I have been blessed to become acquainted with the community of Congregation B'nai Israel here is Sacramento. In particular, with Rabbi Mona Alfi. I see in Rabbi Alfi something that seems to be rare in spiritual leaders: a keen sense of oneness along with a commitment to inclusion, restoration and united effort.
Rabbi Alfi was invited to speak on Thursday night at the Salaam Center of Sacramento on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of 9-11.
Rabbi Alfi's remarks follow.
A More Perfect Union
(Presented at Salaam Center of Sacramento, Sept 8, 2011)
Hinei mah tov u'mah nayim, shevat achim gam yachad - How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together (Psalm 133). Tonight we come together, as brothers and sisters, children of a shared dream, a single family that has also suffered loss together, all of us the children of this great nation of the United States.
In the Bible we are taught that when our father Abraham died, his sons Ishmael and Isaac came together to bury him (Gen. 25:9).
The Jewish tradition teaches us that with Abraham's passing, Isaac and Ishmael lived in harmony with each another. They came together not only to mourn their shared loss, as brothers should, but they also found healing from their pain, by living side by side in peace.
I can easily imagine these two brothers standing at their father's grave, weeping and embracing each other, and asking themselves what is the purpose of fighting? What greater way is there for two brothers to honor their father's memory than by living in harmony with each other?
Today we come together, also as brothers and sisters, to mourn our shared losses of all those who perished on September 11, ten years ago. This is a time for us to remember that we are all part of the same American family.
By coming together tonight we are given the opportunity to not only look back at the terrible events that haunt us still, but it also reminds us of the necessity for us to look toward the future and our shared obligation to create a society that lives by our country's greatest teachings.
In the preamble of our Constitution, our founding fathers wrote that "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."
We are the lucky inheritors of these great ideals. And what greater way is there for us to honor our founding fathers than to live by these beliefs? This is not an inheritance for us to put on a shelf or to simply read about or study. This is an inheritance that provides for us a blueprint of a great and just society.
The Blessings of Liberty that the founding fathers spoke of are blessings that need to be secured and nurtured by each and every generation. And it is our shared responsibility to create opportunities to come together for the common good, so that we can ensure that our children, and our children's children, will enjoy these blessings as well.
We must never forget that our nation is a Union - a collection of people with different backgrounds and religions, different regional interests, different political beliefs, and yet we can come together with not only common purpose, but also a shared feeling of responsibility for each other's welfare.
We are a family, and like every family, we do not need to be the same, but we must listen to each other, accept each other, know and understand where each other's concerns are coming from. We must find ways to honor our differences and protect each other's rights. And we must never forget that our destinies are intertwined.
When my brother grieves, my heart is saddened. When my sister has success, I am joyful. And when I weep, or when I celebrate, it gives me comfort to know that it matters to them. In the shadow of 9-11, we must never forget that all Americans are brothers and sisters, and we must never fail to act as such.
Ours was a shared horror as we watched the Towers collapse and the Pentagon attacked. We all mourned the deaths of those who were killed. We were all inspired by the first responders and those on United Flight 93 who showed tremendous courage on that fateful day. We all felt lost and scared in the days, weeks and months following the attacks. And we went through all of these experiences as an American family.
But just as we are able to come together in times of mourning and remembrance, and in times of great celebration, we must remember what makes a family strong is how they interact on a daily basis.
Let us study together so that we can understand how to put our shared beliefs into practice. Let us repair the world together by helping the most vulnerable in our society. Let us break bread together, and share our stories, and remind ourselves over and over again - how good it can be when brothers and sisters dwell together - hinei mah tov u'mah nayim, shevat achim gam yachad.
May the Holy One, the Creator of all humanity bless our nation with shalom, with salaam, with peace. Amen.
Rabbi Mona Alfi
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