Tree of Life : reflections in memory of the terrorist massacre of Jews

by Yuval David

Today is the yartzheit, the anniversary, of the terror hate crime attack on Jewish people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The horrific massacre on Jewish worshippers on October 27, 2018. Eleven people, each of whom had come to celebrate Shabbat at one of three different synagogues that met in a single building, were murdered that day, and another 11 were wounded.

The terrorist killer, Robert G. Bowers, a middle-aged Christian white man, was outraged that one of the congregations, the Reconstructionist Dor Chadash, had expressed support for refugees and immigrants at a service several weeks earlier. The murderer entered the synagogue yelling “all Jews must die” and then opened fire upon the congregants.