P.E.I.'s Jewish community to hold vigil for victims of Pittsburgh shooting

P.E.I.'s Jewish community is hosting a vigil this Sunday afternoon for the victims of the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue a week ago. 

Last Saturday, a gunman stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 worshippers and injuring six during a 20-minute rampage. Rob Bowers has pleaded not guilty to 44 charges.  

"I was embarrassed that we hadn't planned anything, because Pittsburgh seemed very far away," said Leo Mednick, president of the Prince Edward Island Jewish Community — a neighbour had asked him if the community was having a gathering. 

"When you think of the life here on P.E.I. we just don't have that kind of thing happening."

All faiths welcome

Mednick has now arranged a vigil for Sunday at 3 p.m. in front of Founders Hall in Charlottetown. 

Author and academic Joseph Glass will speak, and Mednick will say a few words and offer some prayers. 

Christian ministers and some from P.E.I.'s Muslim community have expressed interest in participating too, Mednick said. Members of the public will also be invited to speak and everyone is welcome to attend.  

"It still strikes us, it still has an impact on us. I'm from an Orthodox background, I remember going into a synagogue on a Saturday morning, it's quiet and people are talking and praying. To think that somebody would come in with a gun and start shooting everybody up, it's just unbelievable," Mednick said. 

"You can't just sit back silently, because one day it could happen here." 

'Horrified but not surprised'

Ann Braithwaite, professor of diversity and social justice studies at UPEI, isn't Jewish but plans to attend the vigil and urges others to as well. 

"It's our responsibility for all of us to bear witness to that and go and stand in solidarity and support with people who are being targeted for religion or race or any other reason," Braithwaite said.

Braithwaite said she is "horrified but not surprised" at the anti-Semitism police allege the gunman expressed. Anti-Jewish sentiment has never gone away, but has lurked in the background, she said. 

"The culture and time we live in right now has entitled what used to be more hidden, more latent 'isms,' to come to the surface and find expression," she said. 

U.S. politics 'so angry'

"It's not unexpected," Mednick said. "Unfortunately, the United States is going through a period of time of tremendous tumult and anger. You can hear it in all the reports that are going on. 

"When you start having the politics get to be so angry, it's going to affect people, and people are going to take action," he said. 

While discourse in Canada tends to be more moderate, Mednick said, "You've got to be on guard for not letting it get to that level." 

A vigil will show the strength of the Jewish community here, he said, as well as showing support for Jewish summer residents who live in the U.S. It also allows Islanders to support one another and express their grief. 

P.E.I.'s Jewish Community

There are about 80 Jewish Islanders year-round plus more summer residents, said Mednick. He believes no P.E.I. Jews have connections to those killed in Pittsburgh. 

Community members gather in one another's homes to celebrate holidays including Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah. There is no synagogue on P.E.I.

"We try and stay together to have Jewish food and to enjoy each other's company," Mednick said. 

Only a handful of the group are born-and-bred Islanders, Mednick said — the rest have moved here, many including him having married Islanders. 

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