THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

*
Achad Ha’am Street was closed to traffic. Between the sidewalks, two little wooden posts
were set up, holding a wine-red string. Achad Ha’am is sick, he needs rest. The rumble of wheels
and the honking of cars should not disturb him. (It was ordered by the municipality of Tel Aviv.)
After 4 p.m. the red string was removed, signalling the end of the great writer’s afternoon
siesta. So I went to see him in order to disclose my plan. It concerned the bazaar to be organized
by Keren Kayemet and getting articles for the lottery. Members of the Vaad were competing with
one another as to the value of the articles. I had the idea of visiting Achad Ha’am and asking for a
copy of Al Parashat Had’rachim with his autograph. The old man gave me a warm welcome and
granted my request with a smile. I left happily with the book, which is connected to the memory
of the great intellectual leader. His image is imprinted in my brain with his small feet, huge skull,
high brow, and lips with a delicate smile.
*
I had to visit Vladimir Zev Jabotinsky on behalf of the Vaad of Keren Kayemet Leyisrael,
asking him to give a lecture. It was before the foundation of the Revisionist Zionist Alliance. I
was sure he would ulfil my request. I was disappointed. Jabotinsky refused. He also gave
reasons for doing so: he felt that he did not get the respect he deserved from Keren Kayemet
Leyisrael. At that point I realized why this East-European, brilliant, highly gifted Jew with
European culture running in his blood did not become the ideal of the chalutzim.
*
The mother of Chaim Weizmann lived in a single-storey building in Yehuda Halevy
Street. It was a quiet little house, with not many visitors crossing its threshold. It was like that all
year long, with the exception of the time when Chayimka – as the old lady used to call her
favorite child – came home to see his mother. It usually happened before the holidays. This is
what happened at Pesach 1923, when Weizmann came to have Seder together with his mother
and siblings. We felt that Weizmann came not only to his family, but to all of us. With this in
mind the young people of Tel Aviv set out to greet Weizmann at a late hour on the holiday night.
The greeting meant dancing hora and singing aloud in front of his house, which drew Weizmann
to the balcony to greet us. But we were not satisfied with that. We went in and asked him to come
and join in the dancing. At first he showed some reluctance, but then he came and joined us
dancing hora tirelessly. Since then we have been bragging about having danced hora with the
president of the State.
*
On Tammuz 14, 1924 I left Tel Aviv to visit my brother in Rome and my parents in
Bratislava. In the compartment of the Tel Aviv-Alexandria train I met four men who were also on
their way to Europe, to the Congress of Tzeirei Tzion. They were Ben Gurion, Shkolnik (Eshkol),
Kaplan and Miriminsky. We checked in together at the Hotel de France in Alexandria and
travelled together to Naples on a boat called Europe. Who could have guessed at the time that
three out of the four would become ministers in the Jewish state?
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