When members of the Ramaz community turned on their phones after Shabbat on October 27, they faced devastating news. That morning, during Shabbat services, a shooting had occurred at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, the neighborhood of Pittsburgh home to over 50% of the city’s Jews. Eleven Jews praying in the shul were killed, and six were injured. Religious Jews were the last ones to know about this horrific attack on our own community. The rest of the world saw the news when it broke eight hours previously, but many in the religious community had a peaceful Shabbat, ignorant of the attack on our brothers and sisters.

About an hour after Havdalah, parents in the Ramaz community received an email from Mr. Cannon with a message acknowledging the horror that had occurred. “The Ramaz community stands with the members of the three congregations that were targeted today, and with all the community of Pittsburgh,” wrote Mr. Cannon.

On Sunday, the school sent out another email detailing programming that would occur in response to the shooting. Furthermore, Mr. Cannon reassured the community that “safety and security, (both physical and emotional), is the most important responsibility that we have as school leaders…Mamadou Deme, our director of security, has been in touch with the NYPD and JCRC, who shared that they do not have additional recommendations for us at this time, as Ramaz’s security always functions assuming the highest possible threat level. Our highly trained guards are aware of the events at Pittsburgh and will remain exceptionally vigilant.”

Another email from Rabbi Stochel to Upper School parents described plans for the Ramaz assembly and advisory sessions the following morning. A Schoology post asked students to participate in a nationwide initiative to wear blue on Monday in support of Pittsburgh.

Many Ramaz students also responded to the tragedy on social media. Facebook feeds were filled with temporary profile pictures bearing the words “Stronger Than Hate” and “Together Against Antisemitism.” Numerous Instagram stories showed messages of support for Pittsburgh screenshot and reposted from other pages.

“I think social media is a really important way of responding because it is a platform on which teens make their voices heard,” said Sophia Kremer ’20, “A simple photo may educate even a single follower who wouldn’t otherwise have known what happened.”

In school the following morning, Ramaz students walked into the auditorium for an assembly commemorating the lives lost in the shooting. When freshman, sophomores, and juniors entered, the seniors were standing silently, lining the walls of the auditorium.

“The idea was to have the seniors be role models in this situation,” said Rabbi Albo, “At this point in your life, you shouldn’t need to have a teacher tell you every single thing; the elders should show the way to the younger.”

However, Newman Corré ’20 disagreed, saying that “having the seniors stand around the sides and sit in the front made me feel like they were in some way supposed to be more involved than me, and I don’t think that sends the message of unity which was probably one of the goals.”

The students were addressed briefly by Rabbi Stochel and Mr. Cannon, with longer remarks by Rabbi Steinmetz. The assembly concluded with a recitation of “El Maleh,” tehillim, and the whole community singing Acheinu together accompanied by Rabbi Albo’s guitar. Samantha Sinensky ‘21 felt that “Rabbi Albo leading Acheinu on his guitar was a great way to unify the student body. It gave a solemn, yet hopeful mood to the assembly.”

Esti Beck ‘19 wished the assembly had focused more on the victims of the attack than the attack itself. “If Ramaz had focused a little more on [the victims], I think it would have helped the students connect,” said Beck, “many of the victims are, bli ayin hara, not so different from many of our own grandparents and neighbors. That’s an important message to convey, and one that I don’t think the assembly quite got across.”

“It was very special that the Ramaz community was able to all come together to commemorate this sad and tragic event,” said Cayla Todes ’20, “Because this shooting was so close to home, it had an even larger impact on us.”

After the assembly, students met with their advisors and were encouraged to write letters to either the families of the victims, community leaders in Pittsburgh, or the emergency responders. Students were given ideas about what to write but weren’t forced to write a letter if they didn’t feel comfortable.

“Writing the letters was a nice idea, but it was very hard to know what to say,” said Eve Schizer ’22, “You want to express support, but you have never suffered anything close to this, and you don’t want to sound condescending. I hope that the people we wrote to felt that we were there for them, and know that we support them.”

Ultimately, Ramaz students appreciated the importance of acknowledging this tragedy as a community. “The assembly brought us together,” said Arielle Levy ‘21, “and we are still strong.”