Benediction at 2013 Colorado 9/11 Memorial

The following is the benediction I offered at the 2013 Colorado 9/11 Memorial presented at the Newman Center at the University of Denver:

Twelve years ago. Twelve years ago the unthinkable happened. Twelve years ago our world was forever changed as nearly 3,000 people; men, women and children, perished on that clear September day. We were shaken. We were horrified. We were terrified. Yet, something else also happened: We raised our flags. We extended our hand to our neighbors. We picked each other up from the ruins and the ashes and we stood together; with greater resolve, with renewed commitment and with an unyielding strength in the vision and virtues of America.

Twelve years ago we discovered that when we stand together in faith and in solidarity; when we reach across the social, cultural and religious lines that divide us; when we lift our voices in hope and in a shared brotherhood, nothing can break our spirits; nothing can destroy our eternally relevant and eternally timeless striving for a world made more perfect and a world redeemed.

Dear God, as we gathered here tonight to remember and to reflect; let us also renew our commitment to You and to each other. Let us renew our commitment to solidarity and to shared society. Let us renew our faith in the fundamental truth “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Every day in our prayers as a Jewish community we affirm the message from Proverbs: “al tira mi’pachad pitom – We will have no fear of the suddenness of terror.” Together and united we shall not be afraid. Amen.