Righteous Among the Neighbors: Selina Shultz

Righteous Among the Neighbors is a project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh that honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and stand up against antisemitism. In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative and Mt. Lebanon High School, student journalists interview honorees and write profiles about their efforts. To learn more, visit hcofpgh.org/righteous-among-the-neighbors.

After the Oct. 27, 2018, attack on three Pittsburgh congregations, the country was astounded by the prevalence of antisemitism that still manifested itself in society 73 years after the end of World War II.

Antisemitism was the driving force that took the lives of 11 congregants and seriously wounded six others, including several police officers, in the shooting that CNN and the Anti-Defamation League classify as the most violent attack on Jewish people in American history.

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The attack on Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations was a heartbreaking and eye-opening display of hate that fractured the hearts of not only the congregations, but the community, state and country that surrounded it. Devastation from the shooting touched the hearts of millions and led people outside of the Jewish community to stand up to hate with an incomparable fervor and kindness.

Pittsburgh resident Selina Shultz, executive director of The Conflict Lab, which provides mediation training, became a light for the community after the shooting. Her extensive experience as a lawyer and mediation expert allowed her to come to the aid of victims of the attack.

“Taking my time with people, hearing their stories — this was really my first time working with people that had experienced such a deep trauma,” Shultz said. “The ability to listen and connect with people that I learned through doing divorce mediations or mediations in organizations was really helpful.”

While Shultz’s career has taught her many mediation skills that she uses to help the community, she insists that the people she met after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting were truly the ones helping her.

“They taught me so much,” Shultz said. “I really feel like they taught me more than I taught them.”

Since 2020, Shultz has worked with memorialization groups that allow her to harness relationships with the victims’ families as well as the three congregations impacted.

Her involvement in conflict resolution was what first introduced her to the Jewish community.

“There’s a really large portion in Pittsburgh who are Jewish,” Shultz said. “That morning, I was texting my friends, so I was touched by it in that way.”

But this introduction to the Jewish community was not where Shultz stopped. The Mediation Council gave a Conflict Resolution Day Award to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, commending the organization for its ability to “pull everyone together” right after the shooting. This award led Shultz to the opportunity to work with the families and congregations affected by the shooting, allowing her to harness an intimate relationship with, and leave a positive impact on, the victims.

“I trust the process,” Shultz said. “If you put people close to each other and open up their hearts to each other, people will be able to come to resolution. I have faith that when people are together their hearts are going to open up, they’re going to see each other, they’re going to see each other’s struggles and be able to work with each other.”

Shultz hopes her work has “been healing” and “lets people slow down.” She wants to give those she works with the ability to “step above the trauma for a moment, and be able to think about what’s important in the long run,” she said.

“People get stuck in conflict, they can’t reach their full potential,” Schultz added. “I want to give people the skills to navigate conflict and to stop thinking they can avoid it.”

Schultz insists that what she has done for the Jewish community is nothing compared to what the Jewish community has given her.

“There is such love and warmth there,” Schultz said. “I am so grateful to have worked with these families. They are amazing people and they make me cherish my family more. They were 11 incredible people and their families are incredible. It has been a blessing to me, a huge blessing, a life-changing blessing.”

Schultz regards her work with the Jewish community and on the board of Greenpeace, a global network of organizations that work to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions, as some of her most significant accomplishments.

“It’s hard to hate close up,” Shultz said. “We need dialogue and conversations. There’s no clear answers here, and getting people to sit down and understand each other, and hear each other’s experiences — it’s dialogue, it’s never war. The only way out is dialogue. We need to understand and see the humanity in each other.” PJC

Abby Sohyda is a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School.