#tree of life synagogue

[tiredgirlvent]

Absolutely beautiful ❤️

Maryam is a Lebanese Christian

Fatema is a Muslim from bahrain

Youssef elazari is from Morocco

Audrey glickman is a member of the tree of life congregation and a survivor of the 2018 shooting that happened there .

They have all come together in front of the tree of life synagogue to show support for the Jewish people and to speak out against all the anti semitism that is happening in the united States

This is so beautiful and I wish that we could all come together like this and live peacefully with one another and there wasn't all this violence and hatred that is in the world .

This gives hope 🫶

[clavalanche]

I cannot express my disappointment in the news outlets of my hometown. I grew up in Pittsburgh, where there is a massive Jewish community and while I understand the Israel-Palestine conflict has affected many members of the Jewish community here, there is no doubt that Israel IS the oppressor in this situation. All I get are front page articles supposedly addressing the conflict when in reality all they make references to are the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which, though completely deplorable, is NOT relevant to Palestine’s occupation in any way, shape, or form. It’s so incredibly manipulative to leverage the community’s shared loss at Tree of Life, to sway minds away from the actual conflict: Israel’s war crimes. It’s so incredibly performative and it’s so transparent that these news outlets are using this horrific attack on the Jewish community to push their agenda. It’s disgusting on so many levels; using one hate crime to draw attention away from another. This isn’t a fucking game. This is a situation completely isolated from the Tree of Life shooting and it should be treated at such. Deplorable. Shame on you Pittsburgh Post Gazette for manipulating people’s emotions like this. Eat shit.

[sofflysteel]

So…he got guns.

This is an excerpt from today’s testimony in the penalty phase of the trial of RB who is on trial for murdering 11 at their synagogue in Pittsburgh. (my transcription from KDKA TV News report)

“Bowers had multiple, severe chronic traumatic life events and circumstances that put him at risk for the development of serious mental illness. Time and time again Robert did not get the care and intervention he needed, and his mental health deteriorated over the course of his life. Robert does not think in balanced normal ways. He has reactions that are not at the level that are normal.” [emphasis mine]

Katherine Porterfield, psychologist

[dreamingofbabylon]

wheeeee yippee happy Tree of Life Synagogue Shooter Sentenced to Death Day to those who celebrate

wheeeeeeee

[weemietime]

BD"E, these are their names. We're Conservative Jews here in Halifax and we felt this reverberate like a seismic aftershock through our community. These were our kin, our family, our fellow Conservative Jews who were targeted purely out of malice and hatred.

Today is the anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in the Gregorian calendar. It happened in 2018, not that long ago, almost yesterday in Jewish time, but so many more horrific things have rocked our community since then, that it seems to have been overlooked. And it's devastating. It's devastating that in the six years since that day, hundreds more Jews have been killed for the sole reason that they were Jews, for the same ancient hatred that fueled Robert Bowers to open fire in a synagogue on Shabbat and kill eleven Jews. We can't let it be forgotten. It was forgotten by the rest of the world almost as soon as soon as it happened, but we can't let it be forgotten amongst us Jews. Our memory is what keeps us going.

[girlactionfigure]

[edenfenixblogs]

hello! It’s me again, the random non Jewish person in your inbox. I wanted to ask if you would be able to inform your followers and those reading this about the Tree of Life Synagogue.

So the Tree of Life/L’Simcha Congregation is, or was, a synagogue close to where I stay In Pittsburgh, it’s in Squirrell Hill to be exact.

In 2018, the congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, which also worshipped in the building, was attacked during Shabbat morning services on October 27, 2018. The perpetrator killed eleven people and wounded six, including several Holocaust survivors. It was the deadliest attack on any Jewish community on United States soil.

The shooter, Robert Bowers, had been sentenced to death last year, by lethal injection.

Earlier this year, on the 17th of January, the Tree of Life Synagogue began demolition, however there are plans to create a new complex for the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill. Here’s more information on that from their website. There’s a donation information on that website, but I’ll link the donation site here as well.

Thank you so much for reading up to this point! Please donate and/or share the information or the links to the information please!

Thank you!

