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 The Tree of Life synagogue, bottom left, Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, in Squirrel Hill.
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Event hosted by Jewish Orthodox community focuses on next steps after Tree of Life mass shooting

Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette

Event hosted by Jewish Orthodox community focuses on next steps after Tree of Life mass shooting

The unity that has been shown among Jews of all practices in the wake of the Oct. 27 synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh should prevail all of the time, a visiting British rabbi said Tuesday.

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet of London spoke at the Lubavitch Center in Squirrel Hill to about 200 people.

The event, "Stronger Together: An Evening of Jewish Unity," was held to help focus attention on next steps now that the period of mourning nears an end for the 11 victims shot during Shabbat services at Tree of Life synagogue nearby.

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A man police say was shouting anti-Semitic words has been charged.

While the audience Tuesday a was composed almost entirely of members the Orthodox Jewish community, Rabbi Schochet called for unity across levels of observance.

Rabbi Schochet held up a weathered prayer book, one that had been recovered after lying nearly 80 years below the floorboards of a Dutch synagogue that had been closed since the Holocaust.

The inscription indicated the book, known as a siddur, had been donated by Rabbi Schochet 's great-great grandfather in memory of his wife.

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A Christian cleric who had restored the synagogue as a memorial to the town's once-thriving Jewish community recently tracked him down to return it to the family.

Audience members at the Lubavitch Center in Squirrel Hill gasped and applauded as he held up the book.

In the same way, even if tragedies push Jewish Life "under the floorboards " for a time, "we will always see the light once more, "he said.

"When they came for us 80 years ago, they didn't discriminate," he said. If someone is "Jewish enough for Nazis or neo-Nazis to hate, he's Jewish enough for me to love," he said.

The use of denominational labels is wrong, he said, because people take on a "holier than thou" attitude when they use them. "Labels are for clothing."

Earlier in the evening, Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, of the Lubavitch Center, urged everyone attending to call "a person who doesn't belong to your (synagogue) and say, 'Hello, how are you,' and connect with them."

First Published: November 7, 2018, 3:36 a.m.

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The Tree of Life synagogue, bottom left, Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, in Squirrel Hill.  (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette
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