Over a Thousand Gather in Santa Barbara Synagogue to Mourn Pittsburgh Victims

Joining vigils across the country, more than 1,000 people crowded the Congregation B’nai B’rith synagogue Tuesday to commemorate the lives that were lost at the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting over the weekend. The evening included moments of song, laughter, prayer, and silence as faith-based and other community leaders condemned the surge of anti-Semitic violence across the country and celebrated the persistence of joy and optimism among the community despite it.

Among the members who attended the ceremony were those with family who died in the Pittsburgh shooting. One of them was local resident Lorne Fienberg, who lost her sister-in-law, 75-year-old Joyce Fienberg. “We need to remember that there is hate in this world, there is ignorance in this world, and there is fear in this world,” said State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson. “We must do better, and it is by coming together on our shared humanity that we will do so.”

Congressmember Salud Carbajal expressed his concern about the deep divisions in the county that were exposed during the 2016 election. “I refuse to believe that we are a nation of hate and intolerance; there is more that unites us than divides us.”