October 16, 2020 | 28 Tishrei 5781
Candlelighting 6:20 p.m. | Havdalah 7:17 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 42 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Archiving a pandemic: Preserving evidence of how Jewish Pittsburgh is coping
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL The ‘Kranjec Test’
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South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh undergoes changes By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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So, Lidji, a careful student who learns from history, has started working with Archive-It, the web archiving service from Internet Archive used in its “Wayback Machine,” to collect materials illustrating how Jewish Pittsburghers are getting through COVID-19. Lidji has amassed about 800 webpages and several thousand emails from area congregations — everything from details about wearing face masks during brit milah and social distancing to how to access Shabbat services via Zoom, Lidji said. He started with a spreadsheet of every Jewish organization in Western Pennsylvania and has added to it Jewish businesses and “anything that felt like it was part of the communal infrastructure.” “Everything that’s online is there to be dealt with — it’s something we really have
outh Hills Jewish Pittsburgh (SHJP) is beginning a new chapter. The entity, which launched in July 2014 as a community engagement initiative through the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and moved to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in 2017, is evolving to meet current demands. With the initial funding running out and COVID-19 largely eradicating in-person gatherings, the JCC, with input from community partners, is reevaluating both the role of SHJP and how the JCC can serve the South Hills Jewish community, said Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the JCC. SHJP will remain under the JCC’s auspices and be overseen by Fara Marcus. The JCC’s director of development and strategic marketing, Marcus will manage SHJP’s digital presence and continue the group’s longstanding efforts to create collaboration between area partners, including Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, Chabad of the South Hills, Congregation Ahavath Achim (The Carnegie Shul) and Temple Emanuel of South Hills. When SHJP launched in 2014, it attempted to address a disconnect between area institutions. “There was Temple Emanuel and Beth El and Chabad, but they weren’t doing anything together,” said Linda Simon, a former JCC board chair. “And if you were a Mt. Lebanon Temple kid, you didn’t know an Upper St. Clair Beth El kid.” SJHP brought the groups together and provided alternative programming that operated in collaboration with the congregations. Events ranged from welcoming U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb to a town hall and co-sponsoring a talk by bestselling author Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, to film screenings
Please see Archiving, page 14
Please see SHJP, page 14
Amplifying non-male voices Page 2
LOCAL A Pursuer of Peace
Rodef Shalom honors Gisele Barreto Fetterman
LOCAL
Heinz History Center Acquisitions Archivist Carly Lough and Rauh Jewish Archives Director Eric Lidji review recent “web crawls” of online materials documenting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on people and organizations in Western Pennsylvania. Photo by Claire Moclock
Harry Litman talks politics
By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
Page 3
Native son and former U.S. Attorney’s popular podcast Page 5
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he question and inquiries came to Eric Lidji in droves, from residents to newspaper reporters to congregation lay leaders: What did Jews in Pittsburgh do to weather the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic? Even rabbis sought Lidji’s counsel. “In the rabbinic world, precedent is a big deal — everybody’s kind of looking for guidance in their own way,” said Lidji, who directs the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center. “I have been amazed by how many people have asked me for references from the 1918 pandemic — there’s really not that much,” he added. “The past did not provide that opportunity to the present. We now have the opportunity to not make the same mistake twice.”
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‘Pittsburgher Rebbe’ dies of COVID
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Headlines ‘Kranjec test’ promotes inclusion of non-male sources in Jewish education — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
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new movement in Jewish educational circles to include non-male voices in teaching and curriculum has roots right here in Pittsburgh. The online magazine eJewish Philanthropy ignited a bit of a cultural debate last month when several Hillel-affiliated educators wrote about the need to highlight women’s role in Judaic teachings through what they dubbed “The Kranjec Test.” “What would it look like if we challenged ourselves to build source sheets that include at least one woman’s voice?” began the Sept. 30 article, authored by six Jewish professionals, including Danielle Kranjec, senior Jewish educator for the Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh. “Source sheets are part of the DNA of Jewish learning, and yet too few of them draw from the teaching of Jewish women. When we curate all-male source sheets, we send the message that men have a monopoly on Jewish wisdom. We know that this is not the case. The Kranjec Test is an invitation to reimagine whose wisdom we teach.” Source sheets started as Torah study tools, and typically include “a stapled packet of papers — maybe two sheets, maybe five — with various biblical verses, Talmudic excerpts, examples of Jewish law and perhaps a snippet of a contemporary essay or a quote,” author Andrew Silow-Carroll explained in an article on the topic, published in New York Jewish Week in 2017. The Kranjec Test takes its name from the Bechdel Test, which measures whether a work of fiction features at least two women talking to
p Danielle Kranjec
Photo provided by Danielle Kranjec
“ I wouldn’t say I noticed how male-driven our source sheets were until I started
”
looking. Then, I couldn’t un-see it.
— LAUREN COHEN FISHER each other about something other than a man, said Kranjec. Last year, she took to social media to question if she was doing enough to include women in her religious teachings at Hillel JUC. “I was really trying to correct something in an exact fashion because I was frustrated by the lack of non-male voices,” Kranjec told the Chronicle. “I’m not only talking about realizing women’s voices. Beyond that, I want people to look at the writings of Jewish
women … and learn them alongside the traditional sources.” Lauren Cohen Fisher, the associate director of Israel engagement for Hillel International’s Center for Jewish and Israel Education, was one of the authors of the eJewish Philanthropy article on the Kranjec Test. She has been “incredibly excited” by response to the piece, she told the Chronicle. “Basically, the response I’ve heard from
women is, ‘About time! Thank you!’” Fisher said. It’s important “we have source sheets that show more women’s voices, more gender-inclusive voices,” she added. “One of the advantages is we’re not only teaching more wisdom of women but we’re widening the areas of texts we teach.” “We feel excited and joyful by a long overdue call to scholars, teachers and educators to allow their teaching to be shaped by the wisdom of those whose daily lived experiences are not reflected in our community’s patriarchal system,” Rabbi Becky Silverstein and Laynie Soloman wrote in an Oct. 7 response in eJewish Philanthropy to The Kranjec Test article. Fisher came to Hillel International in Washington, D.C., from the Hillel at Harvard University. In her youth in the Boston area, she saw examples of strong, influential women when she attended all-girls schools and summer camps. “I wouldn’t say I noticed how maledriven our source sheets were until I started looking,” she said. “Then, I couldn’t un-see it.” Dan Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC in Pittsburgh, lauded Kranjec for the attention and responses The Kranjec Test is receiving. “What I can say is how proud and privileged we are to have Danielle as part of our Hillel team, ensuring there’s a diversity, a multiplicity of voices in our Jewish learning,” Marcus said. Kranjec, for her part, is modest. “Obviously, it was enormously gratifying for me that my ideas and my pedagogy was influencing the Hillel movement,” Kranjec told the Chronicle. “To say I’m happy, humbled and proud is an understatement.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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Headlines Rodef Shalom awards Pursuer of Peace to Gisele Barreto Fetterman, but event canceled — LOCAL — By Kayla Steinberg | Digital Content Manager
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hen Gisele Barreto Fetterman came with her single mom from Rio to New York at age 7, undocumented, she was a dumpster diver. She knew injustice — like when her mother was sexually assaulted at work — but felt she couldn’t do anything about it. “We had to be invisible because any misstep, any attention drawn would’ve changed our lives again,” said Fetterman, 38. “We would’ve been forced to return to a country that by this time we no longer knew as our own.” Now, Fetterman, the wife of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman — the former mayor of Braddock— works to help others through her organization For Good PGH, using her own experiences as inspiration. “It all came from, ‘What would’ve made my mom’s life just a little bit easier growing up, and what would’ve made the lives of so many a little bit easier,’” said Fetterman. She founded Free Store 15104 in Braddock, now part of For Good PGH, in 2012 to offer a space where people could get necessities without dumpster diving. Another For Good PGH initiative, Foster
p Marian Allen and Gisele Barreto Fetterman at the Free Store 15104
Photo by Suzie Rudski
Good, provided foster children with suitcases customized by artists so they could have something special of their own. And The Hollander Project — a business incubator and working space for 12 women — helps female entrepreneurs succeed. So when it came time for Marian Allen and Valerie Bacharach, the co-chairs of Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Pursuer of Peace steering committee, to choose who would receive the biennial award, Fetterman stood out as the perfect pick. “She really exemplifies in Judaism the highest level of giving, which is to help someone become independent and be able to take care of themselves,” said Bacharach. Fetterman is the first woman and Latino to receive the award. The five previous recipients were the Most Rev. David Zubik, Fred Rogers
(posthumously), William Strickland, Rabbi Walter Jacob and Dr. Rabbi Abraham Twerski. The recipient is usually honored at a dinner with around 300 attendees. The event’s $250 price tag supports Rodef Shalom and an organization of the recipient’s choosing. This year, pre-pandemic, the Pursuer of Peace steering committee planned to reduce the cost of the event. It felt almost tone deaf to have the typical fancy dinner, explained Allen, knowing many of the people Fetterman helps couldn’t afford to attend. When the pandemic hit, the committee rescheduled the dinner from June to October. But by mid-summer, a big fall event appeared unlikely. Rodef Shalom canceled it. “The point of all of this is to follow the idea of tikkun olam, to repair the world,” said Bacharach. “That doesn’t necessarily mean always having a fancy dinner.” Although the dinner is canceled, efforts to help Fetterman’s cause are underway. Rodef Shalom is launching its Share the Warmth initiative to support Free Store 15104’s winter clothing drive. And it is planning a gentle pitch to congregants and sharing with them the four areas the funds will be put toward: immediate needs (met by Free Store 15104), mental health services, women’s professional development (through The Hollander Project) and gun safety.
