16 May 2 • 2019
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continued from page 14
jews d
in 
the
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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