Oh boy, let me tell you about the chaos that went down at our synagogue. We decided to cancel our religious school minutes before the students were set to arrive, leaving parents scratching their heads and answering questions they were totally unprepared for. I mean, talk about a last minute call!

Believe it or not, this was the first direct attack in the history of our synagogue. Can you believe it took this long for someone to try and mess with us? Anyway, the next day, we tried to start the healing process by having a service and a forum on safety measures. People were so shaken up that they were reaching out left and right for comfort – I’m talking emails, texts, telegraphs, you name it.

Now, I could tell you how terrified I was during this whole thing, but that would be a lie. Sure, I was angry, hurt, and tired, but afraid? Nah. The real scares happened back in November when the F.B.I. reported “credible information” on increased risks for synagogues across New Jersey. We may have caught the suspect, but our usually bustling preschool was a ghost town the next day. Meetings and community events were cancelled left and right. It was chaos!

Honestly, if you had asked me a year ago which episode would be more frightening – a direct attack on our synagogue or some vague, out-of-nowhere threat – I would have said the attack a hundred times over. But now that I’ve been through both, I can tell you that the unknown is way scarier. It’s the fear of something lurking in the shadows, just waiting to strike. That’s why they call it terror, folks. We can deal with an attack, but we can’t fight an ethereal threat. It’s like trying to punch a cloud.

Serious News: nytimes