Events 2006
Interfaith Service Commemmorates the Victims of September 11, 2001
September 11, 2006 Ambassador Arnall spoke at an Interfaith Commemoration in the Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Beth Jehoeda in The Hague.
Remarks by Ambassador Roland Arnall
Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Beth Jehoeda, The Hague, September 11, 2006
Excellencies,
Rabbi Soetendorp,
Imam van Bommel,
Pastor de Boer,
Distinguished guests:
This afternoon brings us together to commemorate the thousands of innocent lives that were devastated on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. Our world collided that day with the atrocities that personify terrorism and embolden the lives of its devotees.
Many of you have, perhaps, witnessed and/or experienced the inhumanity and violence that can be thrust on another person, another nation, by a people whose values are warped and degraded, and who have desecrated a religion in the name of righteousness. Colleagues, businessmen, volunteers – unassuming, dedicated individuals - have been targeted, held hostage and traumatized; and, without thought, murdered – all blanketed under the auspices of political and religious heresy.
Over the past five years, we – as representatives of and spokespersons for our countries – have been learning how to best understand an ideology which contradicts, affronts, and defies our western values of democracy, freedom, humanity and tolerance; as well as how to best share that understanding and knowledge with our fellow countrymen. Fanatics and terrorists will not be appeased, and do not negotiate. We are faced with dilemmas questioning our leaders as to appropriate, plausible, viable ways to combat the maelstrom we are confronted with at home and abroad.
John F. Kennedy said, “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” I believe that terrorists hide their faces, and couch their words in rhetoric and lies because they are a “nation” – as it were – that is afraid to let its’ brethren, supporters and fellow countrymen judge truth and falsehood openly for fear of losing them to a just, democratic and modern life. A life which would gradually denounce and reject the control they exert and the psychological subjugation they now wield.
Our values, our lives are founded on a system of democratic beliefs, written laws, folklores; and, respectful and humane principles. We protect and defend our rights as well as others’ rights to live in freedom and in peace. And, because we cherish and hold to these laws and beliefs, we are resilient and our commitment is absolute.
Ronald Reagan said, “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.” I believe his words incisively convey President Bush’s thoughts, and suggest his subsequent actions in the days following September 11th, 2001.
President Bush was – and remains - clear and steadfast in his resolve to retaliate, defend and protect the freedoms and rights that were violated so savagely. And in the aftermath of that Tuesday morning, there was but one direction to follow, one decision to be contended with. He defined it quite simply, quite eloquently when he said, “Great tragedy has come to us, and we are meeting it with the best that is in our country, with courage and concern for others because this is America. This is who we are.”
At home today, families and friends will commemorate those who are lost to us and will hold close those who are near to us. Laurels will memorialize and embrace the ground that nurtures our lost. We are the past, the present and the future – we are a circle of remembrance.
I would like us to share a moment in silence, in love, in respect, for the memory of the innocent thousands who died on September 11th, 2001.
Thank you.
Remarks by Imam Abulwahid van Bommel
Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Beth Jehoeda, The Hague, September 11, 2006
The acts of terror of 9/11 and all acts of terror and terrorism after that.
The Quran tells us: “… whoso slays a soul
shall be as if he had slain mankind
altogether; and whoso gives life to a soul,
shall be as if he had given life to mankind
altogether…
The Quran openly declares that it were the
Children of Israel - who first received this
revelation. (5:32).
That’s why my reading of the Quran demands for powerful interfaith dialogue as a necessary step toward easing world tension.
Now we as Muslims may ask ourselves why a terrorist can use the Quran as a foundation for violence and an imam can use the same foundation to mourn the victims caused by that terrorist. Muslims like me became aware of the fact that they are reading a whole different Quran than Muslimterrorists do.
My reading of the Quran – and for that matter the interpretation of the Quran of the majority of Muslims that I know - condemns all acts of terrorism targeting civilians. We have to say it over and over again: There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is forbidden - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”
My reading of the Quran condemns anti-Semitism and other forms of religious intolerance. Muslim education and Muslim media should be prepared to portray Jews and Christians as heirs to, and equal carriers of, the Abrahamic tradition.
