Synagogue shooting impacts students on campus
Many Jewish students on campus such as senior Yael Ben David pictured holding the microphone at are involved in Israeli Scouts, a group that builds connections among Jewish youth in America. With Yom Kippur approaching, many people practicing the faith are fasting, for spiritual reflection.
October 30, 2018
The impact of Saturday’s mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh in which 11 people were left dead, and six more injured, is being felt in Frisco’s Jewish community, more than 1,000 miles away.
“What happened is terrible and it really saddens me, and it makes me sick that people are capable of doing such evil things,” junior Eli Shirazi said. “This tragedy devastated the whole Jewish community, especially as this is far from the first crime targeting Jews. It also brings us all together to stand against anti semitism.”
For the school’s Jewish students, the event leaves a devastating mark on their religious community, one that is bringing them together.
“It’s something that I think has united us a lot,” senior Josie Woodward said. “I know I reached out to my Jewish grandparents because my dad used to live in Pennsylvania, where it happened and it’s just a scary thing, but it really has united us because we’re all being brought together in the safety of each other.”
Senior Sarah Kleyman is disheartened by Saturday’s shooting.
“I was very upset and it was not only because I’m Jewish, but I just think that it’s sad that any group of people are being killed just for their religion or anything else that they can’t really control,” Kleyman said. “I think it’s really important to carry on our values because there aren’t a lot of Jews in the world and obviously it’s gotten better for us since the Holocaust, but as you can see, a lot of people still don’t like Jews so I think it’s just important to represent ourselves well.”
Woodward believes that the shooting reveals an underlying anti-semitism that still exists and that still causes division in the world.
“To be Jewish today means a lot. There are a lot of undertones of anti-Semitism still in today’s society that are so neglected,” Woodward said. “A lot of people don’t even recognize Jews as a minority and so many people still make anti-Semitic jokes, Holocaust jokes, Hitler jokes all the time and they don’t realize that when you say those things, it comes from a place of your actual feelings, and so hearing constant anti-Semitism, even in the form of jokes is a scary thing.”
