On Sunday's Yom Hashoah observance day, people remembered and honored Holocaust victims at the Harrisburg JCC.
However, the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg started the event with a message of solidarity following the attacks at a California synagogue. Organizers said the tragic incident is an all too familiar experience just six months after the Pittsburg Synagogue shooting.
"This is an atrocity that keeps repeating itself," Jennifer Ross, President and CEO of the Harrisburg JCC, said. "It doesn't just impact our communities, and this has to stop. People need to feel safe in their places of worship, people need to feel safe in school, they need to feel safe everywhere. This hate has to stop, we are horrified."
Ross said not only is the Jewish community vulnerable to hate crimes, but also other houses of worship like the Christian communities in Sri Lanka, and Muslim communities in New Zealand.