Home Home / Memorial Address for the Sheloshim Comm…

Speech

December 1, 1995

Memorial Address for the Sheloshim Commemoration of the Death of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1995)

Eulogies & Memorials Passionate Moderation Zionism
View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

RELATED CONTENT

Speech

Eulogy for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1995)

In Halakha-difference between אנינות ואבילות-disbelief/onset of pain... A this very hour/Jerus/being led to קבורה; & we-still in state of shock, & just beginning to feel full impact of grief. So – is too early to take full measure of man, just enough for expression of initial grief and the bare beginnings of assessment of R. for us/historyBegin with an interpretation of this past Shabbat's Sidra: לך לך מארצךוממולדתך ומבית אביך...אבות פ״ה-עשרה נסיונות...ורמב״ם-א׳ מהן "לך לך". אבל קשה-רש"׳ --"לטובתך ולהנאתך"...אלא שהנסיון היה שאברהם הבחין בצער הנשארים....So: his passing-no matter which side of the political divide we stand on-leaves us bewilderd, grief-stricken, deeply vexed.אבלות contains within it an element of תשובה...It is therefore appropriate for us to examine ourselves & learn if we in any way can improve what we are doing/how acting so as to avoid such catastrophes in futureLet me begin these few ruminations by saying that in addition to shock and grief, I for one experienced a vital element of תשובה, and that is: בושה...It was one of us-a religious student, who did it-even if he is a mad man...We have been civilized-by Torah, by social sanctions, by parental training, by moral conscience. That constraining inhibition is powerful in most people. I But in some it is exceedingly weak. A person so poorly endowed can lead an otherwise normal life for a long time, but place him in an environment which is permissive of violence, which exposes him to harsh talk, to hype, to unrestrained overstatement, to irrational and undisciplined expression-and anti-social urges buried deep within his sick psyche will explode in an unspeakably ugly display of hostility that turns men into monsters, society into a jungle, and civilization into chaos.Our responsibility is to avoid such an environment, never to be guilty of having, knowingly or unknowingly, encouraged such bestiality.Our responsibility is to be responsible, to recognize that violent rhetoric invariably l…
Lech Lecha Modern Orthodoxy Eulogies & Memorials Passionate Moderation Zionism

Speech

Eulogy For Yitzchak Rabin (1995)

Rabbi Lamm delivers a eulogy for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin following his assassination.
Eulogies & Memorials

Speech

Rabin Eulogy (2008)

Rabbi Lamm eulogizes Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Eulogies & Memorials