9/11 What We Saw: Enduring Images of the Attack on These United States

I began writing this on September 14, 2001.
I have added on a bit here and there…
Every so often, I choke up. Every so often I cry.
“I, on the day I am afraid, I call to You,
let not the wanton forsakers the precious [Torah] victimize me.
Pay them their due, [when you] sit [in judgement] to examine
the wicked and evil decree promulgated at their councils.
They plot to make [us] oblivious of the holy, revered Name,
and to accustom us to an unclean name of vile idolatry.
This method of theirs has ruined the best of our people;
save the remnant from being crushed [like olives] in the press.
They have learned to rend human prey, as stated [by the prophet]
[And] they cast lots, as if for a thing left ownerless in the desert.
They almost destroyed [us], and indeed spared no effort,
but for your mercy, Lord Who leads with kindness…….”
Selicah 9, said on the third day of Selichos, which was the 23rd of Elul, 5761, September 11, 2001
It’s Friday, erev Shabbos, the Sabbath before Rosh Hoshana.
Every morning the month before Rosh Hoshana, the month of Elul, we blow the shofar, reminding us that the New Year is coming; reminding us to repent, to do teshuva; reminding us to turn to G-d.
Every morning the week before Rosh Hoshana, we say Selichos, which are prayers of supplications to G-d, asking him to remember His Mercy.
It is Erev Rosh Hoshana; Erev Yom Kippur; Erev Succos. These are the Yamim Noraim – The Days of Awe.
Rosh Hoshana is Yom Ha Din, the Day of Judgement where we recognize that G-d is King and intervenes in the world to punish the wicked and reward the good. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement where we recognize that G-d is Judge. On Succos, the Festival of Booths and Simchas Torah, we celebrate G-d as our Protector.
………..”Fortify the strength of the surviving remnant,
[whose] power is exhausted by the burden of evil that causes diminution.
While [the pain of] one calamity still remains,
the second rushes and hurries its advent.
From one day to the next my pain increases,
each day is worse than the one before.
I am worn out with bearing the yoke of duress,
[as] the [conquerors] pronounce,
‘Weigh out [your gold] and bring plenty!’
The oppressive enemy is pushing Your precious one
to exchange her Hope for a man-made faith…………..”
(Selicah 12 – said on the fourth day of Selichos)
Before these holidays, I always have a few more things to do. As I am a builder/ remodeler/ carpenter, there are people who need my skills to prepare. Some need a succah, the temporary dwelling that we put together for the holiday of Succos.
Then there is my blessed wife, Marcie, who would like me to “finish just one project” around our poor home before the High Holy Days. And then there are shtenders to repair and build.
A shtender is a podium/bookstand. As we spend most of the time during Selichos, Rosh Hoshana, and Yom Kippur on our feet, it is a useful and necessary tool on which to rest not only our books, but our bodies.
On Tuesday morning, September 11th, I was in the basement, applying a coat of polyurethane to four shtenders that I had just built. The computer was close by, and I clicked on various news topics as I repositioned the shtenders so that things would download while I worked (*2001, things took forever to download). I mostly search for news on Israel, but a one little item on the Yahoo home page intrigued me – It said, “Plane crashes into the World Trade Center.” I clicked on the story. It wouldn’t come up. I clicked again a few minutes later. It still wouldn’t come up. My wife, listening to the radio upstairs, yelled down to me something incomprehensible. I yelled “What?” She yelled at me to turn on the television.
That’s strange, I thought. She does not watch television. Why would she tell me to do that in the morning?
I turned on the television.
I watched jet number two. I watched as the Pentagon came into the news. I watched for the next two hours.
The surreal “blow em up movie” like quality struck me over and over and over again. It was a very sad movie. It was a very bad movie.
I called my mother and father to tell them I loved them.
During the day, I talked to my friends. One of the members of our community who works in the World Trade Center overslept Tuesday morning. Another woman, who just moved to New Jersey, got a brand-new job at the World Trade Center last week. Tuesday was her first day. She got off the bus downtown and saw a plane collide with the Tower. She got back on the bus and went back uptown. Later, she spent the day collecting money for all the people who fled with absolutely nothing, so they could get home.
Another friend of mine told me to make sure my passport was in order as I might want to be leaving here rather suddenly because when things go this wrong are and are this bad, the world blames the Jews. I strongly disagreed with him. I told him that it couldn’t happen in America….
I am going to get my passport ready….
I told another friend who was not Jewish that this is what Israel goes through every day. She responded that there are terrorists on both sides of the question in Israel.
There are terrorists on both sides of the question in Israel………..
This person is one of the kindest, most tolerant people I have ever known in this world. I explained to her how utterly wrong she was – as Manhattan burned, neither one of us wanted to argue, and she agreed that she was wrong.
Sometimes, the Israeli’s have been wrong. Sometimes, as with all nations and governments, Israel behaves badly. But there are no terrorists in Israel.
Perhaps in 1947 or even three thousand years ago, there may have been Jewish terrorists. But not today.
In Israel, there are brave, valiant, and strong human beings who struggle daily to defend themselves from this same Evil that attacked us and that has vowed to murder them; to destroy them; and to obliterate them. This Evil will not stand.
