Voices of resilience: 10/27 survivors share their stories to combat hate
Strength and healingEradicate Hate Global Summit

Voices of resilience: 10/27 survivors share their stories to combat hate

REACH, a speakers bureau of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, provides communities with resources and inspires others to combat hate in all forms.

Audrey Glickman (left), Andrea Wedner and Ron Wedner were panelists at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit on Oct. 21 (Photo by Sally Maxson/Eradicate Hate Global Summit)
Audrey Glickman (left), Andrea Wedner and Ron Wedner were panelists at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit on Oct. 21 (Photo by Sally Maxson/Eradicate Hate Global Summit)

Soon after Rose Mallinger was murdered with 10 others in the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018, her granddaughter Amy Mallinger knew that she needed to tell the story of her loss.

“I wanted to keep my bubbie’s spirit alive,” said Mallinger, 31, whose aunt Andrea Wedner, Rose’s daughter, was severely wounded in the mass shooting. “It was very healing, and I found that other survivors wanted to tell their stories, too.”

With that belief, Mallinger co-founded REACH (Remembering, Educating and Combating Hate), a speakers bureau of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, whose mission includes providing communities with resources of resilience and strength, and inspiring others to combat hate in all forms.

Since REACH’s launch, with the Partnership’s Ranisa Davidson, just over a year ago, Mallinger and other survivors have visited more than a dozen schools and organizations in western Pennsylvania and beyond, with more planned, including in Salt Lake City in November.

REACH volunteers discussed the growing impact of their work on a panel “Investing in Survivor Narrative: Building a Sustainable Speakers Platform” Oct. 21 at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2024 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Jodi Kart, 58, lost her father, Mel Wax, in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and regards REACH as her calling.

For the first year after her father was killed, “I tried to figure out how to honor his legacy, how to turn my pain into something purposeful,” Kart told the audience. “I knew I had a story to tell but I didn’t know how to make that happen.”

She has spoken at her son’s high school twice.

“One of the most powerful, and unexpected, things are the students’ reactions,” she said. “They approach us with insightful questions. They share their own traumas and ask how we heal.”

Kart’s message is that love and compassion will always triumph over hate. “If I can share my message and make one person a little kinder I will have succeeded,” she said.

Wedner said the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting story needs to be told, and people want to hear it.

“In my engagements, I emphasize actionable steps,” said Wedner, whose husband, Ron, joined her on stage. “We ask everyone to go forward with us…to go beyond the suffering.”

Wedner still grapples with the memory of how her mother died, and said being part of REACH is a way to honor her.

Following her presentation, Wedner recounted how students in the Northgate School District were eager to hug her and other presenters. “One girl had just lost her mother,” she said. “We console each other.”

“It gives us energy to keep going, to keep my mother’s memory alive and to do ‘good’ in the world. Seeing our strength gives people hope.”

Wedner’s brother Alan Mallinger begins his presentations by showing a 40-minute version of the documentary film “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life,” and then addresses his audience.

“Meeting us makes it real,” he said. “Some kids impacted by hate and bullying will want to talk with us after the program about how to deal with it.”

Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, moderated the panel.

Meryl Ainsman, executive director of The Philip Chosky Charitable and Educational Foundation introduces panelists (left to right) Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, Amy Mallinger, co-founder of REACH, Nick Haberman, coordinator of civic engagement and anti-hate education at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, and Ranisa Davidson, co-founder of REACH (Photo by Deborah Weisberg)
Families of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims want to tell their stories, just as Holocaust survivors do, she said. “They want to turn overwhelming feelings of ‘never again’ into action.”

Studies indicate that hearing Holocaust survivors speak can inspire a greater sense of civic responsibility in the listener, Feinstein said. “They see themselves as responsible for being part of the change.”

A record increase in antisemitic incidents has heightened a feeling of vulnerability within the Jewish community and an urgency to address it, she said.

Following the panel discussion, Feinstein summed up REACH’s impacts.

“For family members who share their stories there is the belief that people care about an experience that was so painful and difficult for them, and that, as a result, they will do something to prevent bullying and hate,” she said.

It has helped make teachers more comfortable with taking on issues of modern-day antisemitism than before, and students are able to feel connected with people of different faiths and neighborhoods, Feinstein said. “They can relate what they are hearing to what is happening in their own lives.”

Students at a school in South Fayette Township, for example, were motivated to organize an Eradicate Hate club, Feinstein said.

Amy Mallinger said REACH tries to go to schools where exposure to Jews may be minimal.
The reaction is often one of “Jews are just like us,” she said. “I have a grandmother. You have a grandmother.”

Students will relate what they are hearing to struggles they may be having, like being bullied over LBGTQ issues, she said.

Speakers veer away from politics.

Not all Pittsburgh synagogue shooting survivors are involved with REACH, and there’s no pressure for them to participate, Feinstein said.

Those who become speakers can receive help with polishing their public speaking skills and developing their biographies. REACH has established presentation guidelines and works with schools in preparation for presenter visits.

But survivors are “the experts in their own stories,” said panelist Davidson. “And we know from our work with trauma that sharing personal stories can be healing.”

Sharyn Stein, whose husband, Daniel, was killed during the shooting, told the audience that “it has taken me about six years to find my voice and the strength to speak up about the most horrific and traumatic event of my life.”

“I’m Danny’s voice now,” she said. PJC

Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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