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Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so.
(JTA) – The foundation overseeing the planned memorial for the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh has selected its first director, and her aims are nothing less than the total end of antisemitism.
Carole Zawatsky, a longtime veteran in Jewish nonprofit leadership, was announced as the first new Tree of Life CEO Tuesday. Her appointment came as the nonprofit overseeing the planned memorial revealed its grand plans for what its leadership hopes the space will become in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting that left 11 people dead.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in our lifetime, we could eradicate antisemitism?” Zawatsky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I think if we don’t work toward ending antisemitism in our lifetime, and we turn away from the rise of antisemitism, we stand no chance of achieving that goal.”
There are dozens of Holocaust museums and other American institutions that already work toward eradicating antisemitism; Zawatsky herself worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., when it first opened, creating public education programs that toured the country. But, she says, “for the most part, we were talking about things that were in the past and, most significantly, that didn’t happen on American soil.”
To that end, Zawatsky said, the reinvisioned Tree of Life can play a central role: as a place-based museum and memorial of the shooting, that situates the horrific events of that day in a larger continuum of American antisemitism, gun violence, extremism and hate speech. The emotional pull of the location itself, she hopes, will go a long way toward educating visitors: “There is no other institution in American Jewish life built on the site where history actually happened. In and of itself, that’s incredibly powerful.”
Zawatsky’s other roles with Jewish institutions have included nine years as CEO of the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C., as well as stints with the JCC of San Francisco; the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland; the Jewish Museum in New York; and, for much of the past year, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
She is new to Pittsburgh, but notes that antisemitic attacks have a way of bringing geographically disparate Jewish communities together: “When I was the CEO of the Edlavitch DC JCC and JCCs were getting bomb threats, I never thought, ‘That’s not me, that was Delaware, that was New Jersey.’ That’s all of us. I think as a Jew in America, this is our history because it’s everyone’s history.”
Ending antisemitism is a central aim of the pitch behind Remember Rebuild Renew, the fundraising campaign for the synagogue redesign and antisemitism museum. Tree of Life has secured more than $6 million from the state of Pennsylvania for the project, and recently hired a team of lobbyists to seek out federal funding opportunities as well. Zawatsky declined to share further budget details but said many private funders had expressed interest; she said she would soon be hiring staff.
The synagogue hired world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to design the new complex, which will function as a combined memorial, museum and house of worship. In previous statements the organization had pushed to begin construction in 2023, with the facility opening the following year, but Zawatsky said solid dates for the project are “premature.”
The new organization will also continue to serve as an active congregation for Tree of Life synagogue members, including survivors of the attack, meaning that the congregation’s spiritual and lay leaders are also part of the conversation as it reinvents itself as a memorial. This excites Zawatsky, who believes the combined space “does truly what the notion of a space of learning, a beit midrash, does.” The building has not reopened since the shooting.
Asked whether she was concerned the new project would attract unwanted attention from “dark tourists” or extremists, Zawatsky said the Tree of Life team is “working with security experts.”
Even beyond its lofty educational goals, there are other challenges ahead for Tree of Life. The shooter is scheduled to go on trial in April, a period that Zawatsky acknowledges will be “very painful, very difficult, and the role of the Tree of Life and all of us involved in it is to help to, in any way we can, ease the pain of that experience.”
Whether ending antisemitism is an achievable goal, the potency of Tree of Life as a symbol of its dangers will continue, and its new leadership hopes to make the landmark an educational opportunity.
“One of the most powerful ways to deliver a message to tell a story is through an object,” Zawatsky said. “There is no more powerful object in the United States of America than the Tree of Life.”
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The post Can a Tree of Life memorial ‘end antisemitism in our lifetime’? Its new CEO hopes so. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Jeffries Ends the Suspense, Endorses Mamdani in NY Mayor’s Race
Zohran Mamdani, a New York City mayoral candidate, speaks on Primary Day at a campaign news conference at Astoria Park in Queens, New York, United States, on June 24, 2025. Photo: Kyle Mazza vis Reuters Connect.
US Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a top elected Democrat in the US Congress, on Friday endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the race for mayor of New York City, four months after the New York State assemblyman won the Democratic Party nomination.
The long delay in the House Democratic leader’s embrace of the 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist came after a steady stream of questions from journalists on whether he ever would go to bat for Mamdani, and as Republicans keep asserting that Democrats are too far-left for the nation.
“I deeply respect the will of the primary voters and the young people who have been inspired to participate in the electoral process,” Jeffries said in a statement. “Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers,” he said.
Jeffries’ Brooklyn congressional district is part of New York City.
