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Thoughts of 9/11 mark Selichot, High Holiday season
By: CJN STAFF
While the High Holidays have always been associated with reflection, forgiveness and family, for the past three years, they have become synonymous with something else as well: commemoration of 9/11.
Selichot, a night of prayers for forgiveness that inaugurates the High Holiday season, this year falls on Sept. 11. The timing has provided area rabbis with the opportunity to reflect on that terrible and terrifying day three years ago.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Rabbi Edward Bernstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Tikvah (Conservative), was serving at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, N.Y., about 25 miles away from Ground Zero. Like many Americans, Bernstein has a connection with people who were affected by the attack: Two families from his congregation lost loved ones in the World Trade Center, and Bernstein knows someone who escaped one of the shattered towers by climbing down 85 flights of steps.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, says the rabbi, Americans came together to help one another. Bernstein saw this while working as a pastor at a New York City hospital in the days following 9/11.
In three years, however, the "emergency of the moment" has passed, time has somewhat healed our wounds, and Americans are going on with their lives. "That's good news," says Bernstein. "To keep our lives altered would be a victory for the terrorists."
It also has been three years since President George W. Bush announced his "war on terror." As casualties among U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians mount, this "makes the U.S. weaker in the eyes of the world," Bernstein remarks. Due to their close friendship, a weaker U.S. also makes for a weaker Israel, he feels.
"Since 9/11, Americans can no longer take their security and way of life for granted," says Rabbi Alan Lettofsky of Beth Israel-The West Temple (Reform), who will speak on the topic this Selichot.
The "new world order" created post-9/11 has a positive aspect that is illustrated by a rabbinical teaching, Lettofsky explains. An ancient rabbi noted that in the land of Israel, "rain is necessary to provide drinking water." If it's a year without rain, the people suffer a great deal.
Because of this scarcity, no one in Israel takes the water for granted. Likewise, adds Lettofsky, Americans, who until 9/11 "lived with the sense that the oceans protected us, now have an opportunity to truly value the things that are most important."
Among those precious commodities is personal freedom. Lettofsky cautions that Americans need to protect those liberties that have made our country great. At the same time, he says, we have to do our best to prevent another disaster like 9/11.
Temple Emanu El (Reform) interim rabbi Steven Denker will be giving a seminar on the "question of terror and terrorism" prior to Selichot. "I'll be discussing terrorism as opposed to legitimate military action," he explains. "Why are Israel's actions legitimate but not the Palestinians' actions?"
He will discuss a timely quote from Isaiah: 33:18, in which the words "terror" and "towers" are both used.
"Isaiah was trying to teach that physical beings, like towers, are not the reality of our strength. Our strength as Jews is far more profound than the buildings we can build. I hope that congregants take away (from this seminar) a message of understanding," he says.
Tim Wuliger, chair of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland's board of trustees, will speak on the post-9/11 world at Park Synagogue's Selichot Institute (Conservative). He is examining the "major underlying trends in the world that account for the level of terrorist threat that exists."
Among these disturbing international trends, Wuliger cites the vulnerabilities created by a global economy, in which attacking a single element of agriculture, transportation, business or communication can have crippling international repercussions. Also, "there exists today a number of repressive regimes that deflect popular anger at the hopeless conditions in their countries with hatred of foreigners and religious groups."
The American Jewish community, he says, "probably has been much quicker to grasp the threat (of terrorism) than the population at large because we have been concerned about Israel for some time."
Nonetheless, even among the most vigilant American Jews, there remains a "significant gap" between the actual and perceived risk of terrorism. "People get it, but there hasn't been a translation yet" into effective, established steps to combat terrorism. "In the ways bureaucracies move, three years is not a lot of time."
"I have discussed 9/11 in the past, but I won't be talking about it on the holidays just because of the coincidence of the dates," says Rabbi Melvin Granatstein of Green Road Synagogue (Orthodox).
"My own personal take on this is that until this war (on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan) is engaged in earnest with real sacrifices and the determination to really win it, the world is in big trouble," he says. "What's going on now is an attempt to have it both ways, to wage a war but send an inadequate force. This is a very serious war of civilizations.
