The Morning After 9/11

"This morning we not only woke up to a new day, we woke up to a new world." These were the opening words of my then Rosh Yeshiva's special address to the Beis Midrash on the morning of Septermber 12, 2001. America felt vulnerable. The international community was in turmoil. The world was forced to redefine the very axis on which it rests. Today, 13 years later, we see it's true; the world of 9/12 was different than that of 9/11.
Do we need to suffer tragedies of such catastrophic proportion in order to realize the power of a new day? Twice in this week's Parsha Moshe Rabeinu uses the word "hayom" - today. In both places Rashi explains the meaning to be that we should not view the Torah and mitzvos as old, but each day should be as if we were receiving them for the first time - "today." This idea of renewal, starting anew with a clean slate, is what teshuva - repentance - is all about. The Mesilas Yesharim says our ability to do teshuva is a kindness from Hashem, and it's so powerful that it can delete an inappropriate act from the records. With this in mind we can understand how, as Jews, a new day is in essence a new world.
May we all have a meaningful Elul and a K'siva v'Chasima Tova.