Boulder Jewish Festival sees largest turnout ever after antisemitic terror attack on Pearl Street: ‘We are united in horror and pain’

Thousands of people gathered for a celebration of custom and locality at the Boulder Jewish Festival on Sunday which was held exactly one week after an antisemitic terror attack took place on the Pearl Street Mall injuring people and a dog Returning to the Pearl Street Mall for its th year the Boulder Jewish Festival organized by the Boulder Jewish Area Center brought in what the Boulder JCC is calling its largest-ever turnout with an estimated people attending throughout the day Shari Edelstein center with her son Matan Gold-Edelstein third from left and other Jewish area members hold posters with photos of Israeli hostages during a remembrance venture at the Boulder Jewish Festival on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder on Sunday Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post It feels really vital right now to come together to focus on love and healing and neighborhood Boulder resident and festival attendee Ari Brattin commented There s been so much hatred and darkness since Oct and especially after what happened here on June just overcoming the fear to all come together in encouragement it makes me really proud to be Jewish and to be Jewish in Boulder specifically On June a Molotov cocktail attack outside the Boulder County Courthouse on Pearl Street injured more than a dozen people who were participating in a weekly walk organized by Boulder s chapter of the Run for Their Lives group a national organization that calls for the release of hostages held by the Hamas terrorist group Officers are calling it an antisemitic terror attack Boulder leaders revealed at least four casualties were sent to the Boulder Society Fitness hospital the day of the attack and all had been transferred or discharged by that evening The UCHealth burn unit was treating three patients as of Monday morning according to a spokesperson Police revealed no casualties have died No further information on the condition of the casualties was readily available Boulder County s district attorney on Thursday charged the suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman a -year-old Egyptian immigrant who executives say was living in the U S illegally with criminal counts including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault He also faces a federal hate crime charge On Sunday there were extra safety and precaution measures at the Jewish festival While people enjoyed music food and festivities dozens of police officers roamed the area and watched over crowds Sniper rifles were set up on each side of the block including on the roof of the courthouse A Boulder police officer keeps an eye on the crowd during a remembrance undertaking Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post The Boulder Jewish Festival was planned long before the attack in Boulder and rather than cancel or postpone organizers proceeded with a reimagined event to promote population healing and unity while honoring all impacted by the attack It was a comment that the Jewish area would not back down in the face of hate We are united in horror and pain over the attack that happened right here a week ago with people from our beloved region seriously injured and traumatized from what happened last week Boulder Rabbi Marc Soloway mentioned to the crowd on Sunday Soloway acknowledged the pain of the attack but also talked about gratitude healing and hope We re sad we re grieving we re angry and we re afraid he mentioned But yet we are deeply comforted by our resilience and the strength and love of this region The festival began at a m Sunday as Jewish neighborhood members gathered on a stage outside of the courthouse on Pearl Street for the blowing of the shofar a type of musical horn often made from a ram s horn The region then joined in a hora dance a group circle dance commonly held at Jewish weddings and celebrations Neighbors family and friends joined hands formed circles and moved together showing pleasure and chuckling in a joyous celebration of one another The crowd was also led through songs and prayers At noon the crowd moved down a block to participate in and watch the weekly Run for Their Lives walk Thousands of people joined in the walk that was targeted a week prior holding signs and flags and advocating for the release of the hostages in Gaza As the crowd waited for everyone to return to the stage part of the public spontaneously broke out crooning Hatikvah also known as The Song of Hope which is the national anthem of Israel We all just broke out in unison together Denver resident Maximillian Wolff disclosed Nobody mentioned to start it and that was really beautiful There s so much darkness and as Jewish people and in the Tenakh Hebrew Bible we re called to be the light to the world So it s nice to see us being a light for each other Also I hope this doesn t get lost in the conversation that we really are just wanting peace Run for Their Lives leaders from the Denver and Boulder chapters spoke to the crowd along with Moshe Lavi whose brother-in-law Omri Miran is a hostage in Gaza The leaders called for the hostages to be circulated and read the name of each person still in Gaza A large number of faith leaders and activists also spoke to the crowd of people throughout the event Jonathan Lev the executive director of the Boulder Jewish Public Center took time to honor the casualties bystanders first responders downtown Boulder businesses and area members who have shown strength and kindness We are standing here in resilience we are standing here in unity we are standing here in happiness Lev stated Because that s what in contemporary times is about celebrating who we are Our values our music our food our spirit and even as we continue to walk in solidarity for the hostages still in Gaza we also walk for our right to gather safely and proudly as a Jewish neighborhood Throughout the festival there were vendors offering traditional Jewish cuisine Jewish communal organizations hosting booths and locality exercises there was an art and artisan field and live music and performances This feels like the purest expression of Jewish happiness Brattin mentioned And to be able to enjoy food and art and music and not have it just be about politics and sadness it s really beautiful Wolff declared that as a Jewish person it was crucial for him to come to Boulder and be in unity with others at the festival It feels good to look around and see so multiple people all standing in solidarity together and just calling for peace Wolff reported Boulder resident David Ensign mentioned he came to the Jewish festival to be with his neighborhood I noticed everybody just clicking in different methods Ensign revealed When you look people in the eye everyone kind of has a little bit more meaning behind the looks because everyone s sharing having been through something that is traumatic for the neighborhood Ensign declared It isn t something that is new to Boulder we ve had tragedies and I ve inevitably felt that I can usually rely on Boulder to be caring and take care of each other That s what I m really wanting to do is play my part as much as attainable to try to help the locality come together and get through this Soliman who is being held on million bail remains in custody His preliminary hearing has been set for July