Jewish new year begins on somber note

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Jewish new year, known as Rosh Hashana, opened on a somber note in New York synagogues as congregations mourned the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks while marking the holiday.

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At one synagogue on Manhattan's upper West Side, the congregation gathered Monday night for Rosh Hashana minus six members who were lost during last week's attacks.

Five of them were in the World Trade Center, and one was in the plane that hit the Pentagon. None of their bodies have been recovered.

Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor officiated at three of their funerals Sunday, but the other three families still hold out hope.

"Our world is not and cannot be the same after the events of one week ago," Bretton-Granatoor told his synagogue.

"We grieve with those who still search. We grieve with those who have lost loved ones."

Bretton-Granatoor urged his synagogue to love God and one another in the face of the tragedy.

"What we must do is hold each other a little tighter, care more for one another," he said.

"The history of our people is strewn with … one awful event after another, and yet our people have constantly clung to life."

-- CNN's Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.