Tree of Life unveils memorial to victims of 2018 synagogue shooting

It’s been five long years since Diane Rosenthal’s brothers, Cecil and David, were killed during a Saturday morning Shabbat service in Squirrel Hill.

Part of her family’s struggle has been deciding how to ask Pittsburgh and others to remember the two Jewish congregants known to their community as “the boys.”

“The journey to unveiling the preliminary memorial designs has been a long and emotional one,” Diane Rosenthal said Thursday. “I am grateful … that our loved ones are remembered for how they lived, not solely for how they were murdered.”

The vehicle for that commemoration — a jagged, brick-lined path running along the spine of the synagogue — officially was unveiled Thursday afternoon by Tree of Life, a nonprofit launched in 2022 to rebuild the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues.

Daniel Libeskind helped design the tranquil space, which Tree of Life officials said offers room “for public and communal reflection.”

Libeskind, a Polish-American architect, played a role in developing the Ground Zero skyscraper once known as Freedom Tower, which replaced the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He also designed the Jewish Museum Berlin, which opened to the public in 2001, according to his website.

“Creating a meaningful memorial is a highly emotional and personal process, while at the same time, it must communicate to a broader audience,” said Libeskind on Thursday, in a prepared statement. “We created a memorial that celebrates those we lost and brings the families and the community together in healing.”

Michael Bernstein, the Pittsburgh businessman who chairs Tree of Life’s interim governance committee, has called the effort to rebuild at the site of the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history a noble one.

Bernstein said Thursday the new memorial space “is rooted in honoring the 11 lives that were taken on 10/27 and remembering what happened on this site.”

“It was important to us to let the families of the victims take the lead in how we tell the stories of their loved ones,” said Bernstein, 56, of Squirrel Hill. “We are humbled by their trust in us to support their vision of a memorial that will truly be the heart and soul of the reimagined Tree of Life.”

The memorial will be part of a larger project the Jewish community plans to raise $75 million to complete.

The new, 45,000-square-foot Tree of Life building will house the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha congregation, an education and research center, and the nation’s first museum that focuses on antisemitism in the U.S.

Officials hope to break ground on the building next year.

Tree of Life CEO Carole Zawatsky has said “the heart of what we’re building is 11 Jews who were murdered.”

“Our work is there to uplift those voices,” said Zawatsky, 65, of Shadyside, who came to Pittsburgh last year. “Our work is there to ensure these victims are never forgotten.”

Killed in the 2018 synagogue attack were Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; and Richard Gottfried, 65.

They were members of the Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations, all housed in the same building.

The gunman, Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, was sentenced to death on Aug. 3 after a jury heard from 51 witnesses over nine days of testimony in his trial’s penalty phase. The trial stretched out over months under an intense media spotlight in a Downtown federal courtroom.

Bowers was found guilty of all 63 federal counts against him. Today, he is on death row in an Indiana penitentiary.