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Light Rain Fog/Mist Shooting hits home for Five Towns chabads
Local elected officials pray for Poway
The bullets that killed Lori Kaye and injured Noya Dahan, Rabbi Yisrael Goldstein and Almog Peretz at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California last Saturday struck a nerve with leaders from the two chabads in the Five Towns.
“This attack at Chabad of Poway is an attack on all of us,” said Rabbi Nochem Tenenboim, Chabad of Hewlett’s spiritual leader. “Let us pray that God sends healing and comfort to the Jewish community of Poway. We pray for the day when all evil and hatred will vanish from the world.”
Just before noon on April 27, a 19-year-old man, later identified as John Earnest, allegedly opened fire with an assault-style gun and struck Kaye, 60, who had come to pray for her mother, who died recently. Bullets also hit Goldstein, 57, the shul’s founder; Noya, 8; and Peretz, 34.
Noya’s family left Israel several years ago, after rockets struck their home in Sderot. Peretz, the girl’s uncle, was visiting from Israel, according to news reports. He reportedly scooped up several children amid the gunfire and run out of the synagogue. According to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, Earnest’s gun jammed after he fired 12 shots.
“We offer immense gratitude to God that the full scope of the murderer’s evil intent to commit mass murder was miraculously unrealized when his rifle inexplicably jammed,” Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, director of the Chabad of the Five Towns, said in a statement. “We pray for the healing and comfort of their families, the entire Poway community, the Jewish people worldwide and the entire world community.”
The shooting occurred on the last day of Passover, the eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the liberation of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. It occurred six months to the day after the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh was the scene of a mass shooting in which 11 congregants died.
It was the fourth multiple shooting at a house of worship in the past six months, including the March 15 massacre at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the Easter bombings of Catholic churches in Sri Lanka.
The Anti-Defamation League reported that physical assaults on Jews rose to 39 in 2018, from 19 the year before. Overall, there were 1,879 attacks against Jews or Jewish institutions, the third highest number since the ADL began tracking such data in the 1970s.
Rebbetzin Hadassah Geisinsky, a native of Long Beach, Calif., who coordinates a number of programs at the Chabad of the Five Towns, posted on Facebook: “Our hearts cry out with pain at the senseless hateful shooting and killing of those at the Chabad of Poway congregation in San Diego, California. They were targeted for no reason other than being Jewish. We join all in prayer for the quick and complete healing of those injured.”
Two of Goldstein’s fingers were severely damaged when he raised his hands and bullets hit them. The rabbi shepherded several children outside, including his 4-year-old granddaughter. “We are particularly grateful to those whose brave stand against the shooter saved additional lives,” Wolowik stated.
Earnest called 911 to report himself, according to the Sheriff’s Department. He was arrested in Rancho Bernardo, roughly seven miles from Poway, charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder, and jailed without bail.
An additional charge of arson was filed against him on Monday, and he appeared in court on Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. In an eight-page letter explaining the shooting, he bragged about igniting the fire at the Islamic Center of Escondido on March 23.
Whether these kinds of attacks target Christians, Jews or Muslims, Geisinsky said, the battle against intolerance is a joint campaign. “This reinforces the continued effort that we all must join together,” she wrote on Facebook, “with a zero tolerance to hate and bigotry in any form.”
