Hatred is not something new.

We have always known hatred. Anti-Semitism has been with us ever since we became a nation.

But somehow, we thought that such crimes could not happen here. We thought that America was different, that America was safe.

We thought that only Europe is unsafe, and that only the Gaza border, Yerushalayim and the West Bank are dangerous.

Now we know that it can happen anywhere and at any time.

The protective bubble that deluded us into thinking that such things only happen to other people in other places has been punctured.

If we think about the changes that have come over this country the past couple of years, we can become worried about the future, so we choose to continue going about our daily lives, consumed with inconsequential matters. We don’t read the news seriously; we don’t want to know what is really going on. We rely on snippets of information. Anecdotes and sound-bites replace intelligent knowledge.

There is currently a collapse of society and moral standards, coupled with a climate of division and rancor that can lead to frightening results. The Pittsburgh shooting and last week’s mail bombs were carried out by evil, deranged people. They are indicative of a world gone mad.

To be sure, America is the best host our people have known, and moments of silence and mourning vigils were held across the country. The Pittsburgh Steelers football team amended their logo with a Magen Dovid to express the city’s outrage at the tragedy.

We need to be thankful and appreciative of the country in which we live and the ideals it espouses. The Jews in Pittsburgh were killed for one reason, because they were Jews. The irrational hatred of our people reaches back for millennia, though it is on the rise, there is a measure of comfort to see it almost universally condemned following the murders.

Jews around the world are preparing to commemorate Kristallnacht, keeping alive the memory of the Nazi attack that unleashed historic murder and hatred. Many of the speakers, no doubt, will claim that never again will such a tragedy take place, because today there is a Jewish state and an army that fight for the Jewish people.

Bombs of all types fly into Israel from Gaza. Nobody can stop balloons and kites, children’s playthings, from being used as merciless implements of terror. European Jews live in constant fear and anti-Semitic acts in the U.S. have risen 57% over the past two years.

What are we to do besides increasing security? Our world suffers from a lack of solidarity and commitment to each other. We need to rectify that. Where do we start?

It is not always easy to be loyal to a cause or to a person. Life has a way of severely testing our moral fiber. Those who remain loyal to their ideals no matter how difficult it becomes are the ones who endure. They are the winners in the deadly contest of good versus evil.

Never say, “I am too old, too young, too poor, too rich, too tired, or too hungry to work to make this world a better place.” Remember that your obligation is to be a rachum vechanun. Never lose sight of the traditions of kindness and compassion passed down by our forefathers. Never wander too far from the path of light into the swamp of darkness.

Just want to end with one story my boss said over.

When the Tzemach Tzedek was a young married man, he was in the home of his grandfather, the Baal Hatanya, with his family. While he was learning, a baby began to cry. He was so involved in his learning that he continued to study as the baby howled louder and louder.

The Alter Rebbe was upstairs in his study when he heard the baby’s cries. He went downstairs, lifted the baby from his carriage, and handed the child to his grandson. The Tzemach Tzedek apologized for not hearing the baby. “I am sorry,” he said. “I was concentrating so deeply that I didn’t hear anything.”

“Yes, my dear grandson,” the rebbe responded. “I was also studying and was just as areingeton as you were, but I heard. Remember what I am about to tell you: Any Jew, no matter his level, must hear the cries of another Jew, regardless of how small he might be, and interrupt what he is doing to help the one who is crying.”

In Pittsburgh and elsewhere, Jews are crying. Let us hear their cries and seek to help, comfort and soothe them.

May we hear of no more tragedy.