VIRGINIA TECH HERO-PROFESSOR LAID TO REST IN ISRAEL

Virginia Professor Laid to Rest in Israel - Haviv Rettig
The funeral of slain Virginia Tech Professor Liviu Librescu took place in Ra'anana on Friday morning. (Jerusalem Post)

Witness Tells a Hero's Story - Martin C. Evans
Theresa Walsh was one of the last people to see Liviu Librescu alive. "He looked horrified, almost as if he knew what was going to happen," said the Virginia Tech math major, who had stepped into the hallway from a second-floor classroom across from his when she heard gunshots.

"A lot of us would not be around today were it not for our colleagues warning us and giving us more time," said Ishwar Puri, chairman of the Engineering Science and Mechanics department, where Librescu was a professor, who said students in Librescu's second-floor classroom jumped from windows as Librescu barred the door. Librescu was hit at least five times and died on the classroom floor, according to Edgar Gluck, a Brooklyn rabbi who flew to Virginia to help prepare Librescu's body for burial. (Newsday)

Chabad center to be named for Virginian prof (JTA)
A new Chabad House at Virginia Tech will be named for an Israeli Holocaust survivor killed in Monday’s shooting rampage. The center, to be named the Levi Librescu Chabad House, will operate under the auspices of Lubavitch of the Virginias, based in Richmond, and is expected to open in coming months.

"In times of sorrow we act quickly and we accomplish things that normally take much longer to accomplish," said Yossel Kranz, the Chabad emissary in Richmond. Kranz said plans for a Chabad center at Virginia Tech had been the works for some time, but this week’s events prompted him to "fast-track the plans so it can happen immediately."

Librescu was among the 32 victims Monday in the worst shooting rampage in modern American history. Witnesses said he was killed while barricading the doorway to his classroom to keep the killer out while students escaped.

"Professor Librescu’s final act of heroism will be eternally memorialized in the life-affirming activities of the new center," Kranz said.