Jews can stop asking "if."

We already have the answer.

If the family hadn’t left Germany in time.
If they hadn’t returned to America.
If my grandmother hadn’t been born a U.S. citizen.
If our skin hadn’t passed.
If the name hadn’t been changed.
If the train had arrived a day later.
If the consulate had been closed.
If the officer had asked one more question.
If the borders had been sealed a moment sooner.
If the money had run out.
If the papers hadn’t looked real enough.
If the neighbor had spoken.
If the landlord had looked too closely.
If the war had lasted longer.
If the next one comes faster.
If they win this election.
If the embassy doesn’t answer.
If the airport closes.
If the border guard turns.
If the world looks away.
If we are made to wait.
If we are told to be quiet.
If we are told to go.
If we are told that now is not the time.
If. If. If.

For generations, we have lived within the narrow architecture of if.
Escape routes etched across decades —
Lives built in the margins of other people’s nations.

But we are a people who remember.
Who rebuild.
Who return.

We bless the bread.
We open the door.
Because alive we stand.

Faces illuminated.
Eyes lit with hope.

I remember the creases in my father’s smile. His laughter.
I squeeze my son’s hand — how sweet it is to be alive.

From the cobblestones of Europe to midwestern cornfields to the café-lined streets of Tel Aviv — we are whole, together, one.

Dispersed never meant diminished.
And love and loyalty are layered, never divided.

We no longer languish in the subjunctive, or plead with explanations and proof.

A dream like a song echoing through the corridors of millennia—
A memory.
A promise.
A struggle.
A place.
An indicative.

The answer to if.

Shema Yisrael.
This is the full sentence.

The period.
The breath.
The hallelujah of now.