Jews in Polk County face anxiety over relatives in Israel following attack

Some of Polk County’s Jewish residents were still waiting for word Monday about the fate of relatives in Israel.

“Everyone is basically on tenterhooks, trying to get hold of relatives and friends,” Rabbi David Goldstein of Temple Emanuel in Lakeland said Monday morning. “There are several families (in the congregation) with family in Israel. We are all right now just trying to be as patient as we can be while waiting to see what’s going on.”

Goldstein said local Jewish residents have faced difficulties in connecting with relatives since Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in southwest Israel.

“Some of them have been in touch with relatives,” Goldstein said. “Others are waiting to hear from relatives. It’s a little bit difficult with communication right now in some areas.”

He added: “Even in Israel, there are families waiting to hear and get information about those who seem to be missing at this time. I say ‘seem to be’ because we don’t really know.”

The coordinated assault killed an estimated 700 in Israel, according to news reports, about 250 of whom were attending a music festival near the border of the Gaza Strip. Hamas claims to have taken about 100 hostages, some of them Israeli military officers, and news reports say children are among the hostages.

Israel has responded with military strikes into Gaza, resulting in nearly 600 deaths as of Monday, according to CBS News.

Temple Emanuel plans to hold a rally in support of the Israeli people Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. on the lawn of the synagogue at 600 Lake Hollingsworth Drive.

'We are all connected'

Goldstein said that most American Jews have relatives in Israel, a nation of about 9.4 million.

“The reality is in the Jewish community, we are all connected on a very intimate level,” he said. “Basically, everyone knows somebody who had been affected.”

Goldstein said he had spoken to a cousin and was still waiting Monday to hear from other relatives and friends.

“We know at least one close friend of my cousin’s daughter is one of the hostages in Gaza at this point,” he said.

Goldstein said close friends of his living in California were hosting a couple from Israel on vacation when news of the attack broke. He said the couple learned that two of their sons had been killed, and two others have been called to military duty. He said the couple desperately wants to return to Israel, but most flights into the nation’s main airport have been canceled.

The rabbi was working Monday to coordinate communications among members of the congregation. He said that effort was delayed because of the Simchat Torah holiday, which ended Sunday.

Goldstein said he was “heartened” by expressions of support for Israel from world leaders.

“At the same time, I will note that some of the media is calling out their own antisemitism by terming the terrorists militants as freedom fighters and resistance fighters,” he said. “And I see that and I'm sick to my stomach. Hamas is none of those. They are terrorists, pure and simple. They have killed men, women, children in cold blood. They've murdered them. These were not acts of war. These were acts of brutalism and terrorism.”

'Bring light to the world'

Libby Lazaros, who runs the Chabad Jewish Center in Lakeland with her husband, a rabbi, echoed Goldstein’s statements on the connected nature of worldwide Jews to the nation of Israel.

“Yes, of course, pretty much every Jewish person anywhere in the world will have either a relative or friends in Israel,” she said.

Lazaros said her relatives and friends in the country all seem to have survived.

“They’re within the center around Jerusalem, and they've been hearing sirens all day and taking shelter in the bomb shelters all day,” she said. “Some are more frightened than others. But for the most part, the Jewish people are resilient, and we are going to stay strong and fight back and we will win this.

“And we're hearing from them specifically, that we should just increase in goodness and kindness and bring light to the world.”

Lazaros said some relatives and friends have already been drafted into roles with the military reserves in the West Bank, replacing soldiers sent to the Gaza area. That includes her husband’s brother.

In Polk County Home prices fell 0.2% in September, with houses listed at a median of $358,793

The Chabad Jewish Center and Temple Emanuel operate a Hebrew school called CKids with 13 students. Lazaros said the school did not meet Sunday because of the Simchat Torah holiday. As for her own nine children, Lazaros said she has been talking to the older kids in general terms about what is happening in Israel, without going into the graphic details.

A Lakeland company, Imagine Tours and Travel, operates guided trips to Israel with a Christian orientation. A statement posted on the company’s website said that Imagine did not have any groups in Israel now because of the Jewish holidays that ended Sunday.

Another statement said that the company was canceling all trips to Israel through Oct. 23.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Jews in Polk County face anxiety over relatives in Israel as war rages