15 years ago (according to the Hebrew calendar) today I was doing my brief foray in retail sales.  I got home in the afternoon to my mom sitting in front of the television.  She told me that Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated.  It was the year several of my friends and I were traveling to Israel as part of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel program and I thought immediately of my friend David who was there.  I prayed for his safety even as I felt numb to the fact that this man, whatever his faults, was killed by another Jewish person for attempting to make peace.

I’m pretty sure I have the newspaper from the next day with the headline of the assassination.  I remember thinking, “I will always remember where I was when I heard this news.”

It seems ironic to think about that 15 years later.  I have lots of ‘what if’ kinds of questions.  I think that we all do and if we don’t we should.  But not today.  Today we should remember a man who showed us that another way might be possible.  One who was dedicated to his country, to our beloved State of Israel and to an idea that peace might be a reality if we stop fighting and start talking.

Zecher tzadik livracha – May the memory of the righteous be a blessing.