Healing Time
The mournful packed into Butler's Congregation B'nai Abraham Thursday night in search of healing.
When the pews filled, they brought in folding chairs. When those filled, still more people crowded into adjacent hallways just to listen.
One woman visiting from British Columbia, Canada, Nancy Crerar, said she stepped outside for a moment and saw a middle-aged woman kneeling by a window, her ear pressed to a crack in the glass.
In recognition of the 11 people killed in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue last Saturday, more than a dozen pastors of various denominations joined with the Butler synagogue for an interfaith service and a candlelit walk down Main Street.
The synagogue's Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer led much of the night's ceremony. She mourned, and she spoke of hope.
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“One may lie down weeping at nightfall,” Gray-Schaffer said. “But at dawn there are shouts of joy.”Much like the event's organizers, the crowd Thursday was a blend of faiths. Valerie and Dennis Hogan of Butler said they regularly attend First United Methodist Church. Dennis sheepishly asked a member of B'nai Abraham whether he ought to be wearing the yarmulke someone handed him on his way in.“We're here for the unity and solidarity and peace that hopefully will come from something like this,” Valerie said, as she waited for the service to begin. “We just want to show our support and our love.”Valerie said she first learned of the shooting from television news. Gray-Schaffer was closer.“I was getting my daily cup of coffee a few blocks from Tree of Life Synagogue when the coffee shop and other nearby public places, went into lock down,” she said. “Another customer, five baristas and I spent the next hour and a half in the basement.”The cantor said she at first was not going to weigh in on what makes a person commit such a crime, but then decided to do so.
Our country, she said, “has become more polarized.” Civility, she said, “is at an all-time low.”Tribalism is on the rise, she argued, and such divisions are splintering all aspects of society.“Let's try to be cognizant of the times we say darn woman driver,” Gray-Schaffer said. “Stinking liberal. Deplorable. Redneck. Terrorist migrants. Damn Jew. The list goes on and on.”The congregation's president and several of its board members said they were floored by the night's attendance. President Eric Levin spoke to begin the night's service, and he said they had filled the room's 230 seats plus however many stood or sat in adjoining rooms.Larry Berg, a board member, looked out over the crowd as it gathered.“They are all so sincerely sorry about all that's happened,” he said.Much of the ceremony was spent reciting Hebrew prayers and allowing various local religious leaders to speak.Pastors from the community's various churches took turns reading the names of the 11 people killed in Pittsburgh. Each read a short biography showing a bit of character for each name. With each name a candle was lit, a chime was rung and Gray-Schaffer led the room in a Hebrew blessing.Allen Kitchen led the room in two songs. The first, a song by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette to the tune of “Why Do Nations Rage Together,” addressed the killing.“Weapons kill and so does silence; hear our prayer as we confess,” the song went. “We have given in to violence, we have bowed to hopelessness.”And the latter had the room chanting “Goodness is stronger than evil.”When the service concluded, the attendees lit candles and took to Main Street.In the dark outside the synagogue, former congregation co-president Phil Terman stood watching his place of worship empty, his face lit by his candle.“It's beautiful,” Terman said. “It's healing. I feel grateful to have the community showing such a large outpouring of love and compassion. I've never seen so many people here. Maybe at a Rolling Stones concert, but not here.”<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbutlereaglenews%2Fvideos%2F248156666056493%2F&show_text=0&width=1720" width="720" height="450" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>
