Jewish community gathers to remember Oct. 7
Israel at warCommemoration held outside of the JCC in Squirrel Hill

Jewish community gathers to remember Oct. 7

Statement put out by Ed Gainey, Sara Innamorato and Summer Lee ignites controversy

Thousands gathered for a vigil to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. (Photo by Julie Paris)
Thousands gathered for a vigil to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. (Photo by Julie Paris)

On a crisp fall evening beneath a sky streaked with clouds, a crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered on Darlington Road outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh to stand in solidarity with Israel and to remember the victims of Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state and the hostages still held in Gaza by the terrorist organization and its civilian accomplices.

The solemn service, attended by members of the Jewish community and its supporters — including Rep. Chris Deluzio, Mayor Ed Gainey, City Controller Rachel Heisler, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Conner, Allegheny County Council members Paul Klein and Sam DeMarco, and Pittsburgh City Council member Erika Strassburger — opened with remarks by Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Board Chair Jan Levinson, who read the names of 17 residents of Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether sister city, Karmiel, killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Jewish community member Karen Gal-Or next took the stage and recounted the story of her second cousin Eli, who was an officer in the special forces division of the IDF and was murdered by Hamas while he was defending civilians.

Gal-Or traveled with the Pittsburgh’s Federation to Israel earlier this year and recounted what she learned during her time there.

“Israel is a nation of superheroes,” she said. “They are our modern-day Maccabees.”

Perhaps the most moving moments of the vigil came when Israeli Michal Alon — who was volunteering on an IDF base with her family on Oct. 7 — stood before the crowd with her son and recounted her harrowing experience of being shot three times while she was caring for a soldier wounded by Hamas terrorists.

Her voice, at times heavy with emotion, spoke of the bravery of the IDF soldiers on the base, who were taken by surprise.

“They fought like lions and lionesses,” she said.

Michal Alon recounted the horrors she and her family experienced on Oct. 7 to those in attendance at a vigil held in Squirrel Hill. (Photo by David Rullo)

The names of the nearly 1,200 murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7 were displayed on a large screen accompanied by music played by a string quartet.

A video told of some of the horrors of the attack through the eyes of Israelis, then pivoted to the resilience of the Jewish community.

“Every single Jew, no matter where you are in the world, is in this together, and we need you wherever you are,” one of the Israelis featured in the video said.

Jeff Finkelstein, the Federation’s president and CEO, told the crowd that while the evening was heavy, the hope expressed in the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” will not be lost.

“As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart, with eyes turned toward the east, looking toward Zion, then our hope, the 2,000-year-old hope, will not be lost: to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem,” he said.

Congregation Beth Shalom Rabbi Seth Adelson, Beth El Congregation of the South Hills Rabbi Amy Greenbaum, Federation’s Gefsky Community Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff, Shaare Torah Rabbi Yitzi Genack, and Temple Emanuel of South Hills Rabbi Aaron Meyer and Cantor Kalix Jacobson led various prayers, blessings and, songs, throughout the service.

Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon, two University of Pittsburgh students attacked by a man wearing a keffiyeh earlier this year, offered the English translation of the Prayer for the State of Israel, which was read in Hebrew by two Shinshinot, Israeli teens in Pittsburgh for the year. “Hatikvah” and the “Star-Spangled Banner” closed the vigil.

Before the vigil began, public officials offered messages to mark one year since the Oct. 7 attack.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, whose district includes Squirrel Hill, recalled the attacks while saying he prayed for the return of all the hostages and peace.

Deluzio posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Today, we remember the lives taken in this horrific attack and keep the families of victims and hostages in our hearts.”

Heisler recalled waking to the news of Hamas’ terror attack. “The 365 days that have followed have left our Jewish community in anguish as we have witnessed the rapid and dramatic rise in anti-semitism,” she wrote on Facebook.

Pittsburgh City Council member Barb Warwick took to X to deride leaders, “From Israel to Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States…. We are less safe today than we were a year ago.”

Warwick’s post concluded by calling for a cease-fire.

The most controversial statement was a message issued jointly by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, County Executive Sara Innamorato and Rep. Summer Lee.

