Paying Tribute to Heroic Virginia Tech Professor

One year ago, on April 16, 2007, amidst the horror and heartbreak of the massacre at Virginia Tech, the courage of Professor Liviu Librescu, who gave his life to save his students, awed and inspired people all over the world.

In tribute to that sacrifice and timed to coincide with the anniversary of the tragedy, in which a lone gunman shot dead 32 people before turning the weapon on himself, the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education produced a documentary on Librescu's life and that fateful day.

A Holocaust survivor, Librescu decided in one instant to save as many students as possible by barricading his classroom door with his body. The online video asks viewers how they would react in an emergency situation.

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All of us have been tested, explains Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Shea Hecht, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based chairman of NCFJE and the video's producer. But most haven't been tested with the ultimate test of all: What if you could save the lives of others by giving up your own?

"What can we learn from the professor's courage under fire?," asks Hecht. "What real life lesson can we take from him since most of us are not called upon to give our lives for others?

"There is a lot to learn," he answers. "The fact that Liviu Librescu, of all people, was the one to give his life so others may live is a lesson in and of itself."

A native of Romania, Librescu suffered persecution in forced-labor camps during World War II only to be further singled out because of his Jewish identity by Communist authorities. After moving to Israel, he taught at Tel Aviv University and the Technion in Haifa, where he earned accolades for his scholarship. Virginia Tech invited him as a visiting professor and was later offered to stay.

"Professor Liviu Librescu, a man who understood murder, who understood persecution, showed courage under fire," concludes Hecht. "He knew that he must save his students, the ones with their futures ahead of them.

"His legacy to us is that regardless of our own personal circumstances, we should be aware of those who need more and be ready to give of ourselves."