Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 10-25-19

October 25, 2019 | 26 Tishrei 5780

Candlelighting 6:08 p.m. | Havdalah 7:06 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 43 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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‫זכור‬ O C T O B E R 2 7, 2 0 1 8 • 1 8 C H E S H VA N 5 7 7 9

One Year Later

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Headlines

Of all the lessons we teach our children...

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The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle does not endorse the goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement.

Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

The most important are kindness and respect.

Adam Reinherz, Staff Writer Published every Friday by the Pittsburgh Jewish With these values, we 412-687-1000 can build a community that is stronger aEducation city that is not afraid to lead by example.

Publicationin and Foundation Evan Indianer, Chairman areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor That is the real lesson David beneath the loss.

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2 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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Headlines A year of challenges, a year of hope This is the first of two special issues the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is publishing to coincide with the one-year mark of the shooting at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018.

The second issue will be published on Nov. 1, 2019.

— LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

O

n Oct. 27, 2018, unimaginable horror descended on the city of Pittsburgh as an anti-Semite extinguished the lives of 11 innocent Jews and forever changed the lives of countless others.

It was just before 10 a.m. that Shabbat morning when the killer, armed with an assault rifle, stormed the synagogue at the corner of Wilkins and Shady avenues where worshippers had just begun morning prayers at three separate congregations: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha. He had posted anti-Semitic rants on social media just prior to driving from his home in Baldwin Borough to Squirrel Hill and reportedly yelled, “All Jews must die,”

before murdering Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Mel Wax and Irving Younger.

As he fired his weapon, also seriously injuring congregants Andrea Wedner and Daniel Leger, the Pittsburgh Police received calls reporting an active shooter, and within one minute had dispatched officers to the scene.

Sirens rang through the streets of Squirrel Hill as worshippers at other local congregations began to receive the news that the Tree of Life building was under attack. The phones of Jewish Pittsburghers throughout the city buzzed urgently with texts and calls from friends and family all over the world, seeking to make sure their loved ones were safe.

By 11:08 a.m., the killer had surrendered to police, leaving four first responders — officers Timothy Matson, Daniel Mead, Anthony Burke and Michael Smidga — wounded.

It was the worst anti-Semitic attack ever to be committed on U.S. soil, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

It was also “a very horrific crime scene,” Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said at the time. “It’s one of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill, the Tree of Life

building. Like Sandy Hook and Parkland and Aurora, the names swiftly — and perhaps permanently — became inextricably linked to gun violence. For more than a week, the mass shooting here was the lead story for most major news outlets. Scores of reporters and photographers and videographers descended on Squirrel Hill, and locals here quickly became accustomed to seeing their friends and neighbors interviewed by celebrity journalists on national television, or being quoted in the Washington Post or The New York Times.

An outpouring of support

Almost immediately, those in Jewish Pittsburgh felt the support of each other, regardless of denomination or affiliation.

The Jewish community stood as one people.

Children from Orthodox day schools prayed in front of the Tree of Life building, a sacred site that had housed Conservative and Reconstructionist congregations. Members from both the Orthodox and the nonOrthodox chevra kadishas worked side by side in tending to the remains of those killed in accordance with Jewish law.

Local institutions sprang into action right away. Soon after the murderer began his rampage, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh filled with thousands

of people who waited in a makeshift “grief center” to hear the fate of their loved ones.

The JCC, in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, provided space and comfort, fielded phone calls and offered aid to the FBI, Salvation Army and Red Cross. The Jewish Family and Community Services rapidly mobilized to provide counseling to the injured, bereaved families, community members and schools.

Neighbors did whatever they could, from donating blood to delivering food.

That Saturday night, students at Allderdice High School organized a candlelight vigil at Forbes and Murray avenues, attracting hundreds despite the rain. The following evening, thousands came to a vigil at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, where both the “Star Spangled Banner” and “Hatikvah” were sung to an audience that included representatives of every Pittsburgh faith group as well as local political figures and Israeli dignitaries.

“We’re here to be supporters,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto at the Soldiers and Sailors vigil. “We’re here to make sure that those victims’ families have what Pittsburghers do, the understanding that we Please see Year, page 26

Families of Oct. 27 victims thank the world for love and support I couldn’t keep up with thanking everyone.”

Durachko is not alone. Family members of the 11 people killed that day all received a similar outpouring of support. Although

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer the families, like Durachko, could not send personal thank you notes to everyone that r. Peg Durachko has four bankers’ reached out at such a critical time in their lives, boxes filled to the brim with cards they want the world to know how grateful they and small items that she received are, and that the words and items of comfort from friends and strangers after her they received really did help with their healing. husband, New Light Congregation member “It gives me hope for humanity Dr. Richard Gottfried, was murdered after the hate that was rearing its ugly during the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre head,” said Durachko. on Oct. 27, 2018.

In addition to the items she received In the days and weeks following the at home, Durachko, a dentist who lives shooting, Durachko, who is Catholic, also and practices in the North Hills, also got received “food and wind chimes and blankets support at work. and candles and crosses and photos and more “People just descended on my office things that I can’t even come up with from and brought flowers,” she recalled. “They the top of my head,” she said. “So much, that erected a ‘Stronger Than Hate’ sign that’s still there on the side of the building.

The outpouring from my community was amazing.”

She received masses of emails from her dental school classmates, a handwritten note from Gov. Tom Wolf and mail from the coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers, a favorite team of Gottfried’s.

Israeli Counsel General Dani Dayan paid a shiva call to her home.

“Most of the people I got cards from I didn’t know,” she said. “It was just an outpouring of love. I can’t even wrap my head around it.”

Howard Fienberg, son of Tree of Life member Joyce Fienberg who was murdered during the attack, also was touched deeply by the kindness of strangers. p Andrea and Ron Wedner

Photo by Toby Tabachnick Although the outpouring of

— LOCAL —

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compassion was vast, one particular event stands out to Fienberg.

“Reuben Ebrahimoff flew into Pittsburgh only for a couple of hours for the specific purpose of giving the victims’ families a copy of a book he had recently written, ‘From Your Lips to God’s Ears,’” he recalled.

“It is a gorgeous coffee table size book that is an intensive study of the Book of Psalms.

Reuben turned up at mom’s shiva, since it was all he could find.”

Although Fienberg was not focused at the time on the strangers who showed up at the shiva, “I accepted the box of books and promised to get them to the other family members,” he said. “He then had to get back to the airport pretty quickly to fly home. It was only after he left that I realized what a nice gift he had brought and I regret I did not show my appreciation properly at the time.”

Fienberg’s wife, Marnie Fienberg, also has been moved by the kindness shown by so many.

“The 27th and the 28th (of October 2018) were days when my husband and I came to Pittsburgh and we were alone and we were crushed under the agony of this loss of Joyce in this way,” she said. “It was rock bottom. And then family started to call, friends started to call. We were telling them don’t come until Wednesday or Thursday, it’s inconvenient, we know. And all of them said, ‘You don’t know what you need; we’re coming and we’re coming right away.’”

Not only did family and friends show up, but almost 2,000 others attended the funeral for Joyce.

“There were people there that certainly had no idea who Joyce was, but they came to give their love and support,” Marnie Fienberg

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said. “People came from all over Pittsburgh, from Cleveland, from Brooklyn, just to pay a shiva call. I definitely remember four folks who were Sephardi Jews and they came from Brooklyn and they just wanted to hug us.

They just wanted to hear what happened and if there was anything they could do. They felt compelled to physically come to the shiva.

And it was a whole week of this.”

While the horrendous losses “will never be over for any of our families,” she noted, “it’s important to remember the outpouring of love and the good things we are capable of. I do want to thank everybody for sending me on a journey that is positive as opposed to a journey that is negative. I could be in pretty bad despair, but because of what you did I am trying to give that forward every day with ‘2 for Seder,’” a nonprofit she started last year designed to encourage families to invite two non-Jews to their seders in order to foster understanding.

“It’s because of the love that we received that we know that the world can be fixed,” she said.

For the family of murdered Tree of Life member Rose Mallinger, all the cards, letters and gifts have “been very therapeutic,” said Mallinger’s daughter, Andrea Wedner, who also was shot and seriously wounded during the attack.

“It’s been very helpful because, first of all, you know that they are going through something, too, and I think it is healing for other people to express their love to you,” she said.

In the weeks following the shooting, “every day, when the mail would come and I would get a card it really, really meant a lot,” Please see Families, page 26

OCTOBER 25, 2019 3

Headlines Tree of Life massacre revealed extended community — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

I

t’s often been said that Pittsburgh feels more like a small town than a city. Residents of the various neighborhoods and bordering towns speak of the closeness they feel for one another and hold onto their roots when moving away from the region. It’s one of the attributes that helps make the city feel, at times, more a part of the Midwest than the Northeast.

Nowhere is that sentiment truer than for the Jewish community. The tight-knit neighborhood of Squirrel Hill is the center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh and a reminder of a time when each city had a Jewish block or street. The massacre at the Tree of Life building shook the community because everyone in Squirrel Hill was affected.

Outside of Squirrel Hill, the entire city mourned with the community. The South Hills, stretching from Dormont to Peters Township in Washington County, has the highest number of Jews living in the suburbs.

The tragedy was felt immediately, and the impact of that day continues to reverberate throughout the region.

“We found that in the days and weeks and months after the tragedy, there was an increased sense of community that extended far beyond simply the Jewish families living here,” explained South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh director Rob Goodman. “Both Jewish and non-Jewish residents came together trying to make sense of the tragedy. Attendance increased dramatically not just at services but at most community events as well.”

Tree of Life shares vision of reopening — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

ree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation will reopen its building. Although a date hasn’t been set, a plan has been adopted, according to a press release.

The Squirrel Hill building, which has been shuttered since last year’s attack, will be a collaborative space, with places for worship, education, social engagement and memorialization. The vision was shared by Tree of Life’s president Sam Schachner in a speech to congregants on Yom Kippur eve.

The planning will demonstrate a commitment to thoughtfulness, said Schachner.

“We will start by engaging in a rebuilding effort in a victim-centered, collaborative, sensitive and caring manner,” Schachner said in a statement. “Our buildings are too old and damaged for a narrow, limited vision. We will create a place that is alive with a balance of the future and the past; a place that has the

flexibility to change with the times.”

Prior to the shooting, building usage was increased by Dor Hadash and New Light congregations. The three groups, which each suffered losses in the attack, occasionally collaborated on programming but retained independent finances and prayer spaces.

The arrangement was billed as a “metropolitan model” by past-president Michael Eisenberg.

Tree of Life additionally partnered with NA’AMAT, Weight Watchers, AARP and Chatham University, which hosted numerous lifelong learning events at the building.

Such strategic arrangements enabled the three-story structure to escape a vacancy that existed after morning minyan, Eisenberg told the Chronicle.

The current vision as shared with congregants, and developed by a steering committee that met with community stakeholders, expands the former model and will be called a “Community Collaborative/ Cooperative,” noted the congregation’s executive director Barb Feige.

Among those interested in exploring the project are the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and Chatham.

With those entities on board, the collaboration would “give us an educational component we wish to provide as well,” said Feige in a statement.

For now, Tree of Life will focus on developing a strategic plan, and hire a consultant with expertise in the Jewish community, building collaboratives and physical plant-sharing models, explained the executive director.

Project costs are not yet known, however, the idea is to hire a fundraising consultant by the end of the first quarter 2020, noted Schachner, who added that a preliminary building plan and updated timeline should be completed by late spring 2020.

As the congregation moves ahead, the vision will reflect matters learned from seven “listening sessions” held with victims’ family members, witnesses, community leaders and members of all ages from the three congregations.

“We’ve always been tight-knit,” he continued “but the support, again not just from the Jewish community but from the entire South Hills, continues to be felt. There are more smiles and more hugs, more handshakes and more understanding. We found strength in community. “ Every Jewish community in Western Pennsylvania has been affected in some way by the terrorist attack and continues to try and make sense of what it means for their city.

Please see Community, page 27

Included within the vision is a plan for a public memorial commemorating the 11 lives lost, though it’s undetermined where such memorial will exist.

“We are committed to working with the victims’ families to explore this particular aspect,” said Feige.

The reopened Tree of Life will be a testament to its past and future, noted its leaders.

“Our future is not about being the synagogue that was attacked, it is about being the synagogue that survived, thrived and remembered who we are,” said Schachner.

“We will turn tragedy into triumph, loss into life and love. We will be resilient, and we will be strong.”

Added Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers in a statement, “When we reopen, and we most certainly will, I want the entire world to say, ‘Wow. Look at what they have done.’

To do anything less disrespects the memory of our 11 martyrs.”

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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EDITORIAL Liz Spikol, Acting Editor-in-Chief 215-832-0747 lspikol@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Email: newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org BOARD OF TRUSTEES Evan Indianer, Chairman Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary Jonathan Bernstein, Treasurer David Ainsman, Immediate Past Chairman Gail Childs, Elizabeth F. Collura, Milton Eisner, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Tracy Gross, Richard J. Kitay, Cátia Kossovsky, Andi Perelman, David Rush, Charles Saul GENERAL COUNSEL Stuart R. Kaplan, Esq.

4 OCTOBER 25, 2019

Toby Tabachnick, Senior Staff Writer 412-228-4577 ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Adam Reinherz, Staff Writer 412-687-1000 areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org David Rullo, Staff Writer 412-687-1047 drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org ADVERTISING Kelly Schwimer, Sales Director 412-721-5931 kschwimer@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate 724-713-8874 pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

PRODUCTION Jennifer Perkins-Frantz, Director Rachel S. Levitan Art/Production Coordinator BUSINESS Bill Sims, Director of Circulation 410-902-2315 Devorah Neuman, Circulation subscriptions@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 410-902-2308 Published every Friday by the Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-687-1000 FAX: 412-521-0154 POSTMASTER: Send address change to PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE, 5915 BEACON ST., 5TH FLOOR PITTSBURGH, PA 15217 (PERIODICAL RATE POSTAGE PAID AT PITTSBURGH, PA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES) USPS 582-740

Manuscripts, letters, documents and photographs sent to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle become the property of this publication, which is not responsible for the return or loss of such items.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle does not endorse the goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement.

Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

DEVELOPMENT Barry Rudel, Development Officer 412-215-9157 brudel@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Headlines Cleaning up, after the unimaginable — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

W

hen Yitzchok Gordon arrived at the site, he didn’t bring scaffolding. He wasn’t sure what the job required. Gordon didn’t know whether he needed spackle, scrapers or other materials regularly used for covering up blemishes or altering spaces. What Gordon, a professional painter, realized as he exited his car was that it was night and raining. Streets surrounding the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues were closed to traffic so Gordon, 63, parked as close as possible. He ambled past barricades and huddled with others beneath a small canopy near the Tree of Life building.

It was almost 1 a.m. on Oct. 28. The rain was unrelenting and the bodies of 11 murdered synagogue-goers still remained indoors.

Word had earlier spread that officials overseeing the scene would permit members of the Jewish burial society to escort the dead from the building — accompanying the deceased, or watching over their bodies before burial, is a traditional Jewish practice performed by the chevra kadisha.

Gordon, a 15-year member of the group, came from his Greenfield home ready to assist.

“I wanted to do something because I had

all these emotions going on, and I wanted to do something to help make a difference,” he said. “I wanted to deal with all the frustration, and the pain and the anger, the shock and the grief.”

Gordon never accessed the building that night. Apart from relevant officers, entry was restricted to rabbis Elisar Admon and Daniel Wasserman of the Gesher Hachaim Jewish Burial Society, one of Pittsburgh’s two chevra kadishas; Brad Orsini, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s director of security and Doron Horowitz of the Secure Community Network.

During the rabbis’ time inside, first around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 and again several hours later, they observed the scene with FBI assistant special agent in charge Nicholas Boshears, strategized the cleanup and recited prayers for the dead, said Admon.

Three days later, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, Gordon and six other members of the society were allowed indoors. During that first shift, volunteers were directed downstairs. Their purpose wasn’t merely to clean a rampaged space, but to retrieve any blood or organic matter, as according to Jewish law, all human material, to the best extent possible, must be buried.

Prior to that day, Gordon had never entered the Tree of Life building. He didn’t know the congregational histories, the rabbis, the victims or the families left grieving.

This week in Israeli history — WORLD — Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

Oct. 25, 1895 — Eshkol Is born

Levi Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, is born into a Chasidic family near Kiev as Levi Shkolnik. He makes aliyah in 1914, changes his name to reflect his farm experience (Eshkol means “cluster of grapes”), becomes prime minister in 1963 and leads Israel through the June 1967 war.

