As a kid, we learn to swallow pills, the literal ones that you’d find in your medicine drawer. As we grow older, we also learn to swallow pills, just the metaphorical ones, the things that are hard in life that we just have to deal with.

In school, we learn about the Holocaust, we go to the museum, etc. We learn the tragedies that came before us as Jews. But no one can predict that those tragedies can or will happen now. Now has to be never again.

When we hear the word war, it is automatically associated with a negative reaction. If you look in the dictionary, war is defined as “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations.” Now find the word hostile. Sure, I believe that most of the October 7 war was hostile. But I also believe there are good parts that came out of it.

I do not remember when it started, but my posts on the conflict, on my beliefs, and on Israel began to become more present. I began to repost important articles and stories that represented my beliefs on what was happening. I saw more and more teens posting similar things. My screen began to read “let them go now” or “until the last hostage.” Before I knew it, part of my morning routine became to check, read, and post.

As the war has gone on longer, I have begun to see fewer and fewer posts, and I stopped posting as much myself. I remember getting maybe one or two likes on each post, and soon it began to feel disheartening that my voice was not being heard. Now, I realize that when we come together, our strongest voice is one of unity within the Jewish community.

In the early stages of the war, I have a memory of getting out of the car to go to school. But before I left, my mom told me, “Do not tell anyone you are Jewish, and I want you to stop wearing your BBYO clothes to school.” When I heard that from my mom and realized she meant it for the school that I felt safe in, that was my hardest pill to swallow.

Antisemitism is strong in this world and fairly present in our everyday lives. I have gotten the occasional text about how what I am posting is wrong, or things kids in my grade say, or the stories about the swastikas in the bathroom. Yet the realest moment for me was when there was a teacher at my school who posted an antisemitic video on Google Classroom. It was not my class or my teacher, but I saw the outrage of Jewish students and parents. I believe that this war brought the Jewish people together and made us more united than ever.

This has been clearly present to me since I went to Washington DC for the protest on Israel, participated in L’Taken at the RAC, or even at IC during the time as a big BBYO community. Most of us have heard the countless stories of families and hostages torn apart. I was not alone when the tears fell from my eyes. We cried together as Jews. The cries, the strengths, and the happiness are things that Jews feel together, the ups and the downs.

My message in all of this is that we are united and we CANNOT GIVE UP.