While hundreds of Jews of all ages and classes filed silently past Vladimir Jabotinsky’s body at Schwartz’s Funeral Parlor on Second Avenue, Jewish leaders, regardless of faction, joined today in paying tribute to his services.
Messages of condolence came from local Jewish leaders, and also from Jewish bodies in Canada and Argentina, as well as from such non-Jews as Polish Ambassador Count Jerzy Potocki and Consul-General Sylvester Gruszka. Several Zionist organizations have called on their members to attend the funeral services, which will be held from the funeral parlor at noon tomorrow. Excerpts from messages follow:
Edmund I. Kaufmann, president of the Zionist Organization of America: “His passing is a severe blow to the cause of the upbuilding of the Jewish homeland in Palestine.” Harry Grayzer, president of the Order Sons of Zion, issued a similar statement and called on members to attend Jabotinsky’s funeral tomorrow. Louis Lipsky stated to the J.T.A.: “He was one of the great persons of the Zionist movement.” Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the World Jewish Congress Administrative Committee, telegraphed to the N.Z.O.: “Jabotinsky’s death means the loss of a great Jewish leader in a tragic moment for the Jewish people, who needed him now more than ever.”
The Poale Zion-Zeire Zion in a statement issued by Secretary David Wertheim, said: “A builder of the Jewish Legion in Palestine, he was in the forefront of the great Jewish leaders of our people who gained international recognition for Jewish aspirations in Palestine.” Morris D. Waldman, secretary of the American Jewish Committee: “Though most Jews, Zionists and non-Zionists, regarded his views as extremist, nobody who knew him could fail to admire his high moral and intellectual integrity and recognize the fine quality of his leadership.”
Willard G. Stanton, chairman of the American Friends of a Jewish Palestine: “At a time when Jews the world over are passing through the worst crisis in the many thousands of years of terrible times, the loss of such a man is indeed an irreparable loss.”
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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.
