More than 300 people took part in a gathering Thursday night at Butler’s downtown synagogue to remember those lost in last weekend’s shooting in Squirrel Hill.
The interfaith gathering and vigil at Butler’s Congregation B’nai Abraham on North Main Street featured song and scripture. The names of those killed in Saturday’s shooting were read, along with a couple of sentences about who they each were as people.
Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer is the spiritual leader of B’nai Abraham in Butler, but she was near the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill when the shooting occurred.
“I was getting my daily cup of coffee a few blocks from Tree of Life Synagogue when the coffee shop and other nearby public places went into lockdown,” she explained during the service on Thursday. “Another customer, five baristas, and I spent the next hour and a half in the basement.”
Cantor Gray-Schaffer says any change we may want to see in this polarized world should begin with ourselves.
“Let’s try not to paint with a broad brush the people we encounter. Let’s really try to model the love that’s key to the behavior God wants of us, that’s shown to us in all of our scriptures. Complement others freely. Don’t judge. If we start with ourselves, think of the ripple effect,” she said.
The vigil ended with a candlelight procession out of the building and down North Main Street while singing “We Shall Overcome.”
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