CATONSVILLE, Md. — For local Jewish students and congregants, Rabbi Dovid Reyder's home provides just that: a home. He hosts weekly services for Chabad of Catonsville and UMBC, working to strengthen the area's Jewish community.
Reyder, a Massachusetts native, arrived in 2019 to serve Jewish students and the Catonsville community, which he said lacked an official Jewish presence before the congregation began its work.
"It's a great honor to be able to do it," Reyder said. "We meet, we have one-on-ones, constantly reaching out, and being there for the Jewish community as much as we can."
Catonsville Rabbi on Australia shooting: “We’re going to increase in light”
Over the weekend, Reyder woke up to shocking news. More than a dozen people were gunned down during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, including some Reyder knows.
Among the victims were a Chabad colleague, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, and a family friend, Reuven Morrison.
“It just hit home very hard, because I do the same thing [as Schlenger]. I organize events, I stand there, I lead them. And to think someone just came, a gunman came and just mowed them down like that, while he was there, sharing love, sharing peace, sharing joy, it’s just heartbreaking," Reyder told WMAR-2 News.
"And to hear that [Morrison] died also, it's just horrific. And then, as the names come out, you hear a Holocaust survivor, a kid, a ten year old child. And just to think there is so much hate. What would cause someone to do that?" Reyder said.
RELATED: Father and son kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event in Australia
With the weight of the attack, a yearly Hanukkah celebration on Frederick Road this Sunday featured solemn moments. Reyder said police provided extra security at the event.
"If you throw darkness, we will bring light. Because only light can battle darkness," Reyder told attendees Sunday night.
"This year, it was a bit heavy. We did a tribute for the victims, but we turned it over to joy. Because that's what it's all about, it's about the light," Reyder said.
Reyder said the ultimate goal of the attackers was to destroy Jewish life, and it underscores how relevant his work is.
"We're going to increase in light. We're going to increase in our Jewish pride, and being openly and outwardly Jewish, and embracing that," Reyder said.
Reyder said he will hold both realities together: having to heighten safety, but still lifting each other up.
“We were taught by our teacher," he added, "when we face darkness, when we face terrible tragedy, we don’t ask why it happened, we ask “what am I supposed to do that it happened?” And the answer that we have, always, is we are going to combat the darkness. We don’t combat it with hate, fighting with swords.
"We combat it with love, with light," Reyder concluded.
