9/11 Living Memorial Plaza

The plaza combines a memorial to the September 11 victims with a setting for personal reflection and public remembrance.[2][3] The victims’ names are inscribed at the site, including those of five Israeli citizens.[4] The attacks killed people from more than 90 countries, giving the memorial’s commemoration an international scope.[4]

Also known as the Twin Towers Memorial, the site lies in Jerusalem’s Ha’arazim, or Arazim, Valley.[1][5] It is near the city’s Ramot neighborhood.[3] The site occupies a hill overlooking the valley and the Jerusalem Hills.[6][1] It is within view of Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem’s main cemetery.[2] The surrounding circular, stone-tiled plaza provides space for visitors to reflect on their memories and losses.[2]

The setting also offers views of the bridge carrying the high-speed Jerusalem–Tel Aviv railway.[6] In 2019, access involved a drive of about ten minutes from the Begin Highway along a narrow, winding road, and the site had no paved parking area.[6]

KKL-JNF and Jewish National Fund-USA established the memorial in 2009, with its dedication taking place in November of that year.[1][7] Support came from Edward Blank of New York, a retired telemarketing pioneer and member of JNF’s World Chairman’s Council.[1][2] The circular plaza surrounding the sculpture was funded by the Bronka Stavsky Rabin Weintraub Trust.[2] Blank expressed hope that the memorial would serve as “a sanctuary for shared loss and a call for peace among nations.”[2]

Israeli artist Eliezer Weishoff designed the monument, and KKL-JNF landscape architect Yechiel Cohen is also credited with its creation.[1] Weishoff initially considered designing a medal before approaching KKL about the memorial, after obtaining the approval of Jerusalem’s then-mayor Ehud Olmert and environmental organizations.[7] The project’s estimated cost was about 10 million shekels.[7] New York City supplied a section of steel recovered from the World Trade Center wreckage for incorporation into the sculpture’s base.[7]

The dedication brought together bereaved families, former prime minister Ehud Olmert, U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham, and ambassadors representing other countries whose citizens had been killed in the attacks.[7] At the ceremony, bereaved mother Miriam Avraham described the memorial as another place she could visit after previously leaving a wreath and lighting a candle at another memorial.[7]

Hundreds gathered at the memorial on the attacks’ tenth anniversary in 2011 for a ceremony honoring the site and its commemorative purpose.[4] Honored guests included U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman and Jean Schmidt, U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro, Olmert, and Jewish National Fund president Stan Chesley.[4] A U.S. Embassy ceremony on September 11, 2016, marked the fifteenth anniversary and included World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder.[2]

An annual ceremony at the plaza honors the September 11 victims, organized by KKL-JNF, Jewish National Fund-USA, and the U.S. Embassy in Israel.[3] The ceremony is live-streamed globally and typically includes American dignitaries, among them the U.S. ambassador.[3]

In 2019, KKL-JNF and Jewish National Fund-USA presented a “Tribute in Light” installation at the plaza.[8] Two illuminated pillars, each described as 300 meters tall, shone from Emek Ha’arazim toward the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem highway.[8] Switched on at a ceremony, the lights remained illuminated through the annual memorial observance until the morning of September 12.[8] The installation marked Israel’s first participation in the Tribute in Light outside the United States.[8]

At the 2024 commemoration, Israel Defense Forces staff sergeant Jamie Gartenberg Pila spoke about her father, James, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack.[3] She was born six months after his death, and his name is engraved on the memorial wall.[3] A U.S. Army honor guard, uniformed police officers, and firefighters also took part in the ceremony.[3]

The event listing for the twenty-fifth-anniversary ceremony in 2026 identified Jewish National Fund-USA and KKL as its presenters and Ed Blank as a supporter.[9] Listed participants included Ambassador Mike Huckabee, actress Patricia Heaton, former New York Police Department chief of intelligence Thomas Galati, U.S. Military Attaché Colonel Philip Messer, and JNF-USA leaders Deb Lust Zaluda and Russell F. Robinson.[9]

The central sculpture depicts a waving American flag transforming into a memorial flame.[2] Approximately 30 feet high, it is a cenotaph—a monument honoring people buried elsewhere—and stands within the circular plaza.[1][2] Its materials include bronze, granite, and aluminum.[6] The flag-and-flame design is accompanied by a gray granite base incorporating a metal beam from the original Twin Towers.[2]

The steel fragment creates a physical connection between the Jerusalem monument and the destroyed World Trade Center.[1][7] It also symbolizes an enduring connection between Israel and the United States.[3] Around the plaza’s perimeter, metal panels bear the victims’ names, placing individual remembrance around the central sculpture.[10]

A separate plaque, added in 2018, commemorates the 11 victims of the shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.[6] Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto planted an olive tree beside it as a symbol of peace and continuity.[6]