Thanks so much for sharing this and the fact that it will be rebuilt. I usually advocate for existing buildings to remain, but given the trauma that occurred at the temple, I completely understand a need for a clean slate. Jumblr, y'all know what to do. <3

[abislwise]

To @hindahoney​‘s comment: wouldn’t it be a case where the law of the land applied? While we are being consulted, he is not being tried by a beit din and certainly not by a Sanhedrin. Thus, if the law of the land allows for the death penalty, it would be permissible, maybe?

To @unbidden-yidden​‘s question: If we allow the behavior of antisemites to discourage us from protecting ourselves, the antisemites will have won. Also, you could just as easily argue that not doing this would encourage more hate crimes because antisemites would see us as weak and unwilling to defend ourselves.

Also, as an aside from both: it’s my reading of Megillah 10b:27 that we are permitted to celebrate his death and shouldn’t feel guilty for doing so. I am not a Talmud scholar of any sort, however, and we should (as always) consult our rabbis if unsure.

so the tree of life shooter got sentenced to death and im rather glad about that (esp bc the defense attorney invoked the commandment to choose life in her defense, what chutzpah) but now im also very intrigued about how exactly the halakha says jews should feel about the death penalty. i know vaguely how it worked with the sanhedrin and the opinions of the time about the death penalty being enacted by them (that a sanhedrin who sentences a man to death even every 70 years is bloodthirsty) but what's the consensus in the diaspora? especially for cases of antisemitic violence?

this isn't me saying anything about how we should feel about the sentencing of the shooter or other infamous antisemites, im just genuinely interested in what the religious law has to say about this sort of situation.

[mymarifae]

can we start assassinating politicians again i liked it when we assassinated politicians

[zebratoys]

Every year before the month of Elul, I get this call to visit the Holy City of Safed. This ancient city makes me feel like a tourist and I fall deeply in love with it over and over again. Experience wondrous expeditions of paved stone alleys inlaid with beautiful art galleries and breathtaking ancient synagogues. Discover the beauty and allure of Safed to soothe your soul with holiness and radiate glowing healing energy into the world. Nurture your longing for the sacred in 5784 while wandering the old city shimmers of Light blue called תכלת. In Hebrew the word is linked to תכלית which means purpose. In the 16th century, Kabbalah mysticism was revived in Israel at the Holy City of Safed where it grew into a significant esoteric Jewish stream of profound impact, shining its sacred glow of love across the world. The Kabbalah is the most eminently sacred realm of Judaism, denoted by oneness and the longing to unite with the Holy of Holies. The Holy City of Safed Immerses your sacred soul with the holy essences of Kabbalah illuminated by the holy glow of the Zohar and the Ten Sefirot divine powers of the source. The "Ten Sefirot" known as the ten attributes of God are arranged in a Tree of Life formation, with elevated branches reaching into Heaven and roots delving deep into Earth, symbolizing the nature of God, the universe, and the human soul. Enhance the flow of holiness and oneness that enlightens a Heaven and Earth vertical alignment with Safed's ancient Synagogues and Jewish Art that glimmer holiness coded with mesmerizing Torah Biblical verses and decorated with holistic elements of Judaic holy symbols and Aramaic holy meanings. An experience designed for a loving soulful journey blessed by God's providence. Join the "Sail Away with Me" LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9810358

[travelella]

The Tree of Life, Dohany Street Synagogue, Budapest, Hungary

Linda Gerbec

The leaves are inscribed with the names of Holocaust victims

[unsolicited-opinions]

I'm starting to think that a whole lot of US Jews don't understand why a crowd of tiki torch Nazis chanted "Jews will not replace us" in Charlottesville. It seems like a lot of US Jews don't yet understand how the anti-immigrant sentiment Trump used to recapture the presidency is a direct threat to US Jews.

If you don't know this yet, please read the broad strokes below:

1. Like a certain Austrian in the 20th century, Trump saw both a disgruntled part of the electorate and their antipathy for non-white, non-Christian, foreign-born people. He capitalized on their xenophobia and feelings of abandonment by blaming foreigners, LGBTQ+ folks, and DEI for all the US's challenges.

