Vigil for shooting victims draws overflow crowd
More than 1,000 flock to Glendale synagogue in sympathy
They wore stickers mimicking the Pittsburgh Steelers logo with a golden Star of David and the words “Stronger Than Hate.”
They held hands above their heads — families, friends, fellow congregants, strangers — in a show of solidarity, to say they were all one, no matter their religion.
They listened to cantors sing psalms, the Israeli national anthem and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
They came to Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid in Glendale on Monday night to show that hate has no place in America.
All of the 1,000 seats were filled in the synagogue’s sanctuary and hun-
dreds more people lined the walls and crowded into the entrances for a community gathering hosted by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation to commemorate the lives lost in Pittsburgh two days earlier.
The attack Saturday during a babynaming ceremony at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh killed 11 people and injured six, including four police officers.
Rabbi Joel Alter of Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid told the crowd, “I wish we didn’t have to be here tonight.”
His voice at times cracking with emotion, Alter said the 11 human beings who died were of flesh and blood but not body armor because it didn’t occur to God to make people impregnable to bullets.
“You can look for them in 11 fresh graves in Pittsburgh this week,” Alter said.
Andrea Schneider grew up in Pittsburgh around the corner from Tree of Life Synagogue in the vibrant, diverse neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. Her parents know some of the victims.
Wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers shirt underneath her coat, Schneider said before the vigil that her first thought was disbelief when she heard about the massacre.
“Like everyone it was anger, denial, frustration. Before the names were released it was a feeling of dread because just like in Milwaukee, everybody knows everybody,” said Schneider, a Marquette University law professor and immediate past board chairman of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
The shooter in Pittsburgh cited HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, in an online attack and accused the agency of allowing violent invaders into the U.S.
He “chose this synagogue because it supports Muslim and Latino refugees,” noted Schneider, but “this is an attack on American values.”
Armed, uniformed police officers were present outside the building Monday night, in the entrances and inside the sanctuary.
“All faiths have open-door, open-tent policies. To have to have armed guards at our doors is horrifying,” Schneider said.
On Sunday, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition released a statement condemning the attack and extending their support to the Jewish community. The Islamic Society of Milwaukee is the largest Muslim organization in Wisconsin.
“As Muslim organizations, we unequivocally condemn the heinous and cowardly attack in Pittsburgh and we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all of our fellow citizens, of whatever race, religion or background, against intolerance, bigotry and hatred,” the groups said.
Ann Jacobs, chairwoman of the Jewish Community Relations Council, was overwhelmed by the large number of people who showed up at Monday night’s gathering, not only Jews but members of all faiths.
“There’s a need for all of us to express our rejection of hate,” said Jacobs. “An event like this helps us to speak with one voice to say that hate has no home here.”
Inside the program handed out were the words to psalms and songs sung by cantors as well as the names of the 11 killed in Pittsburgh: Joyce Feinberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, David Rosenthal and his brother Cecil Rosenthal, Bernice Simon and her husband Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Irving Younger and Melvin Wax.
Hannah Rosenthal, CEO and president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, told the group, “We’re gathered because we want things to be different and being a bystander is no longer an option.”
Rosenthal noted that HIAS is the same agency that helped many of the parents and grandparents of the people attending Monday’s vigil come to America.
“We are all intertwined in fighting for a more peaceful and fair community,” Rosenthal said.
As Rosenthal spoke, a beautiful stained-glass window glowed behind her. Dark tree branches stretched skyward with ribbons of blue, red, yellow and pink glass.
The window represents the Tree of Life, the namesake of the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people died attending a celebration of life.