Mass Murder at Pittsburgh Synagogue

[AxelAnnie]

Well, people’s egos seem to take priority to thinking about victims and their families. Let’s take over the thread and argue how USA should be run. It seems that the the victims don’t matter as much as people’s passions to have their opinions heard about how the country should be run. No matter that we hear the same opinions from the sam people hundred times in the past threads.

That is just dumb. I am devistated for those people and that community....as I am sure all FSUr's are.

 

[MsZem]

Okay I stand corrected and will be more specific.

Let's go race, religion and guns and add to the mix whatever other group or belief that might end up p*ssing someone off for no reason other than they don't like them.

What Debbie wrote is true, but Judaism is not just a religion, either; it's also a culture and an ethnicity. It's complicated, and some Jewish people aren't at all religious, or at least don't consider religion a major part of their Jewish identity. While antisemitism has religious roots, it goes beyond that.

As you wrote, hate is hate. This guy hated refugees, and held Jewish people accountable for bringing refugees to the US, so he killed a bunch of innocent, elderly people. I can't begin to fathom how that kind of hate makes sense in anyone's mind.

 

[Japanfan]

Jews are not a race.

No, there is only one race, the human race. But Jews have certainly been seen and treated as such in the past.

 

[Japanfan]

I have to post this, from a former Soviet Jew now a reporter for the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...oes-trump-bear-synagogue-shooting-pittsburgh/

Cc: @IceAlisa @Tinami Amori because you are also Soviet emigrants.

PRlady INVADED MY PRIVACY by linking my name (which causes me to get a notification to get involved in the subject).
- She knows we have different opinions, and she knows i rarely check PI. Yet, she the eager beaver just could not resist to try to shove her opinion down my throat and made yet another attempt to change my mind (years for tries, no results.. ).

Had she posted a topic in general, and then waited for replies from THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED, and if i replied as i did, then it would be wrong. But she made a point of getting me involved WITHOUT ME showing interest.

That's trying to convert me! Just like religion. If there is a church and i walk in, i expect "Jesus will save you" comments. If i am walking on the street, and someone shoves religious literature in my face - that person gets punched.

DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU!

@Tinami Amori from what PR Lady said, it appears she thought you would be interested in the piece because you are a Soviet emigrant.

I haven't read the piece, because I don't have a subscription to The Washington Post - so can't comment on its content.

I think @PRlady would know better than to try to convert you to her views.

 

[Aussie Willy]

What Debbie wrote is true, but Judaism is not just a religion, either; it's also a culture and an ethnicity. It's complicated, and some Jewish people aren't at all religious, or at least don't consider religion a major part of their Jewish identity. While antisemitism has religious roots, it goes beyond that.

As you wrote, hate is hate. This guy hated refugees, and held Jewish people accountable for bringing refugees to the US, so he killed a bunch of innocent, elderly people. I can't begin to fathom how that kind of hate makes sense in anyone's mind.

I was just reading a post on my Facebook that one of the victims was a doctor who when HIV was started was treating many of those afflicted.

 

[misskarne]

- PRlady INVADED MY PRIVACY by linking my name

*snort* And the Trumpies call the leftists snowflakes, but you throw a tantrum because someone linked your name. Yeah, okay.

You had a choice. You could have opened the alerts, seen it was PRLady tagging you in a thread called Mass Murder at Pittsburgh Synagogue, and chosen to ignore it. You chose to open it.

It's not an invasion of privacy. It was a wave to get your attention. You could have ignored it, you know. But no, instead we get hysterical screams of invasion of privacy.

 

[Frau Muller]

This is one of the most horrific episodes among the many horrific mass shootings of recent memory. Just saw list of victims, including a 97-yr-old lady & a holocaust survivor...for real? My heart is with the entire Tree of Life synagogue community.

 

[BlueRidge]

I winced when I saw PRlady tagging posters who have not participated in the thread. I've only had it done to me once or twice and it was political threads and I DID NOT LIKE IT.

