GRIEVING with JEWISH COMMUNITY

Re: Solidarity vigil planned at Saskatoon synagogue for 11 victims of anti-semitic shooting in Pittsburgh (SP, Oct. 29); Police detail the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and name the 11 dead, including 97-year-old woman (SP, Oct. 29); and Multiple casualties after shooting near Pittsburgh synagogue (SP, Oct. 27)

I am writing on behalf of the Saskatoon Unitarians to express our grief and horror on hearing of the attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life — or L’simcha synagogue.

All hate crimes are abhorrent, but to know that people were attacked while they were peacefully practising their faith and celebrating the joy of a new life in community is deeply disturbing. We can only imagine what is going through the hearts and minds of our siblings in faith in the Jewish community here in Saskatoon.

History tells us that it is important for people of goodwill to reach out and express publicly our solidarity and our commitment to the rights and freedoms of all peoples when a hate crime is committed. The ability to practise our faith in freedom is one of the cornerstones of our democratic societies, and a principle to which Unitarians are deeply committed. We want the Jewish community to know that we are grieving with you. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Rev. Karen Fraser Gitlitz, Saskatoon Unitarians