It’s Sunday morning in Pittsburgh, and the city is waking up to a surreal scene. Among the most charming cities in the Northeast, the City of Bridges has long been associated with football, trendy cafes, and nature hikes — but certainly not with a massacre, and certainly not one perpetrated against Jews.

So it’s sad, then, even eerie, to see the block surrounding the Tree of Life synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, cordoned off with yellow police tape. Less than 24 hours earlier, a madman, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, had killed 11 Jews as they were attending services on Shabbos morning. And now, amid the treelined streets, FBI officers are entering and exiting the synagogue building as they collect evidence from a crime scene that one Pittsburgh official described as “horrific.” Outside the synagogue, residents can be seen silently weeping while others come by to lay flowers out of respect.

Bella and Carl Shechter, Holocaust survivors who live just minutes from the synagogue, are among those who gathered at the crime scene. They hadn’t been present at the time of the shooting, but they have a strong connection to this congregation where their grandson celebrated his bar mitzvah. Carl says that just thinking about the massacre made him tremble.

Bella bursts out crying. “I never thought I was going to see something like this in the United States,” she says. “We’ve always felt safe. This neighborhood is great.”

The Shechters say they believe the shooting was an isolated incident, and don’t plan to make any changes to their routine. “The beast who perpetrated this massacre — he and people like him should be afraid, not us,” Carl says.

The neighborhood is billed as inclusive and welcoming, a place where Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jews live and work together. Three people use the word unique to describe the community, one whose strength and warmth bind it together.

After spending two days walking the streets of Pittsburgh, I’m most struck by how personally the residents took the tragedy — Jews and non-Jews alike. Several Christians told me that they went to place flowers at the synagogue after their Sunday services to honor neighbors who’d been murdered just because they were Jews.

That same day, a rally was held at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, a national landmark, where thousands of people packed a hall, and thousands more stood outside in the pouring rain to hear eulogies to the 11 victims. It was moving to see the entire gamut of local Jewry standing alongside Pittsburgh residents of all affiliations who came to show their support and solidarity.

Also present were Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett, Israel’s ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, New York Consul General Dani Dayan, and White House aide Jason Greenblatt.

During his visit to the city, Bennet visited Tree of Life and met the congregation’s rabbi.

“This is a very difficult scene,” Bennett said. “This is a very warm community, located in the heart of a very peaceful neighborhood, and they were hit by a terror attack.”

Lockdown Mode

About a mile away, Rabbi Doniel Schon, assistant rosh kollel at the ten-member Jewish Learning Center, speaks of the tremendous sorrow felt by the Orthodox community.

“It’s a very close community,” he says. “Everyone from every shul, whether you were religious or not religious, everyone knows who these people were, so it’s something that really hit home.”

What makes Squirrel Hill community unique, he says, is that all the residents live together amicably. “There’s been a Jewish presence here for more than 100 years, and historically we’ve all gotten along very well. It really is one community. So when there’s a sorrow with one part, even if it’s not your part, it’s strongly felt everywhere else as well.” He says the kollel, along with other community institutions, will have to review security measures in the wake of the shooting.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha, Issue 733)