‘Their light remains here with us all’: Tree of Life victims remembered four years later

Family and friends of those killed in the Tree of Life massacre lit candles in memory of their loved ones in Schenley Park Thursday afternoon. Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, thanked the community for coming together to remember “our kedoshim,” or “holy ones” in Hebrew.

“We say their names, we hold their memories for a blessing, and we know that their light remains here with us all,” Feinstein said. “We all stand here together because we remember that we are stronger, together.”

Hundreds of people gathered in Schenley Park on Thursday to commemorate the 11 lives lost in the Oct. 27, 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue, the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States. The worshippers belonged to the three congregations — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha — which share the Tree of Life building. 

A candle was lit for each of the victims — Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

Rabbi Amy Bardack of the Dor Hadash congregation led the crowd in a prayer for those killed.

“May you who are the source of mercy shelter them beneath your wings eternally, and bind their souls among the living, that they may rest in peace,” Bardack said.

The Pittsburgh Youth Chorus and Rodman Street Baptist Choir performed songs about finding peace and togetherness. Bob Rosenthal, a resident of Oakland, emphasized the importance of community in the wake of hate. 

“All components of the community coming together, to any other [community] who suffers tragedy, not just this one, really is healing,” Rosenthal said. “I don’t know if this event will ever heal for me, but it really helps.”

Hannah Kaye read Mi Sheberach, a Jewish prayer for healing, first in Hebrew and then in English. Kaye’s mother, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, was killed when a gunman opened fire at Chabad of Poway in Poway, California in 2019.

“May the holy and blessed one be filled with mercy on them and restore their health and heal them, strengthen them and renew their life,” Kaye said. 

Survivors and witnesses of the attack read Psalm 23 in unison.

“Although I walk in the veil of death’s shadow, I will fear no harm for you are with me; your rod and your staff console me,” they said.

Mayor Ed Gainey, county executive Rich Fitzgerald and councilperson Erika Strassburger were also in attendance and led the crowd in a prayer “for our country.”

“Uproot from our hearts hatred and malice, jealousy and strife,” Gainey read. ”Plant love and companionship and friendship among the many peoples who dwell in our nation.”

Lauren Bairnsfather, executive director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, recalled how Holocaust survivor Magda Brown was scheduled to speak at Chatham University the day after the attack, on Oct. 28, 2018. After Magda heard of the attack on Tree of Life, she did not hesitate to fulfill her plans to speak, calling it “more important than ever,” according to Bairnsfather. 

“This petite 92-year-old Holocaust survivor showed us all about resistance, compassion and community, that we are not defined by those who would do us harm,” Bairnsfather said.

Bairnsfather offered her “gratitude and love” to the community as they remembered those who passed.

“It has been four years. It’s hard to believe. Yet the work of memory is beside us and in front of us, it’s all around us, and it is our sacred duty to remember,” Bairnsfather said “I am grateful and proud to be part of a community where individuals have been willing to see … that we have much more that connects us than should ever divide us.”