Paris. Tel Aviv. Toulouse. Mumbai. Brussels. Djerba. Copenhagen. Jerusalem. Kansas City. And now, Pittsburgh.
The incomprehensible murder of 11 Jews this week has violently ripped open a permanent hole in the lives of the families and friends of those killed, and indeed, Jews across the world.
Like so many others, I find myself asking, “What now?”
How do we process this tragedy? How do we return to our lives in its aftermath? Do we cower in fear? What changes do we make?
Our sages teach that the power of goodness and kindness is infinitely stronger than the power of evil. “A small amount of light dispels much darkness” is not merely an adage—it is the starting point for illuminating our lives and ultimately transforming the entire world.
About the Jewish people, Song of Songs says, “I am sleeping, but my heart is awake.”
When I look at the way the global Jewish community has reacted to the Pittsburgh massacre, I see an awakening. And if an anti-Semitic lunatic, through a single act of baseless hatred, can awaken the hearts of Jews in Singapore, Cape Town, Sydney, New York, and across the entire globe, can you imagine what we can accomplish with any single act of baseless love?
If Robert Bowers, a high school dropout, can sow fear across the entire world with darkness and violence, can you imagine how much joy and peace we, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, can spread throughout the world by lighting Shabbat candles this week?
If a deranged lunatic with a rifle and two handguns could perform the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history while shouting “Death to all Jews!” imagine what you and I could accomplish while shouting “I love all Jews!”
This tragedy has united Jews from across the spectrum of observance. We are all mourning the 11 holy Jews, killed because they chose to celebrate their Judaism in shul, on Shabbat, as Jews have done for millennia. Can you imagine how much unity we can generate, and how many Jews we can bring to shul with love, a phone call, and a bowl of warm cholent?
This is our responsibility now: to reach out to any Jew we come across and welcome him or her with open arms and an open heart. We cannot allow Robert Bower’s act of terrorism to scare us away. We must go to shul, wear our Judaism outwardly with pride, engage with the community, and remember that although our people have faced deep anti-Semitism since the beginning of time, we have not—and cannot now—allow it to prevent us from embracing our heritage.