Your idols(People you look up to)

Yitzchak Rabin
Mordechai Aneilewicz (pronounced Ahn-ee-ley-vich)
David Ben-Gurion
Golda Meir

Now, since most of you haven't heard of all of these people, and at best, the majority of you have heard of maybe one or two of these people, I will tell you all a little bit about em so that you can know why.

I guess I'll go in chronological order.

Mordechai Aneilewicz:

The courage, idealism, and strong leadership abilities of Mordechai Anielewicz helped iniate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the single largest Jewish armed resistance against the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Anielewicz was born in 1919 into a poor family living in Warsaw. After finishing secondary school, Anielewicz soon joined the Zionist movement ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir, where he distinguished himself as an organizer and leader. In early 1940 he was a full time underground activist, setting up youth groups and underground newspapers. By mid-1941, Anielewicz began concentrating on transforming the underground youth movements into an armed resistance movement. He also began creating self-defense organizations in the ghetto.
Anielewicz had been away from Warsaw during the summer of 1942. Upon returning, there were only 60,000 of the 350,000 Warsaw Jews remaining in the ghetto after the mass deportations. Anielewicz was determined to reinvigorate the Jewish Combat Organization (the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa,or ZOB) and actively fight back against the Nazis.
After he reinvigorated the ZOB, they then initiated the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, fighting off the NAZIs for over a month. He died a martyr of the cause. So, in short, Mordechai Anielewicz, (zt''l) was the mastermind and organizer behind the warsaw ghetto uprising, as well as a firm believer in labor zionism.

David Ben-Gurion:
David Ben-Gurion was born in Plonsk, Poland in 1886 and educated in a Hebrew school established by his father, an ardent Zionist. By his mid-teens, Ben-Gurion led a Zionist youth group, "Ezra," whose members spoke only Hebrew among themselves.
At the age of 18 he became a teacher in a Warsaw Jewish school and joined the Socialist-Zionist group "Poalei Zion" (Workers of Zion).
Arriving in the Land of Israel in 1906, he became involved in the creation of the first agricultural workers' commune (which evolved into the Kvutzah and finally the Kibbutz), and helped establish the Jewish self-defense group, “Hashomer” (The Watchman).
Ben-Gurion was a founder of the trade unions, and, in particular, the national federation, the Histadrut, which he dominated from the early 1920's. He also served as the Histadrut's representative in the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency, and was elected chairman of both organizations in 1935.
Having led the struggle to establish the State of Israel in May 1948, Ben-Gurion became Prime Minister and Defense Minister. As Premier, he oversaw the establishment of the state's institutions. He presided over various national projects aimed at the rapid development of the country and its population: “Operation Magic Carpet,” the airlift of Jews from Arab countries, the construction of the national water carrier, rural development projects and the establishment of new towns and cities. In particular, he called for pioneering settlement in outlying areas, especially in the Negev.

Golda Meir:
Golda Meir was born in Kiev in 1898. Economic hardship forced her family to emigrate to the United States in 1906, where they settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In high school she joined the Zionist group, "Poalei Zion" (Workers of Zion). She immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1921 with her husband, Morris Myerson, and settled in Kibbutz Merhavya.
Moving to Tel Aviv in 1924, she became an official of the Histadrut Trade Union and served in a managerial post with the union's construction corporation, Solel Boneh. Between 1932 and 1934 she worked as an emissary in the United States, serving as secretary of the Hechalutz women's organization; she also became secretary of the Histadrut's Action Committee, and later of its policy section.
When the prestate British Mandatory Authorities imprisoned most of the Jewish community's senior leadership in 1946, she replaced Moshe Sharett as head of the Jewish Agency's Political Department, the chief Jewish liaison with the British. Elected to the Executive of the Jewish Agency, she was active in fundraising in the United States to help cover the costs of the Israeli War of Independence, and became one of the State's most effective spokesmen.
In 1948, David Ben-Gurion appointed Golda Meir to be a member of the Provisional Government. A few days before the Declaration of Independence, BenGurion sent her disguised as an Arab on a hazardous mission to persuade King Abdullah of Jordan not to attack Israel. But the King had already decided his army would invade the Jewish state following the British departure.
In June 1948, Meir was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Elected to the Knesset as a Mapai member in 1949, she served as Minister of Labor and National Insurance until 1956. In June 1956, she became Foreign Minister, a post she held until January 1966. As Foreign Minister, Meir was the architect of Israel's attempt to create bridges to the emerging independent countries of Africa via an assistance program based on practical Israeli experience in nation building. She also endeavored to cement relations with the United States and was successful in creating extensive bilateral relations with Latin American countries.
Between 1966 and 1968, she served as SecretaryGeneral of Mapai, and then as the first SecretaryGeneral of the newly formed Labor Party. When Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly in early 1969, the 71yearold Meir assumed the post of Premier, becoming the world's third female Prime Minister (after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi of India).
As Prime Minister she inherited Eshkol's second National Unity Government administration, but this broke up over the question of continuing the cease-fire with Egypt in the absence of a peace treaty.
The major event of her administration was the Yom Kippur War, which broke out with massive coordinated Egyptian and Syrian assaults against Israel on October 6, 1973. As the postwar Agranant Inquiry Commission established, the IDF and the government had erred seriously in their assessment of Arab intentions.
Although she and the Labor Party won the elections (postponed due to the war until December 31, 1973), she resigned in 1974 in favor of Yitzhak Rabin. She passed away in December 1978 and was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
One of her most famous quotes is "There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews":D. Sorry this one was so long.

