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Tangible Reminder
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n the 10-year anniversary of
the tragic events of 9-11, Lilly
Epstein Stotland spoke to people
gathered at Birmingham's Adams Fire
Station to recount her personal story of
survival and to dedicate a remnant of steel
from one of the World Trade Center towers.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Stotland was working
for Goldman Sachs and Company just a
few blocks from the World Trade Center.
Sitting at her desk on the trading floor, she
heard and felt a significant crash and saw
the smoke and flames erupting from the
north tower. Moments later, the second
plane flew next to her window before it
crashed into the second tower.
"After multiple attempted evacuations:'
Stotland told the crowd, "I was stuck
with hundred of others in a smoke-filled
basement when the towers fell. When I
attempted my escape, gone was that clear
beautiful, sunny autumn day. The scene
was indescribable; a cloud of gray swirling
haze and you couldn't see 5 feet in front of
you. I was utterly terrified.
"Lower Manhattan had become a battle-
ground, and we were untrained, unsus-
A 9-11 survivor and her family fund a memorial in Birmingham.
pecting civilian soldiers. On that morning,
I ran arm in arm with a colleague and ran
and ran and ran, pulling our blouses over
our eyes as air filters. The scene around us
was completely devastating. I was one of
those people you might have seen on TV,
completely covered from head to toe in a
thick powdery dust. But I was a lucky one,
I was alive, and so completely grateful."
Stotland is general manager of
Southfield-based Vesco Oil, a family busi-
ness. Its Marjory and Donald Epstein
Family Charitable Foundation funded the
costs of transporting the steel remnant
and creation of the memorial at the fire
station.
"This memorial reflects an important
part of our history, and I believe it will
help future generations understand the
magnitude of the events on that day:'
Stotland said. "This memorial represents
something that I believe in. It represents
our American spirit. This steel, designed
right here in Birmingham, by the archi-
tecture firm of the late Minoru Yamaski,
was bent but not broken. It is remarkably
symbolic."
U.S. Congressman Sander Levin,
D-Mich., with Lilly Epstein Stotland
A close-up of the steel remnant from
Lilly Epstein Stotland stands beside the
the World Trade Center
9-11 memorial at the Birmingham fire
station.
Torah Dedication
Reconstructionist Congregation
of Detroit celebrates its first Torah.
A
Torah restored by Rabbi Levi
Kagan of Oak Park was dedicated
Sept. 11 by the Reconstructionist
Congregation of Detroit (RCD), which was
founded in 2000.
Purchase and restoration of the con-
gregation's first Torah was made possible
through individual donations and a gift
from the family of Judge Avern Cohn.
RCD's first president, Matthew Schenk,
carried the Torah down Rivard Street in
Detroit to the education building of Christ
Church Detroit, where RCD's sanctuary is
located.
Father John Talk and members of his
congregation shared a meal with RCD
congregants after the Torah was placed in
its ark. I I
Matthew Schenk, flanked by Anthony Dillof, carries
the newly dedicated Reconstructionist Congregation of
Detroit's Torah in a procession down Rivard Street in
Firestone, Carol Weisfeld, Matthew Schenk, Harriet Saperstein, Rabbi Levi Kagan (Torah scribe),
Anthony Dillof, Glenn Weisfeld, Janis Ackerman and Barbara Lewis
September 22 = 2011
iN
R
abbi Robert Gamer of Congregation Beth Shalom
in Oak Park was a rabbinical student at the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York City on 9-11. He
told congregants during a prayer service on Sept. 11 about his
experience seeing thousands of people from all different walks
of life walking up Broadway. Many were covered in white dust
from the collapse of the towers.
He recalled how finally he and his wife, Wendy, could drive
over the George Washington Bridge toward their home in New
Jersey. He was fond of looking back at the twin towers of the
World Trade Center, but that day he saw only towers of smoke.
"It was a chilling experience I will never forget:' Gamer said.
"I can still close my eyes and see that view of the smoke from
Ground Zero.
"I found it amazing that over the days and weeks that fol-
lowed how kind people were being to each other. Somehow we
all experienced a traumatic moment that made us recognize
the frailty of life in New York City." Li
Detroit. Behind Schenk are his sons, Jared and Dan.
Reconstructionist Congregation of Detroit board members Alan Schenk, Lydia Meyers, Elissa
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Remembering 9-11
Rabbi Gamer of Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park
leads parents and students in a prayer for 9-11 victims.