People gathered at a West Hartford synagogue for a solemn occasion and security was more top of mind after recent events.
Police were on watch as hundreds headed to an event at the Beth El Temple in West Hartford on Sunday.
“People are concerned about security. We do take that very seriously,” Rabbi James Rosen, Beth El Temple, said. “At the same time we go about our business and our business is to deepen ourselves with our values, with our worship, with our ethics and making sure we live full and complete and good lives.”
People attended a Holocaust remembrance event at the synagogue on Sunday.
They honored the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and they paid tribute to those who survived.
Among the survivors was Ernest Gelb, who conveyed several messages to the crowd.
“People are good but it is possible for most civilized people to be cruel. I don’t know how or why,” Gelb said.
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Avinoam Patt is a professor of modern Jewish history at the University of Hartford.
“We still have an obligation to remember and try to work together to make the world a better place, to prevent the evil that is amongst us, to stand up against hate speech, to welcome a stranger, to be kind to others,” Patt said.
More Holocaust commemoration events are planned across the state later this week.
