Communal commemoration marks 8 years since Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
'We can and must respond as best we know how to be a community of caring'
A commemoration marking eight years since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting brought nearly 300 community members to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill. The Oct. 27 event, which featured a memorial candle lighting ceremony, live music, poetry reading, prayer recitation and public remarks, encouraged attendees to carry a legacy forward.
“We have more that ties us together than pulls us apart,” Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership said. Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Irving Younger and Melvin Wax, the 11 Jewish worshippers from three congregations murdered during Shabbat morning services eight years ago, “were beloved family and congregants to many here tonight, neighbors to others, healers to some, and friendly faces in the store or on the streets to most of us.”
When the attack occurred, “they were doing what they loved: opening up services on Shabbat morning, so that little by little, their friends and fellow congregants could come bring their collective energy to make Saturday morning sacred,” she said. “Many of us could take this for granted, but there are people who every week set in motion all that is needed just to have our Friday night and Saturday morning services. Tonight, let’s commit to remembering this — all of the people who were taken and all of the people who survived this attack found a sacredness in doing an act that those of us who trickle in a little bit later are not even thinking about.”
Throughout the evening commemoration, family members of those murdered and survivors of the attack lit candles, offered brief memories and shared a reading, titled, “Walk with Me.” Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, of New Light Congregation, recited “El Maleh Rahamin,” a prayer asking God to shelter the souls of the departed. Members of the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra performed “Eli Eli” and “Hatikvah.” Congregants from Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life gathered on stage to read “When I Go,” by Donna Ashworth. Donna Coufal and Rabbi Amy Bardack of Dor Hadash recited a prayer for healing. City of Pittsburgh Mayor’s Cabinet Chief of Staff Dan Gilman read “A Prayer For Our Country.” Rabbi Hannah Estrin, of Tree of Life Congregation, read a prayer for peace.
There’s a uniqueness this year brings, Feinstein explained.
For the first time since the attack, both the yahrzeit and English date of commemoration fall within the same week, she said. “This is significant in Jewish life because that means this Sabbath we will read the same Torah portion that wasn’t read on that day in 2018 by [Congregations Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life]. That day, someone disturbed a rhythm of the weekly observance of the mitzvah because of their hatred of Jews and fear of immigrants.”
The Torah portion that will be read this week recounts Abraham’s unwavering commitment to welcoming the stranger. Despite communing with God days after his circumcision, the biblical patriarch opens all sides of his tent to invite in three wandering travelers, who later announce that Sarah — Abraham’s wife — despite her old age, will give birth to a son.
Reading this portion is a reminder of the “blessings that can befall us by welcoming the stranger and finding the messages that they bring,” Feinstein said. “As we remember the 11 people killed, we also recommit to the gratitude for the congregants and staff who survived and continued their work, for the first responders who saved lives that day and brought the highest standard of professionalism. We remember incredible acts of solidarity by leaders, by our civic leaders, by neighbors who found strength to be there today, congregants of different faith communities who found small networks to build big connections.”
Significant efforts to help others continued in the wake of the attack and persist today, in both quiet and largely noticeable ways, explained University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg.
Serving alongside fellow civic leaders, Nordenberg was a member of an independent committee convened by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh tasked with recommending how to disperse nearly $6 million collected from a Victims of Terror fund.
Framing that “sacred” mission, Nordenberg recalled, was Committee Chair David Shapira.
Shapira, Nordenberg said, implored fellow volunteers to remember that “after the tragedy, no person, no committee can ever make things right. But we can and must respond as best we know how to be a community of caring and try to bring some measure of peace to so many shattered hearts.”
In the years since 2018, through efforts including the independent committee and co-founding and co-chairing the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, Nordenberg said he has committed to that task.
Throughout the room, and the wider community, Feinstein said, individuals continue ensuring that the world is bettered by both small acts and sizable efforts.
Before closing the program, Feinstein encouraged attendees to notice a collection of displays arranged outside Levinson Hall, designed by students who participated in the Eradicate Hate Youth Summit.
“I think most of the kids who are here today do not remember 2018 — they’re too young for that. But what they do is they learn about recent history here locally. They respect and give so much love to the families and survivors when they come speak. And then they do something meaningful. And to me,” Feinstein said, “there’s nothing more honoring of the 11 than that.”
Standing beside a poster display, Quaker Valley High School 12th grader Hannah Olawaiye described the Unity Project, a school-based club designed to combat hatred.
Being at the commemoration was an opportunity to “share with others all the work that we’ve done, and the effort we put into attempting to eradicate hate at our school,” she said. It was also a chance to “hopefully gain even more ideas and more inspiration to be able to eradicate more hate in the future.”
Northgate High School ninth grader Iri’Ona Pierce said her participation in the commemoration and related activities were a reminder “to be aware of your surroundings and to take people’s differences into consideration.”
Iri’Ona and her classmates developed a game to support the effort, which they brought to the commemoration.
“Our game could help,” she said. By placing people in various situations, it enables them to imagine life from a “different perspective and to take people’s differences into consideration.”
Mt. Lebanon High School 12th grader Hannah Markowitz attended the commemoration with her display board.
Standing beside the poster, she said her participation in the event was a demonstration that “the youth are actually doing things to combat hate,” she said. These efforts aren’t “just something that adults are doing or talking about in a room, but it’s something we’re actually doing at the high school and at the middle school level for us specifically.”
As attendees exited the JCC, Hannah said it’s vital for peer-to-peer school-based instruction to continue.
“Educating kids, educating the youth is exactly how we stop people from growing up with hateful attitudes,” she said. “That’s how we stop things like what happened eight years ago.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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