Pittsburgh attack is attack on all of us

The 11 were among those gathered Saturday morning to observe Shabbat and pray at their temple, the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. They found themselves instead at the fatal intersection of hatred, mental instability and high-powered weaponry.

The accused gunman, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, of Pittsburgh, shouted “All Jews must die,” according to reports, before opening fire with an AR-15 assault rifle and killing 11 worshipers.

Among righteous people, an angry bile of frustration rises. As we approach the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass — Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis attacked synagogues, homes, schools and businesses of German Jews — is this where we are?

Of course, the homicidal action of a deranged individual is not the signal of a national groundswell,

but an unsettling wind of extremism — from politics to racism and other forms of bigotry — is afoot in this country.

And, once again, underscoring the slaughter in Pittsburgh, is use of a weapon designed for combat in the hands of a depraved civilian.

Yes, frustration. What are we going to do? So many factors come into play: commonsense gun restrictions, a more tightly woven mental health safety net, and so on. And we talk of them in the aftermath of every single one of these tragedies.

In the meantime, as has happened in the aftermath of

Pittsburgh, men and women of good will, men and women of different colors and races, men and women who pray to different gods, but men and women with a deep understanding of our shared humanity, have gathered to defy hatred and show the message of shared humanity.

An attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh, is an attack on a church or mosque in Connecticut. An attack on Jews in Pittsburgh is an attack on Catholics, Protestants, Democrats, Republicans.

We should recognize hatred for what it is: an attack on all of us.

“Among righteous people, an angry bile of frustration rises. As we approach the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass — Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis attacked synagogues, homes, schools and businesses of German Jews — is this where we are?