By Max Cohen

 It’s hard to write this, it’s hard to put my feelings into words. My city was attacked, my religion was attacked, my family was attacked, and my home was attacked. I woke up to texts and calls from family and friends that I haven’t talked to in months or years. I knew something was wrong; why else would they be contacting me? The first three texts I saw were: “Are you okay?” “Are you safe?” Of course I was safe ­– I had just woken up at home.

That’s when I checked Twitter. I saw the news report live, then I heard police and ambulances down on 5^th Avenue. I wasn’t sure what exactly to think until I saw that it was at Tree of Life. A synagogue I have been to countless times. A synagogue that opened its arms to me, my friends, and our youth group back in high school. A synagogue where my friends had their B’nei Mitzvahs. My grandfather even made the tree of life that is outside the synagogue. My home was attacked, and I still don’t know how I feel.It hurts, and it’s going to hurt for a long time, but I’m hopeful for the future.

            It’s easy to say #PrayForParkland or #PrayForParis or to say prayers for somewhere else, but when it’s your home, your safe space, it’s different. I knew some of the victims. Some were family friends. When you recognize the names on the victim list it’s different. It’s raw. It’s real. And it is incredibly hard to find the right feelings. The best way I can describe it besides painful and numbing, is just different. If I can’t go to synagogue safely, where can I go? I’m still processing what happened. Physically, I’m okay. Emotionally, I am very shaken up. All I can say is that I hope no one ever has to go through what we in Pittsburgh have gone through. But if you do, just know you have me and the rest of Pittsburgh in your corner. Not just Pitt, not just Squirrel Hill, and not just Pittsburgh, but we are all Stronger Than Hate.

Pittsburgh is the most resilient and loving city I’ve ever seen. I know that if we can love our neighbors as much as we hate what happened, we’ll be okay. That’s why I’m hopeful, as much as we have the ability to hate, our ability to love is even stronger. I love Pittsburgh, I love Squirrel Hill, I love Tree of Life, and I love the Jewish Community. Again, we are all Stronger Than Hate when we love and support each other. Baruch Hashem.