New York vigil commemorates terrorism victims

Jerusalem Post ^ | Aug. 6, 2003 | MELISSA RADLER

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A day-long vigil Wednesday commemorated victims of terrorism in Israel.

The vigil, organized by the American Zionist Movement, was held in Union Square Park in the hours leading up to Tisha Be'av, which marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. In included readings of each victim's name and biography by Jewish leaders and local politicians, and a photo display of the more than 200 victims.

Yonit Golub, a 20-year-old New Yorker whose friend, Benjamin Blutstein, was killed in a terrorist attack at the Hebrew University's cafeteria last July, spoke of the effect the attack has had on her life. Golub narrowly missed being inside the cafeteria at the time of the attack because of plans to work out with Blutstein at the campus gym.

"When I go to a gym, I look around the corner, hoping to see a big guy with a sweatband, and he's never there," she said of Blutstein. The bomb, she added, "changed the way I looked at the world."

Greg Litcofsky, 26, a student at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem last year, said he attended the vigil "to pray for peace and remember the victims." Despite the violence, he said he felt safe in Israel during his stay. "It's the safest place in the world." While Jewish leaders spoke of terrorism's humanitarian toll, politicians emphasized the close relationship enjoyed by Israel and New York, and expressed their support for Israel's fight to eradicate terrorism.

"We, as Americans, must show those terrorists they will never succeed," said the speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver. The answer to terrorism, he said, is to continue visiting Israel, "to show that those heroes died for a reason and that Israel will live on."

David Weprin, a city councilman who was part of a city-level delegation to Jerusalem last summer, said, "We really are united in our fight against terrorism regardless of race or religion." Addressing the mourning day of Tisha Be'av, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, called on the Jewish community to respond to the ongoing tragedy of terrorism by refusing to give in to despair.

"Remembrance is a way to learn the lessons of the past so we can prevent future tragedies," he said. "The Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, and the victims of terrorism were destroyed because of baseless hatred. We cannot and we will not allow it to continue."