Hundreds gather at Midlands synagogue to remember Pittsburgh victims

COLUMBIA,SC (WOLO)- Hundreds, if not more than a thousand people came togehter at the Beth Shalom Synagogue to honor the 11 people killed in a place of worship more than 500 miles away.

“The people that came out tonight are hungry for some response to violence, anger, and prejudice,” Jonathan Case, Rabbi at Beth Shalom Synagogue said.

Supporters filled the synagogue to pray for action and healing after the Tree of Life Terror attack in Pittsburgh.

“We are angry and scared, but we can not give into that,” Wendy Bestmann, a member of Beth Shalom Synagogue said. “The most we can do is reach out to people in other faiths, to people of other differences and do something.”

“There’s been far too much of this,” Case said. “This is not an isolated incident. This is certainly the worst that has happened to us, but this is not isolated. There is too much polarization in America. That has to stop.”

The synagogue invited Jennifer Pinckney, who’s husband was killed in the Charleston Church Massacre, to light a candle before prayer.

People of different backgrounds and faiths came together as one in response to hate.

“How could we not be here,”  Wendy said. “We are as appalled as everyone in the Jewish community and any civilized person would be.”

“We have to talk about it now and do something now before it becomes something much bigger,” Ted Bestmann, a member of Beth Shalom Synagogue said.

In the aftermath of hatred, terror, and tragedy, people in the Midlands choose unity.

“Each one of us is thinking what am I not doing that I can do to make it better,” Wendy said. “One thing people can do is to vote.”

“This needs to be the beginning, not the end,” Case said. “The beginning of a fire of hope. Tearing down borders, tearing down hatred, and tearing down all of the things that seem to be defining us now. This is not America.”