Zachor

Remembering Ben and Marla z’l

July 31, 2022 marks the 20th yortzeit of Pardes students, Ben Blutstein z’l and Marla Bennett z’l, who were murdered in the July 31, 2002 Mt. Scopus terror bombing in Jerusalem.

Ben and Marla were students in the Pardes Educators Program, which at the time included study at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Pardes community continues to mourn this tragic loss.

While the video below was created in 2009, it continues to capture the impact that this event had on the Pardes community and the ongoing insistence of the community to create a better world in Ben and Marla’s memory.

Pardes honors their memory annually with two events at Pardes:

  1. Yom Iyun Shel Chessed – a day of social action as show in the video above.
  2. Tisha B’Av at Pardes – programs that take place on this day at Pardes are conducted is in Ben and Marla’s memory, in addition to two other Pardes alumni, Sara Duker z’l and Matt Eisenfeld z’l, also murdered in a bus bombing in Jerusalem in 1996.

For those interested in supporting Pardes in their memory, gifts can be made here.

Pardes Student Laura Herman, a recipient of the 2013 Marla Bennett and Ben Blutstein Fellowship, wrote this beautiful, powerful letter directly to Marla and Ben z”l.