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New England Patriots pay respect to Tree of Life synagogue victims

New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft visited the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh to pay his respects to the 11 Jewish victims of the Oct. 27 shooting there before his team played the Steelers on Sunday. (The Steelers won 17-10.)

Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman wore these cleats on Dec. 16, 2018 to remember the 11 Jewish victims of the Oct. 27, 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Credit: Julian Edelman/Twitter.
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman wore these cleats on Dec. 16, 2018 to remember the 11 Jewish victims of the Oct. 27, 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Credit: Julian Edelman/Twitter.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, visited the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday to pay his respects to the 11 victims of the deadliest shooting in American Jewish history.

The visit was followed by attending Rodef Shalom, another synagogue in the area, where Kraft—a longtime philanthropist and active member of the Jewish community in Boston, as was his late wife, Myra—was invited by the rabbi to address the congregation.

The following day, Kraft’s team played the Pittsburgh Steelers. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman wore customized cleats, honoring the victims, as part of the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign.

In Remembrance. בזיכרון עץ חיים#StrongerThanHate Joyce Feinberg Richard Gottfried Rose Mallinger Jerry Rabinowitz Cecil Rosenthal David Rosenthal Bernice Simon Sylvan Simon Daniel Stein Melvin Wax Irving Younger ???? @MACHE275 ???? @CJPBoston ???????? pic.twitter.com/PUUszklkUz — Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) December 16, 2018

The Steelers won 17-10.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Shia or Sunni. They’re all cut from the same cloth,” the deputy assistant to the U.S. president told JNS. “They all derive their ideological DNA from the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“Jewish New Yorkers deserve to mourn in peace, free from hatred and intimidation,” stated New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “There is no excuse for this. None.”
“Mamdani could not even give us one day to mourn without defaming the Jewish people and giving cover to our enemies,” Inna Vernikov, a Jewish member of the New York City Council, told JNS. “We will not let Mamdani and his radical pals rewrite Oct. 7.”
“The charging by the FBI of Haverford College associate professor Guangtian Ha for harassment and intimidation of a Jewish Israeli professor closes the dotted line between verbal acts of harassment and actionable violence which, when Jews are the recipients, is far too often ignored,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus of the Deborah Project told JNS.