A public Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony was held Sunday outside the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were murdered in October. The event was seen as an opportunity to honor the dead, mark Hanukkah's theme of survival and reinforce the community's solidarity.
"To me, it's a simple message: The light is the message," Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said, pointing to the candelabra standing on the same corner where the makeshift memorial for the 11 victims stood and was visited by thousands paying their respects.
Five weeks after the Oct. 27 massacre – believed to be the deadliest attack ever on Jews in the United States – about 500 people gathered outside the Tree of Life synagogue on the first night of Hanukkah to pray, sing songs and witness the lighting of the candle.
"We are practicing our Jewish faith publicly and proudly," said Stephen Cohen, co-president of New Light, whose congregation, along two other congregations – Dor Hadash and Tree of Life – was at the synagogue when the shooting occurred.
The fact that hundreds of people showed up for the ceremony came as no surprise to the three congregations.
"I don't think there are enough adjectives to describe the community support," said Myers, who was leading Shabbat services at the synagogue when the shooting occurred.
"We're such a tight-knit community," said Ilana Kohanbash, who attended the event with her husband, Jason.
"It's also a wake-up call for what we need to do to keep our faith, and [that] we need to take precautions. It could happen to anybody."
The suspected shooter, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the shooting, authorities said. He remains jailed without bail, and has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges of murder and hate crimes.
David Hausdorff, 53, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was in town on business and came to the lighting ceremony to show support.
"It's unfathomable, this act of violence," Hausdorff said. "It's unconscionable in any house of worship, let alone in a neighborhood I grew up in. If I weren't here to actually see it, I wouldn't grasp the totality of the emotional devastation."
The event comes less than a week after the end of the Shloshim, the 30-day mourning period Jews observe following the death of relatives.
"We all begin the process of moving forward," said Ellen Surloff, president of Dor Hadash. "You move forward one day at a time. You have good days and some not-so-good days."
Although the gunman targeted the Jewish community, Cohen cautioned that the shooting serves as a warning.
"The reality is that it affects other religious communities, too," he said. "We are coming together in comradeship and to help to see if we can work together. What happened here, clearly this is a sign, this is a signal and it can't be ignored."
