Local Jewish leaders express sorrow, solidarity after synagogue shooting
Suburban synagogues and Jewish organization leaders started voicing reactions Saturday as they began to process the horror of the killings at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The rabbis, president and executive vice president of Congregation Beth Am in Buffalo Grove, in a post on the synagogue's Facebook page, called the shooting a "hate crime and act of terrorism" as they condemned the violence that took place on Shabbat morning.
The message said Beth Am plans to reach out and offer any help members can give to Tree of Life Synagogue and other congregations in Pittsburgh.
Leaders at the synagogue also are reviewing their security and safety plans and making plans "to come together to pray, comfort the bereaved and fix this broken world."
The Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, which, like many Jewish organizations, typically refrains from social media posts on Shabbat, made an exception "because our hearts are broken" by news of the shooting, leaders wrote Saturday on Facebook.
"Chicago's Jewish community stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh community and shares in their grief," the post said. "We pray for a refuah shlema for the injured and mourn the loss of innocent lives."