Students mourn bombing victims
By Michael Angell
Daily Bruin Contributor
Twenty-six candles sat unlit in the shade - there was one for each of the victims though the death toll may climb. Once their names were read, the candles were lit. Mourners encircled the candles to provide a small barrier for the small lights against the noontime winds.
When the top of Janss Steps was quiet enough, the crowd softly sang "Eli, Eli," (My God, My God) a song written by a Jewish woman who parachuted behind German lines during World War II.
"The Lord my God, I pray that these things may never end. The rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens, the prayer of the heart."
The memorial service was for 26 people who were killed in two separate bombing incidents in Israel last Sunday. The event, sponsored by the Hillel, gave students a chance to share their grief over the tragedy, yet also affirm their faith.
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller said that song has always been an important way for Jewish people to express themselves.
"In singing, we remember. We become a community," Seidler-Feller said. "We need to hold on to one another."
Seidler-Feller led the service by asking a question first posed by Moses, "Ad matai?" (Until when?) He referred to Judaism's struggle to assert itself in an hostile world.
The memorial service took place at the same site where students assembled to mourn the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November. Seidler-Feller noted that, once again, he and others joined together to mourn the death of an Israeli.
"Is this our destiny? Does history preserve us as victims?" Seidler Feller asked. "I fear that we will be here again. Please God, never again."
For many of those in attendance, the bombings came very close to home. Barak Raviv, a third-year undeclared student, spoke about his roommate who once used the same bus stop where an Israeli was killed Sunday. Raviv said that it is important for UCLA Jews to gather because they face the same hostility as Jews anywhere else.
"We live in a society that preaches anti-semitism," Raviv said. "It is important that everyone here hold on to their Judaism."
Even though they were thousands of miles away, some UCLA students reacted with the same anger as if it had occurred locally. Kelly Baxter, the vice president of the Jewish Student Union, said that her organization first wanted to send a strong anti-terrorist message during their service, but a quieter ceremony prevailed.
"Many students' reaction was for an anti-terrorist statement," Baxter said. "But we have come for a solemn memorial."
The bombings may have hurt the fragile peace accord brokered by the late Rabin and PLO leader Yassir Arafat, but some said the bombings did not hurt local relations between Muslims and Jews. Ahmed El-Gabalawy, director of religious affairs for the Islamic Center of Southern California told the mourners about Islam's commitment to peace.
"Q'uran taught us that whoever killed one person kills all humanity," El-Gabalawy said. "We should not be blinded by anger. There is hope that the values of the three great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam will one day prevail."
El-Gabalawy also led the audience in a Muslim prayer, "To ask God to show truthfulness as truth, and to show falsehood as false."
After El-Gabalawy spoke and the memorial candles were lit, Seidler-Feller read the Jewish service for the dead, the Kaddish.
Seidler-Feller said that it is hard to make sense of a terrorist act, yet it should show that Jewish people have to continue struggling.
"We try to bring a little bit of light where there is darkness. Judaism teaches us to have an optimistic view. We have no alternative but to progress," he said.
SHAWN LAKSMI
Junior sociology student Keith Geffen (left) and history graduate student Didier Reiss mourn the deaths of 26 people killed in Israel in two bombings on Sunday. Mourners gathered at the top of Janss steps and lit candles for each of the victims.
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