Members of a congregation from a Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 died in a mass shooting by an anti-Semitic gunman last fall have traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to worship with members of the church where nine black worshippers died in 2015 at the hands of a white supremacist.
The Post and Courier reports that members of the New Light Congregation of the Tree of Life synagogue and members of the Emanuel AME Church worshipped together Friday and Sunday in Charleston.
The Pittsburgh group came to Charleston for the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend for a show of unity and to celebrate the life of Rev. King, who spoke of love and equality of all people under God.
Beth Kissileff Perlman, the wife of the New Life Congregation Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, called Rev. King a "prophet for our time."
“I’m sad in 2019 that Jews and African Americans are united by having been slaughtered in their houses of worship in the United States of America," Perlman told the Post and Courier. "We share many bonds and, unfortunately, this is one of them.”
