Latest news with #TempleBeth-El
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Jewish U.S. senators fear for their safety after Boulder flamethrower attack: ‘Antisemitic to their core'
Jewish Democratic senators are fearing for their safety after a rash of ultra-violent antisemitic attacks in the past month. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst, said her synagogue, Temple Beth-El has faced increased threats. 'They are antisemitic to their core, and it's domestic terrorism, and it needs to treated appropriately,' she told The Independent. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE agents had taken the wife and children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman into custody. This came after police in Boulder, Colorado arrested Soliman for allegedly throwing molotov cocktails at a peaceful demonstration for Israeli hostages on Sunday. FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said that Soliman allegedly used a 'makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device' and chanted 'Free Palestine.' The attack left six victims, ranging from 67 to 88, including one Holocaust survivor. The Boulder attack came only days after a shooting at a Jewish museum left two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC dead. Elias Rodriguez later told police, 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.' And in April, police arrested and charged a man with murder and terrorism after he allgedly firebombed the mansion of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. The man accused of arson allegedly did so because of Shapiro's views about Israel's war in Gaza after the attack on October 7, 2023. 'I think as a senator and as a Jewish senator, I've always lived with a heightened threat perception, and we've had people convicted of threatening me so but certainly we watch for that special category of anti semitic hate, since there's lots of people who like to use that as another reason to threaten,' Slotkin said. California Sen. Adam Schiff, a felloww Democrat, said that as a Jewish politician with a high level of visibility during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, he had a heightened sense of the need for security. 'I think probably all the Jewish legislators are thinking about our personal safety,' Schiff told The Independent. 'Sadly for for me, that has always been pretty high, so that's not a new phenomenon.' For some, the attacks conjure painful memories. The father of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), escaped Nazi Germany for the United States in the 1930s. 'Those are horrifying examples, got to draw clear a line, not acceptable,' he told The Independent. 'Certainly I remember hearing my folks about anti semitism.' Jewish voters historically tend to vote Democratic, though divisions exist within the party on Israel. Some progressive Democratic lawmakers in the House have said that Israel's assault on Gaza after October 7 that has led to more than 50,000 deaths amounts to a genocide or war crimes. At the same time, some Jewish senators have loudly criticized Israel's government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even while condemning Hamas for the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel that saw some 250 people taken hostage and 1,200 people brutally murdered. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who spent some of his youth on a kibbutz in Israel, has regularly criticized the Netanyahu government and has sponsored legislation to block the sale of weapons to the Israeli government. But Sanders also had family who died in the Holocaust in Poland and criticized antisemitic attacks. 'Antisemitism is a disgusting ideology and we've got to do everything we can to combat it,' he told The Independent.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Message of resilience emphasized as locals reflect on the horrors of the Holocaust
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) – Many lives were lost due to the horrific Nazi Holocaust that took place in Germany. 70% of Jewish Holocaust survivors will be gone in the next 10 years, a report shows Several different groups of people were targeted as part of this mass genocide, including the 6 million Jews who were killed. Dr. Joseph Golden is the president of the Temple Beth-El congregation. He helps organize the annual Yom Hashoah Holocaust Commemoration Service held at Carter Hall in Beckley. Dr. Golden explained this observance began around 30 years ago with local Holocaust survivor, Max Lewin. 'He lost all his family that were in Europe from Poland at the concentration camps. Then he to transfers from one concentration camp to another and he survives. He was in his young twenties then,' said Dr. Golden. Lewin kept silent about his personal experience with the Holocaust until the 1990's. 'He opened up to a group of us who were sitting around after a service and started telling us about his parents, his wife, his brothers and sisters, all who perished in the concentration camps. From that time on his willingness [grew] to tell his story to the community at large,' added Dr. Golden. Although he passed in 2002, this tradition lives on in memory of Lewin. Rabbi David Sofian was the featured speaker for this year's commemoration ceremony. His message centered around resilience after the reality of the Holocaust. 'Everyone needs to find resilience, particularly in difficult times. These are very difficult times. I thought it was an appropriate subject,' said Rabbi Sofian. Dr. Golden said that, as people, we have the moral obligation to learn from and remember our past. Antisemitic incidents slow worldwide from post-Oct. 7 spike, but remain higher than before Gaza war 'I quote George Santayana, who is an American philosopher and historian, who said many years ago, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' We hope that by remembering and learning from this, we cannot repeat the horrors, the crimes against humanity that happened previously,' said Dr. Golden. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Annual Holocaust Commemoration to be held Sunday in Beckley
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Beckley's Temple Beth-El will host its' annual Holocaust Commemoration ceremony Sunday, April 27, 2025, at Carter Hall on WVU Tech's campus. Beckley Pride 2025 event cancelled The event will begin at one in the afternoon with music curated around the theme of 'common humanity.' That's according to Dr. Joseph Golden who is organizing the ceremony. He said following the music will be a reading of the story of Max Lewin, a local Holocaust survivor who inspired the ceremony thirty years ago by breaking his silence about his experiences. There will be several other readings, including 'And Then They Came for Me', a quote by German pastor Martin Niemoller. Rabbi David Sofian will address the attendees next, followed by a communal mourning prayer called the Kaddish. Finally, the event will be closed by the blowing of a ceremonial ram's horn, called a shofar. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
