Poway Synagogue Shooting Victim, Whose Nephew Is Director Of Chabad At Drexel University, Speaks Out
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The rabbi shot during a mass shooting at a Southern California synagogue is speaking out for the first time about the terrifying ordeal. CBS3 has learned that he has ties to Philadelphia.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein is among the victims speaking out following the attack by a gunman at Chabad of Poway in Poway, California, just outside of San Diego. The shooting happened Saturday.
Worshippers were celebrating the final day of Passover when police say the gunman burst inside with an AR-type assault weapon. One woman was killed and Goldstein and two others were injured. The gunman is in custody.
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When Rabbi Chaim Goldstein, the director of Chabad at Drexel University, was informed by his students about the shooting at the synagogue near San Diego Saturday night, he immediately thought of his uncle, Yisroel Goldstein.
But the holiday forbade him from going on the internet or watching TV to find out what happened.
"We were sitting down to have that feast when a few students walked in looking a little worried," Chaim Goldstein said. "My mind thoughts are racing, you know, saddened and what's going on. I don't even know half the details and here I am responsible for the students here."
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So he waited a few hours and finally learned that his uncle was one of the victims.
Yisroel Goldstein was shot in his hand in front of his own granddaughter. He lost his index finger but didn't die because the gun jammed.
"I was frozen in time. I grabbed a prayer shawl. I wrapped my arm, fingers with it," Yisroel Goldstein said in California on Sunday. "It was just hanging, dangling, bleeding all over the place. My congregation was gathered outside here and I said, 'I gotta do something.'"
"I got up on a chair right here and I looked at our congregation," he added, "and I said, 'We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall.'"
Goldstein's nephew was not surprised.
"I was nothing but amazed and not surprised by his reaction," Chaim said.
Chaim said Saturday's holiday is all about hope in the world and that's the message his uncle, while shot, still delivered to his congregation.
Still, CBS3 asked the rabbi if he could forgive the shooter.
"I don't think so," Chaim said.
The rabbi also said his Chabad house has been in touch with Drexel University Police and that they have heightened security.
