Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, May 2, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Kevin Lamarque.

Nearly one year after a white supremacist gunman attacked a Passover service at a Jewish congregation in California, killing one participant, the rabbi of the community has issued a special message commemorating the outrage.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was shot in the hand during the April 27, 2019 attack on the Chabad of Poway, losing two of his fingers. Two other congregants were also wounded, while a third — 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye — was killed.

Ina video message released to coincide with the last days of the Passover holiday, Rabbi Goldstein said this should be an occasion for “hope and dedication” despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“The expression of love, unity and the amount of Mitzvos and Shabbos candles that were lit in memory of Lori is so appreciated and has certainly broken through the gates of Heaven,” Goldstein said in the video.

The rabbi noted that in the days after the shooting in Poway, “I appealed to the world to fill up the synagogues and Chabad houses the following Shabbos.”

He added: “This year, we are not going to be doing that. While we can’t do so physically, we are going to fill ourselves with the spirit of our shuls.”

Watch Rabbi Goldstein’s special message one year after the shooting at Chabad of Poway: