9/11: Faith & Inspiration with 1st Responder & Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer

so my finger I want to thank I want to thank them for reaching out to me and inviting me here this evening to share my experiences with you just as an aside as a footnote I was not actually the first one there when I was a first responder I was a first responder on September 11th over the past 25 years I've had the privilege of being a member of hatzala first in Far Rockaway and for the past 15 years in Flatbush my rabbi Ribeiro caps Lita he tells us that Hashem talks to us but we always we have to listen we have to want to hear what the rabona Shalom is telling us three days or four days before September 11th 2001 Hough kimmel ello we lain piracy Tsavo and on the parsha it tells us we had there were three-piece oaken that came that came to fruition word for word a brazen nation that will not be respectful to the to the young nor gracious to the old the language whose a language who you will not understand will devour the fruit of your animals and the fruit of the ground until until you are destroyed will not leave you any grain or wine or offspring for your cattle or flocks and your goats until it causes you to perish it will recede you in all your cities until the collapse of your high fortified walls in which in which you trusted throughout the land and all your cities in which Hashem your God has given you so you're going to tell me but slowly there were no cattle and no flocks walking around Manhattan in the World Trade Center there was something called the Mercantile Exchange that deals with commodities of Agriculture these three or four person came to fruition literally word for word so now if you follow along with me let me take you back 18 years to lower Manhattan September 11th 2001 September 11th 2001 started as probably one of the most routine textbook mornings possible it was a crystal clear sky it was a week before the Yowie Medina was a week before Rosh Hashanah and I had gone to sleep less the night before because I had started a new job I was working in lower Manhattan I got two sleepless the night before and I was already I was already in the city by about 7:30 7:45 sitting at my desk as a member of Hatzolah my radio comes with me all the time there's no time that it's ever without hot Salah members ever without their radio even if you're not going you're not gonna go anywhere you always listen to the chatter and that morning was no different being that I was at a new job I had very little work to do but I wanted to show them obviously that I was that I was anxious and I was ready and I was ready to hit the ground running so I was there at my desk at about 7:30 7:45 and the radio was was was chattering away that morning a pedestrian struck here a patient passed out there and so on and so forth again it was the most typical routine textbook morning it was a beautiful beautiful morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky it was crystal clear the sky was a baby blue is about 60 degrees and again the radio was just talking away as it normally does nothing out of the ordinary and then at about I guess approximately 8:45 846 to be exact Erin Rothman who was a who's another member of hot salah here in Flatbush she had just come out of the tunnel and he saw the he didn't see the first plane because it came from the other direction but he saw the impact on the other side he saw the impact on the other side coming out of the tunnel he saw the exploit he saw the back flash of the explosion and the debris and the shattered glass and he called into our dispatcher for on a priority call a code one that there was been it that there's been an explosion at the World Trade Center instantly the all three ambulances from the Lower East Side there was an ambulance downtown Manhattan as well as the other ambulances from the lower Eastside began descending on the World Trade Center as did EMS as did the fire department and as did hatzala literally throughout the city they came from the Upper West Side from the Upper East Side from Washington Heights from Borough Park from Flatbush we were all there with literally literally within minutes as soon as I heard that I grabbed my radio from my desk and I ran by my my new boss his office her name was Nancy Casey and they said they had they had known that I was a member of a Hatala that I knew that he knew that I was a volunteer because it had been on my resume that I was a volunteer EMT so I told her that there had been some type of explosion at the World Trade Center and that our dispatcher was sending us and I was going to head down there the few blocks away she told me to be safe and wish me the best ran down the ten flights of steps and ran the two or three blocks to the World Trade Center and as I rounded the corner the only way I could describe what I saw it was an awesome sight obviously not in a good way there was a hole probably about 10 floors there was black smoke billowing all you heard in the background were sirens coming from all directions it was literally with chaos there were helicopters and when you looked up it was it was like a ticker-tape parade almost it was raining paper and when you looked up above what what's called the hit zone you saw and you could see it on videos you could see it close up you saw literally hundreds of people hanging out those windows knowing that there was no way out I I eventually hooked up with some of the other members from Manhattan and we began shredding some of the some of the patients that had that had been hit with fulling debris because at the end of the day they were really no they weren't that many injuries on September 11th you either survived or you didn't we began treating there was people