Huge crowds participated today in the funeral processor of the coffins containing the exhumed remains of Vladimir Jabotinsky, late founder of the Zionist-Revisionist movement, and his wife Yohanna, which were brought to the Young Israel Synagogue for memorial services, prior to being placed on a plane for Israel where they will be reburied on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.
The memorial service at the synagogue was led by rabbis and cantors including Moshe Kussevitzki. Ambassador Katriel Katz, Israel’s Consul-General in New York, represented President Shazar, and read the Israel Government’s order for the reinterment at the service. Leaders of the Herut Party, including Joseph Klarman and Dr. Arieh Altman, who came to the funeral services from Israel, were also present.
Many Jewish dignitaries and representatives of Latin American Jewish communities participated in the service, which culminated in the reciting of the kaddish by Professor Eri Jabotinsky, the son of the late Zionist-Revisionist leader. An impressive rendition of the “Kol Berama Nishma” (Jeremiah 31:15-), by 40 New York cantors, highlighted the service.
New York City’s famous “Times Square” was renamed “Jabotinsky Square” for the day in tribute paid by the city to Jabotinsky’s memory. Leaders of the American Zionist movement, delegates from all major Jewish organisations as well as representatives from the Israel Government and Jewish communities abroad participated in this ceremony, and later attended the special memorial service at the Young Israel Synagogue.
Following the memorial service, the funeral procession departed for Kennedy Airport from where the remains were taken by El Al-Israel Airlines to Israel, with a stopover at the Paris airport.
(The hangar at Orly Airport in Paris in which the coffin of Vladimir Jabotinsky will be placed briefly tomorrow enroute to Israel, has been decorated with hundreds of Israeli and French flags in anticipation of the arrival of the El Al Israel Airlines plane carrying his remains. Israel Premier Levi Eshkol, now visiting Paris, will be among the many Israeli and French Jewish personalities who will participate in tomorrow’s special memorial service at the airport. French generals, deputies and ministers are also expected to attend.)
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.