Oct. 26, 1994 — Israel, Jordan sign treaty

More than 4,500 people, including President Bill Clinton, w i t n e s s Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian King Hussein sign a peace treaty at the Wadi Araba Border Crossing.

Oct. 27, 1978 — Begin, Sadat win Nobel prize

Forty-one days after signing the Camp David Accords, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat are announced as the winners of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

Oct. 28, 1910 — First kibbutz established

The Hadera Commune arrives at Umm Juni on the banks of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and forms the first kibbutz, Degania Alef (based on the Hebrew word dagan, grain), on land leased from the Jewish National Fund.

p Rabbi Elisar Admon, right, debriefs Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, left, and Consul General of Israel in New York Dani Dayan on Oct. 28, 2018.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

It made no difference, however. “I wanted to be part of taking care of our community, and I think everybody who was there wanted to,” he said.

Gordon scrubbed, scraped and wiped for hours. He followed Admon’s instructions, as the Israeli educator and mohel had seen similar carnage overseas.

During his time with Zaka, a network of voluntary community emergency response teams, Admon formerly gathered bodily remains for proper burial after terrorist

attacks, car accidents or disasters in the Jewish state.

“We had a case on Pesach where it was an Arab-Israeli restaurant,” Admon told the Chronicle. “Matzah, wine and bread, this was the smell, and I remember we laid down a family — a father, mother and two kids next to each other because it was a family who died. You remember these pictures.”

Admon related the story and prepared the Please see Cleaning, page 27

The Duquesne University Fifth Annual

Kristallnacht Commemoration MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 | 4 TO 6 P.M. Charles J. Dougherty Ballroom Power Center, 5th Floor 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

Oct. 29, 1973 — Israeli-Egyptian military talks start

After the Yom Kippur War, the first talks between Israeli and Egyptian generals take place at 1 a.m. in Israeli-controlled territory 101 kilometers (63 miles) east of Cairo.

Oct. 30, 1991 — Peace conference begins

The Soviet Union and the United States convene a three-day Middle East peace conference in Madrid that uses bilateral and multilateral talks. It is the first time that Israeli and PLO negotiators come together.

FEATURED KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Colin Shindler

Emeritus Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London

“The Road from Kristallnacht: Unlearning the Past”

Oct. 31, 1917 — Beersheba captured

Supported by three British divisions, the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade surprises the Turkish defenders and captures Beersheba in a single day, breaking the Ottoman defensive line near Gaza. PJC

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The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by Duquesne University’s McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts and the Jewish Studies Forum, in partnership with the Nathan and Helen Goldrich Foundation.

Co-sponsored by Classrooms Without Borders.

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 5

Headlines ‘Tech Whisperer’ Jack Roseman dies at 88 — LOCAL —

By Hilary Daninhirsch | Special to the Chronicle

N

othing much scared Jack Roseman — he overcame childhood poverty, anti-Semitism, survived a massive heart attack at age 42, counseled countless startup companies and was a chaired professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University.

It wasn’t until he was asked to meet with a group of gifted seventh-graders at a local elementary school that he became nervous.

“What am I supposed to talk with them about?” he had asked his family.

As it turns out, he had nothing to worry about — the kids challenged him and proved that they were every bit as savvy as the college students and businessmen that he had taught over the years.

Known as the Tech Whisperer because of his intricate understanding of startup companies and principles of entrepreneurship, Roseman died on Sept. 30, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, at the age of 88.

“Yonkil” Roseman was born in 1931 in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Ukrainian immigrants. His parents spoke Yiddish exclusively, and Roseman was often left behind in school due to his lack of English knowledge. His father was a tailor who refused to work for less money

than he thought he was worth, often his daughter, Laura Kalchthaler. In plunging the family deeply into fact, one of his prized possessions poverty. Roseman had a brother, was a vacuum tube from an origHyman; an older sister, Lena, arrived inal Whirlwind II computer, one alone in America at the age of 13 of the first computers. “He always when Roseman was 3. He never said it was priceless and belongs in met his older brother, Leibel, who a museum,” she added. perished in the Holocaust along Although he had never taken a with his wife and children. business course, Roseman taught Jack Roseman Courtesy of the entrepreneurial management for 20 “The fact that he grew up in Roseman family poverty affected his whole life,” said years at CMU. “His students loved Judy Roseman, his wife of almost 60 years. him. Every holiday at the dining room table, “To get out and become something, that was he’d boast about his students like they were his very important to him, to make something of kids,” said Kalchthaler. the Roseman name.”

CMU is where Roseman met Saras Determined to never experience poverty Sarasvathy. A Ph.D. student in the 1990s, she again, Roseman put himself through both was his assistant when he taught the entrecollege and graduate school, majoring in math. preneurial management program. The two He met his wife when she was a student in a formed a decades-long friendship. math class he was teaching at the University of “It’s that one-on-one attention he gives Massachusetts in Amherst. With a determined you outside of class that is just amazing. He entrepreneurial spirit that defined the rest of literally looks into your soul and shakes you his life and career, Roseman became immersed into becoming a better human being but in the business world, having worked for such also a better entrepreneur; that was his most large companies as GE and Ceir and was important characteristic,” said Sarasvathy, involved with several software startups, such now a professor at Darden School of Business as Heliodyne Corp. and Actronics. at University of Virginia.

In 1970, he and his young family moved Kalchthaler echoed this. “He would push to Pittsburgh, where he had an opportu- people to be their best, think their best, to nity to work with On-Line Systems, one of push beyond what their comfort zone would the first computer companies (eventually be,” she said. bought out by Sprint). “He was a pioneer in Although never experiencing poverty the computer industry, way back when,” said again was a driving force in his life, he was

also motivated by helping people. His goal, said Judy, was “to help others and to provide jobs and build something that didn’t exist, find a niche and do what you can for the people working for you.”

After years of working for, creating and advising companies, he established and became director of the Roseman Institute, a consulting firm for businesses, specifically startups and tech companies.

A major event that shaped his life was the heart attack he suffered at 42; he was not expected to live through the night. Even when it was apparent he would survive, he did not expect to live past 50. Kalchthaler said that for years, her father would set his watch alarm to ring at midnight, marking another day of life that he was given, and greeting that day with gratitude.

Always one to enthusiastically share both business and life lessons, Roseman wrote two books. The first, “Outrageous Optimism: Wisdom for the Entrepreneurial Journey,” was published in 2004 and provides a compilation of business advice. It has been translated into different languages and is used in college classrooms.

His most recent book, written with Pittsburgh-based reporter Evan Pattak in 2017, is more personal. Entitled “Jump! How I Rose from Poverty and Anti-Semitism to Become a Please see Roseman, page 36

You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear You’ve got to be taught from year to year It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin is a diff ’rent shade You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate You’ve got to be carefully taught

“You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” (sometimes “You’ve Got to Be Taught” or “Carefully Taught”) is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

South Pacific received scrutiny for its commentary regarding relationships between different races and ethnic groups.

In particular, “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage. Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a line saying racism is “not born in you! It happens after you’re born ... “ Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While the show was on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing “an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow.”

One legislator said that “a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life. “ Rodgers and Hammerstein defended their work strongly.

James Michener, upon whose stories South Pacific was based, recalled, “The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in.

In the rising of the sun and its going down,

We Remember Them.

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Year in Review Oct. 27, 2018, the immediate aftermath

p Bullet-ridden siddur

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p People began brought flowers and messages.

Photos by Adam Reinherz

Throughout Squirrel Hill and in surrounding neighborhoods public displays of solidarity were made.

p The community gathered at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum a day after the attack.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Funerals

p Windows at the Starbucks on Forbes and Shady Avenues in Squirrel Hill were painted with Hebrew words.

Photo by Nicole Flannery

p Between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, funerals for the 11 victims were held at local congregations, the JCC and at Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel.

Final burial marked communal testament

p Sidewalk in Squirrel Hill

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p A sign outside Children’s Institute in Squirrel Hill Photo by Adam Reinherz

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p Last remnants of bloodied materials were buried by members of Pittsburgh’s two chevra kadishas.

Photos by Adam Reinherz

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 25, 2019 7

Year in Review Those who came to comfort

p Ambassador Lily L. W. Hsu and Minister Hsin-hsing Wu joined members of a Taiwanese delegation in leaving flowers outside the Tree of Life building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Rev. Eric S. C. Manning and members of Mother Emanuel in Charleston, South Carolina visited.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

p President Trump places stone on the makeshift memorial with Melania Trump and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Polly Sheppard and Barry Werber, survivors of mass shootings, embrace.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida offered advice.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

p Isaac “Bougie” Herzog, right, is joined by Gov. Tom Wolf and Cindy Shapira at the makeshift memorial.

Courtesy photo

 Rabbi Moshe Sebbag, rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Paris, La Victoire, outside of Tree of Life building.

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Moshe Sebbag

p Nimi, a theraputic clown from Israel, brought smiles to Hillel Academy students.

Photo courtesy of p Neuroscientist and actress Mayim Bialik spent Shabbat in Pittsburgh

Oren Levy

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

8 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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Year in Review October 27 felt around the world

p Pittsburgh Federation CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein celebrates Diaspora Jewry at Israel’s national Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.

p Alan and Stacey Hausman, of Tree of Life, lit a candle at Washington National Cathedral.

p Mayor Bill Peduto honored victims during visit to Israel Photo courtesy of Mayor Bill Peduto

p Michele Rosenthal, right, and Diane Rosenthal expressed appreciation in Israel.

Photo courtesy of Jewish

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Photo courtesy of Stacey Hausman

Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Rabbi Myers used his increased pulpit to discourage “H speech.”

Photo courtesy of Bob Butter

p Mayor Bill Peduto honored victims during a visit to Auschwitz.

Photo courtesy of Dan Gilman

p During a visit to Auschwitz, Gov. Tom Wolf wrote down the 11 victims’ names.

Photo courtesy of The Office of Governor Tom Wolf

People came to comfort

p Doron Krakow, president and CEO, JCC Association of North America, left, joined 100 other JCC professionals during visit to Pittsburgh

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

p Holocaust survivor and Tree of Life member Judah Samet at the White House with Melania Trump Courtesy photo

t Rabbi Jeffrey Myers and a Tree of Life yarmulke gifted by members of Uganda’s Jewish community

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p 40 Russian Jewish women visited the Tree of Life building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 9

Year in Review Challenges, healing

Pittsburgh and Poway

p Yeshiva Girls School students daven outside the building.

Photo by Jim Busis

p First responder, officer Michael Smidga, left, and New Light member Barry Werber, during a Federation event.

Photo courtesy of Barry Werber t Andrea Wedner, left, and Michele Rosenthal lit a candle in memory of Lori Gilbert-Kaye who was murdered in Poway.

p Members of the Clarion Quartet performed at the Community Shloshim.

Photo by Adam Hertzman

p Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, of New Light Congregation, spoke about the Poway attack.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Local faith leaders held a vigil after the April attack in Sri Lanka.

Photo by Jim Busis

t Hal Grinberg, left, Samuel Tarr, Leigh Stein, Joey Stein, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers and Aaron Myers participated in the ceremonial throwing of the first pitch at Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park.

Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates

 Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of Pittsburgh’s JCC explained how years of partnerships between the JCC, Federation and JFCS aided immediate response to the attack.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

p Jewish community members showed support at Pittsburgh’s Islamic Center after the Christchurch mosque shootings. Photo by Toby Tabachnick

10 OCTOBER 25, 2019

p Dan Leger, left, Rabbi Daniel Wasserman and Stefanie Small shared thoughts at the JCC on the value of a chevra kadisha.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Calendar q SUNDAY, OCT. 27 Remember. Repair. Together.

Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the oneyear commemoration of the Oct. 27 massacre. Take part in community service opportunities (11 a.m.-1 p.m.), Torah Study (2 p.m.-4 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation) and a community gathering at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall beginning at 5 p.m.

Registration is now open. Visit PittsburghOct27.org to learn more. >>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Submissions will also be included in print.

Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, OCT. 25 Join other young adults beginning at 6 p.m. at Together at the Table: A Community Building Shabbat Dinner. Reflect on the past year and look forward to the future of Jewish Pittsburgh. Visit shalompittsburgh.org/event/ young-adult-commemorative-shabbat-dinner to learn more.

With the USC Shoah Foundation No-Cost Professional Development Opportunity, ITeach Seminar, educators will learn to use testimony to address challenging social

climate issues such as contemporary antiSemitism and the rise in hate crime, learn how IWitness provides students a unique primary source that connects learners with contextualized first-person views of history through multimedia activities, and learn effective strategies to teach with IWitness, an educational website that offers students over 3,000 full life testimonies of survivors and witnesses to genocides. Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh (826 Hazelwood Ave.), 11 a.m. Free. To register, visit trainingreport. formstack.com/forms/pa_registration_form. q SATURDAY, OCT. 26 Temple David (4415 Northern Pike, 15146) will conduct a special program, “Remembering October 27, 2018: From Darkness to LightFrom Embrace to Hope.” A family program will begin at 6:15 p.m. including a visit by a

therapy dog, an original mosaic art project and a take-home project. At 7 p.m. “From Darkness to Light” a simple ceremony separating the Sabbath from the new week, called “Havdalah.” Families with young children may choose to leave afterward.

At 7:30 p.m. “Embrace to Hope” begins. A comfort program through words and the songs of an interfaith choir that will honor first responders and features Brandi Gurcak, clinical coordinator for the Center for Victims, presenting “Creating Space for Hope.” A reception will conclude the evening. Open to the public. templedavid.org Celebrate with Chabad House on Campus at their 31st Anniversary Event dessert reception honoring University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher at the William Pitt Union, Tansky Lower Lounge (3959 Fifth Ave.) beginning at 8:30 p.m. Couvert: $54/ person; $100 per couple; $1,800/VIP reserved seating for 10 guests. q SUNDAY, OCT. 27 Donate Blood. Save Lives. Schedule an appointment to give blood at the South Hills JCC, noon-4 p.m. Walk-ins welcome. To make an appointment visit vitalant.org and use code C438.

the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Itzhak Perlman, PSO Principal Clarinetist Michael Rusinek and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. The program will air locally at noon on WQED-TV. q MONDAY, OCT. 28 Music at Rodef Shalom presents: Theater Songs…The Music of Douglas Levine. Pianist, composer and music director Douglas Levine presents an evening of original musical theater compositions from the last 20 years.

Performers include six outstanding local singers backed by an instrumental combo with Levine at the piano. The event is free, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. q TUESDAY, OCT. 29 Chabad of the South Hills presents Love & Knaidels Kosher Cooking for a Cause – Sweet Beginnings Ruglelach Bake. Bake two pans of rugelach — one to take home, one to share. Enjoy a buffet of appetizers while you bake. 1701 McFarland Road, 6 p.m. Free.

Register online at chabadsh.com or batya@ chabadsh.com. q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30

WQED commemorates one year since the Tree of Life massacre, rebroadcasting the “Tree of Life: A Concert for Peace and Unity.” Presented by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the concert honored the synagogue victims and first responders and featured Music Director Manfred Honeck,

Celebrate with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at the CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV: Women’s Stories Launch Party beginning at 6 p.m. at Chatham University’s Boardroom (Woodland Road, 15232). Hear from the creators about the process of putting the Please see Calendar, page 12

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Calendar Calendar: Continued from page 11 book together. Light hors d’oeuvres served.

Learn more at hcofpgh.org/cp4kickoff.

Feeling lonely and looking for some friendly faces? Come to Moishe House on October 30 at 7 p.m. for Pumpkin Carving at MoHo and you can carve all the friendly faces you want on some pumpkins! If you prefer human faces, you’re in luck, there will be friendly humans present as well. Anyone who comes in costume and says “trick-or-treat” will be provided free snacks (as will everyone else)! For more information visit facebook. com/events/ 2669878686410076. Moishe House activities are intended for young adults aged 22-32. q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 30; NOV. 6, 13, 20

q SATURDAYS, NOV. 2; DEC. 7 Join Lauri Lang, RDN LDN Concierge Wellness LLC for a four-part (once a month Sept.-Dec.) Holistic Nutrition and Wellness Series which will contain the following elements under four umbrella themes: interactive lecture with Q&A; featured item for sampling and discussion; guided meditation and/or breathwork (pranayama).

