Andrea Wedner often catches herself saying things her mom might say.
“I’m a lot like her,” she said. “She loved being with people, that’s why she liked going to synagogue every Saturday.”
Her mother, Rose Mallinger, was killed in 2018. She was the oldest victim of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Five years on, Wedner and her siblings keep their mother’s memory alive by visiting schools and other organizations to show the documentary "Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life."
“It helps me a lot…before the trial there were certain things we couldn’t talk about, but now we can,” Wedner said. “We always want to tell our story. We want people to know who Rose Mallinger was and we’re happy to share that.”
Andrea, her husband Ron Wedner and her brothers, Alan and Stanley Mallinger, will attend free screenings of the documentary in Kingston and Scranton next week, hosted by WVIA.
The film, directed by Patrice O’Neill, focuses on the synagogue community in the aftermath of the shooting and how the broader Pittsburgh community came together in support of their neighbors.
Alan Mallinger, one of Rose’s sons, said he and his family have spoken about the film and their experiences at several schools in western Pennsylvania. Each time they share their story, he said, the students respond with questions and in many cases are motivated to start “Eradicate Hate” clubs at their schools.
That result is just one reason he keeps talking about the shooting.
“Some of these high school kids are talking about mentoring middle school kids,” he said. “They’re learning hate somewhere, and if you can work your way back to where that is, maybe we can help people.”
Andrea was with her mother on the day of the shooting. She was shot in the arm and survived. She said the community’s support is the reason she was able to recover.
“It was the key to my healing,” she said. “I still feel support from the Jewish Community Center and all the organizations around. I never felt alone.”
The gunman went on trial in 2023. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Andrea testified at the trial with the support of the Mallinger family and the families of the other victims in the courtroom.
She said the trial couldn’t possibly offer them closure, but going through it has helped them to move forward.
“It told the whole story. If there was no trial, we would not have known a lot of what happened,” she said. “A lot of the days were very emotional, but we all had each other to lean on and guide each other through it.”
Alan thinks Rose would have been proud of how her family and community have stuck together. She would have wanted to help as much as she could, he said.
“I think she would have been a big part of that,” he said.
Rose was 97 years old, but Alan said she took good care of herself. Doctors were often shocked to learn of her age.
“We all thought she would live to be 100,” he said.
Andrea said she thinks of Rose every day - small things like going out to lunch after any trip to the grocery store, her typical order at Panera, or her love of word puzzles and sweets often come to mind.
“She’d find any excuse to get together with family,” Andrea said. “If she had a coupon, it was ‘let’s go to dinner.’ If the cousins were coming in from out of town, it was ‘let’s get a tray and have everyone over.’ And she still cooked, she was a good cook.”
Whenever the family gets together now, they often share stories about Rose. Mostly everyone in their family and at the synagogue called her Bubbe, the Jewish word for grandmother, but Andrea said her name lives on in other ways.
“We have roses all over the house and my two granddaughters have her name as their middle name,” she said. “She’s just always with us. She’s always in my heart. Always.”
Screening Details
WVIA invites the community to attend two public screenings of "Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life."
- Monday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Friedman Jewish Community Center, Kingston
- Tuesday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Scranton Jewish Community Center
Special guests attending the screenings include Alan and Stanley Mallinger and Andrea and Ron Wedner. The Mallingers will attending both screenings, the Wedners will attend the Kingston screening.
Additional guests include Rabbi Larry Kaplan in Kingston and Attorney David Falk in Scranton.
Following each screening, WVIA will host a discussion for reflection and community dialogue.
