United We Stand Beit Chaverim

Post date: Apr 29, 2019 12:55:58 AM

Shalom Chaverim,

In the wake of our most festive and fun Beit Chaverim Seder last evening, we are now confronting another synagogue shooting at Chabbad in Poway, California...six months to the day of the tragedy in Pittsburgh. And let us also remember the more than 350 people who were killed just last week during Easter Sunday worship in Sri Lanka and the recent Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.

There were three injured in this past shooting...and one fatality, Lori Gilbert Kaye. She was at the synagogue yesterday for the Yizkor Service to say Kaddish for her mother. Kaye stood up when she heard the shooting start and stood between the shooter and the Rabbi, thereby saving the Rabbi's life with her own.

While still trying to process this procession of violent crimes, all aimed at innocent people during a worship Service, I ponder what we, the leaders of our congregations, are to do. I am still grappling with this news, but I look to the Rabbi of the Poway shul for direction and comfort. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 57, had been shot in the hand when Kaye stepped between him and the gunman. He continued to speak to his congregants even after the shooting stopped. 'We are united,' he said. Rabbi Goldstein called for unity and prayed for peace.

May the memory of all who lost their lives in an outburst of senseless hatred, be for a Blessing. And may we, at Beit Chaverim, continue to be a strong united community bonded in love and peace.

Your Rabbi, Betsy