Their heart cried out to God...Shed tears like a torrent day and night . . . Pour out your heart like water in the presence of God — Lamentations 2:18-19.

“Pour out your heart like water” is a cry of grief from the biblical book of Lamentations. Every year we read it, but today our Jewish community is living it. Last Friday night Jews everywhere celebrated a joyful holiday filled with music and dancing, but on Saturday morning we awoke to the news of atrocities committed by armed men on Israeli civilians of all ages, from infants to the elderly.

They were slaughtered in their beds, abducted from their homes, massacred in their villages.

Our Jewish community is grieving. Almost all of us have family, friends and colleagues who are living in Israel. Almost all of us have loved ones either fleeing to bomb shelters at the sound of a siren or attending funerals for loved ones, or desperately seeking information on where their loved ones have been abducted to.

One of the precious things about living on the Island is the way we support one another. We know we can share with others when we are hurting and feel the support of people in the community. We are hurting, and we feel your support.

Holding us in your hearts does not mean there is no room left for holding others. We also need your support in bringing kindness and empathy to all people in Israel and Palestine. I fear for the safety of our friends and loved ones in Israel, and I fear for the safety of Palestinians civilians in Gaza, and for the safety of everyone on the land who together have lived through generations of violence and trauma.

We all deserve safety. We are all children of the living God, created in God’s image. And it is up to all of us, wherever we are, to bring words and deeds of kindness and compassion to people in our households, in our towns, and to people living afar, so we can all build a world of dignity and safety for all.

God cares about every child, and we must as well. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

May we comfort each other in our grief and strengthen each other in our search for light.

Rabbi Caryn Broitman leads the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, which will host an interfaith prayer service on Friday, Oct. 13, beginning at 5:30 p.m.