PARIS—After the November attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and more than 300 wounded, France is in shock. Everyone here remembers the Hyper Cacher attack in January, when the Jews were the primary target, but at that time, most French people felt that it was something like a “Jewish vs. Arab problem.” Now, France itself is wounded in its very heart. Young people in a stadium or in a concert hall were killed for no other reason than that they were living a normal Western-style life.

France is now beginning to understand that the enemy Israel has been fighting and that Jews everywhere know so well is waging a war against liberty and democracy.

Right now, the French government is doing everything it can to put an end to such attacks on French territory. A state of emergency was proclaimed; it will last for 12 days at least, and possibly for three months.

The French army has been called up to guard the streets, along with French police. Some 10,000 more soldiers will be sent for this purpose. Meanwhile, there are fewer people in the streets than usual, and even fewer in the shops and restaurants. Everybody can feel the sensitivity of the people. For example, the other evening there was a false alarm in the center of Paris, and the crowd was literally in a panic. And as we saw with the recent stabbing in Marseille and arrests in Saint-Denis, the violence is unlikely to end soon.

There were several events on Sunday night that brought people together, and things will obviously calm down. And on Monday, in all of the Chabad schools—like in all the schools in France—there was a moment of silence that was observed for all the victims.

But the question is: What will be afterwards? Even if Jews are not directly the target of the current wave of terror, many of them are now talking about leaving France to go to Israel, Canada or the United States for security reasons. Yet in the long term, the greater part of the community will probably remain in France.

We now have to figure out what it means to live in a state of war, knowing that the battle has to be waged on French territory itself, and that it is also through education that the final victory will be obtained.

As Jews, our response must be not to be afraid, continuing to hold to our values, and living a true and inspiring Jewish life. We carry the light, and they are the shadow. By nature, the light is stronger.