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TWO September 11's: Mourning Both

Taken from an email posting from Rabbi Arthur Waskow's Shalom Center. Interesting correllation, and definitely something to think about...

Today is a day to mourn the dead of September 11. Of TWO September 11's. Below these notes is a special Mourners Kaddish in Time of War and Violence, to help us grieve these dead.

On September 11, 1973, the Chilean armed forces, with the aid and support of the government of the United States, overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile. The result was the murder and torture of thousands of Chileans, and even the death of some Americans murdered by the Chilean junta. One of them was a co-worker of mine, Ronni Karpen Moffitt, murdered three years later by a car-bomb on the streets of Washington DC along with Orlando Letelier, the last Foreign Minister of free and democratic Chile.

On September 11, 2001, thousands of people --- mostly but not only Americans, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and followers of other spiritual paths and of none, were murdered in New York and Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon by persons who saw themselves as carrying out the will of God as expressed through Islam. Their actions were denounced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world. The deaths they caused were then used as an excuse to bring about the deaths of more than 4,000 Americans and way more than 100,000 Iraqis on the false claim that Iraq had been complicit in the attack.

What do these two despicable "September 11's" have in common? Not just the accident of their dates. More crucial, they both bear the stigma of the willingness of some who seek power to murder and torture the helpless in order to grasp power for themselves. And the coincidence of the dates helps to remind us that we must also look within, not merely at The Other, to condemn such murderous deeds.

So along with our sorrow, our grief, our mourning for the dead of these atrocities, and our condemnation of those who killed them we must also look within our own society and government and turn ourselves in a new direction, one committed to the sharing of power in democratic process and to seeking justice and freedom through compassion and nonviolent commitment.

May we take a glimmer of comfort from the knowledge that through suffering and struggle and ultimately joy, the people of Chile restored their democracy; and the world-wide Muslim community has turned (as for example in the Madrid "World Interfaith Dialogue" called by the King of Saudi Arabia this past summer) to reaffirm and reinvigorate those major threads in the fabric of Islam that are committed to peacemaking among all communities. May the American people also take the steps necessary to fully recommit ourselves to the pursuit of peace and justice.

Today let us draw on the Jewish prayer of Mourners' Kaddish to say a more universal prayer for those who have died as victim of war and terrorism and violent repression.

With blessings of shalom, salaam, peace -- Arthur
(Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center)



MOURNERS' KADDISH IN TIME OF WAR & VIOLENCE


Yitgadal V'yit'kadash Shmei Rabah

May Your Great Name, through our expanding awareness and our fuller action, lift You to become still higher and more holy.

For Your Great Name weaves together all the names of all the beings in the universe, among them our own names, and it is we who give You the strength to lift us into holiness -- (Cong: Amein)

B'alma di vra chi'rooteh v'yamlich malchuteh b'chayeichun, u'v'yomeichun, u'v'chayei d'chol beit yisrael, b'agalah u'vzman kariv, v'imru: -- Amein.

--- Throughout the world that You have offered us, a world of majestic peaceful order that gives life to the Godwrestling folk through time and through eternity ---- And let's say, Amein

Y'hei sh'mei rabbah, me'vorach, l'olam almei almaya.

So may the Great Name be blessed, through every Mystery and Mastery of every universe.

Yitbarach, v'yishtabach, v'yitpa'ar, v'yitromam, v'yitnasei, v'yit'hadar, v'yit'aleh, v'yit'halal -- Shmei di'kudshah, -- Brich hu, (Cong: Brich Hu)

May Your Name be blessed and celebrated, Its beauty honored and raised high, may It be lifted and carried, may Its radiance be praised in all Its Holiness --- Blessed be!

L'eylah min kol bir'chatah v'shir'atah tush'be'chatah v'nehematah, de'amiran be'alma, v'imru: Amein (Cong: Amein)

Even though we cannot give You enough blessing, enough song, enough praise, enough consolation to match what we wish to lay before you -

And though we know that today there is no way to console You when among us some who bear Your Image in our being are slaughtering others who bear Your Image in our being ---

Yehei Shlama Rabah min Shemaya v'chayyim { aleinu v'al kol Yisrael, v'imru Amein.

Still we beseech that from the unity of Your Great Name flow a great and joyful harmony and life for us and for all who wrestle God; (Cong: Amein)

Oseh Shalom bi'm'romav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisrael v'al kol yishmael v'al kol yoshvei tevel -- v'imru: Amein.

You who make harmony in the ultimate reaches of the universe, teach us to make harmony within ourselves, among ourselves -- and peace for the Godwrestling folk, the people Israel; for our cousins the children of Ishmael; and for all who dwell upon this planet. (Cong: Amein)

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