that had been hit by glass and by falling debris and again the scene was chaos now understand when one becomes a fireman or an EMT policeman the first thing they tell you they teach you something called scene safety if you don't feel that the scene is safe for whatever the reason you're not obligated to go in and put yourself in danger that morning we took scene safety and we put it to the side because there couldn't have been a more unsafe scene than two buildings that had that had jumbo jets resting resting on their inner facade so again we began there were there were plenty of patients on the ground to treat and as we began we were treating we were there for about 10 15 minutes I heard a very loud sound and up until that point for the most part we have thought it was some type of accident obviously how such a thing could happen on a crystal-clear day but things happen we heard a sound and we looked up and there it was the second plane and it was literally heading straight for the tower and I remember saying to the person who I was with I was with a man by the name of Eddie Lowenthal a member of Westside Hut saw I don't understand what's he doing and we watched we watched as that plane literally flew directly into tower to tower really was tower one because Tower two was hit first and when that plane hit the ground shook like an earthquake the building rocked back and forth and when you see in the pictures you see that explosion you see that fireball the any way that I could explain it to you is if you've ever gotten too close to a grill and you instinctively jumped back we felt that blast of heat on the ground at that point I began to become a little bit nervous because we understood that this obviously was not an accident this was some type of coordinated attack but at that point when I said to somebody no I really want I want to get out of here he said there's really no place to go see you might as well just stay and that's what we did and the first time we went we took our first patient on the west side Hatzolah ambulance we went to st. Vincent's and when we we opened up the back of the ambulance excuse me when we opened up the back of the ambulance and we took our patient out the site that I saw was again was an awesome site not in a good way something that you literally or have only seen on the movies there were about 50 or 60 hospital beds lined up on the street by each bed there was there was a doctor and a nurse and paramedics with equipment and crash carts each bed had an IV pole with an IV and and and wires all ready to go but there were just no patients because again the people that were in the towers if you were on top of the hit zone you were not coming home that night so we brought that first patient we went back to we went back to Ground Zero no matter how many times you went back the fire trucks kept coming and ambulances kept coming and police kept coming literally from all from all over the city people kept coming out people were pouring out of the towers they were running out they were panicking they were screaming they were crying some some of them were covered with water because the spring the sprinkler system had been activated in the lobby of the towers there were quite a few hot sulla members in the lobby of the towers even moments up until moments before the towers came down father Judge the the chaplain for the fire department he was there he was he was the the priest of the fire department he was in full turnout gear we had we had interacted with him we passed him about 10 10 or 15 minutes before he was killed he was killed by the second problem the second challenge that we faced and that was jumpers the problem was we felt the heat on the ground from that explosion so if we could feel the heat on the ground could only imagine what it was like 80 90 100 floors up that people made a decision that morning that they would either die by incineration or by flight and people were jumping not 1 or 2 not 3 or 4 fifteen twenty thirty forty hundred people they were coming out of the towers one after the other holding hands together and father judge he was killed by a jumper that made the scene even more unsafe because now you had two buildings with airplanes resting in them you had people jumping it was just an extremely unsafe scene it was a chaotic scene because no matter how much training you have whether you're a volunteer fireman about paramedic and EMT fireman a policeman nothing could actually prepare you for a mass casualty incident of this magnitude we made of one or two other runs between the hospital and we came around we came around I don't exactly remember the name of the studio was either day street or vase Street it was within within half a block or a block of the tower we had put one patient on to the ambulance it was me it was myself another EMT another EMT from Staten Island and Eddie Lowenthal from the west side we had another gentleman who was sitting on the crew bench he was also a patient he had been hit with debris he was cut and I remember him saying to me so vividly you know what do you thinks gonna be I said I don't know I was much younger than it was 18 years ago I was all of 25 years old you didn't think about mortality all of a sudden out of the blue the ground started to shake it was even louder than the first time there was the noise the noise was louder than any airplane it got louder and louder and the ground shook harder and harder and all of a sudden we heard a loud thud and it was dark then the radio again the chatter over the radio at one point during this whole thing 911 ones radio system had gone down the phone lines had gone down the cell phone system had gone down cell phones were and then what it is like today not everybody had a cell phone