MARYLAND MATTERS
MARCH 15, 2026
Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, was on the phone all morning Friday talking to reporters about the attack on a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, the day before.
He understands it’s part of the job, and he does it willingly. He just wishes the conversation continued, even after the outrage of the moment has passed and the cameras have moved on.
“There’s got to be a much more vibrant civic communication taking place among leaders, and it has to be ongoing,” Halber said. “It can’t just be that an incident happens, the media focuses attention on it, we talk about it, and it goes away, and then we wait for the next incident.”
Zainab Chaudry, director of the Maryland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreed.
“We as a state and we as a community have to come together and have the hard conversations on what is driving anger,” Chaudry said. “And the hatred and the pain that is fueling hate within our society.”
Their comments came after a driver struck the side of Temple Israel, before opening fire on the synagogue in Michigan on Thursday. The security team at the temple shot and killed the suspected shooter. One security guard was shot during the attack, but none of the children or staff who were inside the synagogue during the attack were hurt.
“We are deeply and humbly grateful to our teachers, staff, security, law enforcement and Shenandoah Country Club that welcomed us, fed us and sheltered our staff, teachers, children and parents,” Temple Israel said in a statement on its Facebook page after the attack.
Recent Comments