The Jewish Community Relations Bureau (JCRB), and our partners in the Muslim Jewish Advisory Council (MJAC), are horrified by the attacks on Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. At least 49 people were murdered and at least 48 seriously injured when coordinated attackers opened fire during Friday morning prayers. Friday is the Muslim holy day.
To our Muslim brothers and sisters: the Jewish community shares in your sorrow and your sense of security shattered. We are grieving with you for the lives so unjustly taken today simply because they were Muslim.
The Jewish community stands shoulder to shoulder with the Muslim community against Islamophobia, and all forms of hatred. We stand together for coexistence and unity, towards a future in which no one is targeted by this devastating hatred.
MJAC, which JCRB helps to convene, is asking law enforcement to increase their patrols and support to our local Muslim communities, specifically during JUMMAH prayers today.
Rabbi Doug Alpert, President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, offered the following words of prayer:
“On this day of horrific tragedy for our Muslim brothers and sisters we pray, pray as the victims in New Zealand were praying with their family and community:
We pray that the voices of compassion and mercy, kindness and love will prevail;
We pray that the plague of baseless hatred, violence and demonization of the other will be swept away for good and for always;
We pray that our leaders will be leaders for love and justice, and give their full-throated opposition to those who foster division and violence;
We pray that Islamophobia and all phobias of hatred will be eradicated;
We pray all will come to understand that, in the words of our Torah, we are all created בצלם אלוהים - we are all created in G-d’s image.
As our mourners have been comforted in the past, may our Muslim brothers and sisters be comforted in the days to come.
Kein Y’Hi Ratzon כן יהי רצון May that be G-d’s Will.”
Donate to the New Zealand Islamophobic Attack Emergency Relief Fund
