Pittsburgh Jewish Community Votes Amid Rise in Anti-Semitism, 6 Years After Synagogue Shooting
PITTSBURGH—On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman killed 11 people and injured six others at the Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
Less than five years later, the Hamas terrorist group launched in Israel the deadliest single-day anti-Semitic attack since the Holocaust.
More than six years after the synagogue shooting and a year after Hamas's attack, the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill, where the synagogue is located, will head to the polls to vote in a key state amid a rise in anti-Semitism.
The Epoch Times saw plenty of Harris–Walz campaign signs, and just one Trump campaign sign, throughout Squirrel Hill, where most of Pittsburgh's Jews reside. There is a notable Orthodox Jewish presence that is split, but it leans Republican. However, as is the case nationwide, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh overall is heavily Democratic.
Israel is an important issue for Jews in Pittsburgh, according to those who spoke with The Epoch Times.
The Orthodox community, according to Abby Mendelson, a retired journalist, is "very concerned that the anti-Israel forces will dominate both in the State Department, Department of Defense, and in the White House, and they're very concerned about Vice President Harris also as someone who is not tough enough to take on the very bad people in the world."
"We're living in a nightmare in ways that we never had imagined before," Mendelson said.
Pittsburgh Jews who spoke with The Epoch Times noted that there was support for the local Jewish community in the aftermath of the synagogue shooting but not following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
"I think it's impossible for anyone to even begin to create a narrative where walking into a synagogue and murdering 11 Jews is anything other than anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, academics have been at work for a very long time creating a narrative that violence against Jews in Israel is not anti-Semitism," Rona Kaufman, a Democrat and law professor at Duquesne University, said, calling that notion "a false narrative."
Mor Greenberg, a Republican, said it has to do with location.
"I think [the] Oct. 27 [synagogue shooting] was right here in people's backyards. So it felt more personal. It felt like people just didn't want to believe that there was anti-Semitism right here at home. When it's in Israel, it's easier to make judgments," she said.
Mendelson said he and his wife were in the "Never Trump" camp but voted for the former president in this election because of anti-Semitism and, more so, Israel being their top issues.
Kaufman, a Democrat, said she is voting Republican this election.
While she has appreciated President Joe Biden's militarily supporting Israel, she said she worries that "under Harris, it wouldn't be as strong because Harris is not Biden."
She also said she doesn't think that Trump can be trusted despite his pro-Israel record during his presidency.
"He seems to indicate now that his second administration will be very, very different," Brustein said.
She also cited Trump's anti-hawkish tendencies as a cause for concern.
"American isolationism has never been good for Israel," Brustein said.
At the end of the day, whoever wins, it will not mean the end of the world, Greenberg said.
"I think this election is going to be really tight, and people have put a lot of resources and emotion into it. I just think it's good to remember that on Jan. 6, the sun will come up and our life will continue," she said.
"And the real way we influence people is in our everyday life and everyday interactions with our family, with the community, and we will work with whoever is elected to advocate for the values that we hold true. But you know, everything is going to be all right."
