Community encouraged to keep creating meaning and memory as Oct. 27 approaches
Seven years later, it's still a perfect time to come together
Seven years after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the city is being called to unite again. With both Oct. 27 and the yahrzeit of those killed approaching, the community is encouraged to remember, volunteer and learn.
Listed online at 1027healingpartnership.org, various in-person and digital activities are intended to inspire reflection, communal betterment and personal meaning, according to 10.27 Healing Partnership Director Maggie Feinstein.
On Oct. 27, 2018, 11 congregants from three congregations — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life — were murdered during Shabbat services in the Tree of Life building: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Irving Younger and Melvin Wax. Since that heinous crime, community members have routinely undertaken meaningful pursuits to remember and honor lives lost.
In-person volunteering activities
This year, in-person volunteering activities — scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 26 — are again being operated by the 10.27 Healing Partnership in cooperation with several organizations, Feinstein said.
At Beth Abraham Cemetery, in partnership with the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh, volunteers can rake leaves, cut grass, move soil, clean gravestones and collect branches and other debris. The 10.27 Healing Partnership notes this work ensures Jewish cemeteries are preserved and dignified “in accordance with Jewish laws and customs.”
While JCBA has previously collaborated with the 10.27 Healing Partnership on similar commemorative activities, this year they hope to engage more volunteers than ever, Kelly Schwimer, JCBA’s executive director, said.
Although the JCBA volunteering activity is open to people of all ages, the project is not ADA accessible and many tasks “require full mobility.”
At 1922 Murray Ave., in partnership with The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, volunteers can make signs and pack bags for the upcoming Walk4Friendship. Scheduled for Nov. 2, at Wightman Park, the annual Friendship Circle program raises funds to help build a more inclusive community for people with disabilities.
On Oct. 26, at the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry, volunteers can restock shelves with nutritious and kosher food, as well as create welcome baskets and cards for neighbors from the international community.
That same day, at 111 Boulevard of the Allies, in partnership with the Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, volunteers can package dental care kits for later distribution to those in need through Catholic Charities’ dental clinic and the Allegheny Outreach team. The project is in memory of Dr. Richard Gottfried, who with his wife, Dr. Peg Durachko, volunteered his services as a dentist at Catholic Charities for many years. After Gottfried was killed in the synagogue shooting, Catholic Charities dedicated its dental clinic in his name.
Finally, at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, in partnership with Vitalant and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, and in memory of Irv Younger and Dan Stein, volunteers can donate blood.
Details and registration for each of the Oct. 26 volunteer activities is available at 1027healingpartnership.org.
Oct. 27 commemoration
On Oct. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the JCC in Squirrel Hill, the community is invited to participate in a commemorative ceremony complete with song, prayer and candle lighting. The keynote speaker, according to program organizers, will be Jason Lando, who was a Pittsburgh police commander at the time of the shooting.
Ron Wedner, a member of the planning committee, played a key role in shaping the upcoming public program, Feinstein said, giving it added depth and purpose.
For years, Wedner has worked with area schools to remember the 11 individuals killed on Oct. 27 and cultivate artwork for the annual commemoration. This year, Feinstein said, Wedner continued those efforts and is helping students — who, after learning about Oct. 27 through school-based Eradicate Hate clubs — bring posters to the JCC explaining how local young people are working to both remember the past and build a better future.
Yahrzeit, Torah study and remembrance
On Nov. 8, at 6:30 p.m., in conjunction with the yahrzeit of the 11 people killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, an in-person Torah study will be held at the JCC in Squirrel Hill. The program will begin with a Havdalah service then follow with Torah study. Though walk-ins are welcome, registration is available online.
Also in observance of the yahrzeit, various virtual learning opportunities will be available on Nov. 9.
Although the 10.27 Healing Partnership has organized multiple ways for Pittsburghers to join commemorative activities this year, Feinstein said she knows some individuals will choose to engage in alternative remembrances.
She said she’s heard of schools, congregations and other communities that have created ways to commemorate the period in years past. “One of the cool parts about Pittsburgh is that people have these smaller communities where they maybe have some way to connect with one another in memory. And we celebrate that too.”
However people choose to recognize the date and yahrzeit, Feinstein hopes people find ways to do so in ways that are “meaningful for them.” What’s important to keep in mind is “that it’s healthy to remember in ways that feel authentic to
you,” she said.
For some in the community, seven years can feel both “near and far from 2018.” Regardless of how one approaches the period, try to recall that “Oct. 27 was a time that pulled people together in really an incredible way,” Feinstein said. “We always have the capacity to keep doing that. It doesn’t go away, even when time passes.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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