A recent photo of Hezbollah operative Hajj Fadi shows just how symbiotic the relationship between Hezbollah and Iran has become. Hezbollah needs Iranian support to survive; Iran needs Hezbollah to fight its global battles and help it buck U.S. sanctions.

Asked if the U.S. was going to war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump replies, "I hope not" – a day after he repeated a desire for dialogue, tweeting, "I'm sure that Iran will want to talk soon."

As tensions continue to soar between Tehran and Washington, Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani reportedly meets with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in what one source says "wasn't far off" from a call to arms. Meeting said to be key factor in U.S. decision recall government staff from Iraq over "imminent threat."

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a devoted educator and scholar who combines Orthodox religious practice with a willingness to butt heads with the rabbinical establishment, insists that Israel and U.S. Jewry cannot give up on each other. "We don't have to agree but we have to listen," he says.

We write our own Jewish history. And the defining moments in that history are the times when we must respond to tragedy with strength and fearlessness.