people were scrambling there were no cells available and I believe if I'm not mistaken one of the antennas were on top of the tower so when when the tower came down it took the cell service with it and I remember when the tower came down I began to panic and I remember this man who was not Jewish I remember him I could see his face till today he said to me please I'm not Jewish but please pray for me I panicked I was extremely scared because at that point it was the first time in my life that I thought I was going to die remember Eddie Lowenthal telling me this is not the time for this you have a job to do we're gonna go home tonight one way or the other he said you either gonna go home to your house you're gonna go home now treat your patients and with that began to refocus and when you face when you face death face to face there comes a point where you make peace with it and at that point I kind of felt that okay it is what it is I have a job to do now and it's not as scary as people make it out to be that time I only had one daughter she happens to be here tonight she was all of one years old and of course that went through that went through my mind as well but at the end of the day there was no way out we were here these were the cars we were dealt and that's what we were going to do and I remember I remember if you listen on you go onto youtube you could actually hear thank you you can actually hear the Hatzolah recordings of the panic and pandemonium and at one point if you listen if you go onto youtube you'll hear it it's from your Shiva world about seven minutes into that recording you'll hear me calling in to the dispatcher on a priority and you could hear the panic in my voice there are many other members there were members that were trapped there were about 40 members at that time that were trapped in the Gateway parking garage there were members that were trapped at one John Street there were members that were trapped all over and the dispatcher as calm as he was he had enough rice and he felt I had spoken to me afterwards he felt in our eye as he sent us there and you know he's only hearing he's hearing the back of the back end he's hearing he was sitting in his house in Williamsburg dispatching and we were all there on the front lines if you will they were members there were members that were literally buried alive and at some point I remember Eddie Lowenthal he called into the dispatcher and his panicked as I was he was cool calm and collected he gave the dispatcher our location and he also told the dispatcher because the dispatcher was having a very very difficult time communicating with the members because so many members were calling in at once and it was staticky and it was choppy and people were screaming there was a member from Crown Heights who called in and he said at least please tell my wife that I said Shema it was pure panic and pandemonium and at the end of the day many of us thought that we were not going home that night Eddie Lowenthal called in and he gave the dispatcher our location he was a little bit we were 100% sure of our location again we had parked at saw at one point we were we were next to the fire department command post we were moved away from there which ultimately which ultimately saved many of us because those those people that were in that command post were killed including captain Fahey and captain downing from the New York City Fire Department and at some point think we were we were located we ended up we got out we switched ambulances we took that the patients came off with us and when we when we walked out and looked it was literally it was it was something from a movie and all I know is I wanted a lead I wanted to be out of there and I couldn't get out of there quick enough it looked like it had snowed everything was covered and we were covered in white but everything was covered in white outside glass storefronts were smashed cars were smashed it literally looked like a tornado had come through and left nothing in its path we ended up on a different ambulance we got onto the F and I remember so vividly like like it happened yesterday we were driving on the FDR drive and I remember saying to I remember saying to him the Staten Island member was driving and I was in the back with Eddie Lowenthal if you remember the last scene of Schindler's List and they they show you all the hundreds of people that he saved and coming towards you that's what the FDR drive looked like there were hundreds and thousands of people just walking on the FDR FDR Drive days days in confusing they kept everybody kept looking back I was not there for that I was not there at the time that the second tower collapsed we had been taken to NYU where we were hosed down decontaminated we were literally covered from head to toe and dust and when all was said and done I had to find a way I had to find a way home nothing nothing was working none of the ambulances were heading back so I decided I just wanted I wanted to leave I was done I had done my part so I began walking over the Williamsburg Bridge and I remember halfway across we saw something that we had never seen in New York before to f-14s or f-35 fighter jets flew above literally where you could touch them and I remember instinctively everybody panicked because they didn't know what it was they didn't realize that it was the Armed Forces coming to patrol the skies of New York City and I remember everybody on the bridge ducked instinctively they were scared because it was a new it was a new world and we had gotten up and I remember there was a hot solar car that was on the other side I remember seeing him and I got on my radio I told him to please stop I ended up getting a ride back to Williamsburg where I went to the command center