Six Lessons From 9/11

On September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airplanes, flying two into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, and one crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that morning. We’ve all been touched by the tragedy of 9/11. There are many lessons to be learned from that event – here are six essential takeaways.

1. No One is Disconnected from the Rest of Humanity

9/11 revealed, albeit in a tragic way, that all of humanity is connected for better or for worse. A plot hatched in Afghanistan, involving Saudi Arabian citizens, struck New York city and destroyed buildings that were not only physically prominent but also symbolically significant. This event sparked a war involving at least ten countries and affected people all over the world – socially, financially, emotionally and physically.

The Talmud tells us that “a person should only pray in a house that has windows.” (Berachot 31a). Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, explains that although prayer is generally an internal activity, it is important for a person to realize that there is a world out there. Having windows in the room is a way to connect through prayer and keep others in mind in our prayers. (Siddur Olat Re’iyah, Introduction) Windows are there to remind us that we do not live in isolation, sealed off from others. This should be reflected in our prayers and in the way we behave.

For the Jewish people there exists a concept known as “All Israelites are responsible one for the other”; others are affected by my merits and faults, and I am affected by theirs (Shavuot 38a). Rabbi Shimon Shkopp writes that the level of refinement of a person can be measured by their concept of self. One on the lowest level sees himself only as a body; one on a higher level understands that self includes the intellect and the soul; on a higher level, “self” includes one’s family and those we love. On yet a higher level “self” means the entire Jewish people, and on the highest level, “self” includes the whole world. (Introduction to Shaarei Yashar)

2. When Someone Says They Want to Kill You, Believe Them

The day after Rosh Hashanah, we observe a fast day called the Fast of Gedaliah. Gedaliah ben Achikam was the Jewish governor of Israel, who was left in charge by the Babylonians after they invaded Israel, destroyed the Temple and exiled most of the Jews to Babylon (modern-day Iraq). Another Jew, named Ishmael ben Netanya was plotting the assassination of Gedaliah, who was informed of the plans. Gedaliah did not heed the warnings, and he was indeed assassinated by Ishmael.

This caused major reprisals by the Babylonians and caused the end of any semblance of Jewish governance in Israel. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Fasts 5:2) The Sages of the Talmud (Niddah 61a) place a significant amount of blame for the deaths that resulted from the assassination and the Babylonian retaliation, as well as for the assassination itself, on Gedaliah who failed to heed the warnings he was given and take precautions.

Take precautions, be proactive and engage the enemy before he attacks.

There is an important lesson for us as Jews and for the world in general. Firstly, don’t wait until you are attacked, because by then it may be too late to do anything. Take precautions, be proactive and engage the enemy before he attacks.

We may have a tendency, as Gedaliah had, to want to believe the best about everyone. It’s uncomfortable to belief that people are capable of evil, and sometimes our misplaced sense of piety is tempted to judge everyone favorably. This was Gedaliah’s failing and this is one reason the fast is named after him. Respect but also suspect. (Kallah Rabati, Ch. 9)

3. Where There Is an Extreme of Evil, There Can Be an Extreme of Good

Not only was extreme evil on display on 9/11, but also extreme good. We should not forget the thousands of first responders who risked their lives, and in many instances lost their lives, to save people in the Twin Towers.

We should not forget the soldiers of the United States and its allies who put themselves on the frontlines of the battle against the terrorists. Many volunteered to leave their families, their jobs and their safety in order to defend the world against the threat of terrorism.

We should not forget Abraham Zelmanowitz, a 55-year-old Orthodox Jewish computer programmer from Brooklyn, who had an opportunity to evacuate but refused in order to stay with his friend and co-worker Edward “Ed” Beyea, a quadriplegic who used a heavy motorized wheelchair. Zelmanowitz even helped Ed telephone his mother by holding the phone to his ear. Eventually FDNY Captain William Burke Jr. reached them. After the South Tower collapsed, Burke ordered his own firefighters to evacuate while he stayed behind with Zelmanowitz and Beyea. All three died when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m.

Abraham Zelmanowitz

The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) states: "Whoever destroys a single life, it is as if he destroyed an entire world; and whoever saves a single life, it is as if he saved an entire world." King Solomon writes in (Ecclesiastes 7:14) that God made a world in which “one is opposite the other”. Every human capacity for evil is matched by an equal capacity for good. When we are confronted by evil, we must respond with good.

4. There Is a Clash of Civilizations — and We Need the Honesty to Name It

This next point some may find uncomfortable and disturbing, but I believe it’s important. Traditional Islam is focused on expanding its borders through various means, including war. Historically, Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula and expanded through warfare and colonialization to the entire Middle East, North African and parts of Europe.

