The Hillel Jewish Leadership Council has been hosting a weeklong series of events to honor the victims of the deadly shooting of Oct. 27 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa. and to raise funds for the affected community.
Robert Bowers, 46, has been identified as the suspect in Saturday's mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 people dead and six others injured. On Wednesday, federal grand jury indicted Bowers on 44 charges, including religious hate crimes, injuring police officers and firearm charges. In response to the tragedy, the Jewish community is coming together to remember the victims and unite against anti-Semitism.
Ben Borenstein, a third-year College student and the community chair of the JLC, said the attack affected the Jewish community. JLC organized the week’s events to come together, heal as a community and respond to anti-Semitism with “love and unity.”
“It’s definitely been hard on all of us,” Borenstein said. “A lot of what we’ve been trying to do this week is go into action. One of the most basic Jewish values is Tikkun Olam, which means to repair the world and to make the world a better place. So we’ve been trying to do everything we can, but it’s also hard ... a lot us haven’t had the time to process things and mourn how we should be able to, but having one another is the most important thing.”
JLC hosted a letter-writing event Wednesday at the Amphitheater to support the Pittsburgh Jewish community. The letters will be delivered to the Tree of Life Synagogue, the Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Police Department.
Truman Brody-Boyd, a fourth-year College student and chair of the JLC, said he was inspired by the love and support they received from the U.Va. community.
“The event was hugely successful. It was incredible to see how many people came out to take the time out of their day and write a letter,” Brody-Boyd said.
JLC also held a fundraising event and sold “Our Hearts Are With Pittsburgh” wristbands to commemorate the victims of the synagogue shooting and raise money for the Tree of Life Synagogue and the Anti-Defamation League at the South Lawn Thursday.
The ADL is an international Jewish organization that fights anti-Semitism and aims “to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
“We think that donating money to the Synagogue is super important at this time. They have a lot of rebuilding to do,” said Wittney Skigen, a fourth-year College student and vice chair of the JLC. “But just sending the money isn’t going to stop this from happening again. That’s why we also chose to send money to the Anti-Defamation League ... We thought it’s important to address the underlying cause of why this tragedy happened.”
Skigen additionally mentioned that although she is pleased with University President Jim Ryan and the Alumni Association’s responses to the mass shooting, she is disappointed from the lack of response from some faculty members.
“President Ryan’s email sent out Saturday night was very nice and I liked how quickly it was sent out and that it was direct and called out anti-Semitism for what it is,” Skigen said. “I think a lot of professors have not been as responsive as lot of us would have liked. Like a couple of students had a pop quiz on Monday and things like that are not necessarily wrong but disappointing. I haven’t any professors say anything about it which made me a little bit disappointed and honestly surprised.”
Brody-Boyd added that JLC has received offers of support from several student organizations on Grounds, and the groups have assisted JLC with advertising their events.
“We’ve had a ton of support, not only from the Jewish students and the community, but also from other organization that reached out and offered to help. We’ve had tons of offers of support.” Brody-Boyd said. “Student Council, Queer Students Union, Muslim Students Association, Minority Rights Coalition, all these groups have reached out to us offered their support and condolences.”
This article formerly quoted Truman Brody-Boyd as saying that the Christian Student Union, not the Queer Student Union, has provided support for the JLC. It has been updated.
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