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Pittsburgh Federation raises $6.3 million for families and survivors affected by shooting

At the same time, a report on the Oct. 27, 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh noted that “no amount of money can compensate for the loss of a loved one’s life” or “completely heal our hearts or our communities.”

Tree of Life synagogue
The Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a mass shooting took place during Shabbat services on Oct. 27, 2018. Source: Google Maps screenshot.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has raised $6.3 million for its Victims of Terror Fund that will mainly be divided among the families of the 11 Jewish worshippers who were killed in the Oct. 27 shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue, the deadliest attack in American Jewish history.

The donations are “expressions of love, generosity, compassion and a desire to help in the healing process,” according to a Tuesday report by the independent committee supervising the fund.

It also wrote that “no amount of money can compensate for the loss of a loved one’s life” or “completely heal our hearts or our communities.”

The families of those killed and injured will altogether receive $4.4 million, while $437,000 will be allocated to nine congregants who were stuck inside the synagogue as the shooting unfolded, “fearing for their own lives and, in some cases, watching relatives and friends being murdered,” according to the report.

“We will work with you to guarantee the American people full transparency about how their tax dollars are being funneled to—and spent by—this organization,” Reps. Gregory Meeks and Jamie Raskin wrote to Washington’s top diplomat.
The armed officers allegedly entered an area under Israeli security responsibility, seized the soldier’s weapon and drove him into Area A near Ramallah.
“I’m an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, so antisemitism is why I’m here in the first place,” the mother told JNS. “To see it out in full effect in the daylight is awful.”
“We were extremely proud to see this work come to fruition,” Shay Salamon, executive director of Latin American affairs at Combat Antisemitism Movement, told JNS.