Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Bring Herzl’s grandparents for reburial in Jerusalem


Over the past decade Israel  has gone to great lengths to fulfill one of the dying wishes of Theodor Herzl, the founding father of modern political Zionism.

Herzl, whose 111th yahrzeit on the Hebrew calendar is being marked today, the 20th of Tammuz, wrote in his will that he wished to be buried next to his father “and to remain there until the Jewish people will transfer my remains to Eretz Israel,” along with those “of my close relatives.”

While nearly all of Herzl’s immediate family members have indeed been brought to the Jewish state for proper re-interment, one of the most influential figures in his life – and the one who may have first inspired his Zionist passion – has yet to receive the same honor.

It is time for this to change, and for Israel to bring the Zionist visionary’s grandfather, Shimon Loeb Herzl, and his wife, Rivkah, to be laid to rest in Jerusalem.

After the State of Israel was established, Herzl’s remains were disinterred in Vienna and reburied on August 17, 1949, beneath the iconic black granite tombstone that bears his name on Mount Herzl. His sister and parents are buried there too.

But despite his express request, it was not until September 2006 that two of his children, Pauline and Hans, were at last brought to Israel and buried next to their father.

Herzl’s third and youngest child, Trude, was murdered by the Nazis at Theresienstadt.

In June 2007, the remains of Trude’s son, Herzl’s only grandson, Stephen Theodore Norman, were exhumed from a Washington, DC, cemetery and transferred to Jerusalem. Norman had visited Israel in 1946 and supported his grandfather’s vision, but tragically took his own life after learning that his parents had died in the Holocaust.

Zev Bielski, then-chairman of the Jewish Agency, said at the time, “It is not often you can carry out historic, Jewish and Zionist justice. Today we did. Herzl dedicated his entire life to the Zionist idea. He sacrificed for us, and today we are doing this for him.”

Nonetheless, Herzl’s paternal grandparents, who profoundly influenced him, remain buried in a small Jewish cemetery in Zemun, outside the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

I came across their graves when visiting the area a few years ago, and it has bothered me ever since.

After all, for anyone familiar with Herzl and his background, the figure of his grandfather looms large among those who shaped his worldview.

Born in 1805, Shimon Loeb Herzl was the son of a rabbi and a religious Jew who served as the gabbai, or sexton, of the local synagogue in Zemun, which was known as Semlin at the time. In the 19th century, the town was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and straddled the border of Turkish-occupied Serbia.

In 1825, a young and dynamic rabbi, Yehuda Alkalai, was appointed the Zemun’s spiritual leader. Subsequently, nationalist sentiments began to rise in the Balkans, as the Serbs and others grew increasingly vexed by the Ottomans and their heavy-handed policies.

This had a meaningful effect on Rabbi Alkalai, whose Serbian friends and neighbors yearned to be freed from the Turkish yoke and began to agitate for independence.

Within a decade, in 1834, he produced a booklet called Shema Yisrael (Hear, O Israel) proposing something which at the time was considered radical: to create Jewish colonies in the land of Israel as a prelude to redemption. Rabbi Alkalai continued to develop his ideas, writing additional books and pamphlets and traveling throughout Europe to spread his message of Zionist renewal. In his 1845 work Minhat Yehudah, he wrote that, “Redemption must come slowly. The land must, by degrees, be built up and prepared.”

TO ACCOMPLISH this, he offered a novel series of practical suggestions, many of which seem to have clearly inspired Theodor Herzl’s later writings.

And that was no coincidence. After all, Shimon Loeb Herzl was one of Rabbi Alkalai’s most faithful congregants and devoted disciples.

As Hebrew University Professor Robert Wistrich, who passed away just two months ago, noted in his work The Shaping of Israeli Identity, Herzl’s grandfather, “Who annually visited his family in Budapest, always spoke enthusiastically of Alkalai’s ideas and this may have been his grandson’s first exposure” to the rebirth of Jewish life in the Land of Israel.

In other words, Herzl’s grandfather is likely the one who first kindled the spark of Jewish nationalism within young Theodor, a spark that would later ignite the Jewish world and alter the course of Jewish history.

It is therefore only fitting that Shimon Loeb Herzl, who died on November 3, 1879, along with his wife, Rivka, should now finally be brought to a proper burial alongside their famous grandson.

I call on the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency to take the necessary steps to make this happen.

