{"id":33712,"date":"2023-10-20T11:49:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33712"},"modified":"2023-10-26T19:47:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T23:47:02","slug":"chabad-aurora-rabbi-calls-for-united-voice-following-israel-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/chabad-aurora-rabbi-calls-for-united-voice-following-israel-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Chabad Aurora Rabbi calls for united voice following Israel attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cEvil doesn\u2019t know politics,\u201d but a united voice will make a world of difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So says Rabbi Yossi Hecht of Chabad Aurora in the face of the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the attacks on Israel on October 7, the single deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the local leader is calling on his counterparts on all levels of government to come together with a strong, united message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a big shock and it just reminds the world, and should remind everyone, that evil has reared its ugly head again and we need to stand very clearly,\u201d he says, noting that \u201cany decent moral leader\u201d needs to rise and condemn \u201cwith every fibre of their being\u2026the hate, the evil, the atrocities, the horrific, barbaric things that were done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvil knows no boundaries,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we stand strong and when we speak with moral clarity that this is evil and we stand with Israel\u2026unity brings strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a matter of stating the facts, he says, as \u201cto politicise things doesn\u2019t root out the problem\u201d but merely \u201ckicks it down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe events of October 7\u2026was a reminder to the world to put politics aside,\u201d he says. \u201cTogether, we need to fight this, together we need to eradicate this, and everyone will be able to do their part in making sure this does not raise its ugly head anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the attacks, there has been a heightened concern over rising anti-Semitism and hatred in York Region and around the world, not only among the Jewish community, but the community as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, York Regional Police announced they had set up a \u201ccommand post\u201d at Thornhill\u2019s Promenade Shopping Centre where officers were set to engage with citizens and discuss community concerns \u201cin light of calls for civic unrest globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYork Regional Police is actively monitoring the situation and has deployed police resources strategically,\u201d they said. \u201cOfficers have been assigned to additional patrols to increase police visibility around synagogues and mosques, additional faith-based locations and institutions, as well as community centres, faith-based educational facilities and other local gathering places. There is zero tolerance for incidents motivated by hate in our community. We will thoroughly investigate any reports of hate-motivated offences, incidents, or acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYork Regional Police continues to share an open dialogue with community and faith leaders. We understand and appreciate the feelings of conflict and pain in our community as events around the world continue to be felt here in York Region. We will continue to assess and reassess the impact that global events are having on our communities to ensure that York Regional Police meets the needs of its community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

York Regional Police urged citizens to report possible demonstrations and gatherings in the area via email at demonstrations@yrp.ca<\/a>, while encouraging emergencies to be reported via 9-1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locally, Rabbi Hecht has called for, in addition to a unified voice from our leaders, other visible signs of solidarity, including that men wear tefillin \u2013 small boxes with passages from the Torah included inside \u2013 as a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen a person puts that on and recites those scriptures, it brings a tremendous amount of blessing,\u201d he says. \u201cNon-Jews can continue to do this in kindness \u2013 when they see those around the world with them it will bring them strength that they are not alone in this fight. Government officials\u2026need to stand up and be clear. I know some politicians have contacted me and have reached out, some I haven\u2019t seen at all. They should stand up, speak clear and speak out. The moral leaders need to stand up and really proclaim the same very clearly and very decisively to clearly explain and say this is evil and we stand with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI speak to my local leaders, I speak to my provincial leaders, I speak to\u2026 those who serve in Ottawa and our communities, those who serve on a local level, because when people see our leaders are standing up and speaking with moral clarity, then that sends a very strong message and a very important message to our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land: that we\u2019re with them, we\u2019re here and we\u2019re going to stay with them and unite with them and we\u2019re going to be with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI often say this to people: if there is so much bad in the world and so much evil, that means there is so much good because often you will look at it as a balance. Let\u2019s focus on what we can do positively. First call out the evil for what it is [and now] with our positive actions and with the good deeds, we can counteract this evil because if there is that balance that means there\u2019s a tremendous amount of good energy we can tap into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is so much good we can tap into every day, every week: be there for another person, give to charity, pray. These are things that are at our disposal, things we can do as individual citizens and citizens of this great country of Canada, that will have an effect. We hope and pray this will bring us to better times, more happier times, more joyful times and the world will come to a time where we can live peacefully with our brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, the YRP will keep its command post operational until Monday, October 23, \u201cat least,\u201d operating between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remind our community that in coordination with our federal and provincial partners, York Regional Police has not identified a credible threat within the Region at this time. However, we are actively monitoring the situation and will continue to deploy police resources strategically, including additional patrols to increase police visibility around synagogues and mosques, additional faith-based locations and institutions, as well as community centres, faith-based educational facilities and other local gathering places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYork Regional Police continues to share an open dialogue with community and faith leaders. We understand and appreciate the feelings of conflict and pain in our community as events around the world continue to be felt here in York Region. We will continue to assess and reassess the impact that global events are having on our communities to ensure that we are meeting their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvil doesn\u2019t know politics,\u201d but a united voice will make a world of difference. So says Rabbi Yossi Hecht of Chabad Aurora in the face of the Israel-Hamas war. Following the attacks on Israel on October 7, the single deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the local leader is calling on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2023-10-20-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8LK","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 23:49:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}