She wiped tears from her eyes with the back of her hand as a crowd of 150 sang songs of mourning and peace just 24 hours after the July 31 bombing at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University.
Ellis was a close friend of Marla Bennett, one of the seven fatalities in the deadly terrorist attack, in which a Palestinian left a bomb in the university’s Frank Sinatra cafeteria. The two had studied together last year at Pardes, a liberal yeshiva in Jerusalem.
“It’s just a tragedy,” said a red-eyed Ellis, choking back tears of sorrow. “There’s just no other word for it.”
The closeness to home of last week’s attack was a chilling realization for many at the vigil, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Israel Crisis Center. Five of those killed were American Jews; 24-year-old Bennett, originally from San Diego, was a U.C. Berkeley alumnus.
Glenna Gordon, a student at U.C. Berkeley, was actually standing in Bennett’s old bedroom in the Bayit Jewish cooperative –where the two were housemates during the 1999-2000 school year — when she heard the news that her “smiley, energetic, curly-haired” friend from freshman year had been killed.
“I thought there had to be some mistake,” said Gordon, “There’s so many people in Jerusalem. But those people are dying [as a result of terrorist attacks] every day. You don’t really realize it until this happens to someone you know. As Americans we’re somewhat immune.”
A smaller vigil was held by the JCRC Monday for the 13 civilians killed in terrorist attacks during the weekend.
At the Aug. 1 half-hour vigil, those gathering in solidarity with Israel signed a large card bearing a dove of peace and the Hebrew word for peace, shalom. A growing pile of yellow, white, pink and lavender bouquets for the victims sat as a silent memorial near burning yahrzeit candles.
As Stephen Olson of San Francisco examined pictures and biographies of the seven dead — Bennett; Benjamin Blutstein, 25; Dina Carter, 37; Janis Ruth Coulter, 36; David Gritz, 24; David Ladovsky, 29; and Levina Shapira, 53 — his eyes were watery.
“When it’s an American, it hurts. And when it’s a Jew, it hurts. Many of these were American Jews,” he said.
After the vigil, a small group presented Israeli Consul General Yossi Amrani with the card signed by the participants. Jessica Trubowitch, program assistant at the Israel Crisis Center, explained that the card was “a symbol of what the Jewish community, more than just the Jewish community, is feeling” in the wake of this attack.
When Amrani entered the room, his anguish was clear in his face and his body language. He examined the card for a long while, then turned to the group and spoke.
“We are facing an enemy that doesn’t distinguish between its targets, doesn’t care about its victims. Even Israeli Arabs were victims — they don’t distinguish,” he said slowly, taking time to make eye contact with everyone in the room.
“Five Americans, Jews who came feeling Israel was the center of Jewish life, who wanted to make their bond to Israel so strong that no one would doubt this land is ours, that we deserve a homeland,” were killed in this attack. Among the victims a “Foreign Ministry officer who was going to be sent on first assignment in Lima, Peru. He was 29 with a promising future. He was on campus that day to present his master thesis.
“So many promising lives — destroyed.”