Skip to content

Strong support shown for Sudbury's Jewish community

Shabbat service held in honour of victims of Pittsburgh attack

There was an outpouring of support for Sudbury's Jewish community on Friday evening, in the wake a horrific act of anti-Semitism at the Tree of Life Synagogue on Oct. 27 that claimed the lives of 11 people.

Dozens of Sudburians gathered at the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue in Sudbury Friday evening for a special Shabbat service in solidarity with the victims of last Saturday's attack. While the synagogue was nearly packed to capacity, the large majority of those in attendance were not of the Jewish faith.

"Most of the people who are here tonight are not Jewish, I would say only about one in nine people here are from the Jewish community," said Emily Caruso Parnell, board president, Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue.

"We really appreciate this show of support, it's very encouraging and it helps us feel less alone and shows that we have allies."

Among those in attendance were Sudbury MPP Jamie West and Greater Sudbury mayor Brian Bigger. West, a Christian, and Bigger, a Roman Catholic, both spoke of Sudbury's diversity and the importance of banding together in times of tragedy to strengthen the community as a whole.

"As the mayor, I see many people of different faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds," said Bigger. "Our community was built on diversity, people who immigrated to Canada and to Sudbury are the ones who helped build this city and that's something to be proud of."

West was outspoken on the importance of standing up against acts of hate like that of the Oct. 27 attack.

"You look south of the border and there are leaders who don't want to take sides," said West. "This isn't about being Jewish or not, it's a statement against hate and divisiveness through anger."

Bigger attended Thursday night's vigil at Memorial Park that was put on by Sudbury Against Facism. While he didn't speak at the vigil, he said that he took everything in and was struck by the emotion of the evening.

"What really struck me was the word unsettling," said Bigger. "People not feeling safe in their own community and the sense that that feeling is growing and increasing. People have experienced horror and trauma because of things like this and that's why we need to stand up and stand with them."

The events that unfolded in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27 shook the Sudbury Jewish community as their past board president Donna Speigel lost her cousin, Joyce Fienberg, who was one of the 11 people killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

Caruso Parnell spoke on Thursday about just how small the Jewish community is and how when she heard the news she knew that she would know someone who know someone who was at the synagogue on that tragic day.

West echoed Caruso Parnell's sentiment on Friday evening, explaining that with the ever-growing world of social media, the world itself seems to get smaller.

"These things don't seem as far away as they used to, our networks of people are always growing," said West. "I have friends in Pittsburgh and when I heard the news I was calling them and checking to make sure they were ok."

It has been a difficult week to be a member of the Jewish community, says Caruso Parnell, and she was pushed to leaving her phone with her husband by week's end in order to give herself some time to breathe and recuperate.

"It's a bit of a new normal now. We assimilate the news of what has happened and these events and we try to move forward," she said. "It's never going to be quite the same but we move forward and we have the support from the community and we move on together."


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.