PITTSBURGH —
A commemoration ceremony inside the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill marked eight years since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting took the lives of 11 people and changed the lives of countless others.
On Tuesday, family members lit 11 candles for the 11 innocent congregants of Dor Hadash, New Light, and Tree of Life who were killed on Oct. 27, 2018: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.
“They were beloved family and congregants to many here tonight. Neighbors to others, healers to some, and friendly faces in the store or on the streets to most of us,” said Maggie Feinstein, the executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership.
“My brothers Cecil and David were two truly special souls. Although they lived with special needs, they possessed something that many of us spend a lifetime trying to find. The purest hearts filled with kindness, warmth, and beautiful sincerity,” said Michele Rosenthal.
The event brought a room full of people together for a night of song, prayer, and reflection.
During the ceremony, the survivors stood shoulder to shoulder, as they have done for the last eight years. They are forever connected by more than what they experienced inside the Tree of Life Synagogue.
“Most of us are a part of REACH,” survivor Audrey Glickman told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 Reporter Jordan Cioppa. “Remember, Educate, and Combat Hate- REACH. And we talk with students and other groups who want us to come and tell what it was like, what our experience was of 10.27.”
REACH is part of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, an organization that was formed in the aftermath of the shooting to offer support and resources to those who were impacted.
Audrey Glickman said she is motivated by Oct. 27, 2018, “to keep going.”
“In memory of the 11 people that we lost — do something kind. Do something good,” Glickman said.
The ceremony concluded with remarks from the keynote speaker, Mark Nordenberg, who served as the chancellor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh.