Chabad-Lubavitch leaders worldwide are warning Jewish communities about the possibility of more anti-Semitic attacks like the Saturday synagogue shooting in Poway, Calif., on the last day of Passover.
In a message put out after the April 27 shooting that claimed the life of 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye, Chabad said that “our regional leaders are very worried about the security of every Chabad House and center in hundreds of communities in the U.S. and throughout the world.”
Nevertheless, the statement warned, “Anti-Semitic violence in the U.S. has risen to a level that cannot be ignored. We are asking city council members and state legislators, federal agencies, media outlets, college professors, university leaders and schoolteachers to take responsibility and root out the gangrene [of anti-Semitism] that threatens the core values of this country.”
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, one of the senior rabbinical figures in the Chabad movement, said “the warning bells of recent events are tolling, and we call on leaders from both political sides to stop the dangerous spiral of anti-Semitism.”
The statement also both lamented and condemned the shooting during Shabbat-morning services at Chabad of Poway, Calif.
“As the Passover holiday ended, we learned of the shooting at a Chabad House, the murder of an innocent woman, and that others who were praying had been wounded. This is a horrific, heartbreaking incident,” the statement read.
This article first appeared on Israel Hayom.