9/11 is one of those events that people tend to remember exactly where they were standing when they first heard the news.
In my case, I was teaching that morning. One of the classes I taught then and still teach now is called TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) which works (among other things) to create the school’s weekly “MC Newsletter”. I was standing in the upstairs hallway, against the gray banister, showing students how to use the camera. It was big old SONY digital camera, I forget the model but was large enough it fit a handful of full-resolution pictures on a 3.5 inch colorful “floppy”. At the end of the hallway was the school office and Mrs. Rosenfield (the General Studies Principal at the time) rushed out to tell all the classes that something happened in NYC and all schools were being dismissed. We had little detail at the time. Parents were called, everyone went home.
We got home. We heard some of the news on the radio. The whole thing was so out of the blue, literally in-credible, hard-to-believe. Shabbos House (and our home) was then back at 316 (we moved to the new, bigger and better Shabbos House in 2009) and the guys were living at the old 320. They called us over to see the news on TV (as we do not have a TV, not sure how much was available on the internet then) and it was at the old 320 that we saw the video footage of the plane crashing into the tower, and then the second plane.
It is known that seminal generational events like 9/11 (or the Kennedy assassination), create these “Flashbulb Memories” that include not only the event itself but where you were when you heard of it.
What’s to be learned from “Flashbulb Memories”?
Let me introduce this thought by describing the Rebbe’s salutation to his pastoral holiday letters before Rosh Hashanah and Passover etc. Even in my youth, I have always found this salutation so meaningful and moving. The Rebbe “addressed” these letters: “To the Sons and Daughters of Israel – Wherever They May Be!” Firstly, the fact that the Rebbe addressed this to every Jew is in itself so Rebbe-esque. And that these letters are to both “sons and daughters of Israel” emphasizing men and women.
But the part of the salutation that struck me most is “Wherever they may be!” Literally this is in the geographical sense. The Rebbe truly concerned himself with Jewish people all over the world, in communities large and small, even in the most remote and isolated locations. But figuratively, it also means wherever we may be – emotionally, spiritually, mentally, in whatever stage in life or personal circumstance.
Perhaps this speaks to the power of Flashbulb Memories. Not only do we remember the global macro event, but also where we were then. Our space and place. Where we are at. That, too, is an important part (of our experience) of the 9/11 story, and every other macro global story. Where we are at, how we take it in our (personal, emotional) space.