Thousands attend Boulder’s Jewish festival one week after antisemitic attack

Photos by Jeffrey Packard for Boulder Reporting Lab.

Thousands of people packed the Pearl Street Mall on Sunday, June 8, for the Boulder Jewish Festival, the city’s largest community gathering since a man attacked a Run for Their Lives gathering supporting hostages held in Gaza last week. 

The event brought a mix of emotions, with live music, dancing and an artisan market alongside the memory of the firebombing and the rise in antisemitism it underscored.

“We’re here in our brokenness and our pain, we’re here in our resilience and in our love, in our fear of what might happen next, in our gratitude and our longing for hope,” Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder said at the start of the festival. 

The gathering took place exactly one week after a man threw Molotov cocktails at participants in the weekly Run for Their Lives walk, injuring at least a dozen people, with three still hospitalized days after the attack. According to federal prosecutors, the suspect shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack and later said he wanted to “kill all Zionist people.” He has been charged with a hate crime and attempted murder.

The site of the attack was transformed into the center of the festival. But impressions of the violence lingered, with snipers atop the Boulder County Courthouse and Pearl Street businesses, drones buzzing overhead, a significant police presence and barricades. Several speakers drew applause for thanking law enforcement and first responders.

“This week has been one of heartbreak and horror,” Jonathan Lev, executive director of the Boulder JCC, told the crowd. He said the festival was a celebration of Jewish culture, food, music, spirit and more. “Even as we continue to walk in solidarity for the hostages still held in Gaza, we also work for our right to walk safely and proudly as a Jewish community.”

The event was organized by the Boulder JCC and the local Run for Their Lives group. Lev said organizers had debated whether to proceed with the festival, but ultimately felt the community needed to come together after a week of grief. 

The festival was the first local weekly Run for Their Lives walk since the attack. The Denver chapter joined, as well as hundreds of other people, for the short stroll along Pearl Street.

“We will not stop walking until they are all home. We will not be deterred,” Rachel Amaru, founder of Run for Their Lives in Boulder, said during the event, about the hostages. “And we will stand up to antisemitism when it rears its head here, in Israel or anywhere else.” 

Moshe Emilio Lavi, whose brother-in-law Omri Miran remains in Gaza, also attended the festival. He thanked the Boulder group for its support.

“What you have built is not just a weekly walk, it’s a movement of moral clarity and relentless compassion,” he told attendees.

Ariel Amaru, rapid response coordinator with Run for Their Lives in Boulder, said the community in Boulder has set a precedent for what a “collaborative, compassionate, and community-rooted” response to antisemitism should look like. 

“We have set a new tone for how to meet this moment,” Amaru told Boulder Reporting Lab in a text message after the event. “Jewish lives have been treated callously for far too long. We deserve to live and gather in safety — to advocate for the causes we believe in, including the release of hostages and/or the expression of Zionist principles — with the full expectation of dignity, free speech, and protection from fear and violence.” 

At the edge of the festival, about a half-dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a brief and peaceful demonstration.

See all of our coverage of the Pearl Street attack.

Update: This story was updated on June 9 with a statement from Ariel Amaru, rapid response coordinator with Run for Their Lives in Boulder.