Hillel to host prayer vigil to commemorate Pittsburgh victims

Colin Boyle/Daily Senior Staffer

Michael Simon, executive director of Northwestern Hillel, speaks at a prayer vigil at Beth Emet the Free Synagogue on October 28, 2018. Northwestern Hillel will host prayer vigil to commemorate Pittsburgh victims Monday night.

Alan Perez, Campus Editor

Northwestern Hillel will host a vigil tonight to honor and pray for the victims of Saturday’s shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The event, open to the entire Northwestern community, will start at The Rock at 8:30 p.m. The vigil is a day after Evanston’s Beth Emet The Free Synagogue hosted its own prayer vigil.

Eleven people were killed over the weekend when a man, shouting anti-Semitic slurs, opened fire at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Federal officials charged the shooter with 29 criminal counts.

The rampage rattled the nation’s Jewish community. In response to the news Saturday, Northwestern Hillel said it has a “deep concern” for security amid a rise of anti-Semitism and a “broader worry for all individuals and communities targeted by hate and fear.”

“But we are also sending hope and optimism that love will prevail, that our Jewish community and the broader Jewish community will be resilient in the face of fear, and that our bonds of concern and compassion will provide the light that prevails over darkness,” the group said in a Facebook post.

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