The steering committee is mindful that there are many important and deserving causes and that congregants might be struggling financially due to the pandemic, organizers said. But it still wants to support For Good PGH through its current appeal and pre-pandemic donations. “Especially in these very fraught times, when so many people are emotionally and physically isolated, to be able to try and help them is absolutely crucial,” said Bacharach. And the benefit is mutual. “She’s teaching us what the needs are and how to help,” said Allen. “We’ve already grown in virtue of our relationship with her.” Fetterman herself still faces prejudice. On Sunday, Oct. 11, as she headed out of a local Aldi with kiwis, she was targeted by a woman who called her the n-word, audible in a video clip from the encounter that Fetterman posted to Twitter. She has dealt with online hatred, she said, but never before experienced something like this in person. “I was just kind of frozen,” Fetterman told the Chronicle. “I think I just started to cry and just kind of shut down a bit.” But as shaken as she was, Fetterman asked people to consider the woman who taunted her with compassion. Please see Rodef, page 15
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Headlines Square Cafe brings destination dining to East Liberty — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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or Sherree Goldstein, the desire to start a neighborhood cafe was a “pipe dream” that first entered her mind almost two decades ago. “I thought it would be cool and fun to hang out with my friends at the kind of place that had good pastries and desserts and community,” said Goldstein. Now, 17 years later, Goldstein has a full-service restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, with more than 30 employees. Despite the pandemic, her business is expanding. She recently moved her Pittsburgh eatery, Square Cafe, from Regent Square to East Liberty. The Pittsburgh native said that her initial idea of a hip gathering place for friends has morphed into something larger than she ever dreamed. At the restaurant’s former Braddock Avenue location, especially on a weekend, space was at a premium. The cafe’s new home on Highland Avenue, in the former BRGR and Spoon site, is almost four times as large. “We were having some trouble with our outdoor seating in Regent Square,” Goldstein said. “This offered us a much better opportunity. We’ll have a rooftop
p Square Cafe recently reopened in East Liberty.
deck as well as a courtyard patio.” Open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, the restaurant has built a large and loyal clientele, serving a mix of vegan choices alongside traditional meat entrees. “We try to appeal to a diverse palette,” Goldstein said. “I think we’re pretty fresh and innovative. We use local sources as much as we can and when they’re available.” The new location will allow Square Cafe to host after-hours events including birthday and graduation parties and bar or
Photo by Sherree Goldstein
bat mitzvah Friday night dinners. To prepare for the additional business, the restaurant has hired six new employees and plans to hire more, bringing the total number of staff to 50 by spring. After being closed to on-site dining for months due to COVID-19 restrictions, and following its relocation, Square Cafe welcomed its customers back on Oct. 5. Goldstein said the cafe’s loyal customers have found the new location without any trouble. In addition to the East Enders who
typically live within a three-mile radius of the restaurant, her customers come from the wider area as well, including the South Hills, North Hills, Murrysville and Irwin — some from more than 20 or 30 miles away — making Square Cafe destination dining. The restaurant also continues to offer delivery, a service that was expended for several months during the early days of the pandemic. While the restaurant was closed to in-person dining, Goldstein and her staff not only delivered prepared food from their menu but also provided staples to customers they were able to keep in stock but were in short supply at local supermarkets. “We were selling gallons of milk, pounds of flour, eggs, cheese,” Goldstein said. “The grocery stores were starting to see shortages pretty quickly on things and we were able to get things in from a different routing system than those that emptied the grocery stores.” Helping the community is nothing new to Goldstein. Before starting Square Cafe, she worked at Gateway Rehabilitation Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility, for 12 years and recently completed a term on the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s board of directors. Before her stint at Gateway, Goldstein, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon and attended Temple Emanuel of South Hills, worked Please see Cafe, page 15
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Headlines Pittsburgh native, former US attorney, creates ‘Talking Feds’ podcast — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer
H
arry Litman credits cable news for spurring the creation of his podcast, “Talking Feds.” The former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania has been a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, called upon to act as what he termed a “kind of swami, who knew everything” in 15-second sound bites. But Litman felt those curated appearances didn’t allow him to tell the whole story. “It was so little, I thought it really wasn’t capturing how people thought and how they decided things,” he told the Chronicle. “It was unsatisfying and felt incomplete for the listeners.” That dissatisfaction was the genesis of “Talking Feds.” The program, which he calls a general legal and political show, has hit a nerve. It currently has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Apple Podcasts; close to 2,000 listeners have left a rating. It is also riding high atop several publications’ “must listen” lists, including Marie Claire’s “20 Best Political Podcasts to Prepare You for the 2020 Election.”
p Pittsburgh native Harry Litman hosts the popular “Talking Feds” podcast.
Photo provided by Harry Litman
Litman grew up in the city’s Shadyside neighborhood. His parents, David and Roslyn, were lawyers. He remembers his mother as a pioneer who followed a path similar to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s: an attorney and mother, married to a successful lawyer, who had difficulty finding a job after law school but by the 1970s became a nationally renowned litigator. Litman left Pittsburgh to attend Harvard
University and the University of California at Berkeley and spent time in New York before eventually taking a job in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton. In addition to appearing as a guest on numerous cable news programs, Litman teaches constitutional law and national security at the UCLA School of Law and the University of California at San Diego department of
political science. He is also the legal affairs columnist for the L.A. Times opinion page. Despite his schedule, the husband and father of three finds time to record his weekly podcast, which recently uploaded its 100th episode, and to serve as the executive producer of a new female-fronted companion program, “Talking Feds: Women at the Table.” The weekly format allows Litman to keep his podcast topical. Recent episodes have examined the COVID-19 diagnosis of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy and the effort to protect the right to vote leading up to the election. “I feel like this is a product that doesn’t sound like a lot of others,” Litman said. “There are a lot of one-on-one’s or quick sound bites, but this type of roundtable is like some of the programs I grew up with, ‘The McLaughlin Group’ and other programs.” The podcast features the type of guests found on typical roundtable cable news programs; however, the extended format (each program is 40-plus minutes) allows for discussions that Litman said are more in-depth, dynamic, rich and nuanced. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, MSNBC Please see Podcast, page 15
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Calendar q SUNDAYS, OCT. 18, 25; NOV. 1
>>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will 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.
Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
q FRIDAY, OCT. 16 The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh presents on Zoom a Work in Progress Colloquium, “The Pornography of Fools: Antisemitism and Sexual Fantasy,” with Aidan Beatty at 1 p.m. To register visit, calendar.pitt.edu/department/jewish_studies_program.
q SATURDAY, OCT. 17 Join Moishe House Pittsburgh for Shabbat Unplugged and practice Shabbat with a restful break from technology at Friendship Park. Feel free to chat, read a book, study Torah, throw a frisbee or do whatever else relaxes you and brings you joy. Snacks and hand sanitizer will be provided. Attendance capped at 25. 1 p.m. For more information and to register, visit facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh.
q SUNDAY, OCT. 18 The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association will hold its annual unveiling ceremony at the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery located at 498 Oakwood Street. Rabbi Eli Seidman, former director of pastoral care at the Jewish Association on Aging, will officiate. 11 a.m. For additional information, call 412-553-6469 or jcbapgh@gmail.com. The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh presents the annual Israel Heritage Room lecture. This year’s topic is “The Making of Shtisel” by director and cocreator Yehonatan Indursky. 2 p.m. For more information, visit calendar.pitt.edu/department/jewish_studies_program.
q SUNDAYS, OCT. 18, 25; NOV. 1, 8, 15, 22; DEC. 6; JAN. 31; FEB. 7, 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7, 14 What does Jewish tradition have to say about God, Torah, mitzvot, suffering, messiah, Israel…? In this special course, Pittsburgh Rabbis on Jewish Belief, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will host 14 Pittsburgh rabbis, each teaching a session on fundamental aspects of Jewish belief. Fourteen sessions for $70. 10 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org.
first occurrence of a new monthly Rosh Chodesh event. For more information and to register, visit facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh. The Women of Rodef Shalom present “Innovations in Senior Living” with Jim Pieffer, senior vice president of Presbyterian SeniorCare Network. Pieffer will share research on leading innovations in senior LGBTQ+-friendly living rooms around the nation and locally. Free. For more information, visit facebook.com/rodefsisterhood. 7 p.m.
Join Jewish Family and Community Services for Art and Contemplation-Teen Edition, an art-based support group just for teens. The sessions will explore how making art can help regulate the nervous system, promote playfulness, imagination, help develop insight, and connect us more deeply to our bodies, emotions, and thoughts. For the first session, blank paper and drawing materials that have some variety of color will be needed. Free. 3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfcspgh.org.
q MONDAYS, OCT. 19, 26; NOV. 2, 9
q TUESDAYS, OCT. 20-JUNE 1, 2021
Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.
What’s the point of Jewish living? What ideas, beliefs and practices are involved? “Melton Course 1: Rhythms & Purposes of Jewish Living” examines a variety of Jewish sources to discover the deeper meanings of Jewish holidays, lifecycle observances and Jewish practice. Cost: $300 per person, per year (25 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org.
q MONDAYS, OCT. 19, 26; NOV. 2, 9, 16, 30; DEC. 7; FEB. 1, 8, 15, 22; MARCH 1, 8, 15
q MONDAY, OCT. 19 Jewish Family and Community Services presents Spending so much time together: A challenge to partnership. With the pandemic, couples are being forced to spend 24 hours a day together. The stress that has come with this can affect the strongest partnerships. Wendy Levin-Shaw will explore why these challenges exist. 7:30 p.m. For more information, including start times, and to register, visit jfcspgh.org.
Most people associate the term “Haftarah” with opaque prophetic reading on Shabbat morning. This course, “Haftarah,” will attempt to make the opaque sparkle. Choosing selectively from the most interesting Haftarah portions, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will seek to imbue meaning in these powerful prophetic passages. Fourteen sessions for $70. 9:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org.
q TUESDAYS, OCT. 20-DEC. 22 Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures presents Lee Gutkind, founding editor of Creative Nonfiction magazine. Gutkind delivers his new memoir “My Last Eight Thousand Days: An American Male in His Seventies.” To register, visit pittsburghlectures.org/lee-gutkind. Cheshvan is the first new month of 5781. Take a moment with the Moishe House community to set intentions for the month ahead. We can keep the Rosh Hashanah energy going and provide accountability for each other in achieving our goals. This will be the
Jewish Family and Community Services hosts Mindfulness and Meditation for Stress Management, offering the opportunity to cultivate greater awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Increasing awareness and integrating mindfulness and meditation into one’s routine strengthens one’s ability to act with intention rather than reactively and decrease feelings of being overwhelmed. 11 a.m. To register, visit jfcspgh.org.
q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 21, 28; NOV. 4, 11 The 21st century is 20 years old. In that time, the Reform movement has produced more responsa than any other non-Orthodox movement. What have these pieces taught us about 21st-century Judaism? In “21 C Reform Responsa,” Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will examine two decades of responsa for their statements about contemporary Judaism. Six sessions for $30. 11 a.m. To register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org.
q THURSDAY, OCT. 22 Join Chabad Young Professionals, OneTable, Moishe House, Repair the World and the Young Adult Division of the Jewish Federation as they come Together at the Virtual Table to commemorate the tragic events of Oct. 27, 2018, with an eye toward the future. Hear from young adult leaders, pray together and create together as we prepare for Shabbat
Please see Calendar, page 7
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Calendar the following day. Everyone is welcome. 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org.
