In December 1932, a workers' moshav was founded in the Ono Valley (near Ramat Gan), as part of the "Thousand Families Settlement" scheme. The settlers, drawn from the merger of two pioneer organizations, "Brenner" and "Ma'as", purchased land from the neighboring Arab village of al-Khayriyya, and the Jewish National Fund completed the purchase with loans.
The village was named "Kfar Azar", after AZR, who was then still alive (about 78 years old), in recognition of his work and his support for the labor movement. (Sources link the tribute to the period around his 80th jubilee.) This is a rare honor: a settlement named for a person during his lifetime. the moshav's website
For his 80th jubilee (5694/1934) a "Jubilee Committee" was active, which published "Collected Writings" (Ketavim Mekubatzim), a gathering of his work (see "Bibliography"). Already in his first years in the Land, on account of his relative old age, the nickname "the Elder" (HaYashish) attached itself to him, and in labor circles, "the grandfather of the Working Youth" (see "AZR and the Labor Movement").
By an indirect and amusing route, the village's name — and with it AZR's name — was engraved at the heart of Hebrew culture, through Leah Goldberg:
And so, by a pleasant irony, the name of the earnest writer-educator was immortalized also in the figure of "the Scatterbrain," one of the most beloved children's books in Hebrew to this day. National Library of Israel / Sifriyat Pijama
In his last years he lost his eyesight, and yet, as Tidhar records, he continued to take part in celebrations and assemblies, in the "Seder" of the Tel Aviv Workers' Council, and "he would attend every writer's funeral and recite the 'Kaddish' prayer at the graves of writers who had no one."
"On 28 Elul 5705 he died of exhaustion of his strength and was buried in Tel Aviv in the old cemetery." Tidhar, "Pioneers and Builders of the Yishuv," vol. 1, p. 254. (Tidhar confirms the date 28 Elul 5705 = September 6, 1945; on the sources' contradiction over the day of death see "The AZR Lineage.")
In his lifetime he received rare honors: the Tel Aviv municipality chose him as an honorary citizen (on his 70th jubilee), his writings appeared in three volumes for his 80th jubilee, and when he turned 90, Am Oved published a selection of his writings for young readers. His figure is commemorated to this day in the central mosaic at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Neve Tzedek, alongside Agnon, Brenner, and Rav Kook. And on his legacy as a man who stitched worlds together, see "The Smuggler Between the Extremes."