Jewish community in Chicago in shock, fear after murder of local leader

The Jewish community in Chicago is in shock and mourning, a local rabbi has said, after Eliyahu Moscowitz, 24, was shot and killed close to the West Roger’s Park neighborhood which has a large Jewish community.

Moscowitz was out taking a walk in a nearby park some 25 minutes walking distance from the neighborhood when he was murdered on Monday night during the Simchat Torah holiday, apparently by a masked gunman who is also suspected of killing an elderly man the previous day.

Rabbi David Kotlarsky, who heads the nearby Chabad community of East Lakeview, was good friends with Moscowitz and studied with him at yeshiva.

He said that the pain of his death was “unimaginable” and that the entire community was in shock.

Kotlarsky said the police believe at present that the murder was not a hate crime, but that community members are nevertheless fearful for their safety, especially given the fact that the suspect is believed to have committed another random murder less than 48 hours earlier.

“We’re in total shock, it’s unreal that it could happen here,” Kotlarsky told The Jerusalem Post.

“The community is feeling hurt and we’re all in mourning. For it to happen on Simchas Torah, to such a special soul – that Hashem took him on such a day – was very challenging,” he said.
 https://www.geezgo.com/sps/41630

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