In The Shadow Of Death

Hundreds gather at Young Israel of Oak Park in wake of terrorist attack.

the office to hear what was going on,"
she said. "There was an atmosphere of
shock, surprise. Everyone was stunned.
We all kept asking, 'What happened?
What happened?'" Later, she said, she
went to the Jewish Community
Center in Oak Park, where televisions
were on everywhere. Many wanted to
pray for the victims.
"Everyone was shocked and crying,"
she said. As she was speaking, she too
began to cry. Holding her boy's hand,
she left Young Israel.
By 8:15, the women's section was

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Special to The Jewish News

B

y 7:30. p.m. Tuesday, park-
ing spaces on virtually every
street near Young Israel of
Oak Park were full.
Inside the synagogue, several hun-
dred women gathered at round tables
in the social hall. The main sanctuary
was filled with men and boys. Missing
were the usual cordial greetings. Few
even spoke. No one smiled.
And then, in both sections, a loud-
speaker was heard as a single voice led
the recitation of Kaddish, the tradi-
tional Jewish prayer for the dead. This
was followed by evening services, with
each person saying prayers in a hushed
voice, yet unified.
"In the shadow of Your wings, shel-
ter us, for You are our God who pro-
tects and rescues us, for You are the

9/14

2001

28

entire community." Rabbi
generous and compassion-
Rabbi Odom Ribiat
Irons' brief speech was
ate King," one prayer
covers his face at the
followed by tehillim,
reads. "Safeguard our
memorial service.
going and our coming."
Behind him are Eli Yelen psalms asking God to
heal those ill or in danger.
One girl, no older than
and son Yisrael, 10.
(At almost the same
16, stood at the back of
time, hundreds of miles
the room. Her face was so
away, President George W. Bush also
deeply immersed in her prayer book
was reciting a psalm, Psalm 23, in his
that even her eyes were obscured.
speech to the American public: "Yea,
Rabbis, including Young Israel's
though I walk through the valley of
Rabbi Reuven Spolter and Rabbi
the shadow of death, I shall not fear
Shmuel Irons of the Kollel Institute of
evil, for You are with me.")
Greater Detroit addressed the gathering.
During the evening, more and more
"In the face of this tragedy, we are
visitors walked through the synagogue's
numbed," Rabbi Irons said. He urged
doors. By 8 p.m. the sanctuary was full.
those present to consider the attack "a
Mirjam Schwarcz of Oak Park was
wake-up call." Jews must now re-
among those who came to pray. She first
examine their own lives and deeds, he
learned of the attack at around 9:10 a.m.
said, and evil will be punished.
while at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in
"Only HaShem knows how to meas-
Southfield, where her son attends school.
ure" a soul, he said, but "every individ-
"Someone at the office got a call,
ual should know that the changes he
then everyone came pouring out of
can make in his own life can affect an

almost full and the sanctuary was so
crowded the doors had to be propped
open. Those attending ranged from
yeshiva students in black hats propped
precariously atop their heads, to a teen
dressed in sandals and a green T-shirt,
to a woman in dark pants, to another
woman, her hair covered by a thick
scarf, carrying a baby in her arms.
Standing between the men and the
women, in the middle of the syna-
gogue, you could hear a chorus that
was both tender and anguished, plead-
ing with God for mercy, justice and
compassion.
One of those for whom the prayer
was especially heartfelt was Rabbi
Chaim Bergstein. Rabbi Bergstein, of
Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills,
learned of the tragedy on his way to
teach at the Lubavitch School, located
in a rented wing of Congregation Beth
Shalom. Televisions were on every-
where at Beth Shalom, he said.
"My brother-in-law is unaccounted
for," he said. "He works in the World
Trade Center and we don't know
where he is."
By 8:30 p.m., some of those gath-
ered at Young Israel began to disperse
— a solemn procession of first men,
then women.
Outside, the sky was beautiful:
orange and blue, like a Maxfield
Parrish painting. The air smelled of
fall, fresh and sweet.
Now you could hear cell phones and
bits of normal conversation ("Will
there be school tomorrow?").
As she walked through the door, one
woman turned to her friend: "Did you
have family there?" "No, thank God,"
the other answered.
Inside, the hum of prayer contin-
ued. ❑

