On The 12th
The talk in Washington this week was of how to commemorate the heroes and victims of September 11, 2001. In the end, the day passed quietly. It was oddly good news.
The talk in Washington this week was of how to commemorate the heroes and victims of September 11, 2001. In the end, the day passed quietly. It was oddly good news.
Two years later there are no further victims of al-Qaeda terrorism in the United States and not, we believe, because they wouldn’t have wanted to make some. We know the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sears Tower and other American landmarks were targeted, and that a number of plots against American assets were foiled. The war is by no means over, and more tragedy may yet come to pass, but no matter what bin Laden says on his last tape or his next tape, two full years have passed and he is on the run, not we.
Two years later we still have only this single day of national mourning. This too, is odd.
Americans, being optimists, generally mark birthdays. Birth is promise and potential. When people die, birth dates are their memorial days – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays served a national purpose before they became extra shopping days. Jews, on the other hand, memorialize people on the anniversary of their passing, a yahrzeit, marked often with a candle, prayers and consideration of the fullness of the deceased’s accomplishments and the impact of his or her life upon the world.
Only for September 11th do Americans mark the day of passing. And Americans mark only September 11th.
In Israel, every day is the yahrzeit of someone killed in a terrorist incident, a bombing, a hijacking, a stabbing or a shooting. Every day is a day of mourning for lives cut short, dreams not fulfilled. Every day some Israeli family lights a candle and remembers someone whose life, however brief, was important. One for Maalot, one for Kibbutz Misgav Am, one each for the Coast Road massacre, the Park Hotel, Diezengoff Center, the Dolphinarium, Cafe Motza, Apropos Cafe, Cafe Hillel. A candle for David Biri, Shmuel Gillis, Sharon and Yaniv Ben Shalom, the infant Shalhevet Pass, the Ohayan toddlers, and 81-year-old Pinchas Tokatli. The survivors in the Schijveschuurder household light five on 9 August for family members killed in the Sbarro pizza parlor bombing. And now one for Naava Applebaum, age 20, murdered the night before her wedding. Her yahrzeit will be shared with that of her father, Dr. David Applebaum.
More than 850 Israelis since 29 September 2000. The equivalent of 35,000 Americans. The equivalent of more than ten September 11ths.
It was right to spend yesterday in memoriam. Today, as we return to business, there is some comfort to be taken in the steps the American government has taken to protect us since then and in the war we pursue against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them. Israelis, too, must take some comfort from knowing their government is doing what it can and what it must to protect them from an enemy of equal viciousness at much closer range.
Every day.