Join Repair the World for community service on Oct. 25; study Torah with a variety of scholars on Oct. 27, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 and livestream a pre-recorded Community Gathering Ceremony on Oct. 27 run by the 10.27 Healing Partnership. For complete information and to register for the different events, visit jewishpgh.org/events.
q MONDAY, OCT. 26
q THURSDAY, OCT. 29
Book launch of “Bound in the Bond of Life: Pittsburgh Writers Reflect on the Tree of Life Tragedy” by the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Panel discussion moderated by Beth Kissileff and Steve Weitzman with Barbara Burstin, Laurie Eisenberg and Adam Shear. 7:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit calendar.pitt.edu/department/jewish_ studies_program.
Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Director Lauren Apter Bairnsfather interviews Repair the World Pittsburgh’s City Director of Social Justice Julie Mallis, as part of the center’s ongoing “Conversations” series. 3 p.m. Free. For more information and to register, visit hcofpgh.org/events.
Calendar: Continued from page 6
q SUNDAY, OCT. 25 Join Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence for In Memoriam 2020: Remember the Victims of Gun Violence, Demand Change, a virtual event remembering and honoring the 11 victims of the October 27, 2018, synagogue shooting. The event will place the attack into a larger context — at the intersection of anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant hatred, white supremacy and the easy availability of guns in our culture, and will call for action. Hosted by Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, Bend the Arc Jewish Action: Pittsburgh, Repair the World, and CeaseFirePA. 10 a.m. For more information and to register, visit bit.ly/34BpXx5.
q SUNDAY, OCT. 25; TUESDAY, OCT. 27; WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4; THURSDAY, NOV. 5 Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the 10.27 2nd Year Commemoration: Remember, Reflect, In Spirit and Action. This year’s commemoration will be largely virtual.
q FRIDAY, OCT. 30
q SUNDAY, NOV. 8 Classrooms Without Borders is honored to present David G. Marwell, author of “Mengele: Unmasking the ‘Angel of Death.” “Mengele” is a gripping biography of the infamous Nazi doctor, from a former Justice Department official tasked with uncovering his fate. 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.
q MONDAYS, NOV. 9; DEC. 14 Join Classrooms Without Borders in Israel — virtually. Monthly tours with guide and scholar, Rabbi Jonty Blackman, via Zoom. 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.
of Karmiel and Misgav and is working on revolutionizing education as well as creating a strong and equal Israeli society. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is a longtime supporter of its important work with at-risk youth. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org.
q THURSDAY, NOV. 19 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is proud to present the latest installment in the Generations Speaker Series: Alison Brown Karabin. Alison will share the story of her grandmother, Elizabeth Brown (z”l), a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who endured Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Volary death march. 3 p.m. Free. For more information and to register, visit hcofpgh.org/events.
q THURSDAY, NOV. 19
Put on your warmest costume and come to the Moishe House backyard for a socially distant spooky Shabbat dinner. The candles will be lit promptly at 6 p.m., but you are welcome to come as early as 5:30 p.m. A vegetarian meal will be provided. Attendance will be capped at six guests. For more information and to register, visit facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh.
q SUNDAY, NOV. 1 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents a discussion of the film “Soul Witness.” Completed in 2018, the documentary includes testimony with Boston-area Holocaust survivors. The discussion will include producer R. Harvey Bravman and three descendants of survivors featured in the film. The discussion is free. The movie can be bought or rented at soulwitness.org/hcpgh. Thirty percent of the proceeds will go to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. 3 p.m. To register, visit eventbrite.com/e/soulwitness-survivor-testimony-as-inspiration-during-troublingtimes-tickets-123328357437.
q TUESDAY, NOV. 10, 17; DEC. 1, 8, 15; FEB 9, 16, 23; MARCH 2, 9 Treating Jewish jokes as text, From Sinai to Seinfeld invites students to analyze and interpret the evolving concerns, styles, rhythms, preoccupations and values of the Jewish people that lie buried deep in words that make us laugh as Jews, and that bond us as a people. $50 per person, (10 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org.
q TUESDAY, NOV. 10 The University of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Studies Program welcomes via Zoom Natan Meir, Lorry I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies at Portland State University. Meir will present “Epidemic and the Marginalized of Society: A View from the Jewish Past.” 6 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishstudies.pitt.edu. Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for a virtual tour of Kibbutz Eshbal, Israel’s first educator’s kibbutz. Eshbal is located in Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether region
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents “The Month that Was: Behind the Headlines in Israel — Part 1.” Join Neil Lazarus for an in-depth analysis of the latest news and views from Israel and the Middle East in the last month. 12 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org
q THURSDAYS, DEC. 3; FEB. 18; MARCH 18; MAY 6; JUNE 17 We live in a time of multiple challenges. Controversial issues and struggles confront us daily. But the truth is that Jews have never desisted from addressing tough problems. In this year’s Continuing Legal Education Series, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will dive into a range of “tense topics” — difficult and troubling issues that are both powerfully emotional subjects and have substantive legal ramifications at the same time. Get up to 12 CLE ethics credits. With CLE/CEU credit: $30/session or $180 all sessions; without CLE/CEU credit: $25/session or $150 all sessions. 8:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. PJC
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OCTOBER 16, 2020 7
Headlines ‘Pittsburgher Rebbe’ succumbs to COVID-19 — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
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OVID-19 has claimed the life of a Chasidic Israeli rabbi who had roots here in Pittsburgh. Rabbi Mordechai Leifer, the third rebbe in Pittsburgh’s Chasidic dynasty, and known as the “Pittsburgher Rebbe,” died Oct. 4 after a lengthy battle with the illness. He was 65. Leifer’s funeral drew some 5,000 haredi followers in the crowded streets of the Israeli city of Ashdod, resulting in clashes between mourners and police who attempted to disperse them. Leifer was an accomplished student of the Torah and a musical composer, friends and followers said. He led Pittsburgher Chasidim throughout Israel, in New York and in California. Leifer’s grandfather, Yosef, came to the United States from Nadvorna in Eastern Europe in 1923, eventually settling in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, according to the Pittsburgh PostGazette. In the Hill District, he founded a mikvah and synagogue Kahal Chasidim. Around the end of World War II, Yosef and his family moved to Squirrel Hill, where they started an Orthodox shul on Bartlett Street, Ahavas Israel. Yosef supported the opening of the first kosher grocery store in
p Grand Rebbes of the Nadvorna dynasty Reb Shmuel Shmelke Leifer of Chust (USA) and Reb Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer of Pittsburgh (Ashdod) Public domain photo from Wikimedia
Squirrel Hill, Prime Kosher, and was influential in bringing kosher milk to Pittsburgh, the Post-Gazette reported. Howard Balsam davened at Rabbi Yosef Leifer’s shul on Shabbat and holidays. “[Yosef] was very, very devoted and
very soft-spoken,” said Balsam, a longtime Pittsburgher who recently moved to Toronto. “The home was open to everybody who needed a place to stay. He just carried over the tradition of the rebbe from Europe — I really have only fond memories of him.”
Yosef ’s son, the second Pittsburgher rebbe, was Avram Abba, who took his place at the Bartlett Street shul when Yosef died. Mordechai Leifer only lived in Pittsburgh for a handful of years in the 1960s. But some in the community still remember “Moti” attending the Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, where the recently deceased educator and spiritual leader Rabbi Ephraim Rosenblum served as his teacher. Avram Abba made aliyah and left Pittsburgh for Israel around 1969 or 1970 and started the Ashdod community. “People believed you went to a tzaddik like Yosef or Avram, even Mordechai, because they have a stronger spiritual connection to God than we do,” said Morty Milch of Squirrel Hill. Milch, who davened at the Bartlett Street shul, visited Mordechai in Kiryat Pittsburgh, a neighborhood with a familiar name in Ashdod, Israel, about 15 years ago. By this time, the rabbi was commonly referred as the Pittsburgher Rebbe and oversaw a community with scores of Chasidic families. Rabbi Mordechai Leifer, who became the third rebbe of the dynasty when his father died in 1990, grew the Chasidic Pittsburgher community in Ashdod from about 40 families in the late 1990s to about 200 this year. He has been succeeded by his son, Meshulam Eliezer Leifer. PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports
Pittsburgh native Joel Rubin tapped to be new AJCongress executive director
The American Jewish Congress hired the former director of Jewish outreach for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign to be its executive director. Joel Rubin will be the advocacy group’s first Washington-based director in a decade. A former congressional staffer and top State Department official, Rubin was an early employee of J Street. In a statement, AJCongress president Jack Rosen suggested that a progressive like Rubin would reach younger Jews likely to be as excited by social justice issues as they are by Israel. “The Jewish community is facing significant risks right now, including to the safety of our community, the delegitimization of Israel, and the rising tide of global hate that affects us all,” Rosen said. “At the same time, momentous domestic challenges, such as racial injustice, have not been effectively addressed.” Rubin said he was excited to be “helping this great American Jewish institution to both confront the new challenges of our time and shape the Jewish voice of tomorrow.”
Chabad rabbi sworn in as National Guard chaplain in Colorado
Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, the Chabad director at Colorado State University and a faculty member at the university for the past 15 years, was sworn in Oct. 2 by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who donned a yarmulke for the occasion. Gorelik, 44, told the Intermountain Jewish News that he was inspired to enlist by generations of his family who served in militaries including in Russia, Australia and the United States. He also decided to enlist due to the rise in anti-Semitism in recent years. Gorelik will be the first Jewish chaplain in Colorado’s Army National Guard in at least 20 years, Lt. Col. David Nagel, who oversees the program, told the Coloradoan. Gorelik has gone through three months of basic training and shed many pounds in order to enlist, according to the IJN.
