Tree Of Life Menorah Lighting Provides Strength Through Unity

PITTSBURGH, PA - Five weeks after 11 congregants were shot to death at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, hundreds of people attended a special menorah lighting service there Sunday on the first night of Hanukkah.

They gathered around the menorah, placed where a makeshift memorial to the victims stood outside the synagogue for several weeks before being moved indoors. They held glow in the dark candles, prayed and sang traditional Hannukah songs in English and Yiddish as the menorah was lit.

The ceremony was held less than a week after the end of Shloshim, a 30-day mourning period observed by Jews after a death.

Photo: Eric Heyl/Patch staff.

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