Inter-faith service to observe solemn anniversary
BRADENTON -- Both men remember where they were that fateful Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001.
Rabbi Harold F. Caminker was at home in Riverside, Calif., watching The Today Show.
Pastor Allan Bazzy was on the phone in a Sante Fe, N.M., hotel room, being tutored in Arabic while the TV was on.
Ten years later, the horrific images of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center evoke bad memories.
“I’d officiated weddings at ‘Windows on the World,’” said Caminker of Temple Beth El, referring to the North Tower’s famous dining venue. “My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. It was absolutely unthinkable, the Pearl Harbor of our generation times 10.”
“I was usually tutored an hour a day by a man in Egypt,” said Bazzy, pastor at The Unity Church in the Woods.
“But I saw what happened out of the corner of my eye and I told him I’ve got to go. We’ve been attacked.”
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of that tumultuous day, both clerics will join a host of religious leaders for “Bradenton Remembers 9/11,” a multi-faith, multi-cultural observance at Temple Beth El, one of 15 congregations on the 10-acre Unity Campus.
Shiraz Hassan, from the Islam Center “Peace,” will also take part in the program.
The keynote speaker is Garrett Lindgren, retired from the Fire Department of New York after 21 years, who will share his experience on 9/11.
Caminker initiated the idea for the special service.
“It occurred to me there was nothing happening of an inter-faith nature to commemorate this significant national anniversary,” he said. “I hope it will bring together a large segment of the community so we gather on one particular day and have one thing in common on 9/11 -- that we’re all Americans.
“No politics, no partisanship, no divisiveness, just collective resolve to make the future better.”
Bazzy never did resume those Arabic lessons.
“I was taking them so I could better explain the Koran to our congregation,” he said. “We’re bridge builders and try to find good in all religions, cultures and languages.
“But because of 9/11, there was such hostility toward Islam. That whole willingness to listen was gone. We lost that. Including myself.”
Bazzy said Bradenton Remembers 9/11 is a chance to get that back.
“It’s a return to that dialogue, picking up where we left off,” he said. “Going back to 9/11 for me is saying we still need to learn to understand each other. This service is about trying to find common ground.”
Vin Mannix, local columnist, can be reached at 745-7055.
IF YOU GO
What: Bradenton Remembers 9/11
Where: Temple Beth El, 4200 32nd St. W., Bradenton
When: 5 p.m. Sept. 11
Information: Call 755-4900
This story was originally published September 3, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Inter-faith service to observe solemn anniversary."