Oct. 27, 1989<\/a>, she was strangled and stabbed with a 36-inch martial arts sword by an acquaintance, Michale Anderson, 17, who claimed to have been influenced by the movie \u201cA Clockwork Orange.\u201d Anderson was sentenced to life without parole; he was later re-sentenced to 50 years to life based on his age when he committed the murder.<\/p>\nAt the Torah dedication Dennis Hurwitz spoke about his daughter\u2019s brief but vibrant life, including her interest in social justice and helping the disadvantaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a promising writer, an A-plus student in English, and headed for a career in writing,\u201d he shared. \u201cWe found diaries and scrapbooks we didn\u2019t know she kept, poetry she wrote, essays for college and what she wanted to accomplish in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the hardest things for me is the promise she represented. She was going to be a contributor to society, and Judaism in particular,\u201d Dennis Hurwitz said. \u201cAnd then she was gone.\u201d
Linda Hurwitz recalled her daughter as \u201ca gentle soul \u2026 and always for the underdog.\u201d \t<\/p>\n
The Torah dedication was a mitzvah that inspired others, Dennis Hurwitz said, noting that a nephew who never met Karen described feeling \u201ca kinship with her, spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outdoor party that followed included a 14-piece band, and several of Israel\u2019s leading rabbis, who were also present for the dedication of a cornerstone of the yeshiva that same day. <\/p>\n
There were speeches, blessings, and singing and dancing past midnight. <\/p>\n
The experience brought Dennis Hurwitz closer to his spirituality, which was challenged after Karen\u2019s death and has since then been a journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled to understand why a loving God would allow such an incredible tragedy,\u201d Dennis Hurwitz recalled, although he said he came to realize that the Jewish process of mourning, including shiva, prescribed a way for him and his wife to cope. \u201cThe rituals have become more important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retiring from his plastic surgery practice at 77, after what he calls \u201can incredible career,\u201d has given Dennis Hurwitz \u201cmore time for reflection.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Hurwitzes keep a home in Pittsburgh, but their primary residence is in Delray Beach, chosen for its strong Jewish community, which extends to Delaire Country Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Florida is the new Jerusalem,\u201d Dennis Hurwitz said. \u201cJews living there can express themselves openly and without fear, which is becoming increasingly difficult in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country club appears to be 90% Jewish so there\u2019s a comfort level. It\u2019s fun to live your life in a Jewish world around people with similar backgrounds to ours who\u2019ve worked hard and have strong family ties.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurwitzes have been married 57 years.<\/p>\n
After Karen\u2019s death, they focused on the best parts of their marriage, Dennis Hurwitz said, noting that many relationships don\u2019t survive the traumatic loss of a child.<\/p>\n
They also grew their family, adopting Jeffrey three months after losing Karen and a daughter, Julia, seven months later. Jeffrey, 36, is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and chemical engineer, and Julia Silbernagel, 35, is a stay-at-home mother of two in Charleston, West Virginia.<\/p>\n
Raising their children was a joy, Dennis Hurwitz said, adding that in all the years that Karen has been gone \u201cshe has never really left us.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dealing with a loss is always unfinished, he said, which means it is never too late to do something that memorializes whoever is being mourned. PJC<\/p>\n
Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 40 years after their daughter Karen was murdered in the backyard of their Squirrel Hill home, Dr.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-528073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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