New Bern Rabbi shares how war between Israel and Hamas has impacted local Jewish community

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Rabbi Benjamin Shull was at his synagogue in New Bern when he first heard the news.

“I saw that there was an infiltration and already they were saying 25-30 people were killed,” Shull said. “I knew that this would be a life-changing moment.”

Since that day, Oct.7, life has been difficult.

“It is probably the deepest pain I think I’ve felt in my life,” Shull said. “The sense of anguish, the sense of horror. Seeing the pictures and hearing the accounts of people who went through that massacre, it rips your heart out.”

The war has hit close to home. One of his son’s former classmates was killed fighting on the Lebanon border.

“Israel’s fighting a war on several fronts now and for its existence,” Shull said.

Shull says his congregation, as well as the larger Jewish community, is feeling distraught.

“I think people feel that deep sense of uneasiness, not even anxiety – trauma, personal trauma,” Shull said. “All of us have family in Israel.”

He says he’s also fearful of how controversial the issue has become in the United States, which he worries could lead to a rise in antisemitism.

“We feel very threatened here in the United States, our home. So it’s a time of great anxiety,” Shull said.

Shull says he’s already seen some Jewish people taking precautionary measures to conceal their religion, such as removing their mezuzahs from their doors.

“We put this in our doorpost as a way of saying that we are fulfilling our responsibility to have our home dedicated to God,” Shull said. “It’s only placed in a location where Jews live. There are people now who are taking their mezuzahs off their doors because they’re afraid of being attacked.”

Friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have been reaching out to Shull, which he says has been helpful during this time.

“Reach out to your fellow Jews as many have come to me,” Shull said. “Non-Jewish friends have said ‘We are with you. We were so pained by what has happened.’”