Memorial honors Yitzchak Rabin

About 70 Penn students and community members joined together Saturday evening to commemorate the life of Yitzchak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated five years ago this weekend after initiating the peace process with the Palestinians. The 45-minute memorial service, held in Wynn Commons and organized by College freshmen Jacob Cytryn and Andrew Joseph, drew on excerpts from eulogies -- one composed by President Clinton, another by Rabin's granddaughter -- written in honor of the late leader. The program also included comments from Rachel Feinmesser, the consul of Israel in Philadelphia, and a performance of Hebrew songs written associated with his death. Rabin, the dovish leader who won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to author the Oslo interim peace agreement in 1993, was murdered by an Israeli extremist in Tel Aviv's King's Square -- now named in his memory -- on November 6, 1995. College sophomore Gabrielle Sirner, one of the organizers of the service, said she had been hoping for a bigger turnout because of "the five-year anniversary and with the time of violence in the Mideast." Added David Bard, the co-president of the pro-Israel group PennPAC, "The event is especially important at a time like this, with what's going on in Israel. It is important that everyone comes -- Jews, Christians, Muslims and Arabs -- to the memorial." The event was especially poignant because of the the current instability of the peace process in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak recently suspended the peace process begun by Rabin after a month of violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. Now, Joseph said, it is more important than ever to "retell the story and remember the deeds" of Rabin. "Rabin's war was a war for peace and what matters is that we remember and struggle for peace," Cytryn said in closing the memorial. Both Joseph and Cytryn spent last year in Israel, working on a Kibbutz and studying at a yeshiva, a religious educational school. So the loss of an Israeli leader has been especially meaningful to them. "Rabin is a personal hero of both of ours," Joseph said. "Since his death it's been very sad, but [he remains] a source of inspiration. We wanted to remember together, celebrate his legacy and promote awareness about who he was and what his vision is." College freshman Jill Berkin also spent last year in Israel on a similar program. "I went to the official memorial [in Israel] and it touched me so much. I've been going every year to commemorations, because the death of Rabin is very important to me. He fought for peace, not for violence," Berkin said. Standing beside the blue and white Israeli flag, Feinmesser struggled to light the Yahrtzeit candle -- an anniversary candle in memory of one's death -- before reiterating the slogan of the peace rally held just before Rabin's assassination: "Yes to peace, no to violence." Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv on Saturday, at the plaza where Rabin was assassinated, 70,000 people gathered to commemorate their slain leader.