The Latest: Jewish staffers treated accused synagogue gunman

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Updated 3:34 pm CDT, Monday, October 29, 2018

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Latest on a deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue (all times local):

4:25 p.m.

The president of the hospital that treated the man accused in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre says he was shouting "I want to kill all the Jews!"

Allegheny General Hospital President Jeffery Cohen tells WTAE-TV Monday that the first people who took care of Robert Bowers were Jewish.

Cohen says he stopped by Bowers' room to see how he was doing. He says he hopes to one day forgive Bowers the way relatives of victims killed in 2015 at the Emanuel AME Church forgave the shooter.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/The-Latest-Rabbi-carried-phone-because-of-13344416.php

[BigmanPigman]

1. I don't forgive people like this.

To me it is like forgiving Hitler. Different scale but same crime.

[onecaliberal]

3. I have to agree. No redeeming quality.

[BigDemVoter]

13. I am not sure I ever can either. And I hold Pussy Grabber's supporters equally responsible.

[BigmanPigman]

14. His deplorables are 100% responsible.

They are crazy losers who wallow in self pity that the world is changing and they are no longer on top of the heap, pushing people around and being the hateful bullies that they are in their hearts and souls. The are vengeful "victims" who are grasping to hold onto a world that no longer exists and they won't accept that fact.

[PatSeg]

2. I had just been thinking about that,

wondering how many Jewish people took care of him in the hospital.

[iluvtennis]

4. doctorsm, nurses, nurses aides, lab techs, food servers, etc. Anyone of them could be Jewish.

[PatSeg]

10. Surprise, surprise

Jews look just like everyone else!!!

[unblock]

5. judaism is bigger on atonement than on forgiveness.

judaism would put the onus on the shooter to atone for his actions. to genuinely feel sorry, to apologize, and to try to make it right.
of course with murder you can never bring back those killed, but you can take actions that show a genuine effort to heal the wounds.

that's a tall order for someone who murdered a bunch of senior citizens in a house of worship, motivated only by a generic hatred of a group his victims were a part of.

it's not really up to the victims to forgive, at least not if the one who did wrong doesn't atone.


christianity tends to put the emphasis more on forgiveness. in christianity, the victims do well to forgive, regardless of whether the sinner atones or repents, because to forgive is to do what jesus did.


anyway, kudos on the hospital staff for putting medical treatment above all else. this is how we win. by not becoming those we despise. medical professionals should treat people and heal people without regard to how the got their wounds or illnesses. then the police can take it from there.

[Nictuku]

6. But did any of them refuse him service based on their religion?

... somehow I doubt it. (as it should be)

[still_one]

11. Ironically though, Israel essentially doesn't have Captial Punishment. It has only been used twice.

The first was a mistake during war, and the second was Adolf Eichmann

[unblock]

12. Not sure what that has to do with it

Atonement and punishment are not the same thing.

[MuseRider]

7. Medical staff do not get to choose

who they treat in emergencies. I suppose they can in their private practices but usually do not turn people away. I worked in an ER for a bunch of years, there were a lot of people that were not who you wanted to help but that is the job you take. Everyone deserves medical care. Police presence and hand cuffs? No matter. When you let people pick and choose you are going down a very bad road.

[Aristus]

8. It reminds me of when Reagan was shot.

When he was wheeled in for surgery, he said jokingly: "Please tell me you're all Republicans". He was taken seriously though, and someone responded:"Mr.President, today, we're all Republicans". It turns out that the chief surgeon that day was a liberal Democrat. But politics does not enter into such situations, and he saved Reagan's life.

Timothy McCarthy, the Secret Service agent at the scene of the shooting, who placed himself between Reagan and the shooter, later ran for office as a Democrat. It doesn't surprise me that people of our political leanings do these things. But I'm skeptical that it would go the other way.

[MuseRider]

9. I believe it does go both ways

saving lives is too involved, especially in that kind of situation, to even think about anything else.

All the years I worked at the hospital I don't believe there was ever a conversation about politics but then we were usually too busy to talk too much.

I don't know how it is now but one of the very first things I was told in the ER was that we do not get involved with the police who show up a lot with the patients. If we found something on the patient that the cops would want we hid it from them. We were only there to care for the person no matter what they had done or what they had on them. It was up to the police to police outside of the ER.

[MosheFeingold]

15. Of course they did

The preservation of life is among the highest mitzvah of Judaism.

My son treated a wanna-be suicide bomber in Israel who blew off his own leg and murdered a pregnant woman in the process.

G-d loves all people. Our job includes expressing His love, even to people who despise us.

Go read the book of Jonah and look up in Wikipedia who the Ninivites were (are). I’ll give you a hint, their descendants include ISIS members.

[milestogo]

16. In an emergency situation the caregivers are trying to keep the person alive.

That's the job. We don't know if they knew who they were treating and what he said and did.