{"id":250910,"date":"2026-07-24T05:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T05:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250910\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T05:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T05:11:06","slug":"takeaways-from-the-aps-report-on-the-legacy-of-pittsburgh-rabbi-jeffrey-myers-associated-press-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250910\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeaways from the AP’s report on the legacy of Pittsburgh Rabbi Jeffrey Myers | Associated Press National"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Rabbi Jeffrey Myers is retiring from Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, which he led the through the aftermath of the deadliest antisemitic attack<\/a> in U.S. history in 2018.<\/p>\n

Myers, 70, survived the attack, which claimed the lives of 11 worshippers<\/a> from three congregations sharing the synagogue space \u2014 Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life.<\/p>\n

In the nearly eight years since, the congregation has worked to grieve and heal. It endured<\/a> a long-delayed trial leading to the gunman\u2019s death sentence<\/a>. It experienced the disruptive pandemic and the groundbreaking<\/a> for a new building.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mission has come to a conclusion to the best that I could,\u201d Myers says. \u201cIt was time for the next chapter also for the Tree of Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are takeaways from The Associated Press\u2019s report on his retirement.<\/p>\n

A long recovery from a traumatic shooting<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long road to healing for Myers, the congregations and the wider community.<\/p>\n

Myers acknowledges he struggled to pray after the tragedy. He found solace in the Book of Psalms, saying it covers the whole range of human experience \u201cfrom elation to utter despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy faith did have the answers,\u201d he says. \u201cIt just took time to be able to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his farewell remarks to his congregation last Friday, Myers recalled each of the victims by name, adding: \u201cMay your memories always be for a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myers \u201cwas really just a new rabbi and hardly broken in yet, and we went through the thing that we went through,\u201d says Audrey Glickman, a survivor of the attack. \u201cHe has steered a constant ship and taken care of everyone, and I think he has earned himself a rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

A return to his roots in New Jersey<\/p>\n

Myers plans to return to his native New Jersey to be near his daughter and granddaughter. He wants to catch up on reading, do some writing and check off some \u201cbucket list\u201d goals with his wife.<\/p>\n

He also plans to work more on healing his own inner wounds.<\/p>\n

His spiritual journey began near Newark, New Jersey. As a boy, he sang soprano in his synagogue choir. By his mid-teens, he was leading that choir. He studied to become a cantor or hazzan, a type of Jewish clergy who leads worship. After several years serving congregations in New York and New Jersey in the Conservative denomination of Judaism, he studied for ordination as a rabbi and came to Tree of Life.<\/p>\n

A new rabbi, a sudden spotlight<\/p>\n

In 2018, the small congregation was sharing its building with two others.<\/p>\n

Sabbath services had just begun that Saturday morning, Oct. 27. After hearing gunfire in the lobby, Myers urged worshippers to flee if they were able \u2014 and those who were frail to lie down or hide. He took shelter, praying and talking to a 911 operator.<\/p>\n

He was escorted to safety by police officers, still wearing his prayer shawl.<\/p>\n

In the days afterward, he led several funeral services.<\/p>\n

With its damaged building a crime scene, Tree of Life began worshipping at a nearby synagogue, Rodef Shalom. For Myers and others, it was crucial to resume their Jewish observances, defying the killer\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n

There were uplifting moments. Sam Schachner, the congregation\u2019s then-president, recalls his son\u2019s bar mitzvah a few weeks later \u2014 the first truly joyful event after Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Myers \u201chad this ability to be there for others when he was going through such pain,\u201d Schachner said.<\/p>\n

First a pandemic, then a trial<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the congregations\u2019 healing as Myers led remote services from his home. But presiding over his daughter\u2019s outdoor wedding helped, fulfilling a Psalm\u2019s promise. \u201cGod turned my mourning into rejoicing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

After resuming in-person worship, the three targeted congregations braced for a long-delayed federal trial of the killer.<\/p>\n

It began in the spring of 2023, just as Myers\u2019 daughter was expecting her first child. Myers was scheduled to be the lead witness. He told the prosecution team that if the baby was a boy, he insisted on being present for the circumcision \u2014 unwilling to \u201clet the shooter deprive me of this moment.\u201d Instead, a granddaughter arrived, and he testified on schedule.<\/p>\n

The lengthy trial concluded with the conviction and death sentence of the gunman, who remains on death row.<\/p>\n

With shared trauma, Tree of Life bonds with church shooting survivors<\/p>\n

Tree of Life began a meaningful relationship with Mother Emanuel AME Church of Charleston, South Carolina, a historically Black congregation where a racist gunman killed nine Bible study participants in 2015. Members visited each others\u2019 congregations, and Myers developed a bond with Emanuel\u2019s pastor, the Rev. Eric Manning.<\/p>\n

Myers believes it\u2019s important to speak out against rising antisemitism<\/a> and other forms of hatred \u2014 a word he refuses to utter, speaking only of \u201cH.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism is the world\u2019s oldest disease,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t require any sort of prescription or inoculation to eliminate. It requires people to honor the worth and dignity of every human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning a new building with an expanded mission<\/p>\n

Most of the Tree of Life complex has been demolished. Plans for a new building call for a memorial to the victims, along with antisemitism exhibits, a sanctuary and event space.<\/p>\n

The building is slated to open in 2028, says Carole Zawatsky, who heads the nonprofit, The Tree of Life, which is overseeing the project in cooperation with the similarly named congregation.<\/p>\n

Recently about 50 Jewish families, many with young children, joined the congregation.<\/p>\n

That has boosted hopes for the future.<\/p>\n

Says Glickman: \u201cWe intend not to let the shooter win and not to fade away into history.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP video journalist Jessie Wardarski contributed. She and Smith were among the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists who shared the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for coverage of the synagogue massacre.<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Rabbi Jeffrey Myers is retiring from Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, which he led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54146,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-250910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-associated_press_national","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}