Pittsburgh synagogue shooting memorial mural met with approval in Squirrel Hill

As with Pittsburgh’s efforts to come to grips with the horror of the events of Oct. 27, 2018, a Tree of Life shooting memorial mural unveiled Wednesday in Squirrel Hill is a work in progress.

The mural includes a line of human figures holding hands against a background of hearts and Jewish stars and a depiction of the Tree of Life synagogue with tree branches painted next to it. There were peace signs, as well.

Artist Kyle Holbrook created the mural. As a handful of onlookers passed and members of the local media jockeyed for position, Holbrook continued working on the somber expansive purple and orange piece on the white back wall of a building that houses Coriander India Grill & Bar on Murray Avenue.

When people arrived for the 10 a.m. unveiling, Holbrook was in the middle of doing a freehand drawing of an orange stop sign. He would later add “End Anti-Semitism” to a scroll on the far right of the artwork.

The mural faces a public parking lot at 5819 Phillips Ave. Among those who came to take a look was Andrea Wedner, who survived the deadliest assault on Jewish people in the U.S. Eleven worshippers died in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, including Wedner’s 97-year-old mother, Rose Mallinger. Wedner was severely injured.

“I think it’s a beautiful message (with) the synagogue: the tree, the branches, the hearts, the people, the stars and it’s purple — my mother’s favorite color — so it’s very, very meaningful. ‘Stop Anti-Semitism,’ ” Wedner said. “And I hope people will come by and see it.”

Wedner and others had just one slight criticism.

“I just wish it could be somewhere where it was really out there,” she said. “So we just have to get people to know that it’s here so they’ll come by and see it.”

Mordechai Jaffa, a Jewish man in his 20s wearing a black yarmulke, said he is impressed with the mural.

“When I first saw it, I thought it was very nice,” Jaffa said. “Every day, I walk by it and it’s very inspiring. And hopefully people get a good message out of it.”

Squirrel Hill resident Bryan Frear, 40, came by with his dog Gizmo and gave a thumbs-up to the mural.

“I thought I would check it out,” Frear said. “I will say it’s very stark. That’s what struck me. It’s very simple and sobering.”

Holbrook said that’s what he intended.

“You talk about gun violence, and a lot of people don’t even listen,” Holbrook said. “They say we’re trying to take the guns. We’re not saying take the guns. We’re saying take away the gun violence. In America, having guns is a right, but we don’t need machine guns for hunting.”