New York

11 Officers Who Responded to Pittsburgh Shooting Light Menorah on Long Island

The menorah lighting will commemorate the 11 people killed during the Oct. 27 attack at Tree of Life Congregation

What to Know

  • Eleven Pittsburgh police officers who responded to the deadly shooting at a synagogue will light a menorah on Long Island Sunday evening
  • The menorah lighting at Chabad of Roslyn, in Roslyn Heights on Long Island, will commemorate the 11 people killed during the Oct. 27 attack
  • Traditional Hanukkah treats will be served at the event, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Chabad of Roslyn

Eleven police officers who responded to the deadly synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh lit a menorah on Long Island on Sunday evening in memory of the victims.

The menorah lighting at Chabad of Roslyn, in Roslyn Heights on Long Island, commemorated the 11 people killed in the Oct. 27 attack at Tree of Life Congregation.

Also Sunday, the Columbia professor whose office was vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs last week lit the school's menorah. 

Elizabeth Midlarsky lit the menorah in an act of defiance against anti-Semitism, the school said. A large crowd attended as a sign of unity. 

On Long Island, the lighting was “a show of solidarity with the Pittsburgh community and a display of Jewish pride in the face of rising anti-Semitism,” Chabad of Roslyn said in a release.

“The light of the menorah reminds us that when the forces of light and good encounter darkness and hate, without fail light will always prevail,” Chabad of Roslyn’s director, Rabbi Aaron Konikov, said in a statement.

“If one hate-filled person created such darkness and pain, imagine the impact of so many more people united in doing good,” he added.

Rabbi Konikov is close friends with a rabbi at the Chabad of Pittsburgh who worked with responders after the massacre, he told NBC 4 New York. 

That rabbi helped organize the event at the Chabad of Roslyn, Rabbi Konikov explained. 

The menorah is the tallest one on Long Island and one of the tallest permanent menorahs in the world, Rabbi Konikov said.

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