For Gayle Adler, a newly arrived student from Orange County, Calif., the bombing was a catalyst, if a sad one, to study in Israel. Adler knew Marla Bennett, one of the five American killed in the attack. Bennett also hailed from California and was pursuing a degree in Jewish education from the Hebrew University and the Pardes Institute. By all accounts she was excited to be in Israel and loved her studies.More about Marla Bennett, Ben Blutstein, and Janice Coulter, and many articles and remembrances that followed in the wake of the bombing.
“Shortly after it happened I realized I can’t just sit and wait for Israel to be safe,” said Adler, who is 24 and has worked and studied in Israel extensively in the past. “When I read all the articles about Marla, and read what she herself wrote, I realized she was exactly where she wanted to be. “I could stay in California and wait for life to happen, or I could go to Israel and make life happen,” she said. “I chose the latter.”
You can make a donation to the scholarship fund set up in their memory.
Some LGF readers attend the memorial service at the Knitting Factory.
UPDATE: Pix from a memorial concert in Israel. (via Brian Blum, Marla's cousin)
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