The first visible steps of reconstruction are underway at the site of the deadliest act of antisemitic violence in U.S. history, as scaffolding now wraps around the former bimah — the raised platform where the Torah was read — inside the Tree of Life building in Squirrel Hill.
Standing inside the synagogue’s gutted sanctuary on Thursday, officials unveiled early phases of the work to repurpose the overall space into a museum and institution dedicated to confronting and uprooting antisemitism. The updated sanctuary space will seat 300 for both religious services and cultural programs.
“The narrative that we’re building here is about bringing Jewish life back to this corner – to Shady and Wilkins,” said Carole Zawatsky, CEO of The Tree of Life nonprofit organization.
On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman opened fire inside the Tree of Life synagogue during Shabbat services, killing 11 worshippers and wounding two others across three congregations: Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash.
Plans for the new Tree of Life nonprofit organization and initial renderings for the building design were first announced in 2022.
Then after the groundbreaking, the organization announced officials had taken a step back to reevaluate the project’s size and cost. In September, Tree of Life released a revised, smaller, single-story building with more green space in the residential neighborhood.
“The original design of the building came in at a cost that felt not responsible to this community,” Zawatsky said.
The Tree of Life project has a fundraising goal of $60 million that is expected to help with construction, act as operating funds for the first years and an endowment. Zawatsky said so far the community had raised $50 million.
In September, TribLive reported that the updated Tree of Life renderings included: exhibition space, classrooms and a social hall as well as the sanctuary and theater that would feature the Tree of Life Congregation’s historic stained-glass windows.
Officials declined Thursday to provide reporters with details on where specific elements included in the redesign plan were to be located inside the building and instead outlined a few basics of the construction plans.
“Behind me the bimah, or the stage, and a screen element that will be removed, some of the mechanical systems that were left behind after the demolition in ‘24 are being removed,” said Craig Dunham, president of Dunham reGroup, a real estate consulting company.