The Burning Tower: Memory, Faith And Reflections on 9-11

8/4/2019 The Burning Tower: Memory, Faith And Reflections on 9-11

1/4

1

1

The Burning Tower:

Memory, Faith and Reflections on 9-11Second Day Rosh Hashanah 5772

By Rabbi Mark B Greenspan

"Memory," said Oscar Wilde, "is a diary we carry with us." Sometimes it allows us to 'smell rosesin December,' and other times, it haunts us. Whichever it is, memory can be our teacher, if we allow

it. There are moments of memory in our lives that are wake-up calls. Some of them are of a personal

nature: a birth, our wedding day, the loss of a loved one. Others are of a communal nature. Whohere remembers where they were the day Pearl Harbor was bombed? Others, remember sitting by a

radio, counting the votes for the establishment of Israel. The assassination of President Kennedy

was a formative event in my early life. Do you remember watching television as Jack Ruby shotLee Harvey Oswald 'live' on television?

I suspect almost everyone here can remember where they were ten years ago the moment a plane

flew into the World Trade Center. I remember that morning; it was a bright and cheerful day; the

sky was an astonishing shade of blue. I was at Bagel Boss with Rabbi Goren, but I have norecollection what we were meeting about. The television was on in the restaurant but the sound was

turned down. We watched in horror as smoke poured out of the World Trade Center. A short while

later, as I drove back to the synagogue, it was reported that a second plane had just flown into the

north tower. This was not an accident but an act of terror. From that moment on, nothing would bethe same.

What were you doing on the days after September 11th

? I remember sitting glued to the television,

hungry for more information. I remember tearing up my Rosh Hashanah sermon and re-writing it.

And I remember residents of Oceanside coming together at OJC an evening or two later for aservice. The grief was palpable. Everyone seemed to know someone who was missing. For a while,

we were a community, united in sorrow and grief. We held one another and cried together. Manywho have recently looked back at the days after Sept. 11 have described them as the worst and best

of times. In the face of terror, we became a kinder and gentler people.

And I remember officiating at a funeral for two men - a stepfather and his son-in-law - who were

lost on that terrible day. Both worked for Cantor-Fitzgerald. Their funeral still haunts me. Therewas an empty space in the front of the sanctuary where the caskets should have been. Weeks later, I

received a call when remains of one of the men were found. A second service was held, at grave-

side. For the first time, I understood what closure means.

In recent weeks, America has been caught up in a time of recollection and reflection. There havebeen dozens of articles and programs about September 11th

. We found ourselves asking: What did

we learn from this experience? How has our world changed? And what did this event mean? Is it

even possible to talk about 'meaning' in the face of such a senseless act?

Memory is a powerful thing. We are shaped by our memories. We carry them with us, unaware; atkey moments they reveal themselves.Rosh Hashanah is referred to in the Bible as Yom Hazikaron,

the Day of Remembrance; it is a day not only to remember the past year but a day on which we use

our memories to grow. A central part of the Musaf service is the Zichronot: we recite verses that


2/4

2

2

speak of the holiness of memory. We remember the creation of the world, we reflect on our actions

over the past year, and we're challenged to remember both darkness and light in the lives of ourancestors.

Abraham is the subject of our memories. He is the central character in ourRosh Hashanah Torah

readings. But his story is not a happy one. We read of the most terrifying moments in the life of our

forefather: the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, and theAkedah, the binding of Isaac. The memoriescontained in the Torah narratives are complicated. Abraham's life was messy and chaotic. There are

no easy lessons or answers we can draw from them. Like our forefather, we are shaped by darkness

and light, good and evil, terror and kindness. What we are and what we strive to become iscontained not just in memories but in what we do with them, how they challenge us, and what we

choose to learn from them.

One might say that Judaism is a religion of memory. The birth of Judaism is not a fact but memory.

