And it’s a word that fuels bigotry today, Myers said, from racism to anti-Semitism. He calls it “the h-word.”
Myers says he hasn’t said the word “hate” since November 2018, when he was asked to speak at an event in Pittsburgh shortly after the shooting.
“I was pondering what I could say that hasn’t been said yet,” Myers recalls. “And that’s when divine inspiration came to me: it’s all about language.”
Hate, says the rabbi, is obscenity. He then vowed never to say the word “hate” again and has invited others to do the same.
“We can’t legislate it,” says Myers. “We have to be willing to say consciously: I am ready to change the way I speak.”
What are you doing these days?
Like everyone else, it’s a Zoom meeting after a Zoom meeting. My name is a zoombie. My religious services are all live, Zoom adult education classes, meetings with congregants, sermons to write, speeches to record.
I have heard many people say that they are busier now than before the pandemic, even though they are home all the time. No water cooler time. You are trapped in front of your computer most of the day.
How often do you think of October 27, 2018?
I don’t sit and think specifically about that day, but reminders are everywhere. Any sensory input could be images, sounds, smells, a touch of something; Any one of those can trigger memories.
How are you dealing with those memories?
You learn how to integrate it into your life and deal with it so that you don’t become a victim too. My faith is strong and I truly believe that somehow God wanted me to come to Pittsburgh for some peculiar reasons that God never explained to me. But I know that God wanted me to be here to help heal the community.
So has your faith been strengthened since the shooting?
Yes, because God opened my eyes to a mission or set of missions that God wants me to do. But I also keep getting confused as an ordinary human being. I just hope that when my time is up, God can say thank you, any way God says thank you.
Are you struggling with the theodicy question: Why would a good and fair God allow the shooting to occur?
I don’t think it is God who allows or prevents it from happening. God is the one we turn to in times of trouble to give us hope and strengthen us. We all have options and that is the choice (the shooter) made. I don’t think God is in a divine control room pressing buttons.
So where do you turn to for spiritual comfort these days?
The Psalms I find them particularly inspiring when you look at the life of King David, to whom they are all attached. It is a complete expression of the human condition that has not really changed in three thousand years.
I added Psalm 121 to my morning prayers when I was looking for the right words to say and I couldn’t relocate my voice to pray again.
Was there a time when you couldn’t pray?
After the shooting. When I tried I couldn’t pronounce the words. It felt like they were trapped. On the following Saturday I was able to do it again. Before that, I was mostly on autopilot.
To begin that healing process, I first had to take care of seven funerals and a bereaved congregation and, without disrespect, but the hordes of media. Once that first week was over, I was able to start concentrating more internally. That was the first time that happened to me. But then I was able to resume my dialogue.
What does God say in that dialogue?
I don’t think you can necessarily say you get the answers you’re looking for. But sometimes when I’m writing a speech or a sermon and I’m just sitting here looking for divine inspiration and the next thing I know, I have a three or four page sermon. That is part of the dialogue.
What do you think about the shooter, Robert Bowers?
I really haven’t thought about it at all. I don’t even remember his name until you mentioned it. There are much more important things right now to help my community heal, to help cope with the pandemic, to work with the black community that has come to me to work together to eliminate racism.
I have confidence in the justice system. And ultimately, someone like that has to appear before God and when he does, God will ask him a question: Why? And you better think hard, because the eternity of your soul is based on the answer. And for me that is scary.
So wouldn’t you like to talk to the shooter if you had the chance?
No. There is nothing he can answer that I do not know. And I see that we are tiptoeing around the question of forgiveness. In the Jewish faith, people who have been harmed must be asked to forgive. We have 11 dead people who cannot be asked. They cannot provide forgiveness. Forgiveness is not for me to offer.
It doesn’t seem like you were very political. For example, I haven’t seen you push for gun control.
I have chosen not to do that. What happened to us is about hatred of Jews and that it transcended politics. I chose to focus on the root causes. Weapons are a manifestation of this hatred. Hitting someone for their sexual orientation. Putting a rope in an African American’s locker. Cyberbullying. The root cause is the “h” word.
However, how to eradicate something like hate? Isn’t it part of human nature to go back to Cain and Abel?
After the flood, Noah sends a sacrifice to God in gratitude. And God remembers the sweet smell of sacrifice, but says that man’s tendencies from birth are towards evil. That is a horrible admission that God is making.
But we all have options. We all have demons and angels on our shoulders. The Tree of Life shooter decided to pay attention to the bad trend. We all make decisions in our actions and our words. I am not suggesting that it is easy. It is not.
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