The umbrella themes are: Nov. 2, 2019: Women’s Health Across the Lifespan; Dec. 7, 2019: Enhancing Immune Function, Vitality and Graceful Aging. Each workshop is 75 minutes in length. $59 for one workshop/$99 for all four. Visit sthielpilates.com for more information and to register. q SUNDAY, NOV. 3

Jewish Family and Community Services presents Trauma Resiliency Group: An Integrative Approach to Healing, a free weekly gathering for anyone suffering the aftermath of the trauma of Oct. 27.

Offered by Amy Lohr, LCSW, integrative psychotherapist, at JFCS, Room A/B, second fl., 5743 Bartlett St., Squirrel Hill at 4 p.m.

Join the Jewish Federation Young Adult Division, PJ Library and Community Day School for some Noah’s Ark themed fun beginning at 1 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Spend the afternoon at 2x2 at the Zoo with PJ Library learning about and getting up close and personal with some animals and participate in fun activities and crafts. Visit jewishpgh.org/event/2-x-2-at-the-zoo for more information.

“Heal, Grow and Live with Hope” Nar-Anon and NA meetings every Wednesday evening at Beth El Congregation, 1900 Cochran Road, 15220 at 7:30 p.m. Come to the office/school entrance at the end of the building to be buzzed in. Call Karen at 412-563-3395 and leave a message for more information.

Enjoy a night with friends, popcorn and fun when Rodef Shalom Sisterhood Movie Night Presents: Hester Street, starring Carol Kane. A charming story about a young Russian bride and her son who arrive to live in America with her husband in the 1890s.

She discovers a very different world in New

York City, and a very indifferent husband.

Directed by popular director Joan Micklin Silver and starring actress Carol Kane, who garnered an Academy Award nomination for best actress in 1975 for this film. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments are provided. No RSVP required. Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave., rodefshalom.org. q MONDAY, NOV. 4 Jack Mostow presents “RoboTutor: $1 Million Finalist in the Global Learning XPRIZE competition” at Beth El Congregation’s First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum. All First Monday events begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m., $6. To RSVP, call 412-561-1168.

Join New York Times columnist Bari Weiss for a discussion of her book “How To Fight Anti-Semitism,” a cri de coeur about how anti-Semitism has moved from the lunatic fringe into the mainstream of American life — and what we can do to stop it. Weiss will be in conversation with Mark Nordenberg, chancellor emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh and chair of the University’s Institute of Politics. 7 p.m. Chatham University, Campbell Memorial Chapel, 1 Woodland Road.

Event is free. RSVP required. Book signing with author to follow. For more information and to RSVP, go to bariweiss.com/pittsburgh.

Barry Rudel presents “A Look Back” reflecting on the Johnston Jewish community and downtown business district at Gallery on Gazebo (140 Gazebo Place, Johnston, PA 15901) at 7 p.m. The gallery exhibit includes presentation boards from Beth

Shalom. Free. for more information visit galleryongazebo.org. q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6 David Finegold joins Rodef Shalom Congregation to discuss “The Changing Higher Education Landscape: The Next Chapter in Chatham’s 150-Year Journey,” a conversation about the University’s efforts to create a larger and more attractive community for Jewish students. Finegold has more than 30 years of experience in higher education. In March 2016, he was appointed the 19th President of Chatham University.

Free and open to the public, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Seating is limited. Please RSVP by calling 412-621-6566 or at rodefshalom.org/rsvp. q THURSDAY, NOV. 7 The Mediation Council of Western PA presents Conflict Resolution Day on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Levinson Hall (5738 Forbes Ave). The event will honor the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh and Brian Schreiber, 2019 Conflict Resolution Day joint recipients, for their actions of healing and reconciliation following the Oct. 27 shootings. www.mediationcouncilpa.org/ conflict-resolution-day q SATURDAY, NOV. 9 Join Congregation Beth Shalom as they celebrate the accomplishments of valued Please see Calendar, page 13

Saturday, Nov. 2, 7 PM

ON PURPOSE:

TORAH & TURF

Rabbi Deborah Zecher’s One-Woman Cabaret

Flag Football League A Flag Football League with a dose of Torah

Sunday Evenings at the Schenley Oval

Nominated as “Best Debut” in 2018 by BroadwayWorld.com & the Manhattan Association of Cabarets

Season Begins November 3rd

Using music of the American songbook and contemporary cabaret songwriters, Rabbi Zecher shares her talent and her spirit in a way that moves audiences across the generations. $40 Registration Fee

Register Online http://www.kollelpgh.org/kollelkonnections For more information email Rabbi Yossi Berkowitz at yossiberk@gmail.com

Rabbi Zecher grew up at Temple David in Monroeville and was the first woman rabbi from the Pittsburgh area. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York in 1982 where she also received her Doctor of Divinity degree in 2007.

Free & Open to the Community. Donations encouraged.

5505 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (412) 421-9715

A Project of Kollel Konnections in conjunction with

12 OCTOBER 25, 2019

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

REGISTER ONLINE www.TempleSinaiPGH.org.

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December 8, 2019 9am - 4pm JCC Squirrel Hill

Calendar Calendar:

q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13 q SUNDAY, DEC. 8

Continued from page 12 volunteers during the 2019 Volunteer Awards Brunch at 10 a.m. in the Samuel and Minnie Human Ballroom. Call 412-421-2288 for more information.

We want

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents “Etty,” the one-woman play based on the Signdiaries up for one of or more and letters Etty Hillesum and slotsadapted in our three phoning and performed by Susan Stein. The sessions: play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. at the 9 amLibrary – 11Lecture am Hall (4400 Forbes Carnegie Ave.), commemorating the 81st anniversary 11:30 am – 1:30 pm of Kristallnacht. The play will be followed pm – 4with pm by2 a discussion the audience. For more information visit hcofpgh.org/kristallnacht19.

to t o volunteer on

super sunday!!!

Volunteer at Super Sunday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual megaphone-a-thon, at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Three time slots available. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org/event/ super-Sunday-2.

jewishpgh.org/event/ super-Sunday

q SUNDAY, NOV. 10 & MONDAY, NOV. 11 In commemoration of the shooting at the Tree of Life building, Classrooms Without Borders is organizing a conference titled Antisemitism, Hate and Social Responsibility, to take place at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave., from 1-5 p.m. on Nov. 10-11, 2019. The conference will feature lectures by renowned scholars and workshops that will equip teachers to educate and inspire their students to identify and combat hate, anti-Semitism and racism. This conference is geared towards academia, educators, spiritual leaders, students, and members of the community. Please contact daniel@ classroomswithoutborders.org for more information or visit classroomswithoutborders. org/events/show.php?229.

q TUESDAY, NOV. 12

q SUNDAYS, NOV. 17-DEC. 22

The Jewish Pro-Life Foundation invites you to attend Judaism: The Original Pro-Life Religion, an uplifting educational program exploring Judaism’s traditional principles regarding unborn life. A short slideshow will be presented followed by Q&A. Bring your curiosity and conversation, but please leave any politics and polemics at the door. The program is free of charge. Light refreshments will be served. Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill Branch, Meeting Room B, 1 p.m.q TueSdays, nov. 12-Dec. 17;

Mined from the teachings of the Torah and contemporary psychology, Worrier to Warrior: Jewish secrets to feeling good however you feel, a six-week Rohr Jewish Learning Institute course, takes a fresh approach to the providing realistic spiritual mechanisms for the battle against bad feelings, remaining upbeat no matter what life brings. Offered Tuesday evenings starting Nov. 12 from 7:30-9 p.m. at the South Hills JCC, 345 Kane Blvd or Sunday Mornings starting Nov. 17, 10:15-11:30 a.m. at Chabad of the South Hills, Mt. 1701 McFarland Rd. For more information call 412-344-2424 or rabbi@chabadsh.com.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MANY

HAPPY RETURNS.

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh to kick off the 2020 Community Campaign. This Is Us will celebrate the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Featuring an interview with chef Kevin Sousa (Superior Motors) and Chef Michael Solomonov (Zahav) about all things Israeli food and Jewish Pittsburgh. This Is Us takes place from 5:30-8 p.m. at Rivers Casino. To learn more, visit jewishpgh.org/event/this-is-us-2. q TUESDAY, NOV. 19 Celebrate with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at the CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV: Women’s Stories South Hills Launch Party beginning at 7 p.m. at the South Hills JCC (345 Kane Blvd., 15243). Hear from the creators about the process of putting the book together. Light hors d’oeuvres served.

Learn more at hcofpgh.org/cp4kickoff. q SATURDAY, NOV. 23 Congregation Beth Shalom’s Samuel and Minnie Hyman Ballroom (5915 Beacon St.) will be transformed into the hottest comedy club in town for Come Together: Comedy Night, the congregation’s annual fundraiser.

The comedy night stars Modi, called “the next Jackie Mason” by The New York Times. The laughs begin at 7 p.m. Tickets: bethshalompgh.org/cometogether PJC

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North 412-551-1697 South 412-657-9935 OCTOBER 25, 2019 13

Headlines As a gunman loomed outside their synagogue, Jews in Halle kept praying — WORLD —

By Rebecca Spiess and Toby Axelrod | JTA

J

ust two days after a deadly neo-Nazi attack in Halle, the city in eastern Germany slowly stirred to life.

In the morning, a woman walked a small dog along the sidewalk, crossing the street to avoid the police tape and masses of candles melting down. A mother passed by pushing a baby in a stroller.

Memorials flanked the doorway where a gunman tried to force his way inside a synagogue using explosives and homemade weaponry. Media crews and cameras still lingered across the narrow street. A police van with two officers idled.

For a city with an aging populace often described as calm, where services like Uber are still largely unavailable, the attack came as a shock.

“Everyone is quiet, turned into themselves.

You can tell everyone is in deep mourning,” Nicole Wiedemann, a Halle resident, said while paying her respects before work. “We were shocked. We didn’t understand at first. That only came later, when we weren’t allowed to leave our buildings.”

The attack by a 27-year-old perpetrator, now in custody, left two dead and two injured — and a community in fear. While the synagogue’s hefty doors protected those inside, the pious Yom Kippur atmosphere for this synagogue in a city of some 240,000 residents, including 555 Jews, was shattered. Halle has now been put on the international map.

The voices of those who were behind the doors of the synagogue on Humboldtstrasse during the attack resonated loudest in the

days following.

Karen Engel, who attended the Orthodox service with a visiting group from the Base Hillel center in Berlin, described an emotional gathering with singing and prayer that included Jews of many denominations.

A rabbinical candidate at the Conservative movement’s Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam, Engel found herself thinking about “how wonderful it was that this was able to take place.”

“We know how difficult it is to have meaningful services in Germany in small communities,” said Engel, an American who has lived in Europe for 30 years. “And then in the middle of this singing we heard an explosion and then the shots.”

The perpetrator began his attack at approximately noon on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. According to various media reports, there were 50 to 80 worshippers inside at the time, including about 10 Americans living in Germany and participating in the Base Hillel program sent to Halle to add to the small community’s Yom Kippur service.

The gunman, reportedly wearing combat gear and a head-mounted camera, was unable to shoot his way into the synagogue after trying multiple doors and hurling explosives. He then shot a non-Jewish female passerby, as well as a non-Jewish customer at a nearby Turkish kebab shop while making his escape.

He was taken into police custody about an hour and a half later, according to Der Spiegel. The assailant was later identified as a 27-year-old male who lives in a town less than an hour from Halle.

Ezra Waxman, a 31-year-old postdoctoral Please see Halle, page 15

p Candles memorialize the victims of the shooting outside the synagogue in Halle.

Photo by Rebecca Spiess

14 OCTOBER 25, 2019

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Headlines Halle: Continued from page 14

student living in Berlin, was among the group of Americans who came to Halle and recalled the confusion as the group heard a series of loud sounds. Security personnel inside barricaded the doors from the inside.

Eventually the worshippers gathered in a backroom and upstairs.

Despite the uncertainty, panic did not ensue, Waxman said.

“I have no logical explanation as to why I kept as calm as I did,” he said Friday. “Maybe just my nature in some sense. I was impressed slash taken aback, there was no one that seemed to be immediately traumatized or freaking out or collapsing, none of that. People were just kind of waiting for instructions.”

For hours, the group remained inside the synagogue, even continuing with prayers.

The police arrived and told them they would soon be evacuated. As the group waited it came time for mincha, the afternoon service.

Many decided to go ahead with it.

“There was an added sense of spirituality or religious fervor amongst all of us,” Waxman recalled.

Eventually the congregation was evacuated to the local hospital for evaluation. They asked permission to continue their Yom Kippur service in the cafeteria.

“We had four or five machzorim [prayerbooks], and we were singing and chanting,” said Christina Feist, 29, who is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Potsdam near Berlin. “It was intense and emotional.”

She added that one worshipper “had his shofar and took it with him when we were evacuated.”

Some hospital staff stopped to watch the service; some even filmed it.

“It was not a weird kind of ‘watching those crazy people,’” Feist said. “It was, ‘They are celebrating!’ … They were baffled, amazed and just interested.”

Hospital staff provided food for infants and the elderly, and the chief physician treated them all to beer after the service, Feist said.

Rabbi Elisha Portnoy, who practices in

p The cordoned-off scene outside the kebab shop in Halle where the shooter killed one of his two victims.

Photo by Rebecca Spiess

Dessau as well as Halle, said he was proud of his community’s bravery in reacting to the tragedy. He said the biggest surprise wasn’t the attack itself but the location: Such violence may have been expected in larger cities like Berlin or Munich, but not Halle.

Portnoy said he has felt an increase in hostility toward Jews in Germany, which is supported by data gathered by organizations like the Center for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS Berlin.

“It’s not in Halle, not in Dessau, it’s basically Germany in general,” Portnoy said of the rise in anti-Semitism. “But not in such small communities. So it was really a surprise. Nobody could imagine such a thing could happen to us.”

p A view inside the synagogue in Halle, Germany, that was targeted by a gunman on Oct. 9, 2019.

Photo by Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images

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“I hope people will come to synagogue to pray … slowly but surely it will be better,” he added.

In the wake of the tragedy, politicians and Jewish leaders offered words both of condolence and warning.

“We need to do more to guarantee these types of attacks do not happen again, by combating radicalisation, creating tougher law enforcement measures and putting more resources into educating towards tolerance,” Moshe Kantor, head of the European Jewish Congress, said Thursday in a statement from Brussels.

Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement the same day that it had become unfortunately obvious that “all Jewish places of worship and Jewish communal sites need to have enhanced round-the-clock security provided by state security services.”

A solidarity rally held in nearby Leipzig was organized by the local German-Israel Society. And the European Union of Jewish Students held a rally in front of the German mission to the European Union.

Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission coordinator for combating anti-Semitism, told the crowd at the Jewish Students’ rally, “We often say anti-Semitism has no place in our society. Yet two days ago we saw once again that anti-Semitism murders in Europe.

“Today we will send out letters to all 28 member states reminding them to scale up security and better collaborate with Jewish communities.”

Others have shared frustrations about a lack of action.

Elio Adler, the founder of a Jewish nonpartisan group dubbed the Values Initiative, echoed von Shnurbein as well as other leaders in asking why there was no police

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protection for the synagogue on Yom Kippur.

“It is high time for Germany to decide how to deal with anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred,” he wrote in a news release.

“The steps previously taken are obviously not enough.”

The suspect comes from a small community of 2,000 near Eisleben, an eastern German town whose population has fallen nearly 50 percent since the mid-1960s. The decline mirrors the same demographic collapse that much of East Germany suffered following unification in 1990.

Some observers suggest that economic stress coupled with the influx of more than a million refugees in Germany — many of them Muslims from war-torn countries since 2015 — have contributed to support for rightwing parties. In this society on edge, there has been a recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents.

The areas suffering population loss and economic stress have also proven to be strongholds for Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD party, some of whose representatives have belittled the Holocaust.

Critics have warned that the AfD is close to neo-Nazi ideology.

Following the party’s election successes in September, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in an interview that the AfD is closely interwoven with right-wing extremism, inciting fears and promoting an anti-minority atmosphere.

Despite concerns about anti-Semitism among the many Muslims in Germany, the far right remains the greatest threat to Jews, he said at the time.

“We cannot simply go back to normal,” von Schnurbein said Friday morning. “The attack in Halle must be the wake-up call.”

JTA staff writer Josefin Dolsten contributed to this report. PJC OCTOBER 25, 2019 15

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Headlines The Democratic debate revealed the candidates’ differences on Middle East policy — NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

T

he fourth Democratic presidential debate revealed fissures among the candidates on whether to keep U.S. troops in the Middle East.

