The 122nd yahrzeit of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, was commemorated at Israel’s official state memorial ceremony at Har Herzl in Yerushalayim. Herzl was niftar on 20 Tammuz 5664, corresponding to July 3, 1904. This year, 20 Tammuz 5786 fell on this past Sunday, July 5, when the ceremony was held at his gravesite, drawing Israeli leaders, military representatives, government officials, and invited guests.
Chief IDF Cantor Lt. Col. Shai Abramson rendered the Kel Maleh Rachamim, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, World Zionist Organization (WZO) Chairman Yaakov HaGoel, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana addressed the gathering and laid wreaths in tribute to the man whose vision helped give modern political form to the Jewish return to Eretz Yisrael.
Among the invited guests of Rafael Cohen, Dir. of Mount Herzl and Foreign Relations at the WZO, were Dr. Paul Brody, President of ZOA Long Island & Queens; and his daughter, Limor Brody Oratz, R.N., of Katamon. Earlier that morning, the Brody family celebrated the bris of Dr. and Mrs. Drora Brody’s first Sabra grandson, Ari, born to Ben and Dana Glass of Carmei Gat, named for “Operation Roaring Lion.” The family simchah gave added meaning to the day, as a new Jewish child entered the covenant in Eretz Yisrael before the family joined Israel’s national tribute to Herzl.
“To celebrate a bris in Eretz Yisrael and then stand at Har Herzl on Herzl’s yahrzeit was deeply moving,” Dr. Brody said. “It connected family, history, and the future of the Jewish people.” Throughout the ceremony the Brodys displayed Israeli and Yerushalayim flags, honoring Herzl’s vision of Jewish nationhood and the Jewish people’s bond to Israel’s capital.
A notable moment came when the Prime Minister was gifted a commemorative photograph from 2008, when Dr. Brody and a group from Ateret Cohanim first introduced Netanyahu to then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
Also in attendance was Gabriel “Kosher Guru” Boxer of Hewlett, an Israel advocate and educator. The Bukharian Jewish Link extends sincere condolences to Gabriel upon the recent petirah of his father, Tim Boxer, husband of Nina of Hillcrest, and father of Gabriel of Hewlett and David of Kew Gardens Hills. May the family be comforted among the mourners of Tzion and Yerushalayim.
A Local Tribute
In recognition of Herzl’s yahrzeit, this writer also visited the Theodor Herzl Memorial at Freedom Square Playground, located at Main Street and Vleigh Place in Kew Gardens Hills. The small monument stands quietly in the center of a neighborhood filled with Jewish schools, shuls, homes, and businesses, linking the local community to one of the central figures in modern Jewish history.
The memorial features a bronze tablet set into Stony Creek granite, bearing Herzl’s likeness, the years 1860-1904, the words “Theodor Herzl: Fighter For Freedom,” and his declaration, “If you will it, it is no dream.” The plaque is dated May 2, 1960, and credits the Kew Gardens Hills Zionist District. The memorial is the only public monument to Herzl in the United States.
The site has long served as a place of Zionist commemoration. In its August 31, 2017 issue, the Queens Jewish Link featured the American Zionist Movement’s (AZM) “Herzl in the Park” ceremony at Freedom Square, marking 120 years since Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel. The program drew Jewish former service members, elected officials, and communal leaders, including then-Council Member Rory Lancman.
Speakers reflected on Herzl’s role in transforming Jewish longing for return into a political movement. Galit Peleg, then Head of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Consulate General, spoke of Herzl’s foresight. Ellen Hershkin, then National President of Hadassah, connected Herzl’s vision to Hadassah’s tradition of practical Zionism, noting how Henrietta Szold and generations of American Jewish women helped turn Zionist ideals into lasting institutions and support for the Jewish homeland. Herbert Block, Executive Director of AZM, framed the gathering as a national commemoration. The program concluded with Hatikvah and the sounding of the shofar.
The site was visited again on August 24, 2022, to mark the 125th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress. That commemoration brought together the Queens Jewish Community Council; Israel Nitzan, Deputy Consul General of Israel; the AZM; Council Member James Gennaro; and local community leaders. Gennaro represented the area before Lancman and returned to the seat in 2021.
The program connected the memorial to the wider story of modern Zionism. In 1897, Herzl brought together approximately 200 Zionists from 17 countries in Basel, formally launching the modern movement. Five Americans attended that congress, a point Block noted as evidence that American Zionists had been involved since the beginning. Block also highlighted the local connection: the park was created in 1957, and in 1960 local Zionists asked the city to name it Freedom Square.
The 2022 remarks also noted another Queens link to Israel’s founding: the United Nations vote on the Partition Plan took place on November 29, 1947, at the former New York City Building in Flushing Meadows, today the Queens Museum.
The Kew Gardens Hills monument is modest, but its presence is significant. From Har Herzl in Yerushalayim to Freedom Square in Kew Gardens Hills, Herzl’s name remains central to both Israel’s national remembrance and our local Jewish communal history.
By Shabsie Saphirstein
Herzl’s 122nd Yahrzeit: From Har Herzl To Kew Gardens Hills
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