CHICAGO — For the Jews of West Rogers Park, a time of indescribable horror is also being recalled as a time of miracles.

Just over a month has passed since a gunman opened fire on residents of this ethnically diverse but largely Orthodox Jewish community as they walked to and from synagogue services on Friday evening, July 2.

Since that frightful weekend the community here has held a dinner of thanksgiving to thank G‑d that none among them were killed and more were not injured. They have participated in a campaign to increase acts of kindness, and adherence to mitzvahs, or Jewish commandments. They have also increased efforts to reach out to one another and to other ethnic groups in a show of support against the hatred they experienced during the racially motivated shootings.

The attacks were part of a two-state shooting spree throughout the July 4 weekend by a young adherent of a white-supremacist group. A popular African-American former basketball coach and a Korean student at the University of Indiana, were killed in the shootings.

Six Jews were injured, but none critically. The gunman shot himself as authorities closed in on him, ending the violent weekend.

Many in the Jewish community here are still shaken over both the violence and the realization that they were targeted simply because they were Jews. But, many have also publicly stated their commitment to strengthen their Jewish identification.

"On the Friday evening following the shootings, a member of the local Chabad community went to the homes of non-observant Jews and asked them to light candles for the Sabbath to demonstrate their Jewishness," said Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois. "The response was very enthusiastic."

Moscowitz and his fellow emissaries also launched a "Mezuzah Campaign" following the shootings, helping people who didn't have mezuzahs (biblically prescribed Torah portions handwritten by a scribe on parchment scrolls) to acquire them and properly place them on their doorways, and for those who already did - to have them checked by a scribe. Inherent in the biblical fulfillment of this commandment is its protective powers over the home and the home's inhabitants.

In numerous interviews and in local newspaper columns, Moscowitz called on fellow Jews to increase acts of kindness, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, always urged in times like these.

At a dinner of thanksgiving on July 26, attended by 500 people from many of the area's synagogues, speakers focused on the many people who were spared, and their resolve to work together to strengthen their Jewish practice.

"We came together to thank G‑d for all the miracles of that day," related Rabbi Moscowitz, chairman of the evening. "We expressed our sadness over those who were killed, but there was a great sense of thankfulness that so many were spared."

Police, FBI, and other law enforcement officials were also honored at the dinner and thanked for their swift work in identifying the killer and for their continued vigilance in protecting the neighborhood, said Moscowitz.

"There was a great sense of unity expressed. It brought the community together. On the one hand, it was very sobering, but it also strengthened everyone's commitment to their own yiddishkeit (Jewishness), and to respect each other."

Perhaps most stirring were the expressions of thanksgiving and renewed resolve from the victims themselves.

Ephraim Wolfe, 15, one of those most seriously wounded as he was walking to services at a Chabad Lubavitch congregation, stood on crutches, with a bullet still lodged in his leg, as he told the audience that he immediately realized that he had been shot because he was a Jew.

"I was shot because of the way I looked and how I dressed," the teenager said. "I know from deep within that I would be ready to die for my Yiddishkeit as well, if I needed to."

Wolfe said that he would never remove his kippah (skullcap) or tzitzit because of fear or intimidation. On the contrary - the experience "will only increase my observance."

Ephraim's resolve, and that of all the others older than him who were shot as well, was repeated in numerous interviews published and broadcast internationally since the shootings and have brought praise from people all over the world.

"We've heard from people we know, and from many strangers, that Ephraim and the five others have made people proud to be Jewish," said Rabbi Moscowitz proudly.