Around 1,200 people attended a vigil Wednesday night at the Boulder Jewish Community Center to honor victims of Sunday's Pearl Street Mall attack that left 15 people wounded.
The gathering featured numerous speakers, including multiple people who survived the attack and one of the first wounded victims to speak publicly.
“I heard a loud noise and the back of my legs burning, and don't remember those next few moments,” said the wounded victim, who remained anonymous, on a projected video. “Even then, it somehow didn't seem real, even standing in the midst of it.”
The suspect, an Egyptian man who claimed to be fighting “Zionists,” used Molotov cocktails and a flamethrower to attack a group of people gathering in honor of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“Suddenly, a crash, a ball of fire, smoke, the smell of black smoke, the smell, the screams, flames around my feet. For a moment, I thought I would go up in flames,” Rachelle Halpern, who was participating in the walk and was not physically hurt, said. “A woman stood one foot behind me, engulfed in flames from head to toe, lying on the ground with her husband.”
“Tonight we come together to find comfort in community. We know that resilience, strength and pride is who we are — as Coloradans, as Boulder County residents and as Jews. Our resolve is stronger than ever,” Gov. Jared Polis, who called the attack an “act of terrorism,” said while addressing the crowd. “In our Colorado for all, we'll continue to make it clear there's room for every person to live, to thrive, to share their opinions and their viewpoints, to worship the God of their choice or no God at all in safe communities across our state.”
The vigil filled the main event hall and two overflow rooms. Attendees held hands, sang songs, and prayed. It was the second such gathering in Boulder. Earlier Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered in front of Boulder’s historic courthouse along the Pearl Street Mall in the exact spot the attack occurred.
“The whole Jewish community is reeling, shocked that this hideous hate crime could happen right here in downtown, beautiful Boulder, Colorado,” Boulder Rabbi Marc Soloway said during an address at that gathering. “And yet, we have seen this coming.”
Finding community in a walk
The attack targeted the Boulder Run For Their Lives demonstration, a weekly event held in the name of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The organization has held walks in 36 U.S. states and 24 countries, according to its website. They describe the walks as peaceful and meant to raise awareness about hostages captured after the October 7th attacks in 2023.
The group encourages walkers to bring flags representing hostages from several countries. Many of the speakers Wednesday described the fellowship they felt in walking every Sunday.
“It was a solace to be with people to whom I didn't need to explain how I felt,” Halpern said. “We then learned that our presence, our daily walks, our silent walks were appreciated by the hostage families. That it meant to them that they were not forgotten. That there were people who would take every Sunday, no rain or shine, minus 11 degrees or plus 105. We were always there. We were always there. And so it was on this Sunday.”
“It was a walk just like all our others, until it wasn't,” the anonymous burn victim, who explained to the crowd that, though they’d grown up Jewish, the walks had helped them connect with their faith after the October 7th attacks. “I went to Hebrew school. I had a mitzvah. I observed all the holidays, but I never felt connected to religion.”
But the attacks by Hamas pushed faith to the front of their mind.
“I met someone in the midst of this immediate post-October 7th struggle who told me about the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street,” the victim said. “So I went and I went and I went again. And then it became a part of my routine, and I love routines. But it also has been a tiny moment of peace and healing each week, being in the company of like-minded others and doing something that I care about deeply.”
Much of the mood was somber, but attendees seemed to find inspiration from the survivors who spoke. Some speakers also discussed pro-Israeli sentiments and the war in Gaza.
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” Israel Bachar, consul general of Israel to the Pacific Southwest, told the crowd at Wednesday night’s vigil to applause. “Israel is facing a seven-front war. It is not a war that we initiated, but it's a war that we are going to win. We cannot afford to lose this war.”
The suspect, who is being charged with hate crimes and attempted murder, is due in court Thursday afternoon.
- Federal judge issues order stopping the deportation of family of man charged in Boulder firebombing
- Family of Boulder attack suspect is being taken into ICE custody
- Multiple people burned in apparent antisemitic attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall
- Suspect in the Boulder attack on a march to support hostages held by Hamas had planned for a year
KUNC’s Lucas Brady Woods contributed reporting.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story misspelled victim Rachelle Halpern's name. It has been corrected.
