This weekend Jews around the world began to pray for rain. Not because we want it to rain where we live, but because it is the beginning of the rainy season in Israel. Israel is so important, so close to our hearts, that we pray on behalf of the nation’s agricultural health.

Today, instead of raindrops, horror and death rained down on the nation. Terrorists from Gaza attacked Israel both with rockets in the air and people on the ground. Did they seek out military targets? No. They went door to door in quiet neighborhoods, killing and kidnapping civilians. Families. Moms, dads, and children. Old and young. Babies.

This is not war. This is terrorism.

There are those who will say it was provoked by Israel. Nonsense. There is no excuse for attacking people in their homes, for targeting civilians, for trying to kill as many people as possible. This is not war. This is terrorism.

The closest we Americans can come is to compare it to 9/11. But how can you compare? The numbers don’t equate. The experience is not parallel. What’s happening in Israel is unprecedented. As I write on Saturday evening in America, the rocket attacks that began at 6:30am in Israel are continuing well into the small hours of the next morning. This will not soon be over.

We don’t know how many are dead, how many kidnapped, how many injured, how many hiding in their homes with Hamas fighters banging on their doors, how many cowering in bomb shelters for hours upon hours. But we know that Israeli civilians have been gunned down on the streets, young people pulled from cars at gunpoint and kidnapped.

Unbelievably and yet predictably, the attackers have been videotaped shouting allahu akbar, God is great.

Like so many American Jews, I know people in Israel. Many of us have family there. We are terrified for them. We are angry. And we feel helpless.

I’m watching Naftali Bennett on the news, former Israeli Prime Minister. He said, “Knowing that the good people of the United States of America stand behind the good people of Israel means the world to us. We thank you.”

What can you and I do? Gather together in solidarity. Support reputable charities that support Israel. Pray. Continue to go about our lives, in defiance of hatred and prejudice. Stand up to prejudice and hatred wherever it rears its ugly head. Buy Israeli goods and support Israeli companies.

And when this is over, go to Israel.