Kesher Talk

Several weeks ago I linked to a eulogy for Ben Blutstein, one of the Pardes students killed in the Hebrew U bombing, that painted a vivid portrait of a lively artistic irreverent young man. This is an equally enlightening hesped for Marla Bennett. Put away all your UC Berkeley stereotypes, because Marla was a Berkeley grad.

. . . When Bennett arrived at the Berkeley Bayit, a Jewish cooperative household overlooking the U.C. campus, she could barely boil water. Certain kinds of vegetables were a total mystery to her, said Rabbi Martin S. Lawson of San Diego's Temple Emanu-El in his eulogy. But living there had an impact. Bennett "soon became a great cook, preparing meals for her housemates and later, incredible Shabbat dinners in Jerusalem for eight to 10 people without any stress." In 2000, the year she graduated from U.C. Berkeley, Bennett was the first recipient of a Hillel award. Called Hineni, the award went to a student who, "whenever there was something that needed to be done, their response was 'here I am,'" which perfectly exemplified Bennett, said Adam Weisberg, Berkeley Hillel's executive director. . . .

Hillel and Oakland's Temple Sinai will hold a shloshim service to mark the 30-day anniversary of her burial on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Hillel will also be setting up a fund in her memory for students studying in Israel.

Glenna Gordon, a student at U.C. Berkeley, was actually standing in Bennett's old bedroom in the Bayit Jewish cooperative --where the two were housemates during the 1999-2000 school year -- when she heard the news that her "smiley, energetic, curly-haired" friend from freshman year had been killed.

posted by Judith @ 8/26/2002 08:38:43 PM