St. Vincent de Paul

County Executive to Host “Healing Moments” Forum in Wake of Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy will host the latest in a series of Healing Moments Forums in the wake of the horrific anti-Semitic shooting carried out at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh this past Saturday. This community conversation will focus on issues involving unity, civility, religious understanding and diversity to build trust and heal divisions, condemn violence and to help bind us together as a community. This tragedy, believed to be the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in United States history that took eleven innocent lives, comes on the heels of an alarming uptick in hate-crimes and violence targeting members of the Jewish faith and as other religious communities as well as animus and hate crimes directed at minorities and other members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants and refugees throughout New York and the country. According to the Anti-Defamation League, from 2016 to 2017, anti-Semitic incidents in the US increased by 57% - the highest single-year increase since reporting such occurrences began. New York had the highest number out of any other state in 2017, which saw an increase of 90% over the number from 2016. County Executive McCoy, the Albany County Interfaith Coalition and The College of Saint Rose welcome the public to the forum on Wednesday, October 31 from 10:30am to 11:30am at The College of Saint Rose Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary, 959 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY 12203. Cantor Jodi Schechtman of the Congregation Beth Emeth will moderate the conversation. The panel will include Rabbi Debora S. Gordon of Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy, Imam Dr. Abdulkadir Elmi of the As Al Salaam Mosque, Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Reverend Jim Kane of the Roman Catholic Church and Reverend Monshin Paul Naamon of the Tendai Buddhist Institute. Parking is available at in the parking lot of St. Vincent De Paul Church, 900 Madison Avenue, Albany.