Thousands at Herzi Memorial Service Ceremony

Thousands of youth, from Israel and abroad, gathered this evening on Mount Herzl commemorating the 69th anniversary of the death of the father of the Zionist movement Dr. Theodor Herzl. The ceremony was attended by President Ephraim Katzir, Knesset Speaker Yisrael Yeshayahu, Supreme Court Justice Shimon Agranat and leaders of the Zionist movement.

The President said the task which Herzl began has not been completed. “We must continue and fulfill Herzl’s vision-ingathering of the exiles, exemplary society, a lasting peace and a spiritual center for the Jewish people,” Katzir said. He reviewed Herzl’s milestones in creating the Zionist movement and stressed Herzl’s uniqueness in combining dream and action. “Let us all fulfill Herzl’s dream and Herzl’s deeds,” Katzir said.

The ceremony was the climax of a series of events commemorating 70 years since the first Zionist Council and 25 years of the Jewish state Besides youth movements scores of tourists also attended. Behind the black tomb engraved with the name of Herzl stood a choir which chanted songs representing different chapters in Zionist history. The choir stood on a podium which had Herzl’s portrait and his famous saying, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

The ceremony was opened by Louis Pincus, chairman of the Zionist Executive, who said the presence of hundreds of immigrants from Arab and Western states, and from the USSR, who came to Israel after difficult battles and many tortures symbolized more than anything the fulfillment of the Zionist vision.

However, he said, the battle for Soviet Jewry must continue. There is also a long way, he said, until Herzl’s idea of an “exemplary state” is fulfilled. “In the coming period we shall have to continue with efforts to create in our country a new society based on the principles of equity and justice, society without gaps and without injustice,” Pincus said.