The Timeline between Rabin's assassination and Bibi's election November 11, 1995 In Jewish tradition, the seven days of shiv'a are all about enveloping the mourner with the love of relatives, friends and community. But at the end of those seven days, though three more weeks remain until the end of the first month of a mourning period that will last a full year, the mourner is supposed to get on his or her feet and go back to work. It's a frightening moment for anyone who has been through it, for after a week in which friends and neighbors take care of everything, suddenly, you are alone again, on your own. Leah Rabin, widow of the late prime minister, is to end her shiv'a on Sunday night this week with an appearance in front of the same crowd that stood in the plaza outside Tel Aviv City Hall but a week ago, cheering Rabin, Shimon Peres, and all the others who spoke in favor of peace and against violence. For her, that appearance will be most difficult, because it will mark the end of her first week of mourning, but it will be made easier by the knowledge that so many are with her. For the rest of us, life must go on. And it's become clear what must be done -- beyond continuing Rabin's legacy of a careful but determined march toward peace. The lines have been drawn between the vast majority of Israelis who regard the democratic institutions of the state as the supreme authority in this country, and those, who believing they have God's very own agenda in their pockets, would seek to use that democracy to sabotage it; The lines have been drawn between those who use their rabbinical training to guide the perplexed, and those who use it to undermine the democractic institutions of this country; With this new demarcation, the work is cut out for a host of people:
In the coming weeks, as the political pot begins to boil with the election campaign that began with the shots that killed Yitzhak Rabin, there will be many on both sides of the political divide who will use his name in vain, hoping to make political capital out of the memory of the emotions of this past week. It is up to all of us to stand on guard -- not merely to defend Rabin's good name, but to protect us, the citizens of this country, from allowing politiicians to gain from our loss. It is easy to be swept up in gushing sentimentality -- so many were this past week. But there was an authenticity to the mourning of the youngsters. I heard one kid say that the assassination changed him. "We can't afford now to become a generation-X. We must become involved."
As the saying goes, "from his mouth to God's ears."
|  Peace  Pleasure  Bookstore Contact Letters to the Editor About Archive Donate Get the Ariga Update Get books about the Middle East Peace Process 
Newsfeeds from Moreover, Yahoo AP/Reuter and Google |
© Ariga 1995-2002. For republishing rights please contact the author of the specific article on this page.
Permission is granted to link to this page.