His hand is stretched out still

Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.

The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire.

Waiting For the Tenth Man - How (Two Hundred and) Nine JewsWere 'Miraculously' Spared on 9/11

'The Tenth Man' - A Painting by Brian Shapiro... "The Rabbi is at the door waiting for the tenth man to arrive."

(This story is copied from Beliefnet... and is actually an excerpt from a book entitled Small Miracles for the Jewish Heart written by Yitta Halberstam & Judith Leventhal.)

In a small, makeshift synagogue not far from the Twin Towers, Orthodox Jewish professionals regularly meet early each morning for daily prayer services. Usually there is no problem rounding up a minyan (quorum of ten men required to pray) and the cramped quarters often overflow with worshipers. But on the morning of September 11th, there was an uncommon dearth of available men.

Perhaps they had decided to remain that morning at their resident shuls for the important selichos services that precede the High Holidays. Or, perhaps, they were participating in the shloshim (one month anniversary) memorial services for the Jews who had been killed in the Grand Canyon helicopter crash.

Two hundred (additional Jewish) men who worked in the World Trade Center, were, in fact, (also) late to work that morning because of their participation in the shloshim service.

But whatever the reason, the congregants were faced with a problem: only nine men were present, and time was marching on. These were serious men, professionals, and all had to be at their desks at the World Trade Center well before 9:00 a.m.

“What should we do?” they asked each other