Commentary: Reflections On Yom Teru’ah 5783 (Rosh HaShanah HaRabim 5784)

 Long ago, someone alerted me to Page 251 of “The 9/11 Commission Report”. Once I found out and fully processed that I am among the “‘Jews, not necessarily the United States’” that the perpetrators of 9/11 targeted, I realized very quickly that Jews in the United States and elsewhere cannot be (as the saying goes) shirking violets. Regardless of individual religious, political, and other backgrounds and beliefs, Jews (whether in the U.S., Ukraine, or elsewhere in the Jewish Diaspora, or in ‘Eretz Yisra’el) need to look out for each other and those around us. For starters, as we enter the seventh month of 5783 (which some will observe as Rosh HaShanah 5774), let us do what יהוה commanded those of us in the Diaspora through Yirimiyahu hanavi: “seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the LORD for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” (Sefer Yirimiyahu 29:7, JPS 1917)

On September 12, 2001, the Jewish communities in New York and other trauma-affected cities sought the cities’ welfares—even though we Jews (whether or not we knew that we are Jewish) were the main victims, whether indirectly or directly (and many Jews were direct victims of 9/11, with Danny Lewin, ז״ל, being the first victim). Resigning to injustice, hopelessness, and dying should therefore not be an option 22 years later. As Yom Teru’ah 5783 comes up, let those of us whom are Jews in the United States seek the welfare of the cities in which we currently reside as we sought particularly the welfares of New York, Shanksville, Pennsylvania; all cities in Arlington County in Virginia, and other directly-affected cities in 5761 (also right before Yom Teru’ah in that year). Let us raise a teru’ah (shouting) to the God of Israel to bless and keep especially all Jewish communities in the United States during the Yamim Nora’im. Let us raise a teru’ah to the God of Israel to bring shalom to U.S. ally Ukraine, and to bless and keep especially all Jews in Ukraine (whom are facing hostility that is born of the same Antisemitism that Jews in the United States faced. Both the Russian government and the perpetrators of 9/11 have made their Anti-Israel sentiments known over the decades, and Vladimir Putin intends to harm especially Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Jews in Ukraine.). 

As we wish others “G’mar Chatimah Tovah b’Sefer HaChayim” (“A good sealing in the Book of Life”), let us work to bring tzedek v’tikvah v’chayim v’refu’ah (justice and hope and life and healing) within our own lives and the lives of those around us—including those within our communities (both our local Jewish communities and the gentile communities among which our Jewish communities happen to be). 

P.S. Let us also raise the old teru’ah, “Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim!” (“Pray for the shalom of Jerusalem!”)