Husband Joel Hettler, who is Jewish, and wife Lee Bradford, Christian, of Minneapolis, follow along at an interfaith memorial service at Mt. Zion Temple in St. Paul Monday Oct. 29, 2018 to remember the victims of Saturday's anti-Semitic shootings in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue. The National Council of Jewish Women-MN, Survivors Lead, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Jewish Community Action, Protect Minnesota, and the Minnesota faith community were involved. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Clergy of many religions fill the stage at the end of an interfaith memorial service at Mt. Zion Temple in St. Paul Monday, Oct. 29, 2018 to remember the victims of Saturday's anti-Semitic shootings in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue. The National Council of Jewish Women-MN, Survivors Lead, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Jewish Community Action, Protect Minnesota, and the Minnesota faith community were involved. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Thousands attend an interfaith memorial service at Mt. Zion Temple in St. Paul Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, lining the walls of the main sanctuary, overflowing into other rooms of the Synagogue, and onto the lawn outside, to remember the victims of Saturday's anti-Semitic shootings in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue. The National Council of Jewish Women-MN, Survivors Lead, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Jewish Community Action, Protect Minnesota, and the Minnesota faith community were involved. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Thousands of people showed up for an interfaith memorial service at Mt. Zion Temple in St. Paul Monday Oct. 29, 2018, overflowing to other rooms and onto the lawn outside, to remember the victims of Saturday's anti-Semitic shootings in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue. The National Council of Jewish Women-MN, Survivors Lead, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Jewish Community Action, Protect Minnesota, and the Minnesota faith community were involved. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)



Nearly 2,000 people packed Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul Monday evening to mourn the 11 people shot to death Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The hour-long interfaith vigil offered a chance to heal and draw strength in the wake of a tragedy that has left many Jews feeling vulnerable in their houses of worship.

“Our sense of safety is shattered,” Mount Zion Senior Rabbi Adam Stock Spilker told the overflow crowd. “At a time such as this, it is powerful to feel like part of a community. Love is stronger than hate.”

Following a moment of silence for the victims of Saturday’s violence, a dozen speakers offered messages of hope, solidarity and resolve. Carin Mrotz, executive director of Jewish Community Action, said the very act of gathering together in a house of worship was a step forward.

“This room tonight, this is the cure for isolation,” Mrotz said. “This is the antidote to antisemitism.”

Rabbi Sim Glaser of Temple Israel in Minneapolis encouraged the crowd to follow the example of the Tree of Life synagogue, which he said was home to a diverse collection of Jewish denominations.

“There is an odious divisiveness permeating our nation,” Glaser said. “Let us embrace the human community. Learn about those who are different from us and celebrate those differences.”

In online postings before the shooting, the accused gunman allegedly said he targeted Jews because of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society’s efforts to resettle refugees in the United States.

Beth Gendler, executive director of the Minneapolis section of the National Council of Jewish Women, said HIAS helped her father escape Nazi Germany and immigrate to the U.S.

“It is not hyperbole to say that without HIAS, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “And if there’s a glimmer of hope that grows out of this horror, it’s that more people will know about the amazing work that HIAS does, which truly makes America great.”

There were also calls for legislation to curb access to firearms. Sami Rahamim shared the story of his father, Reuven Rahamim, who was shot to death in 2012 at Accent Signage, a Minneapolis company he had built from the ground up after immigrating the the United States from Israel. Rahamim called his father “the embodiment of the American dream.”

“I can’t help but now feel like my family is living the American nightmare,” Rahamim said. “There will always be hateful people in this world. Our problem in the United States is that we make it so easy for hateful people to do evil.”

Nausheena Hussain, executive director of the group Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, called on the crowd to elect political leaders who reject racial and religious prejudice, and “support sensible gun legislation.”

“Our hearts are broken,” Hussain said. “Today we mourn, tomorrow we resist — we resist the status quo, the hate and the rise of white supremacy, antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

“And then on Tuesday, we vote,” she added to a round of applause.

Victoria Long, a member of the Mount Zion congregation, said the outpouring of support from the St. Paul community at the vigil on Monday was heartening.

“It means the world to me to see all of these people coming who care — members, nonmembers, people of all faiths, people of no faith,” she said. “I’ve been having a very difficult time and it just gave me so much hope.”

Susan Robiner, president of Mount Zion’s board of directors, said the crowd filled not only the temple’s sanctuary but also two overflow rooms and then spilled out onto their lawn.

“People poured in,” Robiner said. “People from all faiths came with their church groups. I really think it was about saying, ‘We are all children of God tonight.’ “ Related Articles 2 men shot, 1 fatally, near bar on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue

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Among the crowd were more than 100 students and faculty members who walked over from nearby Macalester College.

“For me personally, I wanted to be able to have the Jewish community understand that there are many, many people who are supportive of them, who are thinking of them and standing in solidarity with them,” said David Wheaton, Macalester’s chief financial officer.

The event offered people a chance to feel like they were doing something positive, Robiner said.

“In times of crisis, people turn to their faith communities,” Robiner said. “It’s about feeling empowered. People want to go from feeling victimized to feeling empowered.”