What’s in a name?
Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog - The Sinn Fein Rabbi
Two matters of some importance landed on the desk of the President of Israel over the weekend. First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter asking Yitzak Herzog to grant him a pardon. Second, news that the City Council of Dublin would be voting whether to remove his family name from a local park.
It’s that second matter that's roiling the waters of the already tempestuous relationship between Israel and Ireland. The effort to “unname” Herzog Park because the President's father once fought the Palestinians has riled up Israel's defenders and Ireland's detractors. “Removing the Herzog name, if it happens, would be a shameful and disgraceful move," the president's office announced.
BREAKING NEWS – The Dublin City Council has voted not to consider the name change. Sharp criticism of the renaming scheme came from leaders of the Irish government as well as politicians in Israel and America. But the City Executive says all that negative reaction had nothing to do with pulling the item. That was due to “ministerial delay in providing regulations for the process.” There will be no name change. For now.
The plaque at Herzog Park. "In honour of Chaim Herzog, President of Israel.."
MORE CONDEMNATION THAN CONSULTATION
Herzog Park is a four-acre park in the village of Rathgar. Described as tranquil, it’s less than two miles from the heart of Dublin. It was named in 1995 for the current President’s father Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth President (1983 - 1993), who was born in Belfast in 1918 and lived in Dublin until he went to fight in Mandatory Palestine at 19.
The Dublin parks website says, “It was renamed (from Orwell Quarry Park) in 1995, the year of the tri-millennium of Jerusalem, in honour of Chaim Herzog, the then President of Israel who's father was Irish.” The father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog is the Herzog who desrves to be remembered in Dublin. That may be happening. Look up Herzog Park up on AI and you'll get this, “ It is named in honor of Dr. Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland.”
Chaim Herzog, for whom the park was named in 1995.
AN HONOR FOR THE FATHER
This business of renaming parks is a constant battle in today’s culture wars. I live a couple of blocks from what was once Custer Park, named for General George Armstrong Custer. The park currently has no name. I’m okay with that. I take the renaming on a case-by-case basis.
I’m not okay with changing the name of Herzog Park in Dublin. (Not that one opinion matters.)
The Herzog family connection with Ireland begins with Chaim’s father, Yitzak Herzog, the Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1921 to 1936. He took Ireland’s side in the War of Independence, was a confidante of Eamon De Valera, was known as the Sinn Fein Rabbi and spoke Irish fluently and often.
All that weighed against the military activities of his son Chaim makes the effort to “unname” Herzog Park sad and misguided. Yitzak’s Irish story shines a light on the ties between freedom-loving people in Ireland and Israel. Why extinguish that light?
THAT FIRST ITEM ON THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
As to that first item. President Herzog has taken the pardon nrequested by Benjamin Netanyahu under consideration. The presidency of Israel is, like the presidency of Ireland, a mostly ceremonial post, but does include the power of the pardon. “It is clear to me that the issue of the pardon is shaking many people in the country; it will be handled in the best possible way. I will consider only the good of the state,” Herzog stated.