Melbourne residents confront haredi Orthodox Jews allegedly meeting during lockdown
Angry residents of Melbourne, Australia, confronted a group of haredi Orthodox Jews who appeared to be violating coronavirus lockdown regulations. A group of Jews who are believed to be part of the Satmar Hasidic group were filmed leaving the Adass Israel School in south Melbourne, the Daily Mail Australia reported. In videos posted online, residents can be heard shouting at the group and telling them that they were violating the lockdown regulations. In one video, a Jewish man appears to chase a man who was filming the scene. “These people are breaking corona rules and
they’re trying to attack me … they’re trying to attack me,” the cameraman said as he ran. Victoria state police told the Daily Mail Australia that no breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules were violated. Melbourne is under a strict coronavirus lockdown that limits gatherings to five people from two households. Residents are instructed to remain within a three-mile radius of their homes and to only venture outside for exercise, food shopping, work, school and caregiving.
Tik Tok removes channel of Jewish extremist group Lehava
The video-sharing social network Tik Tok removed the channel of Lehava, a far-right Israeli group that opposes Jewish-Arab coexistence and gay relationships. The group is led by Benzi Gopstein, who was banned from running in Israeli elections last year as head of the right-wing Jewish Power party due to anti-Arab statements considered incitement to racism. Tik Tok first took down three of Lehava’s videos and then completely removed the channel after receiving complaints about its content. The channel was permanently blocked over “repeated violations of our community conduct regulations,” Tik Tok said in a statement, according to the Lehava website. Gopstein told Israel National News that his attorneys are “checking into” filing a lawsuit against Tik Tok. “You can find every evil on Tik Tok, but somebody who talks a little about Judaism and about not assimilating – this, Tik Tok decided to close,” Gopstein said. Lehava also has been banned from Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
UK fashion magazine fires diversity editor following Holocaust jokes
The British edition of the fashion magazine Grazia fired an editor who made remarks she later acknowledged were anti-Semitic. A spokesperson for Bauer Media, the publisher of the Italian magazine’s UK edition, said Stephanie Yeboah “will no longer be writing as a contributing editor of Grazia” following “an internal review,” the Daily Mail reported on Saturday Yeboah, 31, apologized for statements she made on Twitter about Jews and the Holocaust. “To plead ignorance is no excuse, I should have known better than to make these kind of comments about events which remain a source of unimaginable trauma for the Jewish community,” Yeboah said in a statement. “In these tweets, I made very ignorant and antisemitic comments about the Jewish community,” she added. In one of the tweets, Yeboah wrote: “AUSCHWITZ Gas Chamber Music LMAO SMH.” In another, she wrote: “Every Jew has an attic, but not every attic has Jews.” She has also written that the attention paid to Holocaust remembrance eclipses crimes committed against “brown people.” Yeboah joined Grazia last month to promote diversity and inclusion. PJC
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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
OCTOBER 16, 2020 9
Headlines ‘This is a sign’: Re-created Ohringer sign to illuminate Braddock Avenue — LOCAL — By Kayla Steinberg | Digital Content Manager
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raddock Avenue, bustling decades ago with businesses like the prominent Ohringer Furniture Store, will be illuminated again by a re-created Ohringer sign, more than five stories tall. It comes as the Ohringer building transitions into its latest incarnation: an apartment complex with 37 affordable artist residences. When Jewish philanthropist Abe Ohringer opened the building in 1941, it was the largest of several furniture stores in Braddock. If there was an Ohringer sale, said Jewish developer Gregg Kander, people would line up along the whole block waiting to get in. In the 1970s, the store closed. But as part of a chain of projects to revitalize Braddock, the renovated eight-story Ohringer building will illuminate the town with the red glow of the LED sign and the vigor of the artists it will house. “It’s a first-class amenity for people who typically don’t get it,” said Kander, the project’s developer and owner. The building includes an art studio, a rehearsal studio and a private courtyard. The sign, 58 feet high and 12 feet wide, and designed to match the dimensions
p A night rendering of the sign by Rothschild Doyno Collaborative Rendering provided by Gregg Kander
and style of the original, will stretch from the top of the second floor to the building’s new rooftop deck. And the ground floor will feature an artwork display on a revolving showcase platform from the building’s furniture store days. The ground floor will be finished and fully operational around November or December, estimated architect Robert Tunon, an associate at Rothschild Doyno Collaborative. “We have been honored to work with Braddock for more than a decade to welcome
positive, community-driven change, most of which has focused on activating their main street with great places to live, work and play,” said Ken Doyno, president of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative. Other businesses on Braddock Avenue, explained Kander, are now looking to revamp. “It would be so fantastic to have the avenue start lighting up again,” he said. “It’s that trickle down of one thing leads to another, and it helps create a village of us all working together to get to a restored avenue.”
Kander was inspired by two women — his late wife Ellen Weiss Kander and his fiancée Anna Hollis — to assist communities that lack the privileges he has. “You don’t know you’re in a bubble until you step out of it,” he said. So when Kander had a chance to join community-driven efforts and invest in Braddock’s businesses, he said yes. “These underserved communities typically do not get these infusions,” he said. “They stay neglected. And here, I’m basically taking my privilege and putting it towards a community that deserves it.” For Braddock residents, Kander explained, this is momentous. “It just means to them that ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going in the right direction now,’” he said. “‘We’re coming back instead of buildings just crumbling and decaying. This is a sign.’” Kander believes the artists can invigorate the community. “Artists just have a great, creative spirit that is infectious,” he said. “A good virus.” They can apply for and lease the apartments via ohringerarts.com. The sign was completed on Oct. 12. The installation will be followed by a community celebration in November. PJC Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
This week in Israeli history — WORLD — Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
Oct. 16, 1986 — Terrorists capture flyer Ron Arad
Ron Arad, 28, the navigator of an Israeli F-4 Phantom II, is captured by the Shia terrorist group Amal after bailing out over Lebanon, and he is never seen in Israel again.
Oct. 17, 1973 — Oil weaponized against Israel’s allies
Oil ministers from Arab states cut exports by 5% and recommend an embargo of Israel’s allies in response to the U.S. airlift of military supplies to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
Oct. 18, 1988 — Court upholds ban on Kach
Israel’s Supreme Court upholds the Kach party’s ban from the election for the 12th Knesset. Kach violates a new prohibition on parties whose object is inciting or engaging in racism.
10 OCTOBER 16, 2020
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
Oct. 19, 1959 — Politician Nir Barkat is born
Software entrepreneur Nir Barkat is born in Jerusalem, which he serves as mayor for two terms from 2008 to 2018. Barkat then joins the Likud party and is elected to the Knesset.
Oct. 20, 2013 — Buses promoting Women of the Wall attacked
Haredi men hurl rocks at and slash the tires of buses bearing ads for Women of the Wall showing women with prayer shawls and Torahs at the Western Wall.
Oct. 21, 1967 — Warship Eilat is sunk
Forty-seven Israeli sailors are killed when the destroyer INS Eilat is sunk on a routine patrol off Port Said, Egypt, by Soviet-made missiles launched by Egyptian boats in the harbor.
Oct. 22, 1979 — High Court rules against settlement
The Israeli Supreme Court rules that the Gush Emunim settlement of Elon Moreh must be dismantled for lack of evidence that it was established for security reasons. It is the first loss for settlers in nine years of such cases. PJC
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Headlines Israeli Orthodox leader: Judaism does not forbid same-sex couples from building a family — LOCAL — By Josefin Dolsten | JTA
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prominent Israeli Orthodox rabbi said that Jewish law does not forbid LGBTQ people from building a family. Rabbi Benny Lau made the statement as part of a set of guidelines for observant LGBTQ Jews and their families released Saturday evening under the heading “It is Not Good for Man to be Alone.” The guidelines, published on Lau’s Facebook page, seek to reconcile a desire to welcome LGBTQ Jews into Jewish communities within the constraints of religious law. According to Lau, Jewish law “does not forbid members of the LGBTQ community from raising children and building a family,” though he acknowledges that Jewish legal issues may arise for couples who use surrogacy or a sperm donor in order to have children. Lau also discouraged family members of LGBTQ Jews from encouraging conversion therapy, a debunked practice that seeks to change someone’s sexual orientation. The rabbi said those attracted to members of the same sex should not attempt to enter
Chai
p Israelis take part in the Jerusalem Pride Parade, June 25, 2009.
