An otherwise beautiful ceremony in Lewes to mark the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11 was marred by the comments of one speaker who made what struck us as a gratuitously hurtful remark.
This speaker, noting that God spoke to her that tragic day and guided her in saving numerous people from being trampled, told the assembled that she was subsequently interviewed by the New York Times about her experience. In a wink-and-nod aside to the assembled, she disparaged the Times and its “Jewish reporters,” implying they could not be expected to accurately describe her God-inspired experience.
We found her comments deeply hurtful and inappropriate. While we respect her obviously fervent religious beliefs, she used words in a public forum that should have struck those assembled as offensive.
Her comments also may have been misleading. Perhaps she spoke with other reporters, but we found only two articles in the Times’ archive that mention her. She was quoted in the Times’ lead story, written Sept. 12 by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Serge Schmemann, whose father was an influential Russian Orthodox priest and theologian, and whose mother was a descendant of a Russian Orthodox saint. In another Times’ story, written Sept. 13 by Anne Cronin, she was quoted as follows: “I heard a lot of people saying ‘Jesus Christ’ – I don’t know in what way. I heard people asking how they were going to get home and I told them to get down on their knees and thank God they were alive.”
She began her commentary by noting her thanks for being among like-minded people. We hope that was not the case, but we wonder. Not a single person rose to the podium afterward to condemn her language, including clergy who also spoke at the ceremony. The only reaction we heard from the audience came from us.
We consider ourselves lucky. In our more than 70 years, we have never attended any public event that included such hurtful references to Jews. Until a few days ago.
We are all responsible for condemning this kind of public speaking. At a minimum, our religious leaders, including those who attended the Lewes 9/11 memorial, must remind their congregations that it is not acceptable to demean people whose religious beliefs may differ from their own.
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