(VIDEO & AUDIO LINKS AT END OF ARTICLE) It is exactly seven years ago when that moment in history changed the world for ever. Of course, when it happened, many of us knew we’d never forget that day. Yet time dulls even the most painful memories. And this year, seven years after the attacks, the commemoration which takes place at Ground Zero begins to feel like a sad tradition – like the beginning of history.
Relatives of victims killed at the World Trade Center arrived at dawn Thursday for ceremonies that will commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and bring both presidential candidates to ground zero later in the day.
Moments of silence were planned to mark the times that two hijacked jetliners crashed into the twin towers, along with the moments that the buildings collapsed. Services were also to be held in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, where a new memorial will be dedicated.
The ceremony will include the reading of 2,751 victims’ names, one more than last year. The city restored Sneha Philip, a woman who mysteriously vanished on Sept. 10, 2001, to its official death toll this year after a court ruled that she was likely killed at the trade center.
McCain and Obama planned to visit the site after the ceremony concluded Thursday afternoon. The candidates agreed weeks ago to pull their campaign ads for the day and were appearing together Thursday night at a forum on volunteerism and service.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was to speak at the ceremony, as he has every year in New York, along with officials including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
AUDIO LINK: [As YWN has posted in previous years:] Click HERE to listen to the frightening radio transmissions of frantic Hatzolah members screaming for help as the World Trade Center collapsed on-top of them. Besides for a few non-life-threatening injuries not one of the hundreds of members at the scene was killed. Fast forward to 8:00 to hear the collapse of the first tower. The most frightening moment is at 12:20 – when a member tells the dispatcher “tell my wife at least I said Shema.”
VIDEO LINK: Click HERE to see the terror at the WTC filmed by a family at home a few blocks away on the 36th floor. The film has not been edited, and shows the second plane hitting the tower as well as both collapses.
(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)
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5 Responses
Boruch H-shem Hatzolah only lost equipment and not lives on that day.
Zachor asher osso lechacha… Loh tishkach!!
As I commented on an earlier article, there have been reports (especially regarding adolescents) of people who experienced PTSD after watching the more graphic Internet videos relating to 9/11 (such as people jumping out of buildings). It seems that it’s not always wise to avail oneself of everything available on the Internet, even if not expressly prohibited by Halacha.
The audio and video links provided may (or may not) be somewhat less traumatic, but it’s not unreasonable to avoid taking chances with one’s mental health, especially since there is little to be gained by watching (or listening to) them.
To danielb43,
We are in Elul now-it will only do good for ones soul to listen and see these things.(Though not all which is available on the internet…)
i think there is a great deal to be gained by watching or listening. human nature is to forget things; that’s why we often need “potches” from Hashem to remind us and wake us up! Watching and listening to these tapes brings back the horror of that day, the sense of being completely NOT in control. The tehillim I said that day at the asifa were unbelievable. we all felt so clearly that EVERYTHING is in Hashem’s hands, and we could only ask that that there be no more attacks or troubles. how often does one feel like that in our daily lives? it’s no coincidence that this happened in Elul, the month of teshuva, tefila and self-improvement.
may we only hear of simchos in klal yisroel.
Mom,
Today was a difficult day. Woke up around 4am, and went to the synagogue. However, I just didn’t feel all that right. Actually, I felt out of it, which is unusual for me in that I am hyperactive. Went to work around 7am, and casually strolled to the Office, walking past the New York Stock Exchange. The American flags looked especially brilliant, and wonderful. Around 10am, I almost fell asleep, or what seemed like a trance-like state. Funny, I said to myself, I was in top form yesterday. Hmmmmm
Dong. Dong. Dong, a Hero, a NYC Fireman, rings the silver bell standing at attention.
( A Moment of Silence)
Today was “that” day. “That day” that changed the way I, and thousands of others, would see, and feel about living our lives. To this day, I still see the images, smell the char, hear the screams, and feel the fear, and taste that dust that coated my Office, my home, and my heart/lungs. “The longest burning fire in History,” the Press stated. I would agree. The weeks turned to months, and “it” still burned. As the hero’s, those NY Firemen, picked through the pieces of rubble searching for lives, the smolder continued. The toxic dust never seemed to leave, just like the spray painted morgue signed/death symbols placed by the NY Paramedics. The upscale Brooks Brothers served as a corpse holding cell, so to speak. The images never leave.
This morning at the same sight was extremely emotional. standing shoulder to shoulder with Barak Obama, and McCain was no joy, slap on the back, or a handshake. There was no campaigning, only cries. Cries of sorrow, and cries for justice. If only for my own tears, I would have seen more. The reflecting pools only reflected saddness.
As we walked out of the pit, an American Flag was unfurled in the background, surrounded by Hero’s. My Unkle was a Chief in the Fire Department, and where I will never know what he has seen/gone through, he understands what we survivors went through.
We can Never Forget this disaster. My heart is for the Families, the Mothers/Fathers, children, and all the survivors. We look at “that place” every day, and still see “that day” that forever has changed all our lives.
(you can send this Mom to others if you like)