This Week
Bagel Stop Saves Life
American 507 misses rabbi who stopped for a snack near crash site.
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
the street where the plane crashed, Rabbi Blaine
said; half a dozen are members of his synagogue.
One Jewish home was destroyed, and two were
damaged, and the entire block was evacuated.
After learning the scope of devastation, Rabbi
Blaine said, "I could hardly contain myself emotion-
ally. It was too reminiscent of what you saw on tele-
vision Sept. 11 — that thick, acrid smoke — just on
a smaller scale.
"And for it to happen in my own neighborhood,
three blocks from my synagogue ..." he said.
Despite official reports that it was an accident,
Rabbi Blaine said, "I don't know if it was mechani-
cal failure or terrorism, but it's an uncanny coinci-
Belle Harbor, NY
is the sort of expertise that Rabbi Allan
Blaine would rather be without.
But it quickly explained the horrible sound
he'd just heard.
"After Sept. 11, I know what a purple plume of
smoke is — burning jet fuel," said Rabbi Blaine,
head of the local Conservative community of
Temple Beth-El in Belle Harbor. "I knew a jet had
crashed."
For Rabbi Blaine, Monday's crash of American
Airlines Flight 587 was a much closer call
than the suicide airstrikes that brought down
the World Trade Center.
"I could hardly
On Sept. 11, while local residents looked
out over Jamaica Bay and saw the twin towers contain myself
crumble and burn in the distance, Rabbi
emotionally. It was
Blaine was in the shul he has led for 33 years,
working the phones, checking on his congre-
too reminiscent of
gants.
On Monday, they may have been looking
what you saw on
for him.
television Sept. 11
When the A300 Airbus crashed, Rabbi
Blaine was driving around the quiet beach
— that thick, acrid
community. He had just dropped off a tie at
smoke — just on
the dry cleaners — for Shabbat, he said —
and suddenly felt inspired to grab a sesame
a smaller scale."
bagel, light cream cheese.
— Rabbi Allan Blaine
"And you knew I'd bought bagels yester-
day," his wife, Suzanne, said. "Why would
you do that?"
But if he hadn't stopped for a bagel, and been
dence that this should happen on Veterans Day."
delayed by a small line, he might have been on the
Rabbi Blaine immediately agreed to a police request
street where the plane crashed, the rabbi said, "I
that Temple Beth-El's red-brick community center
probably would have been right under it. For some
be offered as a possible triage center.
reason, I was spared." .
But there were no survivors, no need for triage.
The police instead took advantage of the communi-
ty center's parking lot and restroom facilities.
1
Israeli Killed
irte
11/16
2001
24
As it was, the airliner crashed nose-down into a
home, plowing into the ground, killing at least four
residents, and sparking an inferno that ravaged 12
homes. In addition, 260 people aboard the plane
died.
One of them was an Israeli businessman. Ilan
Wasserman's Israeli relatives contacted the Foreign
Ministry after learning that Wasserman's wife had
taken him to JFK Airport for the flight to the
Dominican Republic.
Wasserman had been living in Queens for' 20
years.
Outside of Wasserman, no Jewish deaths have
been reported, but 10 to 12 Jewish families live on
Two Tragedies
Belle Harbor itself is now twice-bitten. The tight-
knit neighborhood of Jews, Irish, Italians and
Germans was already nursing the emotional wounds
caused by the Sept. 11 attacks.
Situated on a sandy peninsula — spanning "four
blocks from beach to bay," Rabbi Blaine said — the
neighborhood is marked by mostly colonial-style
homes, virtually all of them festooned with
American flags.
Many firefighters, police officers and stockbrokers
live in the area.
Some 100 people in the community perished in
the events of Sept. 11; one parish, St. Francis
DeSales, lost 20 congregants, leaving 15 children
with only one parent.
One local Jewish man was killed at the World
Trade Center.
Funerals and memorial services continue to be
held.
Rabbi Blaine's congregation of 350 families suf-
fered no direct loss of life Sept. 11, though two or
three relatives of congregants were killed.
Nevertheless, the congregation recently dedicated
inside the synagogue a bronze memorial to all vic-
tims "to mourn their lives until the end of our
days."
The neighborhood — said by Rabbi Blaine to be
40 percent Jewish — also boasts an Orthodox and a
Reform congregation.
Despite the devastation, some residents said this
one could have been much worse.
If the jet hadn't released most of its fuel over
Jamaica Bay, the entire area could have gone up in
flames. In addition, the plane came in vertically,
rather than plowing in horizontally.
Neighbors vowed Monday to cook, shelter, rebuild
— anything to help those most affected by the
crash.
The rabbi's wife believes the community will
weather this tragedy, too. "Ah, we're tough," said
Suzanne Blaine.
The congregation held a prayer service and coun-
seling for the community Tuesday night.
"We'll continue to pull together — Jews and non-
Jews — and we'll be there for each other," she said.
"There's no question this is frightening, though,
because you can't take two hits like this without it
affecting you somehow." El