As there is discussion of anti Semitism, maybe it’s time to remember the worst anti Semitic act in U.S. history.
It happened less than a quarter mile from the house I grew up in, at Tree of Life Synagogue on the corner of Wilkins and Shady Avenues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a very nice neighborhood called Squirrel Hill.
On a Saturday morning in October of 2018, a man named Robert Bowers entered the building with an AR 15 and shot and killed 11 people.
It would come out that members of the congregation were active in the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, an organization that began to help Jews coming to this country from Europe, and has expanded to assist all immigrants.
Bowers believed a rumor that George Soros, a Jewish philanthropist, was financing a caravan of migrants who were coming to the United States through Mexico. He decided that the Tree of Life congregation was in league with Soros, plotting to “replace” white Americans with Hispanic migrants.
So, he went into the temple and started shooting.
I heard about it on the radio, as it was happening, and started praying for the many people I knew who worshipped there.
As I said, I grew up near Tree of Life. As a kid, I’d see classmates going in for Hebrew School in the afternoon. An annex to the building was named for a high school classmate’s grandmothers.
Happily, none of the people I knew were killed that day.
I sometimes saw Cecil Rosenthal on the bus. He was always talking to someone. He had friends all over the neighborhood. Mr. Rosenthal was sometimes called the unofficial mayor of Squirrel Hill.
He and his brother made a point of greeting everyone who came into the synagogue, which is why they were the first to be killed.
The rest were, mostly elderly. Other members of the congregation would hide in closets or parts of the building, until the police arrived.
Happily, they came quickly. Bowers was shot and arrested, before he could do any more damage.
What followed was a giant pit of suck.
Survivors had left coats and purses in their pews, while they hid from the shooter. Their purses, coats, wallets and phones would stay where they were for several weeks, because the synagogue was an active crime scene.
One of the women present went several weeks without her phone and wrote a book insisting that women’s clothes should have pockets, so things like that wouldn’t happen.
Then president Trump insisted on visiting the site, though he was told not to, as it was still an active crime scene.
The visit had to have been a nightmare for the community. Tree of Life is in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by very nice private homes, occupied by very nice people who pay a small fortune to live in such a great neighborhood.
I’m guessing they weren’t thrilled with having police and Secret Service all over their nice lawns.
The Rehabilitation Institute, for kids with disabilities, is across the street and two doors up from Tree of Life. They should have been letting out, about the time Trump visited, and the street should have been filled with buses, vans and cars.
I’m not sure what they did that day, keep the kids late, let out early, or just stay closed. I’d have taken the last option.
There were protesters, though Trump never saw them. I didn’t go that day. I didn’t think it was the time or the place to call someone a jaggoff. (Jaggoff is the Pittsburgh term for low lifes, scum bags and Browns fans.) Someone brought a sign that said, “In Pittsburgh, we build bridges not walls.” I liked that.
Then there was the window.
Tree of Life had a beautiful stained glass window, which I have loved for most of my life. It covered one side of the building.
The window was an abstract depiction of the first chapter of Genesis, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
The first section showed formless colors. Then the light separated from the darkness, then the land from the water, then stick figure animals appeared on the land, and, finally, stick figure humans.
If I wasn’t driving, when I was on Shady Avenue, I was looking at that window.
The last time I saw it was at night. It was lit from the inside, and beautiful. Except the memorials for the fallen were lined up in front of it.
The memorials are still there, but the window is gone, replaced by plain glass and blinds. The synagogue is going to be a museum and memorial.
Bowers was tried on federal charges in 2022.
We have capital punishment in Pennsylvania, in theory. In practice, governor Wolf wasn’t going to execute anyone, and neither is Governor Shapiro. (His Republican opponent might have tried to introduce public beheadings. But he posted on the same anti Semitic web sites Bowers used. You have no idea how glad I am he lost the election.)
It would have been easier for everyone if Bowers had been allowed to plead guilty and been sentenced to life without parole. But they were out for blood. So, he was tried in federal court, and everyone got to go over that horrible day one more time.
It came out at the trial that Bowers’ family had a history of mental illness, and Bowers probably shouldn’t have been allowed to own a carving knife, let alone an AR 15. But he was found legally sane, and may, someday, be executed.
I really hate that the worst anti Semitic incident in U.S. history happened not just in my hometown, but in my old neighborhood. I would much rather that Squirrel Hill was known for the large Jewish community, the insane traffic (Do not drive through Squirrel Hill during rush hour.) and the best pizza in town. (Mineos on Murray Avenue!)
But it happened, in October of 2018. The killer wasn’t a Muslim. He wasn’t waving a Palestinian flag, or shouting, “From the river to the sea” or “Free Palestine”.
He had bought into the great replacement theory, a creation of the extreme right. He believed that Jews were plotting to replace white Americans, like himself, with brown skinned immigrants. So, he killed 11 people, who had come to pray on Shabbat..
That is something to consider, when they talk about student protests, and pro Palestinian encampments.
What happened in Israel, on October 7, was horrible. What is happening in Gaza now is also horrible. Two wrongs have never made a right.
But the protests have been mostly peaceful. (Here in Pittsburgh, students had supper together and struck their camp last week. Commencement is coming up at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, and they didn’t want to spoil the ceremonies. That probably wasn’t on the news where you live.)
There have been no mass shootings. I hope there aren’t any.
So far, the worst anti Semitic incident was inspired by right wing lies. We should remember that.