My reading of the Quran enables me to say Oh, Jew! Oh Christian! Oh Agnost! Oh Humanist!
You are no stranger to me. Your pain is my pain, your sadness is my sadness and your joy is my joy; your values are my values and your human rights are my human rights.
We are the children of Adam we are the children of humanity.
Only when we are able to say this to each other wholeheartedly we will be able to break down the walls of hatred and come to mutual trust.
And if we cannot say this to each other wholeheartedly and sincerely, than, without exaggeration, I can say we did not reach the level of being human yet.
Remarks by Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp
Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Beth Jehoeda, The Hague, September 11, 2006
Everyone carries a story - devastation, heroism, courage, the unselfish love, the emptiness, and the hope against hope.We in this synagogue carry ours. It was five years ago when we heard and saw the devastation. It was just a day or so before our jubilee was going to be celebrated. This synagogue was built by Jews who were descendants of those who fled Spain and Portugal when they were driven out by a cruel inquisition. They came to The Hague and they built in 1726 this small magnificent sanctuary.
We in this synagogue were preparing to celebrate the 275th anniversary. That night of the fires, the screaming, the heroism of firemen, policemen and simple human beings, we decided to turn the jubilee celebration into a common commemoration. And so we happened to be the first place in the Netherlands and maybe the first place of many places in the world, where we commemorated together with the representatives of the United States the devastation and tried to speak of consolation. Coincidence in recognition of cosmic order that also exists, and of which which we are seldom aware.
So today, five years later, it is again this small sanctuary, that celebrates at this moment the 280th anniversary, where we are together in sadness but in persistence. We in the Jewish community are preparing ourselves for the High Holy days and the last readings from the Hebrew scripture which will be read tomorrow “Reé natat lefanecha hayom et hachayim ve ethatov ve et hamavet ve et hara” : "See I've set before you today life and what is good, death and what is evil."
Those who were suddenly taken away from life had no choice, others had taken their choice to use evil means of destruction. To choose the bad is to choose evil. But we know out of experience of wars, as was pointed out again and again, that yes, unfortunately, evil can be contagious, but thank God goodness is also contagious. And therefore all those forces of compassion that we try to gather together are stronger than all the evil that passes through.
When I listen to my brother Van Bommel when he interprets and reads from the true Koran I know that we are together because the sentence he has quoted, a central sentence in the Koran, is paralleled exactly word by word in the Talmud, which is the center of Jewish faith and liberty. “He who saves one human life has saved the whole world, who has destroyed one human life has destroyed the whole universe."
Thus Deuteronomy calls us “to choose life.” And we read it in this synagogue from a scroll, newly written by a scribe in Jerusalem for the 275th anniversary of this synagogue. In our proud Holy Ark the Torah scroll is placed next to torn parchments, the only remnants of a Tora scroll destroyed by the Nazis but never fully destroyed. And thus the Torah continues in an unbroken chain of tradition, to speak to us “Ki hamitsvah asher Anochi metsavecha hayom (for this commandment which I command you this day), it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in the heaven, it is not across the waters: ‘beficha uvilvavecha.’” "It is in your mouth and in your heart, it can and is to be done."
And so all those acts of courage and all those unseen gestures of love that accompanied the reconstruction, that accompanied these life-saving efforts then and since, our cosmic forces will bring us together, my spiritual brothers and myself, the great spiritual traditions of the world and humanism to build this world in peace. I have been moved like you have been moved by the witnesses of people who have reconstructed their life in these five agonizing years. People who always cry, but also learn to smile again. People have been able to show that goodness is triumphant, yes, the golden rule: "Veahavta re echa kamocha” : "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is followed in the same chapter by the sentence "You shall love the stranger because you have been strangers in the land of Egypt." "You shall not say because I have been degraded my neighbour should be degraded.” Those who have gone through suffering want love and sustenance, they don't want revenge, they want an end to repression.
