Israel’s latest luxury liner, the 10,000-ton “Israel.” is in dock here today after having completed a shakedown cruise which its commander pronounced “highly satisfactory.”
A colorful ceremony was staged on the high seas as the ship was turned over to Capt. W. Freudenberg, of Israel, and his all-Israel crew of 140 officers and sailors. The ship left this harbor under the German flag. At sea, an executive of the Hamburg Deutsche Werft Shipyards, which built the vessel under the Israel-German reparations agreement, formally turned the ship over to representatives of the Israel Purchasing Mission. The latter gave custody of the “Israel” to Zvi Yechiel, director of Zim Shoham, new owners of the liner. The German flag then was lowered and the blue-white banner of Israel was raised.
The “Israel” will leave here Friday for Southampton, England. On September 27, the day after Yom Kippur, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie will dedicate the synagogue aboard the ship, and the “Israel” will leave for its home port of Haifa. The ship will enter the regular Haifa-New York run via Naples and Halifax, on a 12-day schedule. Germany is now building a sister ship, the “Zion.” When the “Zion” is in service the two liners will maintain a three-week schedule of departures from New York and Haifa.
On her trip to Haifa, the “Israel” will stop at Gibraltar to pick up North African Jews emigrating to Israel.
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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.
