Deerfield 9/11 speaker: ‘I still can’t believe what we were seeing’

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Rabbi Aaron Melman

Updated: November 5, 2011 1:11PM

Rabbi Aaron Melman will never forget walking through the ashes at the World Trade Center a decade ago, knowing they weren’t only the buildings’ remains.

Melman, who today serves Congregation Beth Shalom Temple in Northbrook, also is the chaplain of the Northbrook Fire Department.

But he was also a student chaplain for the New York Fire Department on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists destroyed the Wold Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan.

Melman will share his recollections of that time during a program at 2 p.m. Sept. 11 at Deerfield’s Village Hall, 850 Waukegan Road.

Melman originally is from Toronto where he attended York University and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Judaic studies. He graduated from the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2002.

He remembers how he awoke that day to the sound of sirens, which aren’t unusual on the streets of the city, but these didn’t stop.

He turned to his TV to find out what was happening and saw the twin towers aflame. He continued to watch with the rest of the world as the tragedy unfolded not far from his doorstep.

The next day, Melman and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and chaplain of the Fire Department of New York, went to Ground Zero.

“We made our way from midtown Manhattan and there was so much darkness, with even more as we grew nearer. The air was filled with ash,” Melman said. “We parked by City Hall, got out and looking back, I still can’t believe what we were seeing,” Melman said. “It was a like a scene from nuclear winter in the movies and I was on the set, waiting for a director to yell “Action!” and Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington to appear, Ashes covered everything - and the ashes were not just of building materials and desks, but of people,” he added.

At that time, Melman said, he was not overcome by the enormity of what had happened because he had a job to do. He had to bring a sense of peace to individuals working at the site in the midst of such tragedy.

Firefighters and other volunteers were in rescue mode, working frantically to move whatever they could in hopes of finding survivors. However, there were very few to find and soon a Brooks Brothers store was turned into a makeshift morgue.

“We made our way from one group of firefighters to another, just laying a hand on a shoulder now and then,” Melman said. “There were no words to make the situation any better, but they knew what we were trying to communicate.

“Every year, I remember what happened there. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. But it’s also given me a greater appreciation for humanity and the good people can do for each other under horrific conditions.”

That’s part of the reason Melman became the Northbrook Fire Department chaplain.

“It’s a love I found, working with the fire service, and something that I want to continue,” Melman said.

Melman’s presentation is being sponsored by the One Book One ZIP Code Committee, Deerfield, and the Deerfield Public Library.

It will follow a Sept. 11 commemoration at 1:30 p.m. on the front lawn of Village Hall. The Deerfield High School Warriors Marching Band will perform a musical arrangement, followed at 1:45 p.m. by members of the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District and the Deerfield Police Department, who will perform an Honor Guard ceremony.