A Year After Death, Rabin Is Remembered

The sounds of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin singing the Jewish Song of Peace wafted through the courtyard of Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel during a memorial service for Rabin last night, one Jewish calendar year after his death.

"He whose candle was snuffed out, and was buried in the dust, a bitter cry won't wake him, won't bring him back," Rabin sang over the television monitor in a video clip from the peace rally in Tel Aviv last November which ended with his assassination.

Holding lit candles, the crowd of 70 watched the video in silence and then listened to an audio clip of the news flash that shocked the world by announcing that Rabin was dead.

"We wanted to remember Rabin not for his death, but for his life which he truly devoted to the state," said Miriam B. Goldstein '97, co-chair of Harvard Students for Israel and one of the organizers of the event.

"We wanted people to bring themselves back one year ago to the assassination," said Yuval Segal '97, a co-chair of Harvard Students, for Israel.

"The best way to do that was through audio and video rather than some reading," Segal said.

Student participation was the final element of the memorial service.

Marnie A. Friedman '99 read her poem "When the World Turns Upside Down," and Julie B. Geller '97 played the guitar and sang "Peace Dreams," which she composed last year after Rabin's death.

"It is nice that they had this, because it affects everyone," said Dafna V. Hochman '00.

"Not a day goes by in Israel when people don't remember this, and so the service made me feel more attached to the people there," Hochman said.

Rabin, who was born in Jersualme in 1923, served in various capacities in the Israeli government during the past 50 years.

In the 1950s and 1960s Rabin was one of Israel's foremost military leaders, and has been one of the country's strongest proponents of peace during the last 20 years. Rabin served as Israeli Prime Minister from 1974 to 1974.

He was elected Prime Minister again as head of Israel's Labor Party in 1992. From that time until his death, Rabin pursued peace with several Arab nations. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1994.

Rabin's life ended with his assassination at the hands of a Jewish extremist who was opposed to Rabin's continued peace talks.

"I honor Rabin as someone who devoted his whole life to the state of Israel," Goldstein said.