How does it feel to be alone? It hurts because it seems like no one is there, even if you’re surrounded by people. Since October 7th, I’ve never felt more alone in my school community. I live in a town north of Milwaukee with a very small Jewish population, and it’s so weird to me that no one seems to care what’s happening in the Middle East. I’ve posted countless pieces of information, statistics, words of hope, and ones of disgust in this past month, and I’ve gotten little to no response. It’s only my friends from BBYO sharing the stories of our friends in Israel, and I’m so proud of all of them for standing up. Do the people who aren’t directly affected by the conflict not care? Are they not sure what information to post? You can’t tell what anyone is feeling through the screen.

As we near the one-month anniversary of the October 7th attacks, we have to think about the future. No one expected this to happen, nor did we think it would go on for this long. The antisemitism has spread far beyond the Middle East and has reached our communities, which is terrifying. Jewish Stars are being painted on the doors of Jewish homes in many countries, rallies are being held, and attacks continue. Didn’t we say “never again"? It’s starting to feel like déjà vu because we all learned about these acts from the 1940s, but now they’re happening in our world, 80 years after the Holocaust. It’s even worse for the Holocaust survivors still alive who are going through a period of mass hatred for the second time in their lives. Why is this all happening again?

How do we deal with this? We need to continue sharing those posts and showing that the killing of innocent Israelis AND Palestinians is not okay. In my community, I’m going to talk more openly about it at school and tell people to speak up because that’s the only way to prevent this from happening again. I’ll be wearing my Israel necklace with pride, and I encourage you to do the same, whether it’s a Hamsa, a Magen David, or Israel. It sounds cliché, but the only way we can get through this hard time is together. Check in on your friends, keep sharing, and be proud of who you are and what our people have gone through. Am Yisrael Chai!