heterosexual marriage if they are repulsed by their partner. And he affirmed that LGBTQ couples and their children should be full
News for people who know we don’t mean spiced tea. Every Friday in the
and all the time online
members of the community and that their dignity should not be harmed. He emphasized that the guidelines are not
Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90 via JTA
meant as a ruling on matters of Jewish law, Please see Family, page 20
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10/6/20 1:33 PM
OCTOBER 16, 2020 11
Opinion A time for change Guest Columnist Jeffery Finkelstein
Change is hard and will present some
I
n June, just months into the pandemic, consulting firm McKinsey interviewed business executives. Ninety percent of these executives said they expected the fallout from COVID-19 to change fundamentally the way their companies do business over the next five years. Appropriately, the article was titled, “Innovation in a Crisis: Why It Is More Critical Than Ever.” Jewish Pittsburgh needs innovation, too. To date, many Jewish agencies and congregations have adapted beautifully by altering existing programs and services to work virtually or through a low-contact model. Long-term success will require not only these short-term innovations but also major changes — potentially, a complete rethinking about where and how Jewish agencies and congregations provide services for Jewish life. While many institutions struggle to survive, McKinsey argues that such a crisis provides an ideal environment for reinvention. Some ingredients for that innovation environment stem from long-term, structural changes that most of us know well but that we have addressed only in part. These trends include more Jews moving to the suburbs, more young Jews moving to Pittsburgh, people connecting with their Judaism without traditional Jewish institutions, more multifaith households, and more demand for activities inspired by Jewish values such as Jewish cooking classes, volunteering and more. Some of the environmental elements
of the greatest challenges of a generation. Doing nothing, however, leads to potential decline for the Jewish community we love. moving us toward innovation stem from necessity. The costs of adapting to COVID-19 have challenged some of our Jewish agencies. The Squirrel Hill Food Pantry faces new demands, including more complex cases. Community Day School, Yeshiva Schools and Hillel Academy face additional technology needs and expensive cleaning and safety protocols as well as the need for space for social distancing. The JCC lost millions in program revenue during the shutdown. JAA faces challenges including numerous additional COVID-related costs on top of ongoing, inadequate reimbursement from Medicaid. These added expenses are due to universal testing of residents and staff, increased care, medical supplies, facility upgrades and staffing costs. COVID-19 has also caused delays in JAA’s admissions and curtailed community services, resulting in millions in lost revenue. Like it or not, these long-term concerns force us to ask the fundamental question of why our institutions exist. Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter defines strategy as “deliberately choosing a different
set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.” More simply put, we should not only ask ourselves, “What do we do?” but also clearly define, “What do we not do?” These questions need not be abstract. Social service agencies could ask questions of themselves such as, “Does service delivery require the same facilities, or could next-generation care offer Jewish services remotely? Can we capitalize on acceptance of virtual programs and services to meet the needs of a wider audience in more far-flung locations? Should we focus resources on the highest impact elements of our services?” For agencies and congregations focused on Jewish continuity, we could ask, “What does the next era in Jewish outreach look like? How do we best develop Jewish identity in the next generation of Jewish households? How do we cooperate to reach out to Jews moving to Pittsburgh? What do we need to do to get Jewish families engaged in Jewish life in the way they want to be engaged rather than the way we want them to engage? Can we expand our inter-organizational cooperation to refer families seamlessly among
our agencies and congregations, unselfishly sending the families wherever fits them best rather than trying to keep them at our own organization?” The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has pushed for some of these changes for more than a decade prior to the current crisis. For example, a study the Jewish Federation commissioned almost 10 years ago from architectural firm Rothschild Doyno Collaborative posited five different scenarios to combine and rethink aging buildings. Various initiatives have looked at combining services, sharing programs and increasing collaboration. A few innovations met with success. AgeWell Pittsburgh, a collaboration on senior care between the JCC, JFCS and JAA, won national praise and replication in other cities. The Agency for Jewish Learning was disbanded, with services spread to the JCC and the Federation. Riverview Towers became The New Riverview and merged with JAA. Despite these successes, our actual attempts at change are still limited. We have an opportunity now to determine the changes that will propel our community to the future and allow us to have maximum impact. We can control our destiny as opposed to being forced into an unsettled future. Change is hard and will present some of the greatest challenges of a generation. Doing nothing, however, leads to potential decline for the Jewish community we love. We need to see the present crisis as an opportunity to remake a brighter future, and the Jewish Federation is committed to help make these changes a reality. PJC Jeffrey Finkelstein is the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
Why tell your story? Guest Columnist Eric Lidji
W
hile browsing the website of a local bookstore this summer, I found a horrifying and frustrating book published in 1987 by Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. It’s called “Every Day Remembrance Day,” and it takes the form of a calendar. For each day of the year, Wiesenthal lists instances of deadly anti-Semitism, from a Vaticansponsored libel in 1017 to a synagogue bombing in Copenhagen in 1985. I bought the book. When it arrived, I instinctively and irrationally flipped to Oct. 27. I knew, of course, that the attack in Pittsburgh would not be included among the pages of a book published 30 years earlier. But I suppose I wondered if the day held any omens, and therefore I was stunned to read the following account from Oct. 27, 1905: “A pogrom occurs in Semenovka, Russia. Looting and burning of Jewish property accompanies the slaughter of the Jews — 12 OCTOBER 16, 2020
11 are massacred, 11 are gravely wounded.” The same day, the same toll, separated by 113 years and by the wide ocean between the cruel Old World and the promise of North America. What did it mean? It meant nothing. A lack of footnotes makes it difficult to determine the source for any particular fact in the book. But further research complicated the coincidence. Yad Vashem notes several Semenovka pogroms, with imprecise dates and conflicting tolls. How heartbreaking it would be if, 113 years from now, no one could agree upon the most basic details of the anti-Semitic attack that so upended life in our city on Oct. 27, 2018. In his introduction, Wiesenthal claims that the book is “intended to help prevent the millions of victims disappearing into the abstraction of statistics and at least partially to give them back their true status. If one young reader pauses to think about the fates of these people hidden behind the statistics, then the purpose of this book will have been at least partly fulfilled.” The book certainly prompted me to consider the people behind the statistics — and not just the dead, but also the communities they left behind. But it does little to assist that effort. By limiting itself
to dates, cities, circumstances, and tolls, it turns away from actual people and focuses exclusively on the atrocities against them. In some ways, that’s inevitable. The documentation of these massacres is often limited — and worse, what little survives was sometimes created by the perpetrators. We have only what we have, and we can tell only the stories those documents allow us to tell. But we now live at a time of widespread literacy and recording devices in every pocket. We live in a democratic society primed to care about the inner lives of people who hold no particular power or influence. The idea that people would document their individual experiences in the wake of a tragic nearby attack seems natural today. And yet, many won’t. They won’t because it is too painful, which is understandable. Or, they won’t because they assume no one will care what they have to say, which is incorrect. If you would want to know more about those who died and lived in Semenovka after the Oct. 27, 1905 pogrom, then you can safely assume that someone in the future will want to know more about you—about your thoughts and feelings since Oct. 27, 2018, and also before it. And that goes for any of the world-changing events piling
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
up this exhausting year. Your impressions matter. Your common experiences will become remarkable as time passes. They will define the tone and texture of our times. I encourage you to document your experience and send it to the archive for preservation. Bearing the weight of world history can seem overwhelming, but it needn’t be. It is not an obligation. It’s an opportunity. While everyone should be aware of the risks involved in mining earlier traumas, many people find that the act of documenting their experiences can bring a sense of empowerment and purpose during uncertain times. And although it might initially feel uncomfortable to articulate your pain when others seem to have been hurt so much worse, documentation is not an inherently self-centered act. Done right, it can be almost selfless. You will be helping someone in the future find meaning in their hour of confusion, and you are asking for nothing in return. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406. You can submit stories to the archive at https://bit.ly/3jKixOG. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Opinion Time to remember: We are all one people Guest Columnist Amanda Berman
We need to ask ourselves: Why are we — especially those of us who call ourselves
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n Brooklyn on the sixth night of Sukkot, an anti-mask populist convinced members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Borough Park to turn what is an annual celebration of forthcoming rainfall, called Simchat Beit HaShoeva, into a violent and hateful display of ignorance. The physical violence, including the brutal beating of two men, and burning of masks that occurred is nauseating, reprehensible and dangerous. Those responsible absolutely must be held accountable. Our hearts are with our friend Jacob Kornbluh, a widely respected journalist with Jewish Insider, who was assaulted in his own community for doing his job while supporting mask-wearing as an urgent public health mandate. And we are deeply concerned that on Monday, after the arrest of the agitator responsible for this heinous violence and misinformation, Jacob was again targeted. Enforcement of social distancing and other lifesaving precautions in the Orthodox community is not anti-Semitism. Stigmatizing all Orthodox Jews based on the actions of a few, however, is. Most Orthodox Jews have taken and continue to take the pandemic seriously. L.A.’s Orthodox leaders quickly mobilized to contain the spread of coronavirus, arguably saving countless lives. The Orthodox Jews who contracted the disease early and survived then donated blood plasma by the thousands in an effort to save the lives of people of all faiths creeds, struggling to recover. We need to ask ourselves: Why are we — especially those of us who call ourselves progressive Jews — so complacent about and comfortable with the singling out
progressive Jews — so complacent about and comfortable with the singling out and generalizing of the entire Orthodox Jewish community? and generalizing of the entire Orthodox Jewish community? This community isn’t monolithic; it’s heterogeneous, nuanced, multifaceted and complicated. Parts of it experience high rates of poverty, low rates of health literacy, language barriers and deep, multigenerational mistrust of government, stemming from centuries of persecution and medical abuse at the hands of public health authorities. This isn’t the first time public health officials have done a poor job conducting outreach to Orthodox communities. Mistranslating Yiddish, acting slowly and failing to use well-known communication channels to give Orthodox Jewish communities the information they needed to combat a measles outbreak last year is one example. This knowledge is essential background information to this conversation. Outreach to these specific Orthodox communities has been uneven at best and irresponsible at worst. Guidelines for social distancing have not taken into account the challenges that specifically impact many members of these Jewish communities, which often don’t have internet access. As of mid-September 2020, there were no Yiddish-speaking contact tracers employed by the city. In neighborhoods where most
— LETTERS — Which Jewish values support a vote for Biden? I read with outrage the article in the Oct. 2 issue of the Chronicle, “Rabbis urge PA Jews to vote Jewish values” and conclude that those values would lead Jewish voters to cast a ballot for Biden. To which values were the rabbis referring? Would it be Biden being against busing to achieve school integration? Would it be his friendship with Georgia segregationist Herman Talmadge, who fought against the Civil Rights Act? Perhaps it would be Biden’s great friendship with Robert Byrd, a senator and former member of the KKK? Such a great friend was Byrd to Biden that Biden was asked to speak at Byrd’s funeral, where Biden praised the former Klansman as a great man, friend and mentor. Maybe another Jewish value might be influence-peddling, such as when Biden’s son Hunter secured a seat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company earning a monthly salary in excess of $100,000 despite having no prior experience in the gas industry. Maybe it’s Biden pandering to voters by changing his stance on issues such as defunding the police and fracking depending on his audience. During the 2019 Democrat debates, and included in his Democrat manifesto, Biden pledges an end to fossil fuel, and that includes fracking; but when he’s in Pennsylvania where fracking has created jobs, he claims never to have said he would ban it. Do Jewish values coincide with the BDS movement? Perhaps Biden, as his party’s leader, might have had a say in who spoke at the DNC. For example, he might not have allowed Linda Sarsour, an outspoken anti-Semite a spot on the program. Perhaps the most scandalous feature of the Biden campaign is his trading on the tragedy of the pandemic. Criticizing is easy; offering solutions more difficult. What does Biden have PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Jews speak English, Hebrew or Russian — not Yiddish — loudspeakers twice blasted information in Yiddish despite criticism. Some of the outreach has been appropriate and sensitive — but some has not. We must call out the bad behavior of the loud but few who act poorly, while also elevating and uplifting the voices of the many who act as good neighbors and good citizens. Jews have a duty to hold ourselves and our siblings in the Orthodox community to the highest standards in protecting human life, understanding our commitment to pikuach nefesh — that the preservation of human life takes precedence over all other commandments. At the same time, each one of us must also demonstrate compassion and a willingness to listen to those whose traditions, experiences, languages and religious observances are different from ours. Only through this balance will we grow together as a broad and diverse Jewish people. The behavior we witnessed this past week is unconscionable, inexplicable and shameful. But the definition of bigotry is allowing the bad behavior of the few to define the whole — a New York Orthodox Jewish community of more than half a million people. The Anti-Defamation
League reported months ago that discussion of Orthodox Jews on social media, especially on Facebook, has become deeply troubling, including “comparisons of religious leaders to Adolf Hitler and positive affirmations about the Jewish community being ‘wiped off the planet.’” This happened before these protests. And it is dangerous beyond words. Anti-Semitism has been rising at a troubling rate — affecting all American Jews — but the most frequent targets of violence are often attacks on those who are most visibly Jewish, like our Orthodox siblings. From the terrifying shooting at the only kosher supermarket in Jersey City to the Chanukah stabbing in Monsey last year, to growing numbers of violent hate crimes, Jewish people faced more than half of NYC’s hate crimes last year, and these crimes were concentrated in Orthodox neighborhoods. At a time of rapidly rising and violent anti-Semitism, we all have an absolute obligation to push back on that narrative by anyone who perpetuates it. This includes elected leaders like New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who must continue to demand enforcement of the mask-wearing and social distancing rules, while also refusing to allow or perpetuate the wholesale vilification of any select group of people. They need to improve their engagement with this community, and they need to do it immediately. When it comes down to it, we as Jews urgently must remember: It isn’t “us” and “them.” We are all one people, and we must protect one another. PJC Amanda Berman is the founder and executive director of Zioness, a national organization that fights for the inclusion of Zionists in social justice spaces. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Berman was listed by the Algemeiner as one of the top “100 people positively contributing to Jewish life” in 2018.
