Yesterday, I was sitting in shul, and I was thinking to myself: This is the holiest day of the year—what am I doing here? I should be doing something to help other people who are in real trouble. I have the luxury of sitting and praying, while they are desperate.

I thought specifically of someone named Allison Carter—Ally Carter, born Tory Outlaw—who has been on the internet for more than five years telling her story of being trafficked since she was three months old. At just three months old, there is a documented entry of her being SA’ed. I thought about her and her mother, and what they have gone through during this time. I really wanted to do something to help them, especially now that her memoir has been effectively silenced by Amazon. They cleared it, she was about to publish it, and then they terminated her account.

Coincidentally, Rabbi Mitchell Berkowitz gave a speech that same day, talking about making someone else’s problem your problem. He called on the community to take time out of our busy schedules—we are oh so busy—to actually care about another human being and do something for them. It was the exact same thing I had been thinking.

I really believe that someone like Ally Carter, who has come forward with real, documented paperwork evidence and has done everything she can to show us the realities of human trafficking and other related issues, deserves to be heard. I also think of her mother, Shelly Carter, who did precisely what Rabbi Berkowitz described: she made Ally’s problem her problem. She didn’t even know the girl originally; she adopted her, championed her, and has been on the run with her. The two of them have faced relentless harassment and stalking, and their lives have been endangered.

It is all playing out in real time, including the moment Ally was poisoned. I saw the photo of her in the hospital when they didn’t know if she was going to make it. Folks, we need to know the truth, even if it hurts. If it hurts the image of our country to admit that bad things have happened to kids while people looked the other way, then it is time to expose what has happened and what is happening—or it will never, ever end.

I truly believe that God is asking us to simply do our part to make that happen, just as Ally has been asking us to do this whole time. Please speak up. Thanks, and have a great day.