For Jews in Pittsburgh, the anniversary of the attack is another addition to an already grim October

By PETER SMITH, Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jewish communities everywhere reacted with horror to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, but the upcoming year-long commemoration of the attack is hitting particularly hard on Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, which is already celebrating a sad anniversary in October.

Here, on October 27, 2018, a gunman carried out the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, killing 11 worshipers from three congregations at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

Adding to the intense feelings is the arrival of the Jewish High Holidays – days that flank the anniversary of October 7 with rituals focused on mortality and commemorating the deaths of loved ones and past martyrs. Many find comfort in the rituals as they mark an emotionally stressful milestone.

“The trauma runs deep in our community here,” said Rabbi Seth Adelson of Congregation Beth Shalom, a Conservative synagogue near Tree of Life in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh. “You can’t really separate the trauma of Jews being attacked in Pittsburgh and Jews being attacked in Israel.”

The attacks have differences.

The attack in Pittsburgh was carried out by a right-wing extremist who targeted Jews for helping immigrants. Broad civic support for the Jewish community followed.

The Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked an ongoing war in Gaza. Israel is now stepping up its attacks on the Hamas-allied Hezbollah in Lebanon, while Iran has attacked Israel with rockets.

The attacks have commonalities, local Jewish leaders say. In the attack on a synagogue, the sanctuary of a place of worship was injured. The Hamas attack was followed by a rise in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide.

“The similarity of what Oct. 7 and Oct. 27 hold together is a question of security for Jews,” said Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, which helps people traumatized by the 2018 attack.

According to a survey by the American Jewish Committee earlier this year, nearly two-thirds of Jews nationwide feel less safe than they did a year ago.

In Pittsburgh, a man was charged in September for allegedly attacking two university students wearing yarmulkes, the skullcap worn by observant Jews.

A synagogue and the office of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were targeted by graffiti. Parents of Jewish students say their children have suffered from anti-Semitism in the wake of anti-Israel protests.

Rabbi Daniel Yolkut of Congregation Poale Zedeck in Squirrel Hill said hearing anti-Semitic slurs from drivers had become “unremarkable” to his children.

Rabbi Adelson said that, unlike in 2018, local Jews did not feel broad community solidarity.

“There is a feeling that Israel was attacked and then the attacks just continued,” he said.

Many in Pittsburgh have lived in Israel or have friends or relatives there. For Yolkut, one connection is particularly poignant.

Years ago, when he was a rabbi in Virginia, his congregants included the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas in 2023.

“I remember him as a little kid running around my synagogue,” Yolkut recalls. He was devastated when he learned weeks ago that Goldberg-Polin, aged 23, had been killed by Hamas along with five other hostages.

As Oct. 7 approaches, Feinstein said Jews in Pittsburgh are already familiar with the “anniversary effect” — the emotional turmoil surrounding a traumatic calendar date. Since 2019, the community has held memorial services every year in honor of the eleven people who lost their lives on October 27th, as the attack on the synagogue is known locally.

She reminds people that emotions surrounding anniversaries are natural: “Whatever we feel, we shouldn’t be ashamed.”

On that Sabbath morning in 2018, members of all three congregations worshiping at the Tree of Life were killed – the host congregation Dor Hadash and New Light.

News of last year’s Hamas massacre arrived on another Sabbath, just weeks after the conclusion of a lengthy federal trial in which the Pittsburgh attacker was sentenced to death on 63 counts.

“The timing was very difficult because some people had not calmed their great fear of the trial,” said Rabbi Amy Bardack of Congregation Dor Hadash. Both attacks raised visceral questions: “Are Jews safe in the world?”

Members of the Jewish community recognize wide differences within their families and communities, although most support Israel as a Jewish state and a safe haven for Jews.

“Everyone wants peace,” Adelson said, “but there is a strong feeling that Israelis deserve to live in peace and not be subject to threats and rocket attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Disputes have flared up again and again locally, such as the recent failed attempt by some Pittsburgh organizations to ban the city from doing business with companies linked to Israel.

Rebecca Elhassid is now volunteering for the new Beacon Coalition, which researches local politicians’ views on Israel and Jews.

She said her community has had heated discussions about the war and Israeli politics. She sees her job as helping community members find their way in the difficult situation.

“We cannot control the war between Israel and Hamas, and we cannot control anti-Semitism,” she said. “There is only one thing we can control: how we treat each other and how we maintain loving and kind relationships with one another across ideological differences.”