South Florida Mothers Grieve Children Lost In 9/11 Attacks
WESTON (CBS4) – On the ten anniversary of an event that rocked the world, one South Florida mother said she is haunted by the loss of her daughter who died in the terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center Towers. Another mother said the loss of her son from that same attack has left her praying for peace.
Both said they hope that lessons can be learned from the attacks of that day that claimed the lives of more than 2600 people inside the towers and on the ground.
"My heart has a hole in it that doesn't ever close up," said Ingrid Jaffe.
Her 31-year-old daughter Michelle Goldstein was working for the Aon Insurance company on the 98th floor of the South Tower when it was struck by a commercial jet hijacked by terrorists.
"She was the love of my life," said Jaffe, of Lake Worth, who met with CBS4's Peter D'Oench for the interview in Weston. "She was the love of my life along with her sister. But you know when you lose 50 per cent of your life, it's difficult to go on."
It was Goldstein's seven month wedding anniversary on September 11th of 2001. Since then Jaffe has kept her daughter's wedding dress, a piece of her wedding cake in the freezer and other mementos of her daughter's life. She said she clings to them because they are special to her and they remind her of her daughter every day.
"It's been horrid," said Jaffe. "There isn't a day of my life that that child is not in my heart. She is in my soul. My friends all know how I have suffered and they don't know how I've endured with what I've gone through in the last 10 years."
Josh Rosenblum, 28, was working on the 104th floor of the North Tower inside Cantor Fitzgerald when a plane flew into his building just above his office. Rosenblum was the youngest son of Sue Rosenblum of Coral Springs.
"He was very, very close to his brothers and sisters. He loved sports and he loved life. He just loved being alive. It's hard to describe the sense I feel. I think in the first year or two you are numb and the reality sets in. In the third year you think, this actually happened," said Rosenblum. "The only thing I can say is that the pain initially is in sharp edges then it becomes a little rounded. I'm angry that it happened and I have a great sense of loss, but I don't walk around angry."
"I was there for the first anniversary at the site of the attack and it was very difficult," Rosenblum added. "I have been to the site three times."
Rosenblum said her son was going to be married in Bermuda on September 15th of 2011. His fiancée was not at work that day in the World Trade Center because she was at home in Hoboken, New Jersey, getting ready for the wedding.
Jaffe said her daughter called her when the first tower was hit just before 8:47 in the morning. That was 16 minutes before the tower she was in, the South Tower, was struck by another plane. It was struck at 9:03 a.m. and was the first to collapse at 9:59 a.m. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m.
"I begged her to get out," said Jaffe. "She said mom they're telling us we are safe in the building. I said 'Honey, you're not safe'. And she said 'Mom I love you'. She said I have to go, goodbye. Those were her last words to me. They are words that I will never forget as long as I live."
After a previous terrorist attack on one of the towers in 1992, she had begged her daughter never to work there.
"She said mom I won't. For months I had no idea she was working in that building until she let it slip out," said Jaffe.
Now both mothers pray for peace.
"One lesson we can learn is that we need to embrace diversity," said Rosenblum. "We don't need to be angry with one another. We need to respect the differences in people. I'm very anti-war. I think Iraq shouldn't have been. I don't even know if we should be in Afghanistan."
Rosenblum also quoted the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that "returning hate for hate only multiplies hate. Darkness can not drive darkness out. Only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate. Only love can do that."
"We need to teach children what happened on that horrible Tuesday morning, because if we don't teach them, they'll forget," said Jaffe. "When this generation is gone, we'll forget and we can never forget what happened on September 11th, of 2001. I feel we should teach children that what happened on September 11th can happen again. It's not over. We keep sending more and more soldiers overseas and they won't come back."
"We can never ever forget what happened to us on this terrible day," said Jaffe.
Jaffe has established a fund in her daughter's name to benefit abused and abandoned children. It is administered by JAFCO, an acronym for Jewish Adoption and Foster Care Options, 4200 North University Drive, Sunrise, FL. 33351. Donations can be made at www.jafco.org.
"This was one of Michelle's favorite causes," said Jaffe. "Helping abused and abandoned children. This is one thing that keeps me going, my work for my daughter's cause."
