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Excerpted from
an article in the New York Times,
August 7, 1940:
Tribute by
12,000 Paid Jabotinsky
They Stand Outside Chapel in Second Ave., During Funeral of Noted
Zionist Leader.
200 CANTORS SING RITUAL
Thousands Line Streets When Cortege Passes through East Side After
Service
As more than 12,000 persons stood out in the street, a funeral
service was held yesterday for Vladimir Jabotinsky, author, soldier
and world leader of the New Zionist Organization, at the Gramercy
Park Memorial Chapel, 152 Second Avenue.
Mr. Jabotinsky, who died of a heart attack Saturday night at Camp
Betar, Zionist Youth Camp at Hunter, N.Y., was unaware that his son
Eri, who had been imprisoned at Acre Fortress in Palestine for
nationalist activities, had been released from prison earlier that
day. A Zionist holiday was declared in Palestine yesterday in memory
of Mr. Jabotinsky...
Led by Joseph Ruminsky (Rumshinsky- ed.) Jewish composer, 200
Verband cantors sang an ancient Hebrew ritual chant. At the request
of Mr. Jabotinsky, there were no speeches, based on the precedent of
the funeral of Theodore Herzl, founder of modern Zionism.
John H. Patterson, D. S. O., British commander of the legion Mr.
Jabotinsky fought with in Palestine during the World War, was among
the 100 honorary pallbearers, all close associates of Mr. Jabotinsky
in his fight for a Jewish nationalist state in Palestine....(cont.,
right)
Also see "The Betar: Ze'ev
Jabotinsky."
photo: Betar founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Party,
1925
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Estimated by
Inspector John J. De Martino, who directed fifty patrolmen and five
sergeants, as one of the largest funerals on the East Side, a throng
of 25,000 followed the cortege or lined the route. All vehicular
traffic was stopped on Second Avenue as the hearse and guard of
honor went north on Second Avenue to Fourteenth Street, east to
First Avenue, south to Thirteenth and then west again to Second
avenue.
Proceeding south on
Second Avenue, where Jewish theatres and homes had hung out mourning
drapes, the cortege stopped between Tenth and Ninth Streets in front
of the funeral chapel, where the cantors sang a Jewish mourning song
and the Jewish national anthem. |