the dispatch center where they were dispatching from in Williamsburg took me another few hours to get home and I remember when I got home the first thing I saw it was the strangest thing they were papers on my front porch and at the time I lived in Marine Park on East 34th Street there were papers on my porch from the World Trade Center was and they were charred and they were burnt and it was a very eerie thing and I remember when I was in NYU I remember there was somebody who was there and he was he was a middle-aged guy he was from Israel and he had told me that he had been in the army he had been in the Israeli army so he asked me you know what happened to you know what I had seen and he said thing he says you know you're gonna have flashbacks and I said to him what are you talking about them I can have flashbacks he said trust me and it was all fine and good and I remember I remember going to shul that night everybody was talking at the time they were still looking for shimmy beagle Eisenhower Miam come da mom and it was all fun and I remember when I got home after Marvin it had gotten dark that's that's when I wasn't so tough anymore so we decided that night we weren't gonna stay home I was scared I guess my wife was scared too so we went to my wife's grandparents in Borough Park both Holocaust survivors and I remember when we got there my wife's grandmother said she couldn't go outside because she said the smell outside was the smell of burning flesh she said it smelled no different from Auschwitz in the camps that she was in this is what happened right here two or three days later Heshy jacob sala ha Shalom he was the president of Hatzolah at the time he was walking through the ruins of Ground Zero with the Honorable mayor Rudolph Giuliani and they were talking and they were looking at the the devastation of lower Manhattan and Mayor Giuliani said him so you know how many people did you lose and he turns to Mayor Giuliani he said we didn't lose anybody and Mayor Giuliani said it's not possible he said I saw all of you there I saw them with the green vests and the sidelocks I mean so all of the ambulances and the cars I saw the hundreds of volunteers that were there it can't be it can't be that you didn't lose anybody he said no each and every one of us went home that night mayor Giuliani turned to has she Jacob saw a solemn and said you are indeed you are truly God's people and indeed we are people said that September 11th happened because of Western values and American democracy September 11 happened because of America's special relationship with Eretz Israel and Israel people our blood has always been sheep it's always been cheap in the eyes of the world America has always been good charity sterling the Jewish people and for that they were going to be punished the great part of its our of our VOA flow MOCA hahnemann on one of his many fundraising trips he ended up in of all places he ended up in Rome and he got there in the middle of the night he was picked up by a man by the name of mr. Rothschild and he tells mr. Rothschild come we must go to this in this place and mr. Rothschild said but but rabbi it's the middle of the night and it's freezing but the rough economy was undeterred he said but it's raining and again roof economy was undeterred and they went to a place that IBM has that bears the name of Titas char Titus after Tito's destroyed you shall I and his brother made him this memorial in Rome that has that has the pictures of him pillaging and plowing you shall I am the punt of it sir of got out he got out of this carriage that he was picked up in he straightened his coat and he straightened his hat and he looked up at that gate and he says tito's where have you gone you came to you shall I him so many years ago you came to pillage to plow in to destroy and where are you today you're nothing but a name on a wall but look at me and this was fifty or sixty years ago he goes I have a yeshiva I've even been a rock in Israel with a Colt IRA is your lava Lila you today are nowhere each and every one of us should take solace that like yo se fat Sadiq was Hakadosh barukh who's what I'm sorry that you're safe exotic was Yakko special child and he wore the kiss on his possum that Technicolor coat we should each take solace that each and every one of us we are hashem special children we wear that special coat that he has given us and with that that should serve as a shamira and we should be Zarqa taco - sparkles ultimate protection and ultimate honor Michelle Cain knew him horribly I may know I mean Valar main I thank you for inviting me and I thank you for listening [Applause] thank you so much it's really corn for sharing your personal experience with us I like to invite all of you to participate better so we have a tremendous simpler we're gonna have Sunday morning we're making a bris for a 25 year old student of ours and if you like to participate in his spiritual growth and helping us build Jewish generations any amount and intonation will be very appreciated and a special sauce for the new year I also like to mention everyone is welcome to join us for the omnivore the High Holidays we actually opened the door to many unaffiliated Jews couples students young professionals and this is their first experience connecting with the Almighty so we don't charge them for a seat so we ask people that are part of the community if you could help us and give a few dollars $200 would help us cover so we can maintain this beautiful shul all year and also keep it a very welcoming environment for people that would have no other place perhaps where they feel welcomed and then they feel proud to connect with the heritage brokers I'm here in bjx so without further ado I'd like to now introduce our love of