A standing room crowd of more than 200 Greenbelters, congregants and religious leaders from other faith traditions joined together in unity at Mishkan Torah Synagogue on Thursday evening, November 1 to remember the victims of the shootings at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Rabbi Saul Oresky led the service. The opening song, Esa Einai, was based on the first two lines of Psalm 121: “I turn my eyes to the mountains: from where will my help come? My help comes from God, Maker of heaven and earth.” Sonya Lyatsky accompanied on guitar. The assembly then read Psalm 23 together in English. Rabbi Oresky and guest speakers together lit yahrzeit candles in memory of the deceased. Pastor Glennyce Grindstaff from Greenbelt Community Church brought a message of unity from the United Church of Christ.
Ana Langerak, a retired Episcopal priest and pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, urged those assembled to go forward with resolve in peace and unity. Mayor Emmett Jordan also spoke on behalf of Greenbelt City Council (many of whom were in attendance), promising to hold a forum in the coming weeks for religious leaders to discuss solutions to the problem of violence. Two Greenbelt police officers maintained a routine security presence outside the synagogue during the service.
Rabbi Oresky read the names of the 11 people who were killed in the Pittsburgh slaying and spoke a little about several of them. Two, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, had been married for 57 years. One was a dentist, Richard Gottfried. One was Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, a compassionate primary care physician. The oldest was 97-year-old Rose Mallinger. The youngest were two brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal, faithful attendees who often handed out prayer books in the back of the synagogue. Many were retirees, including Daniel Stein, accountant Melvin Wax, researcher Joyce Fienberg and realtor Irving Younger. They left behind friends, relatives, children and grandchildren.
Congregation president Steven Mirsky read an original poem entitled Embrace and Reject. The poem concluded: “Embrace love, Reject hate, Embrace each other.” Phil Greenfield, cantor, sang El Malei Rachamim (“God full of compassion”), a beautiful prayer sung on behalf of the departed, asking for God’s compassion for the dead and reminding mourners to give to charity in their memory. Together the congregation recited the Mourner’s Kaddish, a traditional prayer in Aramaic; an English translation was also provided.
Attendees were provided with pages from the Mishkan Torah Social Action Committee advising actions individuals can take in response to antisemitism and to combat hate. One top suggestion was to make a donation to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, which is directly helping the victims of terror, including the families impacted by the shootings at Tree of Life: jewishpgh.org/our-victims-of-terror-fund.
Greenbelters Gather in Unity At Mishkan Torah Memorial, by Melissa Sites
Rabbi Saul Oresky watches as Pastor Anne Langerak of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lights a candle during the memorial service for victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre at the Mishkan Torah synagogue in Greenbelt on November 1, 2018.