It started unexpectedly for some, resonating in a block at Squirrel Hill where a different, darker sound had captivated the neighborhood and then the nation two days earlier.

Jewish girls from a nearby Chabad Orthodox school had walked up to the synagogue of the Tree of Life, hand prayer books and blue ribbons attached to their hair and wrists, for sing.

They harmonized in Hebrew the way Jews have prevailed despite the persecution across the generations. They wrapped themselves in their arms. They swayed. Their music, drawn from the thirteen principles of Maimonides' faith, spoke of an era without war or peace.

Etsy Peles, 17, a girls-only high school student at Yeshiva in Pittsburgh, saw 11 names written in black on 11 white stars outside the synagogue, in front of dozens of bouquets. Each star symbolized a person torn apart in an explosion of anti-Semitism.

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The facade of the synagogue had been distributed all over the world. Etsy had a habit of seeing him on a screen, until she and her classmates headed for him Monday afternoon

"It moves right in front of us, and the names of all people, and you just feel it in the air, it was tangible," she said a few hours later from a meeting room at his school. Sisters Talia, 14, and Ayala Rosenthal, 17, accompanied her in an interview with USA TODAY. "I feel as if going back to the place, praying and singing there, we just showed everyone that, you know, we can and will stay strong."

The alleged gunman, Robert Bowers, expressed his hatred toward the Jews by addressing an officer after killing 11 worshipers at the Saturday Tree of Life Synagogue. He faces charges of hate crime.

"I do not want to be hated," Talia said. She wore a blue bow in each of her ponytails and a ribbon around her neck. "I know how it feels to be hated, and I do not want it for others."

But outside of school, the symptoms of hate abounded. Three police vehicles (SUVs) stood near the main entrance while students were fired. On a concrete path, someone had written you "love and peace," which sounded like a plea rather than a guarantee.

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In Judaism, a "minyan" represents a group of 10 people or more, the minimum required to pray. Etsy recalled how, during a vigil, a rabbi told the assembled people that more than one minyan of Jews had been lost.

"It's suddenly 11 people from my country left because of hate," said Etsy. "It's hard, yeah, it's hitting close to home."

The small slice of Ayala in Pittsburgh reacted with sympathy and love, she said, even though she has an unfortunate appearance that she does not seem to be able to shake.

"It's heartbreaking to see that we all have to come together," she said.

Talia and Ayala said one of their neighbors had lost their lives. They feel a void on their block.

The shooter "tried to destroy us," said Talia, "tried to break us, but all you did was get us closer and tie us up, make us more connected. did not work, we are stronger. "

Peter Ennis is away on a green sidewalk after the girls have filled the block of songs.

He lived at Squirrel Hill for 30 years. Rose Mallinger, the 97-year-old victim, was her neighbor. His grandchildren played with his children. They called her by the Yiddish word for grandmother: Bubbe.

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Ennis thought the shooter was despicable, but he added that he was happy to hear a Jewish nurse caring for this man.

His wife was standing nearby, both stifled by tears. The couple collapsed while talking about the victims.

Earlier in the day, Emery Noll and Elliot Cohen were standing near the same place, paying homage to everyone after laying flowers. The 20-year-old, both students at nearby Carnegie Mellon University, have called for more restrictions on guns.

Noll explicitly asked for help from the government.

"Not just tell us to have better security. It's horrible to think that people like this man could have guns and do the horrible things he did.

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Cohen echoed it, saying there was no reason for anyone to have access to powerful weapons like an AK-47.

Maria Poznahovska, 27, spoke at a nearby cafe about the unfortunate but practical need to increase security in Jewish places of worship.

At the same time, Poznahovska, who is betrothed to a Jewish man, said that security should only be considered as a temporary measure, which should not be standardized.

"In general, I think the mentality that we have to carry weapons to feel safe really reflects us as a society," said Poznahovska. "It normalizes the response that we react to violence with more violence."

The fundamental problem, she said, is broader than access to firearms and begins with divisive discourse, in politics and elsewhere.

"The fact that so many people still feel this kind of hatred (indicates) that we have not done a great job fighting these things," she said.

Mikiko Long, 38, came from Massachusetts and spoke of the difficulty of talking about the discrimination she faces with her loved ones. His mother is Japanese and his father is of Irish descent.

"It's not always easy for people who do not live (oppression) to understand these things," she said. But she is keen to try to be deliberate and creative when talking with her loved ones, to keep a line of open dialogue with other people who may not share her point of view.

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Although Long's 23-year-old cousin, Andre Solomon, is not Jewish, he can understand the victims of the synagogue a bit.

"My father was murdered by a white supremacist because of the color of his skin," said Solomon. "I feel disappointed again. People can not see that we are all human beings. "

He, too, called for stricter gun control laws after shooting at the synagogue. He specifically advocated for limits to firepower available to all and firearms available to those "who are not mentally capable of having them".

Emma Rose Shapiro, 21, is a senior from the University of Pittsburgh and president of the Challah for Hunger in Pitt, as well as a leader of the Hillel Jewish University Center.

Shapiro said that there came a time when "you can only offer so many" thoughts and prayers ". After (the shooting), there should be a moral indignation, especially among our leaders. But there were crickets. We must exclude them.

Back at the Yeshiva school, a police officer gave gold stickers to the children who were leaving and nicknamed them "junior police officers".

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Inside, copies of a writing exercise were lining a wall. The prompt asked students what they could do to illuminate the world.

A student swore to light Sabbath candles. Another to limit the "lashon hara" or the gossip of other people.

Others have written about the search for positivity, the use of kind words and the judgmental reserve.

Ayala Rosenthal, high school student, agreed with her sister, Talia, that the reaction to hate, whether in person or online, should never cause anger, but action.

"If you see someone hating on the street, stop him. Everyone has their own power to help get rid of hatred, "Ayala said. "Everyone has the potential to prevent hatred from occurring. Everyone is kind. "

Follow Max Londberg on Twitter: @MaxLondberg

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