Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 18, 2022

Not standing in fear, but instead standing strong that's the response one local rabbi says the Jewish community is taking after a hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas over the weekend.

The FBI is now investigating the standoff as terrorism-related.

Rabbi Moshe Cohen of Chabad in Huntsville told WAAY 31 they don't want this situation to make people feel afraid of coming to synagogues, but rather give more of a reason to stand together and practice their faith loud and proud as they have been.

"We have to obviously take the right measures and the right precautions in order to ensure that everyone's comfortable to participate, but we have to use these events to further our participation," Cohen said.

While officials continue to investigate, they do believe the incident was terrorism-related and targeted the Jewish community. Cohen said as soon as they heard about the hostage situation, they immediately prayed for a safe outcome.

He said he understands a threat like this in their place of worship is terrifying, but he doesn't want the community to respond fearfully. "This is exactly what this individual is trying to accomplish," he said.

Through their acts of hatred and violence, "they want you to shut down, do not come to synagogue, don't practice Judaism, stay in your corner and don't do anything," Cohen said. "So, by you not going to synagogue and by you not participating in Jewish events and Jewish community get-togethers, you're actually falling into their plan."

Huntsville's Jewish community has worked for years to ensure synagogues are as safe as possible, even when they became targets of hate locally, Cohen said.

"We do take the security measures in order to ensure that whoever is there is going to be comfortable in order to practice and celebrate what Judaism calls for us to celebrate," he said.

Cohen said he believes a lack of education about Judaism plays a role in why these attacks happen to the community, and he hopes that will change as the community continues to stand strong in the aftermath of incidents like the one in Texas.

Read the original here:

Jewish community hopes to stand together in strength after Texas synagogue hostage situation - WAAY

Category: Judaism
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