September 9, 2026
STAY INFORMED – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – VOICES – STORIES MAKING NEWS
This year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 – the largest terror attack on U.S. soil. The date also falls on the eve of Rosh Hashana – the beginning of the Jewish new year. On Sept. 11, 2001, Americans faced the morning’s horror with extraordinary bravery. A generation later, as memory fades and old lies fill the silence, honoring the fallen demands moral courage to speak the truth and condemn those who falsify or deny history.
Old Lies Return as Memories Fade
Twenty-five years after the World Trade Center towers fell, 9/11 is slipping out of living memory. Younger generations of Americans are growing up without knowing who brought them down or why – about a third of Americans were born after the deadliest attack in the U.S. Many first learn about the attacks in school, if at all. Vicious lies often fill that void.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories surfaced within days of 9/11. One of the most widespread libels is that Jews or Israelis were behind the attacks. Another falsehood claims that thousands of Jews had skipped work at the World Trade Center that morning. These were as false then just as they are now, but they are no longer confined to the fringe.
Tucker Carlson – an influential podcast host with millions of listeners – recently spread several 9/11 conspiracies, including that Israel had advance knowledge of the attacks. Another personality on the far right, Candace Owens, told her millions of followers that the Mossad spy agency was to blame.
Conspiracy theories are not only prevalent on the far right. Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, a far-left activist, is headlining a 9/11 ‘truth’ conference at a NYC-owned museum promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories – falsely linking Israel to the Sept. 11 attack. The New Jersey branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently removed a curriculum link in its K-12 back-to-school guide that blamed the 9/11 attacks on U.S. support for Israel. The CAIR-NJ resource also recommended students read mastermind Osama bin Laden’s manifesto, which falsely accuses Jews of controlling America.
Nicholas Haros Jr., whose mother died at the World Trade Center, condemned the CAIR-NJ materials as “evil propaganda.” He continued: “Israel had nothing to do with 9/11. The further we get from 9/11, this new generation of kids will learn to blame our country. These kids are going to be poisoned – and that’s the intent.”
Running Toward the Fire
The first person murdered that morning was American Israeli entrepreneur Daniel Lewin. When the hijackers moved toward the cockpit of American Airlines flight 11, Lewin, 31, acted to stop them with the fearless resolve of an elite commando, who he had once been. According to phone call records from flight attendants, a hijacker stabbed him from behind. Less than half an hour later, the terrorists flew the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Abe Zelmanowitz took a different kind of stand in the North Tower. An Orthodox Jewish computer programmer, he worked beside Ed Beyea, a quadriplegic colleague who could not make it down the stairs. As the tower filled with smoke, Zelmanowitz told Beyea’s nurse to save herself while remaining, with quiet courage, by his side. Both men and a firefighter died together while descending the stairs. Three days later, at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, President George W. Bush praised the “national character” in “one man, who could have saved himself, stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend.”
Firefighter David Weiss worked in Rescue 1, a special operations command unit. Years earlier, while off duty, he jumped into the East River after watching a car plunge into the water. On Sep. 11, the 14-year FDNY veteran and 41-year-old father of two young children reached the 30th floor of the North Tower when the order came to evacuate. Shell Kaylie, who raised Weiss, described his final act of courage: “He got a ‘Mayday’ to evacuate the building. David said, ‘No.’ There were people on the 50th floor who needed his help. They never found him. No helmet, no boots, nothing.”
Lewin, Zelmanowitz and Weiss were not exceptions to the American story that day. In total, 2,977 people were killed that day, with many more dying of injuries and related illnesses in the aftermath of the attack. Americans of every background were heroes who showed that same courage – many running toward the Twin Towers that were engulfed in flames, including 343 firefighters and paramedics who gave their lives to rescue others.
Remembrance and Renewal
A nation that forgets 9/11 forgets the people who fought the hijackers, stayed beside the helpless and ran toward the fire. Judaism emphasizes remembrance – zachor. To remember is a form of moral courage – it refuses the comfortable silence that lets lies take hold.
Remembrance in the Jewish tradition is a powerful call to action. The Torah instructs Jews to “remember the days of old” (Deuteronomy 32:7) and pass down faith, tradition and memory from generation to generation – l’dor v’dor. It requires recalling history, learning from it and letting it shape life today.
On Rosh Hashana, even as Jews mark their own beginning, they pray for all of humanity. The holiday is a celebration that welcomes the year ahead marked with the blowing of the shofar – a ram’s horn – recalling the history of the Jewish people even as the prayers look toward a better year to come. This year, the Jewish people welcome the year 5787 – still here, still proud.
Through the Valley of Death
Rabbi Mechel Handler, coordinated rescue efforts of Chevrah Hatzalah – a volunteer Jewish ambulance service that treats all New Yorkers. On 9/11, its members ran toward the danger – among the first responders at the World Trade Center – treating and evacuating the wounded from the base of the towers until the South Tower came down on top of them. Excerpts from Rabbi Handler:
“Between the onset of the attack at 8:48 a.m. and the South Tower building collapse at 9:59 a.m., Hatzalah transported close to one hundred and forty patients to local hospitals. All of a sudden, we heard the loudest and most powerful sound in our lives. It was clearly the sound of death. That deafening and horrifying sound still rings in my head three times a day, during the blessing of gratitude.
“In those few seconds, while waiting for the building to collapse on us, I thought that my life would be over in a matter of moments. I quickly recited the Shema in tears. Ultimately, we discovered that all of the Hatzalah members had survived and were accounted for. We knew that the Hand of God had picked us out from the fiery furnace and miraculously saved our lives.”
Click here to read Rabbi Handler’s full account.
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.
