Sadly, another shooting occurred the last day of Passover on April 27.
San Diego’s Poway Synagogue was attacked by an active shooter.
Being Jewish myself — this breaks my heart.
But it needs to be discussed.
Acts of anti-Semitism happen every day. People die from that act every day. It doesn’t just happen once.
We need to not remember just one shooting. We need to remember them all and the lives that were lost and affected. The Pittsburg shooting killed 11 people. Eleven Jews. The Poway shooting only took one death.
Lindsay Trombly | Argonaut
But the death count shouldn’t deem its importance. Jewish people’s lives were still at stake. Just think — any day, any minute another shooting could happen.
I would hate to be in that situation and I would hate for my loved ones to be in one as well. It is scary to think it could happen. But communities need to realize that, need to realize enough is enough.
I hope my community back home takes a stand.
There’s only one Jewish temple in Idaho, Ahavath Best Israel. I go to that temple with my mom every once in a while when I am home in Boise and the people there are very welcoming. It is one giant community. Even though we are Jewish, we talk about everyday things like school and even family. There are no cops when I attend and there is no high security system. There shouldn’t be. The fact that these shootings keep happening and temples are expected to fend for themselves is not OK.
Rabi Yisroel Goldstein of Poway synagogue, wrote an opinion column for The New York Times about his experience and what he did to survive this shooting, as well as what he did to protect his congregation. He said after the Pittsburg shooting they had a community training on how to deal with an active shooter in temple. Because of this, he saved lives.
This shouldn’t have to happen. It shouldn’t need to happen.
White, black, Christian or Jewish — we all need to come together and accept our differences. We need to finally put an end to anti-Semitism and recognize that it does exist. We need to take this issue seriously or else more people will die. More people will be injured and people will be scared for their lives.
When I go to temple I go to sing and pray with my mom. I don’t go there preparing to fight for my life.
Rabbi Goldstein said in his column remembering a passage he quotes that day from the Passover Seder: “In every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.”
He remembers shouting the words “Am Yisrael Chai! The people of Israel live!” He said he has said that line hundreds of times in his life — but he’s never felt the truth of it more than in that moment.
Each generation is different. There will always be someone showing hate toward a group of people. The strength of that hate needs to be controlled and watched upon. These shootings that seem to go under people’s radar need to be noticed — they need to be understood. They need to be understood as an event that happened and know that it can and will happen again. It’s time to take a stand — once is more than enough.
Each synagogue shooting makes me want to scream to the world that I’m Jewish. I’m proud for who I am and my culture. There is nothing wrong with having different beliefs then someone else. Being Jewish doesn’t consume my identity. I’m a daughter, a student and a friend. My name is Lindsay Trombly and I’m proud to say that being Jewish is a part of my identity.
I will continue to take a stand against anti-Semitism and I will continue to tell people my heritage. I’m proud of being a Jewish minority.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lindsay_trombly