To Act (v)-to do something; exert energy or force; be employed or operative: He acted promptly in the emergency.

March 5, 2008.

The beating in my heart thuds in unison with every Jewish heart in the world, and this Shabbat eight families will be without their sons. This has become more personal than ever before, a terrorist attack at Merkav Harav, the yeshivah founded by Rav Kook,our states first religious Zionist who’s love for Israel still continues to pulse within Israel. In almost every attack on Israel there has been a charm attached to their bracelet of destruction: “[fill in major terrorist organization name here] claimed responsibility for the attack”. Their pride in destruction brings my blood to a boil, and tears at my soul.

In history there have been various stereotypes of Jews. Weak. Vulnerable. But our proud history shows that we have strong fighters and leaders. Yehuda. The Maccabim. Yoni Netenyahu, a man who was killed saving Jews because “if we don’t, no one else will”. It is time that we call upon Hashem and our great heroes in our history to help us fight this war.

At this particular time in history it is imperative that we be critical of ourselves, as a nation and as individuals. The simple fact is that we aren’t doing enough. Sure, we can be critical of the IDF, put the responsibility of our great states failure on the current or recent governmental decisions. But what it really comes down to is our disunity. It is our own failure that we have not yet realized that we have the power to repair the world, tikkun olam.

I never said it would be easy, but it’s easier than you think. In today’s society what it synonymous with power? You could be so immersed in the Diaspora to immediately answer that question with the word money. But I will replace money with power that no dollar can buy: Education. The internet, television, newspapers. World media. It takes a pretty penny for them to produce news, but it’s virtually a free power in our society that hardly hands you anything without a price tag. Now with all that knowledge what do you do? Use it. You are all citizens of the world, and the great majority of you are students in Universities. Now if you are like me and you go to a university that is as culturally and religiously diverse as York then you know what you are up against. United we stand, divided we fall.

Advocate for Israel on your campus, educate others. Awareness is an active noun. It knows. It walks. It screams. You can be that person who actually knows all the facts when debating a biased argument against Israel. If we pair education and action with prayer then we can start gluing together the broken pieces of our generation. We cannot let our generation be remembered as the ones who stood back, cowered and watched while [fit terrorist organization name here] tears our country and our nation apart. They may physically try and destroy us, but it is our responsibility to reinforce Am Yisrael with action. Start a campaign for Sderot, hold rallies and fly in speakers to your universities. Seek out the organizations on campus and in your community that are willing to help you. Hasbara, Hillel, your synagogue. You will be surprised to find how easy it is to raise money and to actually start something. That is what it means to be Jewish, to be a part of a network, a team, a nation.

Feel responsible. Feel for your people. Cry, daven, stand up, and then go act. For you hold the hope of Am Yisrael in your hand.