Twenty-five years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001, our country entered a darkness we still remember vividly. Thousands of human beings were murdered. Families were shattered. And Americans everywhere were left asking not only how such a thing could happen, but also how we were supposed to live afterward. 

This year there is a remarkable convergence on the calendar. On the evening of Sept. 11, the Jewish community begins Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. On the anniversary of a day we associate with death and ashes, we begin a holiday devoted to renewal and the possibility of a new beginning. 

That coincidence offers a powerful reminder: Tragedy has a way of clarifying our priorities. The challenge is to remember those priorities when the tragedy has passed. 

I remember what happened here in Santa Clarita the very next day. On Sept. 12, 2001, Temple Beth Ami hosted an interfaith community memorial service. We called it “a service of healing in memory of the victims of terrorism, in honor of those who risked their lives to save others, and to console a community united by a common tragedy.” 

People of different faiths and........

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