In 2018, the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In the months that followed, Patrice O’Neill brought her film crew to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood to document the aftermath and capture how the community rallied together to respond.
“I think narratives of hope, are what we need more than ever, which is why I feel so grateful to have been able to share some portion of Pittsburgh’s story in this film, Repairing the World.” — Patrice O’Neill, filmmaker and founder of Not In Our Town
The subsequent film, Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life, tells the story of the relationships and activism that followed the attack. It chronicles the pain of the 11 lives lost in the shooting, and the need to address hate and extremism wherever they are. Hosting this conversation is Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather, who was the Executive Director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at the time of the attack, and who was interviewed for the film. Dr. Bairnsfather shared some of her reflections from the viewpoint of a Holocaust educator, saying, “I felt like we had failed to tell people that there’s still antisemitism, because people who were learning from us about the Holocaust learned about 1933 to 1945. And they felt like antisemitism happened under the Nazis, and then it was done, when, of course, it started thousands of years ago, and is, unfortunately, quite visibly still with us.”
Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life was made to encourage conversation and stir its audience to act as upstanders. O’Neill says of her work, “We choose to focus on those who were harmed, not to dwell on the perpetrators (a subject for a different movie), and try to show as little of the violence while showing as much of the courage, determination and humor as possible.”
This episode is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Family Center for Storytelling. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity
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Episode Resources
Learn more about the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/
Learn more about Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life https://repairingtheworldfilm.org/
View the film with a PBS Passport account here https://www.pbs.org/video/repairing-the-world-stories-from-the-tree-of-life-yZpoXr/
The Tree of Life synagogue has broken ground on a new facility. Read more here https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-culture/2024-06-23/pittsburghs-jewish-community-begins-new-chapter-with-groundbreaking-of-new-tree-of-life-building
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