Gold: “… we are a community …”
NEW CITY – The gymnasium of Rockland County’s Jewish Community Center was standing room only on Monday night as members of every faith gathered together to collectively mourn the devastating tragedy that occurred in Pittsburgh last Saturday with the murder of 11 parishioners at the Tree of Life synagogue.
“What happened Saturday morning affected everyone in this room in this our county, whether you’re Jewish or not Jewish,” said Steve Gold, chairman of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Rockland. “People being murdered because of their religious beliefs is outrageous; what you’re seeing here is a community supporting another community, and also to show we are a community and see what we can do to limit the hate that is going on.”
Gold and several other members of the Jewish Federation expressed heartfelt gratitude at the turn out for the memorial and gave special thanks to those members of the county government who have supported the Jewish community in this trying time.
The keynote speaker for the event was Paul Galan, chairman of the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education. Galan, a survivor of the Holocaust, said that “ugly changes have occurred in our culture.” He expressed fears that the America he immigrated to in his youth, the land “that represented the promise of freedom, where no one would make you wear a yellow star” is embracing a climate of hate.
“When we are told the press is the enemy of the people chills run through my body,” said Galan, drawing parallels between modern rhetoric and the fascism that tormented his family. “When I’m told immigrants are a threat to us, I worry.”
Galan and other speakers urged the crowd to remain vigilant and not allow hate to fester in the community. “You always hope that something good will come out of tragedy, and I think something good will come out of this,” said Gold. “Hopefully this a tipping point in the country’s attitude of say what you want to say without consequence.”
