Community remembers synagogue massacre victims amid rising antisemitism

Six years ago on Oct. 27, 11 worshippers from three congregations — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life — were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in what’s believed to be the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. 

Community members gathered at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill for a commemoration organized by 10.27 Healing Partnership. The sixth-year mark since the attack takes place amid a country-wide rise in antisemitism following the start of the Israel-Hamas war and after Jewish students were attacked on Pitt’s campus on two separate occasions. 

Maggie Feinstein, the director of 10.27 Healing Partnership, began the commemoration by acknowledging the impact of the massacre.

“We’re here today to remember six years ago when our Pittsburgh community and Jewish people around the world were forever changed by an act of violence, changed because of the loss and suffering, but also changed because of the incredible outpouring of kindness and solidarity,” Feinstein said.

A part of the legacy of the attack in Pittsburgh, Feinstein said, is the knowledge that “we are stronger together.” 

“We appreciate the brave responders who saved lives and brought the highest standard to the profession that day. We remember incredible acts of solidarity by leaders and compassion by neighbors as sources of strength, congregants of different faith communities who felt drawn to come to the Tree of Life building in those first few weeks,” Feinstein said. “The attack also brought out some of the best that Pittsburgh has to offer, and we must remember the thousands of ways that happened.”

Feinstein also acknowledged “another monumental shift for our Jewish brothers and sisters in the United States” caused by the Oct. 7 attack.

“We face new traumas inflicted by antisemitism,” Feinstein said. “In Israel, the wounds of the Oct. 7 attack are still raw, and many of us are overwhelmed by our fear and deep compassion. As these events unfold, we continue to recognize the victims and survivors as they continue or start their own healing journeys.”

After Feinstein spoke, family and friends of the victims took to the stage, lighting 11 candles for each person killed in the attack — Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

Feinstein later introduced Ilan Gordon, a senior exercise science major, and Asher Goodwin, a senior computer engineering major, to make remarks before leading a prayer for healing alongside Tree of Life Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers. 

“On Oct. 27, 2018, we saw the Jewish community come together and join hands on the saddest day in American Jewish history. Although we came to Pitt three years after the attack, we have always felt the impact that the day had on our Jewish community,” Gordon said. “Throughout our time in Pittsburgh, we have been a part of a very strong Jewish community on campus.”

Goodwin and Gordon were two students attacked in the Cathedral of Learning Aug. 30 on their way to a Chabad dinner. A second attack on another Jewish student occurred Sept. 27. Gordon said the attack was not only on Jewish students on Pitt’s campus but on “our community as a whole.”

“Despite these incidents, our Pitt community and the greater Jewish community rallied around each other, and you made sure to let us know through overwhelming support that we were not alone,” Gordon said.

After the prayer for healing, survivors read the poem “Give Us Strength” followed by two prayers before Feinstein introduced Noah Schoen to share concluding thoughts on remembrance.

Schoen, the community outreach associate at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, conducted an oral history project interviewing people across Pittsburgh about their life stories and reflections on the attack. He shared his reflections on his research.

“As I interviewed people over and over again, I watched them exercise that agency to decide how they wanted to remember, to decide what meaning they wanted to make,” Schoen said. “We get to choose how we remember.”

Schoen said the second thing he learned was how the Jewish tradition can “teach us about how to tell a story about a difficult time in a way that builds our resilience.” He emphasized the importance of continuing to talk about the Oct. 27 attack.

“Let’s keep telling stories about that day, about the people who we lost and the people who touched us, about what we can’t seem to get over and about what we never expected to learn,” Schoen said.