3 months after Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, worshipers look to the future

PITTSBURGH — It’s only been three months since the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, but members are already looking toward rebuilding for the future.

Following the tragedy, in which a gunman killed 11 people and injured several others, people from Pittsburgh and across the world have donated more than $5 million.

Channel 11's David Johnson had the opportunity to sit down with some of them to reflect on that fateful day.

The makeshift memorial remains outside. Behind the front doors, the familiar markers with Stars of David and the names of the lives lost are silent but powerful reminders of what happened here.

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For the survivors -- the members of the three congregations who call this home -- life must go on.

"Initially, welcoming Tree of Life and Dor Hadash to our building is simply an act of generosity that a neighbor would perform for another neighbor,” Aaron Bisno said.

Bisno is the rabbi at Rodef Shalom, where Tree of Life and Dor Hadash now worship.

He told Channel 11’s David Johnson that Rodef had the space, while Tree of Life had an unusable building.

"It gives us a chance to walk a mile in somebody else's shoes. I think we're gonna learn a lot while we're here as to what it means to be the guest of someone else,” said Suzanne Schreiber, a member of the Tree of Life congregation.

Schreiber can hardly express the gratitude her fellow congregants feel toward Rodef, and to all of Pittsburgh and the nation, for supporting them.

"The community has really embraced us and lifted us up, if you will,” Schreiber said.

Not far from Rodef is Beth Shalom, which took in New Light Congregation.

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Member Carl Solomon remembers when New Light took them in when Beth Shalom suffered a fire.

He said they're now paying it forward. He'll never forget their generosity and he'll never forget Oct 27.

"And I looked over, and I saw a police officer get out of his car with a rifle,” Solomon said.

Solomon was late to services that morning. He survived. Eleven of his fellow synagogue goers died.

An independent committee is deciding how to disburse $5.7 million that has been raised to help the Tree of Life community.

But what about the Tree of Life building -- what happens to it? On the corner where the congregation has lived for 154 years.

"And I believe it's our intent to be there for 154 more, um, you know -- it's our intent to be back at the corner of Shady and Wilkins -- it's just gonna take us some time to get there,” Schreiber said. "Will it look exactly the same as it was on Oct 26? I don't know the answer to that."

She told me it might have to change for families to be comfortable to go back in. Of this, though, she is sure.

"A tree, you can cut off the limbs but it grows back really strong,” Schreiber said.

Cox Media Group