I think we ought to adopt a voluntary rule not to do it.

And not to rag on PRlady while she's ill because I know she only meant well but to others who don't get why someone would be upset to be called into this thread, good grief people this is a deeply disturbing subject. And for people of Jewish heritage its particularly personal.

 

[rfisher]

ABC reported this morning that there were to be a bunch of kids at the synagogue on Saturday, but one of them couldn't be there and the service for them was postponed. The rabbi had his cell phone with him and called 911. He said he didn't normally carry his cell phone during a service, but recent events of violence had prompted many rabbis to start doing so.

 

[taf2002]

I have to post this, from a former Soviet Jew now a reporter for the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...oes-trump-bear-synagogue-shooting-pittsburgh/

Cc: @IceAlisa @Tinami Amori because you are also Soviet emigrants.

I read all of this even though I didn't want to. I knew it would be disturbing & I want to act like an ostrich sometimes when it's something that I can't do anything about. But I thank you for posting it. I hurt for the victims & their families but I now understand that what I feel is the tip of the iceberg to what the Jewish community feels. I didn't grow up with anti-Semitism - military kids grow up in a kind of bubble. We were integrated at a time that segregation was the norm. So I have never been able to wrap my head around the hatred for Jews. I just flat out don't understand. Maybe that's a good thing. idk

 

[skatesindreams]

The Rabbi of the Tree of Life Synagogue, speaks:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/10/29/synagogue-pittsburgh-rabbi-jeffery-myers-shooting-hate-close-building-sot-newday-vpx.cnn

eta:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/29/us/rabbi-recounts-shooting-pittsburgh-cnntv/index.html

 

[genevieve]

Just popping in to say you can totally name someone without tagging them. And if you tagged someone accidentally, you can edit and untag them.

I'm still trying to process this horrific event. Add in that I just saw a story about a father and 5-year-old son who showed up to a Halloween event dressed as Hitler (the kid, of course) and an SS soldier. Parents played that they were the victims because people confronted them over it. Meanwhile, mom's FB page is littered with anti-semitic messaging. This happened Thursday, before the massacre, but still. It's just....WTF.

 

[AxelAnnie]

No, there is only one race, the human race. But Jews have certainly been seen and treated as such in the past.

Factoid: From Judaism 101

"In the 1980s, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Jews are a race, at least for purposes of certain anti-discrimination laws. Their reasoning: at the time these laws were passed, people routinely spoke of the "Jewish race" or the "Italian race" as well as the "Negro race," so that is what the legislators intended to protect."

I am not arguing for or against that, just found this info when I was doing some info.

 

[Cachoo]

For all of the antisemitism that is out there there has not been mass murder of Jews in America until now. What does that say about where we are now as a nation? The "s" words---sorrowful and scared---both fit. Terrible.

 

[Simone411]

I think the accusation of 'invasion of privacy' was absurd. It was an invitation to a discussion. Like any other invitation it can be ignored or declined (without insults).

I also have been invited on several occasions to participate in a thread by several of my wonderful FSU friends here. You are correct regarding the invitations. In my case, I didn't whatsoever feel like my privacy was invaded. I had the choice to participate or not to participate.

At this moment my heart is so heavy because of the unnecessary deaths of the people (either family or friends). I wish and I pray every single day of my life that this whole world could be a better place in which we live.

Hate is one of the most scariest words in my opinion. I began writing poems when I was 17 years old. My first poem was simply called Love. I worked on the school newspaper during my senior year in high school. Our teacher had asked us to write poems for Valentines Day and she would publish them in the school newspaper. I didn't know I could even write until that happened. My English teacher and Speech teacher was amazed with the poem and said I was gifted.

I don't know about being gifted, but it was as if God gave me a talent and He didn't want me to waste it. I would carry a pen and notebook around because things and ideas were always popping into my head. Sometimes I felt these thoughts were given to me by God. It was simple thoughts, but those thoughts had a punch. My friends told me that it was definitely a gift from God. I had many suggestions to get my poems published. My mom told me before she passed away to not give up on getting my poems published. Most of the poems were written in the 80's, but they still hold the meaning in today's society. I would like to share a couple of those poems, and they do come from my heart.

