On November 1st 1917, Lord Rothschild was informally notified that a letter would be sent to him the following day from Foreign Secretary Balfour. That letter was to be the Balfour Declaration. Lord Rothschild immediately wrote to Chaim Weizmann informing him that the Declaration was on its way in the next 24 hours.

In response Weizmann wrote to Lord Rothschild on the 2nd November 1917 – the date of the Declaration. In the letter, Weizmann thanks Lord Rothschild for all he has done and concludes with these historic lines:

May I offer you our heartiest thanks - I am sure that when the history of this time will be written it will be justifiably said that the name of the greatest House in Jewry was associated with the granting of the Magna Carta of Jewish liberties.

Balfour 100 is the official tribute of the British Jewish community marking the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, issued on November 2nd, 1917.

Balfour 100 was initiated by Lord Jacob Rothschild and is managed by a Steering Committee representing Jewish communal organisations.

The Balfour 100 tribute is a comprehensive set of activities including a range of digital resources, educational programmes, communal events, and the Balfour 100 Tribute Lecture by Professor Simon Schama.

Balfour 100 acknowledges with gratitude the foresight of Lord Arthur Balfour and the British government of Lloyd George. In the midst of the Great War, they looked to the future and chose to recognise the longing of the Jewish people to re-establish its national homeland in the land of Israel. We express our deep appreciation to all those British leaders in the subsequent one hundred years, who have shared in their vision.

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