SPOKANE, Wash – Rabbi Elizabeth Goldstein, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University, says she is grieving for her community, “we’re just in mourning, we’re in shock.”
Rabbi Goldstein says at the outset of the attacks, many didn’t understand the scope until now, “on Saturday, we didn’t even understand the atrocities. I think now that they’re like going through the rubble and they’re going through these places, and they’re finding these again like I just can’t even bring myself to say the words.”
She explained that since the attacks, it has been hard to stay present, “I sometimes forget that we’re in Spokane and that we’re really far away. Because we’re just so flooded, and my kids have friends, and they go to Jewish camp, and some other counselors are from Israel, and they’re being called up to fight.”
However, Rabbi Goldstein says her colleagues have rallied around the community, and their small gesture of support during a Catholic Mass left her at a loss for words, “I have a friend in the catholic ministry, and she lit a candle for us in math yesterday. I can’t tell you how meaningful that was. I work in a very catholic place, and that they took time out in their mass to lay the candle for the Jewish community. It was very powerful.
