Decades after her murder, family honors Karen Hurwitz with Torah dedication in Israel
Karen Hurwitz was murdered in the backyard of her Squirrel Hill home on Oct. 27, 1989.
Nearly 40 years after their daughter Karen was murdered in the backyard of their Squirrel Hill home, Dr. Dennis and Linda Hurwitz honored her life with a Torah dedication in Israel.
They were joined by family, including son Jeffrey Hurwitz and his partner Caitlin Smith, both of Pittsburgh, for the poignant final lettering of the Torah scroll at Yeshiva Migdal Ohz in suburban Jerusalem, and the joyous celebration that followed.
The trip began May 20 and coincided with Dennis Hurwitz’s 80th birthday, a milestone which in Judaism connotes spiritual reflection and strength.
“Since that time many of our family and others who attended have communicated about their connection with Karen’s spirit, how her presence will forever be felt at that yeshiva and in the Torah itself.”
Linda Hurwitz, former director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and past head of Community Day School’s middle school, was moved by “the love and excitement everyone expressed.”
“It was,” she said, “such an uplifting, amazing experience.”
Yeshiva Migdal Ohz was chosen because Dennis Hurwitz’s nephew Rabbi Aharon Etrog is associate dean. Dennis Hurwitz’s brother Rabbi Shimon Hurwitz made aliyah more than 50 years ago and lives in Jerusalem.
Linda Hurwitz has extended family in Israel, including a second cousin in Tel Aviv who survived the Holocaust. Linda Hurwitz is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
She and her husband have made many trips to Israel over the years, but none as deeply meaningful as this one.
Karen was 17 when, on Oct. 27, 1989, she was strangled and stabbed with a 36-inch martial arts sword by an acquaintance, Michale Anderson, 17, who claimed to have been influenced by the movie “A Clockwork Orange.” Anderson was sentenced to life without parole; he was later re-sentenced to 50 years to life based on his age when he committed the murder.
At the Torah dedication Dennis Hurwitz spoke about his daughter’s brief but vibrant life, including her interest in social justice and helping the disadvantaged.
“She was a promising writer, an A-plus student in English, and headed for a career in writing,” he shared. “We found diaries and scrapbooks we didn’t know she kept, poetry she wrote, essays for college and what she wanted to accomplish in life.”
“One of the hardest things for me is the promise she represented. She was going to be a contributor to society, and Judaism in particular,” Dennis Hurwitz said. “And then she was gone.”
Linda Hurwitz recalled her daughter as “a gentle soul … and always for the underdog.”
The Torah dedication was a mitzvah that inspired others, Dennis Hurwitz said, noting that a nephew who never met Karen described feeling “a kinship with her, spiritually.”
The outdoor party that followed included a 14-piece band, and several of Israel’s leading rabbis, who were also present for the dedication of a cornerstone of the yeshiva that same day.
There were speeches, blessings, and singing and dancing past midnight.
The experience brought Dennis Hurwitz closer to his spirituality, which was challenged after Karen’s death and has since then been a journey.
“I struggled to understand why a loving God would allow such an incredible tragedy,” Dennis Hurwitz recalled, although he said he came to realize that the Jewish process of mourning, including shiva, prescribed a way for him and his wife to cope. “The rituals have become more important to us.”
Retiring from his plastic surgery practice at 77, after what he calls “an incredible career,” has given Dennis Hurwitz “more time for reflection.”
The Hurwitzes keep a home in Pittsburgh, but their primary residence is in Delray Beach, chosen for its strong Jewish community, which extends to Delaire Country Club.
“South Florida is the new Jerusalem,” Dennis Hurwitz said. “Jews living there can express themselves openly and without fear, which is becoming increasingly difficult in this country.”
“The country club appears to be 90% Jewish so there’s a comfort level. It’s fun to live your life in a Jewish world around people with similar backgrounds to ours who’ve worked hard and have strong family ties.”
The Hurwitzes have been married 57 years.
After Karen’s death, they focused on the best parts of their marriage, Dennis Hurwitz said, noting that many relationships don’t survive the traumatic loss of a child.
They also grew their family, adopting Jeffrey three months after losing Karen and a daughter, Julia, seven months later. Jeffrey, 36, is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and chemical engineer, and Julia Silbernagel, 35, is a stay-at-home mother of two in Charleston, West Virginia.
Raising their children was a joy, Dennis Hurwitz said, adding that in all the years that Karen has been gone “she has never really left us.”
Dealing with a loss is always unfinished, he said, which means it is never too late to do something that memorializes whoever is being mourned. PJC
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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