Ambassador Arnall and I were infants in the 2nd World War. We have been saved by courageous people. I've been saved by a Catholic, German-born woman, who risked all her loyalties and all her safety and her family for the unknown Jewish boy. Yes, they have been few, but they have been saving lives. All my life I have lived with the knowledge and the conviction that the soft powers of compassion are the powers that will save us.
And so, friends, brothers, and sisters in this community of the living who commemorate the community of the deceased, may the holy blessings be the compassion and protect us and strengthen us to continue our road together in time to build. And so this is for me that symbolically I put a stone here. At a Jewish cemetery one leaves stones to commemorate the deceased, to make a mark. And all those stones together, we believe, will be the stones with which will be built a temple of peace. May our stones together build a temple of peace, of love, where children's fears are turned into a blessed future that will penetrate all the hearts and give us life.
Remarks by Father Sjaak de Boer
Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Beth Jehoeda, The Hague, September 11, 2006
Psalm 23,
I
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
II
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
for years to come.
This psalm is about consolation and hope in the Lord when we walk through dark valleys and in the sight of our foes. To fear no evil and have courage. All this is easier said than done.
We have seen so much violence resulting from terrorism in the world since 9/11 five years ago. Think of Bali, Madrid, London, Turkey, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Breslan, and the list goes on. At these places God’s name was invoked in and out of context. People feared no evil and claimed to be courageous because God was at their side.
Invoking the name of God should make us very humble. When from our religious backgrounds we do so, we should keep in mind all the spiritual treasures of our faith and religions. When we single out one aspect of God we tend to become limited in our views, fundamentalist or fanatical. But when we read our sacred books properly we know that in every tradition God does not want violence, or human sacrifices.
Psalm 23 gives us the image of a shepherd who guides us in the right path for his name’s sake. The name of God embodies love. The love for God and the worship derived from it can only be authentic when it is expressed in love for our neighbour. What good is it to love our God when we show no respect for our neighbour? No God or religion is served by the blood of lost lives. As Christians we have no clean slate. In our history we abused the name of God for our own interests, our power and our politics. In his name lives were taken and innocent blood shed. During the Jubilee year 2000 the pope asked God and the world for forgiveness.
Because from those who walk in the ways of God, only goodness and kindness should follow. These characteristics are guidelines on the path through dark valleys and in the sight of our foes. But how can we be kind to our foe when we are attacked? How can we tell this Scripture texts to the relatives of the victims and all the traumatized? Isn’t an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth more effective? Are we not naïve when we use this religious language?
Of course we should defend and protect ourselves. But at the same time we should try to understand who our enemy really is. In our modern world the enemies of prejudice and pride of nations and religions among themselves. The enemy of growing poverty in a world where our materialistic lifestyle ignores the needs of the poor. The enemies of superiority and discrimination.
The UN has developed a wonderful plan to increase the quality of life in the world. In the year 2000 more than 180 leaders from governments signed the 8 Millennium goals to reduce poverty by 2015 with 50%. This can be done by providing education, treating boys and girls equally, improving healthcare, getting involved in fair trade, investing in clean drinking water and proper hygiene, by fighting AIDS and other diseases. If we would fight these enemies with the same zeal as we invest in military defense our world could become a more restful place and the tables of many more people would be spread with cups that would overflow.
Investing in this goodness and kindness will show us we are on the right path. A path that our sacred Books all agree on. A path that feeds the hungry and gives courage to the people who are left out on their own in the dark valleys of our world. Here religious language can become the motivation for change in a positive way. A change that leads to saving lives rather than destroying them. When we achieve these goals with the help of all the energy and resources that our religions offer we will experience that we can dwell in the house of our God for many years to come.
That house needs building here in this world. Psalms 23 gives us a vision of that possibility. Consolation and hope can only come from this text when we are prepared to put God’s will in practice. From our sacred text we learned that his will is this: That the love of God always goes together with the love for our neighbour. Only then do we live the letter and the spirit of the Law.