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September 13, 2002/Tishri 7 5762, Vol. 55, No. 3
Find message for 'now' in important days
JOSEPH AARON
Chicago Jewish News
If I notice Nov. 22 anymore, which I almost never do, it's only to notice that I didn't notice it.
Which still amazes me.
For those of my generation or older, I don't have to explain what Nov. 22 is. It was a date stamped on our brain more intensely than our bar or bat mitzvah, our college graduation or anything else.
The day JFK was assassinated.
The president had been killed, shaking us to our very cores. How could that happen? Who really was behind it? What did it mean? And what might come next?
The first anniversary of Nov. 22 was a very big deal, with specials on TV, special issues of magazines, special coverage in the newspaper. And so was the second anniversary, though a bit less so. And while through the years the coverage whittled down to the point it was only a photo of the Kennedy family at the eternal flame in Arlington National Cemetery, the day itself was one that I was very much aware of.
But then, one year, and I don't remember which one, I noticed on Nov. 23 that Nov. 22 had simply come and gone as if it were just another day.
I found that jarring. Found it shocking that a day that always got my attention, for some reason, this year, hadn't.
Time, it is said, heals all wounds and that is mostly good, I guess. But it also causes pain to lessen and memory to fade and feelings to evaporate, and I'm not sure that's always good.
What evokes my nostalgic trip back to Nov. 22 is, of course, Sept. 11. We have just marked the one-year anniversary, and all the feelings of that day 12 months ago came rushing back.
But then came Sept. 12 and so will come whatever will grab our attention. Iraq or the NFL or some new TV show or some movie star's wedding or divorce.
Things move too fast today. Our machines can do things quicker than our minds can absorb them. And with beepers and cell phones, our minds are given no quiet time to take things in.
And so, we focus on what doesn't matter and fail to take in what will bring true meaning to our lives.
At this moment, it seems impossible that a year will come when we won't remember Sept. 11. Can't be, not with this, we think. It was just too big. That is what I thought about Nov. 22, just as a generation before me felt the same about Dec. 7.
I don't know how many years it will take, but I do know the year will come, and faster than it did with Nov. 22 and much faster than it did with Dec. 7, when Sept. 11 will come and go with few of us noticing.
Very little stays special for very long in today's world. And all the gains that technology has brought can't begin to offset the loss that is to us. For nothing is more precious than memory and nothing helps to guide and shape us more than evoking times gone by.
Judaism, of course, understands that amazingly well. We have just celebrated Rosh Hashana and as we did, we literally hearkened back to the day 5,763 years ago when the world was created. This was not only an anniversary, but a re-creation.
So it is with so many Jewish holidays. On Passover, we are told that to observe the occasion, we must feel as if we ourselves went out of Egypt. The purpose of the seder is to bring the Exodus to life, to make us participants, not just observers.
On Rosh Hashana, we must feel the creation of the world so that we understand we can create our lives as we want them to be. It's not a day in history, but a day of history that we can use to affect our lives today.
Nov. 22 didn't last long as a day of American tragedy, but Tisha B'Av is still going strong as the day of Jewish tragedy. Each year, we still stop on that day and remember the Temples lost, the horrors suffered. We mourn for what we have lost, so that we can rejoice over what we have.
The key to the Jewish tomorrow has always been our ability to make the past alive today. Hanukkah, when we were almost destroyed spiritually, Purim, when we were almost destroyed physically, are as relevant as ever. These holidays teach lessons about assimilation and identity and affiliation and unity that we must apply today.
In each of our important days, we find a message for now. It is not so much historical events we are remembering, but eternal lessons we are learning.
And that is the secret that Jews can uniquely share with our fellow Americans as we all commemorate Sept. 11. This secret is that the pain and loss of that day will, inevitably, lessen. Such is human nature. But it is not the pain and loss that we need to remember, learn from, and keep alive.
Rather, what will make Sept. 11 ever present - the good that can come from Sept. 11 - is learning its powerful messages and meanings and making them a part of our lives.
Sept. 11 showed the incredible power of the human will and the human spirit. The courageous heroes on that plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, the courageous firefighters and police officers who put their lives on the line to rescue others, the courageous people in the Twin Towers who gave up their lives in order to be with those who were unable to leave, all show us how truly good people can be and how, within each of us, is a noble soul that is capable of doing extraordinary things.
Sept. 11 also showed the incredible power of love: The frantic calls made from the planes as they were about to crash, from offices in the World Trade Center, in which husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, called their loved ones to let them know how loved they loved them, how much blessing they brought into their lives, showed the importance of letting those we love know it.
When it was the moment of truth for those who knew their lives were about to end, their priorities were perfectly clear.
Tell those you love that you love them. All the time. That is a lesson of Sept. 11. If you see someone in need, be there. That is a lesson of Sept. 11.
As one who believes that things happen when they do for very good reasons, it is no surprise to me that Sept. 11 occurred just days before Rosh Hashana and that the first anniversary of Sept. 11 occurred just days after Rosh Hashana.
The lessons, messages and meanings of Sept. 11 and Rosh Hashana are the same: to strive to be a better person, the person you know you can be, the person God has given you the soul to be. Do it in small ways, do it everyday. Recognize what matters and what doesn't.
Make the most out of life.
That is the gift Sept. 11 has given us for every day of our lives.
Joseph Aaron is editor and publisher of the Chicago Jewish News.
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