Items of love left at Temple Israel’s front doorstep

SEAN MCDONNELL

Rabbi Josh Brown was the first person to show up Oct. 28 at Temple Israel in Bath Township the morning after the events in Pittsburgh. When he arrived, he was surprised to see the words, ‘You are loved’ written in chalk on the doorstep. When he went to open the door, a card fell out, with words of support from the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent.

“This didn’t happen at our congregation and yet our friends knew how deeply it would affect us,” Brown said. “I think that’s incredible that we have our friends in our community close enough to know what it feels like when our heart is breaking.”

While the card was signed by ISAK, the organization said they do not know who left the words written in chalk.

“They are not taking credit for the chalk,” said Jim Levin, president of Temple Israel. “We don’t know who did it. They don’t know who did it.”

Levin said the temple and ISAK have developed a strong relationship over the last four years. It started with a friendship between former president Ron Winer and Dr. Gulam Mir, the outreach coordinator at ISAK. He said the two have been friends for a long time and they used that friendship to build a bond between the communities.

“Rather than breaking bread with each other as individuals or with their wives, they made it into something for our congregation and it has been lovely,” Levin said.

Levin said whether the support comes from their friends at ISAK or from people they don’t know, the message is the same.

“It’s just love thy neighbor and support thy neighbor,” Levin said. “We’re assuming now that it is somebody else and we love that person, even though we don’t know their name.”

The two kind gestures, the card and the words written in chalk, reminded the rabbi and the congregation they had the support of the community.

“That’s where our hope comes from now,” Brown said. “We are not alone in this and we have people who we don’t even know who are feeling the pain as we’re feeling it. I think it also reminds us that we need to do the same.”