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LOWELL — A family in Bedford learned with horror early on Saturday that a synagogue in Pittsburgh where a loved one worshipped was the target of a mbadacre.
But it wasn’t until several hours of waiting in anxious fear before they were told their beloved family member was among the 11 killed.
Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, of Edgewood, Pa., the brother of Bedford resident Bill Rabinowitz, was gunned down in the Saturday morning attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Rev. John Gibbons, senior minister of First Parish in Bedford, confirmed Sunday. Bill, along with his wife Chris and sons Jacob and Eliot Rabinowitz, are parishoners at First Parish.
“It was the most horrible day yesterday,” said Gibbons, who was with the family when they learned of the tragedy.
Gibbons pointed out the Rabinowitz family was on their way to Pittsburgh on Sunday to attend services in honor of the event.
Attempts to reach the family were not immediately answered. Gibbons had known Jerry, and his wife Mari Rabinowitz, having officiated family weddings. He described the 66-year-old as a “beloved family physician.”
Jerry and Mari didn’t have any children, but Gibbons pointed out Bill’s sons served as Jerry’s “honorary children.”
In an Associated Press report Sunday, Jerry is described as a “trusted confidant,” and “healer.”
“He is one of the finest people I’ve ever met,” said Dr. Kenneth Ciesilka, in the article.
Ciesielka served as Jerry’s partner in his medical practice at UPMC Shadyside in Pittsburgh.
“We’ve been in practice together for 30 years and friends longer than that,” Ciesielka said. “His patients are going to miss him terribly. His family is going to miss him terribly and I am going to miss him. He was just one of the kindest, finest people.”
Gibbons said the attack reinforces a need to address gun violence.
“This has gone on way too long,” he said. “We must not be silent anymore.”
“We are shocked when it affects people we know, but on the other hand, why should it?” Gibbons added. “It affects all of us. We are all responsible and we are all responsible to put an end to gun violence.”
The tragedy occurred as the First Parish prepared for multiple events addressing violence. They will remember all who have died in their annual Day of the Dead celebration in their Memorial Garden at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Bedford Jewish Community and the Interfaith Clergy Network is also soon holding their annual event commemorate Kristallnacht, or the “night of broken glbad,” a precursor to the Holocaust, when Nazi thugs in Germany torched synagogues and vandalized Jewish homes in November 1938. The ceremony will take place at the Town Common in Bedford on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
“Today’s events are horrible and we remember Jerry Rabinowitz,” Gibbons stated in a letter published in The Bedford Citizen. “We must renew our efforts to end senseless hatred, bigotry and violence.”
Follow Aaron Curtis on Twitter @aselahcurtis; [email protected]
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