LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Lexington jewish community came together at an event on Sunday night to stand with Israel.
The Hamas terror attack on Israel and the war that has followed has kept many in the jewish community up at night. In Lexington, their ability to process that grief has been made more challenging by how few jewish people live in the Bluegrass.
“The Jewish community feels really alone,” said Shelia Jelen, the director of Jewish Studies at the University of Kentucky. She spoke at the event.
That feeling made the event, attended by about 200 at Lexington’s Temple Adath Israel, all the more important.
“The Lexington community will never waiver from our commitment to the people of Israel,” said Mindy Haas, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass, which organized the event.
The community prayed for the fallen, for those fighting, and peace.
“This event was very good for me emotionally to gather with our community and share in our grief and our pain,” said Hal Forbess.
Jelen was the featured speaker. She said she does not want anyone to suffer.
“This is not just a two-sided issue; it's a question of humanity, it's a question of compassion, this is a question of patience,” Jelen said.
Her love for Israel is for its people, which she noted includes a Palestinian colleague whose relatives in Gaza were killed in a bombing.
She shared the experience of a friend whose son had been taken hostage by Hamas. The story brought some in the crowd to tears.
“Sheila’s story may leave me with another night of no sleep,” Haas said.
The images of children suffering have been especially difficult, she said.
Hamas wants to erase Israel and jews from this earth - it’s something they won’t succeed in, Haas said.
“As we gather, mourn, cry, pray, and remember, let us also affirm that we will not be silenced,” Haas said.
If anything, she said, it will make the jewish people stronger.
