Synagogues reflect on attack on Israel

There were no words to describe the feeling that resonated throughout the Merrick Jewish Centre on the night of Oct. 9. Hundreds gathered in South Shore synagogues amid sadness, frustration and anger over the staggering violence that recently took place in Israel.

Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that occupies the Gaza Strip, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, descended upon Israel on Oct. 7, killing nearly 1,000 Israelis and taking more than 100 captive.

Israel launched a counterattack, and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned of “a long and difficult war.” Palestinian authorities estimated that at least 800 people were killed in the retaliatory attacks.

In Nassau County, which has a Jewish population of more than 230,000 — 17 percent of the county’s population — residents watched in horror, frightened for their friends and family members in Israel. President Biden said last week that at least 14 Americans had been killed, and confirmed that some were among the hostages taken by Hamas.

“It’s indescribable what we saw, and we always have these imaginations,” Rabbi Moshe Weisblum, of Congregation Beth Tikvah in Wantagh, said, “but that cruelty will belong to the past.”

Weisblum was joined by rabbinic colleagues and cantors from Congregation Beth Ohr of Bellmore; Congregation Ohav Shalom in Merrick; the East Meadow-Beth El Jewish Center; the Oceanside Jewish Center; Temple Beth Am of Merrick and Bellmore; and Temple Emanu-El in Long Beach. Father Nikiforos Fakinos, of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Merrick, also attended, as did dozens of elected officials, who stood in solidarity with the Jewish people.

For Rabbi Weisblum, the tragedy unfolding in Israel reminded him of his time in the Israel Defense Forces in the 1980s. During this period, he served in a special unit in Gaza, where he would communicate with the locals and try to make arrangements for them. He said his experience during that time was indescribable.

After Weisblum served in his unit, he said he had a dream where one day he’ll get married and have children and grandchildren who will never need to go through what he went through in the service. Unfortunately, that dream never came true, according to Weisblum.

“Yesterday I said a big blessing to my son-in-law, who’s in Gaza now,” Weisblum said. “He’s a bomb engineer.”    

Cantor Benjamin Warschawski, of the Merrick Jewish Centre, and Cantor Joshua Diamond, of Congregation Beth Ohr, sang “A Prayer for the State of Israel,” among several other prayers throughout the evening, moving the attendees to tears.

Rabbi Mickey Baum, of Temple Beth Am, said he was “boiling with anger” over what had taken place in Israel.

“This is not the first time Israel and the Jewish people have faced such challenges which they will overcome,” Baum said. “But God willing, this will be the last time. And to the people of Israel, I say, ‘Be strong, be strong and we will be strong. The people of Israel live. The country of Israel lives — alive and enduring.’”

Rabbi Emeritus Charles Klein, of the Merrick Jewish Centre, said that what the world had witnessed earlier this month was “the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

“The images we have seen, the accounts we have heard, they echo the agony of our people from too many other places, too many other times in Jewish history,” Klein said. “The Hamas, they killed over 900 of our people — men and women and children, young and old.”

Klein recounted a story he was told by a couple who were members of the Merrick synagogue and survivors of the Holocaust.

“One day, he took me aside and he said to me, ‘I want to tell you what happened to our baby son during the Holocaust,’” Klein said, recounting the story. “‘We were ordered from our homes. And we went out into the streets. I was carrying my baby boy in my arms. The Nazis came, pulled my son from my arms, shot him right in front of my eyes and threw him on a truck.’

“Eighty years later — 80 years later,” Klein went on, “Hamas terrorist murderers equal the evil of the Nazis. Can you imagine? Because we can’t.”

Klein said that like many of the attendees, he had been in contact with relatives in Israel.

“One of my cousins wrote these words,” Klein said. “He said to me, ‘Israel is strong and we are united. All the political differences are put aside. There is no left. There is no right. There is one nation, only one nation. Just as the Nazis were destroyed, so, too, Hamas will be eliminated. It was their choice to begin this, and it is our mandate to end this.’”

Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, of the Merrick Jewish Centre, told the attendees about a congregant who joined the Israel Defense Forces. While he is no longer in Israel, his unit is in need of bulletproof vests — costing around $6,000. Dorsch called on the community to raise the necessary funds and to get the unit the supplies it needs.

“In the weeks and months ahead, there’s going to be a lot we can do,” Dorsch said.

“There are lots of wonderful organizations we can donate our money to,” he added. “There will be lots of projects — towns will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. People will need support.”

“So what’s left? What’s really left is to be united,” Weisblum said. “This is our time to unite. It’s so good to see all of you here to come and support this future for our people.”