We will never have an understanding of genocide. All we can do is respond. The power of the military, economic sanctions, prayer, public relations campaigns and targeting terrorism all have their place, but there is one more response that has yet to be carried out.


For every Jew who is murdered, let us bring into this world more and more Jewish souls, be it ten thousand or a

Women with small families can consider more.

hundred thousand. Dare I say a million altogether?


There is a courageous Israeli man by the name of David Hatuel, who lost his pregnant wife and four young children in a terrorist attack. He has gone ahead to remarry an equally courageous lady, had one baby from this new marriage and the happy couple is now expecting another. New life is an important response. New life is a defeat for those wishing to annihilate us.


Our enemies should know before they come to kill one of us that not one thousand will sprout up in our place, not ten thousand, but at least one hundred thousand, and hopefully a million, Jewish souls, in Israel and all over the world.


Women who were thinking of completing their families with two children can easily have one more each and women with small families can consider more. Women of means over child-bearing age can make it their business to assist these women, as can our men.


The vehicle to assist each individual woman in making this a reality could be existing women’s organizations such as WIZO, Naamat and Emunah, or local community organizations. It could be the JNF, which is now in the business of afforestation and infrastructure, but could easily switch over to populating the country with children - who themselves can plant more trees. It should be the business of Jews worldwide to ensure that Jewish families in Israel with many children are financed; the Israeli government is now funding the births of both Jewish and Arab children.


The same principle of increasing the number of Jewish children applies to Jews in the Diaspora who are considering marrying a non-Jew and planning to bring up their children as citizens of the world. They should revisit their situation in the name of each and every Jew who has been murdered, not only in the Holocaust, not only in Buenos Aires or France in the recent past, but here and now, this very day. Their failure to stand up as proud Jews who can raise a Jewish family of their own is effectively the death, rather than life, of their prospective dynasty.


The echoes of threats to Jews in all corners of the world are getting louder and louder every day. Pretending to assimilate will not change their status: there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The reality is that Jews do have a responsibility to themselves and to their people.


Nothing will replace those murdered yeshiva students; nothing will bring back the victims who were killed solely because they were Jews, and nothing will change the realities of innocent citizens who will have to live out their lives with disabilities. The days go on after every murder and the memories dull for most, whilst some mothers and fathers have an empty place at their table. Their pain is something that they that they will never, ever get over nor

It should be the business of Jews worldwide to ensure that Jewish families in Israel with many children are financed.

forget, not even for a day.


All the talk in the world will not change much. Heart-wrenching true stories are broadcast throughout the media; evidence of terrible happenings is news for this week, and maybe next. Famous people visit the attack scene with a journalist, or even a TV camera, broadcasting on the Internet to a few thousand interested Jews. Even political lobbying documenting proof that international law has been broken will, unfortunately, not have the effect of stopping the attempted genocide. Voting in the Security Council in the United Nations is a meaningless exercise, for as they can vote for us they can also vote against our very existence.


This time, we are fully confident that they will not succeed in killing every Jew, but then, every Jewish life is precious to us; therefore, our response should be serious, personal and significant.


The late David Ben-Gurion understood the power of a strong and populous Israel as a security measure and the importance of our birthrate for future continuity. He encouraged all women to have large families.


Now is the time for each and every Jew all over the world to make a reckoning: assess where we stand and what we personally are going to do about it. Another million Jews by next Purim would be a very powerful response.


Choose life. (Devarim [Deuteronomy] 30:19)