On October 27th a Shabbat service was being held at the Tree of Life – L’Simcha Congregation, in Pittsburgh. Moments later, a man shouting anti-Semitic comments unleashed bullets towards the crowd. After 11 people were killed and 7 were injured, devastation and confusion dispersed throughout the city.

Exactly a week after this unfathomable act of hate, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers delivered a sermon in which he blamed politicians for a rise in “hateful rhetoric’’. Myers claimed he personally delivered this message to President Trump when he visited the site. According to a recent CNN article, Myers reported, “‘I said to him, Mr. President, hate speech leads to hateful actions. Hate speech leads to what happened in my sanctuary, where seven of my congregants were slaughtered. I witnessed it with my eyes’”.

Myers also accused Trump of using anti-Semitic tropes. While Rabbi Myers accused Trump and other Republican politicians of this type of rhetoric he claims it will always lead to deadly conclusions. However, Trump has repeatedly denied these accusations, noting that his daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. Some Trump-supporters claim that it is wrong to place the blame solely on ‘our own President’.

Although the suspect was arrested and charged with several state and federal offenses, the city of Pittsburgh has been left reeling.