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