Sucha Singh: Healing as we remember Tree of Life

I have lived in Pittsburgh for 28 years. During that time, I’ve witnessed our city remolded and refined to adjust for the growth within diverse neighborhoods and cherished the distinctiveness of each culture. Understanding our city’s many ethnicities and an inclusive atmosphere is analogous to the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers producing the Ohio River.

That continuity was shattered on the Sabbath morning two years ago, Oct. 27, 2018, a day of spiritual renewal and observance for Jews, when synagogues across the city and elsewhere were filled with devotees, embracing the watchword of their faith, the Shema. In an instant, extremism shattered a peaceful sanctuary at Tree of Life and took 11 family members, loved ones, friends and neighbors and wounded several others. What had faith communities learned three years earlier from radicalism since the mass murder at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.? Basically, that a religious-based hate crime can happen here too.

Thinking back on those senseless and brutal acts reminds me of yet another mass shooting that took place eight years ago, at a Sikh place of worship on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. I was performing religious services in my Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in Pittsburgh, when a member of my congregation came to me, distraught, asking me to take a phone call from a local TV station. That is how I learned about the mass murder through gun violence at the Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wis.: another irreversible, bias-related act that took the lives of six people, left one paralyzed and injured others.

Upon the first anniversary of the murders at Tree of Life, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, chief executive and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, identified that event as “the single deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States, a violent climax of months of anti-Semitic, racist and other hate incidents that had been building all around the nation.” As a religious leader in the Sikh tradition, we will never forget the victims of the three congregations at Tree of Life synagogue and always will stand in solidarity with affected faith communities.

Tikkun olam is a rabbinic concept of kindness in Judaism, which means to heal or repair the world. We too believe everyone should be blessed to enjoy the freedom of practicing their religion devoid of hatred and intimidation. Sikhs believe God is the life all around us, and from this we have everything that we could possibly need. Once an individual understands that everything is One, they need not hate, for hating Oneself serves no purpose.

Before the shooting, I attended several interfaith gatherings at Tree of Life. Since that horrendous incident, I often consciously choose to drive that route through Squirrel Hill along my commute to work. Sometimes I catch myself slowing down and staring at that building in sorrow and shared pain. Today, the synagogue remains closed and locked down. Although the Tree is still standing, it seems lifeless without the warmth of its congregations praying within the synagogue’s four walls. Still, the enduring warmth of the community surrounds the Tree.

All of us, as a larger, cohesive society comprising many communities, can repair the world. We must learn from each other and remember the anguish hatred creates. Neglecting to discuss these acts may seem to numb the pain temporarily, but we will only truly heal by taking time to appreciate our collective losses at the hands of intolerance.

Many people of faith find strength in diversity and genuinely care for the lives and well-being of all others. God dwells deep within each and every heart.

Sucha Singh is a clergy member with the Tri State Sikh Cultural Society in Monroeville and an adviser to United Sikhs, a humanitarian relief organization.