A Jewish Hero at Virginia Tech

Editor's Note:

We want to draw attention to a Romanian and Israeli man who lived, taught and wrote research articles for 30 years in America. Liviu Librescu died a hero in yesterday's tragedy when he called for his students to flee and then turned to face the Virgina Tech shooter on their behalf.

Librescu's son, Joe, has reportedly received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives and that they regarded their professor as a hero.

Margy Pezdirtz was kind enough to gather these words regarding this scholar and hero - a national treasure to all of the three countries he graced with his brilliant presence!

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Contents:
Remembering a Hero - From our Partner in Oklahoma City

Margy Pezdirtz - Naomi Ragen - Gil Ronen - Apr 18, 2007
Various

Dear Friends,

As we remember and mourn the loss of so many beautiful lives at Virgina Tech yesterday, let us not forget this brave Israeli man who saved the lives of so many at the cost of his own. Truly, he is a hero. Please hold his family in prayer and love, along with the many wounded and murdered. May G-d hold them in the palm of His hand during this time of tremendous anguish.

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem!

Margy Pezdirtz
Comforters of Israel
http://cfoic.com/index.asp?mainpage=page&id=448

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The body of murdered Prof. Liviu Librescu is being flown to Israel Wednesday, and he will be buried in Ra'anana. The 76-year-old Holocaust survivor was gunned down at the Virginia college when he tried to block the killer from entering his classroom. He is being acclaimed as a hero for saving the lives of his students. May his memory be for a blessing and may his family be comforted along with all the mourners in Zion and in Jerusalem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liviu_Librescu

Friends,

One can only imagine what went through the mind of Professor Liviu Librescu, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech, as his lecture was interrupted by gunfire in the class next door. As someone who has survived a terror attack myself, I would like to say that the decision to stay put and save others when your own life is in danger goes against every human instinct; it is heroism and self-sacrifice on a scale that is unimaginable and that cannot even be fully appreciated by most human beings. For a survivor to give up his life after two decades of peace and quiet in the most pastoral of settings is a tragedy for his family, and for all of us.

We mourn his loss, and are proud of his legacy. Our deepest condolences to his wife Marlena and sons Aryeh and Joe, who live in Israel. May God comfort them among the mourners of Zion and Israel.

Naomi Ragen
http://naomiragen.com/

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Slain Israeli Professor Saved Others in Va. Tech Massacre
by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) As Israel observed Holocaust Day, thousands of miles away, A Romanian-born Holocaust survivor gave his life in another senseless murder - and apparently in an act of heroism.

Among the 32 people killed by a lone gunman at Virginia Tech Monday is 77-year-old engineering professor, Liviu Librescu, a citizen of Israel. According to eyewitness accounts, Librescu ran to the door of his classroom and blocked it with his body - preventing the gunman from entering but getting shot to death himself as a result.

Alec Calhoun, a 20-year-old student who had been in Librescu's class in room 204, told a reporter that at 9:05 a.m. the heard screams and a loud banging sound from the next-door classroom. When the students realized it was gunfire, he said, some hid behind tables, and others leapt from the classroom's windows. Calhoun himself was among the last to jump. "Before I jumped from the window, I turned around and looked at the professor, who stayed behind, maybe to block the door. He had been killed."

Librescu is survived by his wife of 42 years, Marlena, who was with him in Virginia, and sons Aryeh and Joe who are in Israel. They intend to bury him in Israel.

Asael Arad, an Israeli student who visited the widow after the tragedy, told Army Radio Tuesday that Marlena had been receiving e-mails from students who credited Prof. Librescu with saving their lives. "I lost my best friend," the widow told a reporter for NRG at her home near the Blacksburg campus. "He was a great person, who loved teaching more than anything." Marlena said someone had initially informed her that her husband was injured in the shooting. "I looked for him in the hospitals all day but I didn't find him," she said.

The Librescus are Romanian Jews who came on aliyah (immigrated to Israel) in 1978 - after then-Prime Minister Begin interceded on their behalf with the Romanian government, according to Marlena. The couple went on a sabbatical to the United States since 1986 and has been living there ever since.