9/11 2009, Why is this day different?

I think there is not one person here who does not remember exactly where he or she was when they first heard about 9/11. The trauma of almost 3,000 Americans dying on that day is indeed still with our nation. The number of Americans who died on 9/11 is actually greater than the number who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Bin Laden still has not been captured. The six years of war in Iraq has proven to be an unwise and unnecessary diversion from the fight against Al-Qaeda. The threat of international terrorism is still great and, frankly, I find little comfort in the fact that another major attack has not yet occurred.

With all that being said, there are certain things that make this anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy quite different. Allow me to explain.

Approximately 100 days after 9/11, I went to the leaders of the community with a proposal. My proposal was that on the year anniversary of 9/11, there should be a community memorial service. I mentioned to them that this might be done in one of two ways; either a large interfaith memorial service in a place like the Coliseum, or that we could encourage every religious institution to have some sort of commemoration on that day. Subsequently a meeting was held, at which time the response was less than enthusiastic. The neighboring churches said that they planned to ring bells in commemoration of the tragedy, but not much more was to be done and that year there was no community commemoration.

Nevertheless, Temple Emanuel organized a community commemoration of its own on the anniversary of 9/11. We created a wonderful memorial service. Some of the readings for that service are to be found in our service tonight. We lit the two candles like the ones that you see in front of you. We invited the entire Jewish community. Students from the American Hebrew Academy also attended. We parked a police cruiser outside of the entrance to the Temple and at the exact moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center, the police cruiser put on its siren. We stood in silence for two minutes to commemorate the moment.

This, by the way, is a memorial custom that comes directly from Israel. In Israel on Holocaust Memorial Day and on the Memorial Day for the Israeli soldiers, an air raid siren goes off and people stand at attention for two minutes.

The entire experience gave me an appreciation of just how wonderful Jewish tradition is in commemorating deaths of loved ones. The idea of saying Kaddish for loved ones on the anniversary of the death apparently has no parallel in Christianity. Here, we very quickly put up a memorial plaque on our Yahrzeit memorial just outside the sanctuary. The plaque reads, “For our brothers and sisters,” with the date September 11, 2001.

After the first year, other than mentioning collectively those who were tragically lost, there was no special commemoration. We lit the plaque on the board and we said Kaddish for the victims. I was rather amazed at the fact that, year after year, including most especially the 5th anniversary of 9/11, there seemed to be very little ceremony for this tragedy in our country. Yes, there were commemorations at the Pentagon, at the Pennsylvania Flight 93 crash site, and at the World Trade Center site. Other than this, there seemed to be little or no local commemorations of the tragedy.

All that was true until this year, it is my impression that this year there is greater awareness of the tragedy of 9/11 than there has been in any year since the first. People are posting on Facebook. Emails are flying across the internet. Words of memorial can be found in many places. A day of service has been planned by many. There is much greater press coverage than in the past.

So the question that I would like to ask is why? What makes this year different from the past years?

I’ve only been able to come up with one answer, and that is that we have a new President. During the time of the Bush presidency, there did not seem to be the same motivation to commemorate this tragedy as there is now. In my opinion, this motivation comes from two sources. First of all, it comes from the left in our country. The left in our country is very much interested in commemorating 9/11 this year in order to make a statement that the left remembers and has confidence that President Obama will be a sufficient steward of the security of the United States.

There was no reason to do this in the aftermath of 9/11 as long as Bush remained as president. People united behind the president during those first few months after the attacks, and expressing their confidence in his ability to defend our nation. But now with President Obama, the left needs to make a new statement.

But there is also a need by the right to make a statement. The right in our country wants to say the following, “During the past eight years, there has been no additional attack on American soil, and this was due to the stewardship of the Republican president.” Now it seems to me, there is a political move afoot that through the increased commemorations of 9/11, doubts about President Obama’s ability to protect America will be increased.

In other words, what we’re seeing is both on the left and the right attempts to politicize today’s commemoration. I have to tell you that from a Jewish point of view if this is true, then we would condemn both approaches. In our opinion, we have been remembering 9/11 every single year because that’s what we as Jews do.

Every single person who died on 9/11 was like a star in the sky whose light continues to shine through the blessing of their memory. Every single person who was murdered that day was unto himself or herself a world complete. Each one of them is mourned by their loving family. Each one of them had hopes and aspirations that were taken away by murderous terrorists. Each one of them was a blessing to those that knew them, and through the good deeds they performed while alive each one of them was a blessing to humanity.

So what does this 9/11 really mean to us today?

