There's an old Jewish teaching, Rabbi Avraham Lapine told a crowd before him on Sunday, that says there are three things the Jewish people do when tragedy strikes: "We cry, we pray, and we sing."
"Every single soul, 'neshamah,' in this world has a special song. This song, only that soul could sing," Lapine said. "And unfortunately, when someone’s life is cut short, the song is interrupted. The song is stopped in the middle, in the middle of a beautiful melody that soul is singing to the world. It is our responsibility to make sure to keep that melody going."
It was in song, prayer and personal reflection that Columbia's Jewish community remembered the lives lost in Saturday's shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Around 200 people, young and old, gathered in Peace Park for a vigil Sunday evening to mourn the 11 congregants shot and killed during Shabbat services.
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