MSU Hillel organization talks security after attack at Jewish synagogue

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Saturday will mark one week of the deadly shooting inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

11 people were killed.

Hillel, the Jewish Student Association at Mississippi State joined a chapel full of their peers from all backgrounds, to remember those lives lost, earlier this week.

Immediately after terror struck in Pittsburgh, the Jewish community was shaken.

“We can’t forget that this happened. It’s going to make us, it sparks a little bit of fear,” said Hillel Program Chairman, Jason Stein.

“We’re less than a week after it has happened and still all of these thoughts are running through my head,” said Hillel Vice President, Andrew Shamaskin.

Hillel holds a number of events on campus. Some private, many open to everyone. Some feel a sense of security is something they’ve now lost.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed of some happiness. Thinking about it and the fact that it could have happened anywhere. It could have happened to any religious organization,” said Shamaskin.

President of Hillel, Tyler Daniel says at larger events security will be tighter. But they won’t let that stop them from worshiping.

“None of the Jewish students here are deterred from meeting, from gathering, from hosting religious events, we just want to make sure we’re smart about doing it,” said Daniel.

Having to have security is something Daniel says he never thought he had to see in a place of worship. He says fear is something Mississippi State’s campus works to keep away.

“MSU is a very safe campus for every minority with which we’ve had interactions with, and the Jewish population is no exception. The university does everything to make sure we don’t have to have that feeling of fear,” said Daniel.

A feeling they won’t let win.

“You don’t have to be afraid to believe in what you believe,” said Stein.

Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization on campus’s worldwide.

MSU has 30 active members.