This story was originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Since the Tree of Life synagogue attack on Oct. 27, 2018, in which 11 worshippers were killed on the Jewish Sabbath, Pittsburgh has been doing what it can to heal.
On Sunday, Repair the World and 10.27 Healing Partnership joined forces with the Black Political Empowerment Project and the League of Women Voters in honoring shooting victim Melvin Wax through a nonpartisan voter registration effort outside Acrisure Stadium before the Steelers game.
This event was one of a series of events in Repair the World’s 10.27 Commemorative Days of Service to remember the impact of the antisemitic attack.
Each event honors a different Jewish value: civic engagement, community care, environmental stewardship and honoring loved ones. The voter registration effort focuses on civic engagement because it was a value that Mr. Wax held close.
“He registered people to vote for decades and felt that it was really the most important issue, That was his passion after his family fled the Nazis,” Maggie Feinstein, 10.27 Healing Partnership’s director, said.
“He got to this country and felt that that was the way in which citizens have power.”
Mr. Wax lived to be 87 years old. A retired accountant, he was leading services for New Light Congregation in the basement of Tree of Life when the shooting took place.
The team met Sunday morning at the Fred Rogers Memorial Statue on the North Shore to go over the plan for the day. Participants prepared clipboards and buttons with the League of Women Voters logo on them to show people that they maintain a nonpartisan message.
The League of Women Voters works to give people resources containing nonpartisan candidate guides on www.vote411.org to help educate and inform people in different areas.
Because getting new registrants can be a challenge, Judy Clack, vice president of voter services for the league, shared that if a registration recruiter can get more than one person to sign up in the span of an hour they are over the national average.
The league and B-PEP hold a close partnership that has been active for over seven years.
“We have enjoyed the power of the League of Women Voters because they have a great following and it’s stimulating to see mothers, daughters and sisters sort of get involved with the movement,” Roy Blankenship, B-PEP’s community organizer, said.
Through these events, 10.27 wants to spread the Jewish social action concept of “tikkun olam” — Hebrew for “repair of the world” — as part of the effort to honor the memories of the people who were killed at Tree of Life.
“We’re always healing the world because we know that we’ll never finish that work, and so we have to continue doing it forever,” Ms. Feinstein said.
In addition to Mr. Wax, the others being remembered through these events are Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54; married couple Bernice Simon, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; and Irving Younger, 69.
Besides New Light Congregation, two other congregations were worshipping in the synagogue at the time of the attack: Tree of Life / Or L’Simcha Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash.
Six other worshippers were wounded in the shooting. Robert Bowers, who is accused of the attack, awaits trial set for April 24 of next year.
“I have lived in Squirrel Hill at various points in my life and I do know somebody who was injured in that shooting and it was a huge shock. And I’m happy to turn it into something productive, even though it doesn’t make it less of a horrible thing,” Ruth Quint, the league’s web manager, said.