Rabin Memorial

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by Dara Kates World, campus mourn loss of Israeli Prime Minister

tudents, children and adults huddled together on the floor of the small chapel which held 400 people. Others sat in red chairs lining the back wall while some stood between both doors. Their hushed voices joined in conversation. Though the memorial service began at 7 p.m., people arrived early. The Hillel Foundation overflowed with community members the evening of Nov. 6. Despite diverse religious backgrounds, those attending the service gathered for a solitary purpose—to remember a great leader of not only Israel, but the world. At the age of 73, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin wore a multitude of hats. He served as a soldier, politician and peacemaker. When economics professor Martin Spechler taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he interacted with Rabin. Spechler said Rabin's military background influenced much of his leadership. "To have hidden behind glass or bodyguard was a violation of his notion of military valor and honor," said Spechler, who attended the memorial service. "I think the blessing in disguise is that it will marginalize the extreme right so people will see there's no alternative to the realistic, cautious policy that Rabin had been following." Bloomington buzzed with the news of Rabin's assassination Nov 4. Most people's immediate reaction was shock. "I was very upset. I called my parents, then I just sat and listened, kind of in disbelief," said junior Laurence Nibur, president of Hillel. "To find out that it was a Jewish person that did it is very sobering." Even after watching broadcast coverage and reading articles, some had trouble believing the atrocity happened. "I couldn't believe it. This is opening a Pandora's Box," said Yehoshua Chiencholker, rabbi of the Chabad House, a Jewish organization. "I hope people will say time out and lower their tones. It's a great shame for us that a Jew did it." Many IU students studied in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem every year. For senior Jessica Ross, who worked as an emergency medical technician in Israel during the spring 1995 semester, watching the funeral was difficult. "I would have been there. It's hard for me to be in this country," Ross said. "He was shot at a peace rally, of all places." Other students who studied in Israel said they were not surprised the assassin was Jewish. Senior Jeff Gold said at first the news startled him, but after some reflection, he was not shocked. "It only makes sense that it was a Jew because an Arab would have never been able to get close to him," Gold said. "With security, the focus is on outsiders and this was the one glitch. It's a terrible loss, but I'm not worried about peace because I think Rabin laid the foundation." Though Israeli news reports were often about terrorist or violent acts, those who spent time in the country said they felt safe. Nibur, who had family in Israel, said a sense of brotherhood existed in the country. He said New York seemed more dangerous to him than Israel. Though Americans felt the impact of Rabin's assassination, Israeli students like freshman Michal BeitHalachmi were especially affected. She said being in America during the days after the assassination had been painful—she said she felt guilty she was not in her homeland. "The grieving comes from the fact that people knew what he did for our country," she said somberly. "The whole nation is crying. We're helpless right now we don't know the

direction we're heading." Beit-Halachmi lost a good friend in a bus bombing earlier in the year in Israel. She said she was not prepared to deal with this type of shock again. "Yesterday, I wanted to open the window and discover Israel, but it was Bloomington," she said. "I just want to be there. It's such a tragedy." Dina Spechler, a political science instructor, spoke at the service and urged Jews to unite. "We mourn a precious, golden era of Jewish life that arose in the ashes of the Holocaust," she said. She added Rabin recently warned his fellow Israelis a civil war might erupt. "May his death serve to move us back from that awful brink," she said.

Mourning the loss of Yizhak Rabin, slain prime minister of Israel, sophomore Yotam Haber bows his head in memorial. Haber attended the Nov. 7 memorial service in the chapel of the Hillel Foundation following Rabin's Nov. 4 assassination.

Kevin Stuart