I was practicing juggling inside Congregation Mt. Sinai’s sanctuary when the radio station broadcast that two planes had smashed into the World Trade Center. I ran out to Cadman Plaza Park and watch the Twin Towers burn and crumble.
A short time later, FDNY Chaplain Rabbi Joseph Potasnik set out tables with bottles of water and plates of food for the masses of downtrodden people fleeing Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. All of them were covered in grey gunk from head to toe.
When we were informed that Father Mychal Judge was killed as he ministered to the wounded, Rabbi Potasnik immediately took action and went over the Brooklyn Bridge into the war-torn area.
Many hours later he resurfaced covered in grey gunk — and misery in his eyes.
When I remember how he looked coming back from Ground Zero, I do not understand why religious people are precluded from many 9-11 remembrances.
