PITTSBURGH — The synagogue at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues has sat empty for more than five years, devoid of light and life since the day a gunman
Years after the horrific mass shooting in 2018, Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue aims to rebuild with a new design to “balance the light with the darkness.”
The state of Pennsylvania has awarded $6.6 million for redevelopment of Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 people in 2018 in the nati
Shulamit Bastacky believed that every child should have a teddy bear.
As a child during the Holocaust, Bastacky was hidden from the Nazis by a nun in her native Poland. She spent the first several years of her life isolated and without much human touch. Neither did she have a favorite stuffed animal to bring her comfort.
Her childhood experiences moved Bastacky, who died Jan. 1, to launch Shulamit’s Teddy Bear Project, collecting toys for children in need.
Scott Vensel, an eighth-grade language arts teacher, recalled the first time he brought Bastacky, a frequent speaker at schools, to Dorseyville Middle School in the Fox Chapel Area School District.