Tree of Life organization announces new name

Nearly eight years after the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history — during which 11 Jews from three congregations were murdered during Shabbat services — the Tree of Life organization has announced a new name.

Created in 2022 with the mission to end antisemitism, the nonprofit’s new name, The Tree of Life Center for Humanity, was announced in a video narrated by actor Tom Hanks, who served on the honorary cabinet when the organization’s “Remember. Rebuild. Renew.” campaign was first announced.

Michael Bernstein, Tree of Life Center for Humanity board chair, said that sharing a name with the Tree of Life building where the attack occurred on Oct. 27, 2018, was important when the organization was launched, but its leadership recognized the “inherent challenge” of distinguishing what the center would be doing and how that relates to Tree of Life Congregation.

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“We didn’t have to address it out of the gate,” Bernstein noted, “but it’s important as we build the foundation and really understand who we are and where our lane is in terms of a new institution, both locally and nationally.”

The new name codifies the shared humanity central to the organization’s mission of uprooting antisemitism and hate, according to Carole Zawatsky, CEO of the Tree of Life Center for Humanity.

“The Tree of Life Center for Humanity will not only be a beacon of Jewish life here in Pittsburgh, but also will be a national model for bridge building and education,” she said.

The new name, Bernstein offered, speaks to the Jewish values at the core of the organization’s mission.

“Welcoming the stranger, repairing the world — this is who we are,” he said.

In a statement announcing the change, the Tree of Life Center for Humanity said the name is a nod to its “education-centered approach to countering antisemitism, hate, and division, which focuses on building community and forging new relationships across differences by emphasizing shared values.”

The Tree of Life Center for Humanity has a unique position, as various other organizations — especially post-Oct. 7 — grapple with how best to address the rising tide of hate, Bernstein noted.

“We have a sense of space that no other institution has,” he said. “What happened on Oct. 27, 2018, happened at our place on the corner of Shady and Wilkins. It violated a sense of sanctuary. We should all feel safe when we are in sacred spaces, practicing our religion, practicing being in community, and ours was violated.”

The institution’s name, he explained, reclaims the importance of sacred space for gathering, “not just for Jews, but certainly for Jews and others, who want to join us in those sacred spaces and hopefully gives the courage for others to stand up and establish sacred spaces of their own.”

Construction on the building is underway and was the subject of a recent town hall meeting, where an update on the progress of the work was shared.

Bernstein said that the while it might seem like it has taken awhile to begin construction on the site, there’s a natural evolution to capital projects.

“It’s slow, slow, slow, and then you hit a tipping point, and it goes faster,” he said. “The fact that we’re a startup organization adds to that. Startups take a long time until they launch. It was steady progress, but of course everyone — nobody more so than me — wants it to go faster.”

The project has reached the stage, he said, where vision, funding, financing and design are “all systems go.”

“I think it’s going to be a sprint for the next 18 months until we’re open,” he said.

To date, more than $51.5 million has been raised in support of the project. Donors include the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Henry Hillman Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the PNC Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The project has also received funding through federal grants secured by Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation and through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, as well as from individual donors.

Those funds will support the building, establishment of a museum, programming — including the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and LIGHT Initiative — as well as seed operations costs and program reserves to ensure the institution’s long-term financial stability and health, and the creation of the 10/27 Memorial.

The new building will include a restored sanctuary/auditorium, exhibit space, lobby, library, social hall, gathering spaces and kitchen, as well as offices for both The Tree of Life Center for Humanity and Tree of Life Congregation, and a secure courtyard.

The building is scheduled to open in early 2028.

“The Tree of Life Center for Humanity will open its doors to thousands of students, families and people of good moral conscience, equipping them to uproot antisemitism by remembering those taken from us and building relationships across difference to repair our world,” Bernstein said. PJC

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