As you are no doubt already sadly aware that on October 27, a gunman shouting “All Jews must die!,” opened fire on a Jewish congregation gathered to celebrate Shabbat at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Media are reporting eleven people dead, multiple more injured, in a scene of carnage being described as “horrific.” Let’s pray for the families and the survivors.

We, the members of the World Jewish-Adventist Friendship Center, wish to convey our sincerest condolences and deep sorrow to the family members, relatives and friends of the Jewish Community of Pittsburgh along with the law enforcement officers who paid the highest price while in the line of duty. We deeply regret that words are so inadequate to bring comfort and healing to broken hearts and wounded communities. And we deplore that words have so much power to incite such acts as violence and hate.

We are against every form of and all ethnic and anti-Semitic hate speech, attacks and/or violence.

We believe that all attacks on and in places of worship are outrages against conscience, faith, humanity and God Himself.

We stand firmly in solidarity with all who do not condone the acts of violence perpetrated upon all the victims in the horrific shootings on October 27, 2018, and we affirm our belief that our world needs more bridge-builders and fewer dividing walls between our communities.

In these troubling times we pray that God, the Creator of all mankind; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob heal our wounded hearts and comfort the broken in spirit. We pray for the Pittsburgh community, in particular the Tree of Life Synagogue community. We pray the Shalom of the Almighty be upon you during this difficult time.

Antisemitism is growing everywhere in the world. Just in the United States of American, 1,986 Anti-Semitic acts have been recorded during the year 2017, when we compare this number to 2016 we see a growth of 57%.

We cannot accept any violation of religious liberty and violence against any religious group. As for the World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center, working to promote friendship and understanding with our Jewish brethren is terrified by this horrific shooting, which is not 
acceptable at all.

We call each Seventh-day Adventist in the world to stand firm against Antisemitism and to promote love. Antisemitism is a crime against humanity and a sin against God. The Hebrew Bible as well as the teaching of Yeshua invite us to love: “Hear O Israel, the L-RD our G-d, the L-RD is one. Love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And “love your neighbor as yourself. I am Hashem.” 
(Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:29-31)