08 Sep ARE WE LISTENING?

This Erev Rosh HaShana marks twenty-five
years since 9/11. For those of us who lived it,
it is a day that will forever be etched in our
hearts. The images of the burning towers are
hard to forget. It is a moment in time when
we will always remember where we were as
we heard the news of the planes striking the
World Trade Center.
It was a crisp, early autumn day. The sky was
a beautiful clear blue. All was right in the
world… or so we thought. I had jury duty
and was on my way to Court Street in
Brooklyn. After settling in, my number,
amongst others, was called up to receive
instructions. Honestly, like so many others, I
was wondering what I could say to get out of
it.
Just minutes later, someone came running in.
We heard the panic in her voice as she
screamed out that the towers were hit. At
first, it was hard to grasp. It sounded surreal.
How could it be. And then, reality set in. The
wailing sirens of firetrucks, police cars and
ambulances pierced the walls of the
courtroom. One of the potential jurors cried

out, “Pray. Pray to your G-d, however He
may be. But pray.”
Everyone tried to call their loved ones,
myself included, as my husband worked in
the Wall Street area. But it was to no avail, as
there was no cell service. So many questions,
so many worries, and no answers.
The court proceedings came to a halt before
they even started. All the jurors were
dismissed and told to go home. But that was
easier said than done. The subways were
shut down. Taxis were nowhere to be found,
and the few busses that were running had
massive crowds pushing to board.
Thus began my seemingly endless walk
home, some five miles away. Many others
were walking as well, but it was an eerie
silence, each person alone with their
thoughts, their worries, and their prayers.
9/11 was exactly one week before Rosh
HaShana. I remember the plumes of smoke
still rising into the air as our family went into
Manhattan for the annual HINENI Rosh
HaShana program. The atmosphere in shul
that Rosh HaShana was more somber than at
any other time I could remember. The events
of the past week weighed heavily on all.

When my husband, who
was our baal tefilla, reached
the words of U’nesaneh
Tokef, one of the most
stirring and heartrending
prayers of the Days of Awe,
you could almost feel the
trembling in the room.
“Who will live and who will
die; who by water and who
by fire…”
That was 2001. Fast forward
a quarter of a century. We
are now in 2026. The words
of U’nesaneh Tokef are part
of our tefilla, but we tend to
think that we will be spared.
Who could have imagined that all these
haunting words are today’s news. “Who will
live and who will die; who by water and who
by fire; who by sword and who by beast;
who by famine and who by thirst; who by
storm and who by plague; who by
strangulation and who by stoning; who will
enjoy tranquility and who will suffer; who
will be impoverished and who will be
enriched…”
Today, we are living through not one, but all
of these happenings. Acts of terrorism,
mass shootings, senseless wars, storms,
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,
hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis and flash
flooding, wildfires, hunger and drought,
crime and murders, financial upheaval.
More than a millennium ago, the navi
Amos rang the alarm bells. “Can a shofar
be blown in a city and the people not
tremble?” (Amos 3:6) It is said that the
wail of the shofar is like the plea of a child
to his father. “Please, Avi, my Father,
HaShem, help. I need You.”
The cry of the shofar penetrates our soul.
As the Rambam teaches, “Uru yesheinim
mishnaschem, Wake up you sleepers from
your slumber.” Both Amos and generations
later, Rambam, see the shofar as a spiritual
wake-up call. We must listen to the shofar,
and allow its piercing cry to be our internal
alarm clock. Our “shofar within”. To wake
up, open our eyes, and smell the coffee. To
look at the world around us, reflect upon
our lives, and focus on the lessons we must
internalize.
The shofar calls out to us in so many
different ways. On a personal level, it
awakens in us the slumbering neshama. It
reminds us that HaShem gives us the
wherewithal to remove a harsh decree
through teshuva, tefilla and tzedaka.
Additionally, Amos speaks about the
shofar calls in our cities. 9/11 was a major
shofar call. Our wake-up call to the rise of
worldwide terrorism and anti-Semitism.
At first, we trembled, but with time, we

quieted our fears. We calmed our inner
voice. We became complacent and
comfortable with our lives. We told ourselves
that terrorism only happens in Eretz Yisroel,
that in America we are safe.
Even in Israel, those living in Yerushalayim,
Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Netanya would say, not
by us, only by the border towns. And even
those in the southern border towns felt safe.
Not by us, after all, we hire Palestinians to
work in our kibbutzim. We are friendly. We
cross the border and bring in those in need
for medical treatment.
And then came October 7. We believed we
were safe and secure until something jolted
us awake. A deafening shofar call. Wake up.
Terrorism is everywhere. In the south of
Israel and the north. Even in the main cities.
In France and England. In Belgium and
Spain. In Australia and South America. In
the US and Canada. It is global.
HaShem is sending us shofar calls –

warnings. We only have to heed the three-
word formula written in the machzor.

“U’teshuva, u’tefilla, u’tzedakah,
Repentance, prayer and charity, remove the
harsh decree.”
Before the baal tokea blows the shofar, he
recites a bracha, “lishmoa”, to hear the sound
of the shofar. As the Rambam teaches, it is a
mitzva to listen to the sounding of the shofar
– even for the one who is blowing. Lishmoa,
to listen and internalize. To take it one step
further and let the cry of the shofar make a
difference in our life.
This Rosh HaShana, may the sound of the
shofar be the voice of emuna. The hope and
belief that we will soon realize the words of
the navi Yeshayahu, “Vehaya bayom hahu,
and it will be on that day, yitaka b’shofar
gadol, that a great shofar will be blown…”
(Yeshayahu 27:13). The day we will merit to
hear the shofar gadol, the great shofar of
Moshiach.
The question isn’t whether the shofar is
sounding. The