The 12 hopefuls on the stage last week at Otterbein University in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb were unanimous in describing President Donald Trump’s pullout of American troops from Syria as catastrophic for the Kurds, U.S. allies in the war against the Islamic State who are now at the mercy of Turkish forces who invaded northern Syria following the American departure. But they differed over whether U.S. forces should remain in the region.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, a veteran who in the past has sounded conciliatory toward the Syrian regime, blamed the carnage on “the regime-change war that we’ve been waging in Syria” and said the United States had backed terrorists in the country.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., agreed with Gabbard “that we ought to get out of the Middle East. I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East.”

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is also a veteran, lashed out at Gabbard.

“The slaughter going on in Syria is not a consequence of American presence,” he said.

“It’s a consequence of a withdrawal and a betrayal by this president of American allies and American values.”

Gabbard shot back: “So, really, what you’re saying, Mayor Pete, is that you would continue to support having U.S. troops in Syria for an indefinite period of time to continue this regime-change war that has caused so many refugees to flee Syria.”

“You can put an end to endless war without embracing Donald Trump’s policy, as you’re doing,” Buttgieg countered.

Also upholding the U.S. troop presence in northern Syria were former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, along with former Housing Secretary Julian Castro.

“The crisis here, as I think Joe said and Pete said, is when you begin to betray people, in terms of the Kurds, 11,000 of them died fighting ISIS, 30,000 were wounded, and the United States said, ‘We’re with you, we’re standing with you,’” said Sanders, I-Vt., who before Warren’s surge was the flag-bearer for progressives and a critic of U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

“And then suddenly, one day after a phone call with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, announced by tweet, Trump reverses that policy. Now you tell me what country in the world will trust the word of the president of the United States?”

Klobuchar, of Minnesota, was the only candidate to note the impact on Israel of the rupture of the U.S. alliance with the Kurds.

“Think about our other allies, Israel,” she said. “How do they feel right now? Donald Trump is not true to his word when they are a beacon of democracy in the Mideast.”

Klobuchar and Castro also faulted Trump for pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal last year, saying it diminished U.S. influence abroad.

The deal, which traded sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, was stridently opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump wants to negotiate a more stringent deal with Iran and has reimposed tough sanctions on the country.

Sanders, 78, addressed concerns about his health arising after his recent heart attack.

“Let me invite you all to a major rally we’re having in Queens, New York,” he said. “We’re going to have a special guest at that event.

And we are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. That is how I think I can reassure the American people.”

Toward the end of the debate, news broke that the special guest was Alexandria OcasioCortez, the freshman congresswoman from New York. Ocasio-Cortez worked as an organizer for Sanders’ 2016 run.

Also endorsing Sanders were two other members of “The Squad” of freshman Democrats: Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Their support was notable as Warren surpassed Sanders in polling over the summer to become the leading progressive alternative to Biden.

Recent polling is showing Warren pulling ahead of Biden as well to become the leading candidate overall.

Omar and Tlaib both back the boycott Israel movement and have been faulted for remarks seen as crossing the line into anti-Semitism. Sanders does not support a boycott of Israel, but upholds the right of other Americans to do so.

Much of the first hour of the debate featured candidates targeting Warren, a consequence of her new front-runner status.

Warren was criticized for not explaining how she would fund her “Medicare for All” initiative.

As in the previous debates, candidates charged that Trump’s blunt nationalism was fueling bigotry and right-wing violence.

Harris, of California, lashed out at Warren for not endorsing her call for Twitter to suspend the president’s account.

“I would urge you to join me,” Harris said to Warren. “We saw in El Paso that that shooter in his manifesto was informed by how Donald Trump uses that platform, and this is a matter of corporate responsibility.

Twitter should be held accountable and shut down that site.”

Warren avoided taking up the challenge, saying she preferred to use antitrust laws to break up tech monopolies. PJC

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 17

Headlines This 10-year-old Jewish reporter at the Democratic debate had some tough questions ready for Bernie Sanders — NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

G

ive 10-year-old Shawn Fairbairn this: He’s a political reporter who cuts to the quick.

He thinks that Marianne Williamson, the self-help guru seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, should stick to writing books. His first question for a top surrogate for Bernie Sanders was whether the Vermont senator was up to the job of running for president after a heart attack.

And if he gets a moment to talk to Sanders himself? He has a great gotcha question ready: What’s his favorite Ben and Jerry’s flavor?

“I’d ask him how he’s feeling and if he recovered well, I think I’ll ask him that about his favorite flavor,” Fairbairn explained, anticipating Sanders’ likely appearance in the spin room after the Oct. 15 debate in Westerville, Ohio.

Fairbairn was the latest reporter representing KidScoop Media at the debates.

KidScoop Media is a Culver City, California outfit that gets kids interested in the news by getting them to report on it.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency profiled

another KidScoop Media It was at least a more reporter, Jeffery Kraft, in July normative encounter than at the debate in Detroit. He Kraft’s with Williamson, at was the youngest reporter the July debate. Williamson there, 10 years old at the time. gave Kraft an odd scoop — Fairbairn, like Kraft, is that her cat was dead.

Jewish, and attends Hebrew The night of the debate, school at Temple Akiba in Fairbairn, sporting a gray Culver City twice a week. He suit, a blue shirt, a black says without hesitation that bow tie and a Sony camera his favorite Jewish holiday around his neck, wandered is Rosh Hashanah. the spin room and scored an “I really like the Rosh interview with Nina Turner, Hashanah dinners and I like the former Ohio state being with my family a lot,” he p senator who is the presiShawn Fairbairn, Kids Scoop News reporter, reporting from said. “I really like matzah balls.” the Democratic debate in Westerville, Ohio.

Photo by Ron Kampeas dent of Our Revolution, the Matzah balls? What about political action committee apples and honey? animals and a lot of frogs live in rain- that grew out of Sanders’ 2016 campaign.

“I don’t actually really like apples and honey,” forests,” he said.

“I asked her how Senator Sanders was said Fairbairn, and then added with the politest Shawn actually met Williamson when the doing,” Fairbairn said. “She said he’s feeling expression of disgust shadowing his face. candidate had an event in Culver City in July. great, he’s in high spirits. She said he has a Shawn has more serious questions to ask “Why did you take a break from writing lot of energy.” the candidates too. books to go into politics?” he asked her.

Turner told Fairbairn that Sanders and Ben “I want to ask how they will empower kids Her answer: She still is writing, on Twitter. and Jerry are all Vermonters, and that the ice like me who want to make a difference in the “I just wanted to know, when we looked her cream mavens back Sanders’ campaign. world,” he said. up we saw she was an author, that she used to But it was JTA who told Fairbairn How does Fairbairn want to make be author and then she became a politician,” that Sanders, Ben, Jerry and Williamson a difference?

Fairbairn told JTA. “I like to read books, I were all Jewish.

“Rainforests. I like all the animals in them, would wonder why people would stop writing, His eyebrows shot up. “I did not know I like animals a lot, frogs are my favorite because I think that books are amazing.” that!” PJC

JOIN BARI WEISS IN PITTSBURGH FOR A DISCUSSION OF HER BOOK,

HOW TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM Monday, November 4, 7 PM Chatham University Campbell Memorial Chapel 1 Woodland Road As an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times, Bari Weiss has a reputation for clarity and courage. Her first book, How To Fight Anti-Semitism, is no different. In this cri de coeur—called “brave”

by The New York Times and “a must-read” by Publishers Weekly—she explains why anti-Semitism has moved from the lunatic fringe into the mainstream of American life—and explains what we can do to stop it. A proud daughter of Pittsburgh, Weiss is honored to be returning home to talk with Mark Nordenberg, chancellor emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh and chair of the University’s Institute of Politics.

Event is free. RSVP required. Book signing with author to follow.

For more information and to RSVP: bariweiss.com/pittsburgh

18 OCTOBER 25, 2019

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

CROWN

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The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh joins our entire community in honoring the lives lost and the people affected by the attack of October 27, 2018.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 25, 2019 19

AS WE REMEMBER

Representatives from the Pittsburgh Jewish community gathered in Karmiel, Israel — Jewish Federation’s Partnership2Gether region —for the dedication of a memorial to the victims of the attack on Oct. 27, 2018.

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh CEO Jeff Finkelstein, representing Jewish Pittsburgh, lit a torch on behalf of Diaspora Jewry at the Israeli National Yom Ha’atzmaut Celebration in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.

The Jewish Federation displayed cards of support received from children and well-wishers in the wake of the attack on Oct. 27, 2018.

20 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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B t t

Pennsylvania legislators participated in a mission to Israel, organized by the Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council, to gain a deeper understanding of the connection between Israel and the local Jewish community.

Brad Orsini, director of community security for the Jewish Federation, trained thousands of Jewish community members in areas such as Stop the Bleed, a program to train anyone to respond quickly in case of an emergency.

Jewish Federation enabled volunteers to give back to the greater Pittsburgh community that supported them; pictured, Federation’s E3 program worked together to prepare “birthday bags” for children in need through the nonprofit organization Beverly’s Birthdays.

WE FEEL HONORED TO HELP OUR COMMUNITY HEAL

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 21

Join us on Wednesday, DECEMBER 25, 2019, for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Volunteer Center’s 19th Annual

Registration will be open from NOON ON NOV. 25 – DEC. 15 Sign up early. Sites fill quickly!

Mitzvah Day Chair Shoshi Butler Volunteer Center Shira Burg Shoshi Butler Yoni Fischer Robin Gordon Marcia Haberman

Volunteer Center Chair Adrienne Indianer Committee Stu Harris Alan Himmel Kimberly Simon Lynn Snyderman Kelly Waldman

For more information, please visit jewishpgh.org/mitzvah-day Questions? Contact Bex at bfrankeberger@jfedpgh.org or 412.992.5214.

22 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

3 of the 4 congresswoman in ‘The Squad’ endorse Bernie Sanders

Three of the four members of “The Squad,” the grouping of progressive Democratic freshmen who have stirred excitement in their party with their ideas as well as controversy with their remarks, are set to endorse Bernie Sanders for president.

The Vermont senator, the first Jewish candidate to win presidential nominating contests when he ran in 2016, hinted at the announcement in the debate on Oct. 15 at Otterbein University in this suburb of Columbus.

Sanders, 78, was asked by the CNN/New York Times moderators how he would reassure voters that he was up to a run after surviving a recent heart attack.

“Let me invite you all to a major rally we’re having in Queens, New York,” he said. “We’re going to have a special guest at that event.

And we are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. That is how I think I can reassure the American people.”

Before the debate was through, news outlets broke the news that the “special guest” at the event Saturday would be Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, one of the lawmakers in “The Squad.”

Within minutes, another Squad member, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, announced her endorsement. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan

also was said to be set to announce her support for Sanders.

Omar and Tlaib both endorse the boycott Israel movement. Sanders does not but upholds the right of Americans to boycott Israel.

In her announcement, Omar hinted that Sanders’ tough criticism of Israel drew her to his candidacy. Sanders “truly prioritizes human rights in our foreign policy — no matter who violates them,” she said.

Some Democrats and Republicans also have accused Omar and Tlaib of crossing the line into anti-Semitism. President Donald Trump has said the Democratic Party is anti-Semitic because of their influence.

Not announcing was the fourth Squad member, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is the closest of the four to the pro-Israel community. Pressley hails from the same state as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who recently surpassed Sanders in the polls, threatening to steal from him the mantle of leading progressive among the candidates.

Father of Jewish Sandy Hook victim awarded $450,000 in defamation suit

The father of a Jewish boy killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School won a $450,000 judgment against the editor of a book that claimed the 2012 massacre at the school never happened.

A jury in Wisconsin determined the amount to be paid to Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was the youngest of the 26 people killed at the Connecticut school.

The award came four months after a judge ruled that Pozner had been defamed by James Fetzer and Mike Palecek, editors of a book claiming that the government had staged the killing to advance gun control measures.

According to the book, Pozner had faked his son’s death certificate to advance the conspiracy.

Fetzer, a retired professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, called the judgment “absurd” and said he plans to appeal, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Palacek has already settled with Pozner for an undisclosed amount, according to The New York Times.

Pozner is a party to multiple lawsuits against those who claim the massacre was faked, including Alex Jones, the online provocateur who runs Infowars. Jones has also made claims to the effect that the parents of Sandy Hook victims are part of a plot to take away firearms.

Morton Mandel, Jewish businessman and philanthropist, dies at 98

Morton Mandel, a Cleveland businessman who donated tens of millions of dollars to Jewish causes, has died. He was 98.

His family left Poland for the United States in 1913. Mandel was born in Cleveland in 1921.

In 1940, he and his two brothers, Jack and Joseph, founded Premier Industrial Corp., an auto parts distributor that built off their uncle’s small store. It became a worldwide company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1964 and merged with United Kingdom-based Farnell Electronics in 1996 to form Premier Farnell.

In 1953, the brothers founded the Jack, Joseph

and Morton Mandel Foundation, which has contributed to a number of Jewish and non-Jewish causes. The foundation has supported institutions including the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University and the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1990, the foundation launched a branch in Israel to support a range of programs there.

“Mort Mandel was a leader among leaders.

The impact that he made in nurturing and growing leadership has without a doubt left a lasting impression on our community and the world. The countless number of leaders impacted because of his vision will be his legacy,” said Jewish Federation of Cleveland President Erika B. Rudin-Luria.

Mandel founded more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and served as president of United Way Services in Cleveland. He received a number of awards for his work, including the Presidential Award for Private Sector Initiatives presented by President Ronald Reagan.

“He left a huge legacy as a lover of Israel, as a Jewish leader, as a philanthropist making change,” said Isaac Herzog, head of the Jewish Agency, which works to build ties between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. “He will be remembered for his leadership, innovative thinking and his passion for Israel and the Jewish people.”

Mandel was predeceased by his brothers: Jack died in 2011 at 99 and Joseph in 2016 at 102.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, their three children and seven grandchildren. PJC

So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them. ~Riemer and Kamens

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 23

Opinion One year later

J

— EDITORIAL —

ewish Pittsburgh has much to be proud of.

In the months following Oct. 27, 2018, people from throughout the country have told us how inspired they were by our Jewish community, looking at us from the outside and witnessing our unity. Our solidarity extended beyond demographic bounds, including those of denomination, neighborhood, and age.

We held each other up as our spirits crumbled, thereby showing the world that we were indeed stronger together.

As a people, Jews historically have struggled with conflicts among themselves, from the role of halacha to the politics of Israel.

There’s a reason the old adage “two Jews, three opinions” is so funny. It’s based on reality.

While decades ago, Jews were careful not to air their grievances against each other in public, that no longer holds true. Rather, Jews populating various denominations, and some social action and lobbying groups, seem all too eager to point fingers at one another, each perceiving themselves to be “holier than thou.” The rise of social media has made matters worse, and what in the early to mid-20th century would have been a matter of private and internal discourse is now trotted out in the public square.

Although throughout this past year the differences among Pittsburgh’s Jews remained, they became secondary to our cohesiveness.

After being targeted with the most violent anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, for one brief moment—that was the year that followed Oct. 27, 2018 — we showed humanity that we could, in fact, act as one people.

Although throughout this past year the differences among Pittsburgh’s Jews remained, they became secondary to our cohesiveness.

We are not so naïve to think that our differences do not persist. They do, and they are many. But as we move forward, let’s use this past year as our guidebook in how we can live together in unity.

There’s an old joke about a Jew stranded on a desert island for 15 years. When his rescuers finally come, they ask him how he was able to keep sane all alone for so long.

He tells them that it was his faith as a Jew that saved him. He takes them on a tour of the island, and points to two huts he built, each a shul.

“Two shuls?” his rescuers query. “Why did you need two shuls?”

“This,” he says pointing to one hut, “is the shul I go to.”

Then he points to the other hut.

“This one,” he says, “is the shul I would never go to.”

As we gathered together for funerals and security briefings and concerts and learning this past year, we were all in the same hut.

There was no second hut.

Let’s remember that as we begin our new year. PJC

As an Israeli journalist in Germany, I wasn’t surprised by the Halle synagogue shooting Guest Columnist Dana Regev

W

hen the breaking news from Halle started to pour in Wednesday afternoon, the Jewish community around the world was still in the midst of commemorating the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur.

Equipped with a rifle, ammunition and other military gear, the 27-year-old gunman tried to break into a synagogue in the eastern German city and shoot as many Jews as he could during prayers. The shooter, a far-rightist, had every intention to commit a memorable massacre with a “worldwide effect,” according to Germany’s chief federal prosecutor.

