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Mount Herzl

Entrance to Mount Herzl cemetery

Mount Herzl, (Hebrew: הר הרצל‎), also Har HaZikaron, הר הזכרון (lit. "Mount of Memory"), is a hilltop and national cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl's tomb lies at the top of the hill. Yad Vashem, which commemorates the Holocaust, lies to the west of Mt. Herzl. Israel's war dead are also buried there.

History

Golda Meir's grave on Mount Herzl

In the summer of 1949 it was decided that a cemetery was needed for national figures and fallen IDF soldiers. Several years later was it decided to bury police officers and other security force personnel on Mt. Herzl.

Mt. Herzl is the burial place of three of Israel's prime ministers: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin (who is buried beside his wife Leah). Israeli presidents are also buried on Mt. Herzl, as are other prominent Jewish and Zionist leaders.

Deciding who merits burial on Mt. Herzl has been controversial at times.^[1] For example, the decision to bury Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who died in 1940, on Mt. Herzl, was fiercely opposed by many Labour Party stalwarts, who claimed that Jabotinsky was an ultra-right nationalist undeserving of such an honour. Only in 1964 did Prime Minister Levi Eshkol decide in favor of burying him there, in the interest of promoting national reconciliation and setting aside political grievances.

Mt. Herzl is the venue for many commemorative events and national celebrations.

Military cemetery

Israel's main military cemetery is located on the northern slope of Mt. Herzl. Soldiers who have fallen in the line of duty are buried there.

Herzl's grave

Theodor Herzl's tomb site

In 1903, Theodor Herzl wrote in his will:

"I wish to be buried in a metal coffin next to my father, and to remain there until the Jewish people will transfer my remains to Eretz Israel. The coffins of my father, my sister Pauline, and of my close relatives who will have died until then will also be transferred there." ^[2]

When Herzl died a year later, he was interred in Vienna. It was only in 1949, 45 years later, that Herzl's remains were brought to Israel and reinterred in Jerusalem. The location of the burial site was selected by a special state commission. Sixty-three entries were submitted in the competition for the design of the tombstone. The winner was Joseph Klarwein's design, consisting of an unadorned black granite stone inscribed with the name Herzl. Since 1951, Mount Herzl has served as Israel's national cemetery.

Despite Herzl's explicit wishes, his children were not buried beside him. For various reasons, the remains of his son and daughter were only brought to Israel in 2006.^[3] A third daughter was murdered in the Holocaust and her place of burial remains unknown. Herzl's only grandson was reinterred on Mt. Herzl in December 2007.^[4] Herzl's parents and sister are also buried at Mount Herzl.

Helkat Gedolei Ha'Uma

Yitzhak Rabin and Leah's grave site, designed by the architect Moshe Safdie

The grave site allocated for leaders of the state - Presidents of Israel, Prime Ministers of Israel, and Knesset speakers - is known as Helkat Gedolei Ha'Uma. The Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Fallen Soldiers Remembrance Day) ceremony is held there.

To the north of Herzl's grave, is a plot reserved for the leaders of the World Zionist Organization, among them David Wolffsohn, Nahum Sokolow, Simcha Dinitz, and Aryeh Dolchin. Herzl's children - his daughter Pauline and son Hans - are buried nearby. On the west side of Helkat Gedolei Ha'Uma, is the grave of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and his family.

Down the mountain slope, in the direction of the Military cemetery, one can see the gravesites of some of the Presidents of Israel, Prime Ministers, and Speakers, usually their spouses are laid alongside them as well. Among others buried in this plot, one may find the gravesites of Presidents of Israel, Zalman Shazar and Chaim Herzog, Prime Ministers of Israel, Levi Eshkol (despite his wish to be buried in Kibbutz Degania Bet), Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah Rabin, and first speaker of the Knesset, Yosef Sprinzak and his wife Hanna. First Minister of Finance, Eliezer Kaplan, and well known Mayor of Jerusalem for 28 years, Teddy Kollek, are also buried there.

Despite the nationality nature of the cemetery slot, some Israeli prime ministers and Presidents preferred to be buried elsewhere. David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, chose to be laid in Sde Boker, the kibbutz where he moved in due to his vision of cultivating the arid Negev desert, and Menachem Begin chose to be buried nearby the tomb site of Olei Hagardom fighters in Mount of Olives, who were members of the pre-state underground Irgun that he lead. Also Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, chose to be buried in his estate in Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and the seventh President of Israel, Ezer Weizman, which was Haim's nephew and prominent commander in the Israeli Air Force during Israel's overwhelming victory over Arab forces during the Six-Day War, expressed his wish to be laid in Or Akiva, where his son is buried. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the second president of Israel, asked to be buried in Har HaMenuchot cemetery, and Moshe Sharett, the second prime minister of Israel, was buried according his request in Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv. Ephraim Katzir, the fourth president of Israel, chose to be buried alongside his wife Nina in Rehovot city cemetery.

Soldiers awarded with the Medal of Valor may also be granted the right to be buried in Helkat Gedolei Ha'Uma.

Previous attempts to build a Pantheon place for the Greats of the nation of Israel failed. The notable Zionist leader, Menahem Ussishkin, reburied Leon Pinsker in 1934 in "Nicanor Sepulchre" in Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Ussishkin himself was laid there as well in 1941. Among other reasons, this attempt failed since Mount Scopus was an enclave within Jordan between 1948-1967 (Prior to Israeli controlling the area after 1967 war).

Herzl museum

A new interactive museum on Mt. Herzl offers a glimpse into the life of Theodor Herzl, the man behind the dream of a Jewish homeland.^[5]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mount Herzl

• Mount Herzl: The Creation of Israel's National Cemetery, Maor Azaryahu
• Find a grave on Mount Herzl

Coordinates: 31°46′26″N 35°10′50″E / 31.77389°N 35.18056°E / 31.77389; 35.18056

Categories:

Mountains of Jerusalem

Cemeteries in Jerusalem

Jewish cemeteries

Military memorials and cemeteries

Mountains of Israel

Biographical museums in Israel