"The Jews are on the front lines," Granatstein adds. "Of course, Israel is threatened in this struggle of civilizations."
Rabbi Rosette Barron Haim of The Temple-Tifereth Israel spent the summer in Israel and Turkey, both of which have experienced terrorist activity. In Turkey, she notes, you couldn't even enter a mall without being thoroughly searched.
"Since 9/11, there is a different level of fear for your personal safety, in large venues and when traveling," Haim says. "People are much more conscious about their security and their family's."
The Temple is adding memorial songs to its Selichot service to mark the anniversary. The link between the High Holidays and 9/11 will always spark introspection in Jews, Haim predicts. "The fact that (9/11) comes when the Jewish people are also examining so many areas of their lives with a sense of looking for meaning will help to keep the 9/11 memories strong."
The High Holy Days are a time for reflection, and some congregants at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple (Reform) are asking Rabbi Arturo Kalfus deep theological questions about the presence of God in our post-9/11 world.
Their inquiries boil down to a question asked of religious leaders for generations: "Where was God" on that day? For Kalfus, a native of Argentina, 9/11 did not shake his personal beliefs. He tells his congregants that he "does not believe in a God that 'decides' to allow the Twin Towers to collapse."
"My response to 9/11 was never, 'Where was God?'" Kalfus says. "The attacks served as a reaffirmation of my commitment to improve the world so these acts (of "randomness and free will of human beings") can be aimed toward the good."
It is not an easy time to be positive about the direction of the world, adds Kalfus. As the war in Iraq rages on, the U.S. is sharply divided along political and religious lines, and the post-9/11 unity that brought the nation together was all too brief.
After 9/11, however, America at least has a better understanding of what has been going on in Israel. Before, "Israelis felt so lonely; they felt the world was totally against them," says Kalfus.
The Diaspora also increased its support for Israel following the terrorist attacks here. If and when the crisis ebbs, "I don't know if that commitment will last," as world Jewry is not as close to Israel as it used to be, he notes.
"I hope I'm wrong."
With reports by Douglas J. Guth, Margi Herwald, Marilyn H. Karfeld, Jennifer L. Slate, Susan H. Kahn and Ellen Schur Brown.
Selichot, a night of prayers for forgiveness that inaugurates the High Holiday season, this year falls on Sept. 11. The timing has provided area rabbis with the opportunity to reflect on that terrible and terrifying day three years ago.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Rabbi Edward Bernstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Tikvah (Conservative), was serving at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, N.Y., about 25 miles away from Ground Zero. Like many Americans, Bernstein has a connection with people who were affected by the attack: Two families from his congregation lost loved ones in the World Trade Center, and Bernstein knows someone who escaped one of the shattered towers by climbing down 85 flights of steps.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, says the rabbi, Americans came together to help one another. Bernstein saw this while working as a pastor at a New York City hospital in the days following 9/11.
In three years, however, the "emergency of the moment" has passed, time has somewhat healed our wounds, and Americans are going on with their lives. "That's good news," says Bernstein. "To keep our lives altered would be a victory for the terrorists."
It also has been three years since President George W. Bush announced his "war on terror." As casualties among U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians mount, this "makes the U.S. weaker in the eyes of the world," Bernstein remarks. Due to their close friendship, a weaker U.S. also makes for a weaker Israel, he feels.
"Since 9/11, Americans can no longer take their security and way of life for granted," says Rabbi Alan Lettofsky of Beth Israel-The West Temple (Reform), who will speak on the topic this Selichot.
The "new world order" created post-9/11 has a positive aspect that is illustrated by a rabbinical teaching, Lettofsky explains. An ancient rabbi noted that in the land of Israel, "rain is necessary to provide drinking water." If it's a year without rain, the people suffer a great deal.
Because of this scarcity, no one in Israel takes the water for granted. Likewise, adds Lettofsky, Americans, who until 9/11 "lived with the sense that the oceans protected us, now have an opportunity to truly value the things that are most important."
Among those precious commodities is personal freedom. Lettofsky cautions that Americans need to protect those liberties that have made our country great. At the same time, he says, we have to do our best to prevent another disaster like 9/11.
