A Step Toward Justice

"Today's verdict was a step toward justice in Pittsburgh, but the horror and pain of October 27, 2018 will never go away."

"My heart remains with the families of the 11 victims who were massacred as they worshipped at Tree of Life that day."

"May their memories be a blessing."

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro 

"I am grateful to God for getting us to this day."

"And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me, and the US Attorney who stood up in court to defend my right to pray."

"Today, I’m focused on being with my congregation and praying, singing and clapping in praise of God as we do each Shabbat."

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers

The bullet damaged doors of the Tree of Life synagogue building in Pittsburgh, court exhibit by prosecutors in the federal trial of Robert Bowers.

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania via AP

"He is filled with hatred for Jews. That is what propelled him to act."

"[Bernice and Sylvan Simon] died in the pew they sat at week after week, year after year."

"[Many of the victims were elderly], people who needed canes and hearing aids."

"The jury has the opportunity to] hold this defendant accountable ... and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify."

"[This man, the defendant, turned a sacred house of worship into a] hunting ground [when he burst into the synagogue]."

Federal prosecutor Mary Hawn

He is an ordinary man, a truck driver. What distinguishes him from most others is his hatred of Jews. He transformed his hatred into a weapon and used that weapon to destroy the lives of eleven innocent people who just happened to be gathered in a house of prayer dedicated to their Judaic faith. In his murderous zeal he committed the most deadly antisemitic attack the United States has suffered in memory. Charged with 63 criminal counts Robert Bowers has been found guilty on all counts.

Counts that included hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Among the charges, related punishment carrying the potential of a death sentence. What will result from the sentencing may be unexpected, since the State of Pennsylvania has not carried out an actual death sentence since 1999, while the death penalty has never been revoked there. Furthermore, Pennsylvania's Governor, Josh Shapiro stated it is his intention not to issue any execution warrants during his tenure.

 

First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire and 11 people were killed in America’s deadliest antisemitic attack on October 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

 

On his violent storming of the synagogue some 100 rounds were fired by this murderer, reloading several times as he stepped over the bodies of his victims in his search for more Jews to kill. He surrendered only once his ammunition was spent. Trading gunfire with responding officers, Bowers was shot three times. When he was finally taken into custody, he informed arresting police that "all these Jews need to die".

There were no witnesses called by the defence, nor was any evidence presented. At the outset of the trial it was conceded that the Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue were deliberately attacked by the defendant who succeeded in his murderous rampage fuelled by fascist hatred, by killing eleven people on October 27, 2018, leaving another seven people injured, among them five police officers.

 

The same jurors that found Robert Bowers, Jew-hater-extraordinaire guilty on all charges laid against him will enter a penalty phase to decide the sentence: life in prison or the death penalty. Evidence of the man's deeply rooted hatred toward Jews and immigrants was presented by prosecutors through 11 days of testimony, where jurors heard that the man before them extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on a social media platform popular with the far right. There, he praised Hitler and the Holocaust.

 

One of the defence's arguments in attempting to spare their client from a possible death sentence was to question the man's motive. Suggesting to jurors at the onset of the trial that the blood-soaked rampage had been spurred psychotically by a delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide through assisting refugees to settle in the United States.

In this combo image made from photos provided by the US District Court Western District of Pennsylvania are the victims of the October 27, 2018, assault on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. On the top row, from left: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, and David Rosenthal; bottom row, from left, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. (United States District Court Western District of Pennsylvania via AP)

Benjamin B. Braun/Post-Gazette

The Unspeakable Carnage of a Hate-Fuelled Mass Shooting and Human Trauma

"It’s a witness [the Tree of Life Siddur with a bullet hole through it] to the horror of the day. One day when I’m not there, this book tells a story that needs to be told." 

"I thought about the history of my people, how we’ve been persecuted and hunted and slaughtered for centuries, and how all of them must have felt at the moments before their death."

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers,Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood

 

"None of us were talking [hiding in a closet]."

"At first [the noise] was coming from upstairs and then it got louder and that indicated to me that it was closer to me, closer to where I was."

"I saw a shadow of somebody as they entered just between the crack of the door and the jamb [assuming the shadow was the shooter]." 