Brooklyn Jewish experience the dynamic force behind all the cube activities at our two centers around Brooklyn and throughout the world with his few books that he's written his articles his speeches lecturers he's very very well known and are very happy to be under his umbrage and his leadership so without further ado rabbi yitzhak finger thank you to our promotion for everything he does he's the real force behind the force goes right there right there don't miss adieu all right counselor everybody there are some seats left please the overflow please come inside the our seats here you don't have to stand in the back there are some seats here please make yourselves comfortable like to ask everybody to take a moment to silence for all those that perished on September 11th of 9/11 Hashem Jin come dumb now shall avenge their blood 911 is a uniquely American day the most catastrophic devastating atrocious day in American history the worst and largest attack on American soil Pearl Harbor in Hawaii 2,300 people were killed in December 1941 a 9/11 2001 almost 3,000 people were killed however 9/11 has I so uniquely Jewish day and the reason why 9/11 is uniquely Jewish day is because if you read bin Laden's fatwa his religious doctrine his diatribe when he calls the war against the West and Israel Eretz Israel he cites Israel numerous times and one of the reasons why he waged war and 9/11 don't get it rolled there's a declaration of war was because of America's support for the Jewish people for Eretz Israel for Israel and therefore his Jews is exceedingly appropriate that we gather today to commemorate the Talmud says in tractate you voters page 63 topsail Kimmel in the Proteas bow Elham Arabi Sheila Israel the reason why punishment suffering devastation relation descends upon the world is in the account of the Jew everything revolves around the Jewish people how do you explain that the Midrash says voracious barrel came at the beginning God created says the Madras that who's called gracious the head the beginning you surround the Jew the entire universe was created for the Jew to take ownership over the world to elevate this world to inspire the world to instill and infuse and inject and empower the world hello fellow human beings with holiness with purpose so we feel driven and we accomplish that's why we're here and that's why every flower every imperfection that occurs in the world is attributed to ask to you to me Bishnu you swirl wow what a awesome responsibility most of us many of us cannot remember Pearl Harbor and we can't remember another fateful day in American history a seismic day kennedy's assassination but almost all of us can remember 9/11 we were witness to it the most cataclysmic event of our to history at our times for surety with the Rambam my mother he says my body says that if a person dear attribute history to randomness or arbitrary machination x' that person is guilty because everything occurs history is because of the divine because of God and therefore history's a labyrinth it's a maze for us to decode decipher arrival unveil the hidden message from the bone shaft in the midst of the universe for the bow shell from the creator of the universe what is it trying to communicate to me what's it all about why 9/11 why that date in the secular calendar of 365 days why was 9/11 chosen isn't it eerie that if you study history and unravel and decode and decipher the Torah we get to a very interesting phenomenon we've seen the year 2047 Avraham Avinu our patriarch Avram he made a request that we all regret today but he had asked us where as he had his calculations and he Esther abortion is God Almighty said Lu you shall give arch-nemesis the mr. antagonist okosan at that time you smile and he says lu u sh ma lu y elephant atha let your smile live bless you smile he's also my child I tell you God was too generous and kind because not only does God say I'll bless him we know the Torah and God is renowned for its brevity for being very concise interests there's nothing superfluous extraneous or redundant in the Torah and of course from God God's not mortal God's infinite and what does God say back to Abraham Avram sure Oh not only will I make him money I'm gonna make him bountiful are you very lady of Rome why did you have to ask for a blessing for your smile the bar so why did you give such a generous and card why are you so beneficent why are you so magnanimous couldn't you sound okay I'll let him eat some sushi on Thursday nights you know I mean enough okay maybe some pizza throw into an Italian dish haha I'm gonna make him great more than great that was in the year 2000 and 47 it took years for this prophecy to be fulfilled and many people are probably scratching their heads and say well gee if the tour is divine if God really said that why isn't it not unfolding what if the world is going on here that people may have started doubting I mean well fast-forward Z the Year 4380 3336 years later which gives me comfort by the way I'll tell you why because this was a secular year of 622 ad of the Common Era what happened that year the advent of Muhammad in Mishima whether Islam becomes the dominant force in the world to repress and to try to annihilate to try to force convert for two thousand three hundred thirty six years the arabs waited so why is it comforting to me because we got a promise as well almost the same year that your Shmuel got his promise well we gotta wait a little longer than two thousand three hundred thirty-six years but it means that how it promised is coming it fulfilled with this coming 622 the Arabs take the world by storm and you know what happens it's the year 1683 when the Arabs decide that their mission the sole theological is all religious they got to take over the world the