San Diego rabbi reflects on Australia attack

S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. San Diego County is increasing security after a deadly anti-Semitic attack overseas. We'll hear reflections from a local rabbi. This is KPBS Midday Edition connecting our communities through conversation. At least 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia when two gunman opened fire yesterday. Among those killed in the attack was the nephew of Rabbi Emeritus Israel Goldstein , who was wounded along with two others in the in the Chabad of Poway attack back in 2019. One congregant was actually killed in that shooting. The terror of Australia's recent attack hits close to home , and I'm joined now by Rabbi You rule him as I'll fort. He is the director of Chabad at La Costa and coastal Chabad in Carlsbad. Rabbi , I'll fort welcome to the show.

S2: Thank you so much for having me.

S1: Glad to have you here. You know , this is a very tragic time for the Jewish community in Australia and around the world.

S2: Um , unvarnished. Let's say I woke up yesterday morning all excited. Um , Hanukkah , you know , is a very joyous , uh , holiday for the Jewish people. And I will tell you , beyond just being joyous for the Jewish people , I view it as one of the more universal Jewish holidays , um , because it's symbolized by the menorah. We light the candles on the menorah , and we Specifically do it publicly. We do it near our windows or doors , or like the celebration that was going on in Australia in a public gathering , um , to share light with the world , to try and bring the benefit of light. Light representing goodness and godliness and warmth and energy to the whole world. And so when that's what your mindset is , and then you read about this , uh , attack , this terrible attack , um , it feels like you got punched in the gut. And that's what I felt like. And , um , we immediately started trying to check on people that we know in that area because it's a it's a small world , and we all know each other and we all know someone and , uh , somewhere. And for example , we found out that my wife's cousin was actually at the event. So , um , so happens , by the way , one of the rabbis who was murdered , uh , Rabbi Schlesinger , uh , his brother is a colleague of mine who I'm friendly with. He's the Chabad rabbi in Bakersfield. You know , a few hours up the freeway. And I know him. He knows me. We've chatted many times , and he's a great , wonderful guy. And all I do is immediately my heart goes out for him. And I can picture myself being that Chabad rabbi and my family being shot at. And so it's very sobering. And right when you're in celebration mode to have this happen , I have to tell you is , uh , it's difficult and , uh , it's hard as a rabbi. Maybe it's twice as hard. And I'll tell you why. I view it's my job to try and light those lights and whether they are physical lights that I'm lighting or emotional and spiritual lights in my congregants and my community and my friends and family. Um , so they turned to me , uh , for strength and inspiration in these difficult times , so I almost don't have time to mourn. I. I have to do my put on my public face , my public persona , in fact , on my way , waiting actually for this call and this interview , one of my very dear friends. Great , great , uh , friend who's a very important part of my community. And someone called me up and he said , Rabbi , I'm just I'm stuck. After this shooting , I was supposed to have a celebration party last night for the holiday. And he says , this has affected me so deeply. What do I do ? So I have to put aside my own mourning in a way , and to try and bolster his spirits and pick him up and tell him. So I want to share with you if it's okay what I told him , please. What I said is , um , I'll for it. Speaking of myself , so I have different component parts to my personality , like most people I know , and one of those parts is stubbornness. I can be stubborn , and what I'm going to try and do is being very mindful of my brothers and sisters in Australia and the , the , the community there and what they're going through. But at the same time , I'm going to try and put on my stubbornness hat. I believe that this attack is attack , by the way , not only on that local community , uh , not only on the Jewish people. I think it's an attack on Western civilization. The idea of of trying to serve God. Uh , how we choose to serve God. Um , I think they're trying to diminish our footprint in the world. And so therefore , my mind tells me the stubborn part of myself , the spiteful part of me. I've got a soldier on. I've got to double down. I cannot allow the terrorists to win. I can't afford , we can't afford Western civilization. Cannot afford to run and hide from these people. We can't go crawling under the rocks or putting an umbrella over our head , or climbing under our beds and trembling in fear. I think that the proper response to darkness , which I think all reasonable people would agree this is darkness , is to add light. So I'm going to be thinking with my team , and we've already started discussions how we can increase our Hanukkah observances , our public Hanukkah observances , and other things that we can do to bring more goodness and kindness , more light into the world. This is a a wake up call. Not that we were asleep at the wheel , by the way. Right. We weren't right. Um , and I'm sure you're going to ask me , and rightfully so , about security , which , believe me , every day I wake up.

S1: Well , wait , let me ask you. Okay.

S2: Okay. God.

S1: Because before I get to that , you know , I want to go back to something that you said because you mentioned that your wife had a cousin who was in Sydney at Bondi Beach during the attack. It's just a reminder that there are no degrees of separation here when these , um , you know , when hate happens here.

