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What do u remember?
Here is my own experience
It was a crisp beautiful September morning with a clear blue sky i had just gotten off the subway in downtown Brooklyn to head to work, when i arrived my boss told me a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers, my first reaction was i hope this is just some terrible accident and then the second plane struck we listened raptly to the radio and then we heard that the first tower had collapsed and soon after the second tower followed we were all shocked and horrified.
I was dismissed from work the subways weren’t working i stood on the streets of downtown Brooklyn near the Marriott as we just stared at the tremendous plumes of smoke and ash from across the water i was stranded there for a few hours finally the subways were opened and i headed home, i don’t recall anyone talking on the train everyone was in a daze.
When i got home i immediately called my aunt who worked downtown (that’s right i didn’t have a cell phone back then shocking!) and was relieved that she wasn’t hurt but had seen the crashes from her window at work she worked in a federal building and she thought the second plane was coming into her building.
It was the most perfect Autumn day until…
I was in a small yeshiva in Brooklyn. I had davened Shacharis and was walking to yeshiva. I was at a light when I noticed a large, dark cloud in the sky. I looked at it and realized it was smoke. I just thought there was a fire nearby – but then realized I couldn’t smell one. I walked to yeshiva and someone there with a radio told me what had just happened. We ran to a store on the corner, where the owner had put out a small TV to see the news. We watched for a bit, then went back to yeshiva. The Rebbe told us we would start seder as normal, but we should have in mind that our learning should be a merit to those in downtown Manhattan. We couldn’t concentrate on our learning very much, and the Rebbe noticed. He spoke about it for a few minutes, then told us that if anyone wanted to go be with their families, he understood. We went to the store again, and saw that the towers had collapsed.
I saw on the TV the smoke cloud that was enveloping the area. My father works near there, so I immediately tried calling him. There was no answer on his phone. I called my mother, and she told me that she’d spoken to him, and he was walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge. She asked me to go home and meet him, as she didn’t know what he’d be like. I went home, and found that my father was already there.
He told me that someone in our neighborhood worked in the WTC, and was missing. Another neighbor’s brother had been on one of the planes. I was friends with the son of one of them, and knew his father. To this day, thinking of it chokes me up.
The rest of the day? We stayed glued to the news, hoping to hear that the people we knew were found, that they were ok. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
we were having our haschalas gemara party and our rebbi came in and told us that the twin towers had been attacked and had fallen…then he took all our cookies. it was sad. so was tha towers falling.
I don’t remember what we were learning in class but all I remember is that the school called us down for a assembaly to say tehillim. They did not tell us what was going on and we immediately thought something had happened in Israel (since if I’m not mistaken the intifada was going on then too). My mother told me a little later what happened. We came home at regular time and stayed glued to the tv until a girl in my grade arranged for a tehillim group in her house. I’m not sure if her father was missing or not. I don’t remember. I remember not being allowed to walk to her house because there was so much uncertainty about whether there were still more terrorists around. It was such a scary time and I am so so sad that it is already 10 years!
on 9/11/2001 i was in e”y, and i broke my hand. we were sitting in the dr.’s office and waiting (for hours). the TV was on in the waiting room and, “lucky me”, got to see the second plane crash and got to feel along with the panic and confusion.
I remember the day very well. I was being discharged from the hospital after having been there for almost 2 months. I had survived a cardiac arrest, very major abdominal surgery and almost every known complication following that. Finally, I could go home. My husband (now an ex) picked me up early on his way to work. When he came to the ward to get me, he said “you will never believe what just happened – a plane crashed into the WTC.” We got into the car and were driving home with the radio on and the second plane hit the second tower. When I got home, he helped me into the house. I sat in my den all day long alternating sleeping with watching TV and trying to absorb what had actually happened. I don’t think that the television was even turned off for several days. It certainly was a day of infamy and I shall never forget 9/11.
I also remember that for the days after there was nothing else on tv besides for information about what happened… it sticks in my mind like it was yesterday.
