Correspondent photos / Nancilynn Gatta Scott Miller, academic adviser for Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life memorial project and curator of “Lessons from the Tree of Life: Lighting the Path Forward” discusses the panels of the traveling Tree of Life exhibit during the opening reception walk through on Tuesday at the art gallery inside the Jewish Community Center in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Offering words of remembrance and resilience, the Jewish Community Center hosted a special opening reception for “Lessons from the Tree of Life: Lighting the Path Forward,” which chronicles the deadliest terrorist attack of a Jewish community on American soil that took the lives of 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

During a walk through of the traveling exhibit, Tree of Life CEO Carol Zawatsky pointed out that the iconic PBS children’s host Mr. Rogers was from that area of the city.

“It was really reflective of what the Squirrel Hill community is, ‘Won’t You Be my Neighbor?’ People really did come out and show that together, we are stronger than hate,” Zawatsky said.

As she spoke, Zawatsky pointed out items sent from around the world that were left at the site of the attack to show support for the three congregations that worshipped there.

Panels in the gallery depict the attack, the victims and outpouring of love afterwards as well as historical references to antisemitism in the United States.

At the opening reception, Scott Miller, academic adviser for the Tree of Life memorial project and curator of “Lessons from the Tree of Life: Lighting the Path Forward,” read the minutes of the attack as they unfolded until the capture of the perpetrator who hid in the Sunday School classroom. It all happened within 20 minutes.

Prior to his talk, Miller highlighted aspects of the exhibit, which is housed in the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation Art Gallery. “There is such a contrast between these two panels from the killing, the shooting, what happened there, and what happened afterwards, this outpouring of love,” he said.

Miller pointed to a couple of the items left at the makeshift memorial such as a rock inscribed with “Love Your Neighbor” and a Star of David plus a Tree of Life ornament mailed to the members of the congregation.

Rose Gerson of Pittsburgh, co-chair of the Gifted Items Committee explained how the more than 10,000 donated items were preserved.

“We weren’t allowed into the building at first,” she said because of the synagogue being a crime scene. “It had rained and the donated items were wet. When we were allowed, we brought them inside, dried them off and categorized them. Our committee decides what is the best way to display the donated items publicly.”

Anne Witchner Levin, formerly of Youngstown, is also on the Gifted Items Committee. She recounted a project that brought together many people from around the world.

“I am a serial knitter. There is a yarn store in Oakmont and they wanted to do something. They created a 5-inch square with a tree in it. Their goal was to get enough squares so they could put together 11 quilts. One quilt is 60 squares and they needed 660 for all of the quilts. They ended up with over 3,000 squares from all over the world. It showed the outpouring of support,” she said.

For some of the people at the reception, the shooting at the synagogue was personal. Ronna and Richard Merlin of Hubbard were married there 51 years ago.

Barb Wilson, Director of Cultural Arts and Jewish Engagement at the Jewish Community Center, worked in a different synagogue in Pittsburgh at the time of the attack.

“We went into lockdown that day. We showed up the next day and we had artifacts across the front of our synagogue to let us know that we were not alone in the community and we had all that support,” she said.

She added, “I think it’s so important for people to know that we see all of this hate and a lot of times there are beautiful people out there who want to help, they want to help, but they just don’t know what to do and that’s why you see all those artifacts.”

The building, where there was a loss of 11 lives, will be replaced with a memorial, museum and education space with the theme of resilience. Zawatsky announced that the construction will begin at the end of March or the beginning of April and last two years. The 11 victims will be memorialized in a garden with a book displaying aspects of their lives that their family members will provide.

The talk and opening reception ended on a positive note as Zawatsky recounted how those who weren’t members of the congregation reached out to the Tree of Life to help with the creation of these memorials with 40% of the board being nonJews.

“When we said, ‘You don’t need to do this. This didn’t happen to you and your community,’ they said, ‘No, you are my community, and when somebody asks my children what did we do when somebody was mean to our friends? I can’t say, ‘Nothing.’ I can’t sit it out.’ And they stepped forward. That gives me hope,” Zawatsky said.

She also said the Muslim Community of Pittsburgh paid for the funerals of the lives lost during the attack and that also gives her hope. “We are not alone. We have amazing allies.”

The exhibit is open through April 9 at the Jewish Community Center on Gypsy Lane in Youngstown. For more information, call 330-746-3250.