Glowing eulogies of six outstanding Zionist personalities who died since the last Congress two years ago, were delivered tonight by Dr. Nahum Sokolow, president of the World Zionist Organization at the fourth session of the World Zionist Congress which was devoted to memorial services.
Dr. Sokolow paid tribute to Leo Motzkin, late chairman of the Committee of Jewish Delegations and for many years president of the World Zionist Congresses; Chaim Nachman Bialik, the late Hebrew national poet; Dr. Shmarya Levin, Zionist worker, writer and lecturer; Baron Edmond de Rothschild, philanthropist and Zionist benefactor; Dr. Victor Jacobsohn and Johann Kremenetzki.
Of Dr. Motzkin, he said: ” He was one who had a message; he believed in it and spread it abroad.”
Describing Bialik as ” our greatest national poet,” he declared that Bialik had become a classic within his lifetime and that his death was a national catastrophe to all Jewry and the Hebrew renaissance movement.
Dr. Sokolow warmly recalled the “geniality which wins all hearts” in speaking of Dr. Levin. “He spoke impressively to innumerable people,” Dr. Sokolow said. “He awakened the desire and understanding for Jewish nationality and Zionism in the widest circles.”
In his final speech of the memorial service, Dr. Sokolow said of the late Baron Rothschild.
“In him God has given us much and taken much away. For many years the Baron’s forehead had been crowned with unfading laurels; all the flowers of art, wisdom, philanthropy and patriotism graced this prince in Israel. But he had only one passion and on ambition — his radiant love for Eretz Israel and the Jewish faith.”
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.
