Chabad of Poway Image by Google Maps

By Aiden Pink April 29, 2019

Updated May 6

After the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue, which killed one person and injured three more, people from around the world expressed their condolences to the shaken community. Many have been asking how they can help.

The synagogue itself, in cooperation with the global Chabad-Lubavitch movement, has set up a fundraiser that will last until Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Many of the donors have given in multiples of 18, a number that in Hebrew numerology means “life.” But some have been much more generous, including one $10,000 giver.

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Chabad has also urged Jewish men to wrap tfillin and women to light Shabbat candles. “Cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can be uprooted from its core only by saturating our world with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited, unyielding love and acts of kindness, and by teaching that to all our children, in our schools and our homes,” Chabad.org said in a statement on its website.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, the leader of Chabad of Poway who lost his finger in the attack, made similar comments in a video filmed in the hospital. “I’m encouraging and I’m pleading with every single Jew that sees this appeal: This weekend, go to your own respective synagogues. Fill up the ballrooms, fill up the sanctuaries. Let them see that nothing will take us down.”

Another fundraiser on GoFundMe has raised over $90,000 in its first day. It was set up by a 15-year-old who had never been to Poway but started the campaign as soon as he heard of the attack because “I thought it was important to get it up and running as soon as possible.”

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County and Jewish Community Foundation San Diego have also [set up a fund], with proceeds “prioritized to address those directly injured and impacted by the shooting. Additional funds will be used to support ongoing efforts to help the community heal from and feel safe despite these unspeakable acts.”

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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