Dan Stein\u2019s passion for
\nmitzvot, the Hebrew word for charitable acts and good deeds, was fueled by what literally ran through his veins and kept his heart beating.<\/p>\n
The salesman and former substitute teacher, one of 11 Jewish worshippers murdered in a Pittsburgh synagogue eight years ago Tuesday, had a blood type highly sought after by phlebotomists and blood banks: O-positive. That means the red blood cells he donated could be safely used in transfusions for 85% of Americans.<\/p>\n
And he took that physiology as a kind of calling.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonating blood was really important to my dad,\u201d Dan\u2019s daughter, Leigh Stein, 50, of Squirrel Hill, said after donating blood Sunday as a way of preserving his memory. \u201cWhen I think of my dad, I think of all the things he did from his heart \u2026 and this was one of the many things he did to give back to the community and to strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dan Stein, his daughter and others said, was nearly as faithful to regularly donating blood \u2014 and encouraging others to do the same \u2014 as he was to New Light Congregation. He served as that synagogue\u2019s board president and was attending its Shabbat services when the most lethal act of antisemitic violence in U.S. history unfolded at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues on Oct. 27, 2018.<\/p>\n
Tuesday marks eight years since a gunman attacked three congregations worshipping inside the Tree of Life-Or L\u2019Simcha synagogue, thrusting Squirrel Hill onto the world\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n
But nearly a decade after the shooting and three years since a jury sentenced the gunman to the death penalty, many stress what\u2019s more important than ever is preserving how the 11 fallen worshippers lived \u2014 not just mourning the manner in which they died.<\/p>\n
For Dan Stein and fellow victim Irv Younger, what mattered was giving blood.<\/p>\n
For Richard Gottfried, another of the 11 Jews killed that morning, it was providing free dental care for nearly a decade through the nonprofit group Catholic Charities.<\/p>\n
For victims Bernice and Sylvan Simon, it was the spark to preserve family tradition and the unique character of Jewish cemeteries.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, more than 200 volunteers honored the memories of those 11 victims in tangible ways. Dozens of volunteers donated blood. Some flocked to Friendship Circle, a nonprofit in the heart of Squirrel Hill\u2019s business district, or tended to an aging Jewish cemetery in the city\u2019s Overbrook neighborhood. And others celebrated Gottfried\u2019s passion project, serving lunch to homeless and at-risk men at a year-round program that the group he supported \u2014 Catholic Charities \u2014 runs in the city\u2019s Hill District.<\/p>\n
Jordan Golin, president and CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services, got a front-row seat to the Day of Service.<\/p>\n
Sporting a cyan \u201cStronger Than Hate\u201d T-shirt, Golin watched as a sea of volunteers folded colorful cloth into no-sew blankets and personalized care kits inside a JFCS conference room on Squirrel Hill\u2019s Bartlett Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think these kinds of activities do serve as a way for the community to continue to heal, to continue to grow,\u201d Golin said. \u201cThey also help the community to be resilient, to work through things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do show up for each other,\u201d he added. \u201cWe help each other. And when you\u2019re here, you can see that \u2014 both directly and indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Keep their spirit alive\u2019<\/p>\n
Sharyn Stein, Dan\u2019s widow, sat at a nondescript table Sunday morning inside a Jewish Community Center auditorium and watched Pittsburghers pay tribute to the man she affectionately called Danny.<\/p>\n
Both she and her daughter wore the iconic \u201cStronger Than Hate\u201d T-shirt \u2014 the triad of a Pittsburgh Steelers logo replaced with red, blue and yellow Stars of David.<\/p>\n
Stein says watching others perform mitzvot at the blood drive, launched in the wake of the shooting, has been an unexpected source of comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, being here, it has helped,\u201d the Squirrel Hill mother and grandmother said. \u201cIn the beginning, nothing helped. But now it\u2019s better. I come out and I see the kindness in people. And that\u2019s very helpful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alan Mallinger, another Pittsburgher inextricably linked to the synagogue shooting, showed up minutes after the drive opened at 9 a.m. to donate a pint of \u201cpower red\u201d \u2014 just the red blood cells from the type O-negative blood of a universal donor.<\/p>\n
Mallinger\u2019s mother, Rose, was killed in the shooting. She would have been 105 had she made it to Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach year has certainly got a little bit easier,\u201d said Mallinger, 71, of Squirrel Hill, who retired from his post as a JCC administrator five years ago. \u201cBut, as we get closer to the day and because of the attention it gets, it certainly brings back that day in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing you\u2019re doing something to keep their name alive, it\u2019s meaningful,\u201d he added. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to carry that memory forward and keep their spirit alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning community trauma to action<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, who took office representing part of Squirrel Hill in 2018, has measured the months and years since the shooting in a highly human way. The Squirrel Hill politician was pregnant with her son, Evan, on Oct. 27, 2018.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, she sat alongside the boy \u2014 now a second-grader \u2014 in the JFCS conference room and jotted personal notes for care kits. Evan drew what he called \u201can imaginary smile\u201d on a piece of canary-yellow construction paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to fully process trauma as a community until decisions are made \u2014 and it feels different now that we\u2019re on the other side of (the trial),\u201d Strassburger said.<\/p>\n
