Auction 84 - Jewish and Israeli History, Culture and Art

Including: Items from the Estate of Ruth Dayan, Old Master Works, Israeli Art and Numismatics

Handwritten Certificate of Honor – Slonim JNF Committee, 1920s – Presented to Zionist Activist Yosef Dror (Dereczynski) – "Upon your Aliyah to the Land of Wonders… we are planting a hundred trees in the Herzl Forest in your name"

Opening: $150
Unsold
Certificate of honor presented by members of the "Committee of the Jewish National Fund and its Activists" in the city of Slonim (today in Belarus), bearing the signatures of 20 activists, to Yosef Dror upon his immigration to Palestine. Handwritten and hand-decorated ("painted by Yosef Weinstein"). Dated January 28, 1926 (date later corrected to 1925). Hebrew. This certificate is a declaration of Yosef Dror's induction into the Jewish National Fund's "Golden Book": "Your accomplishments shall be forever remembered, your memory will be etched in pale-blue-and-white flames on the tablets of our hearts, and the star in your name will shine brightly among the stars of our people in the Golden Book for evermore. And now, upon your departure from the Valley of Tears, from the Land of the Diaspora, upon your Aliyah to the Land of Wonders… we are planting a hundred trees in the Herzl Forest in your name; may your days be numerous as those of the tree." Yosef Dror (Dereczynski; 1897-1982) was a Zionist activist, a native of Slonim (today in Belarus) and son of the merchant Menachem Mendel Dereczynski. As a young man he helped establish a number of Zionist institutions in his native city, including a Tarbut Hebrew day school, a Hebrew library, a Magen David Adom Jewish first-aid service, and branches of Keren HaYesod and the Jewish National Fund. Following his immigration to Palestine, he was appointed director of Jerusalem's local branch office of the JNF. Approx. 40X29 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, fold lines, and creases. Tears (some reinforced with tape) to edges, with minor damage to inscription. Small handwritten notation on back.
Zionism, JNF, Keren Hayesod
Zionism, JNF, Keren Hayesod