Temple Emanuel in Pubelo, Colorado. Image by flickr

By Ari Feldman November 8, 2019

The Colorado synagogue that was targeted by a white supremacist would-be bomber has said that the public is welcome to attend Friday evening services this Sabbath.

Rabbi Birdie Becker, the leader of Temple Emanuel, in Pueblo, also noted that the synagogue will now install external security cameras in response to the bombing threat.

The man arrested for the plot, Richard Holzer, 27, planned the bombing with people he thought were fellow white supremacists and anti-Semites, but were in fact FBI agents. On Friday evening last week, during the supposed final preparations for the bombing, the agents arrested Holzer. We was expected to appear in federal court Friday.

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Becker told local news station KRCC that despite the new security measures — the synagogue’s president recently told news media that he encourages the carrying of guns in synagogue — the community wanted the synagogue to remain open and hospitable.

“We’ll still come together as a community,” she said. “Life goes on. Celebrating goes on, rituals go on, this does not change any of that. It never has. Anti-Semitism has been around for a long time.”

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

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