The Collection

The October 27 Archive currently contains 839 objects and is regularly being expanded with more material. The archive includes flyers and programs from community gatherings held since the October 27 attack, a comprehensive collection of news coverage about the day of the event, oral history recordings reflecting a diverse array of experiences, and historical documentation about the Jewish experience in Western Pennsylvania.

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You can view all the materials currently included in the archive using the browser below. Each object has been described and cataloged to help you discover materials, learn about these materials, understand the context in which these materials were created, and draw connections between different materials. You can refine the browsing experience using various filters, including creator, type, and subject. Some of these filters have already been used to create preset galleries, each organized around specific aspects of the archive. You can also look for specific words and phrase found in the archive using a keyword search.

 

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"Each Of Us Has A Name"

Single sheet folded in half. Contains photocopy of two pages from the "Readings: Prelude to Kaddish" section of the Sim Shalom prayerbook. One side contains the poem "Each Of Us Has a Name" in English and Hebrew. Other side contains "In Many Houses" by Diane Cole and "To open eyes when others close them" by Emmanuel Eydoux.

Historical Notes

New Community Chevra Kadisha is a Jewish burial society in Pittsburgh established in 2005. It performs tahara (ritual purification) and other death and burial rites for the recently deceased. It also serves as an educational resource about Jewish rituals and traditions related to dying, death, and funerals. It hosts an annual dinner each year around the Hebrew date 7 Adar, which is the anniversary of the death of the Biblical prophet Moses and a traditional time for Jewish burial societies to honor their otherwise anonymous members. The New Community Chevra Kadisha was one of two local Jewish burial societies responsible for tending to the victims following the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, 2018. One of its members was killed in the attack and another was severely wounded. Its 7 Adar programming in early 2019 including a commemoration of the attack and its victims. That year, the New Community Chevra Kadisha also worked with artist Rabbi Me'irah Iliinsky to present her painting "The Tree of Life Is Weeping" to victims and survivors of the October 27 attack. This poem was read during the 7 Adar Dinner in 2019.

Use and Reproduction

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

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