Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

Today, Monday, the twelfth of Cheshvan, marks the Yahrzeit of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, Zichrono L'Veracha, of blessed memory. The English date of his passing was Saturday night November 4, 1995.

While participating in a peace rally after Shabbat had ended in Tel Aviv, Rabin was murdered by a fellow Jew. We in Toronto were still observing the afternoon and evening hours of Shabbat when the terrible tragedy in Israel occurred. 

I was attending my former synagogue in Long Island, New York when I heard the terrible news. Two nights later, young and old filled my shul for a congregational memorial service. During the same week, I attended Madison Square Garden for a community wide memorial service. 

Yitzchak Rabin was both a dreamer and a pragmatist. Who will ever forget the picture of him and other famous Israelis standing in front of the liberated Kotel in 1967? If there was anyone who could synthesize a dream with a vision for real peace, it was him. Sadly, we will never know if his dream could have been transformed into reality. The world at large, the Middle East, Israel and its environs, are all much different today than they were twenty-six years ago.

In this week's Torah portion, Yitzchak is almost put to death by his own father, Avraham. The Biblical Yitzchak will live, get married, and perpetuate our people as the second Patriarch. His story is called "The binding of Yitzchak."

Tragically over two and a half decades ago, a modern day Yitzchak was in fact put to death by a fellow Jew. A tragic death came as the result of contemporary Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred, among fellow Jews. If we can learn only one lesson, it must be to air our differences with respect and never to resort to such acts of violence.

Today is a modern "Yom Ha'Zikaron," a day to remember a hero of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and to learn moral lessons in its aftermath.

May the memory of Yitzchak Rabin be for a blessing.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison