To my three children, and the 100 million plus Americans under the age of 25, let’s talk. The silver anniversary of 9/11 is today and I need to tell you why it matters. When I was growing up, Pearl Harbor Day would arrive every Dec. 7. When it did, I noticed that all of the adults around me would grow sad. They had clearly been impacted by the previously most important surprise attack on American soil, but I had no context for their loss. I do not want the same thing to happen to you.
A quarter century ago, the world was a very different place than it is now. TVs were where you saw the news. Cellphones were only used for making calls, and social media was in its infancy.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the skies across the Northeast were crystal clear. Kids were heading off to school, adults to work. Nothing was out of place.
I remember looking forward to calling my sister in Manhattan for her birthday. She beat me to it, letting me know a plane had just hit the Twin Towers. Like many others, I assumed it was an accident. It was only when I turned on my TV just as the second plane hit that I realized America was under attack. As the towers fell, I saw them with my own eyes, massive steel structures collapsing in a blink of an eye.
Over the next hours, days and weeks, life came to a standstill. Questions like who had done this and why consumed us. We feared more attacks were on the way. Rescuers from all over poured in to recover bodies. Airports shut down. Support came in from all corners of the planet. Americans randomly grabbed one another on the street for comfort. We were in shock. A quarter century later, we are still in shock.
The 19 terrorists who hijacked planes on that day took something from all of us. Almost 3,000 American lives were lost that morning. Good people, with loving families. People who were active community members, contributing parts of society, first responders, true heroes. The infrastructure of lower Manhattan and Washington, D.C., were badly damaged. Companies and communities took years to rebuild.
But more than that was the emotional toll it took. We no longer trusted the world around us. Flying became a nightmare. We lashed out against those who were different, especially our Muslim friends and neighbors. Our outer shells hardened.
And, yet, it also brought us together. We built stronger networks, did more advanced planning and intentionally sought one another out. If our world could be torn apart in an instant, we wanted to have communities robust enough to withstand future attacks. We wanted this not only for ourselves, but for you as well.
You, who will never know the joy of going directly to the gate to greet incoming passengers, or feel fully comfortable in large gatherings of people, or believe the world is an oyster to explore.
Know that 9/11 did this to us. Did this to you. And I hope when the date comes around every year, it is not just another mark of our collective history. That it was a real date with real people involved, a story to be told. Your story to tell. Because even if you did not live it, you have lived with it and deserve to feel it is your own.
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last updated on September 9th, 2026 at 04:16 pm