SDJW staff report
Shotgun wielding Sean Ward, 29, of Quinte West wounded a police officer stationed outside The Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Canada, on Kol Nidre night. Constable Jeff Smith and another officer returned fire, seriously wounding Ward, the Associated Press reported.
Congregant Douglas Lobel said about two dozen of his fellow worshipers were in the synagogue and were uninjured. “The officer was a hero who saved our lives. If this officer wasn’t there, I don’t know what could have happened.” Following the shooting, the synagogue canceled its remaining services
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, Belleville Neil Ellis, and Belleville’s deputy police chief Sherri Meeks all expressed outrage, saying the Jewish community deserves to worship in peace.
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The executive director of the Holocaust exhibit, Remember Us the Holocaust (Ruth), Dr. Moises Salinas Fleitman, says his organization is grateful for the two-year donation of space in the Downtown Central Library “but we already know this will not be our final destination. Memory needs a permanent place where Holocaust history can be preserved, studied and passed from one generation to the next. Our goal is to make that permanent museum a reality.”
Meanwhile, there will be free admission to the exhibit, which opens Sept. 29, Times of San Diego reported.
Sandy Scheller, curator and creator of the exhibit said her late mother, Ruth Goldshmiedova Sax, expressed the wish that “when I die, either bury me in my mother’s (Erna’s) dress or make a museum. History must be preserved and told, never forgotten.”
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Compiled by the staff of San Diego Jewish World.