By Paul Zangari, WPRO News
People of all faiths were invited to the Jewish Community Center in Providence Monday, to remember the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre Saturday in Pittsburgh. The 500 candles available for the crowd quickly ran out as the entire block of Elmgrove Avenue in front of the JCC swelled with people of all ages, colors and faiths, gathered to express frustration, sadness and solidarity.
All members of RI’s Congressional delegation attended, as did most state general officeholders and the mayors of Providence and Central Falls, but none of the political leaders spoke. Instead, talks were delivered by religious leaders including Rabbi Sarah Mack, Reverend Donnie Anderson, Imam Mufti Ikram, Bishop Nicholas Knisely and Father John Kiley. The only moment of discord occurred when Alan Gordon, Compassion Party candidate for state attorney general, loudly interrupted Reverend Donnie Anderson’s call for stricter gun laws, expressing anger at Anderson’s “politicizing” the vigil. Gordon moved in front of the stage, getting no audible support and some muted heckling, and left.
Eleven candles – one for each person killed Saturday at the Pittsburgh synagogue – were set up on a table in front of the JCC. As the name of each victim was mentioned, a candle was lit by one of four Brown University students whose home congregation is the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill. Despite the steady breeze, those 11 candles remained lit through the entire vigil.
