FEBRUARY 23 • 2023 | 19

become accustomed to hearing about 
crime and even gun-related crime in and 
around town. But this time, with the non-
stop sirens and helicopters flying overhead, 
something felt very scary and different. 
“I spent the night barricaded in my bed-
room with seven freshman girls who were 
there for the program,
” Wolfe recalled. “We 
spent the time texting friends and family, 
listening to the police scanner app and then 
we tried to figure out what was accurate 
information and what were rumors on 
social media.
” 
Wolfe said some of her sorority sisters 
drove home at 2 a.m. after the lockdown 
was over, and others living out of state 
arranged flights home. By Wednesday, 
every sorority sister had left for home.
Her mother, Sarah Wolfe of West 
Bloomfield, was attending a Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit 
Women’s Philanthropy fundraiser at 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield 
when she received a text alert on her phone 
from MSU police. 
“It’s sad to say that I get so many MSU 
police alerts about crime that it no longer 
phases me, but then I got another text from 
my husband warning me that the situation 
at MSU was very serious,
” Wolfe said. 
Once confirming that her daughter was 
OK and staying put at her sorority house, 
she said she was glued to the news late 
into the evening, switching back and forth 
between national and local coverage until it 
was confirmed that the gunman had taken 
his own life. 
“It has been a very emotional few days,
” 
said Wolfe a few days after the shooting, 
relieved to have her daughter safe at home 
for the remainder of the week. “I don’t 
know how we come back from this. It is 
such a large campus. There is no way they 

can secure every door of every building. 
Ultimately, there is too much easy access to 
guns in this country.
” 
For those who could not make it home, 
Rebecca Bahar-Cook of East Lansing 
offered her home and hospitality to any 
student who just needed a home atmo-
sphere and to take a break from being on 
campus. On the night of Feb. 13, Bahar-
Cook, who does not have college-aged 
children, said she received panicked text 
messages from a friend in New Jersey who 
has a 19-year-old daughter who is an MSU 
student. It was at that point that she posted 
on social media that any out-of-state stu-
dent looking to get away from campus was 
welcome to stay in her home to get a break. 
“Though no one took me up on my 
offer, I wanted to let kids know that there 
was a place they could go and stay that did 
not feel like a crime scene,
” she said. 

MSU CHABAD HOUSE 
GOES INTO ACTION
Speaking to the JN on Tuesday having 
been up the entire previous night, Rabbi 
Bentzion Shemtov of MSU Chabad said he 
was teaching a class at the Chabad House 
on 115 Albert St., just a few blocks from 
the Student Union, when the shooting 
started. 
He and his wife, Simi, spent the evening 
responding to the needs of Jewish students 
and the wider community. This included 
visiting and praying with Alpha Epsilon Pi 
fraternity brothers at 1:30 a.m., 
offering his spiritual chap-
laincy support to police and 
answering nonstop calls and 
texts from concerned students, 
families and alumni asking 
how they can help. He received 
reinforcement help from 

Rabbi Yisrael Pinson of ChabaD of Greater 
Downtown Detroit who arrived on campus 
late Monday evening. 
Shemtov also spent time near the E.W
. 
Sparrow Hospital offering 
help, prayers and spiritual 
guidance to anyone who 
needed it that night, includ-
ing police officers, family 
members of the wounded, 
and even a student studying 
abroad from China, who was 
in anguish as his friend, also 
a Chinese student, was one of 
the hospitalized wounded victims. 
“Here was this 19-year-old kid so far 
away from home who was serving as the 
bridge between his wounded friend and his 
family in China,
” Shemtov said. “I cannot 
imagine what they were going through. 
Nothing prepares you for this. MSU 
Chabad will continue to offer help and sup-
port to anyone who is suffering. “ 
On her drive home from East Lansing, 
Rabbi Blair Nosanwisch, who serves as 
director of pastoral care at 
Adat Shalom Synagogue in 
Farmington Hills, said she 
was incredibly impressed with 
the outpouring of support 
she saw taking place at MSU 
Hillel for the entire Spartan 
community. 
“Hillel was so warm and 
welcoming to anyone who did not want to 
be alone that day,
” reflected Nosanwisch. “I 
did insert myself into a few conversations, 
but most of all I got the impression that the 
students there felt safe knowing there were 
many of us there who were available to 
offer support. A lot of what we were doing 
was just physically being there to say to 
the students, ‘You are not alone.’” 

Rabbi 
Bentzion 
Shemtov

Rabbi 
Yisrael 
Pinson

Rabbi Blair 
Nosanwisch

 

