Dear Friends,

I can’t pretend to know what it feels like to have lost a loved one on Sept. 11, 2001. But all of us no doubt still feel acutely the days and months of that awful time in the life of our city. I remember the images of faces taped on walls who we quickly understood would never come home; I remember smelling the smoke for weeks; I remember the stories of family members I met with weekly as a chaplain at the Family Assistance Center through that winter. The site of the World Trade Center is emotional for all of us New Yorkers, and will remain so.

And I thank God for the deep and abiding values of our tradition that help me, and us, endure, and even thrive, despite difficult times. And it is precisely those values that call upon me to speak in strong defense of the building of a mosque and community center near the WTC.

Those values emanate from the mitzvot to love our neighbors as ourselves; to show hospitality to strangers; to show compassion to the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. These values animate the American value, enshrined in our law, of non-discrimination on the basis of religion, and celebration of religious pluralism.

Those values include our commitment to protect the rights of every minority group, for again and again in our history we have known the result of living in societies that do not protect their minorities. We know the slippery slope: if any can be discriminated against, none are safe.

Islam itself is not to blame for the attacks of Sept. 11. Extremists wrap themselves in the cloak of their tradition while perpetrating the worst that humans are capable of. We must support the moderates of all faiths who pursue interfaith tolerance and who pursue peace.

So while we must be sensitive to the needs and emotions of those family members of the victims of Sept. 11 who are caused distress, I believe an inspection of our deepest values calls on us to support this project. With a mosque near the WTC site that pursues interfaith dialogue and respect, we have the opportunity go beyond tolerance and support the best that can happen in the name of religion adjacent to a site where we witnessed the worst of what can be perpetrated in its name. We will all be watching to see what they can achieve. May this center fulfill its promise, in the words of our collective tradition, “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall never again know war.” (Isaiah 2:4).

In hope,

Rabbi David Adelson

We are living in confusing times, and we are in as much need of support as ever. Fortunately, never before have so many modes of Jewish expression been available to us. The ways people find meaning in their lives, and express that meaning in Jewish ways, are widely varied. Some enjoy the connection and comfort of Shabbat services with the community, while others find the time for family and personal relaxation on Saturdays. Some are engaged by serious Torah study and others by Jewish cultural and arts events. Many Jews marry non-Jews, raise Jewish children, and support the Jewish community. If we push ourselves to embrace all the different ways people make meaning in their lives, we will have much cause for optimism and much to talk about with each other.

My job at East End Temple is to support each member's search for meaning in their life. Our job as a Temple community is to respect, value, and support the Jewish choices every member makes.

East End Temple is a home for this diversity of approaches to liberal Jewish life, whether more traditional or more innovative. The story of our people is one of wandering in the desert, searching for the path. When we wander together as a community and share the tales of our journeys, our strength for the search is multiplied. Our stories of search in the desert are the stories of our own Torah. And finding meaning in Torah, in community, and in each of our lives is not a far-off goal. As we read in Deut. 30:14, "No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, and you can do it."

L’shalom,
Rabbi David Adelson

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