Vancouver Jewish community shaken by Pittsburgh mass shooting

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Members of Vancouver’s Jewish community are offering their condolences to those affected by the fatal mass shooting in Pittsburgh.

Vancouver Rabbi Dan Moskovitz said he was immediately concerned about his close friend, who is a rabbi in Pittsburgh at the synagogue next door to congregation that was attacked. And here, additional security measures were put in place at Temple Sholom in Vancouver.

“As soon as we heard about it, we heightened our security,” he says. “We doubled our security so we had more of a physical presence on site.”

He says there was an immediate sense of fear felt by members of his congregation, adding the rise in antisemetic acts in Canada is deeply troubling.

“What happened at the Mosque in Quebec, immediately, I thought of that. Once again, people in peaceful prayer being murdered,” he says. “I stand on our pulpit every weekend and I look out and I always think, what would happen if someone were to come in? That’s the world we live in.”

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He said the attack could be the result of the rise in political rhetoric and antisemitism in the United States.

“When you give voice to the fringes of society, and give them the large platform of social media so they can feed off of eachother, then on the very fringes of that, people get radicalized, and this can be the result,” he says.

WATCH: Toronto Jewish community reacts to Pittsburgh shooting

Moskovitz says in these times, it’s important to celebrate differences, not let them divide us.

Members of the community are planning a vigil for victims of the shooting, which will be held tomorrow evening.