Two days after Rosh HaShanah this year comes another Yom HaZikaron. The first anniversary of the attack on America occurs during the Jewish Days of Repentance (the Jewish New Year is traditionally referred to by its Hebrew name, the day of memorial) and the Jewish community will join all Americans in honoring the memory of the 3,000 victims of Sept. 11, 2001.
In New York, epicenter of the attack, the day will be marked with ceremonies at the site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and at other venues around the city. Scores of events will be held by Jewish organizations.
WNET/Ch. 13 will broadcast a "Frontline" documentary, "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero," about the spiritual aftershocks of the terrorism, on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
CLAL-The Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership is producing an audiotape of prayers and reading geared for Sept. 11; Hillel-The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is producing a brochure for campus groups marking the occasion; and The Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education is offering a 76-page booklet, "Teaching About Terrorism."
The date will be treated as a de facto Jewish holiday, a Jewish day of mourning. Jerusalem is building a bronze memorial at a northern entrance to the city.
The main communitywide event here, "A Memorial Program of Prayer, Reflection and Hope," will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the offices of FEGS, 315 Hudson St., and conclude at the neighboring New York City Fire Museum for an interfaith candle lighting ceremony. The program is cosponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the New York Board of Rabbis.
"We are reacting to the tragedy as New Yorkers and as Americans, as well as Jews," said Michael Miller, executive vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council. "The immensity of the tragedy impacted on the Jewish community very strongly ó the mass loss of humanity, the murder of Jews in that building [the World Trade Center] and the other two incidents [the Pentagon and United Flight 93, which crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside.]
"There is much room for the unique Jewish approach to tragedies in a spiritual sense that warrants gatherings around New York and the United States," he said. "Our approach is a classis Jewish approach, as we respond to Tisha b’Av," which marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem, "by reading Lamentations and liturgical poems."
Three Jewish chaplains who comforted victims of the attacks will participate in a "Days of Awe" panel discussion at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St., at 6:30 p.m. The chaplains (Rabbis Jacob Goldstein, Alvin Kass and Joseph Potasnik) will discuss their Sept. 11 experiences during the free program. The Yeshiva University Museum, which is housed at the center, will be open at no charge, displaying a 9-11 commemorative quilt created by day school students in Olivette, Mo., on Wednesday. For information, call (212) 294-8301; www.cjh.org.
The JCC in Manhattan will host a program titled " We Remember: An Evening of Reflection and Hope," at Symphony Space, Broadway and 95th Street, at 6:30 p.m. The program will feature music, poetry and survivors’ written testimonies. The event, co-sponsored by the synagogues of the Upper West Side, is free. For reservations, call (212) 646-5700.
Writers and poets will read from their works at "110 Stories: New York Writes After Sept. 11," at the 92nd Street Y at 8 p.m. Readers will include Vivian Gornick, Grace Schulman and Art Spiegelman. For information, call (212) 415-5500.
The Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave., will be open 2-6 p.m. for public contemplation and additional readings from "110 Stories."
A similar program will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Makor, 35 W. 67th St., featuring Stephen Dubner, Thane Rosenbaum and Rachel Wetzsteon. The readings are free. For reservations, call (212) 415-5500.
The Eldridge Street Project, 12 Eldridge St. on the Lower East Side, will be open Wednesday at no charge from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring schoolchildren’s 9-11 drawings and writing and art materials for visitors who wish to record their feelings as a "Day of Remembrance."
Park East Synagogue will host a Communal Remembrance at 4:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by UJA-Federation, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Ohel Children’s Home, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and Hatzolah emergency ambulance corps. For reservations, call (718) 686-3214; 911outreach@metcouncil.org.
At the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, "Yahrzeit: Sept. 11 Observed," an exhibit that features mementoes from the tragedy, will run until Jan. 5. (See separate story, page 55.) The museum, 18 First Place in Battery Park City, will be open with free admission on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
For information, call (212) 509-6130; www.mjhnyc.org.
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale will hold an interfaith reading of the victims’ names outside the synagogue, Netherland Avenue and West 237th Street, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information, call (718) 796-4730.
Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad in Mineola, L.I., will erect a symbolic 16-foot Twin Towers as part of "Two Days of Reflection and Hope." A tribute at noon Tuesday will be followed by a 6 p.m. program inaugurating The Chabad Center for the Performing Arts. "Prayers for Peace" will be held Wednesday from 7:45 a.m. to 9 a.m., and a lecture on "Ground Zero and Beyond" will be offered at 12:15 p.m. The address is 261 Willis Ave. For information, call (516) 739-3636.
