ever, restrained from accepting this invitation owing to the various
duties which occupy him at present. He sends you his blessing and hopes
that all your ambitions will be realised with, the greatest success."
The Chief Rabbi of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi A.I. Kook, wrote: "I should very
much have wished to be present at the occasion of the jubilee of my dear
and respected friend, who first trod upon this Holy soil over fifty
years ago and who has since then been building up the ruins of our land,
but, unfortunately, to my great pain, I am not able to realise this my
wish, owing to the present troubled state of the Jewish community.
Please accept my heartiest blessings for a happy old age, in which you
may verily see the re-birth of our People and of our land."
Rabbi Rabbinowitz wrote: "I bless our jubilant from the depths of my
heart. This occasion is not only a happy one for him, it is also for us.
This shows that though the enemies of re-building Palestine were, and
are still, many, Palestine is, nevertheless, steadily but surely being
rebuilt."
Mr. Diznoff, in the name of the Colony of Tel-Avis wrote: "On this great
occasion, we should like to say, that as you have merited to see that
the "howling desert" you have found, you have succeeded in creating into
a "Garden of Eden," thus may you merit to see the flourishing state of
the whole of Palestine."
Mr. Ephraim Blumenfeld wrote: "Though I should have very much have
liked to be present, yet my present bad state of health does not enable
me to do so. This is a happy moment for all lovers of Zion. May you
merit to see with your own eyes the restoration of Israel on its own
land."
Messages and telegrams were also received from the Yeshivah Me'ah
Shearim, Mr. D. Slutskin, from the scholars of the Yeshivah "Or Zoraiah"
of Jaffa and many synagogues. Also from Mr. Friedenberg of Jerusalem,
Mr. S. Tolkovsky, Dr. Eliash, from the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria, from
the "Old Aged" Home in Jaffe, from the Mizrachi, from Rabbi S.L. Shapiro
of Jerusalem, etc., etc.
At the request of the host, who is a British subject, a special prayer
was offered up for the Divine protection of King George the Fifth, and
also prayers in the name of R. Barnett for the health of the High
Commissioner, the Secretary, the leaders of the Zionist
Movement--Weitzman, Sokolov and Usishkin, for the Chief Rabbis of
Palestine and for the Rabbi Sonnenfeld, Rabbis Diskin, Epstein, etc.,
etc.
Mr. Barnet
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