MEMORIES OF RIKKI & RACHELLI
Anon
June 24, 2012
"To the whole Menora family, We are all so sorry and shocked with the tragedy. I remember Racheli as a beautiful girl who always walked around with a shy smile on her face. I used to come over a lot in 5th and 6th grade and I remember how she would always welcome me with her smile. It was always fun to be with her. Racheli was always giving and helping others without hesitation. I know I will miss these traits.
Anon
June 10, 2012
“Racheli was always there for everyone, anytime. If we were bored in class we would walk out to the hallway and watch with Racheli on her ipod. She was always there for us in any situation weather we were bored, sad or lonely.
In Ma’ayanot (the summer between 7th and 8th grade) she was always going crazy with everyone and in the morning she would tell everyone what they said in their sleep.
Allot of people said she was very quiet and didn’t speak allot, but to her close friends or anyone smart enough to listen, she said allot of very smart and wise things.
May we all learn from this amazing person and live her unbelievable traits”
Leora Kurtzer
May 18, 2012
“When I was twelve years old, my family moved from America to Israel. What I thought would be a lonely, difficult challenge ended up changing my life for the better; living in a foreign country opened up a whole new world to me and gave me my closest friend. I remember the first few months at school as a daze of doodling in class and squinting at the squiggly Hebrew letters on the board, letters that shared no resemblance to the ones I had learned in Hebrew school. Although my Hebrew eventually improved, throughout high school I had to put weeks of effort into studying for tests that took only hours for my Israeli friends to master. Through painstaking effort I ended up learning more than just the material for the tests; I learned the value of hard work and perseverance.
In my sophomore year I met my best friend, Rikki. Having been raised an Orthodox Jew, I tended to accept certain ideas without question. Rikki, on the other hand, loved to question everything. She wasn’t afraid to be different and swim against the tide. She was the first friend I had who completely accepted me for who I was and helped me grow intellectually, spiritually and creatively. We would discuss our philosophies and dreams, and she inspired me to write down all of my concepts for films and short stories.
The summer before my senior year, Rikki was killed in a twin engine plane accident in Chicago. I was devastated for so many reasons. I ached with sadness and regret about the future we would not have together. One of the things I regretted most was not taking action on the ideas I had discussed with her. But her death opened my eyes, teaching me that you only live once and you must seize the day before it is over.
During my senior year I concentrated on bringing my ideas into fruition. I struggled during that year to cope with the loss of my best friend, but I remember making the conscious decision to not let my sadness bring me down. I had worked tirelessly in high school to achieve academic success and I had to make that final push to the finish line. I knew that Rikki would have been sad to see me give up on all my achievements and dreams so I made sure to keep up with my studying during my senior year. But I also made sure to finally start (and complete) projects that I had always wanted to do. I filmed more videos than I had ever imagined I could, I painted paintings I never knew I had the ability to create and I used those media to express the opinions and thoughts I had always shared with Rikki. I made sure to seize every opportunity. When Rikki was alive she showed me how to live life, but her death taught me the value of life lived to its fullest.”