A crowd estimated at more than 1,200 gathered Monday evening outside the Jewish Community Center in Providence for a candlelight vigil to mourn the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Security was tight, with dozens of uniformed police officers flanking the stage and at crowd’s perimeter, the blue lights of police cruisers flashing.
Participants in the “Community-Wide Prayer and Action Vigil” included clergy from local churches and mosques as well as synagogues.
“If you look out into this crowd right now, I see people of all colors and faiths,” said Wendy Manchester Ibrahim, a Muslim wearing a pink hijab. “And if we can continue to come together and hold out the vision of good and love as opposed to hate, I hope we can change things.”
Gail Solomon, of Pawtucket, said what happened in Pittsburgh could have happened here.
“I mean they could have been people who I worship with at Temple Beth-El” in Providence, she said. “The people who stand at the door and greet you and hand out books, and it could have been any of us.”
“If we can continue to come together and hold out the vision of good and love as opposed to hate, I hope we can change things.”
Speaking before the crowd, The Rev. Donnie Anderson, who heads the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said that these shootings and vigils, sadly, have become routine.
“The reporting has become routine. My response here from this podium has become routine,” he said. “Unquestionably, as Americans we become frustrated by the platitudes of our political and community leaders who move forward and change nothing.”
And Anderson urged elected leaders to “be courageous” and pass “meaningful gun legislation.”
Gail Solomon, vice president of Temple Beth El, said this was her “first protest,” as she searched the crowd for familiar faces.
Solomon spotted Jodi L Glass and they hugged. Glass is coordinator of the Rhode Island Commission on Prejudice and Bias, which she described as one of the state’s best kept secrets.
“If this brings people together,” Solomon said, “they will not have died in vain.”
The vigil was organized by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island, representatives from the interfaith community. Participants included Governor Gina Raimondo and Rhode Island’s congressional delegation.
