20 years since September 11
On that Tuesday Morning I was in Yeshivah in Brooklyn finishing morning prayers, when one of the boys walked in to the main hall, saying “the twin towers were hit”. We were all in disbelief, and quickly finished prayers to head to the roof of the boulding to see what we would be able witness from our location. We were able to seethe smoke billowing from the twin towers.
We stood on the rooftop, astonished at what was unfolding in front of our eyes.
Then, everyone gasped, we saw a huge plume of smoke coming from the second tower, it was far, so we were not really able to make out what happened, but we knew there was a disaster unfolding.
The rest of the day was a blur, I went to a friends house to watch the news on TV, to make sense of what we had seen from the roof top. Only then did we realize the smoke plume we watched from Brooklyn was the second tower crumbling to the ground.
That night I heard that WTC 7 also crumbled, there were other planes that crashed into the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. I remember my friend’s father getting the morning newspaper, placing it into a protective plastics sleeve to safe keep for years to come. A few days later, I traveled to ground Zero, to see the devastation for myself. I was not able to get too close, but even from a distance I was able to see the smoke still rising from the scene. It was surreal.
20 years later
Over that past 10 years I worked in Midtown Manhattan, with a nice view of the Freedom Tower (OneWTC) from my 15th floor office. Corona came, a furlough here, lost another job there. Now I work for s start-up that has an office on the 77th floor of OneWTC. I look out the window every day, marveling at all the helicopters and boats passing by.
On Sept 11 2021, when Shabbos was over, I told my wife, I would like to go capture the Tribute Lights, that I had only seen from far away in Brooklyn. I charged my batteries, and off I went to capture some photos.
