Thoughts on The Massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh

After a long night of watching the World Series, I awoke early this afternoon to the news of the very worst of humanity. Six people were killed this morning at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh this morning as a baby naming ceremony was getting underway. There are numerous others wounded including four police officers who have non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, is in custody. Bowers is a white supremacist who was enraged with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in particular, for their support of the migrant caravan from Central America which has been vilified by President Trump in recent days. While committing murder, Bowers shouted, "All Jews must die."

While there are some who blame Trump's rhetoric about the migrant caravan for Bowers' act, he thought Trump was controlled by Jews as well. With that said, Trump's condolences were utterly tone deaf when he said the synagogue should have had an armed guard inside. Many synagogues and other Jewish institutions do have armed guards or airport level security that statement is of little comfort to those who have yet to bury their loved ones. Given that the gunman wounded four police officers there is no guarantee a single armed guard would have been enough to prevent what happened today.

Then there are those who speak of more gun control. Given Bowers' level of hatred all the gun laws in the world wouldn't have stopped him. 

The truth is that there are no easy answers. Unfortunately that won't stop anyone, Left or Right, from coming up with them.

There is also another truth. No matter how small our numbers, there will be people who will blame the Jews for something they don't like. Among them will be a few prepared to take Jewish lives, be it six or six million.