Middle East Mesopotamia is not enough they gotta get Flatbush and Crown Heights in Borough Park they got to get everything and therefore the attempt to go to Europe and make war and take over Vienna the king of Poland stops them in their tracks and the Arabs are defeated by Sharon the Ottomans are defeated otherwise we'd all be wearing he jumps I'm walking around the pajamas all day but what was that in 1683 what was the date the date was September 11th and that's why bin Laden chooses 9/11 because 9/11 this is declaration of war against the worst and he says I wasn't successful in 1683 but I will be successful 2011 and this is my reprisal this is my friend data this is my revenge this is my declaration of pronouncement I am taking over the wild on Islam we are taking over the world profit ours in oil hey mamela Harlem charcoal near borough 9/11 however the pokey derivatives are the midrash does our coders and many mokoros many sources saying that Islam will go into hibernation they will be dormant that's what happened for hundreds of years but there will be a resurgence there will be a revival they'll go from potential to kinetic energy and it will happen and people looked at this into vu they look at this prophecy and they said Arabs have no force hundreds of years and effective until 9/11 they're back the navour comes true that ultimately we will try to wage attack against the Jewish people are just role to usher in machine to be the harbinger for Messiah the Arabs they'll be back so 911 was closed all day for Jewish and world and American history but it goes further perhaps the date 911 is significant for another reason as 9/11 is nine-one-one we always thought that if we have an emergency we have whom to reach out to 9/11 changed all that why didn't change 9/11 was a day that showed the susceptibility the vulnerability that we have no one to rely upon there's no leg to call try to call the Pentagon the Pentagon was attacked try to call theft behind the CIA try to call the NYPD is before at the Blasio there's no one to call the terrorists and this is something that we have to meditate on there's something you got it's ponder and reflect and introspect on because if you don't then Costas column you're sinning like the Rambam says then you're viewing events as just arbitrary and random as McCrea ha special god forbid the terrorists that perpetrated the largest attack ever an American soil in American history that changed the world forever that destroyed lives that has collateral damage that it's still destroying lives because we're people that were affected and lives that were utterly transformed I mean who would imagine I mean I used to travel all the time I never got to take off my shoes I remember the first time after 9/11 they asked me to take off my shoes I said you sure you're sure I said maybe everyone should come with gas masks now what's going on here we still go on airplanes they had that little gadget you know that your walk wasn't invasive wasn't intrusive now their body scanners they first you how'd it all start because you have these terrorists that had major major weapons no remember these terrorists pulled off the greatest attack in our history without any armaments artillery weapons nothing they used box cutters what a bad boy bring to school and get suspended for how did they slip through the radar of all the intelligence bureau and agencies you know that somebody told me haven't they be able to corroborate or authenticate verify it 100% but it seems that the Arabs got in they were able to get into our country and they attended flight schools in Florida training to be pilots and one of the flight instructors was very very confounded and bewildered that his student said oh you don't have to teach me how to land but descend to the plane that's ok why would a student not want to learn how to descend and when he saw a guy that was Middle Eastern he got a little more Edith he's supposedly called in to authorities no one cared of course he did not know how to have to know how to land he was gone a suicide mission attack no weapons able to penetrate what is this telling us what a signal what a message oh you say that machine are some wake up from your letter G from your slumber arose from your apathy and indifference don't be a fool don't think that if you aren't you can do something I'm able to get on 911 I call 9-1-1 I picked up a film I don't know how to cellphone back then well knowing that it was dead I was panicking so what always works were they out to lunch night one didn't work on that day if you remember it was dead you know what the Talmud incentive says it says it twice our paraphrase from it it speaks about the interest of the machine from the footsteps of a sea otter the Sierra cage and it gives different size and the summation then capsulation the culmination of it all is a learner Amelie shine there's nothing and no one for us to remember will come a time the time of Monsieur when we will have no more nothing to rely upon Ella Harvey knew Shiva Shania only our God it happened there's no one else no Pentagon no CIA no FBI no military intelligence nothing only Hashem never forget that because history is bound to repeat itself as one great philosopher once said the greatest lesson to learn from history is not to learn from history with the Jews with the engines we are the catalyst we got to get our act together and lush of a Maasai if not now when we're in el now we're preparing for Yama didn't for the owner of the days of war for the High Holy Days the days of judgment and justice how appropriate is the mission of us which also appears in Tamil tomorrow's Shabbos confident gimel shove your methyl off' name is Seska which means live every day like it's your last you'll say why