One weekday morning about a decade ago, I was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York City, waiting in line to go to confession. My pre-sacrament reverie was broken by the sight of a seemingly heavily armed man. This particular day came during the height of the Islamist terror groups’ threats on Christian churches and the United Nations’ annual General Assembly week in Manhattan.

I remember thinking: “This is not normal. Is this what it’s like for my Jewish neighbors every Sabbath?”

It echoed what I thought at some point during the morning of 9/11: “Is this what it’s like to be an Israeli Jew?”

This all comes to mind for the obvious reason that remembrance is in the air as we mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Meanwhile, Israelis are about to........

© The Saratogian