Even terror campaigns use marketing techniques. The current wave of violence in Israel is knife-themed, and this theme is reinforced with sermons, YouTube videos, and Facebook posts. The resulting “knife intifadah” is the terrorist equivalent of the ice bucket challenge: a social media campaign that goes viral, except that instead of curing disease, the “knife intifadah” murders grandfathers.

And now Israelis find themselves at the edge of a knife. Questions about how to defend against anonymous assailants hiding knives have confounded security experts. But other, more significant questions arise as well. Terror is psychological warfare, an attempt to destroy the Israeli soul. One must wonder: can Israel hold on to her values and her morale at the edge of the knife?

This question is not new. Persecution has dogged the Jewish People, and for the last two millennia, they have needed to meet the spiritual challenge of oppression. And the way to do that, to quote the Talmud, is recognize that “even if you have a sharp sword held to your neck,” you must never lose your faith and your hope.

And now, with a sharp blade being pointed at Israel’s neck, her challenge is to avoid  unrestrained hatred. Rabbi David Stav made a public ruling that once an attacker is subdued, it is forbidden by Halachah to injure them in any way. Sadly, there are those who consider this ruling too liberal, and after I posted in support of Rabbi Stav on my own Facebook page, I got criticism for being “naive.” But the moral and halachic logic of Rabbi Stav’s decision is impeccable, and the importance of this ruling cannot be overstated. Yes, vigilante justice might feel satisfying when watching an action movie; but in actuality taking the law into your own hands, aside from being wildly immoral, undermines the rule of law. Gun-wielding activists deciding who shall live and who shall die will end up making terrible mistakes in the process, and some may be emboldened to go on and use violence for political ends as well.

In the Middle Ages, when there was often more than enough reason for Jews to be embittered at their neighbours, Jews refused, even at the edge of the knife, to abandon their faith in humanity. Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, who experienced multiple persecutions in his own life, insisted that for a Jew to act dishonestly to a non-Jew was not only theft, but a desecration of God’s name. This ruling points to the dogged determination of medieval Jews to maintain their ethics, even with a sword held to the throat; Rabbi Stav’s ruling is a continuation of that tradition.

The edge of a knife also challenges one’s morale as well. The difficulty of recent weeks lends itself to pessimism, bitterness and hopelessness, with the worry that this new wave of terror will make it impossible to live a normal life. Here, too, is a spiritual challenge at the edge of a knife – and to maintain optimism despite it all is nothing short of heroic.

Chana Henkin’s son and daughter-in-law were brutally murdered in a terror attack, leaving four young children as orphans. Despite this tragedy, Henkin, a well respected Jewish educator, has not wavered in her determination, and continues to emphasize to her students the importance of  optimism. In one recent lecture she told them that: “unfortunately… many lives have been lost. But… I believe that things have never been better for the Jewish People than they are right now… We are all being tested…[but] we must know that we are marching forward, we have a role, and we will fulfil that role.”

This remarkable determination comes from someone who is living in the shadow of death. And if other Israelis can hold on to their morale and morality with similar determination, they will triumph, even when living at the edge of a knife.