It means for us that we as Jews, and we as Americans, should remember – every single year. Politics should not color the shape of our remembrance. It also means that we need now to think about special anniversaries and the way in which we will remember. For example, we’ve had here at Temple Emanuel the discussion that on the 10th anniversary we are going to try to host a large and significant commemoration of this tragedy.

Unfortunately, the second thing that 9/11 means today is that the fight against Al-Qaeda is still not complete. As a matter of fact, the murderous terrorist influence of Al-Qaeda and radical Islam seems to have increased since 2001. Osama bin Laden has not been captured, and the influence of Al-Qaeda is to be felt throughout the world, particularly in the Arab world. We know especially that there are cells of Al-Qaeda in both southern Lebanon and in Gaza. Again, the fact that no attack has occurred on American soil is not one that particularly gives me comfort given the dedication of Al-Qaeda and other radical Islamic cells to do harm to American citizens.

The significance of 9/11 is also one that needs to be considered in light of the current efforts of the government of Iran to create a nuclear bomb. Two days ago, the United States’ government announced that Iran now has enough refined uranium to create a nuclear bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency has indicated that with the current level of centrifuge refinement that Iran could create two nuclear bombs a year. The potential to create numerous bombs is there.

All of this power will soon be in the hands of a government that has sworn to wipe Israel off the map, and to do great harm to the West.

I applaud the attempts of the Obama administration to engage the Iranians in dialogue. Up to now, these attempts have been met without much success. The purpose of such engagement should be to present to the Iranian leaders that they have a choice. They cannot have their cake and eat it too. They face two radically different futures. One is a future where if they give up their nuclear aspirations, they will receive significant aid from the West and will be able to create prosperity for their people. In this vision, the Iranian people, proud of their Persian heritage, will indeed take their place among the community of nations.

Their second option would be to face severe economic sanctions, sanctions which could wipe out their already stressed middle class. In addition to that, there is always the possibility of some sort of military intervention by the United States or Israel or both.

In addition, this engagement could increase the American leverage to draw others into sanctions against Iran in the future. The others that we are speaking of here are particularly Germany, Russia, and China.

Finally, the purpose of engagement could be to serve as a justification to the world in case harsher measures against Iran are needed.

Recent elections in Iran have shown that democracy there is an illusion. Human rights for those that oppose the regime are indeed imperiled. A nuclear Iran would be an absolute nightmare for the United States and the free world. In the midst of all of the attention paid to issues such as the economy and healthcare, we must not forget the issue of Iranian nuclearization – an issue which threatens our country and its allies.

Our Arab allies are no less concerned a nuclear Iran would set off an arms race in that part of the world. The chances of terrorist organizations getting their hands on a nuclear weapon would be much greater. A nuclear Iran would seriously undermine our efforts to achieve a comprehensive Middle-East peace agreement, because it would undermine moderates in the region. Iran would become the bully of the neighborhood as it seeks to exert force over that part of the world.

Our window of opportunity is rapidly closing on this, negotiations cannot be open-ended. Iran cannot “rope-a-dope” the United States.

On September 24, Ahmandinejad will speak at the United Nations. A huge demonstration is planned. The demonstration is sponsored by a coalition of Iranian, Labor, Jewish and other organizations.

This is the month that President Obama has said is the key month. Either Iran comes to the table to seriously negotiate, or other stronger measures will need to be taken. An bill could be introduced into Congress next month entitled the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009. Currently in the House, Congressmen Miller and Coble are co-sponsors of this, as are Senators Hagan and Burr in the Senate.

It is indeed important to remember this new threat on this commemoration of September 11th, 2009. The potential for mass murder is indeed greater at this juncture than in recent memory, because of activities of the Iranian government.

This is the weekend in which we read from a passage from Deuteronomy that begins, “We are standing here this day,” at the end of the passage we are encouraged to choose life so that we and our children may indeed be blessed. The text says that God has given us the choice between good and evil, the choice between life and death.

The events of 9/11 and its aftermath present us with the same choice. We must, as a country, choose to remember those who died. We must avoid politicizing this tragedy by means of internal American politics. We must as a country and as the free world find a legitimate way to effectively combat the threats of mass murder that still exist.

We must not hide our heads in the sand or pat ourselves on the back because no additional attack has occurred.

We must above all be those who choose life by not only protecting our security, but also by loving God and witnessing to humanity that God wants us to love one another. May we be blessed to see the fulfillment of the vision of the Prophet Isaiah who wrote, “Nations shall not live to up sword against nation.”

May this be not only our vision, but our blessing for the United States and for the world.