O pinion
Three Years After Tree of Life, Where Are We?
BY STEVE ROSENBERG
THREE YEARS AFTER the
Tree of Life shooting, there is
still more work to do.

Three years ago, I was in
Israel when I learned of the
news of the horrific shooting
in my hometown of Pittsburgh
and specifically my neigh-
borhood of Squirrel Hill. Just
one week ago, I spent a few
days back in Squirrel Hill and
walked around the Tree of Life,
reflecting on the continued
fight against antisemitism from
every corner of the spectrum.

Our collective spirits and
our hearts have been hurting.

The fight against Jew-hatred,
antisemitism and anti-Zionism
— disguised as Jew-hatred —
is rampant throughout our
world. Every day, we read
about another story where the
only type of acceptable hatred
is Jew-hatred. Whether this
vitriol comes from the far left or
the far right, or if it comes from
celebrities or regular everyday
people, it is everywhere.

All of these incidents have
one thing in common. They
are all happening in the United
States of America, arguably the
greatest success story of the
Jewish diaspora.

College students
are finishing their second month
back on campus, in some cases
after a year of virtual learning,
and they have been met with
the anti-Israel demonstrators
who could not wait to return.

Vandalism of Jewish institu-
tions and physical threats have
continued against observant
Jews all over the world.

We cannot continue to
ignore this ever-widening ocean
of cultural sewage. Oftentimes
it appears that American Jews
don’t see antisemitism in
America because they don’t
want to, not because it isn’t
real. They choose not to see it
because it makes them uncom-
fortable, as assimilation seems
a better option. Or, it is only
called out if it comes from the
other side — the political side
they choose not to affiliate with.

However, one thing that
always gives me hope is the
community of Squirrel Hill
and the resiliency this vibrant
group of people continues to
show each and every day. Three
years after the murder of 11 of
their most beloved, these folks
demonstrate the strength that
lies within.

Too often though, it is tragedy
that has brought us together
and tested our resolve. We have
all mourned together after
too many innocent members
in our collective communities
have been targeted by hate and
bigotry. Our past and present
are intertwined, and now as
we see ourselves returning to
normalcy at work, school and in
our social lives, our bonds have
been tested. Leadership that
inspires tolerance and respect,
education and understanding,
is more important than
ever before.

The hometown of Fred
Rogers deserves better as does
the rest of the world.

We can no longer sit back
and accept Jew-hatred in
any form. We must stand up
against those suggesting Israel
is an apartheid nation or that
Jews are subhuman. We are
only 15 million strong around
the world — we are far from
the aggressor or the oppressor.

Some might argue that the
Jewish people are the greatest
overachievers in the history of
the planet and we must stand
tall and stand proud, but,
most importantly, we must
learn to stand together to fight
Jew-hatred. l
Steve Rosenberg is the chief
operating officer of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

What the Tree of Life Revealed About American Jewry
BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
A FEW YEARS AGO a
colleague called to interview
me for a book he was writing
about journalists who worked
for Jewish publications. I told
him that it would be the first
book in history whose reader-
ship would overlap 100% with
the people being interviewed.

That’s a little bit how
I feel about books that look
deeply into the ins and outs
of Jewish communal affairs:
the admittedly small genre of
synagogue tell-alls, studies of
Jewish philanthropy, scholarly
16 OCTOBER 28, 2021
work on how Americans “do”
Judaism. Of course, I eat these
books up — it’s my job and
passion. But I suspect I am
a distinct minority within a
minority. I also suspected Mark
Oppenheimer’s new book,
“Squirrel Hill: The Tree of
Life Synagogue Shooting and
the Soul of a Neighborhood,”
might be similarly narrow in
its scope and audience. In some
ways it is, but that is also its
strength: In describing the Oct.

27, 2018 massacre of 11 Jewish
worshipers in Pittsburgh and
how individuals and institu-
tions responded, he covers
board meetings, interviews
clergy, takes notes on sermons
and reads demographic studies
by Jewish federations. The
result is a biopsy — or really,
a stress test — of American
Jewry in the early 21st century,
the good and the bad.

And as a result it tells a
bigger story about and for all
Americans in an age of mass
shootings, political polariza-
tion and spiritual malaise.

First the good: The Squirrel
Hill in Oppenheimer’s book is
a model of Jewish community
building — home to the rare
American Jewish population
that stuck close to its urban
roots instead of fleeing to the
far suburbs. The neighborhood
boasts walkable streets, a wide
array of Jewish institutions, a
diverse public high school and
local hangouts that serve as
the “third places” so elusive in
suburbia. Oppenheimer credits
a federation leader, Howard
Rieger, who in 1993 spear-
headed a capital project that
kept the community’s infra-
structure — “from preschool
to assisted living” — in place
and intact.

The universal outpouring
of support after the shooting
also showed American Jewish
life at its best. Offers to help
flooded in from Jews around
the country and the world.

Non-Jews rushed to assure
JEWISH EXPONENT
Jews that they were not alone.

Barriers fell between Jewish
denominations, and people
put politics and religion aside
to focus on the qualities and
threats that unite them.

The downside is a photo
negative of all that’s right
about Squirrel Hill and
American Jewry. The diver-
sity and demographics of
Squirrel Hill are a reminder
of the more typically segre-
gated way of American Jewish
life — religiously, racially and
economically. Orthodox and
non-Orthodox Jews spin in
separate orbits. Many white
Jews rarely interact with people
of color who aren’t cleaning
their homes or taking care of
their kids.

As for the support that
f lowed in: Oppenheimer
also describes the ways the
offers of help could feel both
patronizing and self-serving,
as outside Jewish groups and
“trauma tourists” rushed in
without considering the needs
or feelings of the locals. One
New York-based burial society
sent “experts” to help the
provincials tend to the bodies
of victims; they were not-so-po-
litely told that the locals had it
under control. There’s a sad
and hilarious profile of an
Israeli medical clown who,
like so many clowns, ends up
sowing more confusion than
comfort. Oppenheimer also compli-
cates the rosy portraits of
Pittsburgh’s “Stronger Than
Hate” response to the shootings.

While the Jewish community
remains mostly grateful for the
shows of solidarity, there were
missteps and miscommunica-
tions along the way. Even one
of the most iconic images of
the shooting — the Kaddish
prayer written in Hebrew
characters on the front page
of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
— has a complicated backstory
that ended with the departure
See Silow-Carroll, Page 24
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM