"Nowhere Is Safe"

In the wake of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, our thoughts turn to the safety of Jewish people and all people of faith in our current culture. A moving blog on The Times of Israel website offers a unique perspective.

The author, Daniella Levy, is a Jewish woman who used to live in the same Pittsburgh neighbourhood as the synagogue before making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) in 1996. At the time, people asked her family if they worried about security issues as they moved to the Holy Land.

In this personal essay, she shares keen insights about navigating life as a Jewish mother and rabbi’s wife.

Sometimes people ask me if I’ve ever considered living somewhere safer.

My answer is usually three words, and the attack in Pittsburgh today really drives it home.

Nowhere is safe.

Yes, of course I’m afraid.

I’m afraid in Gush Etzion. I’m afraid in New York. I’m afraid in Jerusalem. I’m afraid in Barcelona. I’m afraid everywhere. Nowhere is safe.

I just can’t let that fear be the deciding factor when choosing where and how to live my life.

Jews have had reason to live in fear for thousands of years, in every place we’ve been. That hasn’t stopped us from becoming the most successful and influential minority in the history of humankind.

If I’m going to die for the crime of being Jewish, I’d rather it be in my historic homeland, where the national holidays are my holidays, where the national flag bears my symbol, where every hill and valley has a story from the Bible attached to it.

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