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. Barnett offered a certain sum in the name of each, and among the numerous institutions to which he contributed were the following:  Hebrew Archaeological Society at Jerusalem, the building of a synagogue on the site of the Old Temple Wall, the school for the blind, the poor of Jaffe, the Home for Aged Jews, etc., etc.

Mr. Barnett was then enrolled in the Golden Book by those present.  Great indeed was the honour which R. Zorach Barnett and his wife received on that day, but they were really worthy of it.

May theirs be an example to others!

GLOSSARY