"[Despite the terror, she remained calm.] If I remained calm, I would not give my position away."

Carol Black, 71, the sister of victim Richard Gottfried

 

"Tree of Life synagogue…shooting…man with an automatic weapon [in the whispered 911 call, which was played in court]. A man was just shot right outside the door, please get the police here immediately."

"My throat was closed, I was very quiet, I didn’t want anyone outside the room to hear me."

Barry Weber, 81, Tree of Life congregant 

"I reviewed my life. [Lying on the floor shot in the stomach] I thought about the wonder of it all, the beauty of life, the happiness I had experienced through my life … the joy of having two beautiful sons."

"I prayed for forgiveness for those who I had wronged through my life."

Daniel Leger, 75, seriously wounded in the deadly shooting

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers testified that a damaged prayer book "tells a story that needs to be told." United States District Court

When Rabbi Jonathan Perlman took the witness stand on Thursday the yarmulke he had worn when the gunman burst into his synagogue in Pittsburgh during Sabbath services -- which had fallen off his head and was retained by police as evidence for years, while they built their case, awaiting a trial date to be set for the October 27, 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history -- was firmly back on his head. 

Three different congregations shared the Tree of Life synagogue building for their services, held on different floors. Rabbi Perlman, 59, was determined to explain to the jury, the judge and those in the courthouse a little bit of background about Judaism, that skullcaps were worn in God's presence and to remind the wearer that God is always present with them. That the siddur that had been desecrated would not be buried according to custom, but would be kept as a reminder of that dreadful day's happening.

The lettering in Hebrew characters on his yarmulke read "There is nothing aside from Him". And Rabbi Perlman said to the federal jury: "This is a God who is present to all aspects of creation." His words may also have been meant for the ears of the mass murderer for he too sat there; it was his trial, a 50-year-old truck driver from a Pittsburgh suburb facing 63 federal charges related to the murder of 11 worshippers from all three of the congregations. They were New Light, Dor Hadash and the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life massacre in 2018 was the deadliest antisemitic attack in the nation’s history.  Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

There are eleven counts of hate crimes resulting in death. Conviction could bring the death penalty for this man who expressed his hatred for Jews online as well as at the synagogue the day of the atrocity he perpetrated in a spiritual refuge, in a Judaic House of Prayer. Rabbi Perlman in his testimony described arriving at the basement sanctuary of the congregation just before worship was to begin.

One of the members, Melvin Wax, led an opening prayer where "we talk about how grateful we are to start a new day", recalled the rabbi. Immediately afterward the sound of gunfire was heard from elsewhere in the building. "I said, 'We're in danger, follow me'." He ushered Melvin Wax, 87 years of age, with diminished hearing, and two others into a storage room in the large building. "I said, 'Please don't. Stay inside'. He didn't listen to me", he explained of Mr. Wax who wanted to see what the noise was about.

The elderly man opened the door to peer out, and was immediately shot, and killed. The attack was underway on the main floor. New Light members in the basement were advised by Tree of Life member Stephen Weiss that they should not venture upstairs to where the attack was taking place. A "man of extraordinary courage", described Rabbi Perlman, to risk his life to warn others of impending danger. 

Stephen Weiss informed jurors he was one of a dozen worshippers at the start of Tree of Life's service, being held in a separate chapel. As a ritual leader of the congregation it was his duty to be certain a minyan of ten adult worshippers were present before the service could begin. Two of those with him exited the room after a loud crash to find out what was occurring. Mr. Weiss remained to maintain the minyan when he heard gunfire.

The synagogue door was unlocked routinely on the Sabbath. "We prided ourselves on having our doors open" to everyone, he explained. Minyans now are not so readily assembled since the attack. "We don't have the same attendance from those members who were very reliably there. Because they have been killed." Seven people, beyond the eleven murdered, were wounded in the attack, five of whom were police officers.

Officer Daniel Mead testified he had reported to duty when he heard the call of an active shooter at the synagogue which led to himself and his partner rushing to the scene. When Officer Mead cautiously turned a corner in front of a glass entrance, he was immediately met by gunfire. "When I stepped out, stuff hit the fan. I can remember plain as day. I can hear the shot. I can see the muzzle flash. This all happened so quick."