PITTSBURGH — Synagogue shooting victim Irving Younger had a seemingly endless capacity for love matched only by his dedication to his temple, according to friends and family at the 69-year-old’s tear-filled funeral Wednesday.
“Once he decided he loved somebody, his feelings seemed to lock in stone and nothing, no matter what, could shake them,” grieving girlfriend Judy told the hundreds of mourners assembled at Rodef Temple Shalom.
When his wife died 10 years ago, he focused his wellspring of affection on his adult children, Jared and Jordanna, the son said.
“Every time he would see me and my sister, he would start tearing up. He would just come to us with open arms and hug us. He knew that we were the most precious thing to him and that every minute really counted,” Jared said while choking back tears.
“I remember asking my dad, ‘What was the best time in your life?’ He started tearing up, and he said, ‘When you and Jordy were little.’”
And Younger always knew how to focus his attention on what mattered, the girlfriend said.
“While he had no patience to take even five minutes to check something on his cellphone, he did have the patience, believe it or not, to schlep from one car dealer to another six times until I decided what kind of car I wanted,” she said, tears welling in her eyes.
His dedication extended to his Tree of Life synagogue community, too, according to Younger’s longtime rabbi there, Chuck Diamond.
“He was a schmoozer. We all know this. And he would love to stand there and greet people and hand out prayer books, or when it was appropriate, pamphlets. He and Cecil [Rosenthal] were most likely to be the first people somebody would see when they came in,” the rabbi said.
Four funerals remain, following the horrific Saturday massacre in which a hate-spewing gunman shot up the Tree of Life synagogue, killing 11 people and injuring several more in the worst anti-Semitic attack perpetrated in US history.
Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, and Daniel Stein were laid to rest Tuesday, while Joyce Fienberg, Melvin Wax and Younger were interred Wednesday.