We recently marked the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11 – that terrible day when the symbols of man’s power and achievement crumbled before our eyes and disappeared in fire and smoke.
For a very brief moment we lost our smugness. Our confidence was shaken. Many of us actually searched our ways. Some of us even learned to smile at each other and reach out with a helping hand.
I remember traveling to one of my speaking engagements shortly after 9/11. There was an eerie silence at JFK. There were no lines at security. As a matter of fact, there were no lines anywhere. As I boarded the plane I was shocked at all the empty seats. Most noticeable, perhaps, was the welcoming attitude of the relatively few people I did encounter in the airport and on the plane.
All too soon, however, the intensity of our collective pain subsided and we reverted to our old ways. The electrifying question of the Prophet Amos was never heard: “Can there be misfortune in a city if G-d has not brought it about?” Not only did we fail to ask the question, let alone meditate on it, we returned to business as usual. We would rebuild the towers. No big deal. The dead were buried and memorialized and we told ourselves, “Let’s not get carried away. Let’s not be like those those religious fanatics who stand on the corners predicting doomsday.”
We comforted ourselves with rationalizations. “A bunch of madmen committed an atrocity. Of course we feel bad for the victims, but from the dawn of history there have been wild and evil men and there always will be.”
In his monumental work Pri Tzaddik, Reb Tzadok HaKohen teaches that G-d sends wake up calls through many channels. If we learn to be sensitive to them we will discover there are such messages all around us.
Thirteen years have passed since 9/11. Thirteen is the age of bar mitzvah for young Jewish men – when they become fully responsible for keeping G-d’s commandments. Similarly, we as a people have to accept responsibility for our lives. We cannot just go on and pretend that 9/11 was an anomaly.
I have often said and written that there is nothing coincidental in our lives. As responsible beings it behooves us to probe the deeper meaning of 9/11.
Soon after 9/11 a letter was circulated on the Internet asking people to give thought to the number eleven, starting with the date 9/11 – nine plus one plus one equals eleven.
The Twin Towers, standing side by side, resembled the number eleven.
The flight number of the first plane to hit the towers was eleven; ninety-two passengers were aboard – nine plus two equals eleven. The flight had eleven crew members – two pilots and nine flight attendants.
Sixty-five passengers were aboard the second flight – once again, six plus five equals eleven.
The American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon was airborne for ninety-two minutes before it crashed – yet again, nine plus two equals eleven.
The United Airlines flight that crashed in Shanksville, Pa. had thirty-eight passengers – three plus eight equals eleven.
Shanksville, the site of the crash, has eleven letters.
New York City has eleven letters.
Afghanistan, the country that harbored al Qaeda, has eleven letters.
Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Bin Laden, has eleven letters.
“The Pentagon” has eleven letters.
The term “eleventh hour” connotes crisis.
911 is an often-used to call for help.
The e-mail listed many more elevens but you get the drift.
My first inclination upon reading this was to say, “You can’t take anything like this seriously.” Besides, 9/11 was not the date on the Jewish calendar, so what was the point of searching for Jewish answers?