Patriots star Julian Edelman wears cleats with Hebrew on them to honor Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims
Published December 17, 2018
(JTA) — New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman wore special cleats in honor of the victims of the shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As he showed in a tweet, Edelman’s cleats bore the words “In memory of The Tree of Life” written in Hebrew, the logo of the Tree of Life Or L’Simcha Congregation — the synagogue targeted in the mass shooting in October — and an Israeli flag, with the hashtag #strongerthanhate.
His tweet also listed in alphabetical order the 11 victims of the Oct. 27 attack.
In Remembrance. בזיכרון עץ חיים#StrongerThanHate
Joyce Feinberg
Richard Gottfried
Rose Mallinger
Jerry Rabinowitz
Cecil Rosenthal
David Rosenthal
Bernice Simon
Sylvan Simon
Daniel Stein
Melvin Wax
Irving Younger🎨 @MACHE275 🙏 @CJPBoston 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/PUUszklkUz
— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) December 16, 2018
The cleats were sponsored by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston.
Edelman’s father is Jewish and he has come out in support of the Jewish community in the past.
“My heart is broken for the families in Pittsburgh,” Edelman tweeted in October following the shooting. “It’s hard to even imagine such senselessness. As a Jew, an American and a human, I’m devastated. We are with you, Pittsburgh.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft traveled to Pittsburgh on Saturday ahead of his team’s game against the Steelers to visit the Tree of Life synagogue building and attend Shabbat services.
The Steelers snapped a three-game losing streak and beat their division rivals on Sunday in Pittsburgh by a score of 17-10.