September 11, 2001, Remembered

Commemoration of September 11, 2001, English Reformed Church of Amsterdam, Thursday, September 11, 2008, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Remarks by Rabbi Menno ten Brink

This text is about Elija, who will be the prophet in our Jewish tradition, to announce the Messianic Era.

Elija was frightened, he fled for his life. Elija came to a cave and there the word of the Eternal our God came to him:

Quotation:Texts I Kings 19:9-14

It is this text, that tells me where God is. God is not in the attack of 9/11. The attackers, the terrorists are the enemies of humanity, the destroyers of a human society, where we work for peace and harmony among people. God is not in the hurricane, not in the earthquakes, not in the fire and the destruction that happened after the terror attack on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and with the planes, on that day, 7 years ago. God, and the moral and ethical values that we love, is found in the still small voice afterwards: After the big fire, a soft murmuring sound, we’achar ha’eesh, kol demama daka. We heard it too, and we wrapped our mantles about our faces, we went out and stood there and God addressed us: Why are you here? And we answered: We are moved by the zeal for the Eternal, we are here to help, trying to rescue those who are hurt and wounded, who are murdered by the enemies of humanity. The still small voice is heard in the work the fire brigade did, in the work friends of mine did, to shelter those in pain, to give aid where possible. God is to be found in the memory of those who died in the winds, earthquake and fires. God is there in our support for those who are left behind, in shock and despair.

We are here to commemorate what happened. But when we would stop at the fire and disaster that happened, we would not be able to move towards the future again, that is exactly what the terrorists wanted the American people to do, but they will not be successful. We should show them, all the enemies of men, that they follow a lost cause. It was shown 7 years ago on September 11^th and the days after that the civilized world stood as one community behind the victims, and we should continue to do this. We are here to show respect in a moment of remembrance, to those who perished, but also to those who have to move on with their lives. Respect to the people who tried to rescue fellow human beings, no matter what color, what race or what religion they had. In the kol demama daka, in the still small voice, that will safe us from all those who want to destroy our civilized and democratic world, we pay our respect to all those people who were and are able to hear that still small voice of pure goodness.