Dr. Stephen S. Wise, rabbi of the Free Synagogue and president of the Jewish Institute of Religion, yesterday made the following statement concerning the passing of Bialik:
“Bialik’s death will be a great sorrow to Jews throughout the world. He was not only one of our greatest but also one of our best, a noble son and singer of his people. At the first annual Commencement of the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1926, mine was the distinction of presenting the honorary degree of Doctor of Hebrew Letters to him. In awarding the degree to him I spoke of him as ‘peerless singer of his people’s hopes and woes; fearless up-builder of his people’s life; revealer thru fine understanding and unwearied industry of the literary treasures of his people’s past, by virtue of his divine gifts as poet which make of him a link in the golden chain including the names of Jehuda Halevi and Ibn Gabirol, the outstanding figure in the world of Jewish letters’.”
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.
