August 11, 2023 | 24 Av 5783
Candlelighting 8:05 p.m. | Havdalah 9:06 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 32 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A nod to “caution and fairness”
After final day of victim testimony, synagogue killer formally sentenced to death
$1.50
Victims’ families, congregations and the rest of the community react to death penalty verdict
A legal expert unpacks the synagogue shooter trial LOCAL
Page 2
New buildings, new curricula, new faces
A view of the Tree of Life building, which housed three congregations, New Light, Dor Hadash and Tree of Life, photographed on April 19
Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Union Progress
Jewish schools prepare for the coming academic year LOCAL
Page 3
Learning about Israel while building leadership skills
Diller Teen Fellows tour the Jewish state Page 4
By Torsten Ove | Contributing Writer
A
day after a federal court jury imposed the death penalty on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, U.S. District Judge Robert Colville formally sentenced him on Aug. 3 before a packed tense courtroom. “I sentence you, Robert Bowers, to the penalty of death by execution,” the judge said. Colville chose not to make any statements to the hate-filled killer who had slaughtered 11 innocent people nearly five years ago. He said others have already spoken more eloquently and nothing he could say to the defendant would be meaningful. “There is very little I could add,” he said. The defendant, dressed in a red prison jumpsuit, had the right to address the court but said nothing. U.S. Marshals led him away. The United States of America v. Robert Bowers has finally ended after two months of exhausting testimony. The final day saw more of the same as 22 people read victim impact statements
about what the defendant did to their families on Oct. 27, 2018, when he rampaged through the Tree of Life synagogue building with an AR-15 and slaughtered elderly and disabled worshippers. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. Thursday was the day for the victims to finally address the court. While many family members had already testified at length during the trial, they had the right to be heard at sentencing under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. Normally victims testify in order to persuade a judge to impose a harsher sentence than the defense is requesting. That wasn’t the case this time — death was the only option. One by one, the victims delivered their statements. Some addressed the shooter directly, despite a request by the defense to speak to the judge only. They all described ongoing despair and lingering trauma from that day. Several barely controlled their rage.
Rabbi Doris Dyen, a member of Dor Hadash congregation, speaks surrounded by other survivors and the family members of victims during a press conference at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill on Aug. 2 after a jury decided that the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting gunman will receive the death penalty for killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018.
Photo by Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Union Progress
By Adam Reinherz and David Rullo | Senior Staff Writers Andrew Goldstein and Delaney Parks | Contributing Writers
H
ours after jurors concluded that the man responsible for the most violent antisemitic attack in U.S. history should be put to death, survivors of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and victims’ families exited the Joseph F. Weis U.S. Courthouse and returned to a space they had gathered almost five years ago. Inside Squirrel Hill’s Jewish Community Center, the nearly 30-person group responded to the Aug. 2 verdict, described their unexpected fellowship and discussed the road ahead. “We’re members of a club that shouldn’t exist,” said Tree of Life Congregation’s Rabbi
Please see Sentencing, page 10
Please see Reaction, page 10
keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle FOOD
In a pickle
THEATER
“Merrily We Roll Along”
HEALTH
Good health in 4 minutes a day