In 'bittersweet' move, Tree of Life synagogue to be leveled for mass shooting memorial site

Demolition is underway in Pittsburgh this week at the synagogue where a man killed 11 worshippers in an antisemitic attack just over five years ago during the Jewish Sabbath.

The shooting is considered the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

The tearing down of most of the Tree of Life Synagogue began Thursday, according to the congregation's CEO Carole Zawatsky. Workers will ultimately remove 80% of the facility where a gunman carried out a targeted mass shooting on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018. In its place, she said, the community will build a new institution that will honor the 11 victims and provide a new home for the congregation, which has held services off-site now for several years.

"It will have a sanctuary for the Tree of Life congregation to be able to come back, worship, celebrate and have their home," she said. "It will also, really significantly, have a museum, the first and only museum, that explores the roots of antisemitism in America."

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said in 2019 Tree of Life, in Pittsburgh's picturesque Squirrel Hill neighborhood, would reopen. Zawatsky said the community anticipates that will happen about two years from now.

In the meantime, people are watching as the site is cleared.

"The demolition of the synagogue is certainly bittersweet because we know what happened there," Zawatsky said.

Gunman facing lethal injection

Robert Bowers, whom prosecutors said "meticulously planned his attack based on his violently antisemitic beliefs," drove to the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, and killed 11 people and wounded seven others. Witnesses said Bowers shouted antisemitic epithets and called for the death of Jews. Evidence at trial showed that Bowers fired about 100 rounds from multiple firearms including an AR-15.

Slain in the 2018 massacre were Daniel Stein, 71; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal 54; husband and wife Bernice Simon, 84 and Sylvan Simon, 86; Melvin Wax, 88; and Irving Younger, 69. The shooter also injured two congregants and five police officers.

Bowers is now on federal death row, facing execution by lethal injection. Bowers was sentenced to death in August after being convicted on 63 federal charges, including 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

Remembering those killed: A 97-year-old, an elderly wife and husband: These are the 11 victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre

What's next for Tree of Life community and synagogue?

The new multimillion-dollar institution that will replace the synagogue will be a place for reflection and education for more than just Pittsburgh, Zawatsky said

Donations and grants helped Tree of Life secure funding to build something that would have broader reach, aided by $6.6 million in state funds for the reconstruction, Zawatsky said.

The Tree of Life will have a memorial garden designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed the new World Trade Center, to honor the victims of the 2018 shooting. According to the Tree of Life website, family members of the victims and three congregations sat on the Memorialization Working Group that helped develop the designs.

Zawatsky said another important facet of the new building is a "physical manifestation of light piercing through darkness." Renderings of the building show a large section of the building's roof filled with large glass panels.

"We're going to make sure something good comes out of this," said Alan Hausman, president of the Tree of Life congregation. "These were great people, some of the best people I've ever met in my life, that passed away. We want to make sure that we honor their memories in the best fashion possible."

Hausman and Zawatsky said they were excited about the educational aspect of the new institution being built. It will have a museum that will highlight Jewish life and offer education about antisemitism and it will be the new home of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

They're looking forward to the day not only Pittsburghers, but visitors from across the country and the world, can walk into the building and learn how to address hate in America and learn about the similarities across religions that preach acceptance.

An outreach effort this past fall brought Christians, Muslims and Jews together at Pittsburgh's Hunt Armory to mark five years since the shooting. Interfaith leaders praised the project for bringing people together in late November, amid the Israel-Hamas War and rising attacks against Jews and Muslims in the U.S.

That level of cross-cultural and multifaith bonding is something Pittsburghers take great pride in.

The city's faith communities responded quickly to the shooting with Muslims raising funds for funeral costs and Christians opening their churches for Jewish congregants to pray.

Togetherness among interfaith leaders remains vital for Tree of Life members, Hausman said. Still today, they're jointly holding religious services with various faiths.

"You realize that deep down fundamentally there really isn't any difference between everybody," he said. "We may dress a little differently. We may pray in a different language. We may have some different customs and different foods, but, fundamentally, it's all about the same message."

Demolition, repurposing not uncommon at massacre sites

The Tree of Life Synagogue isn't the only mass shooting site in America that's been demolished.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012, was demolished in 2013, to the relief of neighbors. Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two adults were killed in May 2022, will be demolished, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin announced just a month after the massacre. He said during a city council meeting people can "never ask a child to go back or a teacher to go back in that school ever."

The city of Orlando bought the site of Pulse, a gay nightclub, where 49 people were killed and 53 injured in a mass shooting on June 12, 2016. The city said it planned to build a memorial to commemorate the victims.

In Pittsburgh, Myers said in 2019, the new Tree of Life synagogue will remain on the same site and that was very intentional.

“We must reopen, because if we don’t, then evil wins, and we’re not letting it win on my watch," he said.

Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, Jeanine Santucci, Candy Woodall, USA TODAY Network; Associated Press.

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @KrystalRNurse.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh to be demolished for memorial