Tree of Life unveils new design, plans for site

Part memorial, part museum and part worship space, the renovated site of the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill will also include an institute aimed at what leaders on Tuesday called the world’s oldest disease: antisemitism.

Leaders with the architecture and design firms contracted to help renovate and rebuild the site, along with Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, unveiled renderings and plans for the space, which has sat empty since the 2018 attack that killed 11.

The nonprofit institute will simply be called Tree of Life. Its goal will be to eradicate antisemitism the world over.

“Some might think that’s rather naïve or an impossible task and ask why just antisemitism?” Myers said. “Antisemitism is the root. People who commit antisemitic acts are not merely antisemites. They’re also anti-Black, anti-gay, anti-Asian/Pacific Islander — any group that they’re not comfortable with, they will spew forth their violent language and actions.”

Myers was leading Shabbat services for Tree of Life the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, when a gunman walked in and opened fire.

The shooting killed 11 people across three congregations — Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash. The shooting is the deadliest antisemitic attack in the United States.

Myers likened antisemites and antisemitism to weeds. Antisemitism is the root, he said, and hatred of other groups are the leaves.

“We eliminate all forms by focusing on the root,” he said, “which is the world’s oldest disease: antisemitism.”

Myers and other congregation leaders have long held that they would rebuild on the same site as the attack, indicating from the start the renovations would include space for remembrance and worship. In a press release, leaders said Myers’ congregation will remain in the building and will retain its status as a nonprofit. The congregation will be separate from the Tree of Life institute, which will be led by a chief executive and a board of directors. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh will merge into the institute.

Myers and officials with Studio Libeskind, which is designing the reimagined space alongside Rothschild Doyno Collaborative of Pittsburgh, could offer few details regarding a timeline and funding.

“I think we’re still working on that right now,” Carla Swickerath, a partner at Studio Libeskind, said regarding a timeframe for construction and completion. “There’s quite a process we have to go through.”

Myers said details surrounding cost and funding — including how the finances of the congregation and new institute will be handled — remain in the works.

“You have to realize that we’re trailblazing,” he said. “We’re creating a brand new concept that doesn’t exist in the United States, which is the idea of an institution that’s going to house a synagogue, a Holocaust Center … and a place of remembrance. If you look at synagogues in the United States, there’s nobody else that’s done this.”

Myers said the plans have wholesale buy-in from the congregation, and New Light leaders threw their support behind the plan as well.

“We commend the creation of the new (nonprofit) and all those who’ve helped get us to this point,” co-president Stephen Cohen said in a statement, noting that although the congregation has chosen not to return to its rented space in the building, their support remains. “We call on the community to help create a lasting memorial to the victims and support Tree of Life’s efforts to eradicate antisemitism here and worldwide.”