Who feels less safe?

Me, whose Jerusalem shul conducts prayer services with its doors wide open, without concern that Arab Muslims, who may very well sympathize with Hamas, drive freely around the neighborhood and even work across the street at the local health clinic and grocery store? Or Americans, who need to use various codes and authentication methods to get past multiple perimeters of security in order to enter their shul?

Who feels less safe?

Me, who can barely get through a few days without sirens sending my family into a bomb shelter thanks to the Houthis (may they be obliterated speedily)? Or the average American Jew, who can navigate their day and sleep through the night without worry of ballistic missiles overhead?

Who feels less safe?

Me, where at our shul, the people on the front steps leading into the synagogue on Shabbat morning are little kids, cheerfully playing cards? Or the average American Jew at many shuls, where the people on the front steps leading into the synagogue are likely security personnel, amid ever-tightening security procedures.

Who feels less safe?

Me, who works in Yehuda and Shomron, site of terror attacks on a consistent basis? Or the average American Jew who, aside from the sheer volume of random gun violence across America, felt antisemitic terror knock on his front door Shavuot eve?

Sunday’s firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado—my home state—is the latest chapter in what is quickly becoming a new era in American Jewish history. If the radical uptick in Jew-hatred and violent rhetoric since Oct. 7 was its dawn, the exhibition of actual, deadly violence in Washington, DC and Boulder demonstrates that the sun has fully risen on this new era.

Above are some of the questions that immediately came to mind upon turning on my phone after Shavuot ended in Israel. The answers, truthfully, don’t matter nearly as much as one basic fact: Jewish people worldwide, in our historical homeland and in the Diaspora, are under attack.

Many public figures have rightfully called out the pervasive, violent antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric and the scandalously weak responses to it as laying the groundwork for Sunday’s attack and others like it. That is their job and we thank them for it.

Our job in the aftermath of a tragedy, however, as Rambam teaches, is to look inward. Of course, the Jew-haters in their various guises are the perpetrators here, not only of the act, but of the environment which cultivated it. It is easy to assign blame to them and stop there. But we, and by we, I mean Israeli and Diaspora Jews alike, ought to look inward.

There is another basic fact illustrated in this attack, which much of the Jewish world, across the spectrum, stubbornly tries to forget: Those who hate us do not care about our political affiliations, religious affiliations or ideological beliefs. They hate us because we are Jewish. Period.

Tellingly, in a recurrent pattern of anti-Jewish violence worldwide, the victims did not represent the supposed problems which are called to “justify” such violence. They were not marching in support of the continuation of the war, let alone a “genocide,” as the terrorist preferred to call it. They were not marching in support of the Israeli government. They were not marching in support of any sort of anti-Islam or anti-Arab messaging. They were marching simply to call for the humane treatment and release of 58 Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

In fact, if I had to guess, most of those marching are against the continuation of the war, against the current Israeli government, and in support of partnership with peaceful Arabs/Muslims.

Yet, none of this, unsurprisingly, mattered to this vile terrorist. Remember, this was no spontaneous, random burst of anger. The FBI informs us, based on the terrorist’s own testimony, that he was planning the attack for over a year and was well aware of the nature of the Run for Their Lives walk. No matter. They are Jews? They support the freedom of hostages? Let me kill them and “end Zionists.”

We all remembered this basic fact on Oct. 8 and for a good few months afterwards. Slowly but surely, though, we have reverted back to our Oct. 6 selves. In some cases, I fear, to a version even worse than our Oct.6 selves.

The upshot of this basic fact is that we, too, should not care much about each other’s political affiliations, religious affiliations or ideological beliefs. This is not to say that we should mush into a monolithic group of non-caring Jews. We should passionately embrace what we find to be authentic Judaism! We should advocate for values we hold dear! However, when we see a Jew whose values are diametrically opposed to ours, remember: They are a Jew first, everything else is a distant second. (The tragic exception to this are Jews who stand together with those who advocate for violence against Israelis and Jews. Such people have essentially removed themselves from the Jewish nation.)

We just finished Sefirat haOmer, during which we mourn Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students. Their death, the Talmud teaches, was due to a lack of proper mutual respect. Torah study and Torah scholarship are the lifeblood of the Jewish nation, but without the requisite interpersonal respect, they were not worthy of existence.

The Midrash teaches that King Ahab, who worshipped idols and was wicked in many ways, saw greater success in his wars than the righteous King David. Why? Because the people in his time displayed greater unity.

In practical terms, a possible takeaway is that we should keep our disagreements internal, within Jewish frameworks. However many issues one might have with the current Israeli government and Netanyahu’s approach to this war, those issues should never be aired publicly. If you live in the Diaspora and are driven to protest the Netanyahu government? Book a flight, fly to Tel Aviv, and join the protests on Kaplan. Better yet, make aliyah and give yourself a vote in Israel’s elections next year. But don’t do it from the Diaspora, please.

Also, and this is perhaps most relevant for Israelis, don’t put it on social media and don’t issue statements to the effect of “I am against XYZ.” The world does not need to know that you are the “good type of Jew/Israeli” who distances himself from the “bad type of Jew/Israeli.” The world needs to know you are a Jew, and that you stand with Israelis and Jews of all stripes, even if you harbor radical disagreements with them.

When one feels it is important to clarify what stances one distances themselves from, keep in mind that two things can be true. In that spirit, consider writing something to the effect of “Though I strongly disagree with the current Israeli government about X,Y and Z and believe new elections are needed, I more strongly affirm Israel’s right to self-defense and the need for international pressure to remove Hamas from power and release the hostages.”

Or, “I am utterly horrified by Yair Golan’s recent libelous comments and believe he should be stripped of his military rank, yet I recognize that he ran into the line of fire on Oct. 7, killing Hamas terrorists and saving Israeli civilians. I trust that Israel’s democratic elections will demonstrate whether he represents the voice of its people.”

As for the questions I began with, I can only speak for myself, but I unquestionably feel safer in Israel than in America. The combat soldiers in the IDF may feel differently, and we owe them endless appreciation for the protection they afford us. For the first time in 2,000 years, Hashem has blessed us with the ability to defend ourselves in our historic homeland, something we’ve perhaps lost full appreciation for. If you haven’t visited Israel since the war began, take the plunge. Bask in the modern miracle that is Israel – war, warts and all. You won’t regret it.

Chaim Goldberg has semicha from RIETS, a graduate degree in child clinical psychology from Hebrew University, and he enlisted in the IDF this summer through the Shlav Bet Haredi program. In civilian life, Rabbi Goldberg teaches Torah at various yeshivot/seminaries and practices psychology. On the side, he writes for Jewish publications across the globe and at chaimgoldberg.substack.com