His attempts failed thanks to the security measures at the entrance and the resourcefulness of the worshippers, helping to prevent a far greater disaster. Two people lost their lives outside the compound, but more than 50 Jewish men and women were inside — dozens of lives were saved.

Prayers and condolences poured in from around the world. The attack sent shockwaves across Germany that reverberated around the globe.

“I am, like millions of people in Germany, shocked and dejected by this crime,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a trade union congress in Nuremberg.

But for us, Jews who live in Germany, “shock” is the last reaction that comes to mind following this heinous attack. In fact, it was just a matter of time until the extreme far-right scene in this country would turn its spotlight back on the true, eternal enemy of both Germany and Western civilization: the Jews.

“Jews are the root of all problems,” the gunman, identified as Stephan Balliet of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, could 24 OCTOBER 25, 2019

p A man views a makeshift memorial at the entrance to the synagogue in Halle, Germany, Oct. 10, 2019.

Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Image

be heard saying, among other xenophobic and misogynistic statements, while livestreaming his attack on Amazon’s streaming platform Twitch.

He even had the temerity to deny the Holocaust, reminding us all that prejudice, conspiracy theories and hatred toward Jews never really vanished.

Wake-up call

Some in the Jewish community — albeit not many — were foolish enough to think that the far right in Europe was now occupied with the 2015 immigration wave, mainly from Muslim countries. Some even had the audacity to celebrate the extremists’ rise.

In Europe today, many of the attacks against Jews are carried out by Muslims, though there is much debate over the prevalence of such instances. Just a few days ago, a knife-wielding man tried to enter a Berlin synagogue, chanting swears against Israel and shouting “Allahu Akbar” in Arabic — a

phrase that means “God is great” and also is often used by Islamists upon committing acts of terror. He was released from custody less than 24 hours after the incident and not charged with any crime, sparking concern among Jewish leaders in the country.

But celebrating the rise of anti-Muslim extremists because of a few attacks perpetrated by radical Islamists is not only abhorrent but also superbly naive — anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism more typically go hand in hand.

About 1,800 anti-Semitic crimes were committed in Germany in 2018, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.

Violent crimes against Jews specifically rose to 62 from 37 in 2017, according to a report released by Germany’s Interior Ministry earlier this year.

The report showed that anti-foreigner crimes have also increased by nearly 20 percent, to 7,701 incidents in 2018 from 6,434 the previous year.

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The increase in hate crimes against Jews and mostly Muslim immigrants is no coincidence. The Halle shooter himself admitted in his 35-minute livestream that he had considered attacking a mosque, but then regretted it, realizing that he had to eliminate the real problem and not just its symptoms, alluding to, who else, the Jews.

The same ideology that leads far-right extremists to believe they should “stop the invasion” of Islam into Germany is the one making them believe in the trite yet dangerous conspiracy theory about a well-coordinated global Jewish cabal.

In fact, a poll published last year by the German newspaper FAZ showed that 55 percent of the far-right party Alternative for Germany believe that “Jews have too much power in this world.”

This is the same party with election campaign billboards that read “New Germans? We make them ourselves!” urging German women not to marry anyone who isn’t German.

It’s clear that the far right doesn’t have Jews in mind when they talk about “real” Germans.

In August 2018, for example, neo-Nazis attacked a Jewish restaurant in Chemnitz, hurling stones, using racial slurs and chanting “get out of Germany, Jewish pigs.”

As was proven in Halle, these dark forces are very much alive and kicking.

In a country with nearly 13,000 active violent far-right extremists, who are not only increasingly arming and training themselves for violent attacks, but also managed to infiltrate the police and the army forces, this attempted massacre should hardly come as a surprise.

And anyone who thought Jews were somehow out of the picture when it comes to hate crimes on German soil is now forced to face this harsh reality: The far right never really stopped targeting us. PJC Dana Regevis is an Israeli news reporter at Deutsche Welle. This piece originally appeared on JTA.org.

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Opinion Why we save things after a tragedy Guest Columnist Eric Lidji

“A

nd when you have become old, I will be unchanged” [Isaiah 46:4].

Those words from the prophet Isaiah always remind me of the archives.

As we become older day by day, the things in the archive go unchanged. They may yellow and fade, but they never depart from the instant of their creation. Any change we perceive in them is actually a change in ourselves, a change in our understanding of the world we inhabit.

Never has this felt truer. The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives was established on Nov. 1, 1988, which means it turned 30 just days after the attack at the Tree of Life building. The tragedy changed the tone of the anniversary. What might have been a moment for reminiscing instead became a somber opportunity to reflect on the purpose of a community archive.

Among our hundreds of collections, we hold the records of New Light and Dor Hadash congregations, and while the early records of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha were donated to the University of Pittsburgh in 1975, the congregation is well represented in our archive, especially its Sisterhood — the oldest in our region. We have the records of the many Jewish organizations that rushed to help within minutes of the attack. In the aftermath of what happened that terrible morning, a powerful new energy radiates from these records, even though they are no different than they were the day prior the attack. What has changed is our understanding of our Jewish community. These records now represent our “before.” They vividly illustrate the preciousness of what was threatened and harmed.

Having a “before” promises an “after.”

Inside the boxes of records in the archives, no single event defines our community.

Each event exists within a web of events, connected to other events large and small, each one documenting some aspect of our Jewish lives.

So much of that Jewish life is portable.

The commandments, traditions, customs,

— LETTERS — Jett right on Trump

beliefs and memories can all survive in the mind. They can be uprooted and replanted anywhere.

Only a few pieces of the Jewish experience are fixed. Synagogues and cemeteries are the most obvious. They take up space. They are built by people who expect to stay put.

Not everyone does.

Zipporah Mordecai was likely the first Jewish woman to settle in this region. She came with her husband, Mordecai Moses Mordecai, in 1775, making a home near where the Cathedral of Learning is today.

Their son Samuel was the first Jewish child born in this region. The Mordecais returned to the east after a few years, weary and broke from the brutalities of the frontier. Not until 1847 was a Jewish cemetery established in our half of the state.

In the 72 years between those milestones, this region hosted many Jewish residents but none who felt secure enough to make any lasting communal investment here — no cemeteries, no synagogues, no charities. They could not give any thought to creating a Jewish future. They were too busy surviving the present.

Soon after that first cemetery came synagogues, charities and community centers. But it took another 141 years to establish a Jewish archive. An archive requires deeper roots than those other institutions. You not only need hope for the future but also belief in the past.

You cannot begin to preserve your history until you realize you have a story to tell.

We know we have a story to tell. I have spent the past year collecting the many things our community has chosen to preserve as a testament to this moment in our history. Each individual item is so personal and small. But to step back and view all of it, the thousands upon thousands of things born from that morning, is to witness a collective act of hope.

We save things so that we might speak to people who will be born long after we have died. We cannot know who they will be, or how our story will sound to them. By speaking, we express our belief that someone will be there to hear what we are saying. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

I cannot imagine a more compelling and passionate condemnation of Donald Trump for us Jews and American citizens than the comprehensive and outstanding Oct. 11 column by Dennis Jett, Ph.D. (“President Validates Anti-Semitic Rhetoric”).

Dr. Jett notes the paradox in actions Trump has taken ostensibly to benefit Israel while on the other hand spewing poisonous rhetoric that provides comfort for white supremacists and nationalists, bombast which has served as a call to violence against his foes. The president seeks to subvert the law and the Constitution when it benefits him personally. Does anyone believe that Trump’s positions that appear to favor Israel are undertaken out of any genuine love and affection for, or solidarity with, us and our people?

I attended the Oct. 28, 2018, service at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in which the community gathered to mourn the atrocity that had taken place at the Tree of Life building the prior day. Within that event was a call to action by Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, one of the individuals who was most directly and deeply affected by the massacre: He implored the elected officials assembled and others to be mindful of their words and to counter what the rabbi now calls “the h-word,” which he will not repeat — hate. As Dr. Jett points out, the enmity and resentment that Trump has for his opponents has only gotten worse, and he now believes that not only name-calling but the use of profanity is appropriate in public settings as he seeks to eviscerate those who would challenge him.

In a recent column, renowned New York Times syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in uncharacteristically harsh terms, asserting that if one is an American Jew who supports Donald Trump for his positions vis-a-vis Israel, that supporter is “a damn fool,” given all of the damage that Trump is inflicting on our country, to Israel and to the relationship between the two nations.

I do not understand how there can be any measurable support for a proudly thuggish and hateful president among individuals who hail from an honorable religion such as ours, a faith that preaches tolerance, acceptance, kindness to others and repairing the world. Donald Trump is anathema to those cherished tenets and to the tenets of every honorable faith.

Oren Spiegler Peters Township

Jett wrong on Trump

On first read, Dennis Jett’s piece is so outrageous and filled with lies masquerading as facts that I thought to just toss the paper into the recycle pile and forget it.

Then I read that Jett was a U.S. ambassador (to Peru and Mozambique), a professor and dean, and then I decided to write to address a few of his more outrageous statements.

1. President Trump is a grave threat to Jews. This remark is made with no evidence to back it up: Yes, Jett admits that one might be fooled by Trump’s Jewish daughter and grandchildren, to whom he is obviously devoted, and Trump’s support of Israel. Where and how is he a threat? Jett doesn’t specify.

2. The usual canards about Trump saying there were some “good people” among the neo-Nazis at Charlottesville. Did Jett never read Trump’s actual remarks; remarks in which he talks about the people on both sides of the Confederate statue removal issue, the issue that attracted crowds to Charlottesville, as being populated by “good people.”

3. Trump never said he wanted to ban all Muslims, that Mexicans were all murderers, that all immigrants bring crime, drugs and disease to this country. Trump is against unvetted illegal immigrants entering our country, people without documentation, among whom might be some criminals, etc.

4. Trump has been trying to solve the immigration mess since he took office. It is Congress that won’t fix the laws and loopholes that allow the illegal immigration system to fester.

5. Jett says, “Trump has made 12,000 false statements.” Really? Where is he getting his facts? Some reference here would be helpful. [Ed. note: Jett provides the reference in the piece: the Washington Post.]

I could go on, but really everything about Jett’s column is outrageous. What makes it truly frightening is that Jett, at least according to his resume, is an educated person and worse, an educator. How can we expect any rational discourse when a person such as Jett gets a forum to spout his vitriol?

Georgia Atkin Pittsburgh

We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned.

Mail, fax or email letters to:

p A small selection of the letters collected in the aftermath of the attack, sent to various Jewish organizations throughout the city.

Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center

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Letters to the editor via email:

Website address:

letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Fax 412-521-0154

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 25

Headlines Year: Continued from page 3

are all here for them and we will help them through this horror that they are living. We are here to recognize the officers and the two members of the congregation who are still suffering, and to let them and their families know, we’re here for you because we’re Pittsburghers and that’s what we do.”

Jeff Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Federation, stressed the importance and meaning of community at that Sunday night vigil. In the months that followed, the weight behind his words would become even more evident.

“We need the comfort of each other,” Finkelstein said. “We need love not hate, and we need that giant hug that this Pittsburgh Jewish community always gives.”

Metaphorical and literal “giant hugs” also were offered by those beyond the local Jewish community. Support continued to pour out from Pittsburgh’s interfaith community, from its local and state politicians, even from its sports teams, in not only words of alliance, but with kind gestures, cards, comfort items.

And money.

Within days, the Federation had established its Victims of Terror Fund. Donations came from all over the world, and in March, a committee of community leaders had established a formula for distributing more than $6.3 million as “compassion payments.”

The Muslim community raised funds for the victims as well, as did a 29-year-old Iranian immigrant, Shay Khatiri, who independently set up a crowd-funding page that amassed more than $1 million.

The number of fundraising efforts was overwhelming, and included Menorahgate, a tailgate event at a Steelers game organized by millennials from Tree of Life, and a “Roots of Steel” benefit concert hosted by Billy Porter at Carnegie Music Hall, which also was organized by local millennials.

Visits by celebrities and political figures continued throughout the year, including, just days following the shooting, President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

The president’s visit was greeted by a large protest organized by groups Bend the Arc and IfNotNow. In the weeks and months that followed, Pittsburgh would be visited by actors Michael

Families: Continued from page 3

she said. “It really kept me going.”

The Wedners have about seven shoe box size containers filled with cards. Some cards came with trinkets, including several tree necklaces and bracelets, “that people took the time to either buy or make,” she said. Her brothers, Alan and Stanley, received many cards and items as well.

“I never felt alone,” Wedner said. “I have my core group here, but to get that love and support from the community and from the world, it was beautiful.”

Cherished items she received from strangers include a 6-foot-high “Stronger Than Hate” symbol created by a welder 26 OCTOBER 25, 2019

Keaton and Mayim Bialik, and New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft, among others.

Area congregations opened their doors to the congregants of Dor Hadash, Tree of Life and New Light. New Light relocated into the Beth Shalom building, while Dor Hadash and Tree of Life moved into Rodef Shalom.

The Calvary Episcopal Church provided space and resources for Tree of Life to hold its 2019 High Holiday services.

Among those who showed up in Pittsburgh to support survivors and victims were those who knew firsthand the acute pain, anger and despair that follows a mass shooting.

Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, senior pastor at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, came to Pittsburgh days after the massacre here to offer support to the suffering congregations.

Mother Emanuel also had been targeted by a white supremacist, who in 2015 stormed the church during bible study and killed nine parishioners.

Manning’s presence gave Rabbi Jeffrey Myers strength at a time when it was desperately needed, said the spiritual leader of Tree of Life at the funeral for Rose Mallinger, 97, which Manning attended.

“An angel visited me this morning,” Myers said at the funeral. “My tank, I don’t think it’s even running on fumes — the fumes have already dissipated. An angel came to me this morning to give me courage and strength.”

The relationship between Mother Emanuel and the Pittsburgh congregations continued. On Martin Luther King weekend, seven members of New Light traveled to Charleston to pray and march during the holiday weekend along with members of the church.

In May, Manning, along with nine of his congregants, returned to Pittsburgh in a continued show of solidarity. Their presence brought comfort to Pittsburghers still acutely grieving six months following the massacre here.

“They’ve been there, and know what we’re going through, and they have found a way to forgiveness,” said Carol Black, sister to murdered New Light member Dr. Richard Gottfried, at the time. “That’s something I may struggle with forever.”

Just one month prior to the Mother Emanuel visit, students, teachers and parents

from Parkland, Florida, the site of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, came to Pittsburgh to offer inspiration and help with healing.

Ivy Schamis, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, returned to Pittsburgh to be part of a panel discussion on forgiveness at the JCC on Yom Kippur. At the JCC’s annual meeting in September, its inaugural Loving Kindness Award was presented to Daniel Tabares of Parkland, a junior at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in recognition of his inspiring work.

In August, families of victims and survivors of the Oct. 27 massacre joined with those from nine other cities that were terrorized by gun violence at a three-day Healing Through Love Meditation Retreat in Barre, Massachusetts, to learn coping techniques to manage the continuing suffering they experience, as well as to connect with others who are going through similar trauma.

“To meet with other families who had been through this made a huge difference,” said Marnie Fienberg, daughter-in-law of Joyce Fienberg, at the time. “You wanted to connect with them.”

Although Marnie Fienberg “didn’t want to be part of this group,” she said she is “very grateful that there are people looking out for us and thinking about how we help each other, and I am very hopeful that in the future I can return that and pay it forward as well.”

While relationships forged with survivors of past mass shootings helped with the healing, reports of new attacks throughout the year continued to re-open wounds.

On the last day of Passover, six months to the day of the massacre at the Tree of Life building, an anti-Semite stormed into the Chabad of Poway near San Diego, killing congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye and injuring three others, including the shul’s rabbi.

During an April 29 vigil for Poway at the JCC here, the Federation’s Finkelstein thanked the crowd for coming out after “a raging anti-Semite shot up a holy place of worship on Shabbat and murdered our extended Jewish family.”

“These are the exact words, the exact words, I spoke at Soldiers and Sailors Hall on October 28,” he said, with irritation in his voice. “Unfortunately, they still resonate today. I’m sick and tired and frustrated and angry that I have to use them again.”

When a white supremacist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, leaving 51 people dead, the

Federation immediately launched a fundraiser for victims, and in June, sent more than $650,000 to Christchurch, including $60,000 raised by Tree of Life.

