I'll bet you remember exactly where you were at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The attack on America has joined the list of famous and infamous events, such as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination and Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon.

Our experience as Jews has taught us the importance of setting aside time to remember the crucial events of history on a yearly basis. So, we relive the Exodus at our seder tables. We re-experience the receiving of the Torah on Shavuot. Chanukah and Purim keep alive stories of near-destruction and the celebrations that followed our successful victories. On the Ninth of Av, we fast in mourning for the destruction of the Temples and other tragic occurrences in Jewish history.

In the 20th century, we received new holidays to commemorate events of significant status. So our calendar now includes days to recall the Holocaust, Israel's independence and its fallen soldiers, and the re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967.

It is with our rich experience that we can understand the necessity of a yearly commemoration of a day that changed the world, and permanently impacted our lives. We all need a September 11 ritual, and we need to preserve the memory of this day for the future generations.

In New York City, a service at the site of the World Trade Center will include appropriate readings, including Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the Declaration of Independence and Roosevelt's Four Freedoms. Former Mayor Guliani will commence the reading of approximately 2,800 names of victims.

In our local area, two synagogues are hosting interfaith services. The services will be held at Temple Israel (for the local West Bloomfield community) and at Shaarey Zedek (for the greater Metro Detroit area), both beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 11. These services are scheduled to last no longer than 90 minutes, and I urge you to attend one of them with your family and friends.