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PITTSBURGH, PA – NOVEMBER 2: Over 1000 people in the sanctuary at Sinai Temple for Friday evening Shabbat services on November 2, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sinai Temple, just a half mile from Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, opened up to Pittsburgh-area Jews and people of all faiths in the wake of the mass shooting that left 11 people dead at the Tree of Life on October 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
With the help of the police, the members of the congregation, the members of this city of the Sabbath outside of the Tree of Life Synagogue on Friday evening, an emotional act of worship and defiance Semitic attack in American history.
50 men locked arms and swayed, harmonizing in Hebrew under darkening skies, while police looked on and pilgrims laid stones and flowers at memorials for the 11 congregants who were slain last Saturday. The building is still closed while police process the crime scene.
Many of the women blood, too, though they stand off to the side, a common separation in conservative branches of Judaism. Children ran back and forth playing between their parents' legacies. A father gently wiped tears from his teenage son's cheeks, consoling him softly as the congregation prayed.
At one point, the service was stopped to a member of the FBI Chevrah Kadisha, the Jewish organization that helps prepare bodies for burial. Afterward, the congregation broke into Al Hanisim, Hanukkah song that commemorates Jews' perseverance in the face of violent oppression. Though not normally a part of Shabbat services, no one had to ask for the song.
"Said Rabbi Sam Weinberg, principal of the Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, whose students helped organize the Shabbat service through" The Jewish people know we do not know how, we can always pull together, we will always persevere. text messages on Friday.
"Six days after, right here," he continued, pointing to the Tree of Life Synagogue, "the most horrible and terrible thing happened, we can still come together as a people and recover a little bit of the peace of Shabbat . "
The service capped an emotional day in Pittsburgh, as the city's Jewish community buried the last of their dead. As night fell, it seemed as if half of Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh's historically Jewish neighborhood, was walking home from Sabbath services, huddling together against the cold.
'A circle no one wants to be a part of'
PITTSBURGH, PA -NOVEMBER 2: Rabbi Jamie Gibson sings to the more than 1000 people crammed into the sanctuary at Sinai Temple for Friday evening Shabbat services on November 2, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sinai Temple, just a half mile from Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, opened up to Pittsburgh-area Jews and people of all faiths in the wake of the mass shooting that left 11 people dead at the Tree of Life on October 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
The last funeral for the 11th of July was held Friday. Rose Mallinger, 97, was remembered for her strong will and commitment to Tree of Life.
Under the soaring vaults of Shalom Rodef's sanctuary, Mallinger's family and friends praised her zest for life.
"She was 97, but she was not done," said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who led Mallinger's Congregation at Tree of Life / The Simcha's Gold. "She had spunk."
Later in the service, Myers said that "an angel" had visited him on Friday morning, just as his spiritual strength was waning. That angel, he said, was the Rev. Eric S. C. Manning, pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, where a gunman killed nine members in 2015.
Wearing a button commemorating the Charleston massacre, Manning said he traveled to Pittsburgh on Friday to offer moral sustenance, show solidarity and to "pay it forward," after so many Americans stepped up to support his church.
At Mallinger's memorial service, the pastor read Psalm 23 and told the congregation that his church "mourns with you," here with you. "
After the service, we waited with Manning, hugging him and tearfully thanking him for coming to Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh's Jews and his Charleston share a common and tragic bond, Manning said in a brief interview afterward.
"We're not going anywhere," he said. "What we have to do, today, and every day, is to make sure that it does not get any bigger."
Manning was just one of many people Saturday night's anti-Semitic attack.
Myers said Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. After a brief discussion about what language to converse in (Myers said they Hebrew thing, their "mother tongue") Netanyahu told him that all of Israel mourns with Pittsburgh, Myers said.
Outside Tree of Life, pilgrims gathered on the spot and signs at the memorials for the 11 Jews killed by the gunman last Saturday.
Among them was Jody Yoken and her 9-year-old son, Ryder, who was in town from Toronto for a hockey tournament. Yoken said her son, who is waiting for a Hebrew school in Canada, has asked questions in the aftermath of Saturday's attack: Are we safe? Why do not people like us?
"Yoken said," and that's why we're accepting differences, "Yoken said," and that's why we're accepting differences. "
A global outpouring
In Great Britain, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote on Twitter that he would be waiting for synagogue on Saturday to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jewish Londoners for their Shabbat service to show solidarity to the victims of the Pittsburgh shooting last weekend.
The Twitter hashtag #ShowupforShabbat has been trending all week long, with communities in the United States urging people to wait for synagogues and show their support in the aftermath of the attack.
In Britain, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote on Twitter that he would be waiting for synagogue on Saturday to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Londoners for their shabbat service to show solidarity to the victims of the Pittsburgh shooting last weekend.
The UK Jewish Community is also rallying to show solidarity, with leaders urging people to attend services Friday night and Saturday morning.
