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Joe Charny a survivor from the Tree of Life shooting, leads morning minyan at Congregation Beth Shalom on Oct. 16, 2019, in Squirrel Hill.
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Joe Charny, survivor of Tree of Life shooting and ‘icon in the Jewish community,’ dies at 95

Post-Gazette

Joe Charny, survivor of Tree of Life shooting and ‘icon in the Jewish community,’ dies at 95

1927 - Jan. 10, 2023

When Joe Charny thought about how he would be remembered after his passing, he didn’t want to let one day define him.

As a survivor of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which killed 11 people and wounded others in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, he wanted people to remember his life beyond the tragedy. That’s when he, along with fellow survivor and close friend Audrey Glickman, decided to write biographies about themselves.

He shared his love of Beethoven, Shakespeare and Bob Dylan. He recounted his early life, family – of which he took great pride – and his career in psychiatry. He included one of his well-known quotes, “We are born, we laugh and we die.” It was his rendition of a sentiment shared by famous novelists such as Thomas Wolfe: “We are born, we suffer and we die.”

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Ms. Glickman has since taken what he wrote and gave it a new name, “The Life of Joe Charny, Told Mostly in His Own Words, Now Remanded to Past Tense,” turning his self-written biography into a eulogy.

This photo from the Heinz History center shows painted rocks that were left at spontaneous memorials in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Squirrel Hill's Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. The History Center's Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives launched an online archive documenting the massacre and the response at october27archive.org on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.
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Archive of Tree of Life attack and aftermath goes public

E. Joseph “Joe” Charny, a long-time Pittsburgh resident, died Jan. 10 due to complications of a stroke, compounded by Alzheimer's. He was 95 years old. Many Pittsburghers remember Dr. Charny for his dedication to the Tree of Life Congregation, Community Day School, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and other groups, where people often recall his unyielding positivity and eagerness to help others.

“The world is so much lessened without him,” Ms. Glickman said. “Yet we will continue smiling just as he so often exhorted us.”

Dr. Charny was predeceased by his wife Peggy, who worked for the Pittsburgh Housing Authority and his son David, who was a professor at Harvard University. He is survived by his son Joel, daughter Sharon Woschitz, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

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According to his obituary published by the Post-Gazette, Dr. Charny was born in Philadelphia to first-generation immigrants from Russia. 

In the aftermath of World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in Italy. He went on to graduate from Swarthmore College, where he met his future wife, and earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. and Mrs. Charny settled down in Pittsburgh, where he continued his medical studies at the University of Pittsburgh and Western Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Charny eventually taught at the schools.

After leaving Pitt, he practiced privately full time as an advocate of psychoanalysis and served as director of clinical services at Woodville State Hospital.

Once Dr. Charny reached retirement, he devoted the rest of his life to community service. He spent most days at the Tree of Life synagogue, where he frequently led daily services for 20 years. He also served as a board member and became Board President.

He and others who regularly attended the morning worship gave themselves the whimsical name, “morning minyanaires.” The group’s gatherings for prayer and table talk formed a daily spiritual pulse at the historic synagogue. Ms. Glickman, who went to Saturday services, said Dr. Charny had encouraged her to start going to the morning minyan. 

Alan Hausman, president of Tree of Life, met Dr. Charny in 2008, when he joined the congregation. He said someone couldn’t attend their first Shabbat service without meeting Dr. Charny. 

“If he ever wasn't there, it was like, ‘Where's Joe? Why isn’t he here?,’” Mr. Hausman said. “He was an icon in the Jewish community.”

He said those who attended the morning minyan became “close knit.” While many died in the shooting, Mr. Hausman said the group remained strong. He remembers walking Dr. Charny through the building, which closed after the shooting.

“Like several of the other survivors, he wanted to leave on his own accord and not be forced out by the bad guy,” Mr. Hausman said. “He walked the building and shared the stories of what he heard, saw and smelled with me. I allowed him his opportunity to leave on his own terms.”

