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HATRED STRIKES AGAIN

consciousness of the Israeli people,”
Gross says. “Once you get used to
that, this almost feels like an exten-
sion of that in a way.”
Gross further adds that looking at
the bigger picture, this is a contin-
ued page in the book of a 3,000-year
history of anti-Semitism and, as
response, communities should band
together in solidarity.
“This is unfortunately another
notch in the belt of our very turbu-
lent history — we can’
t allow that to
intimidatee us into hiding,” Gross
says. “It’
s about the power of num-
bers — banding together and focus-
ing on the things that unite us rather
than the differences that divide us.
“Let’
s all go out there, showing our
Jewish pride, standing in solidarity
across the nation.”

RABBI MENDEL ALPEROWITZ
For Rabbi Mendel and Mussie
Alperowitz, word of the Poway
Chabad shooting came from police
officers.
“About mid-afternoon on Shabbos,
we were playing with our children
and heard a knock at our door,”
said the rabbi of the Chabad Jewish
Center of South Dakota, who lived in
the Detroit area for three years while
attending the Lubavitch Cheder and
Yeshiva-International School for
Chabad Leadership in Oak Park.
“It was the Sioux Falls police who
came to offer us their protection and

tell us that a Chabad synagogue in
Poway had been attacked, with at
least one dead and several injured.
They didn’
t have much other infor-
mation to share at that time.”
For the Alperowitzes, the news
was both horrific and personally
distressing because Mussie’
s cousin is
junior rabbi of the congregation.
“It is hard to describe the fear
we had during the next few hours
until the end of yom tov (during
which they do not use electronics),
knowing that our cousin and his two
young daughters were likely in the
shul during the deadly attack, but
not knowing much else,” said the
rabbi.
After Shabbat, it was confirmed
that their cousins were safe but had
been in the synagogue when the
gunman opened fired.
“Having our own daughters the
same age literally made us tremble,”
Alperowitz said. “Just imagine the
devastating impact this could have
on a young child watching the vio-
lence. Even if they were not physi-
cally harmed, the innocence of every
child in that shul has no doubt been
stolen.
“While we pray for those injured,
we feel it is of utmost importance to
encourage our local Jewish commu-
nity to remain strong and proud.” ■

Contributing Writer Shelli Dorfman added to
this report.

Action Needed
to Combat
Anti-Semitism

The head of the Anti-Defamation
League, CEO Jonathan Greenblatt,
told reporters on a conference call
Sunday that President Donald Trump,
politicians and tech executives need
to be more proactive in fighting
anti-Semitism on social media and
in public discourse.
“They need to stand united
against hate and address it not only
after it happens but by enforcing
norms before there is a crisis and
by elevating our shared values long
before we have to deal with a trag-

edy,” he said. “And
we desperately need
our leaders to stop
politicizing the issue.
Those who dismiss
anti-Semitism when it
comes from their side
of the aisle are only
minimizing the issue
and perpetuating the
problem.
“We need the president and
the White House to direct [the
Department of Homeland Security]
to take deliberate action to devote
resources to analyzing domestic
terror threats. These homegrown
threats are equal if not more dan-
gerous than Islamist threats,” he
said. ■

Jonathan
Greenblatt

Questions?

Email Sy Manello at
smanello@renmedia.us
or call him at 248-351-5147.

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