“…..the unclean ones who say they will destroy your heritage,
to exchange Your glory for emptiness and imbue themselves with it;
To accept the vile offshoot as a god,
and Your holy awesomeness to abandon and revile.
With Your love and Your compassion, O you who bear [us] and upraise [us],
confound their counsel and nullify their intentions.
Cast much confusion among them and repulse and give no rest to the cruel angel.
For the sake of Your own honor and Your lauded holy Name,
do awesome wonders, that [Your Name] not be desecrated among the nations.
Lead their advisors and strong men into folly,
and torment them as they have tormented me.
You Who raise the needy form the dust,
the destitute form the trash heap,
do not deliver Your congregation to destruction and disgrace.
Though they be slothful and lax regarding Your commands,
let Your love cover over all their willful sins.
Your love for them abounds, O Lord of lords;
no matter what, they are called Your children…..”
(Selicah 14 – said on the fifth day of Selichos)
This Evil is not like us.
This Evil worships Death and slaughters multitudes for the sake of growing its own Power.
And, any country or people or place that promotes or encourages this Evil to slaughter; to maim and obliterate; must be stopped.
My children; my wife; my closest friends and my community are direct targets for this monstrous Evil.
Not only did this Evil attack the United States; not only does this Evil murder innocents in Israel; this particular Evil is out to kill me, personally …. The exact same grotesque Evil that wishes to butcher me because I am an American also wishes to annihilate me because I am Jewish.
It’s very personal. This Evil, personally, wants me dead.
My eldest son was 21 years old on September 17th, 2001. He was going to Israel for the 1st time to learn at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. His plane reservations were for October 15th. My wife had me go with him to make sure that it was “safe” in Israel.
G-d forbid, my son should have been where it was “safe” in Manhattan on September 11th.
A month before September 11th, there was a terrible tragedy in the Jewish community. A large group of Orthodox Jews were killed in a helicopter crash while sightseeing over the Grand Canyon. There were tens of thousands of Jews at the funerals in New York. Tuesday, September 11th, was the memorial service that takes place thirty days after someone has died. There were many, many people who were at this Shloshim, this memorial service, and not at their jobs at the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning.
The Torah portion that we read in the synagogue every week for that week of September 11th is called Nitzavim. At the end of the passage, G-d tells His people “I call heaven and earth today to bear witness against you; I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that you will live, you and your offspring – to love Hashem, your G-d, to listen to His voice and cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, to dwell upon the land that Hashem swore to your forefathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
– Parshas Nitzavim – Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:19,20
G-d commands us to Choose Life. Those who Choose life are with G-d. Those who choose Death are against G-d. It is our human responsibility to remove those who choose Death.
“….Save those who trust in You,
who have fled to take cover in Your shadow.
Demand [judgement] for the persecution [they have suffered]:
it is Yours to do that.
Hear [the prayer of] the downtrodden, see his failing spirit;
may his expressions and his outpouring of prayer
find favor [before You].
Strengthen [his] weakness, prop [his] staggering,
to bring him relief,
for, behold, [You are] the Maker of mountains,
the Creator of spirit,
Who tells each man [at judgement time] what he has wrought.”
(Selicah 17 – said on the sixth day of Selichos)
Every year, on September 11th, I read about what happened. I talk to people. I write a bit about it. I watch the events unfold on the various videos.
I watch a video made shortly after at: https://youtu.be/JkuVKm4oNZw
I have never let go of 9/11. My brother, an assimilated Texan and a Vietnam vet, gave me a lapel pin shortly after that was an American flag with a red white and blue memorial ribbon around it that says 9-11-2001 on the bottom.
I am still wearing that pin.
In my Orthodox Jewish world, people do not wear American flag pins with what looks like a candy cane around it. I get peculiar looks in some of the Orthodox enclaves where I visit or pray.
I have often thought that maybe it’s time to take the pin off – I have also been flying the American flag on the flagpole outside of my house and, I sometimes think that it’s time to take that down too…
(*September 10, 2021 – I still wear that pin. My flag still flies)
But, I don’t.
When the rare person stares at my lapel pin with a questioning look in their eyes, I try and explain –
There is a Great Evil in this world that is seeking to destroy us all. It is present and ongoing. Bin Laden was simply the Evil that attacked us on 911.
This exact same Evil is present in what is today called the “Arab Spring” – which is just a continuation of a murderous 100 year Great Sectarian Civil War in the Muslim and Arab worlds.
This Evil worships Death and wishes to destroy all those (particularly other Arabs and Muslims) who do not worship Death in the same manner.
This Evil wishes to obliterate Israel.
This Evil wishes to destroy the United States.
If we do not remember this Evil and fight against it, it will, indeed, “destroy” our world.
So, I wear my lapel pin and I hope that I remember to remember.
*September 10, 2021:
Much of This World has surrendered to this Evil.
The Death worshipers have grown in strength and numbers.
They rule many countries, including the US, and they control the airwaves.
Fight.
Do no go gently into this dark night.
Remember that G-d is in Charge and He made us in His Image.
He is the Freedom of Choice; the Freedom of Will.
We have the Freedom to Choose.
We, each and every one of us, has the G-d Given Freedom to Choose how we can learn from Any event in This World that G-d has given us.
Good Shabbos.
September 10, 2021 – I still wear that pin. My flag still flies!