4 | SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021 

guest column
Refl
 ections on 9-11: 
A Letter to Remember
I

t was an incredible series of 
moments that were filled 
with sadness and with 
prayer.
Two Dominican Sisters 
of the Roman 
Catholic Church, 
Sister Mary 
Magdalen 
and Sister 
Anna Marie, 
of the Order 
of Preachers 
(O.P.) and I had 
arranged to meet 
at Adat Shalom Synagogue at 
8:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.
The nuns had learned of 
the recently published book 
The Kaddish Minyan that I 
edited and wanted to learn 
how Judaism helps to heal the 
souls of the recently bereaved. 
One of the sisters lived in 
Farmington Hills, while the 
other was visiting from Port of 
Spain, Trinidad, West Indies.
My two visitors that 
morning were part of a 
religious order dedicated to 
healing the world through 
prayer and action. As we sat 
together in my office, the 
sisters and I spoke about the 
commitment to healing to 
which our respective religious 

faiths are dedicated. We talked 
about the importance of our 
Covenant with God and to 
join with Him “l’taken olam 
b’malchoot Shaddai” — to repair 
the world in God’s kingdom.
We were in the midst of a 
deep theological discussion 
when the calm was interrupted 
by the terrible events of 
that day as our country was 
attacked.
“Sisters,” I asked my guests, 
“would you join me in our 
chapel to pray for the safety of 
our people now under attack?” 
They immediately agreed, and 
we silently walked together to 
the Shiffman Chapel to join 
in prayer. Irrespective of our 
mode of prayer — they were 
on their knees praying as I 
stood silently in prayer before 
the Holy Ark — we were at 
one praying for the lives and 
well-being of the American 
people facing imminent 
danger.
Who knows what effect our 
prayers a score of years ago 
will have on people of today 
or on some distant tomorrow? 
In his essay “Expiration, 
Suffering and Redemption,” 
Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik 
taught, “Somehow the small, 

modest unseen 
act, the seemingly insignificant 
deed, unnoticed and hardly 
discernible, is precisely the one 
which fills a higher place than 
great renowned heroism.”
Did our action of unity in 
the face of national trauma 
have a positive effect? Surely it 
did on us. As the sisters wrote 
in a letter to me on Sept. 15, 
2001: “Your teaching about 
the holiness of life to which 
your people are called (and 
wholeness of life!) and the 
integration of the progressive 
stages of life … into the 
dynamic of an ever-present 
relationship with the Lord, was 
an experience in itself. To pray 
with you was another.”
What an unspeakable horror 
was Sept.11, 2001! About 
that there is no doubt. As 
we remember and honor the 
memories of the firefighters 
and others who made the 
ultimate sacrifice to try 
to rescue as many lives as 

possible, I remember two 
nuns, Sister Mary Magdalen 
O.P. and Sister Anna Marie 
O.P., one geographically close 
and one from very far away 
who were with me in prayer 
and in action to try to shape a 
world in which our covenant 
with God will make an even 
greater positive difference in 
leading us to a unity of sacred 
life-affirming values of our 
Torah. 

Herbert A. Yoskowitz is rabbi 

emeritus of Adat Shalom Synagogue 

in Farmington Hills and lecturer at the 

Oakland University William Beaumont 

School of Medicine, Rochester Hills. 

He served as the Jewish chaplain at 

the John Dingell VA Medical Center 

for 25 years. He is the editor of The 

Kaddish Minyan: The Impact on 

Ten Lives (Eakin Press, 2001) and 

The Kaddish Minyan: From Pain to 

Healing: Twenty Personal Stories 

(Eakin Press, 2003).

PURELY COMMENTARY

Rabbi 
Herbert A. 
Yoskowitz

Thoughts on 9-11
Who doesn’t remember where 
they were on that fateful morn-
ing of 9-11? I, for one, shared 
this horrific morning with 
fellow members of the National 
Council of Jewish Women who 
had gathered at Shaarey Zedek 
for our annual fall luncheon. 
I was dressing for this always 

anticipated event when my 
cousin, Judi Tann, pounded on 
my door and shouted, “Turn on 
your TV!” I was bewildered at 
the sight. Planes crashing into 
New York towers! Confusion 
and disbelief! Still, I left for 
the luncheon. NPR’s Nina 
Totenberg was our guest speak-
er. It was surreal.

The luncheon was unforget-
table. So many members had 
family in New York. Everyone 
was trying to get through. Were 
the phones as efficient 20 years 
ago? I don’t recall, but there 
were stunned, tense faces at 
every table. 
Did Nina Totenberg speak 
that afternoon? I believe 

so. I also recall that she was 
marooned here for several days. 
It was impossible to return to 
New York. The days that fol-
lowed brought fear and sorrow. 
Our beloved country would 
never be the same. Are we not 
still in mourning?

— Edie Broida 

West Bloomfield

letters

modest unseen 
act, the seemingly insignificant 

