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Article Excerpt
I sleep far away in a land that welcomed my bones. I sleep far away in a Jewish refuge, America. Some have called America the. New Zion. It is not Zion. My head does not rest on even a small bag of sand or a rock from Israel. My blanket is the soil of a gentle, kind and relatively safe Diaspora, but it is not my blanket, the soil of Israel. I rest with the souls of many in this Jewish cemetery who kindly received me. Though I had desired it, though I had written it, though my mouth had tasted the sweet honey of the land of Israel and my eyes saw how the milk flowed and nourished our Jewish young there, I am still far way. I am unmourned, unknown to my own family, unknown to my people. I want to sleep with my family, with my people, in my own land, a land who wants me.--My name is Stephen Theodore Norman. I am the last descendent of Theodor Herzl.
What fools we jews are. We run to save the world before we run to save a Jew.--William Rabinowitz
"It is now generally understood that chronic and remediable social injustices corrode and damage the human personality, thereby robbing it of its effectiveness, of its creativity, if not its actual humanity" (1).--Kenneth B. Clarke
"The Zionist groups in Washington along with the Jewish War Veterans color guard attended the funeral. Diplomats from the British Embassy and representatives of the British Scientific Office were also in attendance. Norman's coffin was draped with the blue-and-white Zionist colors, the Union Jack, American bunting and the colors of the Jewish War Veterans. His eulogists included Rabbi Solomon Metz and Mr. Moshe Frelichov, who was acquainted with both Herzl and his grandson.
The New Palestine pointed out that Norman's funeral took place at the same time that delegates were gathering in Basle, Switzerland, for what would be the last Zionist Congress in the Diaspora.....
As Moshe Frelichov observed in his graveside tribute, "with the death of Captain Norman, no descendant is left of the great founder of the Zionist movement. The great Herzl now lives only in his great work." (2)
It was cold, a wintry day in early December, 1946, as the simple wooden coffin was lowered into the ground. The semi frozen earth slowly and then more rapidly clumping down upon the wooden box, a hollow diminishing finality with each shovel.
Two months would pass. Jan. 30, 1947, the Jewish Agency paid Adas Israel Cemetery $100.00 for the burial and the only Zionist in Herzl's family, Stephan Norman, was forgotten.
A stone was eventually erected over the grave by an unknown person. The inscription read simply:
"Stephen Theodore Norman, Captain Royal Artillery, British Army, Grandson of Theodore Herzl, April 21, 1918, November 26, 1946".
Theodor Herzl had been dead fourteen years when "Stefan" was born. Stefan's mother, Trude, was Herzl's youngest child. His father was Richard Neumann. At eight days of age, Stefan was circumcised into the Jewish people. A few months later, his...
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