[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 139 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1653-E1655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  A STATEMENT BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. E. SCOTT RIGELL

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 19, 2011

  Mr. RIGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to enter a statement into the 
Record on behalf of my constituent, Dr. Israel Zoberman. Dr. Zoberman 
is the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, 
Virginia. He is also the president of the Hampton Roads Board of Rabbis 
and Cantors. Dr. Zoberman asked me to enter the following remarks into 
the Record regarding the 10th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, 2001. Dr. Zoberman's statement follows:

       We are duty-bound to respond to the significant and related 
     dedications of the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument in The 
     Mall of our nation's capital, Flight 93 National Memorial in 
     Shanksville, Pennsylvania, honoring 40 lost souls, and the 
     Stone Memorial and Garden of 184 benches for the perished at 
     the Pentagon involving American Airlines Flight 77, and that 
     of the Memorial and Museum on the hallowed grounds of the 
     World Trade Center with its majority of victims, 2,753, upon 
     the 10th anniversary of the horrific strikes of 9/11. 
     Terrorism, whether from within or without, cannot be 
     tolerated.
       The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. representing the Civil 
     Rights Movement of the 1960's will now be lastingly visible 
     in stone along with some of his writings--teachings forever 
     etched in the heart and mind of a repentant and grateful 
     nation. We pledge to remember both the pain and promise of 
     that trying and triumphant era in American History.
       The impressive monument is a statement of faith in what the 
     martyred Nobel Peace Laureate means to a shared fractured 
     past and, perhaps even more importantly, to our shared future 
     as well. Dr. King's sacrifice of his very life, which he had 
     envisioned, and all, including American Jews, who heroically 
     participated with him, contributed to the eventual success of 
     the monumental struggle to liberate America from its shackles 
     to a demeaning past of inhumane slavery and of its aftermath 
     of brutal violence and disgraceful discrimination. Dr. King's 
     prophetic spirit of justice--planted, nourished and sustained 
     by Israel's Biblical prophets--is ours as we continue his and 
     our timeless journey to make America faithful to its most 
     noble promise and premise that God's divinity and human 
     dignity go hand in hand.
       The uncommon courage and ingenuity under harrowing 
     circumstances of United Airlines Flight 93 passengers, 
     bringing down their hijacked plane, are fittingly honored and 
     memorialized in a lonely Pennsylvania field, turned symbol of 
     American inner strength in face of adversity and a spirit 
     that cannot be vanquished. Converting American Airlines 
     Flight 77 into a weapon against the Pentagon, which is 
     entrusted with our national defense, brought death of 
     innocent civilians and committed professionals all valiant 
     heroes of a grateful nation.
       The erection of the uniquely inspiring Memorial and Museum 
     at the 10th anniversary of the ghastly strikes and its 
     haunting images of 9/11 by Islamist extremists committed to 
     disrupting and destroying the pluralistic and embracing 
     American way of life and civilization itself without moral 
     restraints, is a somber occasion for sacred recollection, 
     reflection and resolution. We prayerfully recall the victims 
     who were caught by utter surprise and shock, becoming 
     martyred heroes, their agonizing families whose lives have 
     been cruelly interrupted, the fortunate survivors who escaped 
     the inferno but not the nightmares, the first respondents and 
     recovery workers, some of whom paid with their lives or got 
     severely sick. Etched in my memory of 9/11/2001 will be 
     arriving in my synagogue following an early morning Neptune 
     Festival Interfaith Prayer Breakfast at the Founders Inn in 
     Virginia Beach. A phone call awaited me from the local media 
     concerning the first hit at

[[Page E1654]]

     the twin towers, as I was watching in disbelief the second 
     hit. I knew then and there that our world will never be the 
     same.
       Let us resolve not to allow brazen terrorism using loaded 
     civilian planes as missiles to plunge into the packed multi-
     national World Trade Center, to topple our faith in what 
     America proudly and rightly stands for, making her the 
     world's greatest democracy and indispensible light to 
     humanity. Mindful of living in a challenging volatile global 
     community, not without opportunity, we remain vigilant in 
     protection of our constitutional rights even as we secure our 
     shaken and wounded nation from potential harm, while 
     overcoming crippling divisiveness from within.
       Continuing to stand up to evil, there is no other choice, 
     may we yet turn pain into promise, violence into vision, fear 
     into faith, vulnerability into virtue and blemishes into 
     blessings.
       I wrote the following poem in the wake of 9/11.

     Mangled iron mingled with human
     bits of crushed hopes
     wedded to once a teeming
     empire's cathedral brought down
     by God's creatures too,
     welding a monument to doomsday's promise
     of hate's power.
     Once again ashes blowing
     in the wind of dust
     an inferno called infinity
     with no answer to the mystery
     of faith persisting to ignite
     smoldering embers of life.

       May the divine gifts of Shalom's healing, hope and harmony 
     be bestowed upon us.
    

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