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Jews and Non-hews Mourn Wise’s Death; Funeral Today; Truman Send Representative

April 22, 1949
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President Truman will send a personal representative to attend the funeral services for Rabbi Stephen S. Wise which will take place tomorrow at Carnegie Hall. Interment will be private in the family plot at the Westchester Hills Cemetery of the Free Synagogue in Hastings, N.Y., it was announced today by Dr. Wise’s family. The family continued to receive messages of condolence from persons and organizations throughout the world. President Truman’s message to the family read: “A valiant fighter in the cause of righteousness and good will among men is lost through the death of your distinguished father. To you and to all who mourn with you I offer this assurance of deepest sympathy.”

The New York Police Department will provide an escort for the cortege from Carnegie Hall to the city line, where state troopers will escort the funeral procession to the cemetery. Thousands of persons yesterday and today filled the Free Synagogue auditorium where Dr. Wise lay in state. Beneath Dr. Wise’s head is a sachet of earth from Israel. In accordance with a wish expressed by Dr. Wise shortly before his death, the music at the funeral service will include “El Mole Rechamim,” the traditional prayer of mourning.

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND JEWISH AGENCY JOIN IN GRIEF

Among the messages of sympathy received by Dr. Wise’s family was one from a

The American section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine issued a statement declaring: “With the passing of Dr. Wise, a great American and a great Jew, the Jewish people have lost a beloved leader and the Zionist movement an outstanding statesman. In the last half century, the impact of his great personality was felt by all aspects of Jewish life. He will remain unforgotten by the Jewish people as one of their great sons in an historic period when great leadership was needed.”

A statement issued by the American Jewish Congress on the passing of Dr. Wise, who was president of the organization, emphasized that the late Jewish leader was a noble and a fearless fighter for “every worthwhile ideal–extension and enrichment of the democratic system; world peace and justice; freedom for the Jewish people in the Jewish homeland; ending of persecution and discrimination; elimination of corruption in government and civic affairs; and the expansion of knowledge.”

CONDOLENCE MESSAGES REACH FAMILY FROM MANY LANDS

Messages of condolence were issued today by the Jewish National Fund, Anti-defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Hadassah, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, United Jewish Appeal, B’nai B’rith, American Friends of the Hebrew University, American ORT Federation, United Palestine Appeal, Keren Hayesod, Jewish Institute of Religion, National Jewish Welfare Board, American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, National Community Relations Advisory Council, Jewish War Veterans and numerous other Jewish organization.

Messages of condolence were also received from the United Zionist Council of Canada, Canadian Jewish Congress, World Federation of Polish Jews, DAIA–central representative body of Argentine Jewry, B’nai B’rith in Cuba, Jewish Cultural Center of Panama, European executive of the World Jewish Congress, and from many other Jewish organizations in all parts of the world.

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