‘Choc Et Tristesse’: Poway Chabad’s Facebook Page Accumulates Well Wishes

By Helen Chernikoff April 28, 2019

The Facebook page of the synagogue near San Diego that was the site of a shooting quickly became the virtual equivalent of those makeshift memorials that materialize after tragedies.

The page quickly accumulated condolences and expressions of sympathy and solidarity from all over the San Diego area, and the world.

A message from Mickael Szerman read: “Choc, douleur et infinie tristesse … Pensées et prières avec les familles des victimes. Attaque le dernier jour de Pessah, la Pâque Juive durant Shabbat au Chabad of Poway de San Diego!”

“May YHVH comfort you,” wrote Valerie McCreery Walde.

Todd Gloria: “Words can’t capture my sadness and anger in reaction to this act of gun violence in our backyard directed toward our Jewish neighbors as they conclude the Passover season.”

The synagogue, affiliated with the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement, is in Poway, about 20 miles outside of San Diego.

The city’s mayor, Steve Vaus, told CNN he believed the attack was a hate crime “because of statements that were made when the shooter entered.”

Contact Helen Chernikoff at [email protected] or on Twitter @thesimplechild

Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s News Editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.