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Reuters
Sophie Levin, l & # 39; one of the speakers said: "I am a Jew different from the one I was yesterday"
"I knew the neo-Nazis and such people exist and hate mine, but I've never really thought that they were around me … I've always thought that They were elsewhere, I never really treated them. " [19659007] Josh Fidel and other teenagers living at Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh said that they never really had to think about anti-Semitism in their daily lives until Saturday, when he arrived with deadly force at the doorstep of their community.
Josh learned that the shooting took place in a local synagogue a few minutes drive from his home, before the news was reported.
His friend, who lives in front of Tree of Life, received frantic calls from his parents talking to him about it. They told him that they were locked in their basement and that their attic was being used by police snipers.
The alleged gunman, Robert Bowers, was finally taken alive by the authorities but injured. Before his capture, he had killed 11 people in the synagogue, all aged 54 to 97 years.
"My parents knew most of the families," says Josh. "There is not a single Jew in Pittsburgh or even all over the country who is not affected by this – it hurts everyone." Marina Godley-Fisher, a local teenager, lives a block away from the synagogue and tells that she was awakened by a neighbor.
"They woke me up and said:" Hey, the police are telling us to stay inside and lock them in. "She told the BBC. [19659007] "I would never have thought that it would be so close to home, and never in a synagogue, I suppose."
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Josh Fidel
17-year-old Josh Fidel is pictured with his brothers Matt (left) and Noah (right)
"I've always known in general that Jews are a minority, but at Squirrel Hill, they're not," she adds. "I did not think we would have much to worry about."
Squirrel Hill is Pittsburgh's long-standing Jewish center – both geographically and institutionally – with half of the city's 50,000 Jews living in and around the area. .
The inhabitants say that it is a place where all religious denominations and confessions, whether orthodox or secular, live side by side and where many know each other well.
When the community began to learn, it had suffered what is believed to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history, and some of its teens started texting.
They had already set up a group message after leaving a school that they had helped to organize earlier this year.
Like thousands of others across the United States, they had withdrawn from their institution to protest the deadly gun violence and what they see as a government failure to prevent it.
They say that they felt pbadionately because they feared that a local mbad shooting would become a reality someday – and Saturday, that happened.
"It's so common that I'm used to it, almost numb … it's almost routine," says Rebecca Glickman, 17, about the prevalence of gun violence by the Americans.
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" When I go to the movies, when I go to school, when I go out with my friends to the mall … When I go anywhere, I always think that it happens to me. "
Another high school student, Emily Pressman, says, "We never expect that to happen
" You see that on the news and you think it's a tragedy, but now I watch the news and I see at home. "
She learned about murder during a contest debate about 15 miles away when she and her friends received frantic calls from the family to check their safety. [19659013] Copyright of the Image
Emily Pressman
She says that when she returned from the competition, she returned to a confined area. The command center of the local police had been installed in his street.
Emily remembers staying at home for 20 minutes, still in debate, feeling "helpless and hopeless".
"We were like, we have to do something, because we felt so alone, and so crazy and empty, and we could not sit still," she says.
A few hours later, a small group from Taylor Allderdice High School and members of the Dor Hadash congregation who used the synagogue met at Starbucks. [19659007] Although they have no experience in organizing important events, they decided to plan a rally that night.
They hoped that a public vigil could offer a place where the united and helpless community would unite to comfort one another. ] Copyright of the Image
Andrea Glickman
At 2 pm on Saturday, the students were gathered to organize
From the cafe, they called reporters and newspapers and mobilized other young people from the area on social media.
In a few hours, through the medium of friends and their families, they had bought a microphone, flowers, candles and wood. step of fortune.
At one point, they faltered, fearing disrespect for the victims and feared being caught by the community to take the lead in the unionization process.
But in the evening, they met at 5 pm for the vigil: 30, more than a thousand people showed up.
They opened the session with a Mi Sherbeirach, a prayer for healing, as crowds crowded into a local road junction near the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh.
the religions that, in the rain, prayed, wept and sang together in a surprisingly large and somewhat spontaneous manifestation of unity.
"More Conscious of Being Jewish"
A student, 15-year-old Sophia Levin, was standing up. in front of the crowd and said, "I am not a Jew today or yesterday."
"Yesterday, being a Jew, it was just being part of the Jewish community Hearing about anti-Semitism [events] on other places, but here Squirrel Hill, and That did not affect us here, "she told them.
Emily and Rebecca agree that the experience has changed their perception of Jewish identity.
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"I am now more aware to be Jewish than I was, "says Emily.
"It does not matter who you are, it's only a label, but people wish it to hurt you for that label, but I think no one should hide who it is." [19659007] Rebecca once said, the mood in the neighborhood is always timid, but they also feel very much loved and supported.
"I do not think it's a good thing to live in fear and I do not think most people in this community will want it."
"I just think you have to be aware of prejudices people to you and you have to fight for who you are in your daily life. "
" We Will not Stand By The Arms "
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The group says that it hopes to do more to support the community and wants to continue. to advocate for better gun control legislation at the national level.
None of them will be eligible to vote in the mid-term elections in nine days. Some will only have their 18th birthday in a few weeks – this is a source of frustration. but also the motivation.
"Parkland kind of sets the precedent that students have a voice, that we're not going to sit idly by," Josh says.
"Students start learning if they want to make a change, they have to do it themselves, because they can not rely solely on politicians."
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