I remember hearing about it by someone then saying “I don’t believe you” and immediately went to verify it with “tell me”
I also remember my rebbe was in the hospital with his wife
Does anybody know how many yidden were niftar? I don’t remember seeing any estimates.
I was in middle of class. We had an assembly where we said Tehilim, then they sent us home early. I spent practically the rest of the day watching the same footage of the planes crashing into the towers over and over again on TV.
Please see the two threads below for more stories and discussion on this topic:
(the story of someone who left a plane because he forgot his tefilin is [unfortunately] a “Jewish urban legend”. the story about United pilot Shalom Dadoun may be true – there is a registered pilot by that name.)
Oh how I remember that day…..I had just switched jobs to a new place that week in Midtown…I remember first plane struck sounded like a small plane accident and then the 2nd and you knew we were under attack…..I recall looking out of an office that had a view of the world trade center-I remember seeing the smoke-I went back to my desk for 10 minutes and went back to the office and the building had come down already….I recall going to the lobby in my building and buying bottles of water didnt know what/how to prepare…trains were shut and it was mass confusion
at about 3PM the trains opened and I took a train and people were kind of subdued……I was the only one on the train with a yarmulka….and then it started….I said to myself I guess this is what germany was like in the 30’s……some guy starts talking out loud about the jews and the money and power…..
I am going to do some introspection on this Sunday and would like to hear others……some thoughts do you greet your wife and kids with a smile……how is your learning…..is it really necessary to make that fancy out of budget chasuna…..help someone out of a job financially or encourage them…….every minute is precious
i remember that day even though i was in preschool.
we were told that our mommy’s were going to pick us up early. We ate lunch as we waited and my mother picked me up last. When i got home i saw the videos and news on t.v and i remember my cousin coming to my house telling me she saw pieces of debris from her school window [near church ave] ..
My father also came home and walked all the way from the empire state building and i remember him saying that he saw many hurt and bloody people on the way. 🙁
when my class went to Washington D.C for our graduation trip, we watched one video in a museum of sept 11th.. i started hysterical crying when a young teenage girl came on the screen and was asking all the people around her “Do you know where my father is?!?!,” hysterically crying. she looked about the same age as me.:'(
I vividly remember watching the South Tower collapse live on TV and saying to my wife ‘if the total obliteration of the ultimate symbol of the modern world’s obsession with money so quickly wasn’t meant as a direct wake-up call from Above, then what is?
Then it struck me that I had also just watched 1000+ people die in the space of a few seconds. I remember feeling very very frightened and wondering if we had just entered a new and unknown era.
I was there. It was harrowing. There are just some things in life that I would like to un-see, or un-experience. I can’t write anymore.
Just as an aside, for many years in my field I poo-poo’d and thought PTSD was nonsense. I always thought “get over it”. I was wrong. When the dreams and night terrors came, and the irrational fears started, and the panic attacks began I realized just how wrong I was. Once again, I wish I could un-see some things that day.
I was pretty young when it happened. I was in school that day and we were called into the auditorium to say Tehillem.
It really hit me a couple of years later, when I was watching an unedited video of the attack. Seeing people jumping from the towers, the faces of the crowds on the streets, listening to the 911 calls from people trapped inside the towers….it was heartrending.
CAD
Many people see things differently and alter their views based upon experience. But with time and support, the night terrors should diminish. Many people were affected the same way as you describe.
PTSD and depression sufferers both claim that those who have never experienced either usually tell them to “get over it.”
But you are in a MUCH better position now that you know differently to help those who are both suffering and those who don’t get it but mean well.
May I ask if you were there in person?
May you have hatzlacha in all your endeavors.
What shocks me is how quicly the world seems to have forgotten….
“What shocks me is how quicly the world seems to have forgotten….”
With all the memorials, threats of repeats on that day ch”v, public vocal opposition to a nearby mosque, etc.?
