee work, legal transformation and presidential election.56

How did sacred time enter public remembrance?

The opening fell on the annual tree festival ט״ו בשבט 15th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat. Klir also describes a morning memorial planting at שער הגיא SHAAR HAGAI honoring earlier defenders and supply convoys. A proposed forest of millions of trees is not a count planted that morning, and commemorated deaths are not new February 14 fatalities.7

How is this dated?

TJD uses the fixed Hebrew calendar for the civil-to-Ivrit conversion described here.

Klir dates the opening February 14, 15 Shevat 5709, ט״ו בשבט ה׳תש״ט 15th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5709; JTA published the speech February 15. The supplied protocol lead specifies 16:00, but the original PDF returned an access restriction and that clock has not been independently collated here. The inherited verified daytime date is retained. Any continuation after sunset belongs to ט״ז בשבט ה׳תש״ט 16th 𝑜𝑓 Ŝʾvat, AM 5709. The assembly’s later legal name dates from February 16.89

Guided reflections

  • How did the address connect wartime sacrifice to elected national authority?
  • Why do opening a legislature, naming it and constituting a government require different dates?

Footnotes

  1. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, Entry February 14, opening proceedings. ↩
  2. JTA, of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly, February 15 publication of opening address. ↩
  3. JTA, of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly, Opening sentence; contemporary English publication, original Hebrew protocol access restricted. ↩
  4. JTA, of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly, Opening and historical sections of published address. ↩
  5. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, February 14 proceedings. ↩
  6. JTA, of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly, Address, scope and institutional setting. ↩
  7. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, February 14 memorial and forest target. ↩
  8. Yosef Klir, ממנדאט למדינה, February 14 heading. ↩
  9. JTA, of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly, Issue date and opening-session identification. ↩

Works cited

  1. Klir, Yosef. ממנדאט למדינה. Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, 1952. Project Ben-Yehuda digital text; dated entries and reproduced speeches, not verbatim original protocols. https://benyehuda.org/read/23753. Accessed October 11, 2026.
  2. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. of Chaim Weizmann's Address Opening Session of Israeli Constituent Assembly February 15, 1949. Archive transcription; original bulletin page, column and dispatch dateline uncollated. Relative wording distinguished from issue dates. https://www.jta.org/archive/of-chaim-weizmanns-address-opening-session-of-israeli-constituent-assembly. Accessed October 11, 2026.