His endorsement of Mamdani, who shocked political observers on June 24 with a convincing victory in the mayoral primary, comes just 11 days before the city’s November 4 general election.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, has so far withheld any endorsement in the mayoral race.
Mamdani is running against a field of candidates that includes former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who opposed him in the Democratic primary and is now running as an independent.
Republican President Donald Trump has called Mamdani a “communist” and has hinted that he might deploy the National Guard to New York if he becomes mayor.
Republicans in the deeply divided US Congress have taken cues from Trump and used terms such as “communists,” “socialists” and “Marxists” in an attempt to paint even less liberal Democrats as being out of step with the national electorate.
Next month’s New York City election, along with governors’ elections in Virginia and New Jersey, are being closely watched as possible indicators of each party’s prospects in 2026.
Midterm elections next year will determine whether Republicans hold onto their narrow majorities in the House and Senate, with many races already shaping up.
Jeffries said Mamdani has pledged to make public safety of New York’s large Jewish community a priority amid “a startling rise in antisemitic incidents.” Progressives and moderates within the Democratic Party have often been at odds over US policy toward Israel and its massive bombing campaign of Gaza over a two-year period, triggered by an attack within Israel by Hamas.
On Thursday, New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is not running for re-election, endorsed Cuomo in a move seen as attempting to undercut Mamdani.
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Netanyahu, Rubio Discuss Implementation of Gaza Ceasefire as Top US Diplomat Rounds Off One-Day Trip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday as the top US diplomat concluded his brief visit to Israel.
They discussed the outcomes of the visit and reaffirmed “the deep and enduring partnership between Israel and the United States,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu thanked Secretary Rubio for his steadfast support and for his “commitment to strengthening the US-Israel alliance during these challenging times.”
The Prime Minister and The Secretary of State emphasized their shared commitment to continue close cooperation to advancing the common interests and values that unite the United States and Israel, first and foremost, the return of the remaining deceased hostages and the disarming Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza.
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New book by Carol Matas to be the centrepiece of upcoming Jewish Heritage Centre Kristallnacht program
By MYRON LOVE Belle Jarniewski, the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, has high praise for Carol Matas’s newest book, ”A Storm Unleashed,” which is scheduled to be launched on Monday, November 10, at 7:00 P.M. at the Campus (in the multipurpose room) as part of our community’s annual commemoration of Kristallnacht – that infamous day in November, 1938, when the Nazis launched their first co-ordinated physical assault on Germany’s Jewish population.
Jarneiewski described the new novel as “striking” and a welcome new addition to Holocaust education in the school system.
Matas will be discussing her new novel on Novemebr 10 in conversation with Jarniewski and Holocaust educator Kelly Hiebert.
According to the author, “A Storm Unleashed” is the story of the Nazis’ little-studied dog breeding and training program. “I came across this program while doing research for an earlier book,” she says. “The program produced over 200,000 dogs who were instrumental in helping the Nazis with the round-ups, getting Jews onto the trains and in cowing prisoners in the concentration and death camps.”
As with most of Matas’s books, the central character is a teenager – 13-year-old Mia – who is living with her widowed Jewish father and her dog, Max, in Berlin. (Her mother wasn’t Jewish.) Her father happens to be a veterinarian who is pulled into this training program,” Matas notes.
Considered a “Mishlinge” (a child of one “Aryan” parent and a second Jewish parent), the novel traces Mia’s story from a happy childhood to the day-to-day nightmare that characterized Nazi Germany.
Carol Matas is another of many hidden gems in our community. In a writing career that is approaching 50 years, “A Storm Unleashed” is her 50th book. She is quietly introducing her 51st book, “Kai and the Golem,” with a reading to Grade 1 to 3 students at Gray Academy.
I first Interviewed Carol more than 45 years ago – for an article in the Jewish Post. As I recall, she had been an in-demand actor who started writing to fill her time between acting assignments. After her children were born, she retired from acting and devoted herself entirely to writing because it was a way to remain creative while at home raising children.
Her first books were in the science fiction genre. She soon began exploring issues of antisemitism and Jewish history with a focus on teenage Jewish main characters, written for a younger readership. In that earlier interview, she noted that her books were centered around Jewish themes.
In recent years. she reports, “she has been working with a new genre – picture books. “I worked with a mentor and learned a lot,” she says. “ I also have finished a dystopian novel about a world where all the Jews have been removed. One young girl slowly starts to uncover her Jewish heritage.
“I don’t have a publisher for that one yet.”
Matas says that she is happy to be able to continue writing. “I still enjoy it,” she concludes. “And I very much want to contribute to Holocaust education for young people. I think that that is very important.”
Interested readers can register for the Kristallnacht program by going online at jewishheritage@jhcwc.org or by phoning 204 477-7460. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go toward Holocaust education.