In April, following the murders of more than 250 people in Sri Lanka in bombings at churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, Pittsburgh’s Jewish community joined other people of faith at yet another vigil, this time at Heinz Memorial Chapel.

“I’m not here as a Jew,” said Stephen Cohen, co-president of New Light, at the time. “I’m here as a person of religion, suffering another tragedy in another place where people have died simply because of the way they believe in God.” When, over the course of a weekend in August, 22 people were murdered in a Walmart shopping center in El Paso, Texas, and nine people were killed in an unrelated attack in Dayton, Ohio, Jewish Pittsburghers joined in a show of support. Dozens of people gathered at Beth Shalom to write letters to the families of the victims, an event organized by Yael Perlman, daughter of Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of New Light.

who knows a colleague of Wedner’s and a letter from a man whose own mother died recently. The write-ups he read about Rose Mallinger reminded him of his mother.

“With the pain I felt from her death I cannot begin to even comprehend or imagine the nightmare you’ve experienced,” he wrote.

“All I know is this: Every time I see your mother’s picture I begin to cry because of how I relate so well to who I perceive your mother as being. I feel a connection I feel compelled to share with you.”

It was “comforting,” Wedner said, “to know that my mother’s death affected somebody so much that they just felt the need to tell their story.”

Also comforting were the roses that people delivered to the homes of Mallinger’s children.

A friend of Rose’s daughter-in-law, Lauren

Mallinger, came by the property which both Mallinger brothers share to help design a garden that has since become “Rose’s garden,” Lauren Mallinger said. Other friends, neighbors and a cousin delivered nine rose bushes which now adorn the garden.

“If I have any more room I’ll pull it up to 11,” said Mallinger, adding that the eponymous roses provide inspiration.

“People just showed up from all around, all of our parts of life, to help us put the garden together,” she said. “It was amazing. It was very unifying because it drew our community together and closer.”

Although the Wedners and Mallingers could not thank each person individually for all the love they received, “we know who they are, and from day one people have been out there and have been supportive. We feel

it is important to put that thank you out there,” Andrea Wedner said.

The Wedners are also grateful for the efforts of the first responders and the hospital staff, said Andrea’s husband, Ron. Andrea spent 10 days in the hospital following the shooting.

“Everybody from the doctors, the surgeons, the attendants, the nurses, the people that come in and take your food order,” said Ron Wedner.

“And much like policemen and firemen, when something like this happens, there’s a much different perspective. I can’t express — as the husband of someone who was hurt — the care they gave her from top to bottom. Thinking about that keeps me going.” PJC

A group no one wants to be a part of

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Beginning to move forward

Jewish Pittsburgh is different now than it was prior to Oct. 27, 2018. After seeing worst of humanity on that day, the community then saw the best, which has delivered not only inspiration and comfort, but hope.

Tree of Life is on the road to rebuilding, determined to use its space on the corner of Wilkins and Shady to memorialize those killed during the massacre, and to be a beacon of light in a world that continues to be thrust into darkness.

The Jewish community here now knows that it can and will come together in times of despair. It has also seen that there is far more good in the world than there is evil.

Still, the community has ramped up its focus on security, and is becoming accustomed to seeing armed guards at the doors of its institutions.

Jewish Pittsburgh has learned in the worst possible way that anti-Semitism is most definitely still alive in the 21st century, and that the violence it inspires can hit anywhere, even in the heart of Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood.

But Pittsburgh’s Jews also now know, without a doubt, that they are Stronger than Hate. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Community: Continued from page 4

Leonard Sarko is the rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg. He said that the attack is on the minds of those at his synagogue.

“They talk about it more and more as the date gets closer. From an emotional standpoint, everyone in Greensburg feels it.”

Rabbi Robert Morais of Temple Anshe Hesed in Erie believes that proximity matters in tragedies like the Oct. 27 shooting. “The closer you are the more connected and impactful it is. If you live in Pittsburgh it’s huge; in Pennsylvania it’s big; if you live in Utah it’s tragic but there may be no connection.”

Morais said that people in Erie felt the attack “hit home. People felt very connected to it.” Over 300 people attended services after the shooting. “You couldn’t move. The building had just opened and was overwhelmed.”

Those in attendance weren’t only from the Jewish community. Virtually every city in Western Pennsylvania was supported in some way by their non-Jewish neighbors. In fact, for many of these cities, that have seen the Jewish population decrease, it was the addition of Christians and Muslims at their synagogues that filled the buildings.

Larry Rosenberg, president of Beth

p Jewish communities around Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania were affected by the terrorist attack.

Map courtesy of Google

Sholom Congregation in Johnstown recalled “we had 225 people attend” a service on the Sunday following the shooting. “Most of them were gentiles from the Johnstown, Cambria County, Somerset community. Two priests from a local Catholic church showed up and gave very moving talks.”

Greater Altoona Jewish Federation Executive Director William Wallen remembered a letter written by a local evangelical Christian published in The Altoona Mirror.

In it, the author recounted going to

Cleaning: Continued from page 5

group as best as possible.

“I gave them a quick training about what we are going to be facing, how to deal with the cleaning, how to deal with the trauma, how to just work and not think about it. It was tough,” said Admon.

Gordon attentively listened and recalled his own years of helping Pittsburgh’s chevra kadisha, but found the events following Oct. 27 quite different.

“It was kind of surreal because we’re doing all we could but there were no bodies,” he said.

“I have been on the chevra kadisha for about 15 years or more. I have prepared hundreds of men for burial. There’s always been a body and here there was just what was left.”

Days passed, the FBI conducted its investigation, and on Tuesday, Nov. 6, a second clean-up shift was held. During that session, Gordon, members of Gesher Hachaim and the New Community Chevra Kadisha, were permitted upstairs, though a warning was issued.

“Before we came for that second shift, they told me that there was bodily material to clean off the ceiling,” he said.

Gordon retrieved two 6-foot ladders and an extendable plank. He assembled the apparatus, climbed the portable scaffolding and applied hydrogen peroxide. Baby wipes and spackle knives were also used. Throughout the process, Gordon and others wore disposable white jumpsuits, which like the matter collected, were ultimately buried. For mental health purposes, regular breaks were taken, and during those periods meals and refreshments were readily available.

“Everyone mixed together, and we didn’t really talk about what we were doing. We just

p Yitzchok Gordon

Photo courtesy of Yitzchok Gordon

found out more about who we were working with,” said Gordon.

Volunteers ranged in age, denomination and profession.

Contractors used power tools to dismantle pews and disassemble sullied areas.

Physicians, paramedics and those familiar with trauma identified relevant items.

“I can only speak for myself, but I think it’s true that all of us felt a tremendous sense of purpose and meaningfulness to be there, to honor the victims and bring some closure to ourselves,” said Gordon.

As the volunteers meticulously made their way through the spaces, there was a shared feeling that regardless of one’s affiliation or history with the building, “this is my synagogue,” noted Gordon. “We all felt like we’re all together in this. We all care about each other. We could all be victims here if the circumstances were just a tiny bit different.”

Such sense of fellowship offset other emotions, continued the painter. “When I was working, sometimes I was grieving.

Sometimes I was shocked by what I was

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Pittsburgh and praying with a rabbi. “He wrote that Christians need to support the Jewish community. In essence, he said, the Jews are our friends and relatives.”

Wallen echoed the feelings of those in other communities that local law enforcement has helped as each synagogue and building deals with the need for added security. Those needs come with an increased cost and each congregation and organization is attempting to balance safety with budgets.

Sarko pointed out that while security

finding. Sometimes I was grateful that it wasn’t worse. Sometimes I was very angry about what happened. I never felt bored.”

Gordon returned for a third shift on Wednesday, Nov. 7, but by then much of the work was already finished. Even still, he brought his 23-year-old son, Shmuel.

“We work together in my business, when he’s in town, painting, and this was something that we could use our talents and our abilities for in something completely different than painting a house. It was a very special bonding experience that nobody wishes for,” said Gordon.

A fourth shift was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 9. Gordon registered again. Along with Admon and a few members of Pittsburgh’s two chevra kadishas, Gordon transported remnants of bloodied carpets and garbage bags filled with darkened wipes, ruddied sponges and dirtied jumpsuits to vehicles parked nearby. The small volunteer corps then drove to cemeteries belonging to Tree of Life and New Light congregations.

Because “we didn’t know whose blood that was,” common graves were used in each location, said Gordon.

Little was said throughout the day. When the final grave was covered and the last “Kel Maleh Rachamim” concluded, Gordon returned home and celebrated Shabbat.

“I was fortunate enough to move around my schedule and be there for everything,” he said. “But I would like it to be emphasized that everybody there who was part of the cleanup is a hero.” Whether someone was able to be there for one shift, or even a part of a shift, “we all equally valued what we did,” continued Gordon. “All had equal value and all made equal contributions.”

In the year since Gordon performed those duties, his activities haven’t changed.

During the week, he still transforms interiors

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

upgrades were important, it was just as important to remain vigilant and reevaluate what their future needs would be.

“The last shooting in Germany didn’t happen in a synagogue. The shooter couldn’t get inside because it was locked, so he ended up shooting people outside. I think as a society we’re grappling with the issue and will continue to into the future.”

While Johnstown, Erie and Altoona are separated from Pittsburgh by more than a simple bridge or tunnel, there are connections that run deep between the various cities.

Wallen highlighted the connection. “We have residents that grew up in Pittsburgh and have personal connections to Tree of Life. Many of our people shop in Squirrel Hill to buy kosher meat. There are intimate connections between our community and Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.”

The Johnstown synagogue Rosenberg is a part of “feels very connected to Pittsburgh.

We have members who have sisters or brothers that are members of the Pittsburgh congregations. We have people with friends there. We are all part of the Greater Pittsburgh community. It’s not down the road on 22 and get off the Squirrel Hill exit.

Our heart goes out, we are part of you.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

and exteriors across the city. On Saturdays, Gordon continues to split his time between Congregation Bnai Emunoh in Greenfield and the Lubavitch Center in Squirrel Hill, and he still serves as a member of the chevra kadisha. But not surprisingly, certain events trigger memories of the two weeks he cleaned and painted inside the building.

“I drive by Tree of Life quite often and I think of it every time. I think of it every time there is any mention in the media. I think of it on my own just when thoughts pop in my head. I think of it probably at least every week,” he said.

“I suspect, and it’s true for me, that everyone who did the cleanup on some level was traumatized by it — that it was more to process than we could process at the time we were doing it — I know that’s true for me, because when the shootings happened in California, in Poway, on Shabbos, and somebody came into the shul [and told us] I started crying, I felt retraumatized because although I wasn’t there and I never saw any bodies at all, and I didn’t do any of the taharas for the victims, I know what that looks like.”

While Gordon can’t unsee the past, he has a better sense now of life’s fragility.

“I now know that any of us could be victims of violence at any point,” said Gordon. “So life is more precious to me, and I have definitely more urgency to be as much of a mensch that I can, and to be less petty and be more forgiving and be more purposeful because of what I’ve seen and what I had to clean up.”

“Our differences are far far less important than what we have in common,” said Gordon. “We all have a common humanity and I never want to have to be reminded of it in the same way.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

OCTOBER 25, 2019 27

Our thoughts are with the members of the three synagogues in the Tree of Life building and salute the resilience of the Jewish community. In the year since the tragedy that changed so many lives, you have embodied the mantra “stronger than hate.�

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Name: Pittsburgh 11 Families Width: 10.25 in Depth: 13.75 in Color: Black Ad Number: -

We, the families of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting, want to thank you for your support and love over the past year.

Our families lost 11 irreplaceable beautiful Jewish souls.

The sorrow and agony was deeply personal and unending.

Through your unwavering support you showed us that we are all one in our sorrow.

You showed that the mindless hate that stole our loved ones has no place in America.

Thank you for showing us that we are one Community — one Jewish, one interfaith, one Pittsburgh, one country and one world.

We are truly stronger together.

With love from the families of: Joyce Fienberg Richard Gottfried Rose Mallinger Jerry Rabinowitz Cecil Rosenthal David Rosenthal Bernice Simon Sylvan Simon Daniel Stein Melvin Wax Irving Younger

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 25, 2019 29

Yizkor We will always remember.

May their memories be a blessing.

We will forever remember the eleven victims of Congregation Dor Hadash, New Light Congregation, and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation who were martyred on October 27, 2018.

Joyce Fienberg Yiddis Bultcha bat Aba Menachem

Richard Gottfried Yosef ben Hayyim

Rose Mallinger Raizel bat Avraham

Jerry Rabinowitz Yehudah ben Yechezkel v’Selma

Cecil Rosenthal Chayim ben Eliezer

David Rosenthal David ben Eliezer

Bernice Simon Beila Rachel bat Moshe

Sylvan Simon Zalman Shachna ben Menachem Mendel

Daniel Stein Daniel Avram ben Baruch

Melvin Wax Moshe Gadol ben Yosef

Irving Younger Yitzchok Chaim ben Menachem

Mor

30 OCTOBER 25, 2019

IMCHA

CO TION REGA

TREE OF L IF

OR L’S

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Momentum honors the memory of the 11 individuals who were senselessly murdered on the one year mark of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.

When this attack happened, Momentum sisters from Pittsburgh traveling with our local partner, Classrooms Without Borders, were on their 8-day MOMentum Trip in Israel. Members of Knesset, Israeli Jews, and Jews worldwide lovingly embraced our Pittsburgh sisters, standing in solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh.

May the Jewish people continue to be one soul, united against anti-Semitism and supportive of each other during our hardest times.

www.momentumunlimited.org

INVITATION TO OUR READERS

A

s we approach the one-year mark since the massacre at the Tree of Life building, the Chronicle would like to offer members and friends of the Pittsburgh Jewish community an opportunity to share their

thoughts in a special section in a commemorative issue of the paper which will be published on November 1, 2019. If you would like to join others in expressing your sentiments in a personal ad, please contact Kelly Schwimer for details.

Deadline extended to Noon, October 28, 2019.

Kelly Schwimer: kschwimer@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org or 412-721-5931

STRONGER THAN HATE

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To t h o s e w e l o s t o n October 27 and to our community that continues to heal, w e h o n o r yo u i n s e r v i c e , V W X G \ D Q G U H ć H F W L R Q Z"L Joyce Fienberg Richard Gottfried Rose Mallinger Jerry Rabinowitz Cecil Rosenthal David Rosenthal Bernice Simon Sylvan Simon Daniel Stein M e l v i n Wa x I r v i n g Yo u n g e r

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 31

Life & Culture Jodi Kantor on what’s changed since her Weinstein story unleashed a wave of #MeToo — BOOKS —

By Emily Burack | JTA

W

hen New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the Harvey Weinstein story on Oct. 5, 2017, it started a #MeToo revolution: Women began sharing personal experiences of the sexual harassment and abuse they had faced.

Even though the activist Tarana Burke coined the concept of “Me Too” in 2006, the reporting by Kantor and Twohey about Weinstein helped transform it into a global movement. Their new book, “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement,” reaches back into early 2017 and details how they reported out the Weinstein story.

They purposefully included many original documents — including a memo that the feminist lawyer Lisa Bloom wrote about the ways she was going to manipulate on Weinstein’s behalf, and texts between Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her lawyers — so, as Kantor explained to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “readers have the ability to examine this for themselves.”

Kantor spoke with JTA about “She Said,” Harvey Weinstein and what it means to her that the anniversary of the story’s publication coincides with the holiest day of the Jewish year.

We’re having this conversation the day before Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday all about atonement. Do you think it’s possible for someone to atone for sexual assault? For people to forgive?

I just want to answer it a little bit of a different way because I’m not a rabbi, but I am a journalist.

It’s also almost two years to the day since we broke the Weinstein story, and Yom Kippur that year was just a few days before publication. And I remember just being completely overcome by how strong the High Holiday themes were in the story.

Because there was so much about reckoning, and what happened in the past, and sin, and whether that could ever be redeemed or compensated. And then, after publication, it turned into a collective reckoning.

Do you think anything has changed in those two years?

Part of what’s so confounding is that everything has changed and nothing has changed.

And that’s part of why we wrote the book — we did it to bring you behind the scenes of these events and bring you to ground zero.

People have developed such powerful feelings about #MeToo. This book was an invitation to come with us, to join our partnership and to come to understand these events as they transpired. We’re bringing you into these first hushed phone calls with actresses as they began to tell us Weinstein stories.

You’ll meet the Deep Throat of the 32 OCTOBER 25, 2019

together we may be able to use your experience to help protect other people” to encourage women to share their stories.

Why does this opening work?

