WINCHESTER, VA — As the world is learning more about the atrocities committed by the terrorist group Hamas on innocent people in Israel in the past week, faith leaders like Rabbi Aaron Stucker-Rozovsky must process their own grief and lead their congregations:
“I think we’re in mourning,” Stucker-Rozovsky said Friday on Panhandle Live on the Panhandle News Network.
His Beth El Congregation meets in Winchester, Virginia but draws faithful from the nearby Eastern Panhandle, as well. He said the tragic events serve as a reminder to his congregation to remain vigilant.
“In some respects this isn’t new. A lot of us grew up with relatives who survived the Holocaust or survived the pogroms in Eastern Europe,” Stucker-Rozovsky said.
Stucker-Rozovsky said the Jewish community has to put so much time and effort into security.
“It’s tiring. It’s exhausting. We’re really hurting. I can’t put it any other way,” he said.
As to what the broader community can do.
“Please reach out to your Jewish friends and neighbors, ask how they’re doing, ask what they need and give them a hug and pray for peace,” Stucker-Rozovsky said.
Despite the tragedy, Rabbi Stucker-Rozovsky said the Jewish people are resolute.
“The people of Israel live. We might be bloodied but we are not broken,” he said.
Rabbi Stucker-Rozovsky appeared on Panhandle Live on the Panhandle News Network. You can hear the podcast via the Panhandle News Network Spotify here.