Herbert Zweibon

Every spring in the past decade or two, we’ve received a urgent call from a man named Herbert Zweibon, who died Wednesday and is being buried today at Westchester. The chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, he called each spring to invite us to a gathering that he brought together each August to mark the death of the one of the greatest of Israel’s founders, Vladimir Jabotinsky. The events — sometimes modest and ragtag, other times grander — were an annual marker we tried never to miss. They always crackled with Zweibon’s enthusiasm and commitment, as he emerged as a keeper of the memory of one of the most underappreciated and prophetic figures of the 20^th Century.

Zweibon himself was a cheerful, friendly, and enthusiastic activist. He was a member of the editorial board of the AFSI’s newsletter, “Outpost,” which we invariably pause to read the moment it comes in. Zweibon explained its goal, according to a dispatch at Israelnationalnews.com, was not to support the government of Israel, but rather the land of Israel. He was against treating with or compromising with Israel’s enemies and made no apologies for the hard line he took. “Everyone has a responsibility to prevent someone else from committing suicide,” he was quoted by Israelnationalnews.com as explaining.

Much of his attention in recent years was devoted to the younger generation. This is typified by a story that appears in the latest number of the Outpost under the headline “A Banner Day for Zionism.” It reports on a ceremony at which hundreds of Israeli high school students packed the Knesset to witness the awarding of prizes to the winners for the year 2010 of an essay contest for works about Jabotinsky’s ideas and deeds. The contest was one of the things that Zweibon created that he most loved, and when the prizes were presented, remarks were made about the importance of Jabotinsky by both Israel’s education minister and the speakder of the Knesset.

Yet neither Zweibon nor AFSI were part of what might be called the Jewish establishment in New York. Zweibon pointedly parked his organization on the idealistic edge of the secular Zionist struggle. We were drawn to him not only on the substance but also on the principle that the long time editor of the Wall Street Journal, Robert Bartley (himself now gone, alas), articulated to his own happy band of idealists — change happens on the margin. And there is no doubt that as the principles for which Jabotinsky stood gain ground among the rising generation, a share of the honors will go Herb Zweibon.