9/11 Five Years Later

9/11 Five Years Later

September 15^th, 2006

Based on

Remarks to be delivered at the 9/11 Commemoration

Organized by Bliley's Funeral Home

September 11, 2006

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

Temple Beth-El

Richmond, Virginia

 

 

 

In the days following 9/11 five years ago the leaders of the different faith communities felt that it was critical that we create services where we could come together. We were all shaken to our very foundations. This week all the feelings that I had then have been reawakened, all the pain, all fear, all the anger, when I have seen the tapes of the towers replayed on television. I cannot go see the movie. In those days I received a phone call in which the caller asked quaking in her voice: "If we give back Israel, will they stop bombing us?" The Moslem community was also in great distress, and continues to be so, individually and communally, with threats and actual harm done to both. Being different faith communities with different histories, we have different theologies as well as differing political views on seminal issues that confront us. Yet there is a common ground upon which we all stand and can unite. Five years ago we hosted a community service with this sanctuary almost filled. We did it again last Sunday night. We needed to say that our faith communities remain ever strong and committed to a shared vision of just and peaceful society, country and world. The community needed to see Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Jews and Moslems sitting side by side, regardless of the differences that are inherent in being different. It is important to extract from each and every religious faith those statements that testify from within the faiths, that they can and will live peacefully with others who believe and live differently than them. If we can't say that in America, with our unique history, haven to vast numbers of different peoples, with our motto e pluribus unim, then oy veys meir for the world! We can and we did. Standing here on this bemah last Sunday we testified that the fabric of America would never be torn apart, that despite deep rends in our souls, we will heal the broken heart of our country.

 

I was also privileged to be invited by the Bliley family to be the main speaker in a service on Monday morning held in the parking lot of the Bliley Funeral Home on Augusta. They asked me to give an uplifting message that we could take with us in the days ahead, not just to bemoan the fate that had befallen us. I share with you those thoughts.

 

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Regardless to which particular faith we subscribe, religion has us live our lives with "eyes wide open" with awe and amazement at the world and at life itself. In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis God is recorded as saying that it is good, and at the end of the Creation narrative He says that it is "very good." In its pristine condition, this planet and human potential are very good. The Jewish messianic vision is that in some unspecified time in the future, the world and humanity will return to that condition and fulfill its potential to be "very good." In the interim between the poles of the history of humanity's existence past and future, we have to cope with our current condition.

 

We all use linguistic shorthand in our lives and in our work. Five years ago today a new shorthand entered our vocabulary that is on par with that of an earlier generation. For my father and his generation December 7^th, the day that would live in infamy had nearly the same impact as 9/11 has for us. For those older, they have the double burden to know both existentially. These dates strike fear and trembling for they question the foundation of our existence. Are we safe? What will happen next? Where? When? To Whom? Are we safe in Richmond because it isn't New York or Washington, D.C.? Are we safer in the counties and not the city where the Federal Reserve Bank is located? Do we look at our neighbor, our co-worker whose color is different or whose accent is distinctly other, or because they were a head covering, my simple skull cap, kipah, yarmulkah, or a turban? Is everyone a threat to everyone else? Some earthquakes shake the earth and others shake our souls. On 9/11, they both shook, deeply, painfully, and unceasingly. This is what I briefly address.

 

It would be foolish to say that we can just whisk away these feelings and thoughts. Yet, five years later, just a tiny tinkle in the cosmic or divine eye – maybe they are the same –we have stood our ground and affirmed our innate goodness. My daughter-in-law was pregnant and in midtown New York City on 9/11. Our granddaughter was born on March 31^st. When she was born, at her naming ceremony, my son questioned the wisdom of bringing children into this torn and tattered world. Will she have to endure such a world? Isn't it madness? At the reception it was my time to speak. I said to my son and all assembled that humanity is an affirming creature. The core of our being is the thirst for life and the quest to live. It cannot be denied. It must not be denied! I said that it was a righteous act to create this life and bring it forth for it, she – our granddaughter - contains the seeds of our salvation. Each new life does. Each may do a righteous act. Each may find cures for disease. Each may discover better sources of energy. Each hand may lift up another. My granddaughter plays with me and takes my hand to lead me. It is more that metaphoric. It is metaphysical. There is a higher truth. The prophet says: "And a little child shall lead." For the child, the child in each of us contains the elements of purity, honesty, justice, sincerity, and truth. As they are born, as we re-emerge, we bring forth to this world these elements which are more precious than all those on the chemical chart. We replant these seeds in our heart, in our homes, in our workplace, in our community, in our nation, in the field of Pennsylvania, the walls of the Pentagon and in ground zero in New York City where new buildings will stand. We affirm, we aver, that those seeds will take root, sprout and flourish. That which was cut down shall grow again proclaiming the goodness of the cycle of life, our indomitable spirit -- and we shall bask in its shade.

 

We are creatures of faith. The Psalmist says (121): "I lift up my eyes to the mountain; what is the source of my help? My help will come from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. The Eternal is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand…." In a memorable song there are these words:

           

When you walk through a storm,

            Keep your chin up high

            And don't be afraid of the dark.

            At the end of the storm is a golden sky

            And the sweet silver song of the lark.

            Walk on through the wind,

            Walk on through the rain,

            Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown

            Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,

            And you'll never walk alone.

            You'll never walk alone.

As we join hands as good human beings, good neighbors, co-workers and friends, with all our God endowed differences, with our faith in our country and in God, we shall never walk alone.

 

It is that faith, that strength, that spirit, that dream that we commemorate.

May we all pray, in our different languages, different theologies and images for the one same thing: that tragedy befalls us no more.

May our children, symbolized by our Bat Mitzvah of this Shabbat grow up in a safe, secure, happy world.

May true peace come speedily in our day.

 

Amen.