For the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, Rosh Hashanah and the tragic day on which almost 3,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks overlap. Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis are marking the day with shows of unity, public memorials and shofar-blowing.

“What the shofar represents, the sound of the shofar is a call to come home, to return. We all have to remember our roots, where we come from, and that we’re all human beings created in the image of Hashem,” says Yaakov Wilansky, director of CTeen & Friendship Circle Programs for the Chabad of Roslyn in Roslyn Heights, N.Y. He’ll make a special stop on Tuesday to blow the shofar in front of the fire station, which lost two brothers, Peter and Thomas Langone, who were among the first responders on 9/11.

“Rosh Hashanah is called the day of remembrance ... it’s a day of remembrance, so we want to pay tribute and also remember the fallen, to acknowledge the volunteers and pay tribute to them,” he explains. “On this day of Rosh Hashanah, we want to bless them to have a safe and sweet new year, that they should know no more sorrow.”

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On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky, director of Chabad of Great Neck, N.Y., will lead area dignitaries and community members in a memorial service for those killed in the attacks. Many Great Neck residents lost family members on that tragic day—a large number of its residents commute to Manhattan for work.

From its Saddle Rock Bridge, people could see the Twin Towers, including the day it went down in flames.

“When 9/11 happened, people were standing there and crying for an entire week, for an entire month,” says Geisinsky, who has been director at the Chabad for nearly three decades.

And so, on Tuesday, they’ll meet on the bridge, which has become the memorial for 9/11 in Great Neck, people will come together to pray, he says. They plan to sing a few Rosh Hashanah songs, blow the shofar and say Kaddish as part of a memorial for those who died that day. In past years, says Geisinsky, they have joined with the community for memorial services and held Shabbat events centered on Sept. 11 remembrance.

“But now, since it falls on Rosh Hashanah itself, we will be walking to the bridge and invite the community to come out,” he says, adding that all rabbis in Great Neck are invited, as well as the mayor and other dignitaries. Geisinsky expects about 500 people to participate, including police and fire workers who were involved in 9/11. Police will be blocking the streets.

“If we remember the past, we will be better, we will do better in the future,” he says. “Obviously, this is an opportunity, that it comes out around Rosh Hashanah, to see what evil is and how we can make the world a better place.”

Rabbi Yaakov Raskin, co-director of the Chabad of Huntington Village on New York’s Long Island, will be taking part in a memorial on Sunday afternoon, ahead of Rosh Hashanah. Forty-three local residents were killed on Sept. 11, so the day has a very personal feel for the community, he says. Area dignitaries will be in attendance at Heckscher Park, one of Huntington Village’s largest parks.

He’ll be representing the Jewish community, offering a memorial prayer for the loved ones who died, and hopes to also inspire the hundreds of people gathered to do more good.

“We want to add good,” he says. “Rosh Hashanah is the perfect time to add more light into the world.”