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Life Under Fire
Detroiter mourns a friend killed in Hebrew U. bombing; one family relieved to know relative is safe.
DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
EE
ebrew University long has had the
largest overseas students program of
any university in Israel, and last week's
bombing of the campus cafeteria hit
close to home for former students from around
the world and their families. Below are stories
about Detroiters who worried about loved ones
when they heard about the bombing. In one case,
a close friend was killed, in the other a relative
narrowly missed the bombing.
A College Friend
Erica Davis lost a close friend last week.
"I thought it was a joke, a sick joke," she said.
"Some of my friends I talked to thought it was a
joke, too. I mean, a person is alive, and the next
minute he's dead? That is so screwed up. He was
the last person I saw before I left Israel."
Davis, 23, of Farmington Hills spent this past
school year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
and was part of a four-person "posse" that includ-
ed Benjamin Blutstein, 25, of Harrisburg, Penn.,
a student in Jewish education at the Rothberg
International School's two-year graduate program.
"Ben was my first friend in Jerusalem," Davis
said. "He knew the best places to go, the best places
to eat. He was pretty fluent in Hebrew, and was
always there with a shoulder you could cry on.
Being from Harrisburg, he understood the
Midwestern thing. He was such a good listener."
Blutstein was killed with his friend, Marla Bennett
of San Diego, while eating in the university's Frank
Sinatra Cafeteria at the Mt. Scopus campus. They
were among five Americans out of the seven stu-
dents murdered in the Hamas-claimed terrorist ,
attack that also wounded 97 persons.
Davis went to Israel in the fall of 2001 to spend
a year in the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Ben Blutstein, who was killed in the Hebrew
University cafeteria bombing, with his good friend
Erica Davis of Farmington Hills.
program, but left it for a different program soon
after she began. Blutstein was in his second year
of Pardes and loved it. He had just signed up for
a two-year program in Jewish education after
which he planned to return to the United States
to teach in Jewish schools.
"Ben was just Ben," Davis said. "No matter
where he went, he was just Ben. I admired him
for that. He was confident. He was an extraordi-
nary person. He gave his entire life to klal Yisrael
[the Jewish people] and that is what he wanted to
do with his life. I always pictured that when I
went back to Israel next year he would be there."
Brian Kohn of Jerusalem, formerly of Oak Park,
was with Ben the night before he was killed.
"Ben epitomized love, kindness, unity and
humanity," he said. "He was a special guy. He
didn't seem afraid of terrorism. He was very open-
minded and had no hatred of Arabs whatsoever.
In fact, he often was offended by anti-Arab rheto-
ric and insisted that these type of discussions not
continue in his presence.
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"Ben didn't talk much of politics — he was a
lover, not a fighter, and focused more on his love
of learning Torah, helping people who needed
help, being friendly to everyone and practicing
Judaism."
Davis is not particularly political but, after the
last year in Israel and Ben's murder, she has no
choice but to consider what it all means for Israel
and the Jewish people. Not surprisingly, she has
come to some definite conclusions.
"It put some clarity in my life about what we
are up against," she said. "They want the Jews
gone. They are trying to kill us. It is horrible. I
used to accept they might somehow be real free-
dom fighters who were misguided. Now I think
they are sick.
"To place a bomb into a university cafeteria is
pure hate, make no mistake," Davis said. "Israel is
fighting for her very existence and for the lives of
her citizens.
"My grandfather is a Holocaust survivor and he
taught me never to sit by and let injustice happen
in the world, especially to our own people. If we
don't help, then we let it happen. We must never,
never apologize for our allegiance to Israel and to
our heritage.
"Our sages say that when you kill one person,
you kill a whole world. For every single Jew who
dies, there are a thousand people that knew and
loved him or her. The dead are not just names,
they are souls that brought joy into the world.
The Palestinians killed two whole worlds when
they took Ben and Marla from us. We can
remember that the next time we see three dead or
five dead, that they are real people with real fami-
lies.
"When I think of Ben, I think of Israel," she said.
"I am overwhelmed by the pain Israel is facing now,
but I try to help in any way I can. I pray every night
for the day when bright, promising young people like
Ben do not have to die just for being dedicated Jews."
UNDER FIRE on page 22
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