Organizations born through the healing process of synagogue shooting

By Meghan Schiller

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    PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — In Tuesday’s opening statement at the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, Prosecutor Soo Song said the trial is not only about destruction but also survival.

And on the first day of the trial, KDKA-TV’s Meghan Schiller highlighted the organizations born through the healing process.

Mister Rogers said it best: When something bad happens and you feel scared, just look for the helpers. And faced with so much pain, our community members became the helpers.

“We can’t make sense of what happened inside this Pittsburgh synagogue, but we can choose how we react.”

That’s the message of Love Like The Boys, a mission born in honor of the inseparable brothers David and Cecil Rosenthal to support people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

“They were always loving and protective in all they did. They cared about how people were feeling and how their family was doing,” said Michele Rosenthal, sister of David and Cecil Rosenthal.

Now the social media page is a place to share good deeds and the movement of kindness, all while supporting David and Cecil’s memorial fund.

Painted stones, blue ribbons of solidarity, and drum circles are just a few of the ways the 10.27 Healing Partnership’s grown into the leading community initiative for healing. It started as a resource to plan commemoration ceremonies and ballooned into a spot for trauma support and drop-in therapy.

Cameras, lights and microphones filled the sidewalks outside the Federal Courthouse Tuesday for the start of the trial and Rabbi Stephen Cohen said this:

“This is the beginning of maybe not the last chapter, but of the concluding chapters. We trust the jury will reach an appropriate, just decision,” said Cohen, co-president of New Light Congregation.

The trial will bring all those impacted together, but Cohen says the community’s already proven it is stronger than hate.

“We are the community that works together, that stands together, that cries together, and hugs together. I think what came out of the last 4 1/5 years is how close we are as a community,” said Cohen.

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