Pittsburgh Synagogue Leader: Trump, Don’t Come
Lynnette Lederman, past president of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, knew many of the victims of the Shabbat-morning shooting by Robert Bowers that killed 11 people and wounded others.
She’s heard that President Trump is talking about visiting the city and the synagogue and has one word for him: “Don’t.”
“He is the purveyor of hate speech,” she said. His words of sympathy are “hypocritical” and meaningless, she added.
The rabbi of the synagogue, however, said Trump is welcome, but hate is not.
“We’ve got to stop hate and it can’t just be to say we need to stop hate,” he said. “Hate is not welcome here in Pittsburgh. It should not be welcome in our borders at all.”
Contact Helen Chernikoff at [email protected] or on Twitter @thesimplechild
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30