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Thoughts from Jewish Tradition about the Events of September 11, 2001
Hosea 2:20-22
In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field,The birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground;I will
also banish bow, sword, and war from the land.Thus I will let them lie down in safety.
And I will espouse you forever:I will espouse you with righteousness and justice, And with goodness and mercy.And I will espouse you with
faithfulness; Then you shall be devoted to the Lord
Hosea 14:5-8
I will heal their affliction, generously will I take them back in love; For My anger has turned away from them. I will be to Israel like
dew; They shall blossom like the lily, striking root like a Lebanon cedar. Their boughs shall spread out far, their beauty shall be like the olive tree's, And fragrance like that of Lebanon.
Those who sit in their shade shall be revived: They shall bring to life new grain, they shall blossom like the vine
Isaiah 65:21-25
They shall build houses and dwell in them, They shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit… For the days of my people shall be as long as the
days of a tree. My chosen ones shall outlive the work of their hands… The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the serpent's food shall be earth.
In all my sacred Mount, nothing evil or vile shall be done.
We are not the first generation of Jews to face a psychologically devastating event.
If we look through Jewish history, we discover that the first such national calamity confronted the Israelite slaves of Egypt. As you recall, Pharaoh decreed that all male Israelite babies to be tossed into the Nile. Apparently, this decree was actually carried out and it must have been horrifying for our ancestors to experience this. What's interesting is the lesson we can learn from their response. Tradition teaches us that the father of Moses, one of the leaders in this time of slavery, decided that the Israelite men and women should separate. In this way, they would not be tempted to have relationships that would lead to the birth of children and the murder of baby boys. After some period to time, the Israelite women decided that the men's response had been far too extreme. As they put it, "Pharaoh only decreed that the male children should die. What the men have done dooms the future of our people."
What the Israelite women understood is that life had to continue, regardless of what was going on around them.
No doubt that all of the European Jews who had children between 1938 – 45 had to contend with the same question: "Is it better to have no children at all, or, to have children who might be doomed to perish in a concentration camp?" Fortunately, what we are facing as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist acts do not require us to face such a question. What we must do is realize that life must "go on." The world is a place filled with awe and wonder. The last thing we want is to forget how wonder-filled is the world, how good are people and for how much we each have to be thankful.
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