Moshe Sharett – an Editorial Comment

Jewish Frontier

July – August, 1965

In the death of Moshe Sharett we mourn a devoted comrade as well as one of the foremost Jews of his time. The Labor Zionist Movement has lost a leader who formulated its ideas with precision as well as eloquence, and who practised its preachments throughout a lifetime of effective action. Sharett belonged to the fortunate few, whose every year brought to closer fulfillment the beliefs he had early embraced. From childhood in Palestine to high office in Israel, each decade of his existence contributed creatively to the fulfillment of the goal he had set himself when a Palestinian schoolboy. There was a superb economy in his life. Unlike other founding fathers of his generation, he had no Diaspora youth to remember: he had come to Palestine at the age of twelve, the child of a Bilu family. Hence, every phase of the settlement of Palestine till the ultimate triumph became a part of his personal experience, without dissipation. At the same time, this concentration did not narrow him. A fabulous linguist, at home in the languages of the Middle East as well as of Europe, Sharett was a cultivated man of the world who enriched modern Hebrew with his learning and sense of style. But we shall remember him most dearly as one of the chief fighters for Zionism during his years as head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency during the Mandate, and as the measured statesman who was Israel’s first Foreign Minister. The tragic valor of his last year, and the dedication which enabled him to surmount physical suffering, increase the treasure of memory which those who knew him will cherish. The Jewish people grieve for a great man.