Yitzchak Rabin:
Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem, in March 1922. His father, Nehemiah, had immigrated to Israel from the United States, and in World War I served as a volunteer in the Jewish Legion. His mother, Rosa, was one of the first members of the Haganah, the mainstream Jewish defense organization.
After completing his schooling with distinction, Rabin volunteered for the Palmach, the commando unit of the Jewish community. He served in the Palmach and the Israeli army (I.D.F.) for 27 years, culminating his military career as I.D.F. Chief of Staff.
Retiring from I.D.F. service on January 1, 1968, he was appointed Israeli Ambassador to the United States, where he consolidated ties between the two states.
Rabin returned to Jerusalem in the Spring of 1973, and became active in the Israel Labor Party. In the December 1973 elections, which followed the Yom Kippur War, he was elected to the Knesset, and when Golda Meir formed her government in April 1974, he was appointed Minister of Labor. This government resigned shortly afterwards, and on June 2, 1974, the Knesset voted confidence in a new government headed by Yitzhak Rabin.
As Prime Minister, Rabin placed a special emphasis on improving the economy, solving social problems, and strengthening the I.D.F. With American mediation, Rabin concluded the interim agreement with Egypt in 1975. As a result of this agreement, the first Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of Israel and the United States.
In June 1976, the Rabin government ordered the Entebbe Operation.
Following the Labor Party's defeat in the May 1977 elections, Rabin served as a Member of Knesset in the opposition, and was a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, until the formation of the National Unity Government in September 1984. He then served as Minister of Defense in the National Unity Government from September 1984 to March 1990.
From March 15, 1990, to June 23, 1992, Rabin served again as a Member of Knesset in the opposition. Before the 1992 elections, the Israel Labor Party held its first nationwide primaries. Rabin was elected Chairman of the Party in February 1992, and in the June 1992 national elections he was elected Prime Minister.
On September 13, 1993, Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles in Washington, D.C., outlining the proposed interim self-government arrangements. The “GazaJericho First” agreement, signed in Cairo on May 4, 1994, addressed the implementation of the first stage of the Declaration of Principles.
Following the progress in the negotiation with the Palestinians, Rabin received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.
On October 26, 1994, Rabin and King Hussein signed the Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
On November 4, 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a gunman in central Tel Aviv after attending a rally. He was laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Fictional: Alucard (he's a rabid vampire, who slaughters anyone who gets in his way, and in quite colourful ways!), Bombadil (for being a nonsensical, fun-loving guy), Patrick(Star), Homer(Simpson), Michael(W.H.R.)(these are loose idols, really the ones that came to mind)

Non-Fictional: My first, and foremost idol is, of course, Professor/Doctor John Ronald Reul Tolkien. He's been an inspiration since I first learned it was he who wrote the books, upon which the movies were based. Kralj Petar Svacic(King Peter Sva-ch-ee-ch), for dying to defend Croatia from Koloman. My grade four teacher, for kindling the love of (predominantely western(i.eScandanavian,British,etc.)European Medieval history/general in me. Snorri Sturluson for writing the Prose (or Younger) Edda. Appropriately first, Ralph Bakshi for helping me open my eyes to the LotR, and of course Peter Jackson for making the movies, which after watching The Hobbit I watched, which eventually led me to the books. My conscience, for listening to my constant rambling, and having brilliant conversation with. Bruce Lee. The following musical entities: Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, Dragonland, Elvenking, Thompson(Marko Perkovic), and some others.

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