From Kristallnacht to Pittsburgh, local Jews mourn
LEESBURG — Shattered glass, shattered lives. Congregation Beth Sholom held a unique Shabbat service Friday to honor the memory of those who died in the Holocaust 80 years ago, and those who still perish under religious persecution, including the 11 who were massacred on Oct. 27 at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know why things happen the way the way that they do,” said Rabbi Karen Allen before the evening service. “But we’re required to speak to the truth and share it and not spend time saying, ‘woe is us.’”
“We’re required to live as equal human beings and expressions of God’s love,” she said.
Unfortunately, much of history is a blood-spattered testimony to death and hate.
Part of Friday’s service was to honor the memories of those who suffered on Nov. 9, 1938, on the “Night of Broken Glass,” or “Kristallnacht” as the Germans called it.
Nazis smashed Jewish storefronts, burned synagogues and attacked homes, marking the start of the Holocaust.
A member of one of Allen’s synagogues was a child when it happened and remembers the terror of hearing the windows being smashed in her home — a home that had to be abandoned.
Friday, a woman who lost an extended family member in the Pittsburgh attack, lit a memorial candle at the Leesburg synagogue.
The service also honored military veterans as Monday is Veterans Day.
“My father was a Marine,” Allen said. He came home badly wounded, but did not suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome, she said.
This week’s deadly shooting of 12 college students and a sheriff ’s deputy at a bar in California was at the hands of an ex-Marine who may have suffered PTSD, according to authorities.
One of the members of the synagogue is a retired lieutenant colonel, who decorates the social hall every year and celebrates the patriotic service of veterans with special food.
Among those expected to attend Friday’s service were Christians from various churches. It is one of the most uplifting things for Allen, in what she calls a strong interfaith community in Central Florida.
After the Pittsburgh massacre, Muslims in that community volunteered to stand guard over the synagogue to protect it from further attacks.
“It’s very encouraging,” she said, saying it is a sign that a government-orchestrated “Night of Broken Glass” will never happen in America.