to offer? He was against the January China travel ban and everything he’s proposed has since been implemented except for mandatory mask wearing and a promise to shut down the country if the science tells him to. After 47 years in Washington, surely Biden knows that there are some limits on presidential power and there might be governors who would object to such draconian moves. Finally, being Jewish makes one acutely aware of libels that have been hurled against us to create hatred. Such a libel is the Charlottesville misquote. President Trump said, when asked, that among the people who had descended on Charlottesville to oppose or support removal of a statue, there were some good people on both sides. That remark has been edited so that the smear is that Trump was talking specifically about the white supremacists. Watch the clip and see for yourself. Perhaps the rabbis should have expanded their instincts to keep politics out of their sermons and extended that lofty goal to all their public remarks. 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:
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OCTOBER 16, 2020 13
Headlines Archiving: Continued from page 1
to do,” he said. Lidji is far from alone. In Pittsburgh, congregations like Rodef Shalom also have been busy archiving records of how their members are getting by in the era of COVID-19, he said. In April, the National Library of Israel (NLI) in Jerusalem went a step further, creating a Jewish Community COVID-19 Archive, which library officials hope will document the unprecedented impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on Jewish culture, tradition, law and society globally. NLI took to the internet and asked the Jewish world to contribute digital and physical materials reflecting this impact, including items such as synagogue emails about communal prayer on Zoom; public appeals to help lonely community members; announcements about innovative halachic rulings; promotional materials for creative Jewish distance learning initiatives; posters for emergency loans and more.
“ Everything that’s online is there to be dealt with — it’s something
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we really have to do.
— ERIC LIDJI, DIRECTOR OF THE RAUH JEWISH HISTORY PROGRAM & ARCHIVES AT THE SENATOR JOHN HEINZ HISTORY CENTER
“As the dynamic institution of national memory for the State of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide, we see it as a very natural and critical role for us to be collecting and preserving materials related to how coronavirus is impacting Jewish life and practice,” Yoel Finkelman, curator of the NLI’s Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The fervor has caught on. In July, Moment
magazine interviewed Joshua Furman, the founder and curator of the Houston Jewish History Archive at Rice University, who had similar notions about archiving his Jewish community’s response to COVID-19. At that time of publication, he had more than 700 articles from Houston Jews. “Some scholars in the future might be studying learned rabbinic responsa, some might be researching the development of
internet humor and be interested in memes,” Furman told the magazine. “At the moment we’re more concerned with collecting than processing. The analyzing will come later.” For Lidji in Pittsburgh, the archiving impulse came right on the heels of his work memorializing the synagogue shootings of Oct. 27, 2018. From the day of the massacre, he was proactively saving every bit of ephemera he could find. “A lot of the past two years has been working with organizations to see what they want to live on,” Lidji said. Lidji has been impressed by how Pittsburgh Jews have adapted to COVID-19 challenges, halachic complications and questions over how to mark life rituals, he said. He thinks saving the information will lend an interesting perspective to future audiences who might be facing similar circumstances. “What we’re watching right now,” Lidji said, “is a real-time cataloging of resiliency and resourcefulness.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.
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and community-wide events marking Purim, Chanukah and Israel Independence Day. “Our goal was really to be the one-stop shop for newcomers and provide direction in an educational sense,” said Jonathan Fischer, a former vice chair of SHJP’s advisory council. “We wanted to work with the synagogues and the JCC and Chabad to provide extra resources for folks looking for more Jewish resources in the South Hills.” In its heyday, SHJP, which was staffed by Director Rob Goodman and Program Coordinator David Rullo (now a staff writer for the Chronicle), supported more than 60 programs, welcoming a total of almost 6,800 participants, per year. “Rob did a tremendous job,” said Matt Schwartz, a former president of SHJP’s advisory council. “Without his leadership, creativity and ability to drive people to events, South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh wouldn’t have been as successful as it is.” The group achieved many of its original funders’ goals. Shortly before its 2014 inception, two donors — one of whom is a South Hills resident — provided the Federation with $1 million to support existing South Hills Jewish institutions and develop new community engagement. By July 2015, the Federation had raised an additional $1 million toward those efforts, with the sum to be spent during the next five years. In 2017, South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh moved from the Federation to the JCC. The shift recognized the JCC’s experience in the South Hills and its ability to deliver meaningful programs. Although the funding was finite, the JCC recognized the inherent value of SHJP. In addition to a disconnect between South Hills congregations, there also was division between the South Hills and Squirrel Hill Jewish communities that SHJP addressed. “For a long time there was a belief from 14 OCTOBER 16, 2020
p Volunteers from the South Hills Jewish community prepare items for food pantries on Mitzvah Day, 2017. Photo provided by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
many people in Squirrel Hill that you cannot be Jewish in Pittsburgh if you do not live in Squirrel Hill,” said Simon. That mindset failed to appreciate the differences between the two communities and led to many missteps. “The South Hills is a unique community and it is not Squirrel Hill,” Simon said. “We don’t have one place where all the Jews live,” said Fischer. “The synagogues are spread out.” SHJP did not re-create a blueprint of what worked in Squirrel Hill, but provided opportunities for enrichment in the South Hills with an awareness of its own community’s
relationships and needs. Whether it’s supporting J Line South Hills, maintaining the group’s digital presence, ensuring that conversations continue between the congregations or using money reserved from the initial funds to continue operating annual events, like the annual Purim carnival — once it is safe to resume large in-person gatherings — the JCC is committed to meaningfully reaching South Hills Jewish residents, said Schreiber. According to the Federationcommissioned 2017 Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, of the 49,200 people in the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish
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community, 20% live in the South Hills. Although the SHJP will look different moving forward, the JCC is dedicated to bolstering Jewish lives in the South Hills, explained Simon. “People out here want community and are very committed to their Judaism,” she said. “All of the agencies have to understand that, and I have confidence that the JCC gets that. Will there be fits and starts? Probably. But the commitment is there and people should feel that someone sees us and values us.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Life & Culture Critics accuse Gal Gadot of cultural appropriation for accepting Cleopatra role — WORLD — By Marcy Oster | JTA
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social media storm has erupted after the announcement that Israeli actress Gal Gadot will portray the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in a blockbuster film. Critics complained that Gadot is neither Egyptian nor Arab, while others are pointing out that Cleopatra wasn’t actually Arab. Pakistani journalist Sameera Khan blasted the casting, which was reported Sunday, in a tweet that has stirred widespread discussion on the platform. “Which Hollywood dumbass thought it would be a good idea to cast an Israeli actress as Cleopatra (a very bland looking one) instead of a stunning Arab actress like Nadine Njeim? And shame on you, Gal Gadot. Your country steals Arab land & you’re stealing their movie roles… smh,” Kahn wrote.
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“I don’t know her story,” she said. “I don’t know how she got to this place of so much hatred and anger. But I hope that there’s somebody in her life who can help her find her way out of it.” To Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Aaron Bisno, Fetterman’s response reflects her character. “Gisele Fetterman is one of the persons the rabbis surely had in mind when they taught the lamed vavnik tradition,” he said, referencing the idea that there are 36 righteous people (the numerical value of the Hebrew letters lamed and vav is 36) in each generation. “Her heart is expansive, and her willingness to allow for the humanity and the challenges that define our lives is immense,” he continued.
