“And I began to let him go. Hour by hour. Days into months. It was a physical sensation, like letting out the string of a kite. Except that the string was coming from my center.”
Services at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh start at 9:45 A.M. Samet, who is 80 years old, pulled into a handicapped spot in front of the building on the morning of October 27 at 9:49.
“Somebody knocked on my window,” Samet said the next day. “There was this guy. Very calm and respectful. [He] told me, you better back up, there is an active shooting going on in your synagogue.”
It took Samet sixty seconds to process what the man was saying. Samet was born in Hungary. He turned eight years old at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. He spent five and a half years in an orphanage in Israel. He has been a member of Tree of Life Congregation for fifty-five years.
“My God, my story doesn’t end,” he said.
Samet turned. Standing three feet away from him, on the other side of the car, was a police officer with a pistol drawn. “He was popping his head out from behind a wall and shooting,” Samet said.
Samet looked to see who the police officer was shooting, and saw a man aiming an automatic weapon in his direction. “He was shooting towards the cop, who was about four feet away from me,” Samet said. He saw the men exchange fire.
“I saw smoking coming out of his muzzle,” Samet said. “I was in the line of fire.”
Samet tried to back his car out of the parking lot, but other cars were trying to do the same thing. The attacker wasn’t aiming at him. “None of the bullets hit me or hit my car,” Samet said. “The policeman could kill him.”
Samet knew virtually everyone who the attacker, Robert Bowers, allegedly murdered that day. He was a leading figure at Tree of Life; had been the designated Torah chanter for four decades, and had led morning services for years. Two years ago, he led services at the shiva for synagogue member Joyce Feinberg’s husband. She was shot dead on Saturday morning. “She was a real lady,” Samet said. “She completely dedicated her life to the synagogue since her husband died.”
Samet was friendly with Sylvan and Bernice Simon, the 86 and 84 year old who were murdered together in the synagogue sanctuary. Samet and Sylvan Simon would talk about their time as paratroopers, Samet in the Israeli army and Sylvan in the U.S. army.
Irving Younger, 69, usually stood by the door of the sanctuary, Samet said, and greeted people as they arrived. He would have been the first person the attacker saw when he assaulted the service. [Younger] was among the dead on Saturday.
Cecil Rosenthal, 59, who was developmentally disabled, also sat near the door. “Everybody loved him,” Samet said. He and his brother, David Rosenthal, were both murdered.
Samet said that Rose Mallinger, who was in her 90’s, would attend the service each week with her daughter. “They sit behind me,” Samet said. “If I was inside the synagogue, I would be in the line of fire.”
More than anything on Sunday, Samet seemed to be going back in his mind to the 1940s, when the Nazis tortured and murdered his family. His father died of typhoid shortly after the war.
“My mother was the interpreter,” he said. “She spoke fluent German. She saved hundreds of Jews.”
The Nazis put Samet’s family on a train to Auschwitz, but Slovakian partisans blew up the railroad line. The Samets ended up in a large lumberyard owned by a man with a large swastika tattooed on his chest, which he would show the family.
“My mother taught us never listen what they have to say,” Samet said. “Look at their hands. Because words cannot kill you.”
On Sunday afternoon, Samet was preparing to travel to a local church to tell the story of his family’s experience in the Holocaust. He said he would likely say something about what he had been through the day before.
Asked what his mother, Rachel Samet, would have said about the massacre he survived on Saturday, Samet said: “It just never ends.”
I haven’t been on tumblr much because I’m trying to enjoy my time before my PhD starts in August. This month I’m going to Disney and Spain. Few months ago, I went to Poland and Philly. I will still travel for my PhD but I won’t be out of school again for the next 4-5 years.
Hi! I’m looking for more studyblrs related to science and biochemistry in special. If you’re an active studyblr, who is in science and biochemistry please like or reblog so I can follow you. If you’re not a scienceblr but you’re an active studyblr let me know in the comments. I will follow too. Thank you, please help me out. :)
I’ve been working on my civ pro take home midterm (writing a memo) for what feels like weeks at this point. My life has been this memo and I’m yearning for 5:01 pm tomorrow when this assignment is finally done with.
My mom shares what her dad (my grandfather) told her about concentration camps he witnessed
I decided to record my mom’s memories of what her father (my grandfather) told her about his experiences in WW2, with an emphasis on what he saw in concentration camps.
I felt obligated to record this because: 1) this is part of my family history, and I don’t want it to be lost, 2) many of the things Black soldiers did during wartime have been erased from historical record, and 3) my connection to the Jewish people started long before I was born.
I totally get that the Holocaust is triggering for some people and that it’s exhausting and depressing to talk about, but if you can stomach it, please give it a listen and feel free to share.
Part 1: http://eshusplayground.tumblr.com/post/162919644650
Part 2: http://eshusplayground.tumblr.com/post/162919669140
Part 3: http://eshusplayground.tumblr.com/post/162919712895
You enter through the front as per usual. 20 pairs of eyes in the waiting room see into your soul. They demand retribution. There is nowhere to run.
The ER doc tells you to see the patient in room 4. There is no room 4. There has never been a room 4.
There is one patient here who has been here for 16 hours. They have not left their room once. They have many secrets.
The ER doc is telling you about the political climate of the 1980s. You’re not sure if you need to study this later.
You hear someone call your name from the nurse’s station. When you ask they respond that they do not know your name.
“I come here once a week. They always send me home.” Says the frequent flier. You don’t know how to respond.
There is one nurse who has been on during every one of your shifts. When you mention this, they say they haven’t been in for a week.
You don’t know where your preceptor went. The nurses watch but do not approach. You are lost and alone.
There is another student in the ED. They only stare as you pass, eyes empty. The depth of your mutual understanding goes beyond words.
You cannot remember what happened between 2 AM and 5 AM. No one does. It is lost to universe.
A patient refuses to leave until she’s admitted. She says its not rocket science. You wonder if you should tell her a rocket scientist still can’t admit her.
You go in to help with a procedure. It is already complete. No one know when it happened.
Someone asks you what medication a patient needs. You can’t remember any medications. You don’t know who you are anymore.
The nocturnist asks you about the political climate of the 1980s. You have answers.
You are sent into remove a foreign body from an orifice. There is no foreign body. There is only fear.
You hear a scream in the distance. It’s too far away to be in the ER. You are told to check it out anyways.
There is blood on the floor. There are no external injuries or trauma patients. There is no trail.
“An MI.” You say. The ER doc accepts this answer. It never mattered what the question was.
You see a provider with brightly colored hair. You do not know what they do. You never see them again.
There is a smell that starts to waft around 1 AM. You ask the charge nurse about it. They say it will pass and nothing more.
There is no one in the doctor’s lounge. The coffee machine turns itself on. It knows.
During hand off, the new ED doc mentions the political climate of the 1980s. You don’t know what year it is anymore.
pixelskylines
kianamaiart
snowghoul
origamiaround
janainaart
blakekathryn
titsay
baratheonpilled
