In the wake of unimaginable tragedy, how does a community find its way forward—and what can we learn from their resilience? In this episode, we sit down with Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Rabbi Myers shares how his congregation and the broader Pittsburgh community responded to hatred with overwhelming acts of kindness and solidarity, and how he’s become a national voice for interfaith understanding and eradicating the “H-word” from our daily lives.

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers has served as the Rabbi and Cantor for the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh since the summer of 2017. He moved to the City of Bridges after spending decades in ministry in New Jersey and Long Island. He received a BA from Rutgers, an MA in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary and studied privately with Cantor Zvi Aroni before graduating from the Cantorial School of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

After the horrific morning of October 27, 2018, when a heavily armed gunman began a murderous rampage in the Tree of Life, Rabbi Myers—who survived the attack—became the face of the tragedy. Since then, he has set about sending the key message that love is stronger than hate. Rabbi Myers contends that a lack of understanding of our neighbors leads to fear and sometimes loathing, which can lead to acts of violence. Rabbi Myers believes that if we are ever to remove the "H word" from our society, it must start with pledging not to use that word in speech, just as he has done in honor of the 11 lives lost at the Tree of Life.

Rabbi Myers is a recipient of multiple awards, including 2019 recipient of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Medal of Valor, given out to those who exemplify the good deeds of outstanding individuals who honor mankind and whose courage and bravery shine a light in the darkest of places. Because of his service and actions during and after the Tree of Life massacre, Rabbi Myers received the medal which is inscribed: “He who saves a single life, it is as if he has saved an entire world.” He has testified before both Houses of Congress, participated in many gatherings in the White House, and has spoken throughout the United States on the proliferation of H-speech.

Tree of Life Synagogue – Rabbi Myers’ Community: https://www.treeoflifepgh.org

Rabbi Myers on Responding to Hate (CNN Feature): https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/18/us/rabbi-myers-pittsburgh-hate/index.html

Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting – Background (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/how.to.help.pod/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@how.to.help.pod

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/howtohelp.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowToHelpPod

Join the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code...

Season 3 of How to Help is coming soon! This season will focus on how to help in conflict. Here's the list of upcoming guests and topics:

• Rabbi Jeffrey Myers on recovering from tragedy
• Prof. Chad Ford on personal and professional peacemaking
• Debby Tucker on ending domestic violence
• Judge Thomas Griffith on defending the Constitution
• Rebecca Middleton on ending global hunger
• Prof. Andrew Brodsky on effective virtual communication
• Gen. Philip Breedlove on global conflict and peace engineering

Be sure to follow us in your favorite podcast player so you don't miss an episode! Also, subscribe to the email newsletter at how-to-help.com.

We're bombarded daily with news about groundbreaking science or shiny new technologies. More than ever, we have to rely on the explainers who can help us understand why and how these achievements actually matter. Will they improve our lives, or more importantly the lives of the vulnerable, in meaningful ways? In this episode, we'll hear from one of the most prolific science and tech journalists of the last few decades to help us make sense of it all.

David Pogue was the New York Times weekly tech columnist from 2000 to 2013. He’s a six-time Emmy winner for his stories on CBS Sunday Morning, a New York Times bestselling author, a five-time TED speaker, host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS, and creator/host of the CBS News/Simon & Schuster podcast Unsung Science.

He’s written or cowritten more than 120 books, including his 2021 magnum opus, How to Prepare for Climate Change. After graduating summa cum laude from Yale in 1985 with distinction in music, Pogue spent ten years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York.

The Unsung Science podcast: https://unsungscience.com/

How to Prepare for Climate Change: Amazon

David's Website: https://davidpogue.com/

Join the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code HOWTOHELP15 for 15% off your first year.