That line was something Megan had formulated during many years of reporting sex crimes. When she first shared that line with me on the phone, she was still on maternity leave and we were not yet working together. It really clicked with me because I thought that is the best reason to talk to a journalist.

We’re always looking to redefine the act of talking to a journalist as something good.

Many think of it as traitorous, or overly complaining, or tattle-tale-y. And our argument is speaking to a journalist is something you do in the public service, and is something you do to make society healthier.

Weinstein investigation, an accountant who worked for Weinstein for 30 years who gave us critical information. You’ll be there in the room as Christine Blasey Ford is preparing her testimony with her lawyers.

You and Megan were in the news recently about an interview with Bob Woodward at Sixth & I, a D.C. synagogue that became heated. What happened?

We understood the audience’s concerns, but we were also really grateful to Woodward for volunteering to moderate the evening.

Even some of the questions that caused controversy still gave us a chance to explain things, to share things that we thought really important.

Megan and I have faced much worse than a fumbling question or two, and we don’t want anyone to stop asking questions or bow out of the conversation for fear that they’re going to say the wrong thing.

Every question is an opportunity to talk about #MeToo. These topics are messy, and they are controversial, so even if a question comes out a little awkwardly, that’s fine.

Because we want people, and especially men, to remain in the conversation, and we want them to keep asking.

I love that “She Said” also includes stories of women who didn’t speak out. In the introduction, you write that “we write about those who did speak out, along with other women who chose not to, and the nuances of how and when and why.” Can you expand on this?

Many women were actually barred from talking about their own experiences because of secret settlements and money they’d accepted. Others chose not to come forward, and “She Said” explores why.

And then, towards the end, we describe Christine Blasey Ford, who has the most complicated “she said” story we’ve ever encountered, in terms of what she did and did not want to say publicly at various stages leading up to that unforgettable testimony.

Has your Jewishness influenced your reporting, and has reporting on #MeToo impacted you personally?

I don’t write about being Jewish, but in terms of personal background, it’s been hugely influential.

My grandparents are Holocaust survivors, my grandmother is still alive — she is turning 96. I grew up believing in the power of stories. I grew up around a lot of traumatized people, a lot of people with numbers on their arms, and a sense that some people were willing to talk about the worst things that had happened and others weren’t. If you spend a lot of time with survivors, you feel that difference. That is something I was aware of from a really early age.

Even though it took me a long time to became an investigative journalist, in retrospect, I grew up steeped in the questions of investigative journalism. Meaning, how could something like this have happened?

Who helped? Why didn’t anybody intervene?

p Jodi Kantor’s new book “She Said,” written with her New York Times colleague Megan Twohey, gives readers an inside look at the reporting of the Harvey Weinstein story and others integral to the #MeToo movement.

Photo by Martin Schoeller / JTA Montage

How did it work? What really happened?

Are the victims willing to share their experiences? Those really pervaded my childhood.

The biggest impact of the reporting has been to really affirm this idea that facts can drive social change. You can’t solve a problem you can’t see. Even many of us who thought we knew something about gender in this country had no idea the extent of what women had endured inside the workplace and beyond.

I found it really moving that you and Megan use the statement “I can’t change what happened to you in the past, but

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A lot of “She Said” dives into the “complicitness” of the people who surrounded Weinstein for so long. Is that what surprised you the most while writing it?

That whole theme of who helped and who hindered was really surprising to us. We never could’ve guessed that Lisa Bloom, this super feminist celebrity attorney, was in fact going to cross lines and help Weinstein. We never could’ve suspected that her mother, an even more feminist attorney, had done settlements with victims of Weinstein, [Bill] O’Reilly, [Larry] Nassar — helping to conceal the problem.

We certainly never could’ve guessed that Gwyneth Paltrow would’ve become one of our most valuable sources, helping so avidly behind the scenes in the investigation. She had been Weinstein’s biggest star.

I think that the question of what people’s public faces are, and what their private faces are, and how each of them acted in relation to Weinstein’s alleged misdeeds is really surprising.

Did Weinstein’s Jewishness come up at all?

Did it impact anything throughout the story?

I know the Weinstein, and also the Jeffery Epstein stories, are very embarrassing to Jews. But I think people should take comfort in knowing that this is just universal.

The New York Times has looked into Silicon Valley and academia and restaurant workers and factories and all of these different fields, and one thing we saw for sure was that this problem is not specific to any group or background. Bill Cosby, Larry Nassar, Harvey Weinstein … it just ranges across fields.

What do you hope readers take away from “She Said”?

I hope readers see it as an X-ray into power and a chance to ask the big questions about how power works. Not just in the Weinstein story, but in our own lives. If you hear a rumor about something going wrong in the workplace, do you intervene or not? That’s something that all of us face. PJC This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity and clarity.

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Life & Culture Why you should be cooking your chicken soup in the oven — FOOD —

By Rachel Myerson | JTA

Photo by Rachel Myerson

M

y mom serves matzah ball soup every Friday night (#momgoals), and she’s always made it in the oven.

When I left home and found myself without my weekly fix, I called her for the recipe and followed suit. I didn’t realize that this was unusual until I was well into my 20s — sure, I’d never heard of anyone doing the same, but the soup was so great I didn’t stop to question it.

As I began research for this article, I understood just how unusual our method is. While there are numerous recipes that call for roasting the chicken before adding it to the stock and boiling on the stove, there are very few that cook the entire soup in the oven. In fact, my mom doesn’t even know the original source of this method — only that my grandma did the same. The recipe has never been written down, just passed down the generations by word of mouth, so its inception will always remain a mystery.

If this is your first time coming across ovencooked chicken soup, allow me to introduce you. It is superior for four main reasons: 1. It gives the soup a rounded, distinct depth of flavor, a sort of stew-like back note that is oh so comforting.

2. It gives the soup an incredible bronze color that looks so tempting and reflects the complexity of its taste.

3. It’s so easy! You just stick it in the oven and forget about it until it’s done.

4. The oven ensures even cooking at a constant temperature, and because it’s so low (300 F.) the chicken won’t get dry — even the breast, as it essentially poaches.

Also, the vegetables in the soup (specifically carrots and rutabaga) make for great baby food when cooked this way — they’re

soft enough to mush and infused with all that Jewish penicillin goodness. I’m convinced that this is the reason I rarely got sick as a kid.

This method will undoubtedly add something new to your go-to chicken soup but, of course, the results will only be as good as your recipe. To ensure success, make sure you follow these tips: Begin the recipe on the stove — just until the soup has come to a boil and you’ve had a chance to skim off any scum that floats to the top (about 30 minutes).

Cook at 300 F. for five hours. Don’t skimp — it needs time to develop the flavor.

If serving matzah balls, cook them in the soup at a simmer just before serving.

Note: A crockpot is not an oven substitute — I tried it once and it was nowhere near as good.

If you want to re-create my soup exactly (which is basically my mom’s recipe simplified slightly to accommodate for my lazier cooking habits), follow the recipe below.

Ingredients: 2 large leeks 7 carrots, peeled 2 onions (leave skins on if you’re lazy, though my mother never would) 2 sticks of celery 1 rutabaga, peeled 1 chicken (skin off if you don’t like

fat floating on top of your soup — though I personally love it) 2 cartons of chicken stock plus 1+ quart water salt, according to how salty your stock is Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. 2. Place all ingredients into a large heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch oven. Ensure there’s enough liquid to cover — top with more water if necessary.

3. Bring to a boil uncovered on the stove, skimming any scum off the top. After 30 minutes, cover and place into oven.

Cook for 5 hours.

4. Once cooled, strain the soup. Discard the celery. Shred the chicken breast and cut the carrots into thick slices, then add back into the soup. Either add the leeks and rutabaga back into the soup or squeeze them through a fine strainer to release their juice, then discard the remaining pulp.

Note: If you refrigerate the soup overnight, the fat will solidify on top, which makes it easy to remove — if you choose to. I usually do, then use it to make matzah balls.

Serves 10. PJC This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher.

Oct. 27, 2018 WE REMEMBER and Respect the Wonderful, Holy people

tragically taken away so suddenly.

STRONGER THAN HATE

WE HONOR the physically and emotionally injured.

WE THANK the City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

WE KNOW that the affected families will continue to be comforted and supported by the entire community.

Dan and Jean D’Alessandro Family & Staff

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 33

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

In God’s image

Laura and Elliot Dinkin of Squirrel Hill and Delray Beach, Florida are thrilled to announce the engagement of their daughter, Gabrielle May to Evan Griver Segal, son of Steven and Jane Segal of Elkins, Park, Pa. Gabrielle’s grandparents are David Dinkin, the late Betty Dinkin, the late Beverly Weinstein, Philip Dutch and Arthur Harlich all of Squirrel Hill. Evan’s grandparents are Dolly Beechman Schnall and Dr. Nathan Schnall of Philadelphia, Pa. and the late Jack and Beatrice Segal also of Philadelphia.

Gabrielle is the event coordinator for the American Heart Association of Philadelphia and is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. Evan is the North East territory manager for Boston Scientific and is a graduate of The University of Richmond. A 2021 spring wedding in Pittsburgh is being planned.

B’nei Mitzvah

Esther Grace Cohen, daughter of Sue and Herb Cohen, Allison Park, became a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Temple Ohav Shalom. Esther is the granddaughter of Eugene and Carolyn Kaczka of Hannawa Falls, NY; Arthur Cohen of Pittsburgh, and the late Lois Cohen.

Fernando Bertenthal Humphreys, son of Sam Bertenthal and the late Anne Humphreys, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 26, at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. Grandparents are Lori Humphreys of Austin, Texas, the late Dave Humphreys and the late Harriet and Herman Bertenthal of Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Yaier Lehrer Parshat Bereishit Genesis 1:1-6:8

I

n the beginning of God’s work of creation, the world was without form.

Nothing existed, not the oceans or the sky nor any living creatures. It is that moment, that beginning, that we are reminded of with the sounds of the shofar which we just heard at Rosh Hashanah. We said, “Hayom harat olam,” translated by some as “the birthday of world,” or “at birth.”

Literally translated, though, we are standing at the moment of absolute beginning, before birth even takes place.

And then God goes to work, each day creating new wonders, from the most basic atmosphere and land, to the stars in the sky, vegetation, animal life and finally human beings. The way the story is told changes slightly, however, when it comes to the creation of humans. Unlike the verses in which the other creations come to being, God recites a sort of introduction to the act of creating human beings. Prior to creating humans, God makes a declaration that humans will be created.

We learn from this declaration that the creation of the human will be unique from all the other creations. Unlike the other creations, the human, male and female, is created in the image of God. The Mishnah in Sanhedrin gives us a little insight into this idea of being made in the image of God. “The greatness of the Holy One Blessed Be He is as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to one another. But the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed Be He stamped every person with the seal of Adam and yet no one appears exactly as the other.”

But what then does it mean to be created in the image of God? If we are all different, how can we be in the image of God? After all, not

even Moses, who the Torah describes having dealt with God face to face, ever actually saw the image of God. So if it is not a matter of appearance, what then is the meaning of being created in the image of God? What does this image look like? Perhaps the image we are talking about has nothing to do with looks. Perhaps it is much more than that.

In the Torah portion of Kedoshim, God admonishes the people “Kedoshim teheyu” (“You shall be holy”). But unlike some other commandments, a reason is given.

The reason given is “Ki kadosh Ani Adonai” (“because I the Lord God am holy”). Thus, it is not in appearance that we are created to be in the image of God, but rather in our ability to be holy, our ability to do holy things.

Being holy is being in the image of God. Being created in God’s image requires us to act a certain way, to perform God’s mitzvot, to be God’s agents here on earth, to be God’s partners by doing acts of lovingkindness for God’s other creations.

We are each created with the ability to be holy, to act in a holy way and lead a holy life. But unlike God’s other creations, we have the ability to choose how to honor and embody that image. We can think about what it means to be in God’s image. We can also think about what it means to act in a way that respects the status of others as God’s creations whether we agree with their opinions or not.

Many people begin their own day with a more than passing glance into the mirror.

Some pause to admire while others pause to improve their appearance in one way or another. But maybe there is one other thing we can do when we look in the mirror. We can take a moment and remind ourselves that the image we are looking at is created in an image given to us by God. And then we can act accordingly. PJC Rabbi Yaier Lehrer is rabbi of Adat Shalom Congregation.

Monica Keza Zaretsky, daughter of Aline and Gregory Zaretsky, will become a bat mitzvah at Adat Shalom during Shabbat morning services on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019.

Grandparents are Sonia Zaretsky and the late Yosef Zaretsky and the late Claude and Seraphine Nkundabarama. PJC

34 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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Obituaries BERGER: Pearl Edith (Trumper) Berger, age 93, on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Beloved wife of the late Max W. Berger. Loving mother of Janice (Mike Wieseneck) Berger and Lori Berger. Cherished grandma of Mari Bryce Ziyang Berger. Sister of the late Sylvia (late Arthur) Feldman, late Bernard (late Alice) Trumper and late Adelaide (late Arthur) Bram. Aunt of Barry (Laura Perry) Bram, Bill (Barbara) Berger, Linda (Herb) Levine, Carol (Stanley) Feingold, Arlene (Richard) Shemaka, David Berger and the late Michael Berger. Great aunt of Joshua Bram. Also survived by cousins, great-nieces and nephews. Pearl worked at the Pitt Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences for 35 years. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Amedisys Hospice, 1725 Washington Road, Suite 509, Pittsburgh, PA 15241 or the Brownsville Chapel of Beth El Congregation,

1900 Cochran Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15220. schugar.com

Roseman:

“He had lots of stories of anti-Semitism growing up, kids burning cigarette butts on his hand, beating him up, just for being Jewish. He always reminded us where he came from; he never lost sight of his Jewishness,” said Kalchthaler.

When the Rosemans arrived in Pittsburgh in 1970, they moved to the North Hills. At the time, there were few Jewish families in the area but they connected with a small group of people who started what would become Temple Ohav Shalom, based in Allison Park.

After the synagogue moved into its

Continued from page 6

Tech Sector Pioneer and a Mensch,” Judy said that the book was intended to be his legacy to his three children and five grandchildren.

Roseman’s passion for being an entrepreneur and helping coach other entrepreneurs was one of several driving forces in his life.

Besides his family, the other was his Jewish heritage. As a child in Massachusetts, he was exposed to a great deal of anti-Semitism.

JOSEPH: Jay N. Joseph on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. Beloved husband of Annabelle (Sachs) Joseph. Beloved father of Leslie (Fred) Bonci and the late Louis M. Joseph.

Brother of the late Natalie Schechter Alfred.

Brother-in-law of Herb (late Roslyn) Sachs and the late Marcia Grodin. Papa to Gregory (Jackie) Bonci and Cary (Maria) Bonci.

Great-Papa to Joshua and Mya Bonci. Uncle of Andy Schechter, Henry (Gail) Schechter, Amy Alfred, Kate (Adam) Lauzer and Heidi (Rick) Maletsky, John (Naomi) Grodin and the late Glenn Grodin. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Tree of Life Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, UPMC Montefiore, Four West, 200 Lothrop St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. schugar.com

Anti-Defamation League announces ‘11 Actions for 11 Lives’ campaign

T

he Anti-Defamation League will mark the one-year commemoration of the shooting at the Tree of Life building with “11 Actions for 11 Lives.”

The online campaign, promoted through the ADL’s social media channels, will encourage Americans to participate in one meaningful activity to remember the tragedy.

The ADL has compiled a list of 11 suggested activities for participants. These include holding a moment of silence in honor of the 11 victims, sending a message of solidarity to the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, signing a petition urging Congress to enact the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act and the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, holding a special Shabbat dinner, or volunteering for an organization of one’s own choosing. Those participating can share their activities using the hashtag #FightHateforGood.

The online campaign is one of several events the ADL will hold to commemorate the shooting at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018.

Rabbi David Sandmel, ADL director of interreligious engagement, will lead a Torah study session at Rodef Shalom Congregation on Oct. 27 titled “We Can’t Do It Alone: Joining Together Against Hate.”

Speaking about “11 Actions for 11 Lives,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said the commemoration “is a time to mourn but also a time to engage in meaningful action and fight hate for good … It doesn’t matter if people can devote a few hours or even a few seconds to the fight against hate, everyone can play a part in taking meaningful action on this day for the greater good.” PJC — David Rullo

Tree of Life concert to be rebroadcast on WQED

W

QED will rebroadcast both a 90-minute local version and the 60-minute national version of the locally produced “Tree of Life: A Concert for Peace and Unity,” presented and hosted by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to honor the synagogue victims and first responders of the Oct. 27, 2018, massacre.