The stories we tell of our origins are not without controversy. Was Judaism born out of hope ordespair? The Torah never tells us. The sages pick up where the biblical narrative leaves off, telling

us the story of our faith. How did Abraham come to believe in God? What was it about the world

that inspired his faith? The rabbis used their imagination. They compare Abraham to a man who,

while wandering through the wilderness, comes upon a birah doleket, literally, "a burning tower."Upon seeing it, the man asks, "Is it possible for this tower to be ablaze and for no one to be in

charge?" Similarly, Abraham looked at the world and said: 'Is it possible that the world is ablaze

without someone looking after it?' God peered down and said: 'I'm in charge!'

Abraham's faith is born out of an observation and an insight. He looks at the world and concludesthat there must be a God. Like Abraham, we also look back and see a birah doleket, a burning

tower. But what does it mean? There are two ways of understanding this expression. A birahdoleketcan be 'a tower ablaze with light.' Or, it can be 'a tower burning down.'

In one version of this parable, Abraham sees the world ablaze with light. He sees a world filled withglory. Like the psalmist, he says: Mah rabu ma'asekha Adonai: "How manifold are your creations,

Adonai, you created them all with wisdom." Abraham sees God in the grandeur of nature and theorderliness of creation. He sees goodness in the world and realizes that this couldn't happen by

itself. Surely there must be a creator for there to be such a world. Our forefather is not nave: he

doesn't ignore the fact that there is darkness in the world. Rather he chooses to focus on the light. Soyes, there are hurricanes and earthquakes, as we know all too well, and people who perform vicious

acts, but these are exceptions and not the rule. A few terrorists may commit heinous crimes but what

are they in comparison with the thousands of people who live responsible and decent lives andwhorise up every day to perform kind and caring acts? Like Abraham, we can see the world ablaze with

light in the fundamental decency of most people.

There are moments in life when we stand in Abraham's shoes. We witness God in the birth of a

child, as we watch the sunset, or in a blade of grass. Look outside your house if you dont believe

me! Marilyn received a birdfeeder for Mother's Day, this year. Sitting in the kitchen, we findourselves delighting in the diversity of birds that visit our home every day. "How manifold are your

creations!" When I cross the Verrazano Bridge, I feel a sense of wonder - and I want to say: "Howmanifold are your creations," Surely it took more than technology to build this awesome structure!

The world is ablaze with the light of God whenever members of our community spontaneously

reach out to help another member of our community - and it happens more often than you realize!

But we can't deny that there is a dark side and dangerous side to the world as well. Too often wefind ourselves standing on the edge of oblivion and we see a birah doleket, a burning tower. The


3/4

3

3

world seemed to crumble with the twin towers on September 11th

. We felt insecure and afraid.

Having lived safely in a bubble for so long, Americans suddenly found themselves in a dark anddangerous world. In the face of evil, it was natural to ask, "Where is God" in all of this?

This is the most horrifying thing of all: religion does as much damage as it does good in the world

these days. Too often it becomes an instrument of hate. It's not at all surprising in the aftermath of

Sept 11

th

that people like Christopher Hitchens could write a book entitled, "God is Not Great: HowReligion Poisons Everything." We wonder: is the world ablaze with light or has religion set the

world on fire? Is faith an instrument or salvation or destruction? Those who care about their faith

should be as critical of religion in the contemporary world as they are committed to their faith.

Abraham also sees this chaos in the world; instead of despair, he comes to the realization that this isnot the world God wants. In the face of a burning tower, he hears the call of God for justice in the

world. He is the first prophet. We often make the mistake of assuming that a prophet is someone

who predicts the future. He knows who's going to win the World Series! The true definition of aprophet is not someone who knows what the future is going to be but someone who has the power

to change the future. He looks at the world and says we can do better! That is what God wants from

Abraham. "Be a blessing," God instructs him. Faith can inspire, challenge, help us to see the power

for good in the world. That is how Abraham is able to discover God despite the fact that he saw 'aburning tower.'

So here's our dilemma: were confronted by two different ways of remembering "Abraham" and

two ways of seeing the world. We find the Abraham, the man of love who welcomes strangers into

his home, argues on behalf of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and sees the world as awondrous tower ablaze with light. And we encounter Abraham who banishes Hagar and Ishmael to

the wilderness and binds his second son on the altar. Which set of memories will we adopt?

