A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

The Tree of Life, Or L'Simcha

October 27, 2018.

Shots fired! Shots fired!

871 shots fired! Give me all additional resources.

34-23, 34-24.

5898 Wilkins Avenue.

One of my elder daughters came running in and asked

did Bubbie go to shul today?

That's about when my stomach fell out

and I knew something was wrong.

We got a text from somebody

that just said active shooter

at Tree of Life synagogue.

I said the boys are there.

In our hearts

we knew. We knew. We just felt it.

I turned the corner onto Wilkins Avenue.

And was looking for the parking lot and I saw my brother

walking into the building. That's the last time I saw him alive.

I was facing forward, I could not...

I did not see what was going on behind me.

Until I heard this sound.

And I turned around to see what the sound was.

And there was the man with the gun.

I turned around

and Audrey was going over to the left side

and I followed behind her.

Audrey and I went up

and we found this room with all kinds of junk in it.

And we hid in there.

There was a window in the door

and so when we realized that

we made ourselves look like

as much as we could, the bags of clothing that were in there.

I guess they're donations.

She heard Bernice cry out

when her husband was shot.

I don't recall hearing that.

All I remember was... was the man with the gun.

We couldn't run.

We were in the back, in our seats.

And I just told my mother I said just get down.

And I think we both got shot

before we went down

As I got into the doorway

there were a series of

probably four or five shots

And as I'm standing in the doorway

I could see shell casings bouncing across the floor in front of me.

And having that shootout.

With these four officers that were shot.

I mean when I think about it...

Jerry and I looked at each other.

Jerry's a doctor. I'm a nurse.

I thought that somehow

we could be helpful.

And so we moved in the direction of the gunfire.

And as you know Jerry was killed. And I was wounded.

I just laid on the floor. I didn't move.

And I was bleeding a lot.

I think I must have been in shock.

My mother was lying right by me.

And I couldn't... I couldn't look.

I just stayed there until somebody came through.

When the police came on scene

the shooter actually ended up going into the school wing.

Normally on a Saturday morning

my son and I would be there to do a junior congregation.

One shabbat a month we didn't have junior congregation.

This happened to be that one shabbat.

Normally my son would have been sitting in the front lobby entry

waiting for the kids to come in.

When I got up, I just told my mother I loved her.

And...

I had to go, I had to live.

So. I... I knew she wasn't gonna survive.

These cowardly assassins were going after small vulnerable places.

And...

you know, the shooter killed about

half the people in the building.

Half the people survived.

Eleven dead.

The Jewish people have been here on these shores 355 years.

And if you think about anti-semitism

which has been prevalent

all 355 years.

Yeah it's surprising, well what took so long.

It was inevitable that

there was gonna be an attack of this nature on a synagogue.

This is even before I was born.

But it's my aunts and uncles, my grandmother and grandfather.

My brother, bless his memory.

The two elderly folks in front with a child between them

are my grandmother and grandfather.

This whole thing is falling apart.

Growing up the holidays were amazing.

My Bubbie and Zaydee, my grandmother and grandfather

had a little apartment in Terrace Village

up in the Hill District.

And Passover would come

and the relatives would come in

from all over. Chicago, New York, Steubenville.

And we'd all settle around this table

in the middle of their living room. And

by the time the Seder would start, of course you'd start the Seder late

the kids were underneath the table, sound asleep

because they had sampled the wine, okay?

And as orthodox as my Zaydee was

he wanted to get the kinderlach home to bed.

He didn't think it was right that

they stay up until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning for a Seder.

So he had a tendency to try and skip pages on the... Seder book.

And, it was... it was amazing

because he'd go so far and then he'd turn the page.

And my Bubbie, oh, she was a character.

Jacob, you missed a page!

Jacob, you forgot, you didn't do the line! Jacob!

What about this!

And my Zaydee of bless his memory would say

shah, still.

The Kinderlach have to get home to bed.

Shah, still.

It was hilarious.

I came to Pittsburgh when I was nine years old.

My father was moving around a lot, his...

he was shaping his medical career.

It was more of a mix than... than what we had in Milwaukee.

Like, I remember in Milwaukee

that a girl who was older than me

told me that the Jews killed Christ.

That was the first time I'd ever heard about that.

So I always appreciated Pittsburgh.

I remember in 1979

the Pittsburgh Pirates won the world series

and the captain of the team Willie Stargell

kept on referring to the Pirates as the family

and there was a song that was popular at the time called We Are Family.

We are family

And all the fans would sing it all the time.

It really thrilled me to feel part of this great family and

we would sing it all the time.

It was funny because it said we are family

I got all my sisters with me

which really didn't refer to the Pirates so much

but in my family where I only had sisters

it was very special to me

to be able to sing about having all my sisters with me.

I didn't feel like watching the Steelers today

'cause I was afraid they would lose.

But I have to get the score.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won 17 to 10!

Mazel tov!

My father would be very happy.

There are writers who say

we are born, we suffer, and we die.

The whole of life in eight words.

And I say

we are born, we laugh, and we die.

Anyway... that gives you an idea of the kind of person I am.

Should I talk with my hands on the table?

Should I talk with my hands on my lap?

Should I cross my legs? Should I...

...if it makes you feel able to speak...

I'm likely to use my hands because I always do.

I live in Greenfield, but everyone calls it Squirrel Hill

cause I'm near the border.

And in fact, in Squirrel Hill

Squirrel Hill itself has never been more than 40% Jewish.

But the flavor of the neighborhood

has been all the businesses that were owned and...

And loudly proclaiming buy kosher meat here

and whatever it made it seem like a Jewish community.

See?

I knew them. I sat in the synagogue next to them

they greeted me as I came into the synagogue

or I grew up with them.

This is my first time.

Joyce was very concerned about what happened in Paris.

In France and also in Paris

because many things happened against Jewish people.

I think she...

she would have liked us to move.

Did she ever say where she'd like you to move?

In Pittsburgh, yes.

Come here, puppy.

Yeah. Come on, want to sit with Mom?

This is my dog Ziva.

That's a Hebrew name.

- Ziva. - What does it mean?

It means light, and illuminated.

She's been my therapy dog I'll tell you for the...

that first week or so afterwards when there was one funeral after the next.

It was... yeah. That was a tough week.

I've said to a few people already

you know I can't wait to get back home

unfortunately it's gonna be a while

When you say you can't wait to get back home

what do you mean by home?

Tree of Life, yeah

and they looked at me like oh really? Yeah. You know.