When Saddiq picked up the phone, I broke down crying: “So many people — so many Jews — are dead!” I had already confirmed that my childhood best friend and his sister, who had moved to Israel, were safe. Now I sobbed as I thought about how hundreds of young Jewish adults like them had been murdered or taken hostage at a music festival targeted by Hamas. The morning of October 7, sitting in my dorm room at Harvard University, I was shocked to read the news about the Hamas attack in Israel. My first instinct was to call my...