10 New Sheqalim Yitzhak Rabin

Born in Jerusalem, Yitzhak Rabin completed his studies in Agriculture and wanted to become an Irrigation Engineer. Instead, he embarked on what was to become a military career, culminating in his appointment as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, in 1964. Rabin married Leah Schlossberg and they had a daughter, Dalia, and son, Yuval. At the end of 1967, after the Six-Day War, Rabin retired from the military and was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United States. In 1973, before the Yom Kippur War, Yitzhak Rabin returned to Israel and entered politics, becoming the 5th Prime Minister in 1974. In 1994, Rabin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Shimon Peres then Israel's Foreign Minister, and Yasser Arafat Chairman of the PLO, for efforts to create peace in the Middle East. On November 4, 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was tragically assassinated by an ultranationalist in Tel Aviv, after a peace rally. The nation has remained in shock and mourns his tragic and untimely death until today. Yitzhak Rabin was laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem and leaders from all over the world attended his State funeral. Perhaps most memorable of them was then U.S. President Clinton, who ended his moving eulogy with the words in Hebrew, “Shalom haver!” (Goodbye Friend)!

Excerpts from Rabin's Speech at the Nobel Prize Ceremony:
"Just as no two fingerprints are identical, so no two people are alike, and every country has its own law and culture, traditions and leaders. But there is one universal message…the message which the Jewish people has borne for thousands of years, a message found in the Book of Books …'take good heed of yourselves'…the message of the Sanctity of Life …There is only one radical means of sanctifying human lives. Not armored plating, or tanks, or planes, or concrete fortifications. The one radical solution is peace."