Mr. Hausman timed his occasional visits to the synagogue around when he knew Dr. Charny would be walking by so they could talk, often about the loss of the now abandoned building and the congregation’s future. Dr. Charny always remained optimistic, Mr. Hausman said.

“He knew I was doing my best to keep it going,” Mr. Hausman said. “He was a glass half full guy. He was always positive.”

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers also met Mr. Charny through the daily morning worship. He remembered Dr. Charny’s unique skillset, including his ability to read and speak Hebrew and to chant from the Torah scrolls. But he never made anyone feel intimidated, Rabbi Myers said, creating an environment comfortable for everyone. 

He regularly attended Sabbath and holiday services, and became involved in the congregation’s cultural and social programs, including its adult education program.

“It's a special type of person who's so fully engaged in a synagogue, and that's who Joe was,” Rabbi Myers said. “People might even say this was his first home, and where he slept was his second home.”

Dr. Charny also devoted himself to developing youth leadership. Each week, he led prayers with students at the Community Day School, a co-ed Jewish school, in a program called the “Minyan Makers.”

Avi Munro, head of the school, said the program began in partnership with Tree of Life in 2011. Parents would drop their children off at the synagogue each week to make minyan, a quorum of 10 people over age 13 required for traditional Jewish public worship. Dr. Charny would support their participation in the service. 

He continued with the program until it was interrupted between the shooting and COVID. Mrs. Munro remembers Dr. Charny as “engaged and friendly,” recalling how impressed he was with the students’ capabilities. 

“He was genuinely interested in them and took pride in knowing these students from the community were really engaged in Judaism and knowledgeable,” she said.

Beyond his deep commitment to his religion, Dr. Charny’s interests took him everywhere and into everything, including computers.

Vic Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said Dr. Charny volunteered to rework their computer system after seeing someone running around the office with a 3” floppy disk. 

“He said, ‘I know a bit about tinkering with computers,’ and we were a little skeptical,” Mr. Walczak said. “But for 10 years, Joe completely wired our office. When many senior citizens are confounded by technology, he embraced it and learned.”

The pair would often come by the office early to discuss “the world’s problems.” 

“I feel like all of us on staff got a lot of free professional advice from Joe — not just computers, but counseling,” he said. “I feel like we've lost a Renaissance person. He was an intellectual you can talk to about anything.”

Dr. Charny’s wisdom and fervor for life also resonated with Ms. Glickman, who met him during a synagogue trip to Israel in 2015. She said they became instant friends.

“When you were with Joe, there was never a lull in the conversation because there were always things that he knew more about,” Ms. Glickman said. “He always had stories.”

Dr. Charny jumped to participate in everything he could, she said, whether it was attending a Chamber Music Society concert, as he was a season ticket holder, or to the opening of the Greenfield Bridge. When she asked him to go somewhere, he’d ask just two questions.

“He’d say, ‘What time do I have to be ready and what should I wear?’” Ms. Glickman said.

Last year, the pair were featured in the HBO documentary, “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting,” where they became heavily involved in the filmmaking process. She said they felt it was important to create something positive from the tragedy.

“I know he was proud of it, and I certainly was proud of it, too,” Ms. Glickman said. “That’s how we wanted to go forward. It gave us a platform to talk about antisemitism. Joe talked about it a lot.”

As for Rabbi Myers, he believes the special moments people shared with Dr. Charny will keep his memory alive. 

“By recalling and talking about all these fond memories that we have, Joe continues to live in our midst,” Myers said.

The Tree of Life Congregation and Ms. Glickman are planning services to honor Dr. Charny. Dates are yet to be scheduled.

First Published: January 19, 2023, 10:58 p.m.

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Joe Charny a survivor from the Tree of Life shooting, leads morning minyan at Congregation Beth Shalom on Oct. 16, 2019, in Squirrel Hill.  (Post-Gazette)
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