I wish to thank Rabbi Stern for giving me the opportunity to speak to the congregation tonight on Kol Nidre...
Rabbi Stem, friends, fellow congregants, I would first like to wish everyone a heartfelt Shana Tova and Good Yuntif. May the New Year bless you and your loved ones with good fortune and good health.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims from September 11th. They will not be forgotten. I would like to thank the firefighters, police officers and rescue workers for their courageous and heroic efforts.
I consider it a privilege to have been born and raised within in the shadows of the World Trade Center. In the summer of 1995,1 worked at the World Trade Center, interning for Dean Witter on the 67th floor of Tower One. It was truly a working environment like no other. On September 11th, under perfectly blue skies, I witnessed to the unimaginable from the rooftop of my apartment in Hoboken.
I felt as if a piece of me was yanked from my soul when I saw those towers collapse. As a Jew whose people have suffered for millennia at the hands of hatred, this horrific act of terrorism is nothing more than an extension of that same hate - promulgated by the Babylonians, Haman, Ramses and Hitler.
In our hearts, there is terrible rage. I only hope that the pain and the suffering endured by so many will begin to ease as we go forward with our lives.
Which makes me think - is "hope" all we really have left in our arsenal of optimism?
This is not the first time I have addressed the congregation on Kol Nidre. My sentiments back then were about hope in the face of adversity. Little has changed other than the fact that back then, I was 6 months in remission for brain cancer. Today, 5 years to the day, I have been in complete remission for 66 months.
I am here to speak to you about the appreciation and fragility of life and the spirit of faith and hope that resides in us all. We as Jews come together during the High Holy days to renew our lives and spirit as well as our hope for a happy and healthy New Year.
I would like to quote C.S. Lewis who once wrote: "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make everyday are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of." For some it may be stepping back on a plane, for me it is going forward with my life in spite of my cancer.
I stand before you a survivor. I have won a war against an enemy who has no mercy. Cancer has no bias. Cancer has it's own agenda. Cancer makes no distinction based on religion, color, race, or gender. Cancer strikes without warning and kills hundreds of thousands of innocent people every year.
Sound familiar? Cancer isn't unlike Terrorism. However, unlike cancer, terrorism is intentional.
As a cancer survivor, there is little I fear. I no longer fear death for I am comfortable with the path I have carved out, the lives I have touched, the small piece of the world I have changed for the better. However, as a potential victim for future terrorist activity, there is something I fear -1 fear hate. We must always remember that no one is born hating.
They call the Bible the "good book" because it is a good book. It is a great book. In the Bible, there are lots of great lessons to be learned, lots of moral and ethical guidelines to be followed, and lots of common sense good advice.
The Bible speaks at length of the fundamental struggle between good and evil. Can there ever be lasting peace amongst humankind? Can good exist without evil? Don't they need each other to coexist? If so, must there always be *some* evil *all* the time? This new war is the first pseudo-civilized battle for victory in the biblical struggle between good and evil.
Judaism teaches us to love G-d with all our heart. Whatever God means to you, it is within all of us to acknowledge our commonalties as well as our differences. It is how we choose to use our interpretation of God and faith - whether for good or evil - that will be the sole determining factor in how we go forward from now on.
The High Holy Days have always represented a rebirth to me. It is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. No matter how tragic or triumphant the previous chapter was, we must learn from our experiences in order better ourselves to make the coming year as fruitful as possible.
The challenge is to have courage and hope in the face of adversity. This challenge can be as equally daunting as having faith in God. Evil is fueled by hate. Hope is fueled by love. Love is fueled through the support of family, friends, and community.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank my mother and father; first off for having me; and secondly for doing everything right, for always being there, for teaching me right from wrong and especially for giving me the strength to fight on and embrace life's little bumps.
My brother is my rock with whom I cannot live without; his boundless strength and fortitude is buried deep within him; he is an inspiration to us all.
And to all those who in some way have touched our lives, you've make a difference and we thank you for your courage.
I thank God that I am alive, now more than ever. I am proud to be a Jew and I am proud to have faith in a way that I cannot put into words. I believe that being Jewish helped me to prepare me for the challenges of survival and the success I have today.
Everything that happens to you, whether you like it or not, becomes a part of your life....and you must live your life; and be the absolute best you can be every step of the way. Now, there is only forward and there is only upward. Good Yuntif and G-d bless you and G-d bless America.