08/15/2026
Last night, as Shabbat descended and our brothers and sisters at Central Synagogue gathered in prayer, at Central Synagogue, a place meant for peace, song, and connection to the Divine, became the scene of a violent, hate-fueled assault. This was not a random act. It is an antisemitic attack on Jews at prayer, in the heart of New York City.
As a rabbi in this city, my heart and my prayers are with the entire Central Synagogue community, with the woman who was struck and is recovering, with the security team who put their own safety on the line, with the clergy who now must comfort a congregation shaken in its own sanctuary, and with every congregant who was in that room and will carry this fear with them. To the clergy of Central Synagogue: you did not choose this burden, and yet you carry it with grace.
Let me be unequivocal: violence against Jews at prayer, or against any person at prayer, of any faith, is unacceptable. Not here. Not anywhere. Not under any circumstance, and not for any reason offered after the fact. A synagogue, a church, a mosque, a temple: these are places set apart precisely so that people can seek G-d without fear. When that boundary is violated, something sacred in our entire society is violated with it.
This attack falls at the very start of the Hebrew month of Elul, the month in which we are commanded to begin the work of cheshbon hanefesh, an honest accounting of the soul, in preparation for the Days of Awe. Elul asks each of us, individually, to look inward: where have I fallen short? Where must I do better? It is tempting, in the aftermath of an attack like this, to direct all of our attention outward, toward condemnation, toward security, toward demanding accountability from others. All of that is necessary. But Elul also asks something harder of us: that this moment become an occasion not only for outrage, but for reflection, as a Jewish community, and as a broader society. What has allowed antisemitism to rise again to the point where a Shabbat service is not safe? What have we tolerated, normalized, or looked away from that brought us to this Friday night? Elul does not let us answer that question only with fingers pointed outward. It asks us to look at our own house, too, even as we do not excuse or minimize what was done to us.
This week we read Parashat Shoftim, and its opening words could not feel more urgent tonight: “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” “Justice, justice shall you pursue”. Our tradition does not command us merely to desire justice, or to hope for it. We are commanded to pursue it: actively, relentlessly, as something that must be chased down rather than passively awaited.
Shoftim also commands us to appoint judges and officers “in all your gates”, leaders charged with governing the community with fairness and courage. That verse speaks directly to this moment. We need our elected officials, our police leadership, and our courts to pursue justice for what happened at Central Synagogue with the same seriousness Torah demands full accountability for this act, and a genuine commitment to the safety of every synagogue, day school, and Jewish institution in this city.
To my fellow clergy of every faith in this city this cannot be a Jewish problem that only Jews are asked to solve. An attack on a synagogue during prayer is an attack on the basic premise that New Yorkers of every religion can worship freely and safely. Interfaith leaders, elected officials, and neighbors of every background should stand with the Jewish community, not only in statements, but in sustained attention and action.
To the Jewish community of New York, we have faced difficult moments before, and we have always met them by turning toward one another rather than away. Show up for a neighbor’s shul. Reach out to someone who was there last night. Let this Shabbat’s fear be answered, in time, with the very thing it was meant to interrupt: a sanctuary full of song.
May G-d grant a refuah shleimah, a complete healing, to the woman who was injured and to the security guard who was assaulted while protecting his community. May the clergy and congregants of Central Synagogue find comfort among their community and the wider Jewish people. May our leaders find the courage that Shoftim demands of them: to pursue justice fully, without hesitation. And as we enter Elul, may this pain be transformed into resolve: to look honestly at what surrounds us, to strengthen our communities, and to walk into the new year, please G-d, with more security, more unity, and more peace than we carry into it.
🖼️: joannefinkjudaica