Strassburger pointed to people volunteering elbow to elbow in the packed conference room. Some clouds, even unexpected ones, develop silver linings, she said.<\/p>\n
Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you face a community trauma, one where you have such loss, you build a narrative around it \u2014 and people have found really meaningful ways of integrating the reality of 10\/27 into what they do,\u201d Feinstein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 11 people killed that day, they really lived their lives and they gave so much to the community,\u201d she added. \u201cAfter this happened, people really stepped forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Changing threat landscape<\/p>\n
The days since the synagogue shooting have been plagued by antisemitism \u2014 both in Pittsburgh and across the nation.<\/p>\n
In 2017, the year before the mass shooting, 27 antisemitic incidents were reported citywide, according to Shawn Brokos, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh\u2019s director of community security and a former FBI agent.<\/p>\n
By 2021, the total rose to 82.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe synagogue shooting here in 2018 was a horrific event that was felt by the entire Pittsburgh community, in addition to the Jewish community \u2014 and it served to unite different faiths and cultures to say, \u2018We\u2019ve got to be stronger than hate,\u2019\u201d Brokos said Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt exposed something evil,\u201d Brokos said of the tragedy. \u201cAnd the question was, \u2018How can be learn and grow from this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
A different date this month triggered even more dramatic spikes in antisemitism.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.<\/p>\n
Israel struck back with a relentless assault on Hamas and Gaza, killing and displacing tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians. The Palestinian death toll from the war topped 74,000 last month, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
The reports of antisemitism surged.<\/p>\n
Last year, 312 antisemitic incidents \u2014 a single-year record for the region \u2014 were reported to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Brokos said. This year is keeping pace \u2014 265 antisemitic incidents were reported to the federation through Monday.<\/p>\n
Antisemitism is not only a Pittsburgh problem.<\/p>\n
The Anti-Defamation League recorded more than 9,300 incidents of antisemitism nationwide in 2024 in its Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, according to its website. That was up from 912 a decade earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe threat landscape has changed dramatically since Oct. 7, 2023, when white supremacists colluded with nation-state actors, and Jews and Israel became targets for both,\u201d Brokos said. \u201cAnd, yes, we\u2019ve seen that spike nationally and locally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others also have seen a tide of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s had a large and chillling effect on speech \u2014 especially in terms of many of the events conducted by Jews and by synagogues,\u201d attorney Jon Pushinsky said Monday.<\/p>\n
Pushinsky, a Highland Park man who led courses at the University of Pittsburgh on First Amendment issues, has attended services for more than 30 years at Dor Hadash \u2014 one of three congregations attacked inside the Tree of Life-Or L\u2019Simcha synagogue in 2018. He stressed that he does not speak for the congregation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are afraid to advertise events,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re afraid of who might show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one,\u201d added attorney Jean Clickner, Pushinsky\u2019s wife, \u201cis safe to go into a house of worship without there being guards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania has provided $35 million in grants to buttress security at nonprofits and houses of worship since 2019. Nearly 70% of the grants announced this year in Allegheny County went to Jewish, Israeli or related groups.<\/p>\n
About 65% of all faith-based hate crimes in 2025 involved Jews, FBI data showed.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s the least I can do\u2019<\/p>\n
Rabbi Andy Shugerman had a simple answer when asked why he was donating blood in a JCC auditorium Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the least I can do,\u201d Shugerman, 48, of Squirrel Hill, said.<\/p>\n
Shugerman \u2014 like Dan Stein and Irving Younger, the shooting victims to whom he paid tribute Sunday \u2014 regularly goes under the needle to donate at PNC Park blood drives. Though he grew up a Baltimore Orioles fan in the Washington, D.C., area, he admits the free Pirates tickets don\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this a mitzvah?\u201d a Trib reporter asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, absolutely,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n
For Shugerman, Sunday\u2019s mitzvot called to mind the 2,000-year-old rabbinical phrase that\u2019s part of the foundaton of Jewish law: Pikuach nefesh \u2014 the idea that \u201csaving a life\u201d supersedes all other commandments.<\/p>\n
Then, he added in Hebrew, Ve\u2019asita hayashar vehatov be\u2019einei Adonai. That translates roughly to: \u201cAnd you shall do the right and the good in the eyes of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to look much further than the Hebrew to do what is upright and good,\u201d Shugerman said. \u201cThis is about doing something that costs us nothing but saves a life. And I can\u2019t think of anything more upright and good than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before leaving, Shugerman turned to Sharyn Stein, Dan\u2019s widow. She was seated nearby, watching her husband\u2019s memory thrive as volunteers donated blood. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish it were under different circumstances,\u201d Shugerman told her. \u201cBut I\u2019m happy to see you here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Stein\u2019s passion for mitzvot, the Hebrew word for charitable acts and good deeds, was fueled by what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-315173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315173","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=315173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}