Reverberations from Pittsburgh resound here

As Pittsburgh mourns its loss and prepares to bury the dead, the rest of us reel in the shock of this gun rampage.

The gunshots rang out about 300 miles away, on the other side of the state.

But make no mistake, they are reverberating here in southeastern Pennsylvania.

As Pittsburgh mourns its loss, and prepares to bury the dead, the rest of us reel in the shock of the latest gun rampage to leave a scar on the nation’s psyche.

Eleven beautiful, innocent lives were snuffed out when a gunman – consumed with anti-Semitic hate – walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and opened fire.

Three hundred miles away, Rabbi Jeremy Gerber of Congregation Ohev Shalom in Nether Providence, Delaware County, accurately put the distance in its proper perspective.

“I think there’s a sense that this feels too close to home,” Gerber said.

Like the Tree of Life, Ohev Shalom is a conservative congregation. Gerber said he had been counseling members with relatives in the Pittsburgh area.

The anti-Semitic fervor that manifested itself in Pittsburgh is not new, but is increasingly out in the open, flaunted by those who feel emboldened by an increasingly partisan rhetoric and a sickening desire to blame someone for our fate in life.

That was made starkly clear in all its troubling, hateful presence — no longer in hiding but shouted defiantly in the open for all to see — on the streets of Charlottesville when marchers carried torches and openly denounced Jews.

But while Gerber noted that Jewish people have always maintained a strong guard against such anti-Semitic feelings, he was heartened by something else that took place last weekend.

More than 200 people turned out at a vigil representing a diverse range of faiths and beliefs.

It was much the same at Congregation Keneseth Israel Sunday night in Cheltenham, where more than 1,500 people of all faiths gathered to share their feelings – and their tears.

“It was very powerful for us to feel that not just Jews have been calling us, emailing us, lending us voices of support,” Gerber said of the reaction he’s seen in the community. “A lot of people who came from the Jewish community have felt that this community is with us.”

It is perhaps the deepest irony of such tragedies. Clearly they are carried out by hate, a visceral desire to drive a wedge into our communities, to drive us farther apart.

But inevitably, they do the opposite. They bind us together.

We are a nation created in the glorious visage of a multitude of backgrounds, colors, faiths, beliefs and ethnicities. E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. American. It was that sense of unity, of being part of something bigger than any of our individual parts, that struck many local rabbis as they came to grips with this weekend’s horror.

“It really just makes me realize that our wellbeing as Jews is also tied up with the wellbeing of all who are vulnerable,” said Rabbi Nathan Martin of Congregation Beth Israel in Media. “And that makes me want to reach out even more strongly to build stronger relationships with others.”

This weekend it was Pittsburgh. They now stand united with a black church in Charleston, South Carolina. And a gay nightclub in Miami. And the kids at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And those concertgoers in Las Vegas. And the children and staffs at Columbine and Sandy Hook. Now we heal – and forgive. And unite, stronger than before.

Stronger than any of the evil threads that attempt to sew discord and drive us apart.

“Good has to always triumph over evil,” said Rabbi Barry Blum of Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid in Broomall.

In Pittsburgh, they continue to mourn. And bury their dead.

We hope they feel the support being offered to them three hundred miles away.

Brothers and sisters standing united against hate. Shedding light on the darkness.

Bolstered by our shared American values, a core belief that no amount of hate and madness can shred.

Today we are all members of the Tree of Life.

And the American tree. A singular, united state.