A Father’s Prayer: When the Tree of Life Synagogue Came Under Attack
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 737 Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, on the morning of October 27, 2018, a quiet neighborhood in Pittsburgh turned into the scene of one of the deadliest attacks on a Jewish congregation in American history. Paul Kengor was driving with his wife when a text from their daughter appeared on his phone. She was hiding in a van just across the street from the Tree of Life Synagogue, where gunfire had erupted.
What followed was an hour of panic and helpless waiting as they tried to reach her. Eleven worshippers were killed, and dozens of lives were forever changed. Paul shares how faith and fear collided that day when his family came within moments of tragedy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:13.2 | This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, |
| 0:17.0 | and we tell stories about everything here on this show, |
| 0:19.7 | from the arts to sports and from business to history, and everything in between, including your stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between, including your stories. Send them |
| 0:25.4 | to Our American Stories.com. They're some of our favorites. In October of 2018, a tragedy |
| 0:32.0 | struck a synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. |
| 0:38.4 | Paul Kengor's daughters were nearly in the line of fire. |
| 0:42.6 | Here he is to recount that story. |
| 0:46.9 | Pray for us, I will call you later. |
| 0:50.6 | That was the text message that we received from our 16-year-old daughter at 10.16 a.m. on Saturday morning, October 27, 2018, as my wife and I drove toward Pittsburgh Strip District in downtown Pittsburgh. |
| 1:05.4 | My wife called my daughter immediately. Are you okay? Were you in an accident? In a hushed voice, my daughter |
| 1:11.6 | explained that she, our second daughter, and three friends, along with an adult friend of ours |
| 1:16.6 | named Susie, were hiding in their van across the street from the Tree of Life Synagogue |
| 1:22.7 | in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill section. They were there for a Saturday morning retreat at a house across the street. |
| 1:31.3 | They had arrived at 9.55 a.m. |
| 1:35.2 | They had initially stopped the van directly across from the synagogue on Shady Avenue, |
| 1:40.2 | which would have been straight in the line of fire between the police and the shooter. |
| 1:44.8 | It's going to be at 5-8 Wilkins Avenue, Tree of Life Synagogue. |
| 1:48.5 | 3480, you copy. |
| 1:53.5 | They were planning to hop out and walk to the house. |
| 1:56.7 | Mercifully, the driver, Susie, decided almost on a whim, a gut feel, she later conceded, |
... |
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