4 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 1, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens remembers synagogue shooting victims at candlelight vigil
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@cnglocal.com
@QNS
Queens residents of all faiths and
backgrounds stood in solidarity outside
Borough Hall in Kew Gardens Monday
night to remember and honor the victims
of the recent mass shooting at the
Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Borough President Melinda Katz was
joined by elected offi cials, community leaders
and advocates at the event, dubbed
“Queens Against Hate,” a candlelight
prayer vigil on the steps of Borough Hall at
120-55 Queens Blvd.
“We’re here today, all of this diversity,
all of these religions, all of the folks behind
me and in front of me to say everyone
who wants to promote fear in this word,
America will not have it. Queens will not
have it. We stand together,” said Katz,
among a loud applause.
On Saturday morning, Oct. 27, a
Pennsylvania man, Robert Bowers, 46,
stormed into the Tree of Life Synagogue
shouting anti-Semitic slurs and shot 11
people, many of whom were elderly. It’s
believed to be the deadliest attacks against
Jewish Americans in the United States,
according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Katz also noted the shootings of two
victims in a Jeff ersontown, Kentucky,
supermarket on Oct. 24. Aft er an alleged
failed attempt to enter a predominantly
black church, Gregory Bush, 51, went
to Kroger supermarket and opened fi re,
CNN reported; the incident is now being
investigated as a hate crime.
“I believe very strongly that words matter.
Whether you’re a faith leader, community,
leader, a parent, a grandparent,
a teacher or political fi gure, words matter,”
said Rabbi Michael Miller, executive
director of the Jewish Community
Relations Council of New York.
Members of the Sikh community showed their solidarity with the Queens Jewish community during a vigil at Queens Borough Hall on Oct. 29.
Miller added, “If there’s anything that we
should be doing is building bridges from
the Jewish community to every other community
… bridges of understanding and
most importantly, bridges of words… and
indeed maybe I would substitute the word
love for the word shalom, the word peace.
Th at indeed is where all of our bridges
should be heading.”
Imam Safraz Bacchus, from the Masjid
Al-Abidin in Richmond Hill, said the
attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh is an
“attack on all mosques, churches, mandirs
and other religious institutions.”
“At the end I must say, that love will triumph
always over hate,” Bacchus said.
Queens residents expressed the need for
unity during a diffi cult time in the nation,
given the political atmosphere.
Baljinder Singh, of the Sikh Cultural
Society of Richmond Hill, was joined by
members of the World Sikh Parliament,
Sikh Coordination Committee East Coast
(SCCEC), and Th e Sikh Center of New
York.
“Th is is a hate crime, and our condolences
to the families whose people got killed
in this hate crime,” said Singh. “Th is is the
same thing that happened to the Sikh community
in August 2012, when a gunman
entered the gurdwara in Wisconsin during
prayers and opened fi re. “We feel the pain
that the Jewish community is feeling today.
We stand with the Jewish community.”
Judy Katz of Bayside, who attends the
Temple Gates of Prayer Synagogue of
Flushing, said it’s important for everyone
to “stand up and show up.”
“My parents were survivors of the
Holocaust,” Katz said. “Th ey were lucky
to survive and come to America. I read
enough about things, and it’s absolutely
Photo by Bruce Adler
frightening. It’s not just the Jewish community,
but everyone needs to stand up.”
As the candles were lit, Katz and local
elected offi cials each read the names of
the victims, and concluded with a song
“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.
Jerry Ball of Forest Hills reiterated that
a leader’s words does matter when it
aff ects the citizenry, resulting in violent
acts of hatred.
“Queens is the ‘World’s Borough,’” he
said. “Th e diversity, the acceptance, the
love that everybody feels for each other,
the culture, the connections here are what
make the world a wonderful place. If everyone
can live like we do in Queens, the
world will be so much happier.”
On Sunday evening, Oct. 28, the Jackson
Heights community also honored the victims
with prayers, songs and a candlelight
vigil with Councilman Daniel Dromm.
Jewish institutions in Queens grateful for NYPD following Pittsburgh attack
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@cnglocal.com
@billparry3
Rabbi Romiel Daniel and many
of his constituents at the Rego Park
Jewish Center feel vulnerable since last
Saturday’s deadly attack at a Pittsburgh
synagogue, when a crazed gunman
shouting anti-Semitic remarks shot and
killed 11 worshippers.
“I didn’t expect to see something like
this happen in the United States,” Rabbi
Daniel said. “Th ere is so much division
right now with such hateful rhetoric
coming from Washington. I just wish
things would calm down.”
Th e rabbi was born and raised in
Mumbai, India, where ten Pakistani men
went on a 2008 terror spree killing 164
people.
“We’ve seen what happened back
home and I never expected to see such
a thing here,” he said. “But that’s what
happens when there is so much negativity
on television and then it gets amplifi ed
on social media feels. Now you see people
going out of there way to bump into
others for no reason. I see this happening
right here in Queens.”
Rabbi Daniel also fears his synagogue
is too exposed.
“We’re right here on Queens Boulevard,
the main road, and we feel exposed.
Anyone can drive up on us,” he said. “We
keep all of our doors locked but one and
we can’t aff ord an armed guard. We’re
very thankful to the NYPD for helping us
tremendously. Offi cers are here all of the
time and we are quite happy with them
and the 112th Precinct just held a safety
seminar here for the communities of
Rego Park and Forest Hills.”
Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky of the Northeast
Queens Chabad said he was horrifi ed as
everyone else and saddened by the state of
society today where “someone can mindlessly
and heartlessly destroy 11 innocent
live.”
He too has security on his mind.
“I am hearing more concern than ever
before from my congregants,” he said.
“Th e NYPD must do everything they can
to protect houses of worship and they
have reached out to us and discussed
security issues with us.”
Cynthia Zalisky, the executive director
of the Queens Jewish Community
Council which represents more than 140
of the borough’s Jewish institutions and
organizations, said the extra security provided
by the NYPD has brought relief in
a stressful time.
“We are all shocked and stunned by
what happened at the Tree of Life in
Pittsburgh, it was heartbreaking for us,”
Zalisky said. “We know that our synagogues
and schools are considered
soft targets so we are very cognizant of
that fact and aft er what happened in
Pittsburgh we’re also well aware that the
age of complacency is over and we have
to take each and every threat seriously.
Th e NYPD certainly has responded. I was
quite impressed how seriously they took
the situation.”
Hours aft er the attack, NYPD Chief
of Department Terence Monahan told
reporters that while there was no credible
threat to New York, his department
would be on high alert around the Jewish
community.
“Out of an abundance of caution,
the NYPD has deployed offi cers from
the Critical Response Command and
Strategic Response Group to houses
of worship. Th ese offi cers, who are
equipped with heavy weapons, have been
deployed to locations throughout the
city,” Monahan said. “In addition, NYPD
offi cers in every precinct throughout the
city are visiting sensitive locations to
ensure the safety of all New Yorkers.
Th ousands of offi cers, many of them
active-shooter trained, are vigilant and
patrolling our city.”
In his remarks Sunday at Temple
Emanu-El in Manhattan, Mayor Bill de
Blasio said the NYPD presence around
Jewish community institutions would
continue as long as necessary to keep
people safe.
“New Yorkers know that the only way
to address hatred is head-on, don’t sweep
it under the rug,” de Blasio said. “Don’t
look away, don’t act like it won’t get
worse. In fact we have to confront it, all
of us together.”
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