CTeenConnection

     This past month, the world endured multiple senseless tragedies. First, the Jewish people were once again victims of an attack, which took place in Tel Aviv. Five innocent lives were taken. It always hits me hard to hear of attacks in Israel. Knowing that one of my fellow brothers and sisters lives were cut short has to be one of the worst feelings in the world.

   As if this wasn’t enough, the terrorism traveled from my spiritual home to America —my physical home. My home. Orlando, Florida, as well as the entire United States was shaken by the largest mass shooting to date.

The same weekend, Jewish people from all corners of the world were celebrating the holiday of Shavuot and the giving of the Torah. A two day holiday in which we rejoice in the receiving of the Torah over 3,000 years ago. How were we supposed to be happy and celebrate with everything that happened? The answer is this: we can’t let terrorism stop our lives in fact we should let our lives stop terrorism. This maybe easier said than done, but the more we celebrate happy occasions, the more we  unite together as a world,the more we go about being kind to one another, the more mitzvahs we do, the easier it will be to defeat terrorism. Especially because we are all people living on the same world, so, why can’t we do an extra mitzvah or say hi to the person that walks past us in the hallway? Each of these actions and many more are what will disperse world love and terminate world hate.

    The second day of Shavuot, marked the three year anniversary  of the death of Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali. They were so young and their lives were taken too soon, they had promising  lives filled with many more mitzvahs to fulfill. In their memory, we should complete more mitzvahs. A day never passes without thinking of them, but especially this past Shavuot there was more reflection about what we can do in their memory.

    More recently, as in this week, two suicide bombers attacked the airport in Istanbul. Over 40 people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Airports should be filled with happiness as people are elated to step onto a plane and visit family and friends, or to venture on to a new journey. Airports are the places people go to create new happy memories, not experience loss.

   Last night, the suffering hasn’t ended yet, a 13 year old girl, Hallel, was stabbed in her sleep by a terrorist. She was resting peacefully in her bed in the West Bank, dreaming of tomorrow. She was just a teenager and had a life ahead of her filled with school, friends, adventure, graduation, wedding, and whatever else life has to offer.

    When attacks happen, some of the events, depending on the venue or reason, often gain a Facebook filter, other events don’t gain the spotlight. But a Facebook filter isn’t going to halt terrorism, in fact, if we had a filter for each and every attack that took place in the United States, Israel, Istanbul- just name any country, our profile pictures would never be filter free, but the terrorism would still continue. Uniting in mitzvahs and kindness will slowly but surely defeat terrorism, uniting in filters- that just unites us in the mourning process- it helps the awareness but that isn’t really a step to ending terrorism. As cliche as it may sound, we will kill terrorism with kindness.

    This past month the United States, Israel, and Istanbul suffered tragic losses while other countries have suffered losses and felt the pain of terrorism throughout this past year. The effects of terrorism aren’t just felt by the people or places interrupted by it, but all the world is affected. Let’s not be affected by terrorism, let’s have our own effects on the world instead. By spreading mitzvahs, happiness, and positivity we can spread love not hate. Let’s not allow terrorism to stop our lives, let’s allow our lives stop terrorism.