Appearing before a public audience under Zionist auspices for the first time here in nine years, Jacob de Haas, organization chairman of the Zionist Organization of America, friend and biographer of Theodor Herzl, paid tribute to the memory of the founder of Zionism at a mass meeting here at the Copley-Plaza hotel.
Asserting that Dr. Herzl not only conceived political Zionism, but that he spurred the Jewish people into agressive action for the national cause and set into motion those processes which resulted today in an overwhelming vote for a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine, Mr. de Haas was emphatic in his declaration that this feeling was an outgrowth of the pressure of Herzl’s teachings. “We may not care to admit it,” he stated, “but the whole attitude of American Jewry, whereby it has involved itself so deeply in the social and political welfare of the Jews in every country, calling for the raising of millions upon millions, is an outgrowth of the pressure of Herzl’s teachings, and a response to his demand that we cease to be parochial, and realize that the Jews are one people, because everywhere they experience the same basic difficulties. Pride and habit still begrudge Herzl that tribute to his genius which Zionists readily offer, but which should come both from the Orthodox and the Reform. He saved Jewry for at least a generation.”
The chairman of the memorial meeting was Morris Katzeff, president of the Kadimah Zionist Club.
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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.
