Feelings of fear and helplessness gripped L.A.’s Jewish community after the deadliest attack in Israel in decades during what was supposed to be a weekend of celebration.
When Sharon Farber turned her phone back on after seeing a play with her daughter Saturday, frantic WhatsApp messages poured in from the other side of the world.
Her sister in Israel told her that she and other relatives were hiding in bomb shelters because the country was under attack. Terrified and unable to work or sleep, Farber spent the day and night on the phone, calling and texting family and friends, and scrolling through the news.
“Here, you’re so far away,” said Farber, a film composer and the music director for Beverly Hills Temple of the Arts. “There’s nothing you can do, except for lose your mind from worry.”
Those feelings of fear and helplessness were echoed by many Sunday in Los Angeles’ Jewish community, which was reeling from the deadliest attack in Israel in decades during what was supposed to be a holiday weekend of celebration.
By Sunday afternoon, more than 1,100 Israelis and Palestinians were reported dead as Israel mounted a relentless counterattack to the surprise assault by Hamas militants, raising the specter of a protracted war. Among the dead, Farber had learned, was the son of a longtime friend. With a death toll so large in an area so small, “you will know someone who’s no longer with us,” wounded or kidnapped, Farber said.
“The lack of power to do something to help is really hard,” she said.
The Los Angeles area, Mayor Karen Bass noted, is home to the second-largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Streets in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood would normally be shut down this weekend for parties in honor of Simchat Torah, the Jewish holiday marking the completion of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah. But this year, the mood was somber as police stepped up security in Jewish and Muslim communities alike.
“It will forever be a day of memorial and sadness,” said Rebecca Wizman, standing outside a Pico Boulevard synagogue. “It’s supposed to be the happiest day of the year.
