Olam Chesed Ybaneh Chanting: Olam Chesed Ybaneh I will build this world from love And you

must build this world from love And if we build this world from love Then God will build this world from love

I had an emotional attachment to the World Trade Center. We New Yorkers called them The Twin Towers. Those buildings went up when I was in high school and I still remember watching them get taller and taller as they rose towards the sky, even taller than the Empire State Building. When out of town friends came to visit me in NY I would always take them downtown to see the towers. The period of time during which the Twin Towers were part of the New York skyline was a more innocent time in my life and a more innocent time in the life of our country. When I watch old movies that take place in New York and see those towers, I feel sad about the lives that were lost and yearn for those days before 9/11. I think that they have come to represent a turning point in our

country. Since that day ten years ago, I believe that we have lost our way. I look around and see that our country is suffering. No money to care for the first responders, who live with debilitating diseases from the dust, they inhaled in their heroic efforts to save lives. No money to feed people, no money to pay for healthcare, and retrain people for jobs. No money to build a strong economy so that people can go back to work and our children can find jobs. Yet trillions of dollars have been spent to fight two wars. And the other cost? Millions of lives. Listen to some of the real numbers of lives that have been lost in these two wars. Its like a Kaddish list. In Afghanistan: 1,140 772 298 19 8,813 In Iraq: 4,414 U.S. troops killed U.S. troops killed Other coalition troops killed Contractors killed Journalists killed Afghan civilians killed

318 933 142 864,531

Other coalition troops killed Contractors killed Journalists killed Iraqi civilians killed

Thats a total of 881,380. These numbers represent individual lives. And Im not even counting Afghani and Iraqi troops. If we continue this way, how many more lives will be lost? My colleague Rabbi Simcha Weintraub calls the attack on the Twin Towers a Hurban, which means destruction, obliteration. This Hebrew word usually refers to the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. Simcha Weintraub is the Rabbinic Director of the National Center for Jewish Healing in New York City. He has been leading a support group for survivors of September 11 these past 10 years. He says the magnitude of loss and grief that came after the destruction of the Temple and the impact these events had on the people make it reasonable to use the same Hebrew word, Hurban, in describing the horrific events of September 11. According to rabbinic tradition the Second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred. The Jewish people were

completely fractured and unable to live in right relationship with each other and with God. The Temple was destroyed and the rabbis began to understand this loss as a wake up call. They thought that God was saying, Wake up and realize you have gone astray. Through the loss of the Temple, the people would find a way back to each other and to the divine. I want to tell you one of my favorite stories from the Talmud: It happened that R. Johanan ben Zakkai went out from Jerusalem, with R. Joshua following him, and he saw the burnt ruins of the Temple, and R. Joshua said, Woe is it that the place, where the sins of Israel find atonement, is laid waste! Then said R. Johanan, Grieve not, we have an atonement equal to the Temple, The doing of loving deeds, as it is said I desire hessed/love, and not sacrifice. 1 I am deeply moved by this story. Im going to repeat that last line, I desire hesed/love and not sacrifice. Imagine, these two rabbis are walking by the burning ruins of their holiest place. The first rabbi is in deep distress. He is mourning because the Temple was the place where we offered sacrifices to God. It was the place where
1

Avot deRabbi Natan IV, 11a

we released our pent up regret and felt the strength to do it better the next time around. Sacrifice was a catharsis. But the second rabbi said, wait a minute. The Temple is gone but we can still have a cathartic experience. We can still elevate ourselves from regret and find healing but now we are to perform acts of love acts of compassion. Now we must turn to our neighbors and our enemies for that release. These compassionate acts are equal to what we did in

the Temple-and, like the bottles of shampoo that say cruelty free, no animals are harmed in the process. The second rabbi is telling us to dig deeply. The Temple is gone but we can still have avodah, our offering to G-d. Just as we came together in the Temple to share the pain of our broken places, we can do that now by treating each other with respect and caring. The story is about how from our holiest ruins we can look each other in the eye. We have hurt and been hurt, but we can step back and find a way to say, we want to be in relationship. We are willing to mend the fracture. This is a cathartic experience and it leaves us whole again. This message can be helpful to us now. Guided by our venerable, ancient rabbis, we can choose the

story that embraces hesed-compassionate acts. In this new world of shared vulnerability, create opportunities for relationship building, learning, and collaboration. Can we learn how to hold different opinions with respect and curiosity? Can we embrace a more patient and loving way of being at home and in the world, as individuals and as a nation. This past September 11 I helped lead an interfaith ceremony of memory and hope. It began with a vigil at the Clock Tower. Rabbi Eli Cohen began by chanting the first few verses of Lamentations, the text we read when we mourn the destruction of the Temple on Tisha BAv. The Rev Dave GJ had three people read the names of some of the people who died on and since 9/11. Here are some of the names: Mark Bruce-graduate of Santa Cruz High-citizen of Summit New Jersey-died at the World Trade Center. He was 40 years old. Melissa Rose Barnes of Redlands California-died at the Pentagon. She was 27 years old. Alan Beaven-of Oakland California-died on United flight 93. He was 48 years old. The list continued to include others from different regions of the

US and other countries. It included first responders and then Muslims who had died as a result of backlash against Muslim Americans, which has spurred a wave of hate crimes. Here are some of their names: Waqar Hasandied September 15, 2001in Dallas, Texaskilled in an act of hate backlashin his own convenience store. He was 46 years old. Abdullah Mohammed Nimerdied October 13, 2001in Los Angeles, Californiakilled in an act of hate backlashin his own car. He was 53 years old. Just as the list continued with the names of US soldiers who have died in combat, I noticed that AJ, his wife and three kids were approaching the gathering. AJ is an owner of the gas station/market right down the street from the synagogue. AJ is a Muslim from Pakistan. Rabbi Rick and I see AJ almost every day but when I saw him, with his family, approaching the Clock Tower, I started to cry. I was so moved to see his whole family there. AJ is a man with an open heart and he brought his family to our gathering so that they could learn and experience the beauty of our community. He wanted his children to know that there are people here who care about their safety and the safety of our whole community. He wanted them to know that compassion is an important value.

I saw him a few days later when I was pumping my gas and I told him how glad I was that he and his family came to the gathering. He said that his children asked a lot of questions about the different religious teachings we shared later that afternoon. He felt it was a good experience for them to learn about other spiritual traditions. He said that this was one of the reasons he is glad to live in SC County.

Congressman Sam Farr wrote this for our 9/11 commemoration: There is a fear that terrorism has changed us forever and we will never be at peace again. But if there is anything that 9/11 has come to symbolize it is that America is resilient and we will always bounce back. It is times like these that we are reminded who we are as a people and as a nation. America draws strength from diversity, including Americans of different races and religions. In Psalm 89 verse 3 we find these words, Olam Chesed Yibaneh-the world is built with loving-kindness. If we forsake kindness-we forsake creation itself. When we walk the path of chesed, we embrace life. At this New Year, we are taught to take an account of our lives and choose from this day forward how we want to live. The

metaphorical book is open and we are asked to review the painful times, the celebrations, the progress and the loss and everything in between. Ten years have past since the attacks 9/11. What are the stories we want to share 10 years from now, when we reflect backwards? I want to be able to say that I chose the path described in our rabbinic tale, the path of compassion. That our community chose to move towards understanding and collaboration in our daily lives and in our larger world. May this New Year be one of building hope, curiosity, and compassion. Olam Chesed Ybaneh

Rabbi Paula Marcus Rosh Hashanah 5772