Baruch Schwartz Memorial Service in Town Hall Thursday

Memorial services in honor of Baruch Schwartz, one of the pillars of the Zionist Organization, will be held in Town Hall on May 25. Leaders of Jewish thought and admirers of Schwartz, the teacher and the public man, will participate.

Mr. Schwartz was one of the founders of the Zionist movement in South Russia. He understood Zionism in that wide range which includes all that is pertinent and valuable to the regeneration of Jewish life. He brought up a generation of Hebrew scholars who are now occupying important positions in many countries in Europe, as well as in Palestine and America. When the first Zionist convention assembled in Balta in 1917, after the Russian Revolution, and it was decided to send greetings to all the Zionist leaders in the various countries, thunderous applause greeted the name of Baruch Schwartz, when it was mentioned.

During Petlura’s reign in the Ukraine he was the head of the community in Bohopoly, government of Podol, and his leadership and diplomacy preserved the Jews in that town from misfortunes. He was afterwards obliged to leave for Odessa. In the Revolution of 1905, his house was the center of self-defense for all the young people of the city.

Baruch Schwartz was born in a Jewish colony and received a traditional education, but he never was Orthodox in the strict sense. He was rather the type of the Jewish conservative in America. He knew many languages, had a strong inclination toward the sciences and philosophy. In Palestine he was surrounded by a group of his former pupils and he was visited by the famous writers and pedagogues who lately have made Tel-Aviv their center.

A few years ago, the first volume of his reminiscences, “My Life”, was issued in Jerusalem. He had intended to write eight volumes, but only two volumes were completed by him in manuscript and the work had to be stopped because of ill health.