On this Day of Remembrance we have a choice. We, too, see a birah doleket, a tower ablaze. What

have we learned from the tower? How has it changed our lives? Sadly I dont believe we've learnedenough. Over the past decade, America's response has been a call to war. In the wake of Sept. 11

th,

six thousand Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and many more have returned homephysically and emotionally broken. These countries have been left in shambles. We see people with

dark skin and different customs and we distrust them. Our government may not allow racial

profiling but we practice it. Instead of seeking justice and reconciliation we have fanned the fires ofhatred and vengeance. We're so busy building a security perimeter around our country, we have

forgotten to care for those in need right here at home. Our basic freedoms are under attack in the

interest of security and yet we're no more secure. Can we really say that things are better today thanthey were ten years ago?

Memory is a choice. We choose what we remember and what we forget, and we make choices about

what impact these memories will have on our lives. Will they inspire us to build or to destroy; to

hate or to love? Will they create resentment or understanding?

Two Buddhist monks were traveling together. They came to a river that had flooded. As theyattempted to cross, they saw a pretty young woman who was also trying to cross. She asked the

senior monk if he would help her across. The older monk lifted her up and carried her to the other

side. This upset the junior monk, since monks are not supposed to touch a woman. However, astheir order also demanded that he pay respect to his elders, he said nothing. Sometime later the

senior monk noticed that his companion was silent. "Is something the matter?" he asked. The junior

monk replied, "As monks we are forbidden to touch a woman; how could you carry that woman onyour shoulders?" The senior monk replied, "I left that woman at the shore long ago; are you still


4/4

4

4

carrying her!" This is not to suggest that we should forget the past, but if we are to carry it with us

we must decide how it will influence us. We have a choice: the past can make us grow better orbitter

In the wake of September 11, we need to reassess what it is we remember, and what aspects of

religion we embrace. It's far too easy to dismiss September 11th

as a Moslem problem. All Moslems

are not terrorists and all terrorists are not Moslems. The real issue is: which voice of religion do wechoose to hear and obey? Religion can teach us love, compassion, and forgiveness. It can teach us

to see the image of God in every human being. But religion - and I mean all religions - can also

promote prejudice and close-mindedness.

We must approach faith with reverence as well as a critical eye. To deny the role of faith in ourlives is to impoverish ourselves - but to practice our faith as if there were no other is narrow and

parochial. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel put it this way: It is an inherent weakness of religion

not to take offense at the segregation of God Religion has often suffered from the tendency tobecome parochial, self indulgent, self seeking...it has often done more to canonize prejudice than to

wrestle with truth; to petrify the sacred than to sanctify the secular He goes on to say, Noreligion is an island. We are all involved with one another. Spiritual betrayal on the part of one of

us affects the faith of all of us. Views adopted in one community have an impact on othercommunities. Religious isolationism is a myth"

Today, Id argue what we need to differentiate between good vs. bad religion. What sets good

religion apart from others is not the veracity of its beliefs but its reverence for human beings and its

respect for the innate dignity of each person. Good religion - and this applies equally to all religions- must be about more than what we do here in a house of worship. It must be about people working

to create a world that is a tower ablaze with light. No religion has a monopoly on decency and

goodness. After September 11th

- people of good faith no matter their religion must come togetherto build a better world.

As we begin a new decade, we must move on. We can continue to fight the old battles or we can

strive to understand those who are different from us. We can celebrate our differences. That doesntmean that 'everything' is OK. But it does mean that before we condemn or judge, and before we

dismiss the faith of others, we must understand our neighbor's faith and our own faith.

We will continue to look back at the burning tower. We can decide that we are at war with the

world or we can strive to build a world of enlightenment and understanding. We must choose ourmemories carefully. And we must choose the faith by which we live with others.

Shanah Tovah

Special thanks to Harold Kushner whose sermon The Burning Tower inspired this one. The

Midrash he quoted in this sermon was my starting point.

Documents

The Burning Tower: Memory, Faith And Reflections on 9-11