10 Americans Survived German Synagogue Attack on Yom Kippur: 'We've Made It Out With Our Lives'

Photo: FILIP SINGER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. At a synagogue in the city of Halle, Germany, 51 worshippers were assembled to observe the holiday.

But somehow — improbably — the door held. Horrified worshippers held each other and prayed as they watched the events unfold on the synagogue’s security cameras. The gunman eventually cursed in frustration and drove away.

His inability to open the door likely saved dozens of lives.

“We were very, very, very afraid,” Max Privorozky, the head of Halle’s Jewish community,told CNN, adding that the building had “good doors” that were “better than weapons.”

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The US ambassador to Germany said 10 Americans were inside the synagogue during the attempted attack, reports theTimes of Israel.

Rabbi Rebecca Blady was in the synagogue during the attack. She described her ordeal on a publicFacebook post.

“We’ve made it out with our lives, in health and amazing spirits,” she writes. “For whatever reason, the man with the gun was stalled or prohibited from entering the synagogue.”

“Several hours later, with the threat of the gunman still at large, police units escorted us out of the synagogue and to a local hospital to check for signs of shock and trauma,” she wrote. “We are still here, trying to make sense of what happened and what is going on. Please know that we are safe.”

source: people.com