Restored Tree of Life sanctuary to be named in memory of Sylvia and Martin Snow

When the rebuilt Tree of Life opens, a familiar name will be attached to the restored sanctuary.

The Sylvia and Martin Snow Family Fund has given The Tree of Life a $1 million gift, supporting the redesign of the sanctuary as well as programs and initiatives focused on growing and re-engaging membership in the congregation, particularly that of young families.

Snow family representative Josh Schachter said Tree of Life Congregation has been central in his family’s lives and they are proud to “ensure it can be a source of hope and community for future generations of Jewish families.”

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Michael Bernstein, chair of The Tree of Life organization’s board of directors, said there has been an ongoing dialogue with the family, who wanted to be part of the project and were waiting to find the best fit.

“They started to ask some questions around the sanctuary and the sanctuary space, which is such an important component of everything we do, because it will not only be the place where we hold all kinds of programs — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — but from a Jewish standpoint, it represents the return of Jewish life to the corner of Shady and Wilkins,” Bernstein said. “We suggested they name it as a way to honor their family’s legacy, and they loved it.”

Memorializing his grandparents through naming the sanctuary is significant, Schachter said, because the family celebrated multi-generational life cycle events there. He looks forward to continuing that, as well as attending High Holiday services and other events there.

“That’s where I got to share those memories with my grandmother, and my grandfather [who passed away when Schachter was 11 years old].”

Sylvia and Martin Snow were lifelong Pittsburghers, who began attending services at Tree of Life Congregation in the 1980s. Their son-in-law, Barton “Bob” Schachter, served as its president in the 1990s and was the executive director of the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill from 1982 to 1998.

Schachter said that after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting on Oct. 27, 2018, which occurred at the Tree of Life building, he saw the community “was struggling with how to move forward.”

Given his family’s history with the congregation, he said he felt a sense of responsibility, not only to the community but to the legacy of his grandparents and family, “to take a leadership role and help rebuild the congregation.”

“I’m thrilled to see my grandparents honored and memorialized in this way,” he noted. “My family is super excited, understanding that it’s taken a long time to get here.”

Schachter said he’s pleased to see the influx of young families who recently joined the congregation but noted, “We need more new families and the commitment of past members.”

“I would love for people I grew up with at the congregation to come back and be members,” he said.

Robin Friedman, Tree of Life Congregation’s president, said the gift represents “a first step” for many members, and connects to the legacy of both the congregation and the Snow family.

“We’re extremely happy in a monetary sense,” Friedman said, “but it’s more than that. It speaks to the longevity of the family at the Tree of Life. We’re happy to see them at services. It’s good that they want to continue their relationship with the Tree of Life.”

Bernstein said the gift will pay dividends to the entire community and beyond.

“Imagine school children or groups coming through the museum and learning about Jewish life in America,” he said. “They’ll be able to go in and sit in the sanctuary and understand some of the ritual components of sanctuary life in such an iconic space.”

The sanctuary space, he explained, will be multi-purpose, sometimes hosting events while functioning as a state-of-the-art auditorium. As a result, some of the sanctuary’s features, like the Torah-reading tables, will be removable. Others, that harken back to the legacy of the building — the historic stained glass windows, for instance — will be permanent.

A model for how the sanctuary will function is Sixth & I in Washington, D.C., “a refurbished synagogue that’s used a cultural center but has an active synagogue,” Bernstein said.

Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life, called the sanctuary the “heart of the building.”

The organization, she said, is grateful for the family’s gift, which will ensure “the sacred worship space continues to welcome future generations to experience the richness of Jewish tradition and joy.”

Schachter looks forward to continuing the legacy of celebrating life cycle events in the new building, and hopes to, perhaps, mark a milestone for both his family and the congregation.

“I’m excited to potentially have my daughter’s bat mitzvah be the first bat mitzvah in the new sanctuary,” he said. PJC

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