A statement by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, County Executive Sara Innamorato and Rep. Summer Lee sparked controversy.

After saying that they grieve with every person who has lost a family member, friend or loved one, the elected officials said: “Our hearts ache for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed, for the Israelis still held hostage, for the millions of displaced Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis who have seen their communities destroyed…”

Seemingly placing the blame on Israel, the message continued: “Our grief is compounded by the fact that it didn’t have to be this way. Over the past year, we’ve seen how continued escalation, a lack of diplomacy, and a drive for power by right-wing leaders have pushed the region to the brink of regional war.”

The post then charges: “We can’t afford to spend more money on bombs when healthcare remains out of reach for so many and our infrastructure has been neglected for a generation.”

It concludes with calls for elected leaders to “strive for a lasting peace that ensures safety, dignity and justice for all people.”

Condemnation of the Lee/Gainey/Innamorato message was quick among some elected leaders and members of the Jewish community.

Before the start of the vigil, Rabbi Aaron Meyer released a letter saying that he was “emotionally devastated” to read the Lee/Gainey/Innamorato statement.

“The pain of this tragedy,” he wrote, “is deep, and for the Jewish community, it has only deepened by your politically-charged and morally-equivocating statement.”

He criticized Lee, Gainey and Innamorato’s use of the words “massacre,” “displacement” and “suffering,” which, Meyer said, further “marginalizes the Jewish community, which is grieving the “rape, torture and murder of 1,2000 Israelis and foreign nationals,” as well as “the ongoing captivity, rape, torture and starvation of 101 hostages”… “the internal displacement of tens of thousands”…“the ongoing bombardment of our family, friends and co-religionists in Israel,” and “the startling rise in antisemitism experienced by Jews around the world.”

Frankel, on X, said that using the opportunity of the anniversary to “lash out against Israel and Israel alone is a baffling choice.”

Sen. Bob Casey said on X that he “couldn’t disagree more” with the Lee/Gainey/Innamorato statement, calling Hamas a “terrorist organization.”

“Hamas remains a threat to the people of Israel,” Casey wrote.

Federation officials wrote that they were “devastated” to read the joint statement.

Lee, Innamorato and Gainey, the Federation noted, “never mention who initiated this war — Hamas, an Iranian proxy and United States designated terror organization. They never mention the stated motivation of Hamas in this attack: to kill as many Jews as possible. They instead chose to engage in dangerous and false moral equivocation.”

The Federation added that it “should be simple to acknowledge the antisemitic attack on Oct. 7 without victim blaming.”

Following the vigil, Rabbis Daniel Fellman of Temple Sinai and Genack of Shaare Torah spoke to the press about the Lee/Gainey/Innamorato statement.

“For them to politicize this and turn this into a political event is detrimental to everybody,” Fellman said. “It harms everybody and all it does is make them look petty in their actions. Our city, our county and our congressional district deserve better leadership.”

Genack echoed Fellman’s comments, calling the statement “tone deaf.”

“I found it offensive, inappropriate and tone deaf that these leaders chose the day that Jews are marking the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust, when Jews are mourning, we’re reeling, we’re still hurting, to choose this as the day to form a false equivalency,” he said.

On Monday evening, Gainey sent another statement to the Chronicle, saying he was committed to the “safety and wellbeing of everyone who calls Pittsburgh home.”

He said he grieved for the victims, families and the Israeli people.

“Oct. 7, 2023, also marked the beginning of a war that has claimed thousands of innocent Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese lives,” Gainey wrote.

The mayor added that the conflict has fed a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia, and that he stands with the victims of hate.

“I fervently believe that we need one another to be safe,” Gainey wrote. “That is why yesterday I joined with Congresswoman Lee and County Executive Innamorato in amplifying the calls for peace being made by Palestinians, Israelis, and millions of people of good conscience across the world. I will continue to prioritize safety, equality, and justice for everyone, and to advocate for an end to violence and hatred of every kind. Let us forge a path forward grounded in love and empathy for everyone.”

Neither Lee nor Innamorato responded to the Chronicle’s calls and emails. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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