I took this picture while on the Staten Island Ferry back in the spring of 1997. It was a great day. Little did I know that I’d never be able to go back and walk around the Trade Center or the Winter Garden. We all remember where we were and how we felt on 9/11.
Tragedies happen. National tragedies that have an impact us and also personal tragedies. Relationships don’t work out. People or children get sick. Our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael still live with the fear of being attached. These days we need not look to hard to see something that hurts us.
Several years before September 11th, I heard a d’var Torah from Rabbi Baruch Klein (Far Rockaway) during a Shalosh Seudos. What he said changed the way I approach any nisiyon (test) that comes my way. While, I know that I most certainly do not always deal with my tests the way Hashem would want me to, I make an attempt. Rav Klein said that during our trek to Eretz Yisrael, our ancestors were commanded to build the Mishkan when we made camp. Sometimes we would stay for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes longer. Then we’d take down the Mishkan and travel again, only to once again build. Hashem was teaching us a lession. Building and taking down. Building and taking down. Building and taking down. Building and taking down. Building and taking down.
That was the pattern. It’s still our pattern. Things happen in life that hit us hard. Our choice is one of two options…
We build, take down, and build again
or
We take down and stop building