Honoring Lives Lost

Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff ’68 believes that “a coincidence is just God acting anonymously.” On October 23, 1983, he found himself in Beirut, Lebanon, witness to the killing of 241 American service members when suicide bombers drove explosive-laden trucks into Marine Corps barracks. Resnicoff was working as a member of a three-chaplain team with the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet. When tragedy struck, Resnicoff and his fellow chaplains searched through debris for survivors and attended to them. Resnicoff used pieces of his shirt and his Jewish head covering, called a kippah, to wipe blood, dirt, and debris off of victims. It has now been 43 years since the Beirut attacks and Resnicoff holds with him the importance of seeing people as humans, beyond nationality, political view, or religion.