The national version originally aired on Dec. 11, 2018, as a one-hour special on PBS. It will air on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. The local version will air on Sunday, Oct. 27, at noon on WQED-TV. 36 OCTOBER 25, 2019

The concert features PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck, Itzhak Perlman, PSO Principal Clarinetist Michael Rusinek and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.

All artists donated their services for the performance.

The PSO’s performance at Heinz Hall was taped on Nov. 27, 2018, one month after the shooting at the Tree of Life building occurred, as part of the PSO’s “Music for the Spirit” series. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

KINGSBAKER: Suzanne L. Kingsbaker, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. Beloved wife of the late C. Louis Kingsbaker Jr. Beloved mother of Connie L. Blank and the late Kim L. Kingsbaker. Sister of Barbara (John S.) Hast, Diane (Doug) Butturff and Charles (Kathy) Livingston. Grandma of Emily (Jim) Sabol and Daniel and Joshua Unikel.

Great-grandmother of Norah Sabol. Also survived by nephews. Sue enjoyed watching and participating in a variety of sports. She was also very passionate about politics and the voting process. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions may be made to the League of Women Voters, lwv.org, WQED, 4802 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, 1251 Waterfront Place, Fl. #5, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. schugar.com

MAHARAM: Gladys (Stalinsky) Maharam: Of Oakland, formerly of Churchill, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. Beloved wife of the late Arthur Maharam. Beloved mother of Francine Shapera. Grandma of Rick, Marissa and Riley. Stepmother of Ellie (Ed) Short and Jan Maharam (Phil). Step-grandma of Sarah (Andrew) Guy and Rebecca (Brandon) Weiss. Sister of the late Jerry (surviving spouse Bonnie) Stalinsky. Also survived by grandchildren Adam and Luca, great-grandchildren Charlotte, Arleigh, Lexi, Sammy and Margot, nieces, nephews, many life-long friends and family. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Rotary District 7300 Polio Fund, 90 US Post Office, W. Steuben St., #44305, Pittsburgh, PA 15205. schugar.com

current space about 20 years ago, Roseman commissioned a bronze sculpture to honor Leibel, the brother he never got a chance to meet, as well as the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. The family worked with local sculptor and temple member Michael Kraus to help design the piece for Temple Ohav Shalom’s Holocaust Memorial Garden.

His challenge to Kraus was to “create something that people will go out of their way to see; create something that will hit them in the heart.” The end result was a man praying, covered in a tallis, face invisible from all

sides, with the fringes of the tallit barbed wire to represent the concentration camps.

Though his health began to decline last year, he never abandoned his “outrageous optimism.”

“He would want to be remembered for giving back; that was his main goal. He wanted to make the world a better place than he found it, and he hoped that the next generation would continue to make it even better,” said Judy. PJC

Please see Obituaries, page 37

Hilary Daninhirsch is a freelance writer who lives in Pittsburgh.

New Light wants new court date

N

ew Light Congregation co-presidents Barbara Caplan and Stephen Cohen are requesting a change to the trial date for the alleged perpetrator of last October’s attack. In an Oct. 16 letter to the Honorable Donetta W. Ambrose, senior district judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, Caplan and Cohen strongly opposed the Sept. 14, 2020 trial date proposed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The trial would start four days before Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur in 2020, which is the holiest season of the year,” wrote the co-presidents. “These holy days are a time of great introspection and spiritual preparation, as well as complex logistical operations, made even more challenging because of the displacement

of our congregation from our traditional home.

While we expect the trial to be very difficult for the families of the deceased victims, witnesses and members of the congregation at any time of the year, starting the trial four days prior to this holy season will bring significant and unnecessary pain and hardship to all involved.”

Caplan and Cohen proposed a start date no sooner than November 2020, as Simchat Torah concludes on Oct. 11, 2020, and the second year commemoration of the attack will occur 16 days later.

The letter to Judge Ambrose was approved

by New Light’s executive committee on Oct. 16, noted Cohen. PJC — Adam Reinherz

Kron’s ‘2.5 Minute Ride’ comes to Pittsburgh

N

ancy Bach, acting instructor at Duquesne University and Point Park University will perform in Lisa Kron’s “2.5 Minute Ride.” The one woman show concerns elements of Kron’s family and moves between scenes involving Kron’s visit to Auschwitz with her father, a Holocaust survivor and septuagenarian; her family’s annual trip to Ceder Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio; and her brother’s marriage to a bride he met online.

Weaving between the episodes allows “2.5 Minute Ride” to showcase both humorous and challenging moments and depicts how people approach life with its tragedy and grief.

“2.5 Minute Ride” is produced by the Duquesne University Red Masquers, Pittsburgh’s oldest amateur theatre company.

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The group began in the late 19th century when Duquesne began offering drama education, and offers membership to any Duquesne student in good academic standing.

Apart from “2.5 Minute Ride,” Kron, an Ann Arbor-born actress and playwright, wrote the lyrics and book for “Fun Home” and received a Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical in 2015.

Bach is a Pittsburgh-based actress and acting coach who holds degrees from New York University and Point Park University.

“2.5 Minute Ride” is directed by John E. Lane Jr. The play will run from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3. at the Genesius Theater on the Duquesne campus. PJC — Adam Reinherz

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 36

POLACHECK: James “Jim” Polacheck, on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019 in Bonita Springs, FL. Beloved husband of Terri Polacheck; loving father of Caryn (Russell) Reese, Amy (Michael) Davidoff, Neil (Dana) Silverblatt, Adam (Michelle) Silverblatt and Rebecca Tanner (fiancée Ofer Shalom); brother of Joanie (Henry) Kerns; dear grandfather of Benji and Blake Davidoff, Kayla, Isaac and Ezra Silverblatt and Kloe and Shay Silverblatt. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Head for the Cure Foundation, 1607 Oak St., Kansas City, MI, 64108. schugar.com POLLOCK: Beatrice Berman Pollock, age 97, passed away peacefully after a full loving life on Sept. 29, 2019, in Chandler, Arizona. Bea was the beloved wife of Hyman (deceased 2003); the beloved mother of Marc Pollock (Marjorie) and Marilyn Behr (Alan); grandmother to Brian Pollock (Vanessa), Craig (Anne) and Steven Behr; great-grandmother of Avery Pollock, Alex and Hannah Behr; sister of Miriam Perl; loving aunt to Ronna Perl. Bea spent her life in Pittsburgh, Deerfield Beach, Florida, and Chandler, Arizona. But wherever Bea was, she was always classy, thoughtful and considerate to everyone, even when she was beating them mercilessly at the canasta, gin and mahjong tables. She was a mother who taught both by pretext and example to respect and consider the feelings of the people around us, wisdom for which we are truly grateful and which we have tried to practice in our own lives. In line with the song, “Smile on Your Brother,” Bea always smiled on her brothers, her sisters and on everyone she came in contact with.

If a woman can be a mensch, then Bea was certainly one. A moving memorial service was held in Chandler, Arizona, Oct. 1, where family and friends gathered to honor her and celebrate her life. We are so privileged to have had her in our lives so long. We will miss her forever.

SIMON: Reva (Clair) Simon, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019. Beloved wife of the late Lesser Simon and Edwin Hackman. Beloved mother of Ronna (Martin) Blumenfeld, Leonard Simon and Jeffrey (Leah Piekarz) Simon.

Sister of Rose Kruger and the late Judy Feldman and Sholom Clair. Grandmother of Daniel Blumenfeld, Benjamin Simon and Elisheva (Matthew Neyman) Simon.

Great-grandmother of Nathan Neyman.

Also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Pliskover Cemetery, Kennedy Township.

Contributions may be made to New Light Congregation, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Na’amat, 5898 Wilkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. schugar.com

SNIDER: Henya Snider, on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon, Oct. 13, 2019, Henya ’s long battle with Alzheimer’s came to a peaceful end. Henya was the beloved wife of the late Edwin Snider, loving mother of Daniel Snider (Bonnie) and Marc Snider (Tracy), sister of Harry Schneider, sister in law of Patty Schneider, Sharon Snider, Myron and Eileen Snider, Susan Snider and the late Howard Snider. Grandmother of Max, Brianna, Michaela, Sam, Elijah, Reis and Aleia Snider.

Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Anyone that met Henya could immediately tell that they had met someone special. Her laugh, her smile, her sense of humor could fill even the largest of rooms. Having been born during the Holocaust on the run from the Nazis, her family’s story of survival and strength is what led her through 78 glorious years on earth.

Henya loved her family and was never happier than when they were all together. That was her joy. Her love of music and impromptu “dance parties” would put a smile on everyone’s face.

The party was not over until Henya left the dance floor, and she was usually the last to do so. Nothing was more important to her than a family celebration, but any day could be a day to celebrate. So, if you hear a song that you love, don’t ever be afraid to sing at the top of your lungs, and dance with all the love in your heart. If you read this, please, every day, do one thing to make someone smile. Graveside Service and Interment was held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Donations may be made in memory of Henya to the Clear Thoughts Foundation: clearthoughtsfoundation.org/donate-getinvolved. Arrangements entrusted to the Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. family owned and operated. schugar.com TENEBAUM: Miriam Tenebaum, age 72, of Squirrel Hill, formerly of McKeesport, died on Oct. 15, 2019, of complications of Type 1 diabetes. Mim was the beloved wife for 50 years of Michael Tenebaum; mother of Jeffrey (Sharon) Tenebaum of Baltimore and Sara Barczykowski of Annapolis. She was grandmother to Ashley Benware, Wil Tenebaum, Nicolas Tenebaum, Meghan Tenebaum, Chase Baker and Leland Barczykowski and great-grandmother to Penelope Benware. She was the daughter of the late Hy and Helen Smukler of White Oak. Mim is survived by her nephew, Joseph, of New York City and was preceded in death by her brother, Bert, of Pittsburgh. She attended Youngstown University and the University of Maryland.

Mim spent her career in Washington, D.C., as a civilian employee of the United States Department of Defense and earned honors and awards. She will be remembered for her generous and kind nature and willingness to help those in need. She found the goodness in people and shared her life experiences with everyone. Donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Private graveside services at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home and Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville. PJC

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday October 27: William Abrams, Mary Astrov, Peter Davidson, Edward A. Feinert, Abraham Hansell, Sylvia B. Karpo, Harry D. Linder, I. Edward Plesset, Jesse Rogers, Samuel Rosenfeld, Sara Sadie Sobel, Anna Sokol, Dr. Daniel Solomon, Fannie Stein, Mary Stoller, Harry Ulanoff, Donald Eli Witkin, Rose Zasloff Monday October 28: Jack Caplan, Morris Chaimovitz, Isaiah Cooper, Laurel B. Devon, Rose K. Freed, Harry Freedman, Pauline J. Isaacs, Sarah Jacobson, Rose Bigman Kalmanowitz, Dr. Paul Kaplan, Anna Klee, Ethel I. Krauss, Ida Magdovitz Krouse, Jacob Joseph Kurtz, Allen Lebovitz, Milton Lehman, Dr. Leonard M. Monheim, Roger E. Resnick, Emanuel Rosenthal, Edith F. Simon, Joseph Weintraub, I. Leroy (Lee) Yahr Tuesday October 29: Betty Ainsman, Emma G. Allen, Harry Barash, Bernard M. Bennett, Hannah Blaufeld, Ruth Mermelstein Cramer, Rhoda Fisher Jonas, Freda Leff, Jacob Levenson, Lillian B. Martin, Charles Monheim, Traci Michele Perilman, Sadie Schnitzer Wednesday October 30: Fagie Cohen, Oser Cohen, I. Louis Eckhouse, Pearl Fishkin, Israel Gershon, Dorothy Goldstone, Albert Hendel, Jacob Katz, David Miller, Eugene Moskovitz, Morris Pechersky, Peter Pink, Milton L. Rosenbaum, Sarah Ruth Saul Rosenberg, Berde S. Ruttenberg, Sarah Sable, Myer Skirboll, Louis Stern, Abraham Wechsler, Rose Wyatt, Bertha Cooper Young, Henry L. Zacks Thursday October 31: Gabriel Abramovitz, Morris Beck, David Cohen, Evelyn Hepps Cushner, Fanny Davidson, Sarah Samuels Finkelhor, Bertha Handelman, Adolph Klein, Louis Klein, Bertha Kruman, Rhea K. Landau, Ruda Bella Rose, Mollie Finegold Ruttenberg, Israel Samuel, Jacob Schnitzer, Abe Shulman, Tibie Verk, Sigmund Yahr Friday November 1: Yetta Angel, Benjamin Bondy, Herman Brown, Sarah Schnitzer Elling, Mollie Goldenberg, Sorly Cukerbaum Gordon, Jay Helfant, Miriam Shifra Heller, Benjamin Herskovitz, Jacob Kaufmann, Samuel Levinson, Anne B. Litman, Belle Rosenson, Meyer Rosenthal, Adolph Rutner, Samuel Shire, Morris Shulgold, Ben Spokane, Samuel J. Sugerman, Meyer VeShancey, Jacob Weinstein Saturday November 2: Phillip Americus, Claire Ann Block, Vivian Cuff Boyd, Fanny C. Caplan, Ethel Epstein, Ida Sadowsky Frankel, Jack Goldman, Feige Gottlieb, Rae Hadburg, Nachame Levine Horvitz, William I. Isaacson, Ida A. Klodell, Krash Lois Snyder, Alvin S. Mundel, Gertrude Palkovitz, Morris Pattak, Frank Silverberg

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Not everyone can say they’re passionate about their work.

We’re not everyone.

Every day that we’re able to help another family make it through a painful loss is one more day we’re proud to be in our chosen profession. Our compassion toward families and enthusiasm for serving the community is truly what sets us apart.

D’Alessandro Funeral Home and Crematory Ltd. “Always A Higher Standard”

Daniel T. D’Alessandro, Spvr.

4522 Butler St. • Pittsburgh, PA 15201

(412) 682-6500

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 37

Community Finish line brings smiles and trophies Cross country runners from Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh completed their season at the East End Championship on Oct. 6. Hosted by St. Therese School, the event welcomed more than 450 runners from area private and charter schools.

p Members of Hillel Academy’s cross country team gather with coach Dayna Greenfield prior to the East End Championship.

p From left: Tamar Isenberg, Talia Azagury, Bella Reinherz, Amalia Weinberg and Miri Shaw are joined by coach Dan Goldstein after taking third place in the novice girls team competition.

p From left: Miriam Levari, Kayla Weinberg, Lori Ziff, Tahara Reinherz, Yehudis Kanal and Sima Reinherz took third place in the varsity girls team competition.

p From left: Coby Shaw, Noam Azagury, Yoni Kanal, Rami Shaw, Dov Gelman and Akiva Sunshine with coaches Dayna Greenfield and Dan Goldstein after winning first place in the varsity boys team competition. Photos by Adam Reinherz

Macher and Shaker Michael Eisenberg, immediate past president of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, completed IRONMAN Chattanooga. Conditions during Eisenberg’s 2.4 mile swim, 116 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run reached 93 degrees with a heat index of 100.

Photo courtesy of Michael Eisenberg

p Hillel Academy eighth-grader Noam Azagury closed out the season by finishing first in the boys varsity division at the East End Championship.

Photo courtesy of Alice Azagury

38 OCTOBER 25, 2019

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Community Sunday Funday at Friendship Circle The Friendship Circle welcomed cooler weather with two events on Oct. 6. Sunday Circle, a classic Friendship Circle program, brought together friends of all ages with a Harry Potter theme including slimemaking, a magician, crafts and snacks.

Friends on the Town adult members put some elbow grease into a community car wash and raised money for their mission in spite of drizzling skies.

p Faron Thompson and Bianca Kienzle advertise the car wash.

p From left: Sophie Levitt, Adrianna Grande and Esther Rivka Shkedi

p Sam Goldston and Zane Zeff hang out.

p Sunday Circle participants make slime.

p Friends on the Town members pose after the car wash.

Photos courtesy of The Friendship Circle

CDS runners represent Community Day School cross country runners posted new bests at the East End Championship.

p Talia Block finished fourth in the girls novice division.

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p Teammates Talia Sampson, Maddie Feinman and Talia Block are all smiles during the Oct. 6 event.

Photos courtesy of Bev Block

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OCTOBER 25, 2019 39

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Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

Empire Kosher Chicken or Turkey Franks 16 oz. pkg.

2

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and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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