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The Honorable Speaker of the Knesset, Ms. Dalia Itzik,
The Honorable Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, Mr. Ze’ev Bielski,
Honorable Ministers of the Government of Israel,
Head of the Opposition, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Prof. Ben Tzion Netanyahu,
Members of the Herzl Family,
Distinguished Guests,
Fifty-seven years ago, the remains of the State visionary, Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, were brought for burial in the homeland — here at the mount which was given his name, Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
The funeral procession which the Government of Israel conducted on the 22nd day of Av, 5709 — August 17, 1949 — was not one of mourning, but rather, according to then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, a victory procession, “the victory of the vision which became a reality. Herzl’s memorial to immortality is the State of Israel which will be built and grow and will be beautified through the love of her sons-builders,” said David Ben-Gurion at the time.
Every year since then, here at this place, we hold a State memorial ceremony commemorating Herzl on the anniversary of his death on the 20th day of Tamuz. Every year, we stand here and honor the memory of the man to whom the Jewish people owe a supreme national and historic debt.
However, we owe him, the State visionary, a humanitarian debt as well, a debt of honor —and it is the debt of fulfilling his will. In his will, Herzl expressed his wish for the Jewish people to transfer his body to the Land of Israel, and added — “there will be transferred my father’s coffin as well, and the coffin of my sister Paulina, and the coffins of my closest relatives who pass away by such time as my coffin is taken to the Land of Israel (my mother and children)”.
Herzl, who admired children and called them “our most superior masters”, did not have the opportunity to see his three children grow up and become adults. Thus, he was also spared the grief of knowing of the personal tragedies which befell them over the years, until their deaths.
In the past, it was decided to bring the remains of Herzl’s father, mother and sister, together with his remains. Since then, the task has not been completed. Now, with the burial of Paulina and Hans’ remains, we complete the mission, and close a historic circle.
The implementation of this historic decision had many partners. First and foremost, there was the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Mr. Ze’ev Bielski. Immediately following the decision, we mobilized, and with the joined forces of the
Government of Israel and the World Zionist Organization, we embarked on this mission.
I thank the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Rishon Le’tzion, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who found the halachic basis for this humane decision, which is so warranted, of bringing the remains of Herzl’s children to be buried here, near the grave of their father.
Thus, the Chief Rabbi not only performed an act of true kindness for the State visionary and his family – but also a great act of bringing together the secular public with the religious public in Israel, and made an immense contribution to strengthening the people’s unity, a unity which is essential to fortifying the State of Israel’s strength.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous help of Dr. Ariel Feldstein, who uncovered the non-fulfillment of the will, and greatly assisted in uncovering the facts, Mr. Oren Magnezi, former adviser to the Prime Minister, and Mr. Avi Viderman, my assistant, who personally supervised the project.
It is regrettable that we are not able to execute Herzl’s will to completion by bringing his other daughter, Truda, for burial in Israel, as during the Second World War, she was sent to the death camp Theresienstadt, where she was murdered by the Nazis and apparently buried in a common grave on the camp grounds.
Thus, symbolically, the Holocaust of the Jews of Europe exacted a heavy toll on the family of our nation’s visionary, who feared a national disaster of this type, and which was one of the motives which led him to push for the establishment of the Jewish State, which would serve as a sanctuary for Jews who were persecuted around the world.
One hundred and two years after his death, Herzl still serves as our mentor. The writer Yisrael Zangwill, who served as a delegate to the First Zionist Congress, thus summed up the lesson taught by Herzl to the Jews with the establishment of the Zionist movement: “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and also wept as we remembered Zion. By the river of Basel, we sat and resolved to weep no more!”
This is the lesson – and the State of Israel is strong, sitting confidently on its land, and is capable of ensuring its strength not only for the present, but for the future of the State of Israel and the people of Israel – while it stands firm in defense of persecuted Jews around the world. It is the realization of this important lesson.
May the memory of Benyamin Ze’ev and the memory of his family, buried beside him from this moment on – forever be blessed.
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