Today, we observe the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Today is also Erev Rosh Hashanah, the eve of our New Year 5787. We typically see the period of time from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur as a time of reflection, repentance, and aspiration for a happy year to come. Though this time is sometimes solemn, it is also celebratory, and not a period of mourning - making today’s anniversary disconsonant, but undeniably imprinted on our souls.
And yet, in a way, the catastrophic experience of 9/11 and the internalization of the changed world that followed shouldn’t be perceived as far removed, one from another, at all.
The day following Rosh Hashanah is observed as a fast day known as Tzom Gedaliah. It commemorates the murder - on that day of the Jewish calendar - of the vassal-prince Gedaliah ben Achikam. He was left in charge of the remnants of the Kingdom of Judah after the Babylonian Empire sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the first Temple in 586 BCE. Judean malcontents and fundamentalists thought the best way to change the status quo and achieve their aims was violence. They achieved nothing but antagonizing the occupying Babylonians, and the exile would continue until the first stirrings of return 70 years later.
We don’t ignore temporal crises or the lessons we must derive from them (in this case, the danger of internal division and strife) because they are proximate to days which demand our full attention and solemnity. No, we incorporate them. In the case of Tzom Gedaliah, perhaps the repentance and self improvement in the mitzvot that cover person-to-person relationships (as distinct from those covering the person-to-God relationship) is a practical reminder of real changes we can make in our own actions to herald a fresh and positive approach in the New Year.
Now that we’ve established that commemorating a temporal event or crisis is entirely in tune with the spirit of the New Year and the Days of Repentance, it only remains to draw lessons or conclusions from this day that we can connect to our solemn observance, repentance, and anticipation of the year ahead.
My thoughts turn to the actions on that day of a young man from Nyack named Welles Crowther. Welles. As a teenager, he became a junior volunteer firefighter, alongside his dad. Soon after graduating college, Welles took a job as an equities trader at a firm high in the south tower of the World Trade Center.
After the second plane hit the south tower, he made his way to a 78th floor lobby area and gathered a group of survivors, carrying one on his back and leading them down to safety. He went back up, and helped first responders with first aid and firefighting, then gathered a second group and led them down as well. He was last seen heading back up to bring another group down before the south tower collapsed at 9:59 AM. Welles Crowther wore a trademark red bandana that day, as he had since his teenage years, and that detail stuck in the memories of many whom he saved. That bandana has gone on to symbolize goodwill and charitable works across the country.
This young man from Rockland exemplified the quality of Mesirat Nefesh - self-sacrifice - for the good of others; in this case in service of a second moral principle, Pikuach Nefesh - saving another’s life.
How we live our lives, and the principles that guide us in doing so, are at the very heart of what we are trying to accomplish on Rosh Hashanah and throughout the days leading to Yom Kippur. What values will we extoll, and which will we pass on to our children? What values will we live, and which are we prepared to sacrifice our lives for? As we’ve been talking about in recent days, what is our Why?
When we clarify for ourselves the answers to those questions, we will have achieved something truly special on Rosh Hashanah. And we should thank Welles Crowther and the many, many like him who set an example for all of us on that day.
Wishing you and your family a New Year filled with happiness, joy, health and inspiration.
From all of us at Federation, Shabbat Shalom and Ketiva Vechatima Tova!