would I want to live such a morbid life I wake up in the morning say today is my last day let me ask for my last request my last supper there are gluttons out there and Epicureans out there who if they think it's the last day they'll say oh let me gorge on sushi or something you know that's what we always who should serve sushi here you see I love talking about sushi well that's what their lives are about should be I know how famous Eska live every day like it's your last is not more but it's most empowering thought out there because it means that every single day if you live it like it's your last you know what it means it means you will be Bukka verdict you will be respectful you will be kind you will live your life according to Torah every single day because we want to die pure and you understand this reckoning there's a judgment on the day of 9/11 no one anticipated that would be the last day there was no warning generally in a war there's some kind of indication there's some kind of subtle nuance that you could pick up if you're aware are 9/11 we were caught in total surprise show VI math all the famous escal live every day like it's your last I wanna tell you the story about a couple a married couple that a routine where they got up in the morning and they usually have a coffee together before he would leave to work she would leave much later to work one morning they got up they had their coffee and then something happened went off to go into the gory details because I don't know the details it's not a story from our community story that has been out there in the media but that morning it's otherwise happy couple kind of to an argument and it escalated as most arguments do and that's why we have a Torah that tells us how to monitor our traits and attributes what we're let us say what we're now let us say most people think that the Torah is only for questions about what you're allowed to eat whether you got to keep the Sabbath Shabbos no it's always much more than that Torah is about our daily living it's about what we're allowed to think it's our thoughts our actions into relations interactions accountability and that morning just as he was leaving to work as it got much much worse the argument she saw him at the door but she didn't give him lunch she told him I hope you drop dead not leshawna's that's the nipple pair that's vulgar but when people in the heat of our argument they say things that they shouldn't and that's why the Gemara tells us in Dharam Talmud says that when somebody gets angry called mean again insulting boy it's Ganim nazar says then we get angry you no longer worshiping God you worshiping yourself you worship the idols because you become possessed and obsessed something other than God because he believed in God you don't get angry because believe God's in charge well he went on the FDR he went to work and that morning habits have been 9/11 and he dropped that he was one of those that fell out the window or jumped out of the window very scary show VOA McAuliffe name is Haskell if you live every day like it's your last that wouldn't happen because today may be the day and if I'm going to be very very careful what I say with the way I behave how I act but there's another story the story is a true story I verified it again today even though I heard it a few years ago but I always tried to make sure that whatever I say is researched you know what the story is his name was mati and he was going to the World Trade Center for a very important meeting a very urgent meeting that had it to do with his sustenance with his par no so his wife called him and she said where are you he said you know I have a very important meeting that was scheduled just did you forget we have a date together today with the planning for some reason men forget anniversaries and birthdays that's why a man in Hebrew is called Zohar to remind him that he's supposed to remember the Hall means remember and the caiva is nekkid from the word hold because the woman is always supposed to fill the holes in the man to remind him of things but she said how could you how dare you we have a date together he said you know a rain check I said that's not appropriate you know you gave me your word and he said you know he was thinking about he's contemplating it and he said you know she'll abayas the Torah tells us that for peace you know how shut-ins named we even know it don't do this hands out of the pen the captain without asking a shot whoa but you're letting live for the sake of peace so why try sometimes if the ferry should come more explicit go on so what I offer and he said I have a tremendous dilemma I'm at a quagmire was it real conundrum what I do Shola buyers or porno so now he was thinking well if I come up with a nice paycheck maybe that will make her feel better for some reason it doesn't woman like the attention and he decided he made his mind up that he will turn around and go back home and he went back home but he canceled the meeting they weren't so happy about it the next day was September 12th because you see that day was 9/11 2001 he was supposed to be in the World Trade Center had he been there had not listened to his other half it's better if he would have been a victim he called up the woman that he cancelled with the day before and said I want apologize he says you're saying you're sorry do you realize that because you cancelled I called up the other three people that were supposed to be the meeting and I cancelled them you saved four lives Shawn bias goes a long way I wanna share something with you 9/11 has a history that most people don't know you see 1993 was the first attempt on the world trade center who perpetrated that it was none other than el Sayyid Nosair he amassed Shamu and then he also had a