Jews in Colorado ‘Shaken and Frightened’ After Slaughter at Supermarket

The Jewish community in Boulder, Colo., is on high-alert following a mass shooting at a supermarket outside of Denver on Monday that left 10 people dead and those in the surrounding neighborhoods “shaken and frightened.”

The area’s Jewish community is holding vigils and other events at their synagogues, according to JNS, a Jewish news wire service. Local spiritual leaders have said in various social media postings that the violence has put the community on edge just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to subside.

“Friends, I am sure we are all so shaken and frightened by how close today’s horrible shooting was to us,” Rabbi Marc Soloway, leader of Boulder’s Congregation Bonai Shalom, posted on Facebook. “A store that so many of us have been in multiple times. While we wait with terror and sadness to learn more about the victims, I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are safe.”

Boulder’s Jewish Community Center held a vigil Tuesday evening to help the community grieve and remember the victims of the shooting at King Soopers supermarket. The killer has been identified by authorities as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. The JCC, in a community statement issued after the attack, said Jewish residents “are shaken to our core, and we mourn the loss of life.”

King Soopers sports a wide variety of kosher goods and supplies for the area’s devout Jewish community and includes on its website a detailed description of services catered to the kosher consumer.

Rabbi Fred Greene, leader of Congregation Har Ha-Shem, also in Boulder, said on Facebook that his synagogue services are attended by those who live in the neighborhood where the shooter went on a rampage.

“I know that we are feeling shock, fear, anger and so much more. I am sorry that as people were beginning to feel hopeful for [coronavirus] vaccines and a new beginning, another act of violence has shaken our community,” Greene wrote. “We are thinking of you who go to that area to shop. We are praying for the healing of those who are experiencing fear and trauma.”

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