What were you doing the the day Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated?

I was performing in the Morton Theater the day Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

Today is the 10th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination at the hands of a religious zealot, who also happened to be a Jewish settler.

Yitzhak Rabin was a wise and pious man who fought for his people when called, and then fought just as bravely for the cause of peace. His death was a blow to those of us who want nothing but the best for all people living in Palestine and Israel.

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Today I will honor the man I respected so much, by recounting to you where I was when I first found out about Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. It was a tragic event that would not be eclipsed for me until 9/11.

On November 4, 1995, I was a member of an improvisational acting troop called "Strike Force." We were about to perform in the Morton Theater in Athens, Georgia. The Morton Theater was built in 1909, and, for decades it was the only place that black Americans in that part of the segregated south could watch plays and concerts in a professional facility.

Strike Force was showcasing work before an audience as part of a larger show featuring improvisational acts from across America. Our segment was to start in 10 minutes and we were warming up in a hallway to the left of the stage, as to not interrupt the act that was currently performing.

When I found out Yitzhak Rabin had been killed, it was as if time froze. A decade later I still remember what I was wearing, what I was doing and what my mind was preoccupied with just before I got the news. (I had just put on a gray sweater, I had just eaten a handful of buttery popcorn, I had 23 dollars in my pocket and a slight crush on a girl named Heather.)

My first thought when I learned of Rabin's death was: "My God, how many people are going to have to die thanks to this assassination?"

Tragedy or not, the old show-biz rule "The show must go on" still applied. Despite the shock of the news, we were escorted to the stage for the start of our act. I don't know if Rabin's murder effected my colleges, but what enabled me to put on a good performance was the knowledge of the Morton Theater's history: The fact that my mixed-race troop was going before a mixed-race audience, in a theater that used to solely cater to oppressed Americans - was the assurance I needed that no assassins bullet could kill the dreams of great men like Martin Luther King or Yitzhak Rabin.

May this knowledge give comfort to people who are grieving today.

www.brainshrub.com/rabin-assasination

I was 19. Probably at a kegger. :evilgrin:

but I can't remember which one. I have to admit at the time I didn't instantly know who the Israeli PM was. At first I guessed Netanyahu (WAY WRONG!) but fairly soon I realized it was Rabin ... and what a loss his death was.

I vividly remember the grace of Leah Rabin and her granddaughter at his funeral, and how stricken Bill Clinton looked as he said goodbye to his friend. My thoughts are with Israelis (and people of the world) who grieve Rabin's loss today and wonder how different the world would be had he been allowed to live and pursue peace.

Just as the assassinations of MLK and the Kennedys took much of the light out of America's torch.

Why do the worst have to take the best? Can anyone explain the logic of it?

Ordered torture against Palestinians.
And did little to bring real peace and justice.

Even so, the Israeli extremists gunned him down. Says much about the current state of affairs in Israel.

when Rabin was shot. On my way out*, someone told me in passing Rabin had been shot, but I thought he was joking. In the morning, on my way to my base, I suddenly heard on the radio that Rabin's coffin would be placed in the Knesset square.

*This was during my military service; since I'd received special leave because of the bat mitzva, I had to return to the base early the next morning, so I left the party early to get some sleep

BTW, an informational point - Yigal Amir wasn't a settler; every source I've found says he lived in Hertzeliya.

Hi Brainshrub! :hi:
I live in Athens, GA! My husband has performed at the Morton. For mnay years it was abandoned. The old Bluebird Cafe was downstairs.
I loved that restaurant. It was Athens' first vegetarian restaurant. It was previously know as the El Dorado. :)

but I do remember the next week in religious school the Rabbi told all us kiddies what a loss it was. I think that may have been the first time I ever said the Mourner's Kaddish. I was just a little guy then.

I knew it would be the beginning of the end, with that malicious Bibi waiting in the wings....