S2: And yeah , I take it very personally. We take it very , very personally. And , um , so I will tell you what we know about her experience. She is a young mother. She was there at the lighting , which was a huge lighting with a large police presence , by the way , um , which is a different subject for a different day. And , uh , there with her , her infant , uh , with her , her baby daughter. When she they were going to be lighting the giant menorah and the shots go off , she thought it was part of the show. She thought it was part of the production. Oh , their fireworks. And then she. Someone screams , get down and run ! Duck and run. Duck and run. So she picks up her baby out of the stroller and just starts running as fast as she could , in the direction where people seem to be running towards and away from the loud boom boom. Um , thank God she got out safely. But she left behind her stroller , her phone , her car keys , her purse. Everything was left behind. So a , uh , kind person , uh , lent her her phone so she could call her husband. Um , who then called his father to go pick her up. They made a meeting place. She was picked up many , many hours later. She was able to go back into the area to look for her stuff. So , um , I think she's right now a little bit numb. Um , you know , a little bit shaky. More for the her daughter , the baby , than for herself. But this is a life changing event. This will stay with her the rest of her life. These things leave a mark. And , uh , not only on her as an individual , but on the community and collectively on on world jewelry. And , um , I believe our friends who aren't Jewish but who shudder at this type of terrible evil that's in the world. So that's that's the personal side of the story. We have not spoken to her directly , but this is what the , you know , through the family WhatsApp. And these days everyone's so well connected. So that's what's what's circulating right now. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Well , I'm glad that even though you haven't spoken to her directly , that you were able to to at least indirectly find out what happened , and you know that she is all right. You know , in response to this , this attack , San Diego law enforcement has said it's going to ramp up its security measures during this time. Todd Gloria also reaffirmed his commitment to do to do this.

S2: Really appreciate it. I also wanted to mention from the assessor's office , I happen to be personal friends with , uh , Jordan Marx , who's Jewish. He's actually a member of my congregation. But he reached out to me and he said , Rabbi , you know , what can we do ? So we we he he contacted the sheriff's department and I know locally for us. You asked about Carlsbad. So the chief of police has been fantastic. Reached out to us. What can we do ? You know , they they've I view them as the angel on our shoulders , always very responsive to us , uh , supportive of us just keeping their eye on us. And we really appreciate it. And now they're going to , you know , we're going to have enhanced. We always let the police department know we stay in close communication , uh , with them because they've asked us to and because we know it's good security sense to do such things. Mhm. Um , so they know what we're doing at any given time. Um , so there's going to be enhanced police presence. Uh , we take security. The safety of my community is the number one thing I think about the physical safety. Um , so we spend every day thinking about our security measures , how to enhance them , and without going into detail into exactly what we do , I will tell you it's a very sophisticated plan and and measures that we have in place all of the time. Well , times like this , when we're out publicly , more like we're going to be doing events. Yeah. In the public eye. Mhm. Uh there's more. You'll see it. I mean we'll have guards and we have our internal , uh people and we'll have the police. Thank goodness. So we're very sensitive to this. Here's an interesting balance. We have to walk. Mhm.

S1: Mhm.

S2: We want the people to know and feel that they're safe. Okay. And we know that that's a priority as it should be. It's a priority for us and it's a priority for them. We also don't want them feeling like they're walking into a prison. Mhm. Do you understand what I'm saying. I want them to feel like this is supposed to be fun and uplifting. Not like , uh , you know , like these days , going through security at the airport can be a little bit unnerving. You know , take off your shoes , take off your belt. Mhm. Uh , get rid of any liquids you have. So we're very sensitive to the security and we're also very sensitive to the , the feelings of the community that a they should be secure but be , they should feel and understand they're going into a happy celebratory situation. Right.

S1: Right. Well , and earlier you spoke about shining light on darkness. So you know , in the last 30s we have here. Um , how else do you encourage people to find support and strength during this time ? Wow.

S2: Boy , that's a beautiful question. Are you sure ? Three minutes , 30 minutes. Three hours. 20.

S3: 20. You know. Okay.

S2: Connect with the community. That's number one. Being together uplifts all of us. It is really a powerful dynamic that you unleash just by joining with others who are caring , lovely , good people. That's number one. Number two is or maybe I should say number one is realizing you're asking a rabbi. So I'm giving you a rabbinic answer. There is a commander in chief in this world called God. God is good. Okay. Focusing on God , remembering that God is with us and focusing on that relationship , uh , is very , very helpful to find peace of mind and peacefulness internally , externally and so on. And if we feel there's a lack of that in the world right now. So do something about it. Light the light. Don't just be cursing the darkness that doesn't make darkness go away. You know what ? Make darkness. What makes darkness go away is light. Light wins that argument every single time.

S1: I've been speaking with Rabbi Yaron I'll Forde , director of Chabad at La Costa and coastal Chabad in Carlsbad. Rabbi I'll Ford , thank you so very much.

S2: Thank you so much for having me. And I appreciate you reaching out to the Jewish community greatly. God bless you for that. Thank you so much.

S1: That's our show for today.

S4: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.