Today commemorates 25 years since 9/11. Where were you when you heard about the Twin Towers being hit? Where were you when you realized we were under attack? These are moments we will never forget. This series of four coordinated terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people and changed the world as we  knew it. For many of us, 9/11 is formative to the people we are today.

I am a parent, partner, and professional committed to strengthening institutions of Jewish Life. Our children range in age from 22 to 11. I have spent my career working at a national umbrella on behalf of camps and on a college campus. Recalling that inauspicious day, I find myself taking solace in institutions. When the plane hit the first tower, I was in the basement of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. At the time Adina had just come out of the subway on her way to HUC cantorial school after the second tower was hit, catching a horrifying glimpse of the first tower crumbling. While both of us had already chosen paths of  Jewish communal life to make an impact, in the days that followed 9/11 we were inspired by the heroes who were driven to fix this broken world and we recommitted ourselves to doing our part through our sacred communal service. In turbulent times many of us seek comfort in community and stability in mission oriented organizations.

What does this mean for us today as we prepare for Rosh HaShana tonight? We pause today to take stock of who we are as individuals, the blessings of our family and our community, and what we have become as a nation. Looking back 25 years we shutter to realize that this year the 9/11 babies born after this fateful day are in their mid-20s.

As we think about what will become of the legacy of the institutions of Jewish life that we inherited, we must ask if 9/11 has the poignancy that it had for us for this next generation. In our community our trauma of 9/11 was reawakened by 10/7. For this next generation it seems that the 10/7 will overshadow 9/11.

In many ways 9/11 is our legacy. When I think about my own children, 10/7 is their legacy. On a visceral level this generation will have a radically different orientation to Israel and the Jewish communal life in the Diaspora. They will have a different assumptions around brick and mortar buildings, their security, the cost of securing our global community. While they share our value of community, they have different causes that matter to them. 

We recognized that 9/11 represented a paradigm shift, especially for a generation for whom active shooter drills became the norm and the daily effects of global warming remind them of the fragility of their future. Now we recognize that 10/7 represents yet another paradigm shift, especially for a generation who might not be safe any where. Antisemitism/anti-Zionism/Jew hatred is normative.

This is a generation living with existential and physical angst; where will they seek comfort? As we learn in Psalms 121:1, “I lift my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall my help come?” Our daily work is informed by the need to radically rethink our institutions, so that the next generation continues to find comfort, be motivated and inspired by Jewish life. May we all be blessed with a year of sweetness, filled with purpose, and free from hate.