AYC, yes I was. Thankfully I no longer experience any (severe) symptoms of PTSD. But, it was very rough going for a few months. Even worse was not knowing, realizing, or acknowledging what was happening to me. It was very frightening. One of the most striking things was that when I came to terms with what was happening I wanted to hide it from anyone else, family included. I actually now understand people with mental illness becoming shut-ins and stewing in their own misery and exacerbating their disease. You feel that if it gets out you will be looked down upon. Pitied. Look, the nebach. Having experienced it myself now, (and BTW, it manifested itself many months after 9/11) I think I have a newfound understanding and patience with those that may suffer from mental illness. Kudos to mental health professionals. You do great work.
PS Sorry I cant write details I like my privacy.
I was in middle of class when my teacher came in sobbing that there was an explosion in Manhattan. WE thought “explosion” maybe a car blew up…then we heard teh details.
“What shocks me is how quicly the world seems to have forgotten….”
With all the memorials, threats of repeats on that day ch”v, public vocal opposition to a nearby mosque, etc.?
I think mike was referring to the achdus they displayed right after,
or that people complain about security measures?
What shocks me is how quicly the world seems to have forgotten….”
Here’s an editorial on that subject, from a couple of years back:
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/have-we-forgotten
CAD
Thank you SO much for your words; you’ve actually helped me very much.
Just last night I received a call from Australia, of all places, to speak on a Yiddish radio show on the experience, and I could only think “Not a chance.”
I was also referring to the pictures of Palestinians celebrating the attack by handing out sweets and how the current US administration has forgotten this….
The day brought back memories of 1992 bombing, because I worked at the WTC from 1986 to 1995.
I woke up that morning around 6:00 in order to get into work early. I was starting a new semester of graduate school that day. But earlier in the night, I had terrible stomach problems (almost a premonition) that had me in the bathroom for about an hour at around 3:00 AM. I remember being annoyed that I was stuck in the bathroom for so long when I had to be up so early.
I worked in Queens in 2001. Some of our senior staff were at a meeting at a hospital in lower Manhattan and my boss called me to tell me that, “Some idiot had flown his airplane into the Trade Center.” We thought it was an accident, so we settled into our 9:00 daily meeting and started that meeting with a moment of silence. As soon as we came out of the meeting, the second plane hit. It was chaos in my office. But, as the senior manager in Queens that day and a former EMT, I had to take control of the situation.
My wife worked in Manhattan at the time, but just north of 14th Street. She called me to tell me that she was okay, but that her express bus had come out of the tunnel just as the first plane hit and she saw the debris falling. She told me I should get home and get the kids, who were in school. I replied that I had a crisis on my hands in the office that I needed to handle and that school was probably the safest place for the kids to be.
I remember taking the train home that night and seeing the plume of smoke coming up from lower Manhattan as the F train rounded the bend before Smith & 9th Street. “My” buildings were gone.
My fathers cousin was niftar in cali over the weekend. My great uncle, his step-sons as well as my grand mother and aunt, all went on the 11th, but for some reason had all taken different planes. My great uncle was on flight 93. I remember my father, a former IDF member not being able to watch the TV and just paced the house until news came if my family was alive. In my minds eye I can see my uncle fighting with the rest of the heros who caused the plane to crash in a field.
i am amazed at how many people suddenly own up to having a tv back then.
Mewho: Watching the news in NYC after an event like that is probably one of the only uses for television that is Muttar according to almost everyone.
I was about a block and a half away when the Towers came down.
The Wolf
i dont doubt that watching the news for something like 9-11 is mutar, i am just pointing out that many admitted to having tvs altogether.
My uncle had an office in the twin towers at that time. That day he was sick and couldn’t go into work. Hakodosh Baruch Hu works in wonderous ways.
CAD
I could use your help now, if you can.
To tell you all the truth yes i think its sad for all he jews that were niftar but like i think people shud make a biger deal about the holocaust wich was way worse u cant compare…yes i was alive by 9/11 but i dont think the jews should be so sad abt it unless r”l they had a relative or anything we shud be sad abt the jews but not the goyim!!
My father was supposed to take an office in the twin towers but decided the office they had was ‘too high for him’ so he ended up working in the empire state building b”H and a year later it happened.