Theodor Herzl did so much for the Jewish people, and laid the modern conceptual foundation for the rebirth of the Jewish state. The least we can do in return is fulfill his wishes and bring the remains of his grandparents back to Jerusalem.

by Michael Freund

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know about his yahrtzeit today.... L'illuy nishmoso, I just learned the mishneh in Mikvaos, Mishneh 7, the last one in the siddurs when learning for somebody's yahrtzeit....
Amazingly, it says.... Hitbil Bo es Hamitah.... AF AL PI SHRAGLEHO SHOKOS "BATIT"... TEHORAH...!!!!!!..... KIVAN SH"OLO ALEHO HAGAL... TEHORAH...!!!!
A man who was pained by the anti-Jewish pogroms, who worked day and night to help move Jews out of the Russian Pale, worked with orthodox Rabbonim who were willing to work with him, did tshuvah on his earlier assimilationist ideas, read IM ESHKOCHECH YERUSHALAYIM, TISHKACH YEMINI at one of the Zionist conventions........ until he had a fatal heart attack at 44..... TEHORAH....!!!!!!!!

Derby...

Anonymous said...

"but tragically took his own life" This is absolutely not a tragedy it's a simcha BEAVOID RESHAIM RINA
Kein Yovdu Kol Oyvechu Hashem

Dusiznies said...

6:15
Do you really mean "Kein Yovdu Kol Oyvechu Hashem"
or
do you really mean
"Kein Yovdu Kol Oyvei Satmar SHIT'ah"?

Anonymous said...

Someone who's hating satmar is probably because they're also hating Hashem definitely not a die-hard lover of Hashem, but obviously they're still not in the category of BEAVOID RESHAIM RINA and definitely not in the category of this disgusting atheistic G-d hater ym"s who bh had his personal mapula like Hitler and again kein Yovdu Kol Oyvechu Hashem

Dusiznies said...

Dear Readers
From the disgusting comment of 11:23
" kein Yovdu Kol Oyvechu Hashem"
cursing his own brothers and sisters in Israel, one can see the warped mentality that the first Satmar Rebbi instilled in his chassiddim!
Here is a guy that too the time to curse other Jews! He probably wears a Shtreimel and bekeshe and vaaseh zokin....
we now have Nazis dressed as heimishe yeedin!
Thank you Reb Yoelish, for calling other Jewish leaders "Apikorsim" Meenim" now reap the fruits of your labors!

Anonymous said...

You twisted mental case, on Reb Yoelish as you call him who was a shomer Torah umitzvohs you can't find even one iota limud zechus but on lehavdil bein tahor letomeh this human waste, soine Hashem and kofer beiker ym"s who had his mapola exactly how chazal tell us how the end of reshaim is going to be, you can't understand that bh there are Jews who believe in the VECHOL HAMINIM KEREGA YOVEDU
You know why? Because your faith doesn't look better SHAME ON YOU

Anonymous said...

Hey 10:14...

You're an F*********d up hypnotized robot.....
The man you're talking about left a legacy of hate , harassment and klulles against Yidden... The whole Sakmarian SHYT'teh lives on Zionism... Nothing else exists.. A sefer twisting facts about the '67 War which are so childlike and silly, because everyone who lives through it knows how it happened.... Like he rushed to print this sefer because the whole miraculous victory, the entire nissim be'farhasyeh of conquering Behtlechem, Chevron, Shechem, Yerushalyim,, etc....... one after another, after another in just a few days, the wiping out of the Egyptian, Jordanian & Syrian air forces in a matter of HOURS contradicted and destroyed his entire SHY'tteh in 6 wonderful days... Unbelievable...!!!
Anybody who's a shomer Torah and mitzvos is still worthy of being cursed if he's a Zionist.... A demented insane SHY'teh.
This morning, someobody told me that he mentioned the petirah of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe to a Sakmarian and he poo=pood him... Why? Because he was in the Tzahal... I never heard about him before, but I was told he was a tzaddik, a wonderful rebbe... Now you primitive Huns demean a holy man like this... Where does all this come from????? From YOUR GUY....
You know why you robots hate Herzl???? Because he was successful, even though he didn't live to see his dream... Beacause Yad Hashem worked through him and others.... Because you bums watched as the fires, pogroms, raged in Europe and did didly squat..... That's why you hate him... Because in the end..... and listen carefully now..... In the end, YOU HATE YOURSELVES.... Where did I hear that before ???? Oh yeah.... Something about seeing ourselves as chagovim, roaches.... remember them???


Derby...

Hey train lovers.... Where can one get a scenic old-fashioned train ride in these summer days???
I was thinking of the Santa Mar....ooops... Santa Fe Express.... Should be nice, I was told.


Anonymous said...

