CINCINNATI — When Rabbi Sandford Kopnick heard about the latest antisemitic incident in Michigan Thursday, his mind went straight to the people inside Temple Israel.
"I wanted everybody to be alive," Kopnick said. "My biggest fear was that we were going to be going to funerals, and whose funeral would we be going to and how many little kids would have been taken out by this remarkable act of both sorrow and vengeance."
Kopnick, who has served as a spiritual leader at the Valley Temple in Greater Cincinnati for 25 years, grew up outside of Detroit and has deep personal ties to Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Two of his three children were named there. The congregation, he said, inspired him to become a rabbi.
He was not alone in his concern. Jewish communities across Greater Cincinnati are on edge after an armed man drove a vehicle into Temple Israel — one of the largest reform synagogues in the world — in an attack that left the building heavily damaged and sent shockwaves through Jewish communities across the country.
WATCH: Cincinnati Jewish community reacts to Michigan synagogue attack
"An attack on a synagogue is an attack on all of us. Hate has no place in our society," the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati said in a statement.
The federation said its SAFE Cincinnati program is in direct contact with law enforcement and that the local community has access to the same kind of security infrastructure that prevented casualties in Michigan.
Federal authorities identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon. Local law enforcement said he breached the building and drove down a hallway before being confronted by security. Ghazali was shot and died at the scene.
More than 100 preschool students and teachers were inside at the time. Authorities said no children or staff were injured.
Kopnick said he felt compassion for the suspect.
"I feel terrible for him and his family that this was the way that he had to respond, because Temple Israel in Detroit had nothing to do with what happened with his family. Absolutely nothing to do with it," Kopnick said. "And it's just such a shame that people are acting out this way. Because it wasn't against Israel, it was against Jewish people. It was an act of antisemitism. ....There is a level of comfort for that in this country right now and it has to stop."
Kopnick said the financial toll of security on the Jewish community is something that weighs on him. He said there is concern amongst synagogues that their congregations could be the victim of a future attack.
"It's a real fear," Kopnick said. "But we're not the only ones getting hit either. ...The color of your skin, the religion you practice, any good religion is not practicing hate. Good religion does not do that. Radicalization of religion ceases to be religion. It becomes something else."
Despite the fear, Kopnick said his congregation has not been deterred. He credited strong relationships with local law enforcement and neighboring communities for helping his congregation feel safe and said that active-shooter training has proven critical at Jewish institutions across the country.
"I want people to get to know people who are different than they are, because when they do, they have the opportunity to then say, 'I'm politically different than you, but I'm your neighbor," Kopnick said. "You're somebody that I value, and because I value you, I'm going to put my political belief in a perspective that says this is a world that we all need to share."
