Partnership announces Tree of Life commemoration plans

The three-year mark of the shootings at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill will be commemorated by an outdoor ceremony this year, the 10.27 Healing Partnership said.

Plans call for the public ceremony to happen in Schenley Park at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the intersection of Hobart Street and Prospect Drive. It will take place near the grove of trees that was planted last April in memory of the 11 people who died at the hands of a gunman on Oct. 27, 2018.

According to 10.27 Healing Partnership director Maggie Feinstein, there are plans for Torah study meetings and community service opportunities. All of the activities, including the ceremony will follow covid-19 safety protocols.

“While we just remembered 20 years since 9/11/01 and the thousands of lives that were lost, we reflect on that old and troublesome saying ‘time heals all wounds.’ How much time? What kinds of wounds? Is time all we need? For many of us, 20 years has not healed this wound,” said Feinstein.

“Seeing the brave families, survivors, and leaders lending their voices to commemorative activities, I was struck that time does give us some perspective,” she said. “So, we will replace the notion that time is a healing agent, and embrace that it is rather what we do during that time that is healing.”

The 10.27 Healing Partnership was formed in the wake of the Tree of Life mass shooting nearly three years ago. It is the coordinating agency for the community’s response to what happened and bills itself as a “collaboration of community, government, and faith-based organizations dedicated to helping communities and individuals heal from trauma.”