EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK Two Years Later T Today, I see Christians speaking out against the flare-ups of wo years ago, we stood in shock around our TV anti-Semitism around the world and embracing Israel's right sets, slowly absorbing the enormity of the tragedy to exist as the Jewish state. I see Jews and Muslims breaking unraveling before our eyes. Terrorism, thought so bread instead of cracking heads while still uneasy about baring distant, had come to our shores. their beliefs about one another. And I see people of all ethnici- Two years later, we have achieved a new normalcy: wariness ties unite against calamities like the power blackout and of people who look different; airport security lines; fearful against the twin ghosts of hunger and homelessness. Arab American neighbors showing U.S. flags on their homes, The Shul-Chabad Lubavitch was spurred to have a Torah businesses and cars to show they're not the enemy; the U.S. scribed to commemorate 9-11. Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov said Patriot Act; Attorney General John Ashcroft, haunted by Al 150 people stood together in front of a large-screen TV that Qaida, edging ever closer to "Big Brother" status. fateful morning. "We thought, 'What can we do at this The $87 billion war on terrorism that President George W. moment?' So we prayed and said psalms, and I blew the sho- Bush declared this week undoubtedly will far, which is a call for us to utilize the moment and elevate our change our lives — hopefully, with a securer own lives to bring light into the world and return to God." world, certainly with a huge national debt Rabbi Shemtov is right: Faith in God has always been a and higher interest rates. Many issues are powerful antidote to the scourge of evil. beyond our control. The ones we can control This week's Federation confirmation that Arabs and Jews — personal civility, spiritual fulfillment, car- worked cooperatively to keep multicultural funding a line ing for one another — seem to have moved item in the state budget contrasts with local Arab-Jewish talk forward in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, about the Mideast. Common ground on that issue seems fur- the day that America, the lone super power, ROBERT A. lost its innocence. ther away than ever. SKLAR The Sunday after 19 ter- Editor rorists hijacked four U.S. Keeping A Balance commercial jets and turned Feelings of loss, sadness and anger typically them into missiles, I spoke with a man whose surface whenever we commemorate 9-11, the humility has helped make the sinew of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust or Jewish community so resilient and strong, another catastrophe. Sometimes, like on Rabbi Joseph Klein of Temple Emanu-El in Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember Oak Park. He had just taken part in two ecu- with formal programs or prayers. menical prayer services. Overbearing commemorations run the risk He told me there's a burning need to come of marginalizing tragedy. For the victims, together, "to recognize that with everything heroes and survivors of 9-11, I know it would changed, we really need each other." be a mitzvah were we to just be thankful for "That, to me, seems to be the force of the our special freedoms. I know that Israelis groundswell," he said. become even more resolute in the face of ter- This week, we talked again. And he cut to ror, not weaker. the heart of the matter. As we joined with friends and neighbors of "The passionate and ubiquitous varied races and religions just after 9-11 to groundswell with which we responded to 9- rally for peace, hope sprang from our grief. I 11 enabled America to move beyond the felt a spreading oneness - with the spirit of shock and anger of that terrorism so that now America. we have regrouped as a nation more settled Today, we continue to search for meaning and responsibly serious," he said. in a world where suicide bombers are revered, Firefighters unfurl a five-story- The carnage at the World Trade Center where Palestinian children as young as 6 are tall flag over the side of the and the Pentagon and on the Pennsylvania taught to seek glory by blowing themselves up countryside took 2,792 lives of Americans and American Express Tower on a to kill Jews and where Al Qaida operatives are debris-strewn New York City foreigners. It's still hard to fathom that anyone content to move from cave to cave to keep block near the World Trade could kill so freely, so wantonly. their targets guessing. If nothing else, we've Center in 9-11's aftermath. become more sensitized to what our Israeli Fighting Back brethren experience day after day after day. As Rabbi Klein relates, we've struggled through two years of Promise may arise from despair, but at what price? mourning and introspection to become a much more wary Before 9-11, we thought America — an ethnic melting pot, people for whom well being and safety are anything but a military juggernaut and a light of liberty unto all nations — secure. We've felt complacency's fury. could easily repel invaders. We were too trusting, too naive, In the jagged shadows of 9-11, Detroit Jews held prayer too unprepared. We're forced to be more jaded and on alert. services and candlelight vigils, gave blood, organized relief The lesson of 9-11 is to never give up your moral compass drives, displayed patriotism, encouraged ecumenism and corn- or your will to persevere — in even the darkest moments. To forted each other. We urged justice over revenge. give up is what Hitler wanted 60 years ago and what bin We also denounced unprovoked threats against law-abiding Laden wants now citizens of metro Detroit's Arab, Muslim and Chaldean corn- With the passage of another 9-11, we as Americans have the munities, targeted because the terrorists were of Arab descent. fundamental responsibility to celebrate our diversity or, at the At the height of 9-11, I was moved by the Jewish commu- very least, learn to coexist. nity's call to reach out, not incite. Tolerance, if not acceptance, As the Anti-Defamation League's regional director, Betsy continues to grow among civilized people : f different cultures. Kellman, put it: "We have no other choice." ❑ 271 WEST MAPLE DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM 248.258.0212 Monday-Saturday 10-6 Thursday 10-9 Sunday 12-5 IN 9/12 2003 5