Local agencies prepare community for trial of Pittsburgh synagogue shooter

For the last two years, the 10.27 Healing Partnership has helped prepare the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the impact of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial, scheduled to begin on April 24.

The organization has worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jewish Family and Community Services, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and others to anticipate the impact of the trial on the community, Director Maggie Feinstein said.

The Partnership, she said, also has reached out to Charleston, South Carolina, where nine Black congregants were murdered at Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015. The church has shared a lot about its members’ experiences but, Feinstein noted, every legal encounter is different.

“There is a distinct similarity of a religious group that experienced both the primary and vicarious trauma of the event and having a whole city and community impacted by something so horrific,” she said.

While the intervening years between the massacre and the trial have allowed some time for people to process the loss — and discover where they might find joy in the community — it hasn’t erased the anticipation and anxiety of the trial.

“There’s the old adage, ‘You control what you can and then you plan around what you can’t control,’” Feinstein said. “This is one of those things we can’t control.”

Nothing the 10.27 Healing Partnership or its community partners do, she stressed, has any impact on the legal proceedings. Instead, they endeavor to ensure the community is resilient in the face of the event.

“We are working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on things as mundane as how do we get water into the courthouse, how can we help with transportation — that’s the sort of logistical work we’re doing behind the scenes,” Feinstein said.

The Partnership is also working on building spiritual resilience, she said. Its staff has talked to leaders of different houses of worship about how they can continue their spiritual practices and find joy in what they are doing.

Accompanying the spiritual needs of the community are its emotional needs, and it is important to ensure that anyone who feels trauma has coping mechanisms at hand, Feinstein said.

Lulu Orr, a clinical specialist with JFCS, said that people experiencing anxiety or trauma can drop in to the 10.27 Healing Partnership during its regular hours, or they can call JFCS to talk or take advantage of its other services.

JFCS has some “really amazing therapists and several of them are trauma therapists who have been working with people in the community most affected by the shooting and will continue to do so,” she said.

The two organizations, Orr said, are jointly offering the community as many on-ramps as possible, including therapy, and meditation and relaxation techniques.

For many, stress and anxiety are rising as the trial date approaches, she said.

“We’ve been talking about the trial for so long but now it’s real,” Orr said. “It’s scary, frightening and anxiety-provoking. There are people that have never even been in the Tree of Life building but they’re feeling anxious and on high alert.”

Just as important as the emotional and therapeutic services on offer, Feinstein said, is providing education about the criminal justice system. That need was on full display on Feb. 16 when Gov. Josh Shapiro referenced the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial — as well as families of the victims, and survivors — when announcing his intention to continue a moratorium on state executions. The governor’s remarks confused many since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial is a federal case, separate from state laws and procedures.

Recent talks with David Harris, the Sally Ann Semenko endowed chair and professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, offered by the 10.27 Healing Partnership tried to cut through the confusion inherent in the legal systems and its various jurisdictions.

Harris said that he was pleased to have the opportunity to help the community prepare for the trial by offering two talks on U.S. law and the criminal justice system, attracting several hundred community members.

His goal, he said, was to provide a “knowledge base in real facts that would enable all of us to set our expectations for what would really happen.”

Most people, Harris said, tend to think of the legal system in one of two ways: a box where stuff goes and something else comes out — guilty or not guilty — or through the prism of television and movies.
“I tell all my students on the first day of criminal law that we’re going to have to unlearn entertainment,” he said. “The courtroom is a great entertainment vehicle, but it’s not very realistic.”

Rather than talk about the specifics of the Pittsburgh synagogue case — which he is largely unaware of, other than what has been made public — Harris offered a presentation on how a criminal trial works, and a discussion of the technical aspects of a death penalty case, including the distinctions between a federal and state death penalty case.

“This was an opportunity for me to serve a small role in helping my community become a little stronger so that when the trauma of the trial comes, and it will, we are all more ready for it and more savvy to and more realistic about it,” he said. “That can make us more resilient because we know it’s going to be very, very challenging.”

Michele Rosenthal, whose brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal were killed during the attack, said that the 10.27 Healing Partnership has been integral to the families over the last four years.

“They’ve brought us get together and provide an environment for us to feel safe and supported whether it’s virtual or physical,” she said.

Rosenthal said that Feinstein and her team have helped the broader community as well to understand the judicial process.

Despite not being involved in the legal process, the organization, Rosenthal noted, has made it easier for the families — helping with transportation, food and support staff.

“That’s a wide range, from therapists to support around the trial, that makes life a little easier for the families,” Rosenthal said.

The 10.27 Healing Partnership is working to assist both the broader community and families, which sometimes have different needs. For Rosenthal, that distinction is sometimes difficult because she knows the community has been affected by the attack and will have anxiety about the trial.

“Until you’ve lost a mother, father, brother or sibling, though, you don’t know what it’s like to go through this,” she said.

Rosenthal urges caution in the lead-up to the trial from those who might claim to know details of the case or how particular family members feel about it. That point was illustrated when Shapiro said on Feb. 16 that family members “of the 11 people slain … did not want the killer put to death.”

Rosenthal pointed to a letter printed by the Chronicle on Nov. 18, titled “Most families of Pittsburgh synagogue victims support the death penalty for the shooter.” The letter was signed by family members of 9 of the victims.

Feinstein said that as the trial date approaches, it’s natural that many might be fearful, but said it’s important to not be driven by emotion. She pointed to the work of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and steps taken by Shawn Brokos, its director of community security, to keep the community safe.

“This isn’t 2018,” Feinstein said. “We’re not in that same situation.”

And for those who may be feeling anxious, Feinstein said, the 10.27 Healing Partnership is available as a resource. PJC

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