{"id":1228,"date":"2016-09-09T17:50:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T21:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2016-09-09T17:50:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T21:50:43","slug":"the-prayer-of-911","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html","title":{"rendered":"The Prayers of 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Prayers of 9\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many heroes emerged on 9\/11. The firefighters and police officers who entered the burning building and debris stand out. Their memories continue to bless and inspire us today.<\/p>\n

Among the overlooked heroes, however, was a group hunkered down in several white tents. The tents stood by the New York City medical examiners office.<\/p>\n

Inside them was a rotating cast of pray-ors. They recited passage from the biblical book of psalms. They were following an ancient Jewish practice of continuously reciting psalms for the deceased between the time of death and burial.<\/p>\n

It took months for some bodies to be identified and buried, and thousands of volunteers prayed without interruption in those tents for three months!<\/p>\n

How It Started<\/strong><\/p>\n

The practice of reciting psalms immediately after death likely began thousands of years ago as a plea for God to show mercy upon the soul of the departed and ensure they not end up in purgatory. It continues today as a way of acknowledging and expressing our emotions, and focusing the mind away from the contemplation of death.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also acknowledges our connection with the dead, suggesting we are part of one community. The living feel a responsibility for reciting psalms on behalf of the deceased.<\/span><\/p>\n

One Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

That certainly proved true after 9\/11. The number of volunteers grew every week. The practice not only brought comfort to the mourners and their families. <\/span><\/p>\n

This continuous prayer affected many neighbors and workers near the site. Several police officers stopped in the tent and asked for their favorite psalm to be read. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another volunteer at the time said the praying \u201dgives a sense of comfort and familiarity to these unstable times.” It is, he said, “a consolation, a way of grieving, and a way of being responsible.” This volunteer summed up the way prayer adds to our well-being during times of despair. <\/span><\/p>\n

As we remember all those who perished on\u00a0 <\/span>9\/11, perhaps we can comfort in the words of that most familiar psalm. \u201cYea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.\u201d May God continue to be with us, and all those who remember. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many heroes emerged on 9\/11. The firefighters and police officers who entered the burning building and debris stand out. Their memories continue to bless and inspire us today. Among the overlooked heroes, however, was a group hunkered down in several white tents. The tents stood by the New York City medical examiners office. Inside them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Prayers of 9\/11 - Truths You Can Use<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Prayers of 9\/11 - Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many heroes emerged on 9\/11. The firefighters and police officers who entered the burning building and debris stand out. Their memories continue to bless and inspire us today. Among the overlooked heroes, however, was a group hunkered down in several white tents. The tents stood by the New York City medical examiners office. Inside them…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-09T21:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2016\/09\/911.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan Moffic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chicagorabbi\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Prayers of 9\/11 - Truths You Can Use","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Prayers of 9\/11 - Truths You Can Use","og_description":"Many heroes emerged on 9\/11. The firefighters and police officers who entered the burning building and debris stand out. Their memories continue to bless and inspire us today. Among the overlooked heroes, however, was a group hunkered down in several white tents. The tents stood by the New York City medical examiners office. Inside them…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html","og_site_name":"Truths You Can Use","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/","article_published_time":"2016-09-09T21:50:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2016\/09\/911.jpg"}],"author":"Evan Moffic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@chicagorabbi","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html","name":"The Prayers of 9\/11 - Truths You Can Use","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2016\/09\/911.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-09T21:50:43+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-09T21:50:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2016\/09\/911.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2016\/09\/911.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2016\/09\/the-prayer-of-911.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Prayers of 9\/11"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/","name":"Truths You Can Use","description":"Jewish Wisdom, Jewish Blogs, Daily Jewish Inspiration and Jewish News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d","name":"Evan Moffic","description":"Rabbi Evan Moffic writes for people of all faiths. His book, What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus was a 2015 best-seller. His upcoming book of devotions\u2014Shalom for the Heart\u2014takes short biblical passages and show they way they can help us make better choices and live with fewer regrets. With Rabbi Moffic, you will find an open, accessible guide to life\u2019s deepest truths. A husband and father, he graduated from Stanford University in 2000, and was ordained a rabbi in 2006. He leads a congregation in suburban Chicago. You can connect with him directly at emoffic@gmail.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.rabbimoffic.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/","https:\/\/x.com\/chicagorabbi"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/author\/emoffic"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}