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Parshat Vayishlach: Rabin, Rachel, Rains and Retzach: How an untranslatable word shaped Judaism and holds hope for the world  

JL;DR SUMMARY Aton Holzer reflects on his memories of the Rabin assassination and the untranslatable Hebrew term "retzach," which means murder. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Yitzhak RabinJewish EthicsPhilosophyMurderRitualRabin AssassinationRetzachLo TirtzachThe Ten Commandments

Places mentioned

Har Etzion, Jerusalem, Israel
"In November 1995, as a fresh-faced seventeen-year old student in a gap-year American program at the Har Etzion Yeshiva, I was present at a gathering of dati leumi rabbinic leaders in the synagogue of the local Yishuv the week after the event."
Shechem, Central District, Israel
"Specifically, these cities of refuge are Levitical cities themselves removed from a portion of the land by forefather Jacob (Genesis 49:7), following Levis morally ambiguous killing of noncombatants in hostage-holding Shechem (which itself becomes a city of refuge)"

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Cairo Item ID 69037
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Retrieved 2025-12-04 05:30:21 UTC
Curated 2025-12-04 08:30:42 UTC