David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and his wife, Cindy Skrzycki, a journalist and senior lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, live three blocks from the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 congregants were murdered on October 27 in what is considered the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history. He is Jewish, she…
Updated 10:00 p.m. An Orthodox rabbi said that Jews should not pray for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre because they were killed while praying in a Conservative synagogue. “Somebody came over to me and told me today that he got an email that people should go gather someplace here in town to give…
Soon after the shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh last week, a GoFundMe was set up to raise money for the victims’ families, as well as repair the building damaged by the gunfire. The GoFundMe has so far raised more than $1.1 million in only eight days — but other Pittsburgh Jewish…
(JTA) — The nurse who cared for alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers identified himself in a post on social media. Ari Mahler came forward in a heartfelt post Saturday night on Facebook. Mahler was one of three Jewish doctors and nurses to tend to Bowers when he was brought to Allegheny General Hospital with…
Update 1:30 p.m. A local chapter of the British Labour Party voted against a resolution condemning last week’s massacre at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, with leaders reportedly saying that there was too much focus on “anti-Semitism this, anti-Semitism that.” Steve Cooke, the secretary of the Norton West party group in England’s County Durham, wrote on…
Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood has known hatred and heartbreak — the heavily African-American church was one of two in East Liberty that were burned down in 1971 in suspected racist arson attacks. Now, the 1,500-member church is supporting another local house of worship that was attacked in a hate…
I have been asked, repeatedly, by non-Orthodox Jews about the “Orthodox response to Pittsburgh.” What a strange question. After all, the American Orthodox Jewish community has undoubtedly been plunged into mourning over the Pittsburgh shooting victims. Still, I sense a frustration here, among progressives seeking emotional responses from the Orthodox — and I want to…
Author’s note: This article is based on reporting from Friday evening and Saturday morning services at synagogues in Pittsburgh. I informed all people quoted in conversation that I am a reporter and have been reporting in Pittsburgh, and honored pre-arranged requests to keep public statements given at the gatherings off the record. “We mourn for…
100% of profits support our journalism
