The recent bombing of a civilian bus in Israel reawakened old tensions in the region and hit home in the Yale community when Matthew Eisenfeld, SY '93, was found among the dead. On Sun., Feb. 25, a bomb strapped to a Palestinian suicide bomber detonat
ed on a bus, killing 25 people and wounding 77. Many mourning the loss of Eisenfeld and his fianceé Sarah Drucker, also killed in the blast, were tragically reminded that the troubles in the Middle East are closer to home than they appear.
Eisenfeld graduated from Yale as a religious studies major and later enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary. Eisenfeld's presence in Israel this year was part of the program. "He was a scholar in every sense of the word," said Eisenfeld's uncle, Larry Port, in a New York Times interview. "He lived for his family and he lived to learn, and that's what he was doing when he was killed." Friends and teachers at the JTS remember Eisenfeld as an outstanding student and leader in his class. Eisenfeld, a Talmudic scholar, hoped to become a rabbi and open his own school.
At the time of the bombing, Eisenfeld and Drucker were taking the bus to visit Jordan, a trip recommended to them by a friend. The bombing represented an end to a six month lull in terror attacks in Israel. Messages received by news organizations said the attack was meant to avenge the death of Palestinian Yehya Ayyash, a member of Hamas, an armed wing of the militant Islamic movement. Another bomb carried by a suicide bomber detonated approximately half an hour later in the city of Ash.
Responding to the killing, the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale held memorial services on Wed., Feb. 28. The Yale Hillel organized volunteers for the Shmirah, or guarding of the body, at his West Hartford home. In an e-mail, members were a sked to volunteer for two-hour shifts of constant reading of psalms.
Eisenfeld's classmates offered words of support and shared fond memories of Eisenfeld through posted e-mail messages on the Class of '93 server. Eisenfeld's freshman year roommate, Chris Serkin, SY '93, wrote, "Matt's death is a great loss to us all . I am heartened by the outpouring of support that people have been receiving." Classmate David A. Waller, SM '93, requested an application on behalf of his class to plant a tree in Israel in Eisenfeld's memory. "I think it would be appropriateŠ to plant a tree in Matt's memory. I have gone ahead and requested an application on behalf of the class from the Jewish National Fund," Waller said.
During his four years at Yale, Eisenfeld was very active in the Jewish community at Yale as well as among his classmates in Saybrook College. He founded Magavet, the Jewish a capella singing group, taught Hebrew school, and led a prayer group. He was also a member of the Yale ski team and served as the chair of the Progressive Party of the Yale Political Union. "[Matthew was] a very gentle and spiritual man. His loss is severe for both the Jewish and gentile world," friend David Teten, SY '92, said.
"He loved books, but he always remembered to love people more," roommate Shai Held said. Held told of how Eisenfeld, in his characteristically giving way, had befriended a homeless woman in Jerusalem and taught her how to knit yarmulkes. The woman was able to support herself by selling the yarmulkes to other students at the seminary. "The highest level of charity is giving someone the opportunity to become self-sufficient," Held said. "That was a paradigm of who he was."
"Such wonderful young people, who could have been great leaders, great people, are lost," Rabbi Benjamin Segal, the president of the seminary, said.
"I just don't understand," Ali Andrus, MC '96, said of the recent resumption of violence through terrorist bombings. "I don't understand how anyone could be so unconcerned about taking human lives."
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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