Bravery, Loss Remembered at Teaneck 9/11 Ceremony

Teaneck marked the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with a ceremony and wreath-laying in honor of the eight township residents who died at the World Trade Center.

Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky, of Congregation Beth Sholom, said the tragedy should prompt self-reflection.

“What kind of person are you?” Pitkowsky asked in his invocation. “Are you the kind of person like the murderers of 9/11, who hate others because of their religious or political views? Or are you the kind of person whose light shined so bright on 9/11, the person who allows love to conquer hate, who allows differences between people to mean nothing because human kindness and compassion recognize no national or racial boundaries?”

“Nine-eleven is not only a time to mourn those who were murdered and to remember the great injustice done to them. It is also a time to recognize the compassion and the bravery shown by thousands on that day and in the days afterwards,” he added.

Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen said 9/11, like the attack on Pearl Harbor, spurred acts of bravery and selflessness.

“Eleven years ago the bravest were there again in unity to protect our families, our friends and our neighbors,” Gussen said. “More than 400 of those bravest, EMTs, firefighters and police officers, died among the almost 3000 murdered that day.”

Gussen asked the crowd to rededicate their lives in honor of those who died in the terrorist attacks and said the threat to America remains eleven years later.

“Today we live in a world threatened continuously by terror waged by those that are sworn to destroy us, our way of life, and the freedoms we hold dear,” he said.

The crowd of about 100 people paused at 8:46 a.m. to mark the time when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

"A few moments of silence is the least that we can do for those Americans who lives were lost eleven years ago," said John McGilchrist, chairman of the town’s Patriotic Observance Advisory Board.