On August 5, 2026, a state reburial ceremony for the remains of Shimon and Rivka Herzl—the grandfather and grandmother of the founder of modern political Zionism, Theodor Herzl—took place on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. This event completed the fulfillment of the last unfulfilled part of Herzl’s 1903 will, in which he requested the transfer of his relatives’ remains to the Land of Israel.
The ceremony was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, as well as Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, Police Commissioner Danny Levy, and the spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif.
The long journey of the Herzl family, from a foreign land to the land of Zion, ends here today on Mount Herzl. The vision emerged and became a reality. Zionism has won, — stated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Search for Remains in Serbia
Representatives of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), together with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, began exhumation work on July 29, 2026, at a cemetery in the Serbian city of Zemun. Acting WZO Chairman Izhar Hess reported that initially, the grave of Shimon Leib Herzl was found empty due to a shifted tombstone. The remains were discovered after continuing excavations next to the grave of his wife, Rivka.
According to Hess, the preparation process took four years under the leadership of WZO Chairman Yaakov Hagoel. The transfer was ready to be carried out two years ago but was postponed, as the priority at that time was the return of hostages. Now the organization considered it the right time to complete the historical mission.
Family Plot on Mount Herzl
The reburial took place exactly 77 years according to the Hebrew calendar after Theodor Herzl himself was laid to rest on the Jerusalem hill. The Knesset voted to transfer his remains from Vienna in one of its first decisions on August 10, 1949.
In the following decades, Herzl’s parents and sister were buried in the family plot. In 2006, the bodies of his older children were brought from Bordeaux, and in 2007, his grandson Stephen Norman. The only unfound family member remains his youngest daughter Trude, who died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Isaac Herzog noted that Shimon Leib Herzl, who served as a gabbai at the Sephardic synagogue in Zemun, passed down a tradition that became the foundation of his grandson’s views. Oded Feuer, Director of the WZO Herzl Center, added that Theodor’s grandfather maintained contact with Rabbi Judah Alkalai—one of the precursors of Zionism, whose ideas were actively discussed in that same synagogue.
Source: jta.org