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THE NEW YORK BOARD OF RABBIS MOURNS THOSE MURDERED IN ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE ON SHABBAT MORNING 

The New York Board of Rabbis mourns those who were cut down today as they gathered for sacred Shabbat prayer.  We offer our solidarity and support to the Jews of Pittsburgh, and we say to our rabbinic and cantorial colleagues "be strong and of good courage" as you stand by your grieving community.
 
We laud the valiant Pittsburgh police officers who entered the Tree of Life sanctuary and risked their own lives to confront the shooter. 
 
We praise the New York Police Department, the Office of Emergency Management, and other local police and civil defense personnel throughout the metropolitan area for swiftly mobilizing today to protect us, and for their reassurance that they will be relentless in their vigilance on our behalf.
 
We are most heartened to have received loving calls from faith leaders from all religions who immediately offered us their prayers and expressions of outrage.  Their heartwarming outpouring represents the hope that together we can find a path to a time when all can attend a house of worship - or go anywhere in the world -  "with none to make us afraid."
 
All people of good faith agree that it defies human comprehension to witness today's attacks on people at prayer as they rejoiced in the welcoming of a new child into the world.  The Torah tells us that a society was destroyed because "the earth was filled with violence." Too often we have seen hatred in the heart become hatred in the hands.  We all need to stand together-left and right, red and blue, people of all faiths and no particular faith - to affirm our intolerance of hatred on any side.
 
Finally, we urge our fellow Jews to remember the lesson of Rabbi Akiva, whose parable of the fox and fishes reminds us never to leave our "natural habitat" of proudly and publicly practicing our Judaism, despite the attempts of those who would try to defeat us.  Only by continuing to gather fearlessly to pray, to study Torah, and to work for justice in the world, are we Jews truly "home."
 
 
Rabbi Lester Bronstein, President
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President
Rabbi Diana Gerson, Associate Executive Vice President

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About The New York Board of Rabbis (NYBR):
For more than 137 years, The New York Board of Rabbis has shaped the future of Jewish life in New York, educated rabbis and the public, and responded to the changing needs of the Jewish community. We are a private, non-profit organization with more than 750 members, which makes The NYBR the largest rabbinic inter-denominational body in the world.  We also work with other faith communities to promote increased understanding and pursue avenues of common cooperation. The NYBR is concerned about the welfare of the entire community, both Jewish and non-Jewish. We believe it is imperative to be a moral voice regarding global concerns of our world. We are proud that The New York Board of Rabbis serves as a bridge of strength and promise between individual rabbis, the greater Jewish community and other faith communities. For more information, please visit: www.nybr.org
New York Board of Rabbis
171 Madison Avenue, Ste. 1602
New York, New York 10016
Phone: 212-983-3521
Fax: 212-983-3531