Hebrew Voices #52 – Heroes of 9/11

Hebrew Voices #52 - Heroes of 9/11

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Benjamin Netanyahu: Le ma’an Zion lo ekhesheh, u’l’ma’an Yerushalayim lo eshkot. (For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. Isaiah 62:1)

Nehemia: September 11th, 2001, 9/11. That was a day that changed the lives of millions of people all over the world. For me, it was a time of great despair in which I came to know God's holy name. Years after 9/11, I heard about a Church next to the Twin Towers, built in 1766, that survived without a single window being broken that day. I went to see it for myself and found God's holy name inscribed in Hebrew characters in two places at the front of the Church. I learned that on 9/11, people ran into this strong tower and found an island of safety as a cloud of toxic dust swept over the area.

One of those who sought refuge in the Church that day was a New York City police officer named David Brink. In my book, “Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence,” I told the story of how Detective Brink used the Church's holy water to wash toxic dust out of his eyes. Recently, I returned to Ground Zero in Manhattan to talk with Detective David Brink, who gave me a personal tour of the new 9/11 Memorial Museum, and walked me through the tragic events of that day. I was humbled by Detective Brink's heroism. After the South Tower collapsed, he stayed at Ground Zero to save as many lives as possible, guiding hundreds to safety down the survivor stairs, even as the North Tower was collapsing on top of them. This episode of Hebrew Voices is dedicated to the heroes of 9/11, both those who sacrificed their lives and the survivors.

Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon with Hebrew Voices. I am coming to you from the 9/11 Memorial. And I'm here with Detective David Brink, who was a first responder on 9/11. That sound you're hearing is the rushing of the water of two giant pools that mark the spot where the two towers stood, the towers that came down on 9/11.

David: This is where the South Tower stood. These are the actual footprints. This actually goes down three stories, and the water is constantly going 24 hours a day as a reminder. All the people's names are inscribed around here of every single person that was lost that day. And on their birthdays, the Museum will come out and place a rose on their names. And on 9/11, there'll be many, many American flags that are put out here.

All the names of the first responders, the firefighters and the police officers and EMS that died that day are actually inscribed on the Towers. We have the names of the civilians, they're on one side, and the firefighters and the police and the EMS are on the other. They were all put together. All the firefighters, all the police and the EMS, they're all on one side. They're on an angle. They're on the west and the south side of the South Tower. People who died at the Pentagon, they are listed here. The different flights, they are listed here, as well as all the civilians that passed away in the buildings.

We walked over to the south side of the South Tower. And this is where all the first responders and their names are, and I'm going to show him the guys that I had lost that day from the Emergency Service Unit. We have the Port Authority police officers, United States Secret Service. We’ve got the FBI, EMS emergency service, and NYPD, and of course, FDNY. I was assigned to emergency services squad number three, and we lost three guys that day, Vinnie Danz, Jerome Dominguez, and Walter Weaver. I used to ride a lot with Wally, and I was supposed to ride with Jerome that day. But Jerome and Wally decided to ride together that day. They were part of one of the teams at the South Tower, and that was the first one that collapsed that day. And I reach down inside and I get water, and I always make the sign of the cross over my guys.

As a matter of fact, I've got a tattoo of a truck designation with the Trade Center behind it, and also the guys that I was missing that day, Wally and Jerome, WWJD.