• About
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Jewish victims of mass shooting remembered

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in News
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Funeral services were held for Reuven Rahamim, founder of Accent Signage Systems, and Rami Cooks, a company production manager

By ERIN ELLIOTT BRYAN / Community News Editor

Judith Brin Ingber, a long-time friend and St. Louis Park neighbor of the Rahamim family, said that she will miss Reuven Rahamim’s joie de vivre.

“He was an upbeat, marvelous person,” Brin Ingber told the AJW. “We were neighbors, so if he was driving by and we were out in the driveway or the kids were playing in the street, he’d stop to talk. And then there would be all kinds of people around him. He had a capacity to draw people.”

Brin Ingber said Rahamim “personified community” and cared about everyone.

Rahamim, 61, a native of Israel who founded Accent Signage Systems, Inc., in 1984, was among five people gunned down on Sept. 27 at the company in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis. On Wednesday afternoon, members of his family left for Israel, where Rahamim will be buried.

The other victims of the shooting were UPS driver Keith Basinski, 50, of Spring Lake Park; Jacob Beneke, 34, of Maple Grove; Ronald Edberg, 58, of Brooklyn Center; and Rami Cooks, 62, of Minnetonka, an Israeli native who worked at Accent Signage as a production manager.

Two other Accent employees, John Souter and Eric Rivers, were wounded and remain hospitalized at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Private services for Cooks were held Sunday at Bet Shalom Congregation. Services for Rahamim also took place Sunday at Beth El Synagogue, where he served on the board of directors; more than 1,000 mourners paid their respects.

“This feels like a nightmare and we keep wondering, when will we wake up? We keep saying, this can’t be real,” said Rabbi Alexander Davis in his eulogy for Rahamim. “It’s so unfair. We can only surmise that you, God, needed an extra measure of rahamim to truly be el rachum v’chanun, the God of mercy and compassion. So you took our Reuven, who was exactly as his name: merciful, compassionate, kind and loving.”

Reuven Rahamim (right) with his wife, Shereen, and son, Sami. (Photo: Courtesy of the Rahamim family)

Davis offered stories from Rahamim’s life and recalled his humble beginnings on a moshav in Israel. Rahamim fought on the Syrian front in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and “the horrors he saw there left a deep impression that would not easily leave,” Davis said.

To clear his head, Rahamim visited family in the United States. He later decided to stay and made his way to Minnesota, where he graduated from Dunwoody College. He built Accent Signage from a small local business to a multi-million-dollar company manufacturing interior signs.

Rahamim also held several patents, including one for an innovative method for making signs in Braille that is used around the world.

“He didn’t just make signs, he helped people find their way,” Davis said.

The American Jewish World ran a photo of Rahamim in the Aug. 31 edition, and reported that he hosted a visit to Accent Signage by Under Secretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak on Aug. 9. Sanchez leads the International Trade Administration, which works with American businesses to identify export opportunities for their products, and lauded Accent Signage “as an exemplary business that looks to export and expand U.S. business in foreign markets.”

According to the Star Tribune, Rahamim was a member of the Thinc.GreenMSP Committee, an economic development partnership between Minneapolis and St. Paul that aims to promote green-manufacturing businesses and jobs. In March, at the invitation of Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Rahamim went to Washington, D.C., to attend a forum with fellow Twin Cities business leaders and the White House Business Council to talk about how the government and the private sector can collaborate more effectively to foster innovation and job creation.

“He’s an example of somebody who climbed the ladder of success and didn’t pull (the ladder) up but tried every way possible to get other people up on that rung, too,” Rybak told CNN. “We owe a tremendous debt to Reuven.”


Reuven Rahamim (second from right) talked about Accent Signage Systems during an Aug. 9 visit with (l to r): U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, Under Secretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. (Photo: Courtesy of Accent Signage)

But Rahamim’s greatest success in life was his family, including the love of his life, Shereen, daughters Dina and Miya, and son Sami.

“He could not take enough pictures when I graduated from law school, even though it was a cold, rainy day and the rest of us just wanted to go inside,” Miya Rahamim said at the funeral. “And he was proud of my sister for becoming a doctor, but absolutely beaming when she introduced two beautiful grandchildren into his life. He went to my sister’s house every Wednesday morning, and everybody knew about it, for their regular date to spend time with the kids.”

READ ALSO

Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC), said, “Reuven was a wonderful family man and deeply committed to his synagogue, community, country and native Israel.”

In a company statement, Accent Signage Systems said, “This senseless act has devastated us, but it will not destroy us. We fully intend to honor the memories of our colleagues and friends by continuing to grow the company they helped build through their hard work and dedication.”

Rahamim is survived by his mother, Sarah; wife, Shereen; daughters, Dina (Chad) Blumenfield and Miya; son, Sami; grandchildren, Aiden and Aviva; brother, David (Carmen); sisters, Shoshanah and Carmela (Shlomi); sister-in-law, Maureen (Scott); brother-in-law, Stan; many nieces and nephews in Israel; and many beloved aunts, uncles and cousins, and colleagues who became friends.

According to his obituary, Cooks is survived by his life partner and best friend, Pam Wexler; children, Shiri, Gali, Orr, Topaz, Dana, Ross and Nathan; grandson, Shayden; brother, Aryeh; and sister, Yocheved.

Minneapolis police identified the suspected gunman as company employee Andrew Engeldinger, 36, of Minneapolis. According to police, at the end of the day Engeldinger was called into a meeting with Souter and Cooks, where he was fired and given his final paycheck.

It was then that he pulled out a Glock 9 mm pistol and began shooting. After his murderous rampage, Engeldinger fatally shot himself in the basement of the Accent Signage building.

On Wednesday morning, Brin Ingber accompanied Shereen Rahamim to the funeral of Beneke, a graphic designer. The family has attended the funerals for each of the victims.

Brin Ingber said Rahamim had “incredible ingenuity” and a great concern for others, which is embodied in his family.

“They are an extraordinary family,” she said. “He was extraordinary and they are extraordinary.”

Related Posts

‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022
Lifestyle

Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

May 11, 2022
Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota
Minnesota

Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

April 22, 2022
Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days
Minnesota

Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

March 9, 2022
Direct from Los Angeles, Cantor Ben Tisser
Music

Direct from Los Angeles, Cantor Ben Tisser

January 16, 2022
Herzl Camp looks to summer 2022
Minnesota

Herzl Camp looks to summer 2022

December 17, 2021
Anti-hate summit in Pittsburgh uses Tree of Life shooting as warning to all
US & Canada

Anti-hate summit in Pittsburgh uses Tree of Life shooting as warning to all

October 22, 2021
Next Post

2013 AJW Community Guide set for Nov. 30

Comments 0

  1. Pingback: American Jewish World » Blog Archive » Editorial: Minnesota confronts guns
  2. Pingback: American Jewish World » Blog Archive » Editorial: Gun control efforts get shot down
  3. Pingback: American Jewish World » Blog Archive Editorial: Gun control efforts get shot down - American Jewish World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

May 11, 2022
Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

May 10, 2022
Searching for a bridge to the past

Searching for a bridge to the past

May 9, 2022

Editorial: Three remarkable lives

May 9, 2022
Editorial: Ukrainians flee their homeland

Editorial: Ukrainians flee their homeland

April 24, 2022

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.