Sam Dolnick
The New York Times
1/9/2011
TUCSON — They spilled into the aisles and the corridor, past the extra rows of folding chairs and the congregants packed into the synagogue’s corners.
“Why, why, why, why?” Naomi Present, the daughter of the rabbi, cried out from the back.
More than 100 people crowded into a special healing service Sunday morning for Representative Gabrielle Giffords at Congregation Chaverim, where she was married three years ago, for a tearful ceremony. Ms. Giffords’s rabbi, friends and admirers gathered to pray for a swift recovery and to honor a woman many described as an inspiration.
If the shooting in Tucson on Saturday of 20 people, including Ms. Giffords, shook the entire nation, it hit this city’s Jewish community especially hard, most of all those who belong to Ms. Gifford’s small Reform temple, hidden among tall cactuses on a quiet suburban street.
Ms. Giffords is the first Jewish congresswoman from Arizona, a point of pride for many at Congregation Chaverim. She did not attend services every week and rediscovered her Jewish faith only about a decade ago. But she is described as a dedicated member of the temple whose work and compassion embody the best of Jewish practice…
…Ms. Giffords, a member of Hadassah, the Jewish women’s organization, has said that her religion helped her become a leader…
The entire article, with photos, is at The New York Times.