He's used and amplified bigotry against already-marginalized people in order to ride his base's bigotry to power. All comparisons people make between this and how Hitler amplified and harnessed the power of antisemitism are entirely appropriate. It's demagoguery.

2. One of the existing, popular, xenophobic ideas on which Trump capitalized is a right-wing conspiracy theory usually called The Great Replacement.

It seems as though many US Jews do not realize that Jews are a huge part of this conspiracy theory.

Great Replacement, also known as white replacement theory or white genocide theory, claims there is an intentional effort, led by Jews, to promote mass non-white immigration, inter-racial marriage, and other efforts that would lead to the “extinction of whites.”

This conspiracy theory was famously promoted at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, when white supremacists chanted, “Jews will not replace us.”

Right wing commentators have invoked the Great Replacement theory to say Democrats are “replacing” American citizens with illegal immigrants. Belief in the Great Replacement theory has been cited as motivation for recent terror attacks, including the 2018 Pittsburgh, PA, synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life, the 2019 El Paso, TX, and Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings, and the 2022 shooting in Buffalo, NY.

4. This isn't a theory limited to the far-right fringe. About half of US Republicans believe it.

It's been actively promoted on Fox "News" by Tucker Carlson and others.

This was the theory Elon Musk agreed with in a tweet, causing a mass exodus of advertisers from Twitter and prompting Musk's apology tour to Auschwitz with Ben Shapiro.

5. The anti-immigrant fervor, the mass deportation plans...? They're all tied up with Jews in the minds of the far-right base to whom Trump and his henchmen keep winking and dogwhistling. Trump has openly endorsed this conspiracy theory.

I see a lot of Jews online deciding to keep their heads down because they think Jews aren't the immediate target of this authoritarian and I'm gobsmacked by their ignorance of history and failure to pay attention to the rapid and violent increase in far-right antisemitic violence in recent years, driven by the very same Trump who they mistakenly believe is "good for the Jews."

Jews are being set up as scapegoats.

----

The irony is amazing, too. If you ask believers in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory for evidence of the Jewish plot to replace white people, they'll produce headlines about Jewish charitable organizations which seek to aid refugees:

The fact that Jews...care about refugees...is the proof of our sinister plot against white people.

[mariacallous]

Two months after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a man with a gun walked up the steps of a synagogue in Albany, New York, and fired into the air while shouting, “Free Palestine.”

Children were inside the building at the time. It was, it seemed, nearly a nightmare scenario for those anxious about how protests against Israel’s war in Gaza could lead to antisemitic violence. 

In that case, no one was harmed before the man was arrested. But on Wednesday night, the nightmare came true. 

A man opened fire on people exiting a reception for young Jewish professionals at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., killing two Israeli embassy staffers. He then entered the museum and shouted, “Free Palestine” as he was taken away by police.

During nearly 20 months of vociferous protests against Israel, some have increasingly warned that anti-Zionism could motivate the same physical danger as white supremacy or extremist Islamic fundamentalism. On Wednesday night, the shooting offered a cruel validation.

“For those who wondered about the context of whether a particular chant was hate speech or anti-Semitic, this is what it looks like when physically manifested,” Sacha Roytman Dratwa, an Israeli military veteran who is the CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said in a statement.

“The murderer did not know his victims were Israeli, he just knew they attended a Jewish event,” he added. “When we say that the anti-Semites don’t hate Jews because of Israel, but rather, they hate Israel because it is the Jewish homeland, this is what we mean.”

Lethal antisemitic violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in the United States has been relatively rare. The deadliest incidents — including the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh; the shooting at a California Chabad the following year, and the 2014 attack on a Jewish community center in Kansas City — were carried out by avowed white supremacists. There have also been attacks by Islamic terrorists, including the synagogue hostage crisis in Colleyville, Texas, in 2021, and incidents attributed to pure racial animus.

But until Wednesday night, there had not been a deadly attack on a Jewish institution carried out by someone who appeared to be primarily motivated by far-left pro-Palestinian activism or steeped in traditional progressive politics. When watchdogs such as the Anti-Defamation League or the U.S. special envoy to combat antisemitism warned that the antisemitic left was as dangerous as the antisemitic right, they often drew criticism. 

