Approximately 200 members of the Rice University community, including Rice President Reginald DesRoches and Provost Amy Dittmar, gathered Oct. 11 in solidarity with the campus’ Jewish students, faculty and staff at an evening vigil for Israel, held at Ray Courtyard outside the Rice Memorial Center.
Prior to the event, attendees took turns lighting candles forming a Star of David before Rabbi Shmuli Slonim from Chabad at Rice began the vigil with a prayer of peace for Israel. Former Rice President David Leebron and Rabbi Kenny Weiss from Houston Hillel offered additional remarks and were followed by several of Rice’s Israeli and Jewish students, who took turns sharing poems, songs and their personal feelings about the recent terrorist attacks by Hamas. Yasha Zemel, a Rice junior and member of the men’s tennis team who is from Israel, offered an especially poignant remembrance of a friend who died Saturday while fighting in the war.
The event, sponsored by Chabad at Rice and Houston Hillel, ended with song and attendees cheering in unison, “Am Yisrael chai,” Hebrew for “The people of Israel live.”
Photos by Gustavo Raskosky.
