Rabbi Jeffrey Myers is retiring from Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, which he led the through the aftermath of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history in 2018.
Myers, 70, survived the attack, which claimed the lives of 11 worshippers from three congregations sharing the synagogue space — Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life.
In the nearly eight years since, the congregation has worked to grieve and heal. It endured a long-delayed trial leading to the gunman’s death sentence. It experienced the disruptive pandemic and the groundbreaking for a new building.
“My mission has come to a conclusion to the best that I could,” Myers says. “It was time for the next chapter also for the Tree of Life.”
Here are takeaways from The Associated Press’s report on his retirement.
A long recovery from a traumatic shooting
It’s been a long road to healing for Myers, the congregations and the wider community.
Myers acknowledges he struggled to pray after the tragedy. He found solace in the Book of Psalms, saying it covers the whole range of human experience “from elation to utter despair.”
“My faith did have the answers,” he says. “It just took time to be able to find them.”
In his farewell remarks to his congregation last Friday, Myers recalled each of the victims by name, adding: “May your memories always be for a blessing.”
Myers “was really just a new rabbi and hardly broken in yet, and we went through the thing that we went through,” says Audrey Glickman, a survivor of the attack. “He has steered a constant ship and taken care of everyone, and I think he has earned himself a rest.”
A return to his roots in New Jersey
Myers plans to return to his native New Jersey to be near his daughter and granddaughter. He wants to catch up on reading, do some writing and check off some “bucket list” goals with his wife.
He also plans to work more on healing his own inner wounds.
His spiritual journey began near Newark, New Jersey. As a boy, he sang soprano in his synagogue choir. By his mid-teens, he was leading that choir. He studied to become a cantor or hazzan, a type of Jewish clergy who leads worship. After several years serving congregations in New York and New Jersey in the Conservative denomination of Judaism, he studied for ordination as a rabbi and came to Tree of Life.
A new rabbi, a sudden spotlight
In 2018, the small congregation was sharing its building with two others.
Sabbath services had just begun that Saturday morning, Oct. 27. After hearing gunfire in the lobby, Myers urged worshippers to flee if they were able — and those who were frail to lie down or hide. He took shelter, praying and talking to a 911 operator.
He was escorted to safety by police officers, still wearing his prayer shawl.
In the days afterward, he led several funeral services.
With its damaged building a crime scene, Tree of Life began worshipping at a nearby synagogue, Rodef Shalom. For Myers and others, it was crucial to resume their Jewish observances, defying the killer’s intentions.
There were uplifting moments. Sam Schachner, the congregation’s then-president, recalls his son’s bar mitzvah a few weeks later — the first truly joyful event after Oct. 27.
Myers “had this ability to be there for others when he was going through such pain,” Schachner said.
First a pandemic, then a trial
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the congregations’ healing as Myers led remote services from his home. But presiding over his daughter’s outdoor wedding helped, fulfilling a Psalm’s promise. “God turned my mourning into rejoicing,” he says.
After resuming in-person worship, the three targeted congregations braced for a long-delayed federal trial of the killer.
It began in the spring of 2023, just as Myers’ daughter was expecting her first child. Myers was scheduled to be the lead witness. He told the prosecution team that if the baby was a boy, he insisted on being present for the circumcision — unwilling to “let the shooter deprive me of this moment.” Instead, a granddaughter arrived, and he testified on schedule.
The lengthy trial concluded with the conviction and death sentence of the gunman, who remains on death row.
With shared trauma, Tree of Life bonds with church shooting survivors
Tree of Life began a meaningful relationship with Mother Emanuel AME Church of Charleston, South Carolina, a historically Black congregation where a racist gunman killed nine Bible study participants in 2015. Members visited each others’ congregations, and Myers developed a bond with Emanuel’s pastor, the Rev. Eric Manning.
Myers believes it’s important to speak out against rising antisemitism and other forms of hatred — a word he refuses to utter, speaking only of “H.”
“Antisemitism is the world’s oldest disease,” he says. “It doesn’t require any sort of prescription or inoculation to eliminate. It requires people to honor the worth and dignity of every human being.”
Planning a new building with an expanded mission
Most of the Tree of Life complex has been demolished. Plans for a new building call for a memorial to the victims, along with antisemitism exhibits, a sanctuary and event space.
The building is slated to open in 2028, says Carole Zawatsky, who heads the nonprofit, The Tree of Life, which is overseeing the project in cooperation with the similarly named congregation.
Recently about 50 Jewish families, many with young children, joined the congregation.
That has boosted hopes for the future.
Says Glickman: “We intend not to let the shooter win and not to fade away into history.”
___
AP video journalist Jessie Wardarski contributed. She and Smith were among the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists who shared the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for coverage of the synagogue massacre.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
