From left: Rabbi Ira Ebbin of Congregation Ohav Sholom, Arthur Dobrin of Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, and the Rev. Natalie M. Fenimore of Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. Credit: Ira Ebbin; Linda Rosier; Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock
Published by Newsday, September 11, 2023. Jim Merritt, Journalist
Sunday, Sept. 11, marks the 21st anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks in which nearly 3,000 Americans died, including about 500 Long Islanders. This week’s clergy discuss how they would talk about that day and its aftermath with the generation that has since come of age.
The Rev. Natalie M. Fenimore Lead minister and minister of Lifespan Religious Education, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset
Children born after Sept. 11, 2001, have lived in a world shadowed by the death and destruction of that day — we all have. This tragedy was a trauma that seemed to normalize terrorism, war, hate. The deaths of thousands, including individual loved ones, are still mourned.
All our lives we will struggle to make sense of the tragedies happening around us. No one can say why these horrors happen. We struggle to keep our faith in goodness, hope, compassion and love.
Still, with all we know of pain, we must embrace our commitment to one another, to community, to accountability. We must not step away from the struggle of humanity but lean in to care and problem-solve. The 9/11 terrorists embraced beliefs of death and destruction; they were wrong. There is a faithfulness that honors life and is life-giving. It is a loving faith, which we must show to our children because this is the greater strength and the only way to a better future.