The horrible attacks we have seen in the last week have shaken us. They have undermined our sense of safety, our feeling that we can rely on the world and the people around us. They have plunged us into darkness. They have instilled fear. We have seen some manifestations of that fear in the U.S. in xenophobic reactions against refugees from particular parts of the world or of particular religions that would make the Statue of Liberty weep. Such reactions deepen the darkness and the fear rather than relieving it. How can we find light? We can find it in the deeply human and caring reactions that we saw in France and across the world in response to this violence. We can find it in the reaffirmation of our most basic Jewish values – the preciousness of life, the holiness of each human soul – in the face of those who would desecrate those values. And we can find it in reaching out to each other to reaffirm our connections and the meaning and comfort we draw from being together in community. May this Shabbat show us the way out of the darkness and into the light.