President Trump visited the Pittsburgh synagogue where eleven Jews were massacred Saturday as growing protests of up to 2,000 people also converged on the scene Tuesday afternoon. They were greeted by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who led them inside the temple. Emerging about 18 minutes later, the president went to a memorial outside the building, where…
This past weekend, Americans were devastated and heartbroken by the deadliest attack against the American Jewish community in history. Israeli officials journeyed to Pittsburgh to stand in solidarity with the Tree of Life Congregation. Flags around the country were lowered to half mast, and thousands gathered at synagogues and common spaces across the globe to…
In the last 24 hours, my home became a headline. 11 Jews were shot during Saturday morning services at Tree of Life Synagogue — where my sister taught Hebrew school and I went to my first bat mitzvah. The Squirrel Hill Jewish community, which has been such a glowing and prominent feature of my upbringing,…
Before he attacked the Tree of Life synagogue this Saturday, the alleged Pittsburgh gunman Robert Bowers posted a message on social media. “HIAS [Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society] likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered,” he wrote. “Screw your optics, I’m going in.” He…
Something you hear a lot from the right when you bring up the President’s penchant for inflammatory language that ignites neo-Nazis is that the president can’t possibly be anti-Semitic because he has a Jewish daughter. It’s a line we have heard uttered by almost every member of the Trump administration at one time or another,…
After Pittsburgh, with 11 Jews dead, the recriminations began swiftly. The moment should have been about community and togetherness. Instead it became about finding someone to blame for anti-Semitism. The finger was pointed at President Donald Trump. The progressive group Bend the Arc issued a statement telling Trump he’s “not welcome in Pittsburgh.” The story…
This week, you will hear many voices telling you not to “politicize” the shootings in Pittsburgh. “I will not politicize the murder of 11 Jews,” celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote, before bizarrely connecting Pittsburgh to the Iran deal. “Have a moment of silence, light a candle,” Shmuel Rosner suggested, and don’t “treat this butchery of…
This was originally in the print edition of October 24, 1958, and was posted online in October 2018. October, close to the Jewish New Year, seems to be peak season for American anti-Semitic violence. Sixty years ago, in October 1958, America’s first successful satellite launch was followed swiftly on the front page of the Yiddish…
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