Anti-Semitism spouted by the man accused of entering a Pittsburgh synagogue and murdering 11 congregants is “a despicable lie of the enemy which we unequivocally reject,” Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear tweeted following the Oct. 27 massacre.
Police arrested the shooter, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, and described his actions as a hate crime, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Bowers disturbed the Jewish Sabbath at the Tree of Life Synagogue and shouted, “All Jews must die,” before opening fire that morning.
Those killed ranged in age from 54 to 97 and six were injured, according to news reports.
Bowers was armed with an AR-15 and three handguns, police said in multiple media reports, and is accused of having left a trail of anti-Semitic remarks on social media accounts. He was arraigned on a 44-count indictment, including hate crimes, in federal court on Nov. 1. In his social media posts, Bowers spoke ill of the HIAS National Refugee Shabbat, formerly the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, that today helps immigrants of various nationalities.
The Tree of Life Synagogue is located in the eastern Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community since the turn of the 20th century. Tree of Life is one of two conservative synagogues in the neighborhood. There are also multiple orthodox and reform synagogues in the neighborhood, which is just over one square mile wide.
Hours after the shooting, John Freeman, pastor of H2O City Church, Squirrel Hill, walked into the local Jewish Community Center and was at once on mission.
Freeman said the FBI was using the community center as a temporary hub where family members awaited news of victims who attended Tree of Life synagogue.
“I sat in there for a couple of hours, just listening to people, talking to people and comforting people, just being with them as they were waiting,” Freeman said.
H20 City Church served coffee and provided hundreds of candles for an Oct. 27 evening vigil in Squirrel Hill, held an extended time of prayer in its Oct. 28 service and assigned members to pray hourly for the community.
“You can still feel the oppression. You can just still feel the weight walking through the neighborhood,” Freeman said.
“We emphasize just being everyday missionaries and building relationships and running our missional communities. … It’s that everyday missionary work that you do to build relationship that prepares you to be a comforting presence in a time of need like this.”
Ric Worshill, executive director of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship (SBMF), said its 30-member congregations, 300 missionaries and small house churches are praying nationally.
“We’re praying for the families all the time, because where there’s much prayer there’s much power,” Worshill said.
Anti-Semitism is not new, he noted, but is spreading palpably.
“You look in the Middle East, you have this little tiny country called Israel, and it’s about … 85 percent Jewish in background … and everybody who lives around them hates them,” Worshill said, noting that Satan drives the hate.
“He wants to destroy God’s remnant, His chosen people,” said Worshill, who became a Messianic believer at age 34. “[God] chose [Jewish people] for a purpose. … He hasn’t finished His plan with the Jewish people.”
Chosen People Ministries (CPM), one of the Messianic groups the SBMF partners with nationally, has ministries in Pittsburgh.
Jeff Kipp, a pastor licensed with CPM, leads Congregation Yeshua Ben David, which is less than three miles from Tree of Life.
“This event happened while we were in the middle of our Shabbat service Saturday morning,” Kipp said. “It was pretty shocking to all of us. We locked our doors and immediately stopped our service to tell everyone and went into a place of prayer and intercession.
“We … do the best we can to tell Jewish people, ‘We love you, we care about you, we’re going to overcome this with you,’” Kipp told Baptist Press. “Love is greater than hate. We’re stronger than hate. … [We] just try to let Yeshua shine through us.
“We can’t be overtly evangelistic,” he said, “especially at a time like this. But we have to be, very much, wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” (Compiled from wire services)
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