Saturday, Oct. 27, 11 people were killed and six more were wounded in a shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. The massacre is believed to be the deadliest attack on the American Jewish community in U.S. history.
“My holy place has been defiled,” Tree of Life rabbi Jeffrey Myers said to AP News.
Myers remembers gathering in the main sanctuary of the synagogue to begin a service when a gunman walked in and began shooting congregants. Other survivors of the attack recall hearing the gunshots upstairs and taking refuge in the darkness of a supply closet in the basement.
Of those killed in the attacks, the youngest victim was 54 and the oldest was 97. The causalities include a pair of siblings, a husband and wife, local physicians and dentists – all of whom are remembered fondly by their community.
Authorities have apprehended the gunman, who expressed hatred of Jews during the attacks. Robert Gregory Bowers, the suspect in custody, was charged with 11 state counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation. He also faces a 29-count federal criminal complaint that includes counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, a federal hate crime.
U.S. Attorney Scott Brady announced Sunday, Oct. 28 federal prosecutors are seeking approval from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to pursue the death penalty against Bowers.
Nationwide, Americans are speaking up and sharing their condolences for the lives lost during the shooting. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns observed a moment of silence before their game at Heinz Field. More than 2,000 mourners gathered at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh Sunday night for a vigil honoring the victims. A crowdfunding campaign called Muslims Unite for Pittsburgh Synagogue has swept across social media, raising over $90,000 for survivors and families.
New York City mayor Bill De Blasio has also spoken out on behalf of the people of New York in the wake of the shooting.
“Violence against people because of their faith does not represent our values,” De Blasio said.
Over the past few years, the U.S. has seen a surge in anti-Semitic incidents. In 2017, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, reported the largest year-on-year increase in anti-Semitic incidents since the group began collecting data in 1979. The Southern Poverty Law Center, responsible for tracking various hate groups in the U.S., repeatedly sees anti-Semitism surface in their research as one of the most pervasive forms of bigotry in nation.
Throughout history, American Jews have faced social discrimination, acts of vandalism against sacred spaces and recently, social-media harassment. The Tree of Life Synagogue is by no means the first place where anti-Semitism has manifested in violence against Jews in this country.
Talk-radio host Alan Berg was shot and killed in front of his home in 1984 by four members of the white supremacist group, the Order. Berg was known for challenging anti-Semites and white supremacists on his radio show. Buford O. Furrow Jr. walked into the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles Aug. 10, 1999 and fired 70 shots from a submachine gun, injuring five people. Furrow admitted to considering other Jewish targets in the area, including the Skirball Cultural Center and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He wanted his actions to be a wake-up call to Americans to start taking out Jews.
In 2006, Naveed Afzal Haq shot six women working in the Seattle Jewish Federation offices. The incident was classified as a hate crime and Haq was convicted three years later. On the eve of Passover in 2014, a man opened fire at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and at a nearby Jewish retirement community, killing three people. The shooter, Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., was a well-known former Ku Klux Klan leader.
In the wake of the Tree of Life shooting, representatives from a variety of religious and nonreligious world views suggest the best response to religious and ethnic violence is interfaith coalition building. If you are interested in taking part in a local interfaith vigil for victims of violence and hate, the Lancaster County Interfaith Coalition will be holding an interfaith prayer vigil Nov. 5th at 6 p.m. at Penn Square in Lancaster, PA.
