NY Times - Letter to the Editor re: “Trump Eyes Takeover of Sept. 11 Memorial
Arnold Korotkin
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Eyes Takeover of Sept. 11 Memorial” (news article, Sept. 6):
Nearly a quarter-century since the world-changing terrorist attacks, and with feelings in some quarters that it is time to move on, a critical issue for survivors continues to be the proper disposition of the site’s unidentified remains.
Understandably, this is a distressing, profoundly spiritual and religious matter, because rather than a dignified, properly designated, publicly accessible home, these remains are housed in a basement storage area, with no fitting narrative and no “naming” of these “unnamable” children of God.
The hundreds of families connected to these remains deserve better. They need and require a suitable memorial, perhaps along the lines of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Their remains may be unnamed and unidentified, but they were and are loved, and must never be degraded or disgraced.
(Rabbi) Simkha Y. Weintraub
Philadelphia
The writer is a retired rabbinic director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York and led a support group for family members of those killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center