In Memoriam: Shai Levinhar
Project 2996
My wife and I boarded the train from Berlin to Warnemünde after a delightful day of sightseeing and remembrance. Our train left for the coast and our ship around 5 PM or so. About 40 minutes, maybe a little more, our tour guide came through each car and told us about the terrorist attack on New York. Needless to say we were shocked, but not as shocked as we would be, nor our nation, nor the families of the 2996 victims of 9/11.
One of the 2996 victims was a young man from Israel who had recently finished his Masters of Business Administration and was working at Cantor Fitzgerald in the Twin Towers, Shai Levinhar.
This handsome young man with a bright and friendly smile was a native of Israel. His wife Liat was a biologist, and he was the proud father of an 8 week old daughter. The doorman in Shai’s apartment building often said that he would tell Shai about a package he had for him, but Shai would rush upstairs saying “I’ll get it later; so proud he was to be a father.
Shai had other passions in his life, his work, his friends, dancing with his wife. Part of the real tragedy of September 11th is that so very many wonderful people died a senseless death.
Shai was a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, and though I never met him, as a veteran myself I feel a as though he were a kindred spirit. I wish I could have known him, for he was no doubt a brave man, a kind man, a loving man.
His wife Liat wrote to the wife another victim, a co worker of Shai’s just three weeks later. Her words are a testament to Shai, and to her love for him:
I try hard to believe that everything happens for a reason. It is very hard but I have to work on that cause if there is no reason then the only other explanation is that the world is evil and cruel (and I really don’t want to believe that). I am not a great believer but in this case I think that God needed them for a special mission. I wish God have waited 60 or 70 years before recruiting them but it just didn’t work that way. I get a little comfort when I think of all the great people that went with Shai. People like your Rich and like David Silver that are going to keep him company until it will be our time to join them.
It is extremely hard to be strong (sometimes I feel that my 8 weeks old daughter lost her father and mother on the same day). But we have to be strong. Be strong for our children but also for our husbands. We had amazing husbands and I know that they would want us to raise our children just as we planned with them. It is much easier to write this than to do it. But when I write I realize time after time that this must be their testament to us: to keep going, to be strong, to raise our children in their image. To remember them with a smile (not tears), to be happy and raise happy children. When I wake up every morning and I realize that he is not next to me I break down. But then I try to collect the pieces and go through the day. I want to believe that some day it will become easier (although it is hard to believe that a day will come when I will think about him without crying). Until that day I rely on my family and my friends to get me through the day. And I talk about him. All day long. He may not be here anymore but he will never be forgotten. At least not as long as I live.
If my Hebrew translation below is not exact or perfect, please forgive me.
Rest in peace Shai, you are not forgotten.
נוח בשלום, אתה לא נשכח
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Comments
The person to whom I remember today — Anthony DiOnisio — also worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. I wonder if he and Shai Levinhar knew one another?
Liat’s words are moving and thought provoking.
Those of us who didn’t lose family that day can move on with our lives with some ease. Not so for the families of those murdered on that dreadful day.
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