Avinu Malkeinu. Again and again during this sacred season, we return to these words. We confess that we have fallen short before You, our Father and our Sovereign, and we ask: have compassion upon us and upon our children; bring an end to sickness, war, famine, and oppression. Bring an end to the reign of those who cause pain and terror.

Looking back over the past year, I ask: have we lived up to the words of Avinu Malkeinu? Have we worked for a world with less sickness, less war, less famine, and less oppression? Or have we excused, even defended further pain and terror? Have we lived up to the calling of what it means to be both human and Jewish, as reflected in the story of creation and in the binding of Isaac?

In the course of a year, our world has changed tremendously. Israel stands at the center of a profound global rupture, as much of the world community has turned against it.

This shift points to something larger than politics alone; it reflects a deeper fracture in our moral imagination and in our willingness to defend the dignity and security of the Jewish people.

Erev Rosh Hashanah, I reflected on September 11—a date that was the beginning of a new era in America. I also reflected on Parashat Nitzavim and where we all stood on September 11. For myself, and for everyone alive that day, 9/11 was our Nitzavim moment. Young and old alike, we were called to hear the words we read at this time of year: Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Adonai Eloheichem—“You stand this day, all of you, before Adonai your God.”

So too, September 11, 2001, and the days that followed became a kind of moment of consolation and unity—a nechemta. Just as the Israelites were called to transform standing into action, America was called to transform unity into responsibility.

Now, twenty-five years after September 11, we must ask where we stand—together as a nation, and especially as Jews. The unity that once seemed so powerful has fractured in the nation. Voices that excuse terror and rationalize violence have risen to prominence. Platformed today in public life are statements like “America deserved 9/11,” or continued defenses of and associations with the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdul........

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