The Power to Begin Again. Rosh Hashana and September 11​

The 25th anniversary of September 11th this year coincides with Rosh Hashana. What can we learn from this powerful convergence?

Every one of us remembers exactly where we were on September 11, 2001. I remember it vividly. I went to the rooftop of my office building in Brooklyn and saw the two towers smoking—already struck, already devastated.

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. Lower Manhattan, the heart of the world’s financial center, seemed to have been destroyed beyond repair. The Twin Towers’ shocking collapse inflicted such trauma that many wondered if we could ever recover. But it wasn’t only the buildings that were shaken. The American psyche was shaken. The threat of terrorism, which had seemed so far away, had suddenly arrived at our doorstep.

No one knew what would happen next. There was confusion, fear, uncertainty.

September 11th fell on a Tuesday, just days before Rosh Hashana. I remember spontaneously writing a heartfelt article titled, “Today the World Trembles. Today the World Is Born.” It was inspired by the words of the Rosh Hashana prayer: Hayom harat olam—today the world trembles and is born.

The world certainly trembled that day. But, at the same time, the world was also being born.

Twenty-five years later, look at Lower Manhattan. What seemed irreparably shattered was rebuilt. Not simply restored, but transformed—rising again in ways few could have imagined. Its population has tripled, social life is thriving -- the neighborhood has come roaring back, making it the envy of other U.S. downtowns.

And that raises a profound question: What is the secret of rebuilding after destruction?

This isn’t only a question about cities and buildings. It is a question about each of us.

We all experience moments when our own “towers” come crashing down—loss, disappointment, failure, confusion, emotional pain. Sometimes life can leave us feeling that something has been destroyed beyond repair.

How do we rebuild?
How do we grow through the pain rather than simply survive it?
How do we transform what happened to us into something that strengthens us?

Perhaps this is one of the deepest messages of Rosh Hashana: the power to begin again.

Every year, we are given the opportunity not merely to turn the page, but to create a new beginning—to rebuild, renew, and become something greater than we were before.

Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for a special pre-Rosh Hashana program on September 11th as we explore The Power to Begin Again—the power to turn trembling into rebirth, destruction into rebuilding, and a new year into a new beginning.