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Jewish community in Arkansas prays for victims at California Synagogue

"It was an act targeting the Jews in general. So it comes upon us to gather together,” Rabbi Ciment said.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A special prayer service for the victims of the Synagogue shooting outside San Diego hopes to put a stop to the hate.

Pinhus Ciment is a Rabbi at Lubavitch of Arkansas. Friday, he led a prayer for the victims of the Synagogue shooting on April 27 in Poway, California.

"It was an act targeting the Jews in general. So it comes upon us to gather together,” Rabbi Ciment said.

A 19-year-old man is accused of opening fire on an Orthodox Jewish gathering during the final night of Passover. The attack at Chabad of Poway injured three people and killed a 60-year-old woman, Lori Gilbert Kaye, who stepped in front of a rabbi to protect him.

"I don't think the person who killed her knew her either. The fact that she was a Jew, that's what did it. The fact that she represented something he couldn't wrap his hands around, rather than educating himself what it was about, he just lashed out at her,” Rabbi Ciment said.

Rabbi Ciment said ironically, two of the injured victims escaped Israel to find safety in America.

"They fled Israel because of the rockets that were coming in and they went to a relative in California to escape that. And there, they were injured by a gunman in the Synagogue,” he said.

But Rabbi Ciment said this is not just an attack on Jewish people.

"It's really a battle for the soul of our country,” he said.

He said the death of Lori Kaye left the world a darker place. But Friday’s prayer hopes to add light to the darkness.

"He didn't know her, wasn't a personal gripe. Just something the fact she was a Jew, and he didn't know what it meant to be a Jew. We have a responsibility to light up the world around us in that respect,” Rabbi Ciment said.

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