Marking 15 years of Yitzchak Rabin’s legacy
November 4, 1995 is a date etched in the collective memory of Israelis and Jewish people around the world. When former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin z”l was assassinated by a lone Jewish assassin, buoyant hopes for peace were replaced by shock, disbelief and numbness.
Israelis yearn for peace and so the prophetic words of Shir Lashalom (“Song of Peace”) Rabin sang at the Tel Aviv peace rally just before he was gunned down were never really lost. Israel continued to reach out to her neighbours and fifteen years later Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is today negotiating with the Palestinian Authority for the very same result as Rabin before him.
The Zionist Council of Victoria will mark the 15 year milestone of Yitzchak Rabin’s legacy with a special commemorative evening on November 4 at 8pm.
Special guest speakers include Eli Yerushalmi, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Israel and Rabbi Rafi Feuerstein.
Rabbi Feuerstein is co-founder and Chairman of the organisation Tzohar, established in the wake of the Rabin assassination and the chasm that split religious and secular Israelis as a result. Tzohar says that the crisis following the assassination focused a great deal of anger on religious Zionism, and especially on its rabbis. Tzohar seeks to bridge the divide and build on bringing Judaism to mainstream Israel.
Rabbi Feuerstein’s higher education began at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem and continued at the Pesagot Institute for Higher Education in Dayan Studies. In 1994 Rafi Feuerstein was ordained as a Rabbi and he began his studies for an MA in psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
ZCV president Dr Danny Lamm said today that the ZCV is proud of our continued tradition of marking Rabin Memorial Day. “It is important to keep Rabin’s memory alive through events such as this” he said.
The commemoration will also feature musical presentations and narrations, and culminate in shira betzibur public singing of several popular songs connected to that fateful day.
The ZCV’s Commemoration marking 15 years of Yitzchak Rabin’s legacy will take place on Thursday evening November 4 at 8pm, Beth Weizmann Community Centre – 306 Hawthorn Road Caulfield South.
Cost: $10 / youth movement members in Chultzot free of charge.
For more information see flyer here and Facebook event here
For more information contact:
Ginette Searle – Executive Director, Zionist Council of Victoria 9272 5544
Elly Shalev – Director Public Affairs, Zionist Council of Victoria 9272 5519