VIRAL PHOTO: Pittsburgh Boy In Kippah Gives Cookies To Police Officer
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By PJ Grisar October 30, 2018
The boy is wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates kippah and glasses, and he’s sheltering in the arm of a Pittsburgh police officer to whom he’s given a Tupperware container full of what looks like homemade cookies.
There’s also a handwritten note, from Lily, 6, and Mikey, 9: “Thank you for keeping the Jews in the neighborhood safe,” it says, and “Thank you for risking your lives.”
The world knows these details because, on the Sunday afternoon following the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, CBS Radio News correspondent Bill Rekhopf tweeted an image of a young boy gifting a local policeman cookies and a handwritten thank you note.
“Man, is this picture ever #Pittsburgh,” Rekhopf wrote.
Man, is this picture ever #Pittsburgh. #TreeofLifeSynogogue #GodBlessTheChild #MyHometown @CBSNewsRadio pic.twitter.com/7J8GMpA3gh
— Bill Rehkopf (@BillRehkopf) October 28, 2018
The heartwarming image racked up over 1,000 re-tweets and 3.5 thousand likes on Twitter. Rekhopf, who is based in D.C. grew up in Pittsburgh and previously worked as a news anchor for its local CBS affiliate, KDKA.
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected].
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
