Since the time I was a child, I could never understand how someone could hate someone else just because of their religion or the color of their skin.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time when hate is becoming even more prevalent.

Honestly, I still don’t understand how it’s possible to hate someone because of their religion, their ethnicity, the color of their skin, or their sexual orientation.

It often leads to a lot of unanswered questions.

Do people really hate me because I’m Jewish?

I grew up with people hating me because of my religion without even knowing me.

Jews account for only 2.4% of the population in the United States. Yet we are on the receiving end of 55% of all religious hate crimes in the country.

There is so much hate and violence against the Jewish people, and it really doesn’t make sense to me.

It’s hard for me to understand how someone can hate me without even knowing me—just because of my religion.

Hate is such a strong word. I could never use it against a stranger.

And even if I knew a person, I would have a hard time hating them. I might dislike the things they do, but I could never hate them.

Still, without even having a conversation with me, some people choose to hate a perfect stranger because of my Jewish heritage.

We have regular conversations with our children about hate.

With six children—including three who were adopted—we have a very different dynamic in my home.

Not only are we Jewish, but we are black, white, and Asian.

Because of this, we have had to have many conversations as a family discussing why others hate us.

It’s heartbreaking that I have to teach my children about hate because of who we are.

Because society struggles to accept another human being who may look or act differently than they do, we have to have those really hard conversations with our children.

Those conversations also include the lesson that they are enough exactly as they are.

I love my family and the diversity in it. We are just human beings doing our very best to be the good in the world.

That’s what I hope people see when they see us. I hope they focus on the good we try to do.

I want our love for the people in this world to be so much bigger than the world’s hate.

We are so much stronger than hate.

We should never let another person’s hate define us.

Despite what others say and do, I have discovered that what they think simply doesn’t matter.

Someone’s choice to hate because of another person’s religion or the way they look is their choice. We should never allow it to determine who we are or what we can accomplish.

A person’s choice to hate says much more about who they are than anyone else.

You and I are no lesser of a person because of what another person chooses to think about us without even knowing who we are.

And even if they do know who we are, we should never take someone else’s opinion as the truth.

We are so much more than that!

You are enough exactly as you are!

We are more than enough no matter what we’re doing with our lives or what religion we belong to.

The world is full of all different kinds of people. It’s important that we embrace others for who they are rather than choosing to hate them just because they’re different than us.

The beauty of the world is that there is variety—from the flowers and the trees to the people around us. What kind of world would it be if we were all the same?

When we can finally learn to accept people for exactly who they are, we will find that the world is a much better place for all of us.

Rather than hating others, imagine how different the world would be if we chose to help people recognize that they are more than enough simply because they are free to be who they are.

No matter what you are doing in your life, as long as you are doing your best to be a good person, you are more than enough.

Never let anyone make you feel that you are not enough.

Whether it’s what you are doing in life, your sexual orientation, your religion, your ethnicity, what language you speak, or the color of your skin—you are enough.

We are all more than enough. And it’s important we love who we are.

I love that I’m Jewish.

Whenever I go to a non-Jewish event or gathering, I will always be very open about who I am. From the very beginning, I tell everyone that I’m Jewish.

For one, it avoids awkwardness when someone says something really negative.

And putting it out there from the beginning shows people that I’m proud of who I am.

Because of this, things never go down that negative road. They know who I am from the very beginning of our conversation together.

I never want to have to hide who I am.

When my husband, Rob and I were in South Africa, we shared a safari vehicle with a couple from Dubai.

Right away, I told them that we were Jewish.

And guess what? We had the most amazing time with this couple.

They were really nice, and we got along really well.

When we said goodbye, the husband said that other people need to experience similar situations to help with all the misunderstandings that happen in the world.

There were things that were different between us, but there were many more things where we were the same.  

I never want to pretend that I am something that I’m not.

That’s why I always talk about being Jewish because I want it to be a comfortable conversation for me—and for others.

We need to stand up against hate.

I recently saw the premiere of a commercial about standing up against hate and antisemitism.

It’s a really great advertising campaign because of the visual it creates.

It shows one small blue square on the screen that accounts for 2.4% of the entire screen.

They then explain that Jews account for 2.4% of the population. The visual shows that it’s not a lot, just a small portion of the whole population.

But we receive 55% of the hate crimes against religion, as I mentioned before.

The campaign is really about bringing awareness and accepting people for who they are.

If you want to participate. Follow the link and watch the video. It’s pretty powerful.

And if you want to do some good in the world, share the blue square hashtag (#🟦) and help make others aware.

Together, we can stop the hate and help people know that no matter who they are—they are enough.