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2 Agents of Memory
- State University of New York Press
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21 Agents of Memory 2 Agents of Memory Voice and Exit Introduction “And what now?” asked Meir Shalev, a well-known novelist, of the audience that had gathered for a memorial ceremony thirty days after the assassination —marking the end of the traditional Jewish month of mourning. “It is with the memory,” he answered with a firm voice, “the last weapon of the dead and the sword of his friends, that we will avenge. Not with a civil war, but with the good old Jewish weapon; a long and sharp memory. We, who remember every mad dog of our history, we will remember this assassination. We will remember who was murdered. We will remember who murdered. We will remember how and why. And we won’t forget” (Rabin, 1997:51). Memory may be the “last weapon of the dead,” but no less important are the friends who fashion the sword and maintain it from rusting. While all members of society may remember an event or a protagonist, only some segments of the collective get to construct the public and formal representations of such events and protagonists. Moreover, “for a reputation to be solidified, someone must take the role of gatekeeper for the reputation, preserving and shaping it” (Fine 2000: 99).1 Thus, prior to the collective declarations of “we will remember,” and “we won’t forget,” stand those who organize, shape and maintain the collective memory in general and the mnemonic representations that allow others to remember in particular. Thus, every analysis of a mnemonic practice should involve the documentation and analysis of the work of people who stand behind the texts, rituals, memorial ceremonies, monuments, bumper stickers and other commemorative practices.2 These agents of memory3 who “do commemoration ” by initiating, organizing and shaping these practices (to say 21 22 Yitzak Rabin’s Assassination and Dilemmas of Commemoration nothing of the funds they set aside for these endeavors) are at the center of this chapter. Determination and motivation obviously characterize all agents of memory, except perhaps those for whom commemorative work falls under their job title as is the case for certain government or city employees. Nonprofessional agents of memory deeply care about and are profoundly committed to a specific past and its memory. Without this commitment and emotional investment, it is difficult to imagine why they would have become agents of memory in the first place. In Rabin’s case, agents of memory emerged from within his family (and family, as Lang and Lang remind us, is often instrumental in ensuring the success of the commemoration of particular individuals)4 and friends as well as from other individuals who barely knew him but cared deeply about the event. It is difficult to determine whether Rabin’s agents of memory cared more about their subject matter than other agents of memory, but the deep emotional commitment of Rabin’s agents of memory was very apparent. “The pain,” as Nachmias (chairperson of “Shalom, Haver” Association) stated, “is already part of my physiology” (Yediot Aharonot, November 14, 1997, p. 12). Others expanded on these sentiments: I was never politically involved in my life. . . . But the assassination caused me to lose my innocence. I used to be a proud Israeli. I am not embarrassed about being an Israeli but I’m not proud any more. . . . There are two options. Either you don’t talk about the assassination and you don’t remember it and you don’t think about it, or you talk and remember and remind [others] and think and do something, so I am there [at the assassination site] every Friday. (Interview, January 15, 1999) The first ad I published in the papers had to do with a personal need. I did it for myself. I didn’t even think that it would do anything to anybody. It was something that came from me. (Interview, January 25, 1998) I have such guilt feelings because I was not there on Fridays, near his house, where he was spat at and cursed and abused. . . . That will stay with me for the rest of my life. . . . We weren’t there for him. . . . My aspiration is to get to every single pupil in this country and to talk with him in person. (Interview, January 13, 1998) I want to make sure that every child in this country will know who Rabin was. . . . Everybody in the United States knows who Ken- [3.90.205.166] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 22...