I have just found out on the news this morning that a friend of mine (and a classmate from my Hebrew class) was killed over the weekend. Aviva Barth was struck by a boat while scuba diving; the boat passed into the diving area that had been marked off to indicate to boaters that divers were underneath the water. Ironically, she was with the diving school that I had worked for earlier this year (and her boyfriend is an instructor there).

I am terribly upset as I really loved having Aviva in my class. We had lots of lively talks and debates about Israel, and she had a true and deep passion for the country. Her passion had even lead to her standing toe-to-toe with anti-Israeli protesters on an occasion. She had family in Israel and had planned a trip this summer. Eerily, the last time I had spoken to Aviva we had talked about diving and the courses we had both taken. Who knew.....

I had e-mailed her on Saturday along with my other classmates as we have been planning to get together for Shabat dinner this Friday, something we had discussed over a month ago. I am heartbroken at the prospect of her not being there.
Her funeral is being held tomorrow and I think I am going to go.
More about Aviva here.

Update: Well, I have been crying off and on about this all day, mostly in my car to and from work when I'm alone and can really have a good cry. I'm flip-flopping between really deeply sad to totally angry. I am so sad that someone so young was taken from this world. I can't imagine what class is going to be like without her next month, and I cannot possibly imagine what her family is going through. And I think I'm a bit shaken up because it was someone I know, and if things were just slightly different it could have been me. I put my dreams of diving on hold this summer in order to spend more time with my grandmother who needed me, but what if I hadn't? What if I had been part of that class she was in on the weekend? I could very well have been if I had stayed at the scuba shop. In the end I think I'm just still stunned that this is actually happening...is she really gone?? :'-(
I think it's safe to say I won't be diving again anytime soon; I know all I will think about while under the water will be her....

And the anger just stems from the fact that it was all such a horrible and preventable accident. She was in a diving area properly marked off so that boaters knew to keep their distance. There seems to be some conflict as to whether the boater ignored the buoys, didn't know what they meant (there's a special flag), or didn't see them because it was a windy day on the lake and the waves were quite high (aka: whitecaps). It's assumed that the boater didn't even know s/he did it because no one stopped.

So after a good cry on the way home from work I'm left to decide what to do with myself for the night. Part of me says put a movie on and just get lost in it and try to forget for at least a few hours. Another part of me says it's much healthy to do a bit of yoga and a bike ride....burn off that angst in a positive manner. And still another part of me says it would be wise to go to a meeting. I think I'll do a bit of yoga, a bit of the bike riding and then toss a movie on the dvd player.
The funeral is tomorrow at 2pm and I will be joined by my classmates, my teacher and those I worked with at the diving shop.

(thanks for listening, everyone...I realize you didn't know her and all...)