This concept is known as jihad, which is:

 “a religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of the prophet Muhammad. It is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Quran and in the Traditions [Hadith] as a divine institution, and enjoined specially for the purpose of advancing Islam and repelling evil from Muslims. The world is divided into two spheres, Dar al-Islam [the land of Islam] and Dar al-Harb [the Land of War]. The term jihad used in Islam for ‘holy war,’ warfare against unbelievers, the underlying idea being that, since Islam is a universal religion, force may be used to expand its borders and turn Dar al-Harb, into Dar al-Islam. Jihad ceases when Dhimmis agree to accept the political authority of Islam but continues against idolaters till they submit.” (Cited from T. Hughe in Dictionary of Islam, entry “Jihad”; Penguin Dictionary of Religions, 1987)

The contemporary forces of jihad, such as ISIS, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas are not shy about declaring their intentions. The problem is that many are simply not listening. Here is a quote from the Hamas Charter:

“The Hamas has been looking forward to implementing Allah's promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: 0 Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! (From a Bukhari Hadith, which is imputed to the Prophet, has been often quoted in Islamic literature, old and modem.)

[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad.” (The Charter of Allah: The Platform of The Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas, translated by Yale Law School’s Avalon Project)

September 11 taught us that the jihadis are not just at war with the State of Israel, although that would be sufficient cause for concern, but they are at war with Christianity, Judaism and with the Western World in general.

We must have clarity and courage to recognize evil, to oppose its goals and to support those who are actively fighting against it.

5. The Blood Libel Never Really Went Away

In Medieval Europe Jews were accused of numerous, horrific crimes. Jews were said to conspire to crucify a Christian child once a year, in place of Jesus. They were accused of using Christian blood to cure their “Jewish stench” or to make matzah. Jews were accused of poisoning wells and causing the Black Plague. They were even accused of obtaining wafers used in churches for the ceremony of the Eucharist and torturing the wafers. Pogroms, trials by torture, indiscriminate arrests and expulsions of Jews all took place based on these conspiracy theories. (See Teter, Magda. Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth. Harvard University Press, 2020)

As Anthony Julius writes:

“All versions of anti-Semitism libel Jews. These libels may be grouped under three headings: the blood libel, the conspiracy libel, and the economic libel. The blood libel supposes that Jews entertain homicidal intentions towards non-Jews, and that Jewish law underwrites these intentions; the conspiracy libel supposes that Jews act as one, in pursuit of goals inimical to the interests of non-Jews; the economic libel supposes that Jews, who are self-interested, acquisitive and unproductive by nature, financially exploit non-Jews. The libels share the premise that Jews hate or despise non-Jews. Of the three libels, the blood libel is the master one.” (On Blood Libels – Anthony Julius – Engage Journal – Issue 3 – September 2006).

Immediately after 9/11, conspiracy “theories” about Jewish involvement, Mossad false-flag operations and other libels began to appear. Antisemites of the left and the right continue to propagate these libels and continue to blame anything and everything on the Jews and the State of Israel.

Immediately following the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7^th 2023, antisemites were already mobilizing with accusations of genocide. The blood libel is alive and well, but so are the Jewish people.

6. Jews Have an Astonishing Power of Recovery

One of the blessings Jews say every morning is “Blessed are You, Our God, King of the Universe, Who gives strength to the weary” (Siddur, Morning Prayers). This blessing is based on a verse in Isaiah (40:29) who describes God as the One “who gives strength to the weary, and to those who lack might, He increases power."

The Jewish people don’t merely return to our status quo before the tragedy; they grow and improve as a result of the tragedy.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook understood this blessing as a praise to God for creating within the Jewish people the power and ability to rebuild even after the most horrific disasters. The Jewish people are super-resilient. We do not merely return to our status quo before the tragedy, but we grow and improve as a result of the tragedy.

After the exile to Babylon, the Jewish people created the academies of learning from which the Talmud grew. Soon after the disastrous Bar Kochba revolt, the Mishnah was written, and following the expulsion from Spain the great community of scholars and Kabbalists arose in Tzfat, Israel. After the Holocaust Jews established the State of Israel and flourishing Jewish communities around the world.

The historian Arnold Toynbee called the Jews “fossils” because given what we have gone through in our 3,000-year history, we should not be alive. He predicted that following the Holocaust the Jewish people would give up, assimilate and accept their fossil status. (Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History: On the rise and decline of twenty-three civilizations).

However, that is not what happened, as the great Israeli diplomat Abba Eban put it: (Abba Eban, “The Toynbee Heresy,” Israel Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 Spring, 2006, p. 94):

“Now, the doctrine of the fossil is the very core of the Toynbee heresy. If Israel was a fossil centuries ago, then its survival is certainly an archaism, and its restoration is a grotesque paradox. On the other hand, if the concept of Judaism as something petrified and embalmed cannot be sustained, then it is difficult to challenge the right of a sentient living spirit to seek survival and restoration…But the fossil, not having read Dr. Toynbee's eight volumes, is unaware of its own petrifaction. It clings to its sense of mission and even strives for national restoration.”

Am Yisrael Chai! The nation of Israel lives!