Samuel Heilman, professor of Jewish studies at the City University of New York Graduate Center, is coordinating a conference, "Death, Bereavement and Mourning: What We Have Learned a Year After 9-11," on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue. Participants will include psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, poet Thomas Lynch and folklorist Ilana Harlow. Admission to the conference, co-sponsored by the New York State Funeral Directors Association, is free. For reservations, call (212) 817-8215; continuinged@gc.cuny.edu.
Other local 9-11 events on Wednesday (unless otherwise noted) include:
Manhattan
Memorial service at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W. 68th St., 7:30 p.m.; (212) 877-4050.
"Musicians for Peace: Jews and Arabs Making Music Together" concert sponsored by the Tikkun Community of New York and the New York Society for Ethical Culture," 2 W. 64th St, 7 p.m.; (212) 595-3386.
Concert reading of Job at The Village Temple, 33 E. 12th St., 8 a.m.; (212) 674-2340.
Yizkor service sponsored by Hell’s Kitchen/Chelsea Liberal Minyan, at member’s home, 8:46 a.m.; (212) 541-8811.
Healing service at Congregation Habonim, 44 W. 66th St., 7:30 p.m.; (212) 787-5347.
Memorial service sponsored by Chabad of Gramercy Park, West Side Highway and Charles Street, 6 p.m. Presentation by children from the Hi-Tech Hebrew School; (212) 683-9004.
Queens
Memorial service at Free Synagogue of Flushing, 41-60 Kissena Blvd, 8 p.m.; (718) 961-0030.
Prayer service at Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills, 71-25 Main St., 8 p.m.; (718) 263-6500.
A performance by actress Judith Goldsmith, reading the works of poet Emma Lazarus and early Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side, at the Central Queens Y, 67-09 108th St., at 1:30 p.m. Also, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., "A Monument in Song Honoring the Spirit of 9-11" will feature inspirational Jewish and American music. Both events are free. For information, call (718) 268-5011.
Address by Rabbi Shaya Cohen on "Spiritual Responses to Tragic and Painful Times" during memorial service at 8 p.m. at Jewish Heritage Center of Queens, 68-29 Main St., Flushing; (718) 575-3100
Memorial service at Bay Terrace Jewish Center, 13-00 209th St., 8 p.m.; (718) 428-6363.
Memorial service at The Reform Temple of Forest Hills, 71-11 112th St., 7:30 p.m.; (718) 261-2900.
Brooklyn
Commemoration at Yeshivah of Flatbush, 1609 Avenue J, 8 p.m.. Dr. Irwin Mansdorf from the Matan crisis intervention center in Jerusalem will speak; (718) 377-1100.
Memorial service at Madison Jewish Center, 2989 Nostrand Ave., 7:30 p.m.; (718) 339-7755.
Commemorative service at Temple Beth Ahavath Sholom, 2166 Benson Ave., 7:30 p.m.; (718) 372-0933.
Bronx/Westchester
"Troubling Times," an interactive performance featuring life-sized puppets, at the JCC on the Hudson, 371 S. Broadway, Tarrytown, 4:30 p.m.. A memorial service and tree planting will precede at 4 p.m.; (914) 366-7898.
Screening of a video on Torah reaction to 9-11 at the Jewish Center of Williamsbridge, at the Bronx House, 960 Pelham Parkway South, 11 a.m.
Service of Remembrance and Renewal at Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, 220 S. Bedford Road, Chappaqua, 8:30 a.m.
Evening of Remembrance at the Community Center of Israel and Temple Judea, 2440 Esplanada, Bronx, 8 p.m.; (718) 882-2400.
Long Island
On Tuesday, Sept. 10: Speech by Rabbi Binny Freedman, educational director of Isralight and survivor of the Sbarro’s bombing, during Evening of Remembrance and Healing at Young Israel of Woodmere, 859 Peninsula Blvd., 7:45 p.m.; (516) 295-0950.
Memorial service at Chabad of Port Washington, 80 Shore Road, 7:30 p.m.; (516) 767-8672.
Interfaith memorial service at the Wantagh Jewish Center, 3710 Woodbine Ave., 8 p.m.; (516) 785-2445.
Tribute at Chai Center, Deer Park Avenue and Vanderbilt Parkway, Dix Hills, 7 p.m.; (631) 351-TORAH.
Temple Hillel/Southside Jewish Center, 1000 Rosedale Road, Valley Stream, will dedicate a stained glass chapel window at a memorial service for the victims featuring guest speaker Leslie Cohen, 8 p.m.; (516) 791-6344.
Memorial service at Jericho Jewish Center, co-sponsored by Temple Or-Elohim, 430 N. Broadway, 7:45 p.m.; (516) 938-2540.
A series of programs will be held throughout the day at the Sid Jacobson JCC, 300 Forest Drive, East Hills, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; (516) 484-1545, Ext. 166.
The events listed here are those reported to The Jewish Week.
