Hillel Mourns Loss of Rabin

The loss of Yitzhak Rabin is a tragedy for the Jewish people and the world. He was surely a great statesman, but his vision and commitment to peace will mark him as one of the great leaders of the century. He devoted his life to the creation and survival of the Jewish state and to the welfare of the Jewish people. As a young man, he defended Jerusalem in the 1948 War of Independence and later commanded the Israeli armed forces to victory in the 1967 war. In war and in peacetime, he held his principles dear and ultimately paid for them with his life. We are stricken with grief. We have lost a great leader.

We reject the vision of God which Rabin's assassin claims as his motivation for this horrific crime. We divorce ourselves from those extreme elements which use violence to express their political views, and we are outraged by those who would celebrate the murder of any person.

We hope that this event will unify Jews throughout the world and end the divisiveness that led to this tragedy. We at Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel stand united, regardless of our political or religious views, in mourning the loss of a great Jewish leader.

We remain unequivocally committed to making the dream of peace a reality and assert that Yitzhak Rabin did not die in vain. May we all see this dream realized speedily and in our day. May his memory be blessed. --Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel   Coordinating Council