Synagogue attack site gets new design, bigger mission

PITTSBURGH — The caretakers of the Tree of Life synagogue intend to transform the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history and expand its mission.

Newly released design plans show a revitalized complex housing a sanctuary, museum, memorial and center for fighting antisemitism — unified symbolically and physically with a dramatic skylight running the length of the structure.

Organizers are also announcing plans Tuesday for a new Tree of Life nonprofit organization that would work with the similarly named congregation, oversee the building complex and offer education, museum exhibits and programming to counter hatred aimed at Jews and other groups.

The synagogue building, located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh, has been vacant since Oct. 27, 2018. A gunman, who awaits trial on capital federal charges for what prosecutors say was a hate-motivated attack, killed 11 worshipers from Tree of Life and two other congregations — Dor Hadash and New Light — that shared the building.

The new design is by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, whose previous works include Jewish museums, Holocaust memorials and the master plan for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center after 9/11.

Organizers said they don’t have a cost estimate or a timetable yet for the construction project. And many of the details for the interior, including the design of a memorial, are still being determined. The organizers are raising funds locally and nationally.

But they see Tuesday’s announcements as a big stride.

“We’re eager to be back in our spiritual home,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, a survivor of the attack and rabbi of Tree of Life / Or L’Simcha Congregation, as it is formally known.

The plans call for retaining the synagogue’s large, main sanctuary, which was unused on the day of the attack.

Other parts of the complex would be razed, including a separate chapel where most of the killings occurred, though its historic stained-glass windows would be preserved. A new addition — framed by dramatically angled exterior walls (a Libeskind-signature) — would incorporate the museum, a memorial to the victims and space for education and other programs.

Unifying the complex — at about 45,000 square feet in all — would be a skylight that spans the entire length of the roof, according to Libeskind’s design. The “Path of Light,” as Libeskind titles it, would begin in the historic sanctuary and widen, ray-like, across the programming area toward a new, more secure entrance.

“The light is not only physical light, it’s also spiritual light,” he said.

Associated Press Famed architect Daniel Libeskind is redesigning the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack occurred in 2018.