Synagogue Threatened By Bomb Plot Is Opening Its Shabbat Services To The Public
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.
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 feldman@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
