Congregations gather a week after shooting at synagogue

One week after 11 people were gunned down at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, 100 people gathered amid a cold drizzle Saturday outside the still-shuttered place of worship for a “healing service.”

The 45-minute service came one day after the last of the victims, 97year-old Rose Mallinger, was laid to rest. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in U.S. history.

Former Tree of Life rabbi Chuck Diamond led Saturday morning’s service, which featured prayers, songs and poetry. The Rev. Lee Clark, a retired Presbyterian pastor from the Pittsburgh area, led a short prayer.

“I almost expected Cecil to greet me this morning,” Diamond said of Cecil Rosenthal, 59, killed along with his brother, David, 54, in the Oct. 27 shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Diamond called the victims “angels given to us, full of love and life.”

People stood with umbrellas, some weeping, mothers hugging children and couples leaning on each other.

As congregations sought to begin a slow return to some semblance of normal routines, members of Tree of Life synagogue also gathered at sundown Friday for their first Shabbat service since last Saturday’s massacre.

Members gathered in a private area at Rodef Shalom Synagogue in nearby Shadyside, while more than 1,000 people, including many of various faiths, came together for a public services at Temple Sinai and other area synagogues.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said Friday that the two most seriously injured victims have been moved out of the intensive care unit.