PITTSBURGH– Demolition began Wednesday of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the site of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, as part of the effort to reimagine the building in honor of the 11 people killed there in 2018 .
Demolition work started slowly as crews started working on the exterior of the building.
Most of the building will be removed, although parts of the sanctuary walls will be preserved. The new building will include worship spaces, a museum, an education center and a cinema.
Carole Zawatsky, head of the new nonprofit overseeing the project, was on site when demolition began. She said she had a mix of emotions, including bittersweet knowing why the old building was being demolished, but also immense excitement about seeing the project progress. It was sobering and a physical manifestation of healing, she said.
“It’s an incredible symbol of great resilience and progress,” she said.
The October 27, 2018 attack claimed the lives of eleven worshipers from three congregations meeting at the synagogue: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. The three have been meeting in nearby synagogues ever since.
In a related project, a memorial to the victims is planned at a site just outside the synagogue.
The process of planning that commemoration was left to representatives of the municipalities and the families of the victims.
The design calls for a walkway that leads visitors to a garden monument with 11 sculpted shapes of open books, each representing one of the people who died.
They represent the ‘Book of Life’, where, according to Jewish tradition, the righteous are named.
The man who killed the congregants was sentenced to death last year after a long-delayed federal trial.