Jack Kessler strode through San Francisco’s Financial District carrying an 8-foot stave over his shoulder with a faded Israeli flag he picked up in Jerusalem lashed to it.
It was, he said, the least he could do.
“I’m here to honor the memory of the people who died. No, let’s not use passive language. They were killed,” said the El Cerrito resident, one of about 20 people to attend a somber lunchtime vigil March 6 for the victims of the previous day’s Haifa bus bombing.
“We have a 2,000-year tradition behind us. You endure. What else can you do?”
Participants recited the Mourners Kaddish and sang Hebrew songs at the brief Jewish Community Relations Council-sponsored vigil held in front of the Israeli Consulate General on Montgomery Street.
Attendees waved Israeli and American flags, lit yahrzeit candles, and displayed the names of the 15 victims, nine of whom were under 18.
While terrorism and, specifically, bus bombings have become commonplace in Israel, attendees said the youthfulness and diversity of victims made this attack particularly difficult to bear.
“I went online to see the names of the people, and the ages — they were so young. The thought of them going to school but not coming back devastates me,” said Andre Dubinsky, 22, a Moscow-born Israeli citizen who moved to San Francisco last year.
“They were children with their whole lives in front of them. They could have become great people, spiritual leaders, and they died for nothing, for some political gibberish. If you need to murder children to prove your point, what kind of point can it be?”
Bill Kedem’s son is currently serving in the Israeli army, and his daughter was just discharged. He calls them every day.
“I came to say Kaddish for the victims and make it be known to the people of San Francisco that we are unhappy with violence in the Mideast, particularly toward Israeli citizens. I expect the rest of the world to take a more serious interest. There is no moral equivalent to terrorism, such as the Haifa bus bombing, and Israeli actions to defend democracy.”
Yitzhak Santis, the JCRC’s Middle Eastern affairs director, said one of the victims had worked on Jewish-Arab coexistence projects. Two others were Israeli Arabs, as was the bus driver. The attack, Santis hopes, “has brought the Jews and Arabs of Haifa closer together with their blood being mixed on the streets.”
Amid so much turmoil in the region, attendees said it was important not to become complacent.
“People were killed in Israel and it’s important to get together and recognize that,” said Tiffany Brown, an outreach coordinator with the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. “You hear it on the news for a second and that’s it, you go on. It’s important to take a moment and realize how this affects us.”