Israel has announced it will honor the head of Pittsburgh's Jewish community during next month's Independence Day celebrations, six months after 11 members of the community were killed in a shooting attack the city's Tree of Life Synagogue.
The Culture Ministry said Monday it had selected Jeff Finkelstein, the president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, to light a torch on behalf of the Jewish Diaspora as part of the government's May 8 Independence Day festivities. It noted Finkelstein's work to lead "the Jewish community's efforts to cope and rebuild" after the Oct. 28 shooting, the deadliest attack against Jews in U.S. history.
In a statement, Culture Minister Miri Regev praised Finkelstein's embodiment of the "spirit of greatness and social cohesion among our people."