Podcast: Continued from page 5
host Chris Hayes, political commentator David Frum, Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson and Congressman Joaquin Castro have all appeared on the program. And, while the guests all tend to approach subjects from the same side of the political spectrum, much of the acrimony heard on cable political shows isn’t present in “Talking Feds.” “We aim to be educational and rule-oflaw-driven, not snarky, not just the partisan show,” Litman said. “I have nothing against partisan shows on each side. But this is supposed to be more of an educational thing.” Outside of an audio producer and intern, Litman does most of the heavy lifting for the program: He books the guests, writes questions and segments and hosts the podcast. He does use outside writers for a feature PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
supporting “genocide” for her Njeim is a Lebanese and Israeli heritage or called for the Tunisian actress who was elected role to go to a Black actress, Miss Lebanon 2004. because Egypt is part of Africa. Israeli journalist Sarah The Cleopatra film will be Tuttle-Singer responded to directed by Patty Jenkins, who Kahn’s tweet, writing: “Sucks has also helmed the Gadot when a woman in power “Wonder Woman” films, the belittles another woman second of which is set to hit for her ‘bland’ looks. Also, theaters this Christmas. Cleopatra was neither Arab In her announcement of the nor African nor Israeli. She was Macedonian Greek.” film, Gadot said the Cleopatra movie would tell the queen’s Cleopatra was the last monarch story “for the first time through of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of women’s eyes, both behind and Egypt, which ruled the country in front of the camera.” from 305 BC to 30 BC. She is a Gadot’s husband Yaron descendant of Ptolemy I Soter, a p Gal Gadot at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Wallis Varsano and the couple’s Pilot Macedonian Greek general. Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif., Photo by Toni Anne Barson/WireImage/Getty Images via JTA Wave production company will Kahn responded to Tuttle- Feb. 9, 2020. be involved in the project as well. Singer, saying “Cleopatra was Universal, Warner Bros, Netflix and Apple part Greek and part Berber. That’s what we Historians have not definitively proven the know for sure. Scholars have been debating ethnicity or identity of Cleopatra’s mother. also vied for the rights to the film, according this topic for centuries now.” Other Twitter users accused Gadot of to reports. PJC
“True to form, when confronted with an obstacle, a challenge, an assault on human dignity, Gisele responds as we know she would — with a commitment to the understanding that we’re all engaged in a great struggle. We should make allowances for each other, even as we create expectations for us all to live up to.” Fetterman continues to offer others support through For Good PGH and is grateful Rodef Shalom is joining her in the effort. Meanwhile, Fetterman continues to help people struggling find their way and is grateful Rodef Shalom is joining her in the effort. “It’s one thing to have this idea that you think is great,” she said. “But it’s everything to know that people believe in that, too.” PJC
Cafe: Continued from page 4
Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
at the JCC as a camp counselor when she was a teenager and at the JCC’s Squirrel Hill location. She credits those early experiences at the JCC with providing a foundation as she moved through different careers. “When I went to work at Gateway Rehab Center, I did adventure therapy,” Goldstein said. “I taught team building, experiential therapy, problem-solving communication. It was a wonderful job. It’s kind of the same here, right? There’s a lot of employees and customers to deal with. I do a lot of interactions with that. And just being a part of the community is really important to me.” Goldstein’s pioneering spirit is evident. Not only did the mother of two adult
on the program titled “Sidebar,” a segment that examines the legal issues discussed in the podcast’s episodes. Rob Reiner, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Angelica Houston, Phillip Glass, Jane Lynch, Shawn Colvin and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto have all contributed their voices to the program. “Talking Feds: Women at the Table,” which recently recorded its first episode, will be hosted by its own bevy of familiar figures, including former Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Juliette Kayyem, former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and former Interim Dean of Berkeley Law (and frequently mentioned possible Supreme Court nominee in a Joe Biden administration) Melissa Murray. Litman said that the topics will be similar to those heard on his program but from a female perspective. “When ‘women only’ get together, the conversation is a little bit different, in part because men aren’t interrupting them all the time, in part because they have special vantage
points,” Litman said. “So, these are women talking about the same kind of current events, but it veers in different directions.” Although he now calls California home, Litman does find time to return to the Steel City. He called his wife, Julie, “a nice Jewish girl from Pittsburgh who went to Allderdice High School.” Julie’s mother, Dodie Roskies, serves as director of JGenes Pittsburgh, a Jewish genetic education and screening program. Litman said his trips home are bittersweet since the death of his mother in 2016. When visiting, he likes to explore the restaurants and other familiar haunts of his past, especially those in Oakland, Squirrel Hill and downtown, where he last lived. He said that he was devastated to hear of the closure of The Original Hotdog, which he referred to by its colloquial name, “The Dirty O.” The host views news programs, podcasts and the printed press as vital to a preservation of democracy. “The president has tried to trash all the
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children start her own business but she also crossed a bridge and moved from the South Hills into the city 25 years ago, living in the same East Liberty neighborhood Square Cafe now calls home. The entrepreneur is excited by the new space, the opportunities it provides and the support the community has shown. “The East Liberty Chamber of Commerce is so happy to have us here,” she said. “They are going to do a ribbon cutting with us and we feel very welcome. The neighborhood is super excited to have us here. We love it. We loved Regent Square when we were there, we loved the neighborhood and the community. Now, we feel we’re more centrally located. We have a larger population we can pull from and it’s more diverse. It’s beautiful.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
governing institutions that provide guardrails and cap his overweening powers, which is his ambition,” Litman said. “He’s been pretty damn successful. I think the two institutions that have hung in there are, first the courts, and second the free press and journalism.” Litman acknowledged that newspapers are struggling but notes that without them “we’d have been buried in the last few years. It’s been as vivid a demonstration since the Vietnam War and Watergate of the indispensable value of print journalism and the press.” The Pittsburgh native focuses on creating a quality program, finding guests he considers valuable for his listeners, eschewing much of the digital marketing and analytical data utilized by many of the other podcasts topping many “must listen to” lists. “We’ve been lucky,” he said. “I feel pretty lucky to have this almost-second career.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. OCTOBER 16, 2020 15
Life & Culture Easy roast chicken with Provençal potatoes By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle
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JCC LITTLE NIGHT HONOREES CHAIRS AND HONOREES FROM THE PAST 14 YEARS OF BIG NIGHT
Lauren and Scott Americus Cheryl Gerson and Bruce Americus* Rachel Firestone and Jason Binder Cathy Reifer and Sam Braver The Philip Chosky Charitable & Educational Foundation Elyse and Marty Eichner Julie and Josh Farber Erica and Billy Goodman Merris and Yram Groff Ina and Larry Gumberg Mardi and Bill Isler Ellen* and Gregg Kander Carole and Jerry Katz Ellen and Jack Kessler Sue Berman-Kress and Doug Kress
Lauren and Jason Kushner Traci and Brian Lamfrom Judy O’Connor and Family PNC Bank Hilary Tyson and Charles Porter Geri and Steven Recht Claire and Vernon* Reingold and Family Jerry Segal* and Family Lori and Bob Shure Linda and Ken Simon Ingrid and Eric Smiga Marla and Michael Werner John M Wolf, Sr.* and Family *In Memorium
his is a great duo for a home-cooked, after-work dinner, or a simple Shabbat dinner when the days are getting shorter. So many of us are working full time, and I appreciate foods that I can cook together in the oven, at the same temperature and for the same length of time. This chicken recipe is my go-to weekday recipe because it takes very little effort and my family and guests always are happy with the results. It pairs nicely with steamed rice, green beans or your choice of side dish. The potato recipe elevates the meal with lots of flavor but is really very simple to cook. I make a larger batch simply because they reheat well for leftovers, which is always a plus. If you are cooking for a small crowd, halve the recipe below. I cook a full recipe with eight pieces of chicken. Prep time for both dishes is about 15 minutes combined. Since I prep and cook the chicken and potatoes simultaneously, I have combined the instructions. You will really enjoy this meal, whether you cook it during the week or for Shabbat. This meal also has easy cleanup because you only use one pot and one baking pan.
Easy roast chicken with Provençal potatoes
For the chicken:
4-8 pieces of chicken on the bone. I use a mix of thighs and legs. I find that chicken breasts get very dry when roasted while dark meat retains its juiciness. A sprinkle of coarse kosher salt, which is always my preference when cooking. I even bake with it.
For the potatoes:
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3 pounds small yellow potatoes, rinsed 2 tablespoons olive oil
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1 large sweet onion, roughly chopped 2 cups sweet bell peppers. I used a combination of yellow, orange and red peppers to brighten up the dish. 1 cup tomato, seeded and roughly chopped 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 6 sprigs fresh thyme 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Preheat your oven to 425 F. Place one rack in the upper third for the chicken and the second rack below it for the potatoes. I prefer to use a metal baking sheet for the chicken and an enameled pot for the potatoes, so I need more space between the two racks. I choose the enameled pot because I can start the vegetables on the stovetop and transfer them right into the oven without creating an extra pot to clean. If you don’t have one, just use a sauté pan to start the vegetables, and transfer to a Pyrex or casserole dish for baking. Place your chicken pieces on the baking sheet, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place into the oven on the top shelf. Chop the onion. Heat the olive oil in the enameled pot over medium heat and add the onion. Sauté for 5 minutes. Chop the peppers, tomato and garlic, and add to the onions. Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes. Turn off the flame, stir in the potatoes and fresh herbs, then sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Place the pot into the oven, on the lower rack, and cook with the chicken for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 F and cook an additional 35-40 minutes. Chicken needs to hit an internal temperature of 165 F for food safety. I find it tastes best and gets a nice, brown roasted skin when it cooks for about an hour and the internal temperature is around 185 F. If you’re anxious about the safety of cooking chicken, you can purchase an affordable instant-read digital thermometer. Remove the chicken from the oven and give the potatoes a stir. If a fork inserts easily into a potato, you can remove the pan from the oven. If the potato feels a bit too firm, continue cooking them for an additional 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to your taste. These recipes pair well with a simple garden salad, or steamed green beans. Enjoy! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
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Photos by Jessica Grann
— FOOD —
Life & Culture A happy ending for ‘Schitt’s Creek’ — STREAMING — By Sophie Panzer | Jewish Exponent
