Israel attacks hit close to home for Sask. Jewish community

While Israel may be thousands of miles away from Saskatchewan, the attacks on that country by Hamas are hitting very close to home for many.

Saskatchewan is home to more than 1,000 people who identify as members of the Jewish community.

Raphael Kats is the rabbi at the Chabad Jewish Centre. Kats said he and several other Jewish community members didn’t find out about the attacks until Sunday, as they were observing a holiday which required celebrants to go without technology for a period which lasted from last Friday late until late Sunday.

“It’s one of the most joyous holidays on the calendar, and as Orthodox Jews, we disconnect from technology. I was not able to hear the news or see anything on social media. I was hearing about it from people coming into services at the synagogue,” Kats explained.

When he went back on to social media after the holiday, he said he was shocked to see what had occurred over the weekend.

Kats explained what many Jewish people in Saskatchewan are currently feeling.

“We were horrified at the images and videos coming from Israel,” he said.

“This is absolutely atrocious. It’s horrifying, and it should make everybody’s hair stand on end. This is not a war with the Palestinian people; this is a war with Hamas. This is a terrorist organization that has in its charter as its goal to kill every Jewish man, women and child. We feel like it’s an attack not just on the Jews in Israel, but on the Jewish community worldwide.”

According to Kats, while a large portion of the Jewish people from Saskatchewan are native to the province, many have connections or know somebody who has been impacted by the attacks in Israel.

“We either know people who were kidnapped, killed or are injured,” Kats said.

“There was somebody who worked with the Jewish community in Saskatoon in 2018, and he was killed, so it hits pretty close to home.”

Kevin Sharfe is president of Congregation Agudas Israel Jewish Community Centre in Saskatoon.

“What I’ve been seeing is hard to watch,” Sharfe said. “It’s terrifying, it’s tragic, and the acts of Hamas are unimaginable.”

Sharfe said there is a lot of fear and sorrow in the community at the moment.

“Our Jewish community is grieving and they’re scared. Many of us have family and friends in Israel. I’ve spoken to as many people (over there) as I can, and they’re scared,” he explained.

“We can’t overstate the inhumane acts done by Hamas to the Israeli citizens and how it effects every single citizen of Israel and every person who has a connection to Israel.”

Sharfe added that he has nieces and nephews whose friends have been kidnapped, murdered or are missing.

Both men asked people at home to keep the Jewish community in their thoughts and give them words of support.

Kats noted that Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark reached out to him to give the Jewish community his support. Clark also lowered the flags at city hall to half mast to commemorate those who were lost.