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jews in the d
Pittsburgh aftermath
Native Son
Pittsburgh rabbi knew some shooting victims
and is focusing on his congregation’s needs.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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30
November 8 • 2018
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D
uring the week following the Oct. 27 massacre at Tree of Life
Congregation in Pittsburgh, Rabbi Alex Greenbaum felt like he
was at “ground zero.”
The former Detroiter, son of Cantor Sam and Mona Greenbaum,
is in his 17th year as spiritual leader of the Conservative Beth El
Congregation of the South Hills in Pittsburgh. His wife, Amy, is the
congregation’s associate rabbi.
His synagogue is less than a 20-minute drive from Tree of Life, and
many of his 435 congregants grew up there. One of the victims, Mel
Wax, was the father of a congregant. And many others lost cousins. It’s
a close-knit Jewish community similar to Detroit’s; just about every-
body knew one of the victims or a close family member, he said.
When the news first hit, Greenbaum fielded numerous calls from
congregants who have
moved away from Pittsburgh.
All they heard was “mass
shooting,” “synagogue” and
“Pittsburgh” and were
panic-stricken.
Greenbaum had several
other congregational deaths
to deal with, in addition to
those of the shooting victims,
so many days were spent
moving between funerals and
shivah houses.
“I’m trying to focus on my
congregants and their needs,”
said Greenbaum, who grew
up in Oak Park and West
Rabbis Alex and Amy Greenbaum of Beth El Bloomfield and graduated
Congregations in Pittsburgh in a Twitter post from the Jewish Theological
against gun violence in February. Seminary in 1997. His father
is the longtime cantor at
Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park.
The day after the massacre, Greenbaum and his wife visited all the reli-
gious school classrooms. They also brought in three professional counsel-
ors, though he said they were more helpful to the parents than the children.
Every family has handled the situation differently, he said. Some young-
er children were unaware of what happened. Others, especially those with
older siblings, were more likely to have questions and concerns.
“I think we learned a lot from 9-11 about how to talk to children about
this kind of thing,” he said.
Greenbaum and his wife traveled to Europe last summer and visited
several synagogues, where they had to show ID and answer questions
from security guards before being allowed in. It didn’t feel very welcom-
ing, he said, but that’s what will probably happen in the United States,
he predicted.
“I don’t think things will ever be the same” for synagogues in the
United States, he said. Security will have to come first, welcoming second.
“I used to tell my children I remember a time before we had a color
TV. I think our children will tell their grandchildren they remember a
time when there were no security personnel outside synagogues, and
everyone could just come in,” he said. ■