Today as I am listening to the news I can not imagine what all these families are going through. I see how much it has affected me, someone who b”H didn’t lose any family members and think to myself, how much more so them. The pain, the fear, the anger that they all must feel is unfathomable. All I know is that I am sitting here crying while writing this, crying while listening to the radio, and crying while watching all the news live. Honestly, I didn’t realize how much it affected me until now when I feel like I have a hole in my heart.
Hashem should give strength to all the Jews and non-Jews who lost family members or close ones on September 11, 2001.
Hamakov yinacheim…
GumBall: Whenever a human being takes another’s life it is a tragedy, whether Jewish or not. The reason people feel so strongly about 9/11 is because we all saw it and lived through it. The Holocaust and the Crusades don’t resonate as strongly with us because to us they are just powerful stories, not something we experienced ourselves.
My father was supposed to take an office in the twin towers but he decided the office they had was ‘too low for him’ on the 56th floor so he ended up working on the 67th floor in the empire state building b”H! and a year later it happened.
Was on the train heading to manhattan. Was planning on stopping in Century 21 to shop, but was running late, soo I stayed on the train to midtown. Conductor announced accident at WTC, but gave no details. As we were going over Manhattan bridge, a guy sitting near me received a call from his wife who was near the twin towers and saw the first plane hit. When we passed, we were able to see smoke from the first plane, and the second plane hadn’t hit yet. The train continued on to Midtown, with everyone thinking it was an accident. I didn’t hear any more details until I got to work, then, after staying in the office for a couple of hours, walked home to Brooklyn, which took hours.
my father was cleaning out paper work a few years ago and found a folder with the name “Cantor Fitzgerald” from when he went there for a job interview. IIRC, it was a little before the attacks. he didnt take that job and totally forgot about the interview until he found that folder. he still has it for memories sake
I was @ home in Brooklyn… I happened to be listening to the radio when it was announced & continued to do so. 🙁
A girl in MY classes father was supposesd 2 go on the flight tht crashed in 2 the twin towers but forgot his teffilin in the hotel and went back and missed the flight!! look at how hashem is so good to us!!
Gumball, a loss of innocent human life is a tragedy. Also, why does one sad event negate another?
Even though I was not in New York at the time, school ended early. They were afraid of a terrorist attack at a Jewish school. I didn’t know what truly happened until I saw the footage. It was terrifying.
i will never forget that day, it is imprinted on my memory and brain even though half of my brain is gone. i was in school with my special needs children when the first plane struck and got a call from my boss, the head of the hospital where i worked, that i must come in immediately because he needs my help and i might have to go to manhatten to help out there. i ran to work and was bussed to the nearby hospital and worked round the clock to help in any way i possibly could while davening and saying tehillim. to this day i dont understand how such a terrible thing could of happened and i truly wish that moshiach is on his way and will appear in time for rosh hashana!!!
Gumball I am very disturbed by your post…your missing the point of what it is to be a human and a Jew… your young and I hope you think before you put something in writing in the future.
I will share that we got calls all day until the wee hours of the morning and even the following day from the firm trying to locate its employees and check if they’d survived.
It was surreal.
I’ve just read that calamities only come to the world because of the Yidden (Yevamos 63a). Rashi there explains that Yidden should see past the catastrophes and become FEARFUL of what aveiros cause and do tshuva.
The WTC fell during Elul, Hurricane Katrina was in Elul, and Irene came up the NE coast during Rosh Chodesh Elul bentching.
We also had a summer with the ptiras of three gedolim, two murders (a young child’s murder and a rav), and more attacks in E”Y.
Hashem is showing us how people act when confronted with serious stuff. Those who are afraid are running around and looking for solutions (as with the coming hurricane). They do not wait for the last minute and rush to get some needed supplies.
Then there are those who pretend that nothing is happening may choose to do nothing or just go watch the storm, denying the danger.
Rosh Hashana is quickly approaching and we should not wait till the last minute to prepare.
We were given the tools, tshuva, tfilla and tzedaka.
And we were given the time, a whole Elul.
Let’s get ready. (Rav Pinchos Lipschutz)
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