THUNDER BAY - Deborah Scharf, who lived in Pittsburgh for 15 years before returning to Canada in 2015, said the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood is a lovely place with old homes, beautiful parks, and friendly people, which reminds her a lot of the Vicker’s Park area here in town.
“It is a really friendly community, there are kids outside playing, it really is a place where people feel safe,” she said.
That sense of safety was shattered on Oct. 27 when a gunman entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill and opened fire on the congregation, killing 11 people.
The gunman, Robert Bowers, who had posted anti-Semitic messages online, pleaded not guilty to 44 charges, including hate crimes, in what has become the worst act of anti-Semitic violence in United States history.
“I just feel sick about it,” Scharf said. “I feel sick.”
Scharf was one of more 100 people who took part in a public vigil at the Shaarey Shomayim Synagogue in Thunder Bay on Saturday.
Marianna Khabad, an executive member of the local congregation, said it was important to provide the community an opportunity to mourn and support one another in the wake of such a tragedy.
“I thought something like that, something so terrible, even though the community is so small, we could organize something to show our solidarity, to send our prayers to the victims and their families in Pittsburgh,” she said.
The Jewish community in Thunder Bay is quite small and not very active, Khabad said, and she does not recall any acts of anti-Semitism locally in recent years. But what happened in Pittsburgh serves as a reminder that hatred still persists and appears to be on the rise.
“I’m not sure if it is just anti-Semitism, I think it is hate crimes in general,” Khabad said. “What about the event in Quebec against the Muslim community, what about all the shootings against visible minorities in the United States. I think it is kind of boiling up and it’s sad to see that history hasn’t taught us anything.”
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Khabad continued. “I think the biggest tragedies in humanity happen, not because people are so evil, but because the majority of people didn’t do anything. I want to see enough people who believe that there is another way, without violence, without hatred.”
The vigil on Saturday included prayers and the lighting of candles for each of the victims in Pittsburgh, as well as two African-Americans who were killed by a gunman in Kentucky on the same day.
People of all backgrounds and faiths participated in the vigil and Scharf said Thunder Bay has a long history of groups of people from different faiths and cultures coming together.
“Pittsburgh and Thunder Bay have a lot in common,” she said. “We are communities with a long history of blue collar workers and a lot of small communities and small ethnic groups that find strength in one another.”
Even though the local Jewish community is small, Scharf said it is important to support one another and she hopes people will continue to stand up to acts of hatred and violence that seem to be happening more and more frequently, particularly in what is becoming a divided America.
“I do believe the political climate creates an environment to feel more emboldened to act,” she said. “I hope people vote and vote for what they believe in and speak out when they see something they don’t believe in because it’s a small community and every voice matters.”
And even though there exists division in cities, communities, and neighbourhoods across the United States and Canada, Scharf believes hatred will never change what those neighbourhoods have come to represent, just like Squirrel Hill has for so many people - a lovely, friendly place where people can feel safe.
“Pittsburgh really felt like a wonderful place and still is a wonderful place to be Jewish,” she said. “I don’t think one act of senseless violence represents what it’s like to be there. It’s a vibrant community with a lot of synagogues and lots of active and public facing families. It’s a great place to be.”
“We need to make sure we put forward that face as well and not let one act of violence colour what it’s like to be a Jew in Pittsburgh or even in Thunder Bay.”