Yeah Derby, .... But what about their bikur cholim? If a Zionist winds up in a hospital Ch'VSH they'll still give him farkilte fiss, hot katchke soup with gegochte boondlit galore..
But he's gotta get sick though....

Rabbanit Tirtzeh Kol Toov

Anonymous said...

The '67 War shook the foundations of his lifelong beliefs and may have caused a nervous breakdown. Hence, the hastily written , chapp-lapp sefer'l to feed his chassidim a defense , lest they become....poo-poo-poo... Tziyoin'umm.

L'chol Hapoochis

Dusiznies said...

I have to laugh when I hear the SAKmar parrots say that the miracles of the 6 day war was done by the Sitra Achra, but they blame the murder of 6 million Jews on Hitler YM"S .... no Sitra Achra there!
The Sitra Achra only does miracles for the Zionists ..... ha ha ha
What a crazy demented SHIT"ah

Anonymous said...

IDIOT, You're talking about legacy and the success of this disgusting atheistic human waste ym"s? Someone who prevented his shrotzim to have a bris and they eventually committed suicide, i didn't know that's considered a successful legacy?

Anonymous said...

"....Someone who prevented his shrotzim to have a bris and they eventually committed suicide...."

One at a time.
No, he didn't circumsize his son... He was at that time an assimilationist... He changed his mind and had a great legacy.. He devoted , when he became aware of his Jewish roots and Jewish persecution, his short life solely to save them and move them to EY...Or don't you know that when one does tshuva it's assur to bring up his past sins? Anyway... He had the respect & admiration of the religion Zionist Rabbi Nissenbaum H"Y"D ( I have his sefer at home) and others.

Second, his children had mental issues, so it's not for you and me judge them... It's not always the fault of parents how children turn out... Especially, in an anti-Semitic environment when many, many Jews unfortunately couldn't pass the nisayon.. Or do you want me to post a list of children of rabbonim who went astray ???
Or do you want me to tell of people from very religious homes, whom I see socially & who even daven in my shul who categorically deny the validity of the Torah even though they dress in chassish ( and regular)garb and go through the motions? Or what a couple of Holocaust survivors, older people confided in me about religion?... All circumsized....!!!
Zionism , as you were poisoned, is the worst thing .The meraglim, as far as I know, WERE circumsized.... and soon I'm going to fast on a hot summer day for their loshon hara.. skip my BP pill, etc... Years and years of fasting because of circumsized evil rebels of Hashem...... Your guy didn't battle Reform... Why not?? You're an obsessed Tziyoinee addict, so you're your position as a hypnotized pappagei and shuckling puppet precludes you from making objective comments.

When you guys need a fix, you trash talk about Zionism, when your weekly rags, Patchke'vils, Droooo-shiTs need an umphhhh, a heroin shot, you talk Tziyoni'UM.. You guys are Nogeia b'dovor.... Not only meshuga l'oso divor, but meshuga l'dovor achar...

So, even after Binyamin Zev Herzl A"H changed his entire hashkafa, professed his love for the Jewish people and EY, you still insist on regurgitating his past, ad nauseum like the other anti-Zionist ( read anti Eretz Yisroel ) fanatics...

BTW.... Can you answer why the Malach wanted to kill Moshe Rabbeinu after he DID NOT circumcise his son, and Tzipporah actually did it and saved his life? Or that Bnai Yisroel DID NOT circumsize themselves in the midbar because of the northern wind? Do You understand that?
My point is, don't judge if you see that a person changes his thinking, his life, his hashkofah and gives his days & nights to a Jewish cause.... Then dies for it.... Who knows how much closer he would have come to Yiddishkeit had he lived..

If you stop imbibing in Malaga and think for yourself, you have a chance of learning something....
Do you understand why Herod was the one who built the 2nd BH and nissim ( although not like the 1st) still happened there?
Why Koresh is called Moshiach?
Why Esther had to marry a goy so the Purim ness happened?
No... You do NOT..

Shrotzim????

Lemmme see if you have culliones....

I want here & now absolutely predict & guarantee that YOUR kids , grandkids and great grand kids will always remain faithful to the Torah and never become nor breed shrotzim....

the Derby.... Le's Go Mets..!!!!!

Anonymous said...

".... You're talking about legacy and the success of this disgusting atheistic human waste ym"s? ..."

Hmmm..... Be consistent !!! So how come there's so much support from your community for atheistic , disgusting, presumably UNcircumsized politicos who preach for gay & lesbian marriage?

Hey Derby !! You mean let's go PETZ...!!

L'chol Hapoochis... so named by a hard of hearing great uncle, the bal hashem giver at my bris... Pop said, Lemel Mechel Pinchas and he misnamed.... Oh well...

