Kol Ami News

The culmination of Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, is ordinarily a joyous occasion for Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami.

But this year, in light of the large-scale terrorist attack by the militant group Hamas on Israel on Saturday, the mood at Sunday morning’s service was solemn.

“This year, because of what happened in Israel, it was already a more somber occasion, less festive than usual. We didn’t feel like celebrating with what occurred. And then this threat came in during the service,” said Rabbi Samuel Spector, referring to an anonymous bomb threat he received by email Sunday morning that forced an evacuation.

The threat was a hoax but it compounded the anguish of Kol Ami’s congregation, already mourning the mass loss of life in Israel resulting from the terrorist attack waged by air, sea and on land. According to The New York Times, some 900 Israelis have been killed, while the Israeli Government Press Office said Monday more than 2,600 have been wounded since the start of the assault on Saturday on its social media pages. Another 150 people have been taken hostage.

“Terrorism is nothing new to Israel, but we’ve never seen anything of this magnitude. While 3,000 people died on 9/11, more than 700 died from the events that took place on Saturday. If you were to look at what Israel’s population is, compared to the United States. proportionally, that would be the equivalent of 24,000 people in America being killed,” said Rabbi Spector.

“So this really is for Israelis, a day that will live in infamy, and their equivalent of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor,” he said.

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