“The ADL isn’t helping anyone when it defines a bomb threat at a synagogue and a Students for Justice in Palestine rally as equally antisemitic,” an editor at the New Republic wrote in early 2024, after the antisemitism watchdog released an audit showing a record-high number of antisemitic incidents, more than a third of which involved criticism of Israel.

Now, the ADL and others are issuing statements to say they were right.

[jacensolodjo]

Tomorrow, October 27th, marks the 5th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. For any of those who may not remember or forgot a few details, especially outside of the US: in 2018, a man named Robert Bowers went into the Tree of Life Synagogue during their Shabbat morning services and opened fire. 11 Jews lost their lives. On August 3, 2023, Robert Bowers was sentenced to death for this antisemitic crime. This was the worst mass shooting of Jews in the US to date.

Yesterday, October 25th, Jewish students at Cooper Union, a college in New York had to barricade themselves in the library while 'protestors' banged on the doors and shouted 'Free Palestine'. Note that the students had done absolutely nothing to cause this and have absolutely no power to do anything about the situation in the Middle East. This was an antisemitic attack, not a protest. You don't trap people for a protest. That's basic protesting rules. Disrupting is NOT the same as trapping. Peaceful protesting is defined as not blocking doors. Even if the students had opened the doors the demonstrators were right there and threatening. Not peaceful. It took over 40 minutes for the students to be safely escorted out of the building.

Also yesterday, a 6-person family in LA was woken up at approximately 520am by a man who kicked in their door and was wielding a knife. Blessedly (somewhat) he had entered the master bedroom first where he confronted the husband and his pregnant wife (at 9 months which means any amount of stress could put her into labor and put her baby at risk). All four children were also at home. By the grace of Hashem, the husband was able to fend off the knife-wielding antisemite. Multiple reasons he knew they were Jewish range from the mezuzah on their door to the fact he is apparently a neighbor and had talked to them before a few months previous where he found out they are Israeli. He apparently was drunk but had the wherewithal to state his intentions: he was going to kill them because they are Jews.

October has not been kind to Jews in the past few years and especially not this week in particular. Please, we are not okay. We are very tired and hurt and scared.

[lacommunarde]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/politics/biden-commutes-37-death-sentences.html

Holy shit! He did it! Biden did it!

Dated: Dec 23, 2024

Biden Commutes 37 Death Sentences Ahead of Trump’s Plan to Resume Federal Executions

Those affected by the president’s action on Monday are still subject to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Three men will remain on federal death row.

President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, sparing the lives of 37 men just a month before Donald J. Trump will return to the Oval Office with a promise to restart federal executions. Those affected by Mr. Biden’s action, all of whom were convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of facing execution. Only three men, who each carried out notorious mass killings, will remain on federal death row.

The president campaigned in 2020 on ending the federal death penalty. Although proposed legislation to that effect failed to advance in Congress during his administration, Mr. Biden directed the Justice Department to issue a moratorium on federal executions. Thirteen prisoners on federal death row were put to death during Mr. Trump’s first term.

I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Mr. Biden said the commutations were consistent with the standard he has imposed for halting executions “in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Mr. Biden said.

The White House released statements of support from faith leaders, civil rights groups and law enforcement officials, as well as from friends and family members of those killed by men on death row.

"Putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace,” said Donnie Oliverio, a retired police officer, who alluded to Mr. Biden’s being Catholic. “The president has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” His partner, Bryan S. Hurst, was shot and killed while on duty by Daryl Lawrence during an attempted bank robbery in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Lawrence was sentenced to death in 2006.

Of the 37 men whose sentences were commuted, 15 are white, 15 are Black, six are Latino and one is Asian. They were sentenced in 16 states, including three that have abolished the death penalty. Nine are on death row because they were convicted of killing fellow federal prisoners.

The three men who can still face federal execution are Robert D. Bowers, 52, who in 2018 gunned down 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; Dylann Roof, 30, the white supremacist who in 2015 opened fire on Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine people; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 31, one of the two brothers who carried out the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013 that killed three and maimed more than a dozen others.

Rest of article at link below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/politics/biden-commutes-37-death-sentences.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jk4.cDXI.-ATuwJ3HvdW-&smid=url-share