“You never get immune to another killing,” Lincoln rabbi reacts to Poway synagogue attack
A California woman is dead after taking a bullet for her rabbi.
A community is wounded after being invaded by a gunman.
But the victims, they’re not alone.
Jewish communities across the nation are banding together- just like they’ve done time and time again when tragedies happen.
“You never get immune to another killing,” Rabbi Teri Appleby with South Street Temple said.
Anti-semitism, turning deadly.
“They just keep coming faster and faster, this stuff happening more often,” Peter Mullin, office administrator at the temple said.
After yet another fatal shooting at a California synagogue, Lincoln’s own Jewish community is speaking out.
“We’re sick and tired of hate in this country,” Appleby said.
Appleby heads a congregation of 80 families at the South Street Temple, near 20th and South streets.
She said every attack hurts, but it’s nothing new to the Jewish community.
Though this one hurts worse.
“What’s really poignant about this attack, is that on the last day of passover we have a memorial service called Yizkor, for those who’ve died it was a real shock to the Jewish community,” Appleby said.
Mullin said he thinks the increase in attacks stems from the internet and the ease at which hateful people can find communities who share in their discrimination.
“There’s a lack of critical thinking, people just accept the information they get, the lies they’ve been told and run with it,” Mullin said.
But he’s not afraid.
“I’m not going to let it bother me. Not going to stop being a Jew because someone wants to kill me because of that,” Mullin said.
Though the congregation isn’t sitting idly by either.
They’ve upped their security system and continue to make changes so their congregation feels safe, Mullin said.
“It’s impossible to prevent something entirely,” Appleby said. “But the more we can feel as a whole instead of segmented or a community in silos, I think that helps because we’re not alone.”
They’re not alone in their faith.
“We grieve with them,” Mullin said. “That they’ve been attacked, that they lost a member of their community, we all lost a member of the community.”
They said they are lucky in Lincoln- that they haven’t dealt with the same kind of discrimination others have.
Though Appleby said not many are aware of the Jewish community in Lincoln as they are small.
The South Street Temple, that’s near 20th and South Streets, has services Friday nights and Saturdays.
Appleby said visitors are always welcome to join in to learn more.
