Interfaith Celebration Through Song: Pittsburgh, PA
On December 2, 2018, Young Adults (YAs) from the Sathya Sai Center of Pittsburgh participated in an interfaith service to honor the eleven people killed, and the six wounded, at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The mass shooting on Saturday, October 27, 2018, is believed to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish population in U.S. history.
Sponsored by the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, the event, “An Interfaith Celebration through Song,” featured several groups performing songs and music, "including a Jewish congregational choir, a Baptist church choir, the Allegheny Unitary Universalist Church choir, a Jewish college a ‘Capella group, and a percussion ensemble from a local community day school. Over 400 people, including about 30 members from the Pittsburgh Sai Center, attended the two-hour event as a show of solidarity and unity in the face of this horrific crime. The Sai Young Adults performed two Sanskrit devotional songs, including Asatoma Sathgamaya (Lead me from Untruth to the Truth), Akhanda Jyoti Jalao (Light the eternal flame) and an English song, God of Love.
The Pittsburgh Sai Center President commented, “The moving presentations reinforced the message that all of us are united through a universal yearning for love, light and non-violence, no matter what our faith”. He noted that local leaders were deeply committed to promoting the unity of all faiths in an effort to heal the grieving community. “You can sense that people are longing for a way to connect with each other in a deeply spiritual way and find strength in each other so all of us can heal from this horrific event. The event allowed the community to express and experience solidarity and the comfort of knowing that, in the end, love will always triumph over hate.”