DL Opinion columns

How I combined 9/11 and the Jewish New Year – by Deborah Levine 

originally ;published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

This year, the anniversary of 9/11 and the Jewish New Year coincide on September 11. Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew meaning head of the year) marks the New Year 5787. Yes, the date goes back thousands of years to the Divine creation of Adam and Eve, and humankind. How do I wrap my mind around the simultaneous commemoration of the 9/11 disaster and celebration of the Divine gift of life? Maybe we all need help with that. Rosh HaShanah could provide that help. 

For Jews around the world, Rosh Hashanah begins the 10 High Holy Days with apples and honey. This time of gratitude and joy, progresses to introspection, mourning, and repentance. We fast during the solemn conclusion of these 10 Days. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is a time when forgiveness is asked for mistakes, bad choices, and faulty judgement during the previous year. We remember and mourn the passing of loved ones, and dedicate to doing better in the coming year.  This year that list will include those who passed during 9/11. 

Alas, I anticipate antisemitic rage online regarding Israel like the swastika embedded into Dolly Parton’s Wikipedia page with the tag ‘Jew Lover’ because she had a Jewish agent for 25 years.  But we carry on! We are who we are because of the perseverance, achievements, and faith that previous generations passed on to us Americans. Jews came to America as early as 1654, landing in New Amsterdam, now known as New York. Most of our families were later immigrants like my mother’s grandparents who escaped the communist Russian Empire in the 1800s. Or they were like my father’s parents, escaping Hitler’s expansion of Germany beginning in the 1930s. 

I’m grateful for my ancestors who escaped, seeking a new life for their families. But there were others, not related to me, for whom I’m also grateful. Antisemitic folks should understand that Jewish immigrants enriched our country. Often banned from workplaces and organizations, many turned to the Arts. Their musicals are famous worldwide: West Side Story, Oklahoma, and The Sound of Music, continuing today with the 9/11 musical: Came From Away.

We keep on going with humor: “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” In 1978, 80% of American stand-up comedians were Jewish. Generations of American comedians descended from Jewish immigrant families: Mel Brooks, Billy Crystal, Larry David, Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Adam Sandler, and that’s just a few.

I’m delighted to have fellow American Jewish writers with immigrant roots. Some of my favorites were Pulitzer Prize winners: Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, Herman Wouk who wrote The Caine Mutiny and Carl Sagan for The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. 

Did you know that the Pulitzer Prize was named for the Jewish newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer in 1904? I actually met two-time awardee (1963, 1972) Barbara Tuchman when I attended Radcliffe/Harvard with Jessica, her daughter. Jessica later became the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director of the Council on Foreign Relations Washington office. She’s part of the next generation carrying on vital legacies, as should we all.

Don’t allow fear, violence, divisiveness, and growing antisemitism to erase our creativity.  The 9/11 anniversary should bring us together to build bridges and expand the beauty of our culture. I bet you know the song, “God bless America…Land that I Love”.  Who composed that? The brilliant musician Irving Berlin, a Russian-Jewish immigrant. Start singing or humming that now and dedicate yourself to creating beauty in this lovable and loving land in the year to come.

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