Righteous Among the Neighbors: Bill Peduto

Righteous Among the Neighbors is a project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh that honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism. In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative and Mt. Lebanon High School, student journalists interview honorees and write profiles about their efforts. This year’s Righteous Among the Neighbors honorees are Dr. Joshua Andy, Terri Baltimore, Arlene and Jeff Berg, Josiah Gilliam, Bill and Mardi Isler, James Lucot, Bill Peduto, Lynne Ravas, and Selina Shultz. To learn more, visit hcofpgh.org/righteous-among-the-neighbors.

On the fateful day of Oct. 27, 2018, shots were fired in the Tree of Life building, home to three synagogues in Squirrel Hill.

Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh’s mayor at the time, recalled that tragic day as one of the “most horrific acts of antisemitism in American history.”

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Eleven people were murdered, and several seriously injured, including first responders.

Due to his honorable actions as mayor during the attack, Peduto is a recipient of the Righteous Among The Neighbors award given by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. Righteous Among The Neighbors recognizes the work of non-Jews who show allyship toward the Jewish community.

On the morning of the attack, Peduto had some time off and was catching up on sleep when he received a phone call from his chief of staff, Dan Gilman. When a second call came moments later, he knew something was terribly wrong.

“The words he said to me were ‘active shooter at the Tree of Life, multiple casualties, officers down,’ and it hit me very hard,” Peduto said. “I just said to him, ‘Can I call you back in one minute?’ and I put the phone down and I prayed. We arrived at the synagogue before SWAT. We were there with the first officers on the scene.”

Peduto recalled public safety officers arriving at the scene from all over Pittsburgh and watching as they took control of the shooter. Once the scene was secured, Peduto knew the next step was helping the families receive the information they needed and strengthening the community.

“I lived right by Tree of Life, and so it had a profound effect upon me personally,” he said. “ I knew a lot of the families that lost loved ones.”

The days that followed were sleepless for Peduto as he provided aid in every way that he could.
“The immediate actions that occurred were going to the JCC and meeting with the leaders of the Jewish Federation [of Greater Pittsburgh] and then going downstairs where family members were waiting for news,” Peduto said. “Then going to the hospitals to visit the people who were wounded, and that evening going to the homes of the people who lost their loved ones.”

Peduto knows he will never recover from the impacts of the attack, even though six years have passed since that day.

“I don’t think I have and I don’t think I will,” he said. “I think there is a certain level of PTSD that occurs with anybody that is in a leadership position. You balance it by knowing how much more the families and community have suffered, but you don’t lose that feeling of loss.”

Peduto’s passion for helping the Jewish community recover from this horrific act of antisemitism has inspired him to continue on a path to prevent the spread of hate.

“What I have decided to do is dedicate the next chapter of my life in addressing hate extremism and polarization through a group called the Strong Cities Network,” Peduto said.

The Strong Cities Network is an organization of more than 240 cities dedicated to government-led prevention of hate. In August, 78 leaders from across the United States met in Pittsburgh where the formation of the organization’s North America Regional Hub was announced. Each city that joins will engage a small group of local staff in that region to offer support and respond to specific city needs. This organization differs from others of its kind because in addition to targeting the prevention of hate, it encourages wellbeing and resilience in a community.

Peduto feels confident that Pittsburgh’s Jewish community will continue to grow in strength as people come together in the face of tragedy and rise above it.

Ultimately his goal is that regardless of one’s religious community, we will “be able to see that being a part of that interfaith dialogue helps us to recognize how we are more alike than different.” PJC

Alyson Lushko is a junior at Mt. Lebanon High School.