Canadians hold vigils in solidarity with synagogue victims
Local community comforted by support of other faith groups
MONTREAL — Jewish communities and citizens across Canada gathered together over the weekend to commemorate the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and condemn what one rabbi described as “an outrageous act of evil.”
Vigils and rallies were organized in a number of Canadian cities, including Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver.
Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who is originally from Pittsburgh, said no Jewish community has been left untouched by the shooting that left 11 people dead and six injured.
A vigil set for Monday evening at Montreal’s Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue will be a chance for community members to draw hope and strength from each other, he said. “All of us can relate to what happened,” he said. “We go to synagogues that look just like (Tree of Life) synagogue. Our ties and bonds of history and of solidarity and our values are very strong.”
Poupko said he grew up in Pittsburgh’s “tight-knit” Jewish community, where his father was a rabbi for 60 years.
He said Jewish people have always been targets of hate crimes both in Canada and elsewhere, and that the number of those alleged crimes have been rising in recent years.
But he said they’ve never experienced anything like Saturday’s mass shooting, which left 11 people dead and six more injured, including four police officers.
“Eleven people murdered in a synagogue in an outrageous act of evil,” he said. The suspected gunman, Robert Gregory Bowers, faces federal and state charges, including hate crimes, and is due in court on Monday.
Poupko became emotional as he spoke about 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, a Holocaust survivor who died in the shooting. “To survive the Holocaust and find refuge in a free country and lose your life doing what you’re supposed to do, going to synagogue on a Saturday morning ... is not a thing that is easily understood,” he said, his voice breaking.
He said his community is comforted by the support of other faith groups and ordinary citizens, who have come together to unanimously denounce the violence.
Poupko said Montreal’s synagogues were remaining open and the community would continue to fight acts of hate in the only way they know how.
Another demonstration took place in front of Montreal’s Holocaust Museum on Sunday afternoon, while an event was also expected to take place in Halifax.