Yes, the Yiddish words "Gantseh Megillah" means "to make a big deal or a major issue out of nothing." With the first Anniversary of September 9 rapidly approaching, millions of people ARE making a "Gantseh Megillah" out of this horrific event.

One of the beautiful things about Judaism is that it encourages questions. Why we even have websites titled, " www.AskMe.com " and " www.AskaRabbi.com  ." The Yiddish word for question is "frageh" or "sheileh."

Voltaire said to "judge man by his questions, rather than by his answers." And Cathy Crimmins ("The Jewish book of Questions") wrote, "If you ask twelve rabbis a question, you'll get fourteen different answers--and half of them will answer the question with another question."
Let's take a look at the questions that are being asked one year after September 11:

G

God; Ground-Zero; Gaza Strip; Gematria
"Where was God on 9/ll?"
"Does my bedroom really resemble 'Ground Zero'?"
"Why is it that ever since 9/11, I've been 'going postal'?"
"Was there any question that Giuliani would be chosen as Time magazine's 'Person of the Year'?" (Yes, he was selected to join the prestigious ranks of such other honorees as FDR, Bill Gates, the personal computer and Adolph Hitler.)
"How many different names are there for Ground Zero--the Pile, the Site, a sacred burial ground?"
"Why was the one-sided film that is severely critical of Israel, 'Gaza Strip,' recently screened at New Jersey's Drew University?"
"Did anyone tell you that when we take a look at the gematria or numerical value of 9/11 (i.e. nine hundred and eleven), we get two Hebrew words: Reishit, meaning a beginning, and She'eirit, meaning remnant? Rabbi Perry Rank says that "for those of us who remain (the remnant?), it is time that we begin something new. And that something new is what we need to contemplate."
Rabbi Rank also observed that there is one mathematical coincidence; the ninth day of eleventh month on the Jewish calendar is Tishah B'av. If 9/11 is America's Tishah B'av, in what ways will it alter our lives? And that is a good question!

A

Autophobia; American Flag; Anti-Semitism
"Why is it that I'm still experiencing 'auto-phobia--fear of being alone?"
"Does it matter what size American flag I purchase? Isn't it just a matter of showing that I'm proud to be an American? Is it true that displaying a flag after 9/11 now is more akin to keeping up with the Joneses?
"Why does it bother me to learn that the majority of flag production is in China, and they're being manufactured in sweat shops?"
"Why is it that since 9/11, anti-Semitism is more potent and very real? Synagogues are being burned in France, Jewish children are being attacked, and there have been on-campus demonstrations where outright anti-Semitism rules the day?"

N

Nine-Eleven; National Anthem; Nationalism
" Why do I think about those New York police officers and firefighters nine-eleven twenty-four seven?"
"Since 9/11, has Nationalism become a credible cause even among those who were previously lukewarm patriots at the most?"
"Need I ask why the 'God Bless America' album debuted at No. l on the Billboard albums chart, and the 'National Anthem' reached No. 18 on the pop singles chart after 9/11?"

T

Terrorists; Twin Towers; Textbooks; Truth; Trinity
"Why do my instructors keep saying, 'That's so September 10?"
Is it true that the world will never be the same after Sept. 11?"
"How can we forget that one day's Trinity of Terror: the collapse of the WTC, the piercing of the Pentagon, and an airplane crash in rural Pennsylvania?"
"Has anyone noticed that the Twin Towers themselves looked like the number 11?"
Will my textbooks detail 9/11, discuss Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and Afghanistan? Will the Social Studies books include semi-biography of Rudolph Giuliani?"

S

Smithsonian; Springsteen; Slogans; Spirit
"Isn't it wonderful that a mandate from Congress has designated the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as a national repository for artifacts from the WTC?" (This exhibit will contain Giuliani's cell phone, a stairwell sign from the WTC a piece of limestone from the Pentagon, and a uniform from a Navy officer who rescued a Pentagon victim.)
"Have you heard Springsteen sing 'The Rising' and 'My City of Ruins'?"
"How many people know that the website ' www.OnlySimchas.com ' receives requests for help in identifying the whereabouts of Jews who vanished on 9/11?"
"Why do demonstrators scream slogans such as 'Hitler did not finish the job"?"
"Should I fly for free on Spirit Airlines on 9/11?" (It took just seven hours for Spirit to fill up its 13,400 free seats!)

E

Emo
"Why does my lantsman (neighbor from the old country) call me an 'Emo'--someone who is very emotional about Sept. ll?"

H

"How can Iraq and Saudi Arabia pay thousands of dollars to families of suicide terrorists?
"Es iz it geshtoigen un nit gefloigen" (It doesn't make sense.)
"Why does my teacher continually say [of his principal], 'He's as hard to find as bin Laden"?"
"How can anyone forget the headlines of the New York Times on Sept. 12? "Geb a kuk" (give a look):
U.S. ATTACKED. HIJACKED JETS DESTROY TWIN TOWERS AND HIT PENTAGON IN DAY OF TERROR

M

Mitzvot
"I wonder whether the mitzvot known as 'shmira' (in which a dead Jewish body is never left unattended before burial) is the sweetest of mitzvot?"

E

Event
"Es tut mir vai" (It hurts me) that this event [9/11] reminds us of the brevity and the uncertainty of life.

G

Graffiti [on site of the WTC]
"I wonder who wrote, 'to all, don't just come here to stare and take pictures, but come here to remember and reflect and pray for those who worked here and gave their lives here"?
"Why do so many girls say a boy is 'firefighter cute,' instead of the more common 'hottie'?" Doesn't that slang cross the line between funny and offensive?"

I

"I wonder if even one of those people who got on those planes or walked into the WTC, or the Pentagon that Tuesday morning thought it would be the last day of their lives?"
"Is that a burka?"

LL

Lag Time; Laughter
"What is the lag time to laugh after something like Sept. 11--a month, a half year, a year?"

A

"And, was David Gelertner right when he asked, 'Why should we continue to let TV reporters and news photographers take pictures of terrorist murder scenes? Of dead and maimed Israelis, shocked bystanders, grieving families, blood in the streets?...We have every reason to believe that some Palestinians do not merely watch, they gloat"?

H

"How can one live without a cell phone since 9/ll? From UAL 93, passenger Todd Beamer contacted a GTE supervisor. During his 13-minute phone call, she tells him about the other hijackings; he tells her some passengers have decided to fight back. What were her last words heard on the cell? 'Are you guys ready? Let's roll!!!"
__________
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe is a free-lance writer from Syosset, New York.
She agrees that "An educated man is one who has finally discovered that there are some questions to which nobody has the answer."