It’s been nearly a year since the massacre that took place at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue , where Jewish souls were slaughtered while praying on Shabbat. We mourned the loss of life in a Poway, CA, synagogue not too long after.
More recently, on Yom Kippur, thousands of miles away in Halle, Germany, a rogue gunman attempted a full-scale assault on Jews praying on the holiest day of our year. Were it not for a literal “miracle” of a door that held firm despite being rifled with gunshots and even withstanding a bomb, dozens of Jews would have been killed or seriously injured.
While these acts of unspeakable terror made global headlines, dozens more acts of violence against the Jewish community take place in the United States every day. As we commemorate the yahrzeits of those killed in Pittsburgh, our hearts have been heavy in a year of concern and introspection as our community grapples with better ways to make our synagogues and communal institutions safer.
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