jews in the d

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Pittsburgh aftermath

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Interfaith vigil at Beth El: Rabbi Steven Rubenstein, Beth Ahm; Rabbi Megan Brudney, Beth
El; Rev. Jasmine Smart, Kirk in the Hills; Pastor Aramis Hinds, Breakers Covenant Church
International; Father Tony Tocco, St. Hugo’s Parish; Lutheran Bishop Donald Kreiss; Imam
Mohamed Almasmari, Muslim Unity Center; Richard Bernstein, Michigan Supreme Court
Associate Justice; Rev. Canon Dr. William J. Danaher Jr., Christ Church Cranbrook; and
Rabbi Mark Miller and Cantor Rachel Gottlieb Kalmowitz, Beth El.

continued from page 33

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Windsor faith communities.
Bruce Elman, religious vice
president of Congregation Shaar
HaShomayim and Windsor city hall’s
integrity commissioner, called on the
local community to respond to the
atrocity by reaffirming Judaism and its
larger community ties, noting the gath-
ering was a first step.
“We can stand together as a commu-
nity united against hate,” he said.
Imam Mohamed Mahmoud of the
Windsor Islamic Association said the
“attack on you is an attack on all of us”
and that “we all under the skin are the

same.” And he said violence afflicts all
groups, pointing to the mass shooting
at a mosque in Quebec City in January
2017 that killed six and injured 19.
Beth El Rabbi Lynn Goldstein noted
the irony of the killings as the victims
“took their last breath in a building
named for life.” She implored Jews, in
wake of the tragedy, not to hide but “to
act.” She said now, more than ever, “we
have to reach out to each other with
caring and compassion.” ■

JN Contributing Writers Shari S. Cohen and
Stacy Gittleman as well as Ron Stang in
Windsor contributed to this report.

continued from page 35

Speaking of guns, does Sikorski
think more people are carrying weap-
ons at shul?
“That is up to the individual syna-
gogues,” he said. “Under Michigan law,
people need to get permission from the
director of the synagogue in order to
carry legally in a house of worship.”

‘WELCOMING TENT’
“What we can’t lose sight of,” Sikorski
said, “is that synagogues are built to be
welcoming places.”
Security concerns were an unex-
pected consequence of the Solidarity
Shabbat planned for Nov. 2-3. People
from across the country were encour-
aged to flood local synagogues on
Shabbat to show support for the
Pittsburgh Jewish community.
“We asked thousands of people to
show up at synagogues, which could
expect to see an influx of people, both
Jewish and non-Jewish, they might
now know. That caused some anxiety,”
Kaufman said.

36

November 8 • 2018

jn

“Security’s important, but, at the
same time, we have to be extremely
careful that we don’t let fear inherently
change our strong Jewish culture,”
Kaufman added. “That’s some of
the point of the Solidarity Shabbat.
Ultimately, I think, it would be a real
tragedy if fear kept us from celebrating
and worshiping and being proud of
who we are in public.”
Still, “we have to stay smart,”
Sikorski said, adding that Federation
expected an increased law enforcement
presence either patrolling or stationed
at most synagogues during last week-
end.
Sikorski added, “Our strength lies
in the resiliency of the community,
not necessarily in what Federation
provides or what the synagogue itself
provides, but just the resiliency of the
community in general.”
Added Kaufman: “I’m proud of our
community. It’s been very unified in
dealing with this.” ■