Pittsburghers gather to commemorate Oct. 27
“Here in Pittsburgh, we all hold the legacy from 10/27/18, that we are stronger together."
An overflow crowd of more than 400 people gathered at the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center to commemorate the lives lost, survivors and legacy of Oct. 27, 2018.
The sixth annual ceremony was the first to be held at the JCC — previous commemoration events were held in Schenley Park — and included in attendance Jewish community members, spiritual and lay leaders and a bevy of politicians.
Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, said the commemoration working group decided to change the location of the event after considering that there may be fewer people attending over the next several years. Additionally, the Jewish community gathered for several large events this past year, including the Oct. 7 commemoration, which all pulled on public safety resources.
Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stern, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger — members of Congregation Dor Hadash, New Light Congregation and Tree of Life Congregation — were murdered when a gunman entered the Tree of Life building and committed the deadliest act of antisemitic violence in U.S. history.
The ceremony, which included both familiar and new elements, was opened by Feinstein acknowledging those murdered, as well as the continued trauma felt by the Jewish community, amplified by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in Israel and the subsequent uptick in antisemitism.
“Here in Pittsburgh, we all hold the legacy from 10/27/18, that we are stronger together,” she said before noting that the attack brought out “some of the best that Pittsburgh had to offer.”
Feinstein’s remarks were followed by the lighting of 11 yahrzeit candles by loved ones of the 11 victims.
New Light Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, a survivor of the attack, chanted “El Malei Rahamim,” followed by a recitation of Psalm 90 by Dor Hadash Rabbi Amy Bardack.
Feinstein noted that one of the remarkable things to come out of Oct. 27 and the subsequent trial was the growth of relationships. One example is the bond formed with Nicole Vasquez Schmitt who, as assistant U.S. attorney, was part of the team that successfully prosecuted the case against the shooter.
Along with her son Hudson and keyboardist Shay Carter, Vasquez Schmitt performed two songs —Leonard Cohen’s familiar “Hallelujah” and “A Million Dreams” from the film “The Greatest Showman.”
“I think it really speaks to dreaming about a better world and making a better world,” she said. “And that’s something we want to do in honor of the 11.”
Congregational readings by New Light’s Barbara Caplan, Tree of Life’s Robin Friedman and Dor Hadash’s Bruce Herschlag followed the musical performance.
Before Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers led the crowd in a rendition of “Mi Sheberach,” Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon addressed the audience. The two college students were attacked on Aug. 30 at the University of Pittsburgh’s campus by a man wearing a keffiyeh.
Goodwin noted that what he and Gordon experienced paled in comparison to the horrors of Oct. 27, but he never thought he would be attacked in Pittsburgh while walking on Shabbat. The antisemitic attack on a friend just a short time after his own assault, Goodwin said, “shattered my reality more than the initial attack.”
Gordon said that although he came to Pitt three years after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, he felt the impact of the day. The Jewish community at Pitt, he said, is strong and filled with pride, even in light of recent campus unrest.
“You cannot live constantly looking over your shoulder in fear of being attacked on the street for being visibly Jewish,” he said. “You can, however, be proud of who you are. You can wear your kippah, wear your Magen David and go to shul, embrace the love of your community and hold hands with your neighbors who are different than you. We believe there’s a greater good among us and in us.”
A reading by the survivors of Oct. 27 was followed by “A Prayer for Our Country,” led by first responders Justin Sypolt, Jerry Wasek, Officer Michael Smidga and Mandy Tinkey.
Amy and Eric Mallinger and Steven Wedner, grandchildren of Rose Mallinger, read “A Prayer for Peace” before concluding thoughts were delivered by Noah Schoen, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s community outreach associate and co-creator of the Meanings of October 27, an oral history project that explores Pittsburghers’ experience of and reflections on Oct. 27.
Schoen connected the yearly cycle of Torah readings and the annual commemoration ceremony.
“Let’s keep telling stories about that day, about the people who we lost and the people who touched us, about what we can’t yet seem to get over and about what we never expected to learn,” he said.
Attendees were greeted by mosaics inspired by grief and healing and created by students at Community Day School, Kentucky Ave. School, Pittsburgh Greenfield K-8, St. Edmund’s Academy and Sterrett Classical Academy.
Local politicians who attended the ceremony included Allegheny County Chief Executive Sara Innamorato; Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey; State Rep. Dan Frankel; State Sen. Jay Costa; City Council members Barb Warwick and Erika Strassburger; City Controller Rachael Heisler; Allegheny County Council members Sam DeMarco and Paul Klein; County Controller Corey O’Connor; U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio; former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate; and James Hayes, the Republican candidate for Congress, District 12.
Commemoration activities conclude this year on Nov. 18 and 19 with Torah study at the Squirrel Hill JCC, honoring the yahrzeit of the 11 people killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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