NOTE: CLICK HERE to make a donation for LGBT organizations serving youth in Israel (scroll down for details). PLEASE INDICATE that your gift is in honor of LGBT youth in Israel.

At 11pm on Saturday night, Aug. 1, as we were sitting at dinner in Jerusalem, we got a text message from a friend in Tel Aviv. A masked gunman opened fire on a group of LGBT teens at a support group meeting in the center of the city, just off busy Rothschild boulevard. Liz Trobishi, 16, and Nir Katz, the group’s 26-year-old counselor, were killed and at least a dozen others were seriously wounded. The gunman fled into the night. Although he has not been caught, LGBT leaders in Israel consider the shootings an anti-gay hate crime and within hours of the incident were marching in the streets and calling upon all Israelis to denounce anti-LGBT rhetoric. Leaders from almost the entire Israeli political spectrum have condemned the attack, and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate calling the shootings “unthinkable” and “vile.”

As gay Jewish martyr Harvey Milk once said, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” Reflecting on these words, gay Israeli law professor Eyal Gross wrote today that “the bullets that were fired and took young and innocent lives [in Tel Aviv] should destroy the doors of many closets. And we are not only talking about the closets of those who hide their sexual orientation. We are talking about all those who keep silent in the face of homophobia, and also all those who … have the power as public, political, or cultural figures to make a difference … but find a thousand and one excuses not to show solidarity.”

Jewish Mosaic joins with family, colleagues and friends in Israel in mourning the loss of these two young people. We ask that you hold Trobishi, Katz and the wounded in your hearts and prayers. Please join us in sending our deepest condolences to the families of those killed, and let us together wish a speedy recovery for the injured and comfort for the community in this time of great pain.

But you can also help make a difference.

At a rally last night in Jerusalem we spoke with several community leaders, including the founder and current director of the Jerusalem Open House and Jewish Mosaic board member Rabbi David Lazar. They invite individuals outraged by these horrible events to support programs in Israel that serve LGBT youth, the majority of whom report suffering physical or verbal abuse for being LGBT, and many of whom have been scarred by the violence in Tel Aviv and must again find the courage to gather and form community.