Jewish nonprofit adviser: 'We stay on guard all the time'

The mass shooting in Jersey City has raised fears in the Jewish community, and many gathered in the Hudson Valley Thursday to talk security.

News 12 Staff

Dec 12, 2019, 10:19 PM

Updated 1,821 days ago

Share:

The mass shooting in Jersey City has raised fears in the Jewish community, and many gathered in the Hudson Valley Thursday to talk security.
Six people were killed, including a police officer and the shooters, in a tragedy officials initially seemed reluctant to call hate but now say was motivated by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement sentiments.
Debra Weiner is an adviser to the Westchester Jewish Council, a nonprofit that helps oversee dozens of Jewish groups. Weiner says they take notice when any acts of anti-Semitism occur.
"The whole entire Jewish world reacts. It's a pretty small community, whether we are 45 minutes away or across the world," says Weiner. "We stay on guard all the time because we want to protect ourselves, and it's very hard to protect yourself against blind hate."
Weiner says this is not the first time senseless violence like this has occurred and it won't be the last, but she is hoping people will learn that hating each other is not the answer.
"We're involved in bringing people together to get to know each other and diminish the hate. Once people to get to know each other, there's less of that," she says.