Ceremony held to honor 11 victims killed in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting 5 years ago

PITTSBURGH — It’s a day of remembrance and that’s exactly what the families of the 11 and survivors of 10.27 did on Friday. A ceremony full of poems, strength and love could be felt by the community as they work on moving forward.

PHOTOS: Remembering the 11 people killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

“It’s a blank page that we were writing in, but there are still a lot of challenges out there as we move forward day to day,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, Tree of Life Congregation.

Each day is a new step of healing for them.

“Five years feels both so long and so so recent,” said Maggie Feinstein with 10.27 Healing Partnership.

For the 11 families who’s loved ones were brutally murdered, strength is what they now show.

“For three nights after we lost the boys, there were hundreds of people who poured in and we are so grateful for them for giving the boys love and kindness we feel the boys have given the world,” said Diane Rosenthal who’s Cecil & David’s Sister.

Diane and her sister Michele stand proud of their brothers as they continue to grieve and heal their loss. Five years have passed, but this commemoration ceremony feels just a little different.

“Getting to the trial finally after 4.5 years, it was a sense of relief. I had really lost faith in the judicial system so to see it happen and to close,” Michele Rosenthal said.

“We can close the chapter, we’ve gotten to know the families and gotten to know those we’ve lot because to us they were just names on paper,” Diane Rosenthal said.

Now they are all family. That includes the prosecution team who showed up and let these families know the 11 will always be on their hearts.

“Despite all the trauma, tears, heartache and loss, I am grateful. I am lucky to have been part of this act of remembering that there is not just a record of how 11 lives were ended but also an enduring record of how 11 lives were lived,” said Eric Olshan who’s the US Attorney for the Western District of PA.

There were over 1000 people from the community, including political leaders and even some of the jurors who spent their summer hearing the worst of these crimes and giving these families a sense of justice.

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