Returning to Pittsburgh: Ep 292

Three years after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting that killed 11 Jews, we return to Pittsburgh with a special episode based on Mark Oppenheimer's reporting for his new book, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood. You’ll hear from the local high schoolers who planned the Saturday night vigil that drew thousands of people, from the Pulitzer-winning editor of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette explaining how he conceived the paper's famous Hebrew-language front page headline, and from the archivist responsible for cataloging the thousands of pieces of mail received by the synagogue from around the world. Listeners will learn about the evangelical Christian carpenter who drove nine hours to place handmade crosses, to which he affixed Stars of David, outside the synagogue, and the member of the Jewish burial society who was shot in the attack and who then helped prepare the bodies of fellow members for burial. Listen to our 2018 episode, recorded from Pittsburgh in the hours following the shooting, here. Unorthodox is produced by Tablet Studios. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/givetounorthodox. Send comments and questions to unorthodox@tabletmag.com, or leave us a voicemail at (914) 570-4869. You can also record a voice memo on your smartphone and email it to us. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Join our Facebook group, and follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our recording sessions on our YouTube channel! Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, mugs, and baby onesies at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. Want to book us for a live show? Email producer Josh Kross at jkross@tabletmag.com. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts. Sponsors: The 15th annual Other Israel Film Festival is taking place November 4–11 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. This festival provides an in-depth look into Israeli and Palestinian societies, and this year features both in-person and virtual screenings. For more info and tickets, visit otherisrael.org.