There are those who say there is a war in a faraway land called Israel. They are mistaken.

There is a war against every Jewish woman, man, and child wherever in the world they may be.

The peddlers of terror do not hate Israel because they wish to liberate humanity.

They do not murder children in their mother’s arms because they wish to make commerce over their borders. They have a border with Egypt, closed for decades, yet not a missile fires in that direction.

They hate Jews because they have been taught to hate Jews. That hatred is their oppressor as much as it is ours.

Hatred is not a bullet. It is not a meme. Hatred is a spiritual illness.

A War of the Soul

Which means that this is a spiritual war as much as it is a physical one.

Our bodies have been slain and maimed, but this war is fought principally with our souls.

And with the Jewish people, our bodies may be separate, but the souls are all one. Like a single being.

If someone attacks your right arm, your head, your heart, your feet, your hands—every cell within you is mobilized.

That’s crucial to know. Because it means that none of us is powerless. All of us today are soldiers in this war.

The War Against Hatred

How do you win a war against hatred? Not by scrolling through images of horror. Not by succumbing to sadness and despair. Terror is not vanquished by your horror. Neither can you win against it by despair. Those are its prime tools of mass destruction.

Instead, you’ll need to implement some paradoxical intervention. Because there is nothing hatred hates more than love, and there is nothing more potent against darkness than light.

Hatred attacks when it perceives weakness in its host. It flees when there is unity and togetherness.

Here is your plan of action:

Love Every Jew

Yes, I know you must love everyone. But if you can’t love your brother and sister, how can you love the whole world?

Love all Jews and the world will learn to love all people, indeed, all of G‑d’s creatures.

If you see a Jew you don’t like, do that Jew a favor. Find out what they need, how you can be of assistance. Go out of your way to provide them some help.

Look at every Jew you meet and see only two things: What can I learn from this amazing, holy Jew? And what can I do to contribute to the life of this wondrous member of my tribe?

We are one, many cells of a single organism with a single soul. When you help another Jew, you help all of us, and you help yourself.

Connect to Your People With a Mitzvah

There are many ways that human beings connect. The Jewish People have their unique, mysterious connections. They are called mitzvahs. For three and a half millennia, they have kept us alive and vibrant through every onslaught. They have illuminated the world with our values. They are our lifeline as a people.

We need to strengthen our lifeline.

We connect by lighting Shabbat candles in our homes before the sun sets on Friday, so that the darkness shines.

We connect by all our men wrapping tefillin, connecting their minds, hearts, and arms to the G‑d of Israel and to all other Jewish men.

We connect by affixing mezuzahs to our doors. We connect by studying the wisdom of our Torah together.

And in so many other ways, many explained here.

Enlist the Children

You gotta love those kids. Not just for who they will become, but for who they are right now.

They are the innocent voice of our people in its utmost purity. Their words of prayer reach to the highest places, where ours could never reach.

Tell them that. Empower them.

One of the greatest gifts you can give any child is the knowledge that at any time, in any place, no matter the situation, if you will simply speak to G‑d from your heart, He will listen. And He cares.

Teach them to say words of Torah. Teach them the twelve verses that the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, asked all children to say.

And there are other things the Rebbe recommended for kids:

Get them their own little charity box and a pile of coins so they can drop one in each day. They will learn to have a giving hand.

And give them a shelf in their room with their own Torah books, like a prayer book, Psalms, The Five Books of Moses.

Listen to their voices. Celebrate them. Empower them. They will never feel helpless again.

Be Upbeat. Stay Positive.

I know it’s hard at times. I know it can feel callous to smile in the face of tragedy. I know about that little voice inside that tells you that if you don’t look at the horrible images, that means you don’t care.

Tell that voice to make an appointment for another day. Right now is not the time for guilt and insecurity. Right now, you are a soldier.

A soldier who goes to battle in tears is better off staying home. After the war is won, then you can cry as you dance. Now is the time to uplift the spirits of all those around you, to mobilize our people, to get things done.

Now is the time for us to hold hands, not in tears, but in love, joy, and harmony.