Dear friends,
Words cannot express our heartbreak and anguish over the heinous attack that took place this morning at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. According to the ADL, this was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history. As of this writing, 11 people are confirmed dead, and 6 are injured (including 4 police officers who responded to the scene). We send our sincerest prayers for comfort and healing to the families of the victims. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may the memories of those murdered today endure as a blessing. We also hold the injured in our thoughts, praying that they have full and speedy recoveries. Finally, we are grateful for the bravery and skill of the first-responders and law enforcement agents who risked their lives in order to save lives. It seems likely that they prevented this act of terror from becoming an even greater tragedy.
We heard about the shooting during Shabbat morning services, just as we were about to put away the Torah, and immediately informed those present. In our shock and grief, we offered whatever words and prayers we could muster to meet the moment, and mostly held each other in our pain. We put the synagogue on lockdown until we knew that there was no known threat in our area. We are grateful to our Executive Director, Faith Kallman, for getting the information to us quickly, and to our Shabbat morning Gabbai, Dr. Ed Mollen, for acting swiftly to ensure our collective safety.
While there is still no known threat in the Richmond region, we will have increased security presence at the Religious School tomorrow. And while we frequently review our security needs as a congregation (in conversation with other local Jewish institutions and various law enforcement agencies), we will no doubt revisit those conversations over the next few weeks with increased urgency. This attack, after all, occured against a backdrop of a historic increase in anti-Semitic incidents across our country since January 2017, and the safety of our congregation is a top priority.
For the time being, however, we want you to know that we are here for you. We will both be at the Religious School for minyan tomorrow morning at 9am, and we believe that this setting will offer us a meaningful moment to grieve and pray together — for our brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh, for ourselves, for our country, for our broken world — and we invite you to join us. I know it will be a comfort to be in each other’s presence. And we will be will be there throughout the school day, should you feel the need to talk, or just want a hug. Beyond tomorrow, our doors and arms are always open to offer all the love and support we can.
At the moment, we are also incredibly grateful to have received so much love and support from our interfaith friends and partners throughout the Richmond region. A friend from the Muslim community reached out immediately, saying, “I really have no words...There is nothing more evil and more diabolical than murdering people when they are most at peace, praying or contemplating...May God protect all our communities. Please let me know what we can do to support and stand together.”
A colleague from the Methodist community wrote, “As a fellow human being, I am hurt and deeply saddened at the hate and inhumanity that has wounded the Jewish community not only in Pittsburgh, The Tree of Life synagogue, but throughout the world. As a Christian minister, I am offering my prayers and love for your comfort and hope. This is a time of increased anti-semitism and social toxicity against many diverse groups. Though this is a time of uncertainty in our nation, it is a time that we are not going to be silent on hate and murder. We are one together for our safety in life, for a compassionate caring community, and the pursuit of our happiness and our common welfare.”
Another Christian friend, an Episcopalian minister, wrote, “We stand with you in prayer.” And a self-described “agnostic” neighbor, whom we have never even met, reached out to say, “This terrible occurrence is a grave offense to all people, certainly anyone with half a heart and a sane mind...I am offering you my sincere comradeship, and my personal hope for peace, both in this world, and in the lives and minds of those in your congregation.”
These are indeed troubling times, but it is at least some comfort to know that we are embraced by the love and support of friends from diverse backgrounds, and those relationships help lift us up, sustain us, keep us safer, and contribute to the repair of this broken world.
In this spirit, you may find it meaningful to join with our Social Action/Tikkun Olam (SATO) committee on Monday evening at 6:30pm at Ebenezer Baptist Church for RISC’s “Community Problems Assembly.” While not related to today’s events, this will be a gathering of dozens of congregations from across the religious spectrum to discuss how we will organize this year to make our community more just and equitable. In the coming days, we assume there will be other communal responses to today’s events, both within and beyond the Jewish community, and we pledge to keep you informed of those developments.
We look forward to seeing some of you at minyan tomorrow morning, and in the days and weeks ahead. May God grant strength to God’s people. May God grant God’s people — all of us — peace.
L’shalom — towards peace,
Rabbi Michael Knopf and Cantor Dara Rosenblatt
