Robert Libman was forced to relive the “horrible moments” of learning about his sister’s murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue, when the gunman responsible was found guilty on Friday, June 16.

Joyce Fienberg, his older sister by five years, was one of 11 worshippers killed October 2018, as she attended Shabbat morning services at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Six others were injured in what was the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in the United States.

Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver, was found guilty on all 63 counts—including 11 charges of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. The court now will hear evidence to determine whether he is eligible for the death penalty and if it should be imposed.

Fienberg, who was 75, grew up in Toronto. Her brother, who lives in Thornhill where he is a family doctor, did not attend the trial but watched a live broadcast about the jury’s decision.

“It’s been a very trying day, just reliving horrible moments of that time. It brings it all back in a very painful way,” he said in an interview with The CJN. “Just watching it on CNN and trying to grapple with it and seeing her picture up there with the other victims, it’s very difficult, terrible actually.

“This was so horrific and so tragic. It’s something that’s supposed to happen to other people, not to you and your family. We’re just a quiet, regular family.”

Victim impact statements will be heard in the next phase of the trial. Libman declined to discuss whether the gunman should face the death penalty.

 “My rage and my inner anger is enormous, but I’m not going to weigh in on the pros and cons of capital punishment. It’s far too complicated and I’m far too close to the situation. There has to be justice and we’ll let the courts make that decision.”

Joyce’s murder has been devastating to the family: “It’s like getting punched in the gut, a lot and often,” he said.

“It’s the elephant in the room, we’re constantly reminded of it. It’s a daily thing and missing her, she was an incredible person… It’s a lot of grief.”

Fienberg and her late husband Stephen, were raised in Toronto. Her confirmation class picture still hangs in Holy Blossom Temple, where she was married.

She earned a BA in social psychology at the University of Toronto and began her career working with emotionally disturbed children, and Robert followed her initially as a youth worker. “She was my role model,” he recalled.

Fienberg spent 25 years as a research specialist in the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, helping teachers become more effective in the classroom.

“When I would hire a new postdoc… the minute the postdoc arrived, Joyce would say ‘c’mon I’ll take you to dinner,’ or ‘come to my house’ very spontaneously and warmly,” her supervisor Gaea Leinhardt said in an interview with the Pitt News.  “It wasn’t a requirement, but it was what she felt someone would need.”

She began attending synagogue daily after her husband, professor emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University, died in 2016. She would make breakfast for everyone on Shabbat morning and Libman said when he heard the news about the shooting, he knew his sister was there.

“She was just the most wonderful human being, she was a very gracious person, she was so refined and so gentle,” her brother said with a deep sigh. “She just had this loving nature about her that was very non-judgmental… It’s a terrible loss.”

Joyce’s daughter-in-law, Marnie Fienberg, started a program called 2 for Seder that encourages families to invite non-Jews to their Passover seders, in memory of Joyce’s warmth and hospitality.

Her memory is also preserved at Holy Blossom Temple, where a tree was planted, and in a memorial board at Libman’s own synagogue, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT).

More poignantly, Libman’s daughter named her youngest daughter Joy, after the aunt she was very close to. “She sometimes sees my sister’s picture and I say ‘that’s big Joy’… One day she’ll learn the history of who her wonderful aunt was.”

Libman says he is relieved by the verdict and that the trial did not become politicized. “The fact that they called it what it was, they didn’t try to sugarcoat it.

“They said out-and-out it was antisemitic murder and slaughter and that’s what it was. They didn’t try to politicize or make nice about it. That’s a very positive thing.”

But the murders, in a largely Jewish neighbourhood of Pittsburgh which had a low-crime rate, “uncovered an underbelly of antisemitism,” in America, Libman said.

“We’re seeing more of it, antisemitism, in our country as well as in the United States,” he said. “This exposed that in a very violent and direct way, it’s scary.”

• Hear Dr. Bob Libman’s gripping interview on The CJN Daily