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[Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers.] t this point in 2020, TV audiences have settled on their preferred forms of escapism. My parents are on what appears to be the 137th season of “The Walking Dead,” engrossed in a zombie dystopia even more gruesome and endless than the one we inhabit. One of my friends, comforted by storylines nestled safely in the past, can’t get enough of historical dramas like “Downton Abbey.” I gravitate toward lighter fare in my streaming queue. Wholesome reality TV like “Queer Eye,” and hilarious sitcoms like “Parks and Recreation” have graced my laptop screen at some point during the past six months. At a time when so much is uncertain and negative, any show where people are actually decent to each other and the stakes are lower than the average trip to the grocery store strikes the perfect balance between indulgent fantasy and audacious hope. Pop TV’s beloved comedy “Schitt’s Creek” fits nicely into this comforting lineup. Final Season 6 premiered on its home network on Jan. 7 and hit Netflix on Oct. 3, along with “Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: A Schitt’s Creek Farewell,” a documentary about the making of the show. The feel-good sitcom follows the Rose family after they lose their fortune and are forced to move into the tiny eponymous rural town Eugene Levy’s Johnny Rose once bought as a joke for his onscreen son David, who is played by Eugene Levy’s real son, Dan Levy. The father and son duo are executive producers and star alongside Catherine O’Hara, who plays Rose family diva matriarch Moira, and Annie Murphy, who portrays socialite daughter Alexis. After five years on the air, the show has garnered critical acclaim for its emotional depth, dry wit, epic one-liners and creative costume design (Moira Rose has a wig for every occasion). The show won nine Emmys in September. As far as finales go, Season 6 was exceptionally strong. Each of the Roses got the goodbye they deserved and demonstrated heartwarming emotional growth — particularly regarding their appreciation for family and community — while staying true to the zany quirks that made them so compelling. Moira makes her triumphant return to show business and learns how to be present for her family. Johnny builds a motel franchise fueled by appreciation for small-town communities and the colorful personalities he clashed with for so long. Alexis transforms her narcissism into healthy independence and sets out to pursue a public relations career in New York. Drama king David finds true love with Noah Reid’s steadfast Patrick Brewer and settles down in the town he was once desperate to flee. Judaism is not a central theme of the Roses’ story, but the show never lets you forget that David, Alexis and Johnny are Jewish. While Patrick is hopped up on pain meds PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
after his wisdom teeth are removed, he calls David “the Jewish Channing Tatum.” Later, he advises David to stop stress-eating bagels. In a desperate attempt to escape a sex party, the couple excuses themselves to go to their car for their wine. “Don’t worry about it, plenty of vino here,” host Jake says while David and Patrick exchange panicked glances. “It’s just that ours is, um, kosher,” David improvises. There is even a prayer scene. After Johnny departs for New York with his From left: Annie Murphy, Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” business partners p Copyright 2020 Pop Media Group LLC to pitch their motel franchise to a group of investors, Moira pleads with her children Alexis starts dating a man who is his age like David and Patrick’s town hall wedding to join her on the floor, join hands and pray after breaking up with her beloved boy- and Johnny’s last grateful look at the town for their success. he called home for three years are just what friend, Dustin Milligan’s Ted. “To whom it may concern,” she begins In the end, these minor issues did not the doctor ordered to restore our faith in reverently. Reader, I shrieked. detract from superb storytelling. Moments happy endings. PJC David and Patrick’s relationship has been the show’s chief source of cuteness since Patrick serenaded David at an open mic in Season 4, and Season 6 continues that dynamic beautifully. Highlights include Patrick donning his nighttime mouth guard and “nose thing” breathing aid to comfort a humiliated David after he wets the bed, David rallying his reluctant family to attend Patrick’s dream escape room bachelor party and Patrick singing Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” to David during their wedding vows. Like all final TV seasons, Season 6 faced the pressure of neatly wrapping up plot and Offering Financial Assistance character arcs. It rose to the challenge with countless nods to earlier plot threads. to the Jewish Community for One particularly successful come-fullcircle moment was David and Moira’s trip immediate and pressing expenses . . . to Herb Ertlinger Winery, the site of Moira’s glorious drunken train wreck of a fruit wine commercial in Season 1. The pair arrive for a wine tasting and proceed to get accidentally drunk together, much to the irritation of the beleaguered owner. Come for David’s teeth-sucking looks of disgust, stay for Moira tipsily declaring, “Now I’m getting hints of tomato.” That is not to say the season is without its flaws. The plotline for Emily Hampshire’s Stevie, David’s best friend and co-owner of Rosebud Motel, felt oddly paced, as she leaves the motel briefly to explore other career options before rapidly returning. Some of the farewells are a little too sickly 412.521.3237 • JewishAssistanceFund.org sweet, such as when Moira’s singing group, the Jazzagals, descend on her for a group hug when she announces she has earned 412.521.3237 • P.O. Box 8197, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 a role on the reboot of her old soap opera. Some of the gags are more cringeworthy JewishAssistanceFund.org than funny, like Johnny’s discomfort when
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Celebrations
Torah
B’not Mitzvah
Growth through challenge Samantha My Duyen Dinh, daughter of Khai Dinh and Dana Berger Dinh, will become a bat mitzvah at Adat Shalom during Shabbat morning virtual services on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. Grandparents are Malcolm and Roslyn Berger of Fox Chapel and Khoat and Thin Dinh of Phoenix, Arizona.
Rabbi Levi Langer Parshat Bereishit Genesis 1:1-6:8
T
his week we begin reading the Torah anew from Bereishit (Genesis), which tells of God creating the world and the story of the early generations before Noah and the flood. The Midrash tells us that prior to the flood, all the world enjoyed
world, wherein life is challenging pretty much wherever one lives, we find something rather similar. Studies have shown that Nobel laureates, technological pioneers, and innovative entrepreneurs are unequally distributed across the globe. Their density increases in regions toward the North Pole, toward the South Pole, and very close to the equator. Where the climate is more stressful, that stress prods people to be innovative and creative.
Living through challenge can cause us, collectively and as individuals, to be more Noa Sylvie Frank will become a bat mitzvah on Shabbat, Oct. 17, 2020/29 Tishrei 5781. Her parents, Bobbi Kraham and Ayal Frank, and her brother Renen will participate with her from their home in Bethesda, Maryland, as she chants from Parshat Beraysheet. They are members of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation. Noa’s grandparents are Malke and Ivan Frank and Steve Kraham and Susyn Kraham, z”l. For her tikkun olam mitzvah project, she organized four food drives for Manna Food Center, a nonprofit organization in Rockville, Maryland, dedicated to providing food for those in need. Noa loves to study music and dance and performs in musical theater. She also plays soccer and basketball.
productive and even to become better people who care about finding new ways to help others.
Samantha Larkin, daughter of Allyson and Jacob Larkin, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Samantha is currently a seventh-grade student at Shady Side Academy. She enjoys playing the saxophone and piano, swimming, reading, crafting and baking. She loves math. Samantha hopes to make the world a better place in the future.
perfect climate conditions, and food and wealth were available in abundance. After the flood, says the Midrash, climate conditions changed throughout the world, and human life and survival became fraught with constant challenge. So, was life better before or after the flood? We’d surely assume that life was better before, when luxuries were to be had aplenty. And yet, say the ancient Sages of the Midrash, the opposite proved to be true. Because the early generations had a life of luxury handed to them on a silver platter, they became narcissistic and self-centered. They showed no interest in helping others or in living a productive and spiritual life, and their conduct eventually brought about the flood . In fact, even today, in our post-flood
Living through challenge can cause us, collectively and as individuals, to be more productive and even to become better people who care about finding new ways to help others. That is what we learn in studying about the lives of the earliest humans and about how post-flood the people became better and society became richer in deeds. To be sure, we would not ask for our lives to be filled with difficulties, but to the extent that we do experience challenges, let us confront them in a manner that makes us into better and more spiritual people. PJC Rabbi Levi Langer is the dean of the Kollel Jewish Learning Center. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.
Did You Know? Beth Abraham Cemetery-Carrick
Births Lauren and Rob Finkel are proud to announce the birth of their son, Max Henry Finkel. He is the brother of Lucy Emma Finkel. Max’s grandparents are Arlene and Steve Sablowsky of Squirrel Hill and Claudia and Warren Finkel of Monroeville. Maternal great-grandparents are Rae Sablowsky and the late Leonard Sablowsky and the late Leah and Norman Rabner. Paternal great-grandparents are the late Olga and Edward Linton and Hilda and Henry Finkel. Arlene and Paul Bertenthal of Mt. Lebanon are delighted to announce the birth on May 26 of their granddaughter, Hannah Lynn Sussman. Hannah’s parents are Laurie and Mark Sussman of Washington, D.C. Hannah’s paternal grandparents are Denise and Alan Sussman of Charlotte, North Carolina. Hannah was named after her great-grandmother, Harriet Bertenthal of Mt. Lebanon and great-uncle Lewis Rubin of New York. PJC
Beth Abraham Cemetery, on Stewart Avenue, is located at the very edge of the Carrick/Overbrook border with For more information about the JCBA, to inquire about Whitehall Borough. In 1888, Russian Jewish immigrants formed a small Orthodox congregation known as Beth plot purchases, to view full histories, to volunteer, and/or to make a contribution please visit our website Abraham in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The synagogue at www.jcbapgh.org, email us at jcbapgh@gmail.com existed from the 1880s until the 1940s when Jews began or call the JCBA at 412-553-6469. to move off the Hill. Six plots of land, over time, and next to each other were purchased. The cemetery was JCBA’s expanded vision is made possible by incorporated in 1889, yet the first burial was actually a generous grant from the Jewish Federation in 1885. Sadly, there is a very old baby section where of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community still-born babies and infants are buried. With over Foundation 4,000 graves this represents one of the region’s larger Jewish cemeteries and became part of the JCBA in 2010.
Legal Notice
LEGAL NOTICE
Richard Mandus, Deceased of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania No. 02-20-3889 Gregory Mandus, Co-Executor; 3502 Washington Pike, Bridgeville, PA 15017; and Jeffrey Mandus, Co-Executor; 2411 Milford Drive, Bethel Park, PA 15102. or to Bruce S. Gelman, Esquire, Gelman & Reisman, Law & Finance Bldg., 429 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1701, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Jacqueline Slavkin, deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA,
18 OCTOBER 16, 2020
No. 4602 of 2020, Robert Slavkin, Executor, c/o David J. Slesnick, Esq., 310 Grant Street, Suite #1220,
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
Pittsburgh, PA 15219 PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
Obituaries BALIS: Samuel M. “Sammy” Balis, 78, of Rostraver Township, died Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Born in Pittsburgh on May 21, 1942, he was the son of the late Harry F. and Marion (Weisman) Balis. A graduate of Donora High School in 1960, Sammy graduated from Duquesne University with a bachelor’s degree in business/management. He put himself through college by starting his own auto parts business and retired after 40 years. He then began selling tow trucks and rollbacks for Nussbaum Equipment. He was the president and caretaker of Ohav Sholom Cemetery in Carroll Township. His family was the most important thing to him, and he enjoyed spending time with them at the holidays. He was very active in any organization that his children were involved in, including BBYO and Belle Vernon Area (BVA) Band Parents. Sammy was an avid college sports fan and was active with the Donora Class of 1960 and helped organize its class reunions. He was a very active member and the former president of Beth Israel Center and was most recently a board member of Gemilas Chesed Congregation in White Oak. He is survived by his daughter, Karen (Edward) Leventhal of Brookeville, Maryland; son, Howard Balis of White Oak; grandