Students, community mourn Pittsburgh killings at CWRU vigil

ED CARROLL | STAFF REPORTER ecarroll@cjn.org | @EdCarrollCJN

About 100 people, mostly students, showed their support for the Pittsburgh Jewish community and those killed at the Tree of Life Congregation at a vigil Oct. 29 at Case Western Reserve University’s Freiberger Field in Cleveland.

On Oct. 27, a gunman killed 11 people at the Squirrel Hill neighborhood synagogue. The vigil was presented as a combined effort by the Chabad Jewish Student Center at CWRU and Hillel at CWRU.

Sydney Fox, a freshman from New Jersey, and Ariel Bernhard, a freshman from Rochester, N.Y., read the names of the 11 killed as candles were lit.

“This past weekend, three men, eight women ... were killed,” Fox said during the vigil. “They had congregated to celebrate the bris of a newborn baby when a hateful man opened fire.

“In the face of darkness, we must bring light and acknowledge light. The anger that we all feel is a gift that will allow for change. The living should take it to heart and carry on in the names of those who were lost. We can go forward where they cannot and carry on doing good in their names.”

Freshman Lev Pearlman, of Portland, Ore., spoke during the vigil, as did CWRU Chabad Director Rabbi Mendy Alevsky, who led the crowd in the Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing. Students were asked to fill out mitzvah cards, pledging a good deed to push back against the hate shown in Pittsburgh.

“This was a tragic loss of life,” Alevsky said after the vigil. “Our response must not be to hide in fear. It must be to promote life and light and perpetuate their memories with our mitzvahs and good deeds. It was inspiring to see the turnout tonight, which confirmed that our community holds these ideals, pledging goodness and kindness in the face of such darkness.”

Pearlman said he was reassured by the

“This was a tragic loss of life. Our response must not be to hide in fear. It must be to promote life and light and perpetuate their memories with our mitzvahs and good deeds. It was inspiring to see the turnout tonight, which confirmed that our community holds these ideals, pledging goodness and kindness in the face of such darkness.”

Rabbi Mendy Alevsky, Director CWRU Chabad strong turnout for the vigil.

“It was very amazing,” he said. “From what I had heard, though, coming up (to the vigil), it was what I expected. I had a lot of friends that felt very strongly about attending and they were all here.”

Jared Isaacson, executive director of Hillel at CWRU, said a vigil was important to show solidarity for the community.

“Not just the Jewish community on campus, but the community at large,” he said. “When something like this happens in the world, it affects all of us and reminds us all that we need to be together to show unity no matter what faith or background you are.

“That we have unity together as people, first on Case, studying together and living together and experiencing life together on campus, but I think also in the general bigger sense of the world, that we really need to come together to show that we support each other.”