New York Shul Faces Aftermath of Sept 11 2001
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah is located in Manhattan’s West Village just below 14th Street, not far from the site where the World Trade Center once stood.
It’s truly a miracle that CBST did not lose any of its 775 members on September 11, 2001. Unfortunately, we knew many who lost family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances in the terrorist attacks. We continue to deal with the after effects of this tragedy in so many people’s lives.
The value and meaning of being part of a community was redefined by such an unusual set of circumstances that our rabbis, staff, lay leaders and congregants had to find ways to respond to many different needs.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, the synagogue’s Senior Rabbi, was in a meeting at French Roast, a local coffee shop on 6th Avenue and 12th Street, she stepped outside to the corner and faced downtown, witnessing the falling towers. She then headed for the synagogue. "There was a lot of frustration building. Many people tried to call CBST and were not able to get through. Phone communication was out all over the city. Some e-mail and radio announcements urged businesses and institutions south of 14th Street to close. We made a decision to close CBST. That night it was impossible to reach people."
For our Assistant Rabbi Roderick Young and Ayelet Cohen, one of our Rabbinic Interns from JTS, the morning of September 11 was a moment of the sweet and sour that life brings. While many were jumping to their death and experiencing panic and fear, Rabbi Young and Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinic Intern Ayelet Cohen were at a mikva on New York’s upper west side performing a conversion for a newly adopted little boy of one of our congregants. Ayelet said, "We just had to keep going. It was a big simcha and the father was concerned about being able to give this special moment the attention it deserved. We completed the conversion and then the towers went down."
How did we as a spiritual community respond? The rabbinic staff convened at Bethune Street on Wednesday to create a special service of hope and comfort, which took place at the Church of the Holy Apostles, the site of our main weekly Kabbalat Shabbat service. Rabbi Kleinbaum, Rabbi Young, and Rabbinic Interns Ayelet Cohen and Tracy Nathan met at CBST and, through prayers and psalms, tried to offer words of peace and solace in the midst of confusion, sorrow, disbelief, shock, anger, and pain. Rabbi Kleinbaum encouraged people to tell each other where they were on September 11, helping everyone to unburden, connect, and find a ray of hope and thanksgiving that we were able to come together as a community. Mike Vine, president of CBST, noted that "the prayer session brought a very core group of active members together seeking solace and to be together."
"Coming together as a community was what it was all about at CBST in the weeks following Sept. 11--members, friends of CBST, newcomers, people needing a place to be," according to Mike Vine. The Friday night service after Sept. 11 was one of CBST’s largest ever, including people who had any type of relationship with the synagogue over the course of many years.
The parallel violence in Israel as the United States moved into a military campaign in Afghanistan created a feeling of closeness and need for spiritually, both individually and as a group, something we only get at very few extraordinary times in our lives.
The 6,000 people who attended high holiday services at the Javits Convention Center were a testimony to what CBST can mean to the LGBT community and to the outside world in terms of what the community provides to meet the needs of so many people.
Assistant Rabbi Roderick Young stated that there was "a lot of pastoral counseling, but not as much specifically about Sept. 11 as I thought there might be ... it was as if in this national crisis, people decided to be very mature and only to call about something very serious. There was pastoral counseling involving those who had gone into shock."
"Baruch atah adonay eloheynu melech ha’olam hagomel lechayavim tovot shegemalani kol tov." Blessed are you Abundant One, our G-d, the sovereign of all worlds, who bestows good things on one in debt to you, and who has granted me all good." The Birkat Hagomel is the blessing for deliverance and good fortune, a prayer said by those that have escaped danger.
Yolanda Potasinski is the former president of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah. CBST describes its mission to be a synagogue and a caring Jewish community where people are able to fully integrate their identities as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews. There is an emphasis on being egalitarian, providing pastoral care, the leadership and Rabbinic and professional staff work together to maintain a broad range of ritual observance, educate people, raise consciousness about social action and make sure to welcome and support families in all their varied forms.
Yolanda Potasinski