Tree Of Life Synagogue Shootings: A Solemn Anniversary

PITTSBURGH, PA — Since gunfire shattered the stillness of a rainy Saturday morning last October, nothing has been the same. The fallout from the worst slaughter of Jewish people in the nation’s history continues daily.

Since the mass murder of 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue, people have struggled to make sense of a senseless act of venomous hate. Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who whispered to a 911 dispatcher that morning after barricading himself in the choir loft restroom, recently detailed the determination that task requires.

Speaking at an event to discuss how the one-year anniversary of the massacre will be observed, Myers said, “I live with Oct. 27 every minute of every hour of every day, and I will for the rest of my life. Each of us finds the strength and the courage to integrate what happened into our beings, to move forward. I refuse to let the perpetrator make me another full-time victim. I won’t let it happen. I refuse.”

The anniversary of that grim day is marked with the theme of “Remember. Repair. Together.” Events will include a Jewish service in the morning, people performing community service in the city, studying the Torah and a public memorial service at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

No events are scheduled at the site of the shooting, the home of Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash congregations.

The events that have happened since the attacks have included legal proceedings involving the accused shooter, honoring the victims, pondering the fate of the synagogue building and more. Here’s what has occurred:

The Victims

Eleven people walked into Tree of Life that Saturday morning and did not walk out: Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and his brother, David Rosenthal, 54; Richard Gottfried, 65; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Sylvan Simon, 86, and his wife, Bernice, 84; Daniel Stein, 71, Melvin Wax, 88 and Irving Younger, 69.

The Victims of Terror Fund established after the shooting has allocated $300,000 of the $6.3 million collected in donations for a memorial to the victims and to fund efforts to combat anti-Semitism.

Other efforts have been made to ensure that their names won’t fade into obscurity. That’s particularly true in the case of the Rosenthal brothers, known to family and friends as “the boys,” because of their gentle, kindhearted nature.

ACHIEVA, which operates the residence where the pair lived with others with intellectual disabilities, partnered with their family to establish the Cecil and David Rosenthal Memorial Fund. To date, more than $90,000 has been donated to the fund, which will be used to assist the intellectually or developmentally disabled.

"Cecil's laugh was infectious. David was so kind and had such a gentle spirit," said Chris Schopf, ACHIEVA vice president of residential support. "Together, they looked out for one another. They were inseparable. Most of all, they were kind, good people with a strong faith and respect for everyone around."

Another victim, Gottfried, was a well-known dentist who had a practice in the North Hills with his wife and fellow dentist, Margaret Durachko. When Ross Township officials decided to initiate a Distinguished Service Award, they decided to give the inaugural one to the couple — and then name it after them. The couple were volunteers at the Catholic Charities Free Dental Clinic and Durachko is the North Hills School District dentist.

Fienberg’s daughter-in-law, Marnie Fienberg, started a grassroots effort to combat anti-Semitism in her memory. Dubbed 2 for Seder, the initiative encourages Jewish families to welcome non-Jews into their home for Passover to experience the holiday.

The Accused Killer

Having recovered from wounds he sustained in a gunfight with police the day of the massacre, accused gunman Robert Bowers is housed in the Butler County Prison. His trial tentatively is scheduled to begin in September.

Bowers is charged with 11 counts each of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, use and discharge of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence, use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, two counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon and resulting in bodily injury, eight counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon, and resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer, and one count of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving use of a dangerous weapon and resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer.

The former truck driver is represented by a team that includes Judy Clarke, a high-profile defense attorney who has represented some of the nation’s most notorious killers, including Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as the Unabomber; Jared Loughner, who killed six people and wounded 13 others — including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — in a 2011 shooting; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber convicted of killing three people.

According to court filings earlier this month, federal prosecutors rejected an offer from Bowers to plead guilty to the crimes in exchange for a sentence of life in prison.

The Money

More than $6.3 million was donated to the Victims of Terror fund created after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre will go primarily to the victims' survivors, injured police officers and the three congregations affected by the shooting.

Here’s how the money is being divided:

• $4.8 million in "compassion payments" to the families of those killed, two survivors, those trapped in the building during the shooting and some individuals outside of the building during the massacre.

• $500,000 to the injured police officers.

• $450,000 to Tree of Life/L'Simcha Congregation.

• $300,000 for a victims' memorial and anti-Semitism education efforts.

• $100,000 to New Light Congregation.

• $100,000 to Congregation Dor Hadash.

The Synagogue

Although the sites of other mass murders have been closed or demolished, that’s never been an option with Tree of Life. As Myers has said more than once, “The H-word won’t drive us out of our home.”

Earlier this month, the synagogue outlined plans to reopen and construct a memorial for the victims.

The building will be extensively renovated into a cooperative and collaborative space that includes places for Jewish worship; memorial, education and social engagement; exhibit space for archival historical artistic expression; as well as classrooms and training spaces.

"We are poised to become an incredible center for Jewish life in the United States," Myers said. "When we reopen, and we most certainly will, I want the entire world to say 'Wow. Look at what they have done.' To do anything less disrespects the memory of our 11 martyrs."

Whether the building site includes the public memorial or a commemorative space dedicated in memory of the victims (with a public memorial located elsewhere) will be determined at a later date. Tree of Life Executive Director Barb Feige said the synagogue will work with the victims’ families on the memorial.

The renovated synagogue will include worship spaces for Tree of Life and other congregations, along with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and Chatham University. A preliminary building plan is scheduled to be completed by late spring of next year when an updated building timeline will be available.

In September, the industrial blue tarps on the chain link fencing around the building were replaced with more than 100 decorative windscreens designed by students 18 and younger. Several are from Taylor Allderdice High School, located nearby in Squirrel Hill, and other Pittsburgh-area schools.

But dozens of submissions were received from students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student killed 17 people and injured 17 others in a mass shooting in February 2018. Students from Columbine High School in Colorado, the site of a mass murder in 1999, also submitted works of art.

The messages on the windscreens "deal with hope and love and fighting the H-word," Feige said. "The light and love there now makes the site feel renewed and hopeful."

The Mosque Shootings

In March, Pittsburgh received a sickening reminder of the crime when 50 people were killed and many others wounded in the Christchurch mosques attacks in New Zealand. The suspect in the shootings is a 28-year-old white supremacist.

Tree of Life established a GoFundMe page in hopes of raising $100,000 to aid the victims families; thus far more than $64,000 has been pledged. The fund was started partly because of the strong support the synagogue received from the city’s Muslim community immediately after the shootings.

The Neighborhood

In May, students at nearby Taylor Allderdice High School planted a circle of 11 trees on the school's front lawn that will be a permanent tribute to the shooting victims. The memorial will be a large one, with the dawn redwoods expected to grow to be 60-to-70 feet tall.

A year after the deadly attack, many businesses in the Squirrel Hill business district a short walk from the synagogue still display the “Stronger Than Hate” signs in their windows. The signs sprung up immediately after the shootings.

The signs underscore the concept that has been the mantra of Pittsburgh since the shootings. It’s three simple words: Hate won’t win.

“The unintended consequences of this horror are so incredibly positive and uplifting, something no one could have anticipated,” Myers said. “People thrust together by this heinous act continue to find ways to help each other on a healing path.”

But Myers cautioned that path is one that will never end.

“We will always be in the process of healing,” he said. “Unlike a physical wound, this wound never fully heals.”