We woke Sunday morning with heavy hearts after learning of another mass shooting in our backyard.

As members of Haver, the Rabbinic Council of Boulder, we are enraged and deeply saddened by Saturday night’s shooting by a 22-year-old at an LBGTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. At least five people were killed, and 25 others were injured by gunfire. While this tragic incident has not been officially labeled a hate crime, we cannot ignore the fact that hate crimes are a serious public health concern, along with gun violence. In a recent study, Hate Free Colorado determined 30% of Colorado adults experienced a hate crime, though most of those crimes went unreported. According to the Gun Violence Archive, the most recent data for 2022 shows that Colorado has experienced 28 fatal shootings and 77 people injured as a result of gun violence, not including suicide.

We stand with our neighbors, mourning the senseless loss of life. We offer our prayers and support to the victims, their families, the two heroes who subdued the shooter, and the greater LGBTQ community. We honor our differences with the knowledge that only through diversity can we create a strong community woven from respect, compassion and justice.

Rabbi Hillel taught that just the thought of hating another human turns the hater into a murderer. It is important, as we sink to the depths of despair, that we attempt to rise to the height of hope for reform of the shooter and the environment in which his views and ideas were condoned.

Join us in our continued call for action against gun violence and the laws that make owning guns far too easy. Please consider making an end-of-year charitable contribution to organizations whose mission is to end gun violence, address hate crimes, or support the LBGTQ community like Out Boulder County and Keshet.

L’Shalom

Haver, the Rabbinic Council of Boulder:

Rabbi Deborah Bronstein, Rabbi Emerita Congregation Har HaShem
Rabbi Ori Har DiGenarro, Conscious Learning Community
Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Rabbi Emerita Congregation Nevei Kodesh
Morah Yehudis Fishman, Community Educator
Rabbi Ruth Gelfarb, Congregation Har HaShem
Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny, Community Rabbi
Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, Adventure Judaism
Rabbi Fred Greene, Congregation Har HaShem
Rabbi Jamie Korngold, Adventure Judaism
Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz, Shulchan.net
Rabbi Alan Shavit-Lonstein, Adventure Judaism
Rabbi Marc Soloway, Congregation Bonai Shalom
Rabbi Diane Tiferet Lakein, Community Rabbi