The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘This wasn’t an attack on 1 synagogue’
MIDDLETOWN — Middletown resident Sarah Steinfeld grew up four blocks away from the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The Bridgeport-based attorney lived in the same Squirrel Hill neighborhood where 11 people were killed and six injured Saturday morning during Shabbat services in what is being called the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. Authorities say accused gunman, Robert Bowers of Pittsburgh, 46, who acted alone, used an AR-15 and three pistols during the assault and yelled antiSemitic slurs as he opened fire.
Steinfeld, wife of state Rep. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, shared her recollections and insights during a memorial service and candlelight vigil for the victims Sunday on the South Green organized by Adath Israel Middletown Interim Rabbi Marshal Press and President Jonathan Shapiro.
Because of the Shabbat, Press and Shapiro began planning the vigil Saturday after nightfall by creating a Facebook event and relying on local officials, police and other residents to spread the word. The air was chilly as between 200 and 300 people of all faiths and walks of life turned out for the observance, held less than 200 yards from the synagogue.
The Wesleyan University’s a cappella group the Mazel Tones opened and closed the vigil with musical selections, including “Oseh Shalom,” a song of peace.
“We reached our hands out to each other. We reached our hands out from Middletown to Squirrel Hill. That’s how you prevent violence like this, and that’s how you help people heal,” Steinfeld said.
“I was very moved by the turnout,” Shapiro said. “There’s a lot of comfort in seeing everyone brought together so quickly.”
It was particularly difficult seeing photographs of the vigils held immediately following the shootings a block from where she once lived, Steinfeld said.
Once she learned of the massacre, she reached out to friends through social media. She was thankful all were safe.
“I thought of it as my front yard in many ways. Seeing photos of the street, just flooded with people showing up in Squirrel Hill, and not being there, was, in some way, heartening, but also alienating. I really just wanted to be there,” she said.
Still, Steinfeld said she found comfort in the support of those in her “adopted” home of Middletown.
She didn’t attend temple growing up, but did have friends who attended Tree of Life, and others who had bat mitzvahs there. “I drove by it every single day,” she said of the Jewish neighborhood, host to a number of other synagogues.
“It’s not like deep Brooklyn, it’s a very pluralistic neighborhood, but it’s got Jewish roots. You’ve got folks who are culturally Jewish living right next to Hasidic and Orthodox Jews, and Conservative and Reform, in addition to everybody else from all walks of life. You’ve got Christians and Muslims all living next to one another,” less than two miles from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Steinfeld said.
Amid that melting pot of culture, the area “definitely has this Jewish character. It’s a really great place to be, and everybody there, regardless of their background, feels a little bit Jewish. This wasn’t an attack on one synagogue, it was an attack on the whole neighborhood and it’s really painful for that reason,” said Steinfeld, who isn’t commonly overcome by fear.
“I am a person who’s always immediately driven to action. This isn’t my wake-up call. I’ve been awake to the problems of gun violence for a very long time, unfortunately,” she said, pointing to her work at the Capitol lobbying politicians.
“Thankfully, in Connecticut, we have some of the strongest gun safety law in the country, but that didn’t just happen. That’s because
of people’s actions and speaking out to legislators and voting,” Steinfeld said.
She has worked on lawsuits brought on behalf of Sandy Hook families trying hold gun companies responsible “for the mass casualties that are being inflicted as result of putting these weapons of war in civilian hands,” she said.
Steinfeld derives strength and hope from “The very Jewish notion of welcoming a stranger.” As such, she believes in starting conversations with people “and not operating in these little vacuums, where it becomes much easier to alienate people and think of people you don’t understand or know as enemies,” she said.
“In the grand scheme of
things, that’s how you reduce these acts of violence: if you reach across differences and you hug people close and get to know them. That’s how it becomes much more difficult to demonize the unfamiliar. You familiarize yourself with the unfamiliar,” Steinfeld said.
In mid-September, the same congregation was targeted by someone who sent a letter containing a powder-type substance. Authorities said the incident was believed to be connected to similar packages mailed to government offices and other businesses during that time. In response to the shootings, Adath Israel is revisiting its security policies.
The Middletown community has united for these reasons far too often, Shapiro said. “Every time we do it, I hope it’s the last time, but it’s not. You see so much hate out there. To see the camaraderie, it’s reassuring, it’s refreshing. Sometimes the headlines are dominated by the negativity and the hate, and to see the positivity out there and the caring within the community, it give hope to everyone,” he added.
“I am not a fearful person, but I don’t want these people with evil intentions to win, so my gut instinct is to go forward, hug our neighbors a little bit closer, but go forward with business as usual. I don’t think it should interrupt the way we live our lives and the way we’re practicing our faith, because you just can’t control every single person out there. You’ve got to go forward and live your life,” Steinfeld said.
Bowers is facing 29 state and federal charges, including homicide, attempt to commit homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty.