The city’s show of solidarity

Hundreds mourn the loss of Pittsburgh victims

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“This is an attack — one we never imagined would happen on American soil against the Jewish people,” Rabbi Eli Goodman, of Chabad of the Beaches, told a crowd of hundreds in Kennedy Plaza on Monday as they mourned the loss of life after the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the country’s history.

Elected officials joined local residents and religious leaders to remember the 11 worshippers killed last Saturday by a gunman in the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh.

“It is a clarion call to governments, to communal leaders, to educators and to parents,” Goodman said. “The ugliest and oldest of hatreds permitted to find expression in any form ultimately sows depraved violence.”

Some in the crowd held glow sticks in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community as speakers prayed and discussed the importance of love and unity. “We come together to explicitly demonstrate that we will not and cannot tolerate any acts of anti-Semitism, any acts of hate, based upon a person’s religious belief,” said City Council Vice President Chumi Diamond. “Our society has seen a huge rise in acts of hate against the Jewish community” — nearly 80 percent this year alone, she added. “That is why I have asked our police commissioner and acting city manager to increase patrols around all houses of worship in our city. These increases took effect immediately.”

Diamond thanked the Police Department for providing “this incredible level of comfort to those who worship throughout our city.”

“The killer’s bullets were aimed at us all,” Goodman said. “‘All Jews must die!’ he yelled when opening fire. We must work together to eradicate this evil by a policy of zero tolerance for any anti-Semitism in any form.”

“It’s time for action,” said Deacon Marcus Tinker of the Christian Light Baptist Church. “Something has to be done about the mental health issues here in America. Something has to be done about the gun violence here in America.”

He recalled six years ago, when the city came together following Hurricane Sandy’s devastation. “In the aftermath of the storm, our city came together in love and unity,” Tinker said. “Whether you came from the north, the south, the east, the west; whether you were black, white, Hispanic, Asian; regardless of whatever faith you came from, we all came together in love and unity, and America needs that today.”

Mitzvah papers were passed out to the crowd, and attendees were invited to write down good deeds they would do in memory of the Pittsburgh victims. The notes would be delivered to the victims’ families later this week, Goodman said. A collection box was available in the City Hall lobby until Wednesday, officials said.

To contribute to a second round of mitzvah paper deliveries to victims’ families, send a message to Barbara Horn at callingofthenames@gmail.com with the subject “Pittsburgh good deed.”