THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 6, 1995 TAG: 9511060082
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
They gathered in Sunday's chill - Jews, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims; young and old; black and white; Americans and Israelis - in honor of a man, Yitzhak Rabin.
Yet there was one word they uttered more than his name; one elusive concept the assassinated Israeli leader had dared tell his people they could attain:
Peace.
``Although Yitzhak Rabin was certainly a man of war. . . (who) knew Israel needed to be strong to be secure,'' said Joel Rubin, of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, ``he knew Israel could not be secure without peace with its neighbors. Today, we honor his efforts.''
More than 500 people gathered in the late-day twilight outside the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater to share their grief. Among them, 16 young Israelis, exchange students in the midst of a nine-day visit to Hampton Roads and now caught far from home at a moment of national trauma.
``It's hard to be here,'' said Eti Libmah, 16, of Haifi, an Israeli port city. At home, she would be in mourning with family and friends.
``I miss the feeling of everybody being together. I would have the real feeling of sadness,'' she said. ``Here. . . , when I am with my host family or go to the mall, it is missing.''
Yet fellow student Eyal Meri-esh, also a 16-year-old from Haifi, said the intrusion of history into the students' visit had broadened its mission of education and understanding.
``Now we are not just introducing Israeli youth to American youth,'' Meri-esh said. ``Our mission has turned toward a much more important thing.'' Instead of comparing notes on such things as when a youth can get a drivers license, they talk of Rabin, ``what he did and why he did it,'' the peace process and the future of the Middle East.
And with that personal interchange, Meri-esh said, Rabin's message ``won't be forgotten here in Tidewater.''
Sunday's ``Gathering of Remembrance and Solidarity,'' came just 24 hours after Rabin fell.
While the majority of those attending were Jews, the crowd was sprinkled with many of other faiths, among them Imam Vernon Fareed, who attended as a representative of the Muslim community.
``We are just praying that success continues in the peace process,'' Fareed said. ``There are many Muslims in support of peace.''
Many on hand asked how a Jew could kill a Jew and, worse, take pride in the act. ``Only God will know why he was taken from us at this time, in this way,'' said Rep. Owen B. Pickett, D-Va., who was among the invited speakers.
``We come to cry, we come to mourn, we come to pray and we also come to band together,'' said Rabbi Arthur Ruberg.
Ruberg, who is rabbi at Beth El Temple in Norfolk, told the mourners they should not only remember Rabin, but seek something that would be a lasting tribute to the prime minister: ``Say a prayer for peace.''
Leonard L. Strelitz recalled his first meeting with Rabin in 1967, during a lunch with the late prime minister, Golda Meir. Rabin joined them for about an hour.
Strelitz came away impressed that ``this man could unite Israel because most of the people trusted him.''
In 1967, most Israelis spoke only of war. But Strelitz recalled that Rabin was thinking ahead to a far different world. ``He said it would be 20 to 25 years,'' he said, but ``a real peace could be achieved.''
Strelitz spoke with Rabin several more times over the years, and no matter how unlikely events of the moment might have made the prospect seem, ``In most of our talks, peace was on his mind. It was like an insatiable desire, something he had to do in his lifetime.''
Looking back Sunday, Strelitz said Rabin ``gave peace a chance. And we must do everything we can to see that that aim is reached, hopefully in our lifetime.''
And he urged those parents to take a moment from their grief and ``talk to your children about the nation of Israel and the fragile nature of life. And peace.'' MEMO: Services will be held today at several locations in Norfolk: Temple
Beth El, 7:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Temple Israel, 7:30 a.m. and 5:30
p.m.; B'Nai Israel Congregation, 6:45 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.
ILLUSTRATION: PAUL BATES
The Virginian-Pilot
Mourners from all walks of life gathered Sunday at the Jewish
Community Center to mark Yitzhak Rabin's death.
by CNB