Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Here’s How You Can Help Chabad Of Poway

Updated May 6

After the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue, which killed one person and injured three more, people from around the world expressed their condolences to the shaken community. Many have been asking how they can help.

The synagogue itself, in cooperation with the global Chabad-Lubavitch movement, has set up a fundraiser that will last until Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Many of the donors have given in multiples of 18, a number that in Hebrew numerology means “life.” But some have been much more generous, including one $10,000 giver.

Chabad has also urged Jewish men to wrap tfillin and women to light Shabbat candles. “Cold-blooded, fanatical, baseless, relentless hatred can be uprooted from its core only by saturating our world with pure, undiscriminating, uninhibited, unyielding love and acts of kindness, and by teaching that to all our children, in our schools and our homes,” Chabad.org said in a statement on its website.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, the leader of Chabad of Poway who lost his finger in the attack, made similar comments in a video filmed in the hospital. “I’m encouraging and I’m pleading with every single Jew that sees this appeal: This weekend, go to your own respective synagogues. Fill up the ballrooms, fill up the sanctuaries. Let them see that nothing will take us down.”

Another fundraiser on GoFundMe has raised over $90,000 in its first day. It was set up by a 15-year-old who had never been to Poway but started the campaign as soon as he heard of the attack because “I thought it was important to get it up and running as soon as possible.”

The Jewish Federation of San Diego County and Jewish Community Foundation San Diego have also [set up a fund], with proceeds “prioritized to address those directly injured and impacted by the shooting. Additional funds will be used to support ongoing efforts to help the community heal from and feel safe despite these unspeakable acts.”

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version