Jewish victims remembered
3 Central Floridians speak out after unspeakable act in Pittsburgh.
The massacre that occurred on Saturday in Pittsburgh has shaken a community to its core. In a neighborhood the size of the University of Central Florida or Baldwin Park, over half of Pittsburgh’s 50,000 Jews have lived in Squirrel Hill for over a century. No matter the denominational differences, age, socioeconomic or even political differences, Pittsburghers will find solace in their community. It’s what we do. This is after all, the home of Mr. Rogers.
So how do we find context to the unanswerable, unutterable questions, which flow now like a raging river through our community? How do we make sense of this? How is it that one of the oldest survivors of the Holocaust living in the world today should die in 2018 at the age of 97 as she heard the shooter shout out “All Jews must die” as his bullets ripped away her life and tore our souls asunder? Like the Holocaust 70 years ago, none of us can say “we did not know” for verily we did and do so today.
The Anti-Defamation League, an organization that tracks hate crimes in the United States, pointed out this weekend’s attack is now officially the single greatest attack on the American Jewish community in U.S. history, and according to the data, this attack was no anomaly.
In its 2016 survey of Hate Crimes in the U.S., the ADL reported that over half of all hate crimes were directed at Jews, even though Jews represent less than 2 percent of the population.
Just as Israel has done in the face of unrelenting terror attacks aimed at innocent civilians whose only crime is either being a Jew or looking like a Jew, the American Jewish community must steel itself for what will almost assuredly be darker days to come. In Orlando, whose Jewish community was founded in part by Pittsburghers just over 100 years ago, our mourning is deep and personal.
The Orlando Jewish community has strong ties to Pittsburgh. Pittsburghers were among the early founders of Orlando’s Jewish community and the founding of Congregation Ohev Shalom, the largest synagogue in Central Florida. Landmarks of the Orlando Jewish community such as the Jewish Academy of Orlando, the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, and Central Florida Hillel were all founded in part by Pittsburghers. Today, Central Florida Hillel is chaired by a Pittsburgher who grew up in Squirrel Hill and has celebrated many holidays and happy events at Tree of Life with her parents who are members at Tree of Life Synagogue.
Like Jews around the world have done for thousands of years in the face of such blind hatred, we here in Orlando will continue our work to repair the world with our colleagues and friends of all faiths and backgrounds. We will be guided by our shared American values, as well as by our own Torah which clearly (and eerily this week) states in Proverbs: “It is a Tree of Life to those who hold fast to it and all of its ways are pleasantness and all its paths are peace.”