Pennsylvania awards Tree of Life synagogue $6.6 million grant for rebuilding project
Pennsylvania on Friday announced that it has awarded a $6.6 million grant for the rebuilding of the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill. The funding will help transform the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history into a place of hope, remembrance and education, state officials said.
“After the attack on the congregations in the Tree of Life building three years ago, many noted that our community had joined a club that nobody wants to be in: those devastated by hate-driven violence,” state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, said in a statement. “This funding allows the site of that trauma to become something more — a place of remembrance, healing and education for all.”
Eleven people were killed between the three congregations holding services inside the building — Tree of Life/ Or L’Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash — and six others, including four Pittsburgh police officers, were injured when a gunman opened fire on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018.
Since the attack, all three of the displaced congregations have been worshipping in space provided by nearby synagogues. Dor Hadash and New Light officials have said their congregations plan to remain at those sites for now. The $6.6 million grant comes from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, which funds a multitude of projects statewide.
“Rebuilding after this attack means so many things,” state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said in a statement. “This project is for a reimagined space that is healing and welcoming — an honor to the memory of those we lost, and a haven for many years to come.”
Alan Hausman, Tree of Life’s vice president, said the congregation had raised a “substantial” amount of money for the rebuild, but he could not immediately provide a specific number. He said the congregation expects to release more information about the rebuild on Monday. The congregation last year launched a capital campaign for the project, whose honorary cabinet included actor Tom Hanks, Gov. Tom Wolf and the late Joanne Rogers.
Tree of Life has said its plans for the rebuild include restoring and modernizing the synagogue’s large sanctuary, which is closest to the intersection. The sanctuary was not being used on the morning of the attack. There are also plans to demolish and replace other parts of the structure, including the chapel and other areas where the killings took place.
In May, Tree of Life announced that it had hired
New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind to serve as lead architect on the project and to work in collaboration with Rothschild Doyno Collaborative of Pittsburgh. The plans also call for sharing space with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, which would relocate from its current, smaller quarters in Greenfield.
In November, the state said it awarded Tree of Life $200,000 to make streetscape and pedestrian improvements outside of its building at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues. That money, administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority through the Multimodal Transportation Fund Program, will help fund a project that focuses on new street lighting; sidewalk enhancements and improvements for pedestrian safety; ramps to better accommodate people with disabilities; and trees, planters and benches around the synagogue.
The project also includes the building of a new garden outside the synagogue to memorialize the victims of the mass shooting. Tree of Life committed close to $122,000 of its own money toward the total cost of the project, according to the state.