On Wednesday evening, members of Nanaimo’s Jewish community packed the small synagogue in Rabbi Bentzi Shemtov’s home in north Nanaimo for a “Solidarity and prayer for Israel” service.

The service was held in the wake of an attack by Hamas into southern Israel that killed over 1,300 Israelis, including 258 soldiers, and scores of citizens from other countries. This attack also injured over 2,800 people in Israel with 150 taken hostage.

As of Thursday, two Canadians are confirmed to have been killed in the attack, with a third presumed dead according to Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly. At least three Canadians are missing and Joly would not say if they are among the hostages taken by Hamas.

Israel estimates its armed forces killed 1,500 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad inside of Israel.

The Palestine Ministry of Health says that 1,537 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since Oct. 7, including 500 children, and 6,612 have been injured.

Rabbi Shemtov spoke with CHLY after the service about the impact of the attack on Nanaimo’s Jewish community.

“This was a slaughter, a pogrom. We can't believe that it actually happened,” he said. “We know why it happened, it’s nothing to do with anyone wanting the land of Israel, these are people who are thirsty for Jewish blood” he said. “And that's why it hurts us, because they know they would want our blood too.”

Shemtov said that he has received messages of condolences and support from people in Nanaimo who aren’t Jewish.

“I was very touched because many, many people from the community reached out to me, sent condolences and support,” he said.

Tamara Kronis is a member of Nanaimo’s Jewish community and ran for the Conservative Party of Canada in Nanaimo — Ladysmith in the 2021 election. She has a brother-in-lqw who lives in Tel Aviv with his two children, and his brother is currently serving in the Israeli Defence Force.

“It's so difficult, because we know that there's more fighting ahead, we know that there's dark days ahead, and we know that there's going to be more pain,” she said. “The only thing we can do is gather our strength, gather in communities, hug and tell each other how much we care about each other as we just face unspeakable terror and an organization that seems intent on destroying everything that we hold dear.”

Rabbi Shemtov says that the attack by Hamas has united Israelis across the political spectrum, and now isn’t the time to blame the Israeli government for what has been called an unprecedented security and intelligence failure.

“When you start blaming it on other people or other things, government, bad mistakes, whatever else it is, you're taking away the focus on the real problem.” he said. “And the real problem is Hamas. They don't have any human decency. They're pure evil, and all they want to see is blood dripping in the streets.”

As casualties in Gaza continue to climb, and Israel has warned over one million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south in anticipation of a ground operation, Rabbi Shemtov says his heart breaks for the civilians in Gaza. CHLY spoke with him over the phone on Friday.

“It breaks my heart that so many people are dying. It's unfathomable the pain that they're going through, innocent civilians who have nowhere to run,” he said in a phone call to CHLY on Friday.

Shemtov says that he would like to see peace for the people of Israel and Palestine.

“We will reach the prophecy that Isaiah said, there will come a time that will take our swords and turn them into plowshares, we will take all our army equipment and turn them into civilized work tools because the world will be a world of peace,” he said. “That's what we all have an obligation to try to do.”

Rabbi Shemtov says that nobody is inherently evil.

“Evil itself isn't inherently real, it's fake,” he said. “Humans aren't evil, humans are good. Even the Hamas terrorists, they're good people. But unfortunately, they're totally darkened up and covered up with evil. The more we're able to infuse this world with goodness, that evil falls away.”

Shemtov says that one way people can help is to do good deeds, a Mitzvah as it is called in Judaism, such as regularly giving to charity.

“There's two parts of charity, there's helping a specific cause, and then there's the essence of the act of charity. Give it to any charity you want. Any soup kitchen, any homeless shelter, do it…Just by the fact that you're giving charity is bringing goodness into the world.”

Shemtov says that anyone who wants to make a donation to Israel can bring it to the Chabad of Nanaimo synagogue, but he says “that's not the main part” of doing charitable acts.

Kronis says that another thing people can do is check in with the Jewish people you know.

“All of our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world, we are grieving right now. We are not OK,” she said. “If you hear this message and you have Jewish friends, now's the time to check in on them. Now's the time to tell them that you love them, to tell them that you support Israel, to tell them that you stand shoulder to shoulder with us as we confront, frankly, our worst nightmare.”

Listen to CHLY's report below: