People of various faiths pray for victims of Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting
Hundreds of people from various faiths took time in North Texas Sunday night to mourn the loss of life at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
"My heart and prayers go out to everything and everybody that everything that happened yesterday, but I will not live in fear because of it," said one parent, Fonya Mondell.
The day after the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue, the congregation of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas was determined to go on with its annual fall festival.
"In the face of darkness, in the face of death, doing what we are doing today is exactly what we should be doing. Celebrating life and doing so, in the light of a beautiful day. And saying we will not be scared into our homes, but we will come together as a community,” said Temple Emanu-El President Mike Sims.
The small and somber group in Downtown Dallas met to pray in their own respective religions. Tammy Greenberg Euble was one of the attendees.
"I'm Jewish and this really hits close to home and this needs to stop. People need to talk and not be aggressive," she said.
At Congregation Sherith Israel in Dallas, it was standing room only as hundreds of people of different faiths came together in prayer, song and religious solidarity. Rabi Andrew Paley refused to use the name of the man accused in the mass murders.
"Let me assure you, before he was Anti-Semitic, he hated blacks, Latino's Muslims and many, many others. If you see something. Say something,” he said.
Rabi Paley told the hundreds in attendance, his congregation is grateful for the support of area law enforcement.
"Within hours of news breaking from Pittsburgh, we reached out to the Richardson, Plano and Dallas and all departments and all sent extra patrols to synagogues during the Sabbath and area agencies."
Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall offered words of support as well.
"I want to wish you blessings, let you know that the Dallas Police Department supports you, we're here for you. We appreciate everything you do for this community and across the country. We stand with you and we will protect you,” she said.
"We firmly stand for the protection of all places of worship,” said Rev. Rachel Baughman of Oak Lawn United Methodist Church. "We hold accountable leaders who use divide and conquer strategies and inflammatory rhetoric and then take credit for being supportive of grieving communities affected by those who follow violent ideas to their end.”