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We are not as numerous as we Jews in the world – about 0.2% of the population – so we are proud to carry more than our weight. We have presented some of the basic ideas of Western civilization: the sanctity of human life, a uniform morality, freedom, concern for the oppressed, the weekend.
Unfortunately, we are also above average to attract perverse people who hate what we stand for. This murderer, like all anti-Semites, disagrees with the ideas we carry in this world. Worry for the oppressed? Who is more oppressed than a refugee?
The archetype of all anti-Semites is Amalek. His cowardly specialty was to pick up the old, weak, infirm stragglers from the back of the Exodus pack. Saturday's murderer was Amalek, who had mainly killed elderly and mentally handicapped members of the three resident congregations.
For a few years, I led a congregation that merged with Tree of Life. For many years, I was a late regular from the morning service of Shabbat that was attacked. I knew five of the murdered people. They were more than good and adorable. These were the pillars that were present at the time and were helping.
Rose Mallinger, 97, would still be there, sitting next to her sister. Saturday she was next to her daughter Andrea who, like the whole family, has a permanent smile. Andrea was shot. Rose was murdered.
Cecil Rosenthal, 59, knew my wife since childhood. He had special needs and juvenile exuberance. His younger, slender brother, David, had a more serious look and spoke less. He too had special needs. Like his big brother, he was murdered.
Irv Younger, aged 69, was a charming man with a lock of white hair who would do everything that had to be done with the shul. Murdered.
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, was a member of Dor Hadash, a synagogue that rented premises in the village hall. Family physician, he escaped the initial badault and returned to help the survivors. He has been murdered.
Because we are so few, we feel the pain when a Jew is in trouble, anywhere. When someone is killed by a terrorist in Israel or held captive in the former Soviet Union, that's really our business. We usually call to find out if our friends or relatives from around the world have been injured during an attack. It is now our turn to receive these calls.
What happened to our wonderful close community on Saturday became the business not only of Jews but of all civilized human beings. Grief will never go away. The best way to honor the murdered people would be to imitate their decency and kindness.
In the Torah part of last week, we learned how Abraham negotiated with God to preserve the occupiers of Sodom. Beyond their signature activity, the Sodomites have committed real crimes related to the treatment of foreigners. Abraham asks for God's patience if he can find 10 men of value in the city. He could not, and thereafter 10 became the minimum number for a Jewish prayer service. The number of Jews murdered at the Tree of Life Saturday was 11.
Mr. Weiss is a Pittsburgh carpet salesman.
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