Anonymous said...

He changed his hashkofo? Is that so? Maybe according to you and the religious Zionist organizations who's entire existence is by falsifying facts so to proof their correctness, but according to the ONLY legacy left by this yemachshemonik which is his writings he was till the end a real Jew hater
And regarding his shrotzim of course they had a mental problem but they were NOT born with that! That was a direct OYNESH MISHOMAYIM AS IS WRITTEN IN THE TORAH YEMACH SHEMO VEZICRO

Anonymous said...

"....Your guy didn't battle Reform... Why not?? ..."

Oh, come on... You KNOW why... Because these uncircumsized atheists are ANTI -ZIONISTS, that's why... So they're kosher dovor achar's pink feeeeeeslach...

The Heen & the Hoon

Dusiznies said...

3:36
You also weren't born with that ....
BTW the Ohr Hachaim writes in parshas Shlach, that any Jew that curses another Jew looses his olam habah, and not only that but he quotes a Zohar that states that the one cursed gets all the Mitzvois of the one who cursed!
So how many mitzvois did the Satmarer Rebbe have before his tirade in 1967 against other gedoilim when he cursed them? hmmmm?

Anonymous said...

".....which is his writings he was till the end a real Jew hater ...."

Pathetic liar, I read his writings AND diary... Where does he write it??? I actually asked my local rabbi a similar question when he popped BS about Herzl which he heard & believed...You know what???? He could never bring proof of his "facts''... Yes , I challenged him directly... I challenge you to the same..

"... they had a mental problem but they were NOT born with that!...'
How do you know? Did you examine them? And what difference does it make?
Again; Think about your own offpring before you pop poop... Pray that none of them become shrotzim, mental cases or commit suicide.... Don't be such a big shot...

Don't even get into that, because I'll ask you to explain why some prominent rabbis' wives & children were murdered but they themselves were saved...
You see, once you "know for a fact" what goes on in Shomayim about oynshim, then you must know EVERYTHING that goes on there..... So..!!! You wanna go there????

You'll also have to explain the health issues of so many children R"L"L"....
Better stop popping your over-the-counter odious BS..
I got a coupla things to tell you if you're gonna push...

Finally, it doesn't even make a rat's behind difference about what his personal life was anyway... the bottom line is that he helped Jews...

Derby

Anonymous said...

".....religious Zionist organizations who's entire existence is by falsifying facts ...."

Ok.....
Tell you what...

I have Al Hagulah on my book shelf not 2 feet away from where I'm now sitting...

Page for page, line by line... Let's discuss his FACTS of the '67 war as opposed to REAL facts...

Are you ready to discuss FACTS???????????
Let's go...!!!!!

Derby

Anonymous said...

A Sample:

Page 12..

Translation:
" And the truth I will tell you, I have no doubt, that had they conceded on the water rights ( Straits of Tiran) it wouldn't have come to war. But I don't want to be maarich in this, because to be mefalpel in politics there is no end and it makes no difference....."

Throughout his sefer he writes similarly.... Here's not the place to discuss this or that...nor that.... As everybody knows...... Yet, he writes some 190 pages. No proof of any accusations. Still wanna talk about facts??????????????????

Now , is there any person who can't remember Nasser's threat to throw Israel into the sea, how he put divisions of troops in the Sinai, how he led a war of attrition for years, how daily from Cairo & Syria calls for invasion and destruction were broadcast daily long before the Strait of Tiran became an issue...
Finally, why should they concede the Strait and be cut off from food and supplies??? Does Monroe concede and yield land ?????? NOPE...

Derby.....

Anonymous said...

Page 87..

"...... Re: the war...... It's not kedai to be metapel in their nonsense and to refute their false svoros... There is no nafke mineh in all of this...."

Excuse me... A whole sefer, but no will to refute????? No nafke mineh????? No mention of Nasser, of the UAR... of radio daily propaganda to throw Israel into the sea... No mention of Nasser & Hussein joining in a pact.... No mention of any of this because it's not kedei......


Derby

Anonymous said...

oy you don't get how you make our enemies look smart. by saying silly things you make them shine.

Anonymous said...

Hey Einstein @ 8:00...

How old are you ? My pretty 20 year old 1st cousin is looking for a kleeger just like you.

One there was Tweedeldee & Tweedeldum......... and they lived happily ever after.. Now that wasn't too teeef , was it??

Here's a red lollipop 'n' coloring book , Zeeskeit, and play with your next door neighbor Boomy.

Tammy Kol Toov..... Busy preparing a shalisheeeedis for heavy company.