In lieu of our regularly scheduled blog post, we wanted to share the remarks of our dear friend and colleague, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers during the vigil held in Pittsburgh on Sunday, October 28, 2019. His words speak for themselves.

I’m Jeffrey Myers, and I am the rabbi of Tree of Life. I’m a victim. I’m a survivor. I’m a mourner.

So God, why us?

I lay in bed last night…couldn’t sleep…surprise…and usually in times like this, I’ll turn to the Psalms. Immediately started thinking, “Esa einai, el heharim, mei’aiyin yavo ezri. Ezri, mei’im Hashem, Oseh shamayim va’aretz…I turn my eyes to the heavens, where will my help come? My help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth.”

So God, why us?

Why couldn’t he turn his car a different direction?

My holy place has been defiled.

I began services at 9:45. The shooting started a few minutes after. There were 12 of us in the sanctuary at that time. And as is customary in the Jewish faith—and I’ve also seen it in other faiths—all the early people come and sit in the back.

I helped pull out the people that I could from the front, but alas, I had eight people in the back. One fortunately survived. Seven of my congregants were shot dead in my sanctuary.

My holy place has been defiled.

We will rebuild.

I thought to myself the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”

Well, God, I want. What I want, you can’t give me. You can’t return these 11 beautiful souls. You can’t rewind the clock. So how do I rectify my dilemma with this psalm? What I want, you can’t give me, but yet it says, “I shall not want.” If  you turn later in the psalm, we read, “You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.”

My texts, my emails, my Facebook overflow with love from strangers, people I’ve never met, people who are not from the United States, but people from all around the world—Jewish, Christian, Muslim—all with the same message: we are here for you.

My cup overflows with love. That’s how you defeat hate.

You as a community have shown that to me. I’m an immigrant…I’m from New York. I know Governor Pataki appreciated the applause as well. I’ve only been here a little more than a year, but I’ve learned in that short period of time what Mayor Peduto had said so beautifully, that this is a community that cares.

We won’t let hate beat us down.

Well, how do you stop it?

You don’t have to follow the “prone to evil” path. We can also be “prone to good” if you decide to take that path. It starts with speech.

We’ve been trying to stop hate since the earliest days of the Bible—Cain and Abel…that’s not a success story—and it continues onward. Noah…that wasn’t a success story. At the end of Noah, God says “I recognize that from his youth, man is prone to evil.”

What a depressing thought?

Isn’t there a chance for good?

The answer is, yes, there is. You don’t have to follow the “prone to evil” path. We can also be “prone to good” if you decide to take that path.

It starts with speech.

Words of hate are unwelcome in Pittsburgh. It starts with everyone in this room…and I want to address for a moment some of our political leaders who are here:

Ladies and Gentleman, it has to start with you as our leaders.

It starts with one simple step: just stop the hate.

My words are not intended as political fodder. I address all equally. Stop the words of hate. My mother always taught me, if you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing. If it comes from you, Americans will listen. But, let’s not forget one very important thing: independent of what happens tonight, independent of what any of our elected officials choose to do from here on…

It’s us, “We, the people…”

Tree of Life has lost seven branches, but really eleven because they’re all part of our family. But we’ve been here 150 years, we’ve got a lot more branches. We will rebuild to be a stronger tree, offering a new light, offering a Dor Chadash--a new generation--so that collectively, people will come and say, “Wow, that’s how you’re supposed to live your life.”

It just takes one person to make that difference. The question I have for you is: are any of you that person to do that?

It starts with one simple step: just stop the hate.

Don’t say it. Zip the lip. Just don’t say it.

It just takes one person to make that difference. The question I have for you is: are any of you that person to do that? I leave you with that question. You have to answer it for us.

Within the Jewish tradition, there’s a memorial prayer that’s recited in memory of our deceased. Permit me to share with you the text in English first, and then I’ll be chanting it in Hebrew, and at that time, I’ll ask you to rise.

The text roughly reads:

Oh, Lord of mercy and compassion, You who dwell in the heights with the holy and the pure, we beseech You to accept the souls of these eleven beautiful people who gave their lives to honor Your glorious name. Oh Lord of mercy, bind them up in the wings of life eternal, for You are their portion. May they all rest in peace. As we all say, “Amen.”

And please rise.