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September 14, 2001/Elul 26, 5761, Vol. 54, No. 1
Comfort me with quiet
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
There are no words.
No words to describe the overwhelming sense of disbelief. No words to describe the horror. No words to describe the unbearable pain.
And yet our media correspondents replay over and over the awful series of events in an unending stream of carefully turned phrases: four U.S. planes were hijacked; 266 passengers perished aboard; twin towers at the World Trade Center are attacked; another plane crashes into the Pentagon.
New York City is strewn with debris; millions are stranded; by week's end thousands will be counted among the dead and injured; hundreds more will be counted among those who tried valiantly to save them. Yet the numbers are meaningless, their magnitude so great they belie comprehension.
We remain glued to our televisions, our radios, our cell phones. There is a compelling need to know, even if the images on our screens are as real as scenes from a good action film. Only this is not the movies, this is reality TV, live. And those of us with loved ones in the proximity of the attacks know full well the very real, sickening fear that only begins to subside as we reach family and friends, hear their voices, know that they are safe, unharmed.
In Phoenix, as across the country, a sense of unease enveloped the city. Offices closed, many more workers left early, too distracted to remain at their desks. The streets were eerily quiet, restaurants half-full.
We were in shock, unable to comprehend the enormity of the attack, unable to grapple with the immensity of the horror, unable to deal with the seeming incomprehensibility of it all.
Pundits and politicians compared the assault to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when our country was taken by surprise and suffered a catastrophic loss of life. Yet Pearl Harbor was a military target and the world was at war. The twin towers in Manhattan are a financial center, filled with ordinary people doing ordinary jobs, and we are at peace. Or at least we thought so. Until a band of terrorists commandeered American aircraft and slammed into strategically chosen targets leaving behind nightmarish images of destruction, clouds of black smoke and balls of fire imprinted on our consciousness. And now the Pentagon is in flames and the trade center stands ravaged, crumpled, a soaring symbol of America's might brought to its knees.
So what do we do?
First we assured that our communal agencies and institutions were protected, calling on our law enforcement agencies to provide additional security. Next we did what Jews have been doing from time immemorial: we came together.
Throughout the city, prayer vigils and memorial services for the victims of the attack were quickly organized. Jewish Federation's Jewish Community Relations Council gathered information, and by day's end an e-mail blast listed some 14 different services at local congregations for those who wanted to come together.
And so we gathered, to share our grief, to assuage our fears, to offer our prayers, to find some peace in a sacred place. We asked for strength to face the awful reality before us, courage to seek justice, faith that life will go on. And we prayed that as we end one year and begin another yet anew, we will find comfort in coming together and shared purpose to oppose the forces of evil in the world.
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