Rochester Jewish community honors victims of attacks on Israel

Oct. 11—ROCHESTER — The Southern Minnesota Jewish Community hosted a peaceful gathering to show solidarity with Israel on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.

The hopeful prayers, Scripture readings and messages of solidarity shared follow the

deadly terror attacks

over the weekend. While encouraging people to do good in the fight against evil, Rabbi Shloime Greene of Rochester spoke on the people "brutally massacred" in Israel. The attacks are one of the deadliest in Israel's history with more than 1,200 people killed.

Alex Pinkhasov, a Mayo Clinic fellow and founding member of the Project Israel Initiative started in 2012, said "we have not needed to stand up for Israel as much as we do today." With a small gathering of about 80 people in Peace Plaza, Pinkhasov shared of honoring the lives lost and how "our heart aches for our brothers and sisters in Israel."

"I hope that with today's service we give honor and respect to those that have lost their life and I hope that we can all walk away with a plan of how we will stand strong by our country in the days and the weeks and maybe even the months to follow," he said.

Dr. Chaim Locker, the son of a Holocaust survivor who lost 38 family members during the Holocaust, spoke of the horror people awoke to on Saturday's Shabbat, a holy day of rest in the Jewish tradition, and the celebration of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

"We will never forgive nor forget what has happened to us on Shabbat," Locker said. "Thousands of Israeli victims woke up in their homes on a quiet Saturday, holy day morning into a horrifying nightmare of shootings, burnings, invasions by (the Palestinian militant group) Hamas terrorists to their homes."

While marking the solemn evening, Pinkhasov encouraged people in attendance to educate people and post the facts that their brothers and sisters "on the front lines" are sharing through social media. Israel has declared war on Hamas and responded with a volley of retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza that killed at least 765 people, according to CNN.

Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester, emphasized the lives lost in the terrorist attacks. She said Israeli people have "remarkable strength" as they have since Israel was recognized as a nation, which stands as a "beacon of hope to all those who yearn to escape oppression." Local officials, including Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, Rochester Mayor Kim Norton, Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin and Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson, also attended the gathering.

"We stand in solidarity with Israel, and to support peace and unity and our unwavering support ... and commitment to support Israel in the face of this horrifying and despicable attack," Nelson said. "These sadistic events are a painful reminder of the terrible consequences that hatred and violence can inflict upon innocent lives."

Greene also shared prayers and thanked people for their support of Jewish people outside of their "homeland" of Israel.

"We will not succumb to the attempts to scare and demoralize Israel and Jewish people around the world. We will solidfy our faith and trust in God. We will stand in absolute and unwavering unity," Greene said. "Staying silent in the face of this evil is not an option."

He

encouraged people to "participate spiritually by increasing in acts of goodness and kindness,"

such as a giving box in their home and lighting Shabbat candles.

"Every act of kindness is a powerful light that banishes much darkness and will certainly banish this despicable darkness," Greene said.