2015/2016
Vol. 11

The Great Miracle

September 11, 2001; Queens, New York, New York, USA

The date of my brother’s bris¹ was September 11, 2001. That was also the day when something major happened in New York.

My great-grandmother was weak; it was hard for her to get out of bed. My great-grandmother lived with her son, and another five sons lived in her neighborhood. The day of my brother’s bris my great-grandmother woke up early and rushed out of bed. At 4:30 a.m. her son found her dressed and waiting at the kitchen table. She asked politely, “Can you please take me to my great-grandson’s bris?”

Her sons, my great-uncles, whispered, “It is really not nice to make our mother get back into bed.” They decided to cancel their business meeting scheduled that morning at the Twin Towers and travel with my great-grandmother to the bris.

My parents were so surprised to see her that they could not speak! She had to be entertained the whole time. My parents said to her, “How are you? You are so cheerful today.”

All she answered was, “This makes me so happy, just to be here.”

My great-grandmother was not surprised when my brother was named after her late husband, my great-grandfather. She said, “I knew it.”

After the bris my great-uncles drove her home. Then they turned around and began to drive to work. As they got closer to Manhattan, they had tons of traffic, and they smelled smoke. They turned on the radio and found out that the Twin Towers had crashed! They turned around and drove straight home. They thanked G-d² in their hearts for saving them.

This story makes me so happy and thankful that my great-uncles were saved. We all know that the Torah³ teaches us that the reward for honoring parents is a long life. It is clear to me that my great-uncles’ lives were saved in the merit of the tremendous respect they had for their mother — not only on the day of the bris, but every day of her life.

Shira Arieh; New York, USA

1. A bris is a Jewish circumcision and naming ceremony that brings a baby boy into the Jewish community.

2. This incomplete spelling is a show of respect.

3. In Judaism, the Torah is the law of God contained in the first five books of the Jewish Bible, which is known to Christians as the Old Testament.

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