and my head swimming with the tasks that lay before me. 

But upon my arrival at the office, I sensed something wrong and the terrible truth quickly emerged: we were in the full dimensions of 9-11 and our world as we know it will never be the same. 

On the phone to Israel, I tried to relay the unimaginable facts of the day. Shortly thereafter, the reality fell upon us all and we were out the door, hoping to help in any way that we could. 

At hospital crisis centers, I helped find victims for family members. On the walls of the hospital and all over the city, I remember seeing thousands of posters of loved ones who were missing. Each face represented an entire universe behind it. I remembered the quote from the Talmud: 

"לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי בעולם, ללמד שכל המאבד נפש אחת מעלים עליו כאילו איבד עולם מלא..."

"Therefore man was created singly in this world – to teach us that whoever causes a single life to be lost is considered to have caused the loss of an entire world…”

Through the ruins, let us emerge with that same spirit of solidarity that I witnessed in the streets of New York that day. Let everyone continue to help others for humanity's greater good. Let shine a beacon of hope that has been provided for us in the example of so many heroes and heroines of the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington, and at the crash site of the hijacked aircraft in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

My friends, we have many challenges ahead of us – challenges that free democratic societies face – some continuous threats and others yet unknown. Let us bridle the pure spirit of the 911 heroes and heroines to inspire us to forge ahead today, and in the difficult days to come. 

May we all be blessed with faith in the human spirit and the strength to sustain our world. May we draw inspiration from the courage shown by so many on that September day, eleven years ago today, and may the memory of those we lost be blessed forever.

Shalom