Santa Barbara Mourns Victims

On March 2, as Shabbat drew near, Rabbi Stephen Cohen, Hillel chaplain at University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), waited for the parents of Ruth and Albert Levy so he could say “Kaddish” and pray with them, as he has done for much of the past week. Since the previous Friday night, when a troubled UCSB freshman allegedly drove his car into five young people on a crowded Isla Vista street, Cohen and the Levy family have fielded hundreds of calls from supportive strangers, all with the same question.

“So many people are calling, wanting to know what they can do to help,” said Rabbi Cohen. “The difficult thing is there’s not a lot any of us can do.” As the local rabbi, Cohen has been with the family, coordinating the memorial services with university and local officials and rabbis from the victims’ home synagogue. Memorial services in Isla Vista and on the UCSB campus drew thousands of students and community members.

News of the collision, which killed UCSB students Nicholas Bourdakis and Christopher Divis, along with Santa Barbara City College student Ruth Levy and her brother’s friend Elie Israel, has drawn the small college town of Isla Vista together in tragedy. Memorial services for Ruth Levy, held simultaneously Thursday afternoon in nearby Goleta and at the Levys’ home synagogue in San Rafael, Marin County, drew crowds beyond capacity.

Ruth Levy, called Ruthie by all who knew her, was “an incredibly sweet young woman,” according to friends who spoke at her memorial. Extremely close to her father, Art; stepmother, Maury; mother, Sherry; and brother, Albert, Ruth Levy planned to become a marriage and family counselor. Friends described her as “a helping kind of person.”

Albert Levy, injured in the crash, remains hospitalized, his condition serious but improving. He was in Isla Vista visiting his younger sister before flying to Thailand, where he planned to teach English. His parents remain in Santa Barbara to be with him while he recovers.

Also grieving in the wake of the tragedy are Daniel and Diana Attias, whose son David is being held in connection with the accident. Speaking at a press conference following his son’s first court appearance on murder charges, Daniel Attias said, “We know this has not affected just the loved ones and families of the victims…. It has left a terrible, terrible gash in the whole community.”

“Santa Barbara’s in a giant mourning,” said Mel Fabi of UCSB’s Associated Students Isla Vista Community Relations Committee (ASIVCRC), which organized the memorials on UCSB’s campus. The ASIVCRC also administers a memorial fund for all students who have died while attending UCSB.

Rabbi Cohen said the impromptu candlelight vigils and the presence of thousands of students and community members at the students’ memorial services have been a source of comfort for the families of the victims.

Condolences to the victims’ families may be addressed c/o ASIVCRC; UCSB; University Center, Room 2537; Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-6081.