Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers
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 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.”
Rabbi Myers also received Rabbinic Ordination from Mesivta Adath Wolkowisk. He organized the June 1998 gathering of nearly 1,000 children from the New York/New Jersey area to celebrate Israel’s 50th Anniversary in Central Park under the auspices of the 50th Anniversary Gathering of the Cantors Assembly. Rabbi Myers has served as a trustee on its Executive Council of the Cantors Assembly and chair of its Membership Committee, and is currently the Senior Vice-President. He also served as a trustee on the Executive Board of the Jewish Educators Assembly and co-chair of the Membership Committee. He was a board member on the National Education Commission of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the National Deliberation Team for Project Etgar, the new curriculum for the middle school that is a joint project of the United Synagogue and the Melton Institute. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Congregational School Principals Advisory Board.
Rabbi Myers was the recipient of a Schechter Award for his interfaith Evening of Harmony that commemorates the Holocaust and awards for synagogue and family programming. He was a visiting lecturer at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and has served as chair of the Downbeach Ministerium and the Interfaith Clergy Council. In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate in Jewish Music from The Jewish Theological Seminary, and an honorary doctorate of divinity from Washington & Jefferson College. He has also been privileged to receive the Heroes designation from CNN, a Rescuer of Humanity medal from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Rescuer of Humanity from Values in Action, the John E. McGrady Award for Community Service from the Heinz Foundation, and the Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award from the Urban League. 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.
Messages From the Rabbi
Thu, October 10 2024
8 Tishrei 5785
Contact Rabbi Myers
In the News
Becoming Rabbi Myers
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
“There are no classes you can take on what to do. There were no rabbis I could call on the phone to ask what they did. This is just my way of saying that I have no doubt that I’ve made mistakes along the way, because I’m human. I’ve probably said things I shouldn’t have said, done things I shouldn’t have done. All I hope is that at the end, with whatever future story may be told, that the good I’ve done will hopefully outweigh any errors that I made of commission or omission, and that’s all I can hope for. I’ve tried my best.”
Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers: A face of tragedy, a voice for peace Pittsburgh Post Gazette
“The only way to change the world is to show love, not hate,” he said. “Hate can never beat hate. And that has been the guiding force for me throughout that.”
In hatred, “you don’t get how you become part of the problem, not part of the solution. It’s corrosive. It rots you from the core out. So you reach a point where you don’t even know you’re showing hate. It takes hold of you.”
TOL*OLS Welcomes Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
What Myers brings to the Squirrel Hill Congregation “are the skills of an ordained cantor, to be able to chant a beautiful service for Shabbat and holidays, as well as to offer the teachings of our tradition. I’d like to think that for a synagogue such as Tree of Life, that’s hitting a win-win.”
A Message from Rabbi Myers