Herzl’s Grandparents’ Headstones Unveiled on Balfour Declaration Anniversary

The headstones of Shimon Aryeh (Leib) Herzl and Rivka Herzl, the grandparents of Theodor Herzl, were unveiled at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Monday morning, November 2. The World Zionist Organization organized the ceremony on the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Their remains had been brought from Serbia during the summer and buried near their grandson; Monday’s ceremony unveiled their headstones. World Zionist Organization chairman Yaakov Hagoel attended alongside Keren Hayesod chairman Eli Hazan, ZAKA chief executive Zvi Hassid and representatives of the Herzl family. Hagoel linked the occasion to the Jewish roots of Zionism and the significance of the family’s burial in Jerusalem. “Balfour did not give us the right; he recognized it,” Hagoel said. Shimon Aryeh Herzl studied with Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, an early advocate of Jewish return to Zion. Hagoel described the family’s burial in Jerusalem as an expression of life and national renewal, placing the commemoration in the context of the family’s connection to Jewish national aspirations. Britain issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, stating its support for establishing a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The headstone ceremony marked 109 years since that declaration and completed the undertaking that included the grandparents’ summer transfer and reinterment.