ABSTRACT
For almost two years I dedicated myself to building Jerusalem, a task that I found most exhilarating and gratifying. Working with Teddy Kollek was an unforgettable experience. He inspired his team with his spirit and enthusiasm and extracted from us the best we had. No one, however much he tried, could follow Teddy's pace of work - he was indefatigable. Every day from six in the morning to midnight, he tackled each and every aspect: of Jerusalem's administration and dealt with the smallest details. He toured the city, planned new activities, gave direct instructions and made sure they were carried out, dictated tens of letters, gave interviews to local and foreign journalists, received an unceasing chain of guests and presided over numerous working meetings. Teddy dealt personally with all financial aspects and was a formidable one-man machine for raising funds from private and public donors for his many development projects. To sum up, he never stopped and never rested. He demanded the maximum from his team but much more from himself. Jerusalem, and only Jerusalem, was the center of his life and I am sure that when he went to sleep for very short hours, he also dreamt about Jerusalem. Teddy's energy was contagious and I, like everyone else near him, found myself working round the clock and plunging up to the neck into Jerusalem's problems and, to my deep regret, also into a series of small conflicts of a personal nature that plague the average politician. About Egypt, peace or diplomacy, I did not even think . . .
