The first Independence Day was celebrated at the Technion on May 20, 1948, about a week after Ben Gurion’s announcement, at a joint meeting of the executive committee, professors, and teachers. Shlomo Kaplansky, the director of the Technion, gave a speech in which he referred to the magnitude of the hour and the regret for the absence of many of the students. Most of the students had been drafted and were on active duty in the war that took place during those very days. It was Kaplansky’s second speech within six months that referred to the magnitude of the hour; his December 1947 speech referred to the UN vote of 29 November that supported the establishment of a Jewish state.