9/11: 13 Years Later

13 YEARS SINCE 9/11
What Have We Learned?

The day of September 11, 2001 — just plain 9/11 — lives on in infamy. Every one of us vividly remembers where we were on that morning thirteen years ago when we saw or heard the news. The day began as a beautiful bright Tuesday morning with a clear blue sky. For those heading to an airport weather conditions could not have been better for a safe and pleasant journey. And then on this cloudless picture-perfect summer day, against the backdrop of pure blue, the planes struck New York’s Twin Towers and Washington’s Pentagon, releasing dark billowing clouds and ash, killing thousands, wreaking destruction, that is still affecting us today. A regular day was transformed into a watershed juncture in history.

Thirteen years have passed since that fateful day. What has changed since? Today’s Middle East battles, the rise of ISIS, the raging gales of Muslim fundamentalism, the attacks on Israel, the rise of anti-Semitism, the imminent threats to the West, the tremors of change being felt throughout Europe, seem stronger than ever. What have we learned over these past thirteen years? Are we any closer to understanding the enemy and its intentions? Beyond band-aids and temporary fixes, do we better know how to diagnose the roots of the issues? At 13 years, bar-mitzvah, one attains a level of maturity that should allow us to see things with deeper clarity. Are we there?

Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this eye-opening 9/11: 13 Years Later workshop presenting a birds-eye view of today’s conflicts. The Torah tells us that at thirteen years “the children matured,” referring to Jacob and Esau, the forbears of the Jewish people and the Western world respectively. Discover how to place today’s battles in context by peering into their historical roots, going back to the home of Abraham and Isaac and their children. By doing that, we gain a sweeping perspective of contemporary events, empowering us to actually and decisively win these battles, instead of just putting out fires. This is a real historical and religious war, which must be fought not just with armies (to defend the innocent, and for short term relief), but with ideas, minds, education and ideology. As well as knowing how all this reflects, as a microcosm, in our personal lives and what we can do to shape our future destiny.

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