More than 5,000 Israelis and overseas guests assembled here tonight at Yad Chaim Weizmann Memorial Square to pay solemn tribute to the memory of Israel’s first President. According to the Hebrew calendar, Dr. Weizmann’ death occurred exactly 10 years ago today.
The principal speaker at the ceremony was Dr. Weizmann’s successor, President Izhak Ben-Zvi, who told the assemblage that the importance of the ceremony tonight was not in the fact that a decade had passed since Dr. Weizmann’s death, but the fact that “we continue to follow his ideals, and to live under his influence. ” Calling Dr. Weizmann “the symbol of the Jewish nation, ” the President added that he was adding to the two crowns worn by Dr. Weizmann–the Crown of Torah and the Crown of Kingdom–“the third Crown of the Jewish Nation throughout the world. “
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, who was chairman of the proceedings, paid tribute to Dr. Weizmann’s statesmanship and political achievements. Jan Peerce, the American artist, chanted the “El Mole Rahamim, ” and “Rachel Mevaka Baneha, ” accompanied by the Israel Philharmonic. Lights in the square were dimmed as 10 torches were lighted. President Ben-Zvi and Dr. Vera Weizmann, widow of Dr. Weizmann, children and members of the Magen David Adom headed the solemn procession to Dr. Weizmann’s grave.
EIGHT LEADERS GIVEN HONORARY FELLOWSHIPS; BEN-GURION HAILS SCIENCE
Last night, opening the countrywide Weizmann commemorative services, eight scientists, statesmen and public figures were awarded Honorary Fellowships by the Weizmann Institute of Science here. They were: Dr. Vera Weizmann; Dr. Saul Adler, professor of parasitology at Hebrew University; Professor Carl J. Burkhardt, modern history authority; Dr. Goldmann; Heinrich G. Ritzel, member of the West German Parliament; Lord Rothschild; Harry Sacher, pioneer British Zionist leader; and Professor Victor F. Weisskopf, director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
The award to Herr Ritzel, a rare one from Israel to a German national, evoked a spontaneous wave of applause when it was announced. He was described as a friend of Israel and of the Weizmann Institute.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, speaking at the colorful ceremony today, hailed the role of science and research in fostering the moral values of the Hebrew prophets. Abba Eban, Minister of Education and Culture, who is also president of the Weizmann Institute, also spoke. In an anniversary statement, the Israel Government said that Dr. Weizmann’s life had been “bound up with the destiny of his people in one of the most critical periods in its history–a generation which ended the period of national enslavement, and began the period of redemption. “
Myer Feidman, a White House aide to president Kennedy, was among those present. He arrived yesterday for a six-day visit to Israel. Mr. Feldman, who made a much-publicized visit to Israel earlier this year, met with Mr. Ben-Gurion last night, and was scheduled to meet a second time with the Prime Minister as well as with Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister.
(In Washington, today, Andrew Hatcher, a White House spokesman, said, in reply to an inquiry, that Mr. Feldman’s current trip to Israel was “a private matter, ” and that the Presidential aide had gone to Israel to attend a function at the Weizmann Institute.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
