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xi Acknowledgments Acknowledgments My first thanks must go to the women and men who opened their homes, offices and hearts by letting me interview them. The conventions of con- fidentiality prevent me from naming them, but without them, this project would miss the most important voices of all: those of the agents of memory, the real people who stand behind and in front of the mnemonic scenes. During the years I have been engaged in this study (more than I wish to admit), many colleagues and friends have read parts of this work and were kind enough to talk with me about this project. Working on social memory does not make one’s personal capacities better and thus I hope that I have remembered them all. I am particularly indebted to Gideon Aran, Eyal Ben-Ari, Stanley Cohen, Gerald Cromer, Gary Fine, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Jack Kugelmass, Daniel Levy, Edna Lomski-Feder, Amalya Oliver-Lomerman, Oren Meyers, Gabi Motzkin, Christina Nippert-Eng, Zeev Rosenhek, Odeda Steinberg, Robin Wagener-Pacifici, Howard Schuman, David Weisburd, Miri Yur, Barbie Zelizer, Eviatar Zerubavel and Yael Zerubavel. A special thanks must go to Barbara Mann for the “title conversation,” and for Efrat Ben-Zeev for the many “mnemonic conversations.” Thanks also to Ruth Rossing for editing earlier parts of the manuscript and to Chana Teeger, a former student and a wonderful current and future colleague who edited the entire manuscript with much care and enthusiasm. Masha Gurevitz provided me with much help working on the Israeli press in Russian, while Nayruz Abu-Chutum and Judah Truan did the same with the Israeli press in Arabic. Working with them was not only about translation but also about mediating cultures and meanings. I would also like to thank Miri Divish, Tomer Seroussi and Yaniv Yur who, at different points of the research, took pictures of the major mnemonic sites. At the State University of New York Press, I wish to thank Michael Rinella for being patient and understanding, and Eileen Meehan, for guiding my book through the production process. Robert Zussman deserves special appreciation for the valuable comments and continuing support and caring. Special thanks also to Nachman xi xii Acknowledgments Ben-Yehuda, for all his assistance, advice, comments and support throughout my academic career and life more generally. Deep gratitude goes to Barry Schwartz and Jeffrey K. Olick. Both of them read the whole manuscript and provided me with great comments, constructive criticism and much support. I feel very fortunate and grateful for their time, patience and friendship. I would like to thank Noa Vaisman, Neta Bar, Zohar Sharon, Liron Bar and Smadar Chaouat for being—during different periods—the best research assistants one can imagine. I had the honor and the pleasure of working with and getting to know this wonderful and enthusiastic group of promising young women. Grants from Shein Center and Eshkol Center are gratefully acknowledged. Hila Gofen and Hila Abraham provided me with great baby-sitting services for over a decade, and I cherish that. The help of my mother Shula Vinitzky and her spouse Shmuel Shiber, as well as that of my parents-inlaw Elisa and Rafael Seroussi, was and still is invaluable. Through their presence, these people remind me that behind every woman who attempts to combine research, writing and parenthood stands a strong family and dedicated baby-sitters. I am thankful and grateful to Yair Seroussi for not giving up. His love, friendship, confidence and generosity continue to be as valuable now as they have been for the last twenty years. My daughters, Netta, who remembers the assassination, and Ofri, who was born afterwards and for whom the memory is indeed only collective, remind me—with much pleasure—that there is life beyond sociology and that it sure is worth it. I thank them everyday for that one. The weekend of November 4, 1995 was filled with heated discussions over the meaning of attending—what would become the fatal—demonstration in support of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that was being pursued by the Rabin government. Many of my friends claimed that in a democratic society, people don’t go out to the streets, demonstrating for the government . Such social activity, they argued, is saved for other regimes, while in democracies the streets are usually left to the opposition. Some other friends of mine claimed that the Israeli Left can no longer sit at home and keep quiet, allowing the streets to be conquered by those who...

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