25 years. It’s been 25 years since 3,000 Americans were massacred and American complacency was shattered, on one beautiful September morning.

25 years. We make a big deal out of some numbers, consider them to be milestones. Think about it: Is 25 really more special than last year’s 24? Or than next year’s 26?

For the victims of the 9/11 attack, time stopped that day. For their families, as for those who would suffer from the toxic smoke, the piles of smoldering rubble, the arc of life forever changed, time stood still. For some, it still does, because any moment of any day could put them right back where they were that Tuesday.

Today, we pray for those whose lives were lost and for those indirectly affected by the attacks: the slow-developing health challenges that have killed thousands more, the families upended, expectations shaken, lives rent asunder.

Psalms 147 tells us: harofey lishvurei leve umchabesh latzvotam / God heals the brokenhearted and tends their wounds.

We pray for continued healing and determined resilience for all whose bodies and hearts need mending — for the next 25, 37, 52 years.

For the victims of 9/11, for all of us, may God heal what is broken and be an ever-present Source of comfort and strength for all who bear the visible, or unseen, scars of battle.

Shabbat shalom שבת שלום | shana tova שנה טובה