Pittsburgh presses on after its ‘darkest day’
Synagogue shooting sends shockwaves across the nation
Tight-knit Jewish community mourns its dead
The Jewish congregants were there to celebrate life but were met by death. Most never had a chance.
Just before 10 a.m. Saturday, suspected gunman Robert Bowers, 46, burst into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and, yelling “All Jews must die,” killed 11 worshippers before being wounded and taken into custody.
The list of those killed Saturday in-
“October 27th will forever
be a line in the sand
of before and after.”
Rabbi Amy Bardack
cluded middle-aged brothers, an elderly husband and wife and a grandmother nearing 100. All were cherished members of a tight-knit Jewish community with deep roots in Pittsburgh history.
Many of them had gathered for a naming ceremony, which marks the beginning of a baby’s journey in the Jewish faith. Some arrived on this traditionally holy day, the sabbath, simply to worship, study and pray. All wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh chief medical examiner Karl Williams read the names of the dead. “The families are in shock and grieving. Please be respectful of their needs, their time and space as they deal with this tragedy,” he said.
Those killed were Daniel Stein, 71; Joyce Feinberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal 54; husband and wife Bernice Simon, 84 and Sylvan Simon, 86; Melvin Wax, 88; and Irving Younger, 69.
‘Infectious’ laugh, gentle spirit
The Rosenthal brothers, Cecil and David, were longtime members of the Tree of Life synagogue, said J.E. Reich, who grew up in the neighborhood the brothers called home.
Reich said the brothers were developmentally disabled and lived together. The two had Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that often results in mild to moderate intellectual disability.
Cecil Rosenthal loved to greet people at the door of the synagogue before services “not out of obligation, but out of joy,” said Reich, a reporter who has written for websites such as Jezebel.
Reich tweeted that yet another heartbreaking aspect of the tragedy is that “the map for the cemetery plots where the victims will be interred is still in Tree of Life Synagogue – still cordoned off as a crime scene – which might delay their burials.”
Achieva, an area organization that helps the developmentally disabled, put out a statement Sunday that said the brothers had a deep love of community and life.
“If they were here, they would tell you that is where they were supposed to be,” said Chris Schopf, Achieva’s vice president of residential supports.
“Cecil’s laugh was infectious,” Schopf added. “David was so kind and had such a gentle spirit. Together, they looked out for one another. They were inseparable. Most of all, they were kind, good people with a strong faith and respect for everyone around.”
A wave and a hello
Sylvan Simon, 86, and his wife, Bernice, 84, lived in Wilkinsburg, about 6 miles from Tree of Life. One of their sons, Martin, died in a motorcycle accident in 2010.
Bernice Simon was a retired nurse who served for several years on the board of their townhouse community, said Simon Reichbaum, who lived three doors down from the couple for more than two decades.
“They were very nice people, I could not think of a bad word to say about them,” said Reichbaum, who described Bernice Sylvan as his “comrade-in-arms” on the townhouse board.
She “wanted to do right for others,” Reichbaum said.
Reichman said Sylvan Simon, who was also retired, liked to take walks around the neighborhood. He always exchanged a wave and a friendly hello. In 2008, Sylvan Simon was quoted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about the popularity of the Nintendo Wii video game among senior citizens.
The shooting “has struck us all very hard,” said Reichbaum, 74, whose children attended Hebrew school at Tree of Life when they were young. “I can’t even put it into words.”
A ‘basic goodness about him’
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, was a family doctor in Pittsburgh, where he shared a practice with Kenneth Ciesielka.
Jerry and his wife, Miri, were devoted members of Dor Hadash, which is housed at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and he had served as past president of the Jewish reconstructionist congregation, friends said.
As a kid, Rabinowitz attended Maple Avenue School in Newark, New Jersey, from grade school through middle school.
Mark Sarver, who met Rabinowitz in grade school in New Jersey and later was best man in his wedding, said that as a boy, “Jerry was a small version of the adult self that he became,” said Sarver of Washington, D.C. “He was studious but brilliant. He was earnest but fun-loving. He just had this basic goodness about him.”
Known for his signature bowtie and delightful bedside manner, Rabinowitz earned a reputation for faithfully tending to the needs of his patients, friends and family.
“He was extremely caring (and) would always put everyone else’s needs before his own,” said Avishai Ostrin, his nephew, who spoke with USA TODAY from his home in Israel. “It was always about everyone else.”
Ostrin said his uncle was “just really, really funny, outgoing (with a) great, loud laugh. Always a smile on his face, always lending a hand.”
Years ago, when Sarver’s mother had surgery in Pittsburgh, Rabinowitz made special arrangements to make sure his family was cared for.
“We both knew that we were friends to the end, no matter what,” Sarver said. “We could talk about anything and everything.”
Some reacted strongly on Twitter to the ages of the deceased.
“Way to rid the world of the scourge of people’s grandparents and great grandparents, you monster,” wrote musician E Marlowe, including a link to the list of those killed.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto described Saturday’s shooting as the “darkest day in Pittsburgh’s history.”
Jeff Finkelstein, CEO of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said Sunday that “it’s real once you hear the names. (But) we’ll be there to help our Jewish community and the Pittsburgh region heal from this.”