Words From The Warden

Rosh Hashana
In 2026, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This convergence invites us to honor the thousands who were killed while entering a sacred season of renewal.

Rosh Hashanah marks the birthday of the universe and is celebrated as the “head” of the Jewish year. Jewish tradition teaches that our conduct at the beginning of the year can shape how the year unfolds.
It is a time for prayer, repentance, and introspection—a time to ask God for peace, prosperity, and blessing in the year ahead.

In many ways, Rosh Hashanah resembles Lent—a season devoted to introspection and repentance.
Lent culminates in the great joy of Easter. After 40 days of reflection and fasting, Easter offers Christians a new beginning—our own kind of “head of the year.”

These shared themes of reflection, repentance, and renewal remind us that we have far more in common than our apparent differences might suggest.

Americans who lived through September 11, 2001, continue to mourn the more than 3,000 lives lost in the attacks. Today, we pause to remember them while also looking toward the future. Understanding what has been is an essential part of imagining what can be.

Let us pray to God for peace throughout the world. Let us ask for mercy for ourselves and for those who are treated as outsiders. And let us seek guidance so that we may recognize where and how we can help.

Dear God, let us be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3.8-9, NIV).

Peace,

Henry Zaborniak, Senior Warden