Sublime Heroism

Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Here's the challenge:
In your last seconds of life, with terrorists spraying bullets at you, would you:

(1) try to kill those who are trying to kill you and all your people?

(2) run for cover rather than be blown apart by bullets? Or

(3) Make Noam's choice, turn your back on the terrorists, even though you have a sidearm, and leap to lock the doors and hurl away the key, so that the murderers cannot kill the dozens of your fellow students in the
room beyond?

We will never know what choice we would make. But we do know what choice Noam Apter made, and he deserves our attention and gratitude. How often does it happen, that a soul is revealed, in its essence? The pure, virtuous soul of Noam Apter was revealed on Friday, December 27, 2002. Most of the world missed that profound moment.

Not a single mainstream media source mentioned Noam's actions, nor even his name, outside of Israel. We are so caught up in the next deaths, the next bombings and the latest number of body parts. When a sublime act of heroism occurs, we don't even notice.

Here's what happened. Listen, remember, and tell the story to others. It deserves to be told.