Pittsburgh leaders, citizens gather to mourn 11 Jewish congregants slain by gunman, vow mutual support

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 2,000 people gathered in Pittsburgh's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall on Sunday night, and many more gathered outside, for an emotional interfaith ceremony to commemorate the 11 people killed and six injured in Saturday's mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. Three Jewish congregations use the synagogue, and the rabbis of each congregation spoke, as did Christian, Muslim, and civic leaders.

"We lost 11 of our neighbors, and we are here to mourn the way they were taken from us," said Mayor Bill Peduto. "We are here for you, because we're Pittsburghers. And that's what we do." He called Saturday the "darkest day of Pittsburgh's history" and vowed to "eradicate any type of hate" from Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, whose congregation lost seven members in the mass murder, said "my holy place has been defiled." Pointing to the 23rd Psalm — "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." — he said, "Well God, I want!" but "what I want you can't give me. You can't return these 11 beautiful souls. You can't rewind the clock." He vowed to rebuild, and pointing to another psalm and the outpouring of support, added: "My cup overflows with love. That's how you defeat hate." Rabbi Cheryl Klein of Dor Hadash remembered slain congregant Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, who died "on his way to be of help to others."

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Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of New Light Congregation lamented the three "pillars" of his congregation who were murdered. "These three men — they cannot be replaced. But we will not be broken. We will not be ruined by this event."

The Anti-Defamation League says Saturday's massacre was the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, but the latest incident in an upsurge of anti-Semitic attacks. Earlier this year, the ADL reported a 60 percent jump in anti-Semitic incidents last year, the single largest single-year rise in the three decades the organization has been tracking such activity.