Julie Mallinger woke up in her residence hall Saturday morning and flipped open her laptop to browse Facebook like she would on any other weekend.
But it wasn’t an ordinary weekend in her home of Squirrel Hill, a Pittsburgh suburb.
The 18-year-old UF biomedical engineering freshman texted her dad when she saw a livestream of a crime scene.
Mallinger’s dad told her 11 people were killed during a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. He told her to not be surprised if she recognized some of the names of the deceased.
Turlington Plaza fell silent at 12:30 p.m. Monday when more than 200 students and community members gathered at a vigil to honor those who died. The vigil was hosted by Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Center, the UF Jewish Student Union and UF Hillel.
UF has one of the largest populations of Jewish undergraduate students in the U.S., with 18 percent of the total undergraduate population being Jewish, according to Hillel International.
Mallinger and two other Jewish UF students from Squirrel Hill, 18-year-old Morgann Green and 18-year-old Olivia Hirshman, spoke at the vigil about discovering their community was attacked.
The Anti-Defamation League said it believes the Tree of Life shooting to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States.
Mallinger said shootings don’t ever happen in Squirrel Hill. She remembers eating pizza with friends and celebrating bar or bat mitzvahs.
“A lot of people here don’t really know Pittsburgh at all,” she said. “Now people know what it is for the wrong reasons.”
Rabbi Aharon Chaim Notik of Chabad and Rabbi Adam Grossman of UF Hillel encouraged the students present to spread kindness in the face of hatred.
“Today, no matter your religion, your race, your creed, your sex, your gender, we are all targets,” Grossman said.
Students passed out tealight candles and candlesticks as Julia Sabra, a 21-year-old UF psychology senior, led the crowd in singing “Ose Shalom,” a prayer that means peace for Israel and the world, Sabra said.
Sabra played the guitar slowly as the crowd sang the words to the prayer.
Tears rolled down cheeks, and arms were wrapped protectively around waists.
“They’re singing through us, and we feel their presence with us when we carry on in the joy and celebrating of life,” Sabra said.
Sabra said the voices of the people singing with her at the vigil made her feel powerful and supported.
“Not just listening but contributing your voice to the moment makes everyone feel a part of it and feel stronger in the community,” Sabra said.
UF President Kent Fuchs was among one of the speakers at the vigil. After the prayer, he said UF students and faculty must be “Gators in solidarity” in times of tragedies like mass shootings.
“First, you just express your grief,” Fuchs said to The Alligator. “Secondly, it’s a time to renew our commitment to actively express love. Not just the lack of hate but the actual act of love.”
Colin Silverman, the president of the UF Jewish Student Union, stood on a raised platform and invited all UF students to Shabbat dinners on Friday nights.
Silverman, a 22-year-old UF accounting junior, said he wants to honor the lives lost through food, conversation and celebration.
“It takes a village to combat anti-semitism,” he said.
Contact Hannah Beatty at hbeatty@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @hannahbeatty_
Rabbi Aron Notik stands over a crowd of hundreds Monday in Turlington Plaza during the candlelight vigil for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue. Eleven people were killed in the tragedy.
