Rabin’s death should unite, not divide, Jews

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

These words, uttered by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at a peace rally on the night he was assassinated 23 years ago, are just as relevant today.

Rabin was shot dead by a right-wing religious fanatic and settler, Yigal Amir, on 4 November 1995. He was never able to properly realise his dream of peace.

The need for a united peace effort in Israel was highlighted at a memorial ceremony for Yom Rabin, hosted by Habonim Dror South Africa at Beyachad in Johannesburg last week.

Rabin would never have wanted his death to cause division between the Jewish people, said Ben Swartz, the National Chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation, as he recounted his personal struggle with Rabin’s death.

“I’m sharing my journey with you, which is indelibly tied to this experience,” he said. “In November 1995, I’d just returned from living in Israel. I’d been back for about three months, and I’d lived there for five years. Yitzhak Rabin had been my inspiration. In a sense, he was a father figure. He represented, for me, everything I held dear. He was a Jewish warrior, a Jewish leader, and a Jewish peacemaker.”

Swartz recounted his experience of the 1992 Israeli elections when he lived on Kibbutz Tzora, a labour stronghold, that was approached to participate in the election campaign. “To know that we were part of developing, building, and changing the system, standing in the streets debating with the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), was life shaping.” Swartz and others on the Kibbutz stayed up through the night watching the election results come in, and celebrated Rabin’s win with hugs, singing, and dancing. “It was incredible to be part of it,” he said.

“We were drafted into the army in 1993, and were in the midst of it all. We felt we were a part of the history that was unfolding.” Stationed in Gaza when the Oslo Accords started to kick in, Swartz was one of the soldiers who were evacuated out of Gaza.

“We were marching, two columns stretching for thousands of soldiers. You would look behind you, and you couldn’t see the end of the column, and you would look ahead, and you couldn’t see the front,” said Swartz. “We marched out of Gaza, and there was this incredible tension, as everyone moved. This was the realisation of the dream that Gaza was going to find its hope, its independence, and its sovereignty to find its way. By sharing this, I’m sharing the sentiment under the leadership of Yitzhak Rabin. It was so relevant, it was so exciting.”

Swartz recalls hearing about Rabin’s assassination on CNN. “When the news broke, I was absolutely devastated. Within 24 hours, the devastation had turned to anger. Being so far away from my home, Israel, I went to Oxford Shul, where the central memorial service for Yitzhak Rabin was held.

“The only way I could vent my anger, sadly enough, was at the religious establishment. [What was perceived to be] a religious man had just assassinated Rabin. I remember walking through the shul, and I looked at every rabbi I could find as if he had pulled the trigger. I continued to carry that feeling for a couple of years after that. The pain of the consequences of having left Israel, of not being in Israel, and going through this process set me in that space.”

Receding from Israel and the South African Jewish community, Swartz felt he had no-one to turn to, and nowhere to go. Yet, as he started to establish himself in business, he began to reconnect and get more involved with the community. “I got involved in the Chevrah Kadisha, and Zionist Federation,” said Swartz. “I got involved in the religious establishment, and I got re-involved in Habonim. Through this process, I started to realise how misplaced my anger actually was.

“For me to vent my rage on other Jews for the actions of a fanatic or a small group of fanatics around him, was totally wrong, and totally misplaced. There are fanatics on every side of the coin.

“I’m certain of one thing. This is the message I want to share: Rabin would never have wanted his legacy to be based on creating a wedge in the Jewish world. No matter how he died, that would never have been his desire.

“Let us take this thought away with us, that the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin as a Jew, a warrior, a peacemaker, and a human being, belongs to each and every one of us in the Jewish world. If we ever forget that, we are dishonouring Rabin.”

Habonim Dror representative, Erin Gordon, echoed Swartz’s call for unity. “We need to remember that the past demands of us to be active and to stand up against the hate and incitement that led to Rabin’s untimely death,” she said.

“Rabin’s greatest dream was to see peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and as the South African Jewish community, we cannot let that dream die with him. We need to keep pushing for lasting peace in Israel.”

The poignant memorial ceremony was punctuated by touching musical performances by King David Linksfield pupils, and included speeches by Israeli ambassador, Lior Keinan, and leaders of the Habonim and Bnei Akiva youth movements.