A Jewish nurse who treated the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect says that he saw confusion but not evil in the man’s eyes, and that his own actions stemmed from love.
“I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish,” registered nurse Ari Mahler wrote in a Facebook post Saturday about suspect Robert Bowers, who was taken to Allegheny General Hospital after the Oct. 27 rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood that left 11 people dead.
Mahler described his role as “The Jewish Nurse” who treated the suspect, saying that he felt nervous about sharing his account but that “I just know I feel alone right now, and the irony of the world talking about me doesn’t seem fair without the chance to speak for myself.”
“I didn’t say a word to him about my religion,” Mahler said in the post . “I chose not to say anything to him the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honor his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong.”
An Allegheny General Network representative confirmed the authenticity of the post.
Bowers, 46, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a 44-count grand jury indictment charging him with murder, hate crimes, obstructing the practice of religion and other crimes, for which he could face the death penalty. Authorities say Bowers raged against Jews during and after the massacre. He remains jailed without bail.
Mahler, whose Facebook page noted that he started his job in the hospital’s emergency department March 1, said he didn’t see evil in Bowers’ eyes but “a clear lack of depth, intelligence, and palpable amounts of confusion.” He said he couldn’t go into detail about their interaction due to medical privacy requirements, but Bowers thanked him “for saving him, for showing him kindness, and for treating him the same way I treat every other patient.”
He noted that this came from the same person accused of mass murder who “instilled panic in my heart worrying my parents were two of his 11 victims less than an hour before his arrival.”
Mahler, who said that his father was a rabbi and that he experienced anti-Semitism “a lot” as a kid, said he acted out of love.
“Love. That’s why I did it,” he said. “Love as an action is more powerful than words, and love in the face of evil gives others hope. It demonstrates humanity. It reaffirms why we’re all here. … I could care less what Robert Bowers thinks, but you, the person reading this, love is the only message I wish instill in you. If my actions mean anything, love means everything.”
(AP)
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15 Responses
Mr. Mahler’s love must come from a very pure place. His heart. Thank you. May it come back to him and bless him in the same way as his love reaches out to bless others.
I’m impressed…not.
What happened to Chillul Shabbos above all else?
I’m sorry Ari, your love is most certainly misplaced. You want to treat him out of duty, you want to treat him because we don’t act like them, I’m fine with that. But to act out of “love”?? Love for an animal, a cold hearted murderer, a rabid Anti-Semite? Perhaps mass murderers experience “confusion” after their vile acts, he was not confused when he mowed down 11 Jewish men and women. He would’ve taken out many more if he wasn’t stopped in his tracks.
There is no place for love for such trash. As the verse in משלי states ” עת לאהוב ואת לשנוא
Chesed d’klipa….
Should you love darkness? Disease? Why not, if love is the most important thing?!
Anything that is not kdusha can be useful for good (G-dliness) or bad. We must be careful not to get confused.
For example, is giving a good thing? If it’s in kedusha, yes. But someone like this doctor in the article can become confused and say, no no no we must give, because giving is a good thing!!! So let’s give the holy Land of Israel to the Arabs! And weapons and money to terrorists!
Where’s the limit to the foolishness and sheer and utter stupidity of this generation…
Uncle Mo the verse is in Koheles afaik. Easy mistake to make, mishlei is also penned by Shlomo HaMelech.
That aside, I agree that loving this monster is love misplaced. The nurse is somewhat off.
Maybe oys a problem too many liberal jews “love” the palestinians that are trying to kill out the israelis
כל המרחם על האכזרים
סופו
להכזיר על הרחמנים
כל המרחם על האכזרים
סופו
להכזיר על הרחמנים
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8:%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%9D_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%9B%D7%96%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D_-_%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%90%D7%9B%D7%96%D7%A8_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D
Ari Mahler:- You are a self hating Jew!!
To 147, he is not self-hating. Just self-destructive. Just a modern day groveling court jew. “I need to act like a saccharine sweet goody two shoes who loves like Yoshke himself, and the murdering goy will like me .”
Aryehshoag, agreed. In the Chumash there is a place where the word “chessed” is used to describe arayos. Not for lashon naki. Because there is a lesson to learn: literally performing a chessed is crossing the line, going beyond. And it can build or destroy, depending on the bigger picture. This strange bird was acting out of THAT OTHER kind of “chessed.” Bad choice is an understatement.
From the moment this happened, i thought, the best punishment this beast could get for starters, is treatment by a jewish doctor. But not the way it went down. Should have been someone who was very in his face about it, and making him feel extremely nervous.
Stuartk,
Yes; I realized later I was mistaken. The verse is in קהלת, where King Solomon talks about fools and their foolishness.
147: Wow! Why are you jumping to such a harsh conclusion?! His words are silly and very gravely mistaken but why verbally attack him like this?!!
Nebech, what a confused young man.
This nazi was no different that the ones from germany during WW2, would this nurse have treated them with love as well?
This nurse just wants his 15 minutes of fame, to be loved by Oprah and the rest of the media with interviews and publicity.
UncleMo, 147 is staying the truth, the comment is not harsh at all, it is very mild, in fact. Ari Mahler is a nausciating type of enemy groveling Jew. He is giving out of his LOVE to a viscous murder. The victims’ innocent blood means nothing to him, only the love he feels towards this murderer and Jew hater.
In my humble opinion, our creator loves each of us very dearly. I am not here to judge anyone else; that is simply not my role for which I was placed on this earth. My job is to fulfill the will of my Creator for me. For myself I know that my Creator’s will for me is to exercise my compassion and work on myself in every situation which comes in front of me. It seems very likely to me that this nurse strives to fulfill the will of his Creator in every situation. Our Creator is the ultimate רחמן.