plan a very extensive plan to bomb the tunnels the Lincoln Tunnel if I'm not mistaken perhaps also the Holland Tunnel and the major bridges is where every time I go on a bridge or a tunnel I say a specialty Fela seals are there as I realize that had the Arabs had their way those bridges and tunnels would not be here today in 1993 our Sun no Sarah who ended up becoming the assassin of Nana there will be man Kahana all of a sudden they'll say no Sarah was exonerated acquitted there were witnesses no one doubted it for the sell justice system call it liberalism whatever you want to call it he was acquitted but they went into else I know sir the mastermind who had the foresight to destroy the World Trade Center and they went into his apartment they did a search an authorized search and you'll never believe what it said listen to what it said they found this plans and in his plans he said we call for jihad I've been practicing how to pronounce a jihad against the enemies of Islam how listen very carefully by destroying the structure of their civilized pillars their high world buildings which they are proud of do you understand what this means it's insane freedom and power Clippers Porsches to Subway the Sigma Baynes verse 52 there will be an enemy that will come the brazen nation whom you don't recognize the hate song of hope of a sheriff I'd wear this for myself how the various my pursuers are terrible terrible hain [Applause] there will be sees you in all your cities until the collapse of your high and fortified walls in which you trusted throughout your land let's go back to El Santo sir destroy the structure of their civilized pillars their high world buildings which they trusted or proud of it's all their record of a shallow remiza Barossa everything is in the Torah do you know what there's more because what was the name of the mastermind in 2001 that succeeded no sir who actually pulled it off there was Mohammad Atta that name should sound familiar because years before when Clinton President Clinton was exerting enormous in ordinate pressure upon yet chakra BIM former Prime Minister of Israel who was assassinated to make a peace treaty he prevailed upon rubbin to do something ribbon remember up there was a fighter ribbon was a hero a rumor hero he told them you have to make a major concession you know what that concession was there was a guy an Arab of Jordanian who tried a fire bomb a bus full of children Israeli Jewish children I took his gun and shot up people on the bus and of course he fled went to one country was extradited back to Israel is in jail his name Mohammad Atta Clinton says he got have got to release him from jail forbidden has to capitulate how do you do such a thing how do you do such a thing how did the Americans allow that you know this really is almost blackmailed it's like sabotage what's ripping gonna say no you should have said no he really should have it's not the same we'll have enough time so how about I thought that destroyed the World Trade Center was Egyptian this guy's Jordanian but I don't think it's a coincidence that they have the same name this is how Chicago in the world is Providence your mistake will come to haunt you our mistakes comfortable and us today we remember the knock through World Trade Center the beautiful Twin Towers the Twin Towers was seat of capitalism was the epicenter of materialism and America and representing the entire world entire Western Hemisphere you know what the message may have been of course we don't in any way in any way justify hostage from The Tragically law but perhaps there wasn't underlying message destruction of capitalism materialism almost in America the West Hemisphere and perhaps the messages that Americans took to seriously we indulge too much gosh news from our focus is on the petty frugal I'm sorry petty and frivolous things of life instead of being on the spiritual what's a spiritual attainment what's a spiritual achievement oh I don't care but how expensive a wedding is or a Bar Mitzvah is so silly how much a wig costs a diamond ring what happened to us whether all of garden would that light unto the nations where the trendsetters we're supposed to take on chemin make him front and center in the world and that was destroyed materialism more quote to listen in closing I'm not can tell you said it until the end we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity we have grown in numbers wealth and power as no other people have has ever grown we forgot God we forgot the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we thought that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own intoxicated with unbroken success we had become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace too proud to pray to Hashem to God that made us this is not from any taller passage this is from former President Abraham Lincoln hundreds of years ago what a lesson whose religious man Avram Abe Lincoln even had a beard some people confuse him for a rabbi who's no rabbi he was not Jewish but what profound words Zelo time to wake up we have a few weeks left to learn the lessons of 9/11 to galvanize ourselves to become greater to become stronger in our Judaism in our Yiddish great to understand that our focus has to be roughly a spiritual growth and Shrove your beliefs name assessment to return every day because it may be our last which all about be healthy fulfilling wives Aretha Sherman with shuttle service wonderful long lives but it's sobering to think that it may be a last and of course to remember that ultimately there's no nine-one-one to call a mandalas shine there's only one force one powering or Malvado there's no other force in the world in the universe but Hashem thank you for coming everybody thank you for listening