5/22/1982

A World of Togetherness

All alone
In a world
That wants to flee.
People going
Their separate ways
And not working together.
Is that really
Meant to be?
It's a dream,
Let's hope
That never begins.
For what's in a world
Where people
Wouldn't help
A bleeding heart
To mend?
------------------------

7/10/1981

Definitions

Jealousy is a way
Of turning one's
Heart
To a reading marked ...
Cold.

Friendship is a way
Of turning
Kindness
To a virtue called ...
Truth.

Love is a way
Of turning one's
Trust to a point shared ...
By two.

Hatred is a way
Of turning something
Shared
To a lonely number called ...
One.

 

[Lynn226]

I just returned from a student led vigil for the Tree of Life victims at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. One of my friends is a rabbinical student there and I'm currently going through the conversion process.

It was very moving and the cantorial students sang a very beautiful version of Oseh Shalom, the final portion of the Kaddish Prayer. There was someone there whose mother knows many of the victims because she had grown up at Tree of Life.

A congregant at my shul grew up in that neighborhood. A friend told me his phone started ringing during Shabbat services and the police showed up at many Cincinnati area synagogues.

ETA: The day it happened I went the Kotel (Western Wall) to reflect on what happened. Things like this are frightening, of course, but they don't cause me to doubt my choice to convert.

 

[Tinami Amori]

@Tinami Amori from what PR Lady said, it appears she thought you would be interested in the piece because you are a Soviet emigrant.

Out of respect for the tragedy, i'll keep it short. PRlady had no intend to inform us immigrants. Had the info been about "Trump, a great defender for the israeal and jews" (which he is and part of his family is jewish) she would not have sent it to me or posted it. It was a trick to bring attention to and to stress once again her lift wing agenda full of lies and fact twists, in a non-political section. There was jewish centre shooting during Obama, and nobody made a link to his policies, while it is a fact that Blacks carry the most anti-Semitic sentiments and actions in USA (by statistics and personal attacks i have experienced.... (but no one cares, when Blacks attack the jews or me or my family...). Al Sharpton led a pogrom, but he is still in politics, a Democrat, fyi.... carry on...

 

[Buzz]

Two Islamic groups have together raised more than $130,000 for victims of the massacre and their families.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/us/muslims-raise-money-pittsburgh-synagogue.html

 

[Vagabond]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/us/muslims-raise-money-pittsburgh-synagogue.html

Touching, but with a chilling reminder that the attack took place in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

 

[Debbie S]

Two Islamic groups have together raised more than $130,000 for victims of the massacre and their families.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/us/muslims-raise-money-pittsburgh-synagogue.html

I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll say that I appreciate the gesture and am grateful to those who have contributed, but I will also note that one of the partners (the one the article didn't mention) in the fundraising campaign is Linda Sarsour, a virulent anti-Semite and Exhibit A for left-wing anti-Semitism. Given her rhetoric, IMO this latest gesture doesn't quite pass the smell test.

She and El-Messidi ran a fundraising campaign to repair Jewish cemeteries vandalized after Trump's election. They exceeded their fundraising goals so pledged to direct the extra funds to other Jewish cemeteries but from what I remember reading, that money was never distributed.

 

[skatesindreams]

Many officials are declining to appear with the President when he visits Pittsburgh:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/politics/donald-trump-pittsburgh-visit-shooting/index.html

 

[BlueRidge]

Many officials are declining to appear with the President when he visits Pittsburgh:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/politics/donald-trump-pittsburgh-visit-shooting/index.html

Trump can't be bothered to change his schedule:

With an 11-rally campaign itinerary set to begin later this week, there is little flexibility in the President's schedule. The President has insisted that his rallies for Republican candidates not be canceled following the shooting and has told aides he is itching to hit the trail.

