Yitzhak Wald
January 17, 1939 – September 18, 2021
Yitzhak Wald, Mayor of Kfar Saba 1982-2003,
Photo: Nira Gibel, Kfar Saba Municipality Archives
Born in Kfar Saba, he was among those who laid its foundations. He served as mayor of the city between 1982 and 2003, and was named an honorary citizen. He was a man of peace, who loved his fellow man, and was beloved by the people.
With his vision, he led Kfar Saba forward in all areas, creating a vibrant center of culture and sports, establishing an education system second to none, developing its welfare services, fostering a warm, lively, caring civic community; and raised resources and laid the cornerstone of this municipal park. During his term, Kfar Saba experienced a transformation in city planning that made it a truly modern city.
In November 2006, Yitzhak Wald was appointed caretaker mayor of the dual Arab township Baqa el-Gharbiyye – Jatt, a position he held for five years, during which he contributed greatly to its development and to relations between Arabs and Jews.
His heart and soul and many accomplishments are engraved in the chronicles of Kfar Saba.
Mayor Yitzhak Wald at the ceremony of laying the cornerstone for Kfar Saba Park
Photo: from the municipality archive
The “Hora”
Batia Lishansky (1900-1992), Israel Prize Laureate of Israeli sculpture, carved the sculpture “Hora” from limestone, capturing the essence of the dance that became so closely identified with the Zionist movement and the State of Israel, its circular motion and entwined hands embodying an ethos of community and equality, its three figures emanating from a shared backdrop.
The “Hora” was completed in 1946, on the grounds of “Onim” in Kfar Sabe, a convalescent home for children rescued from the Holocaust. It raised their spirits and helped them believe in the possibility of the reborn Jew, which the sculpture signified.
Batia Lishansky and her life partner, the painter Annie Neumann, had no children. Her sculptures were her legacy.
The “Hora” was donated to this park by Mishan, a subsidiary of the New Histadrut. It was restored and transported to this park by the Wald family, on the occasion of the naming of this park after Yitzhak Wald, of blessed memory.
Onim's children dance Hora in the 1950's around Batia Lishansky's "The Hora" sculpture
Photo: Yona Gertz, from the municipality archive