Temple Emanu El (Reform) interim rabbi Steven Denker will be giving a seminar on the "question of terror and terrorism" prior to Selichot. "I'll be discussing terrorism as opposed to legitimate military action," he explains. "Why are Israel's actions legitimate but not the Palestinians' actions?"
He will discuss a timely quote from Isaiah: 33:18, in which the words "terror" and "towers" are both used.
"Isaiah was trying to teach that physical beings, like towers, are not the reality of our strength. Our strength as Jews is far more profound than the buildings we can build. I hope that congregants take away (from this seminar) a message of understanding," he says.
Tim Wuliger, chair of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland's board of trustees, will speak on the post-9/11 world at Park Synagogue's Selichot Institute (Conservative). He is examining the "major underlying trends in the world that account for the level of terrorist threat that exists."
Among these disturbing international trends, Wuliger cites the vulnerabilities created by a global economy, in which attacking a single element of agriculture, transportation, business or communication can have crippling international repercussions. Also, "there exists today a number of repressive regimes that deflect popular anger at the hopeless conditions in their countries with hatred of foreigners and religious groups."
The American Jewish community, he says, "probably has been much quicker to grasp the threat (of terrorism) than the population at large because we have been concerned about Israel for some time."
Nonetheless, even among the most vigilant American Jews, there remains a "significant gap" between the actual and perceived risk of terrorism. "People get it, but there hasn't been a translation yet" into effective, established steps to combat terrorism. "In the ways bureaucracies move, three years is not a lot of time."
"I have discussed 9/11 in the past, but I won't be talking about it on the holidays just because of the coincidence of the dates," says Rabbi Melvin Granatstein of Green Road Synagogue (Orthodox).
"My own personal take on this is that until this war (on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan) is engaged in earnest with real sacrifices and the determination to really win it, the world is in big trouble," he says. "What's going on now is an attempt to have it both ways, to wage a war but send an inadequate force. This is a very serious war of civilizations.
"The Jews are on the front lines," Granatstein adds. "Of course, Israel is threatened in this struggle of civilizations."
Rabbi Rosette Barron Haim of The Temple-Tifereth Israel spent the summer in Israel and Turkey, both of which have experienced terrorist activity. In Turkey, she notes, you couldn't even enter a mall without being thoroughly searched.
"Since 9/11, there is a different level of fear for your personal safety, in large venues and when traveling," Haim says. "People are much more conscious about their security and their family's."
The Temple is adding memorial songs to its Selichot service to mark the anniversary. The link between the High Holidays and 9/11 will always spark introspection in Jews, Haim predicts. "The fact that (9/11) comes when the Jewish people are also examining so many areas of their lives with a sense of looking for meaning will help to keep the 9/11 memories strong."
The High Holy Days are a time for reflection, and some congregants at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple (Reform) are asking Rabbi Arturo Kalfus deep theological questions about the presence of God in our post-9/11 world.
Their inquiries boil down to a question asked of religious leaders for generations: "Where was God" on that day? For Kalfus, a native of Argentina, 9/11 did not shake his personal beliefs. He tells his congregants that he "does not believe in a God that 'decides' to allow the Twin Towers to collapse."
"My response to 9/11 was never, 'Where was God?'" Kalfus says. "The attacks served as a reaffirmation of my commitment to improve the world so these acts (of "randomness and free will of human beings") can be aimed toward the good."
It is not an easy time to be positive about the direction of the world, adds Kalfus. As the war in Iraq rages on, the U.S. is sharply divided along political and religious lines, and the post-9/11 unity that brought the nation together was all too brief.
After 9/11, however, America at least has a better understanding of what has been going on in Israel. Before, "Israelis felt so lonely; they felt the world was totally against them," says Kalfus.
The Diaspora also increased its support for Israel following the terrorist attacks here. If and when the crisis ebbs, "I don't know if that commitment will last," as world Jewry is not as close to Israel as it used to be, he notes.
"I hope I'm wrong."
With reports by Douglas J. Guth, Margi Herwald, Marilyn H. Karfeld, Jennifer L. Slate, Susan H. Kahn and Ellen Schur Brown.
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