On Monday evening, Peduto said on CNN that he advised Trump's aides that a visit on Tuesday was too early.
"We did try to get the message out to the White House that our priority tomorrow is the first funeral," Peduto told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"I do believe that it would be best to put the attention on the families this week, and if he (Trump) were to visit, choose a different time to be able to do it," the mayor said. "Our focus as a city will be on the families and the outreach that they'll need this week and the support that they'll need to get through it."

Peduto says when the city has buried the victims, "I think there's the opportunity for presidential visits."

Pittsburgh County Executive Rich Fitzgerald also said he would not be meeting with the President on Tuesday.

"I will not be meeting with the President. If the President wishes to come next week, or the next, that's something we can look at," he told CNN. "I'm focused on family and community."

 

[taf2002]

I read this morning that Trump used Pharrell Williams' song Happy at an Indiana event after the shootings. Of course Williams has sent him a cease & desist but what these musicians ought to do is also send him a bill.

 

[antmanb]

I read this morning that Trump used Pharrell Williams' song Happy at an Indiana event after the shootings. Of course Williams has sent him a cease & desist but what these musicians ought to do is also send him a bill.

They don't want to take a cent of the tainted money, a cease and desist letter is far better.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Many officials are declining to appear with the President when he visits Pittsburgh:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/politics/donald-trump-pittsburgh-visit-shooting/index.html

That stance is just ridiculous...rude. Trump won the election...he is the President. Trump won the popular vote in Philadelphia. This is about the humans that were gunned down while quietly (well maybe not so quietly...we do sing and chant a lot) praying.....to G-d I might add.

The politicians in Pennsylvania who decline to have the courtesy of showing up (just showing up) and offering condolences, support and hope are turning the event and these people's lives into a political photo op. What point are they making? I am in a snit, so I am not going to support my people, who are hurting.

Monoric!

 

[taf2002]

That stance is just ridiculous...rude. Trump won the election...he is the President. Trump won the popular vote in Philadelphia. This is about the humans that were gunned down while quietly (well maybe not so quietly...we do sing and chant a lot) praying.....to G-d I might add.

The politicians in Pennsylvania who decline to have the courtesy of showing up (just showing up) and offering condolences, support and hope are turning the event and these people's lives into a political photo op. What point are they making? I am in a snit, so I am not going to support my people, who are hurting.

Monoric!

Why should they welcome someone who clearly doesn't feel one whit of sympathy or humanity? When my parents died the last thing I wanted in my life was a loud-mouthed boor.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Deleted - abject lack of grasp of facts.

 

[Ania]

That stance is just ridiculous...rude. Trump won the election...he is the President. Trump won the popular vote in Philadelphia.

What on earth are you talking about? The hate crime happened in Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia. Clinton overwhelmingly won both cities. The families of the victims asked him not to come. The mayor of Pittsburgh asked him to delay the visit until after the funerals (because the city's resources will be stretched super thin in protecting all families and Trump). Members of Trump's own party refused to accompany him on the visit. So who is being rude here?? Please do not compound the grief of community in mourning. WE are certainly not the ones being rude.

 

[Sylvia]

https://www.newsweek.com/rabbi-syna...-trump-certainly-welcome-after-jewish-1191747

Despite witnessing a horrifying scene, Myers expressed his belief in the good of people and cited the Bible. He quoted a message that God told Noah after the flood: “I have learned that man, from his youth, is prone to evil.”
“Which you think would be a horrific thing for God to tell us,” Myers said. “The message I get from that is that, yes, there is the possibility of hate in all people but there’s also the possibility of good.”
Myers said that good would prevail over evil if people let it, which he had seen with his own eyes. Over the past two days, the rabbi said he’d seen overwhelming goodwill coming from “every religion,” including Jews, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs.
“I will not let hate close down my building,” Myers said.

 

[antmanb]

Delete, I know better than to engage the troll.