As the leader of Israel, he made peace a priority. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 along with Yassar Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. These two men had spent years fighting each other and yet, in the interest of peace, formed an agreement which showed great courage and faith. They believed that peace was the promise they wished to leave behind for their people.
What follows is a reprint of the eulogy Noa Ben-Artzi gave for her grandfather, the
late prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin
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You will forgive me, for I do not want to talk about peace. I want to talk about my grandfather. One always wakes up from a nightmare. But since yesterday, I have only awakened to a nightmare--the nightmare of life without you, and this I cannot bear. The television does not stop showing your picture; you are so alive and tangible that I can almost touch you, but it is only "almost" because already I cannot.
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Grandfather, you were the pillar of fire before the camp and now we are left as only the camp, alone, in the dark, and it is so cold and sad for us. I know we are talking in terms of a national tragedy, but how can you try to comfort an entire people or include them in your personal pain, when Grandmother does not stop crying, and we are mute, feeling the enormous void that is left only by your absence?
Few truly knew you. They can still talk a lot about you, but I feel that they know nothing about the depth of the pain, the disaster and, yes, this holocaust, for us, the family and the friends, who are left only as the camp, without you, our pillar of fire.
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Grandfather, you were, and still are, our hero. I want you know that in all I have ever done, I have always seen you before my eyes. Your esteem and love accompanied us in every step and on every path, and we lived in the light of your values. You never abandoned us, and now they have abandoned you, my eternal hero--cold and lonely--and I can do nothing to save you, you who are so wonderful.
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People greater than I have already eulogized you, but none of them was fortunate like myself [to feel] the caress of your warm, soft hands and the warm embrace that was just for us, or your half-smiles which will always say so much, the same smile that is no more, and froze with you. I have no feelings of revenge because my pain and loss are so big, too big. The ground has slipped away from under our feet, and we are trying, somehow, to sit in this empty space that has been left behind, in the meantime, without any particular success. I am incapable of finishing, but it appears that a strange hand, a miserable person, has already finished for me. Having no choice, I part from you, a hero, and ask that you rest in peace, that you think about us and miss us, because we here, down below, love you so much.
To the angels of heaven that are accompanying you now, I ask that they watch over you, that they guard you well, because you deserve such a guard. We will love you Grandfather, always.
Page created on 9/28/2007 8:17:02 PM
Last edited 3/20/2019 5:43:02 PM
