In memory
I can’t stop thinking about Liviu Librescu.
He was the Holocaust survivor who was killed by the gunman at Virginia Tech on Monday who killed 32 people before killing himself.
He died on the day when Jews around the world commemorate the Holocaust with "Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day."
It’s not that he was any more important or that his life was more worthy or valuable than any of the other professors or students who were murdered on Monday.
It’s just that, well, I can’t stop thinking about him and thinking about the philosophical and theological questions that accompany any tragedy such as this one.
Dr. Librescu, 76, was born in Romania. According to an Associated Press article, "When Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in World War II, he was first interned in a labor camp in Transnistria and then deported along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani, his son said. According to a report compiled by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romania’s Nazi-allied regime during the war."
He stayed in Romania after the war and became an engineer, only to find that his career would not progress because he refused to become a Communist Party member. When he requested the government allow him to move to Israel, he was fired from his job.
"After years of government refusal, according to his son, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened to get the family an emigration permit. They moved to Israel in 1978." (AP)
Dr. Librescu left Israel for Virginia in 1985, a sabbatical that turned into a lengthy career at Virginia Tech University.
What is being reported is that as the popular professor was teaching his engineering class on Monday, he heard gun fire from another classroom and used his body to block the door as he encouraged his students to flee via window. Eventually, the gunman penetrated the door and shot and killed Librescu.
I wonder what he was thinking as he stayed back while his students escaped. I wonder if it was the instinct of a caregiver, of a person with military training, of a hero, or if consciously he decided that he had already been given both second and third chances at life and sacrificed himself on behalf of others who hadn’t survived the Holocaust and on behalf of the students who had so much more time left to live.
I wonder if he knew all along that the fact that he survived the Holocaust when so many others didn’t was only a loan of time that he would some day need to repay.
I wonder if his last words were assailing God for letting him down again or thanking God for allowing him to live the life that he did.
Or maybe he didn’t think he would die, that he was invisible, that he wouldn’t be let down again by God or the universe or whomever.
Or I wonder if after seeing the evils of the world multiple times he simply felt better giving up his life than living more of it.
And as I think of Dr. Librescu and the fact that he saved college students lives, contributed much research to the field of engineering, and stood up for his belief against Communist pressure, I wonder how I, how all of us, can do more to save lives, to contribute to society to overcome outside pressures in order to live more meaningful lives.
I hope and pray that I never encounter the dilemmas, challenges and tragedies that Dr. Librescu lived and died through during his 76 years.
But I do hope that I use my abilities to change my world for the better in any way that I can.
The following is a Hebrew prayer read after a death. I bolded the most meaningful line (to me):
O God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high,
grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence -
in the lofty levels of the holy and the pure ones,
who shine like the glow of the firmament -for the soul of (…)
who has gone on to his world,
because, without making a vow,
I will contribute to charity in remembrance of his soul.
May his resting place be in the Garden of Eden -
therefore may the Master of Mercy
shelter him in the shelter of His wings for Eternity,
and may He bind his soul in the Bond of Life.
God is his heritage,
and may he repose in peace on his resting place.
Amen.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
I was thinking about him too. Often I feel numb to the news. I find myself used to the pain and tragedy I hear and read daily. Some of it is simply too big to comprehend, some is just to painful. However, this story reached me in a way others have not. Not simply because he was jewish, but how he lived and yesterday, how he died. I first thought that he lived through the worst atrocities only to die like this. A few hours later I felt that this gunman represented the worst in humanity and Liviu the best. Maybe its a self deluding rationalization, but I think he showed that even after all he had been through, he still had the strength to act as an example to others. Pain, suffering, and sickness are constantly on display. But occassionally, so is strength and sacrifice. Good post. Glad to see I wasnt the only thinking about this today.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
New Toner Cartridge For The Hp Laserjet 3150xi…
I can’t stop thinking about Liviu Librescu.He was the Holocaust survivor who was killed by the [...]…