“Gab unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence,” the statement read.
At Joint Base Andrews, Mr. Trump said that if the temple “had some kind of protection” that “it could have been a much different situation.”
The Tree of Life Congregation dates back to 1864, and was originally in downtown Pittsburgh, said Alvin K. Berkun, a former rabbi at Tree of Life and now rabbi emeritus, who stayed home from services on Saturday to tend to his sick wife.
It moved to the current site, in the leafy neighborhood of Squirrel Hill in 1952, where it now takes up most of a corner block.
“Squirrel Hill is really an amazing safe community,” he said. It is the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh with kosher restaurants and bakeries and a Jewish Community Center. “I lived for a while in Israel and I know what security can mean, but the truth is the two safest neighborhoods I know are Squirrel Hill and Jerusalem. I’ve lived in both.”
On the high holidays, when the sanctuary comes close to reaching its capacity of 1,450 congregants, there are security officers. But Saturday morning, he said, when there would be around 75 people, “everything would have been wide open.”
In recent years, the congregation size had dwindled and so now three congregations meet on Saturday morning, in three different parts of the synagogue. “It’s a very vibrant place on Saturday mornings,” he said.
Rabbi Berkun had heard that the gunman had barricaded himself at one point in his old study. Still, threats were something he had never really thought about, not here. His son, also a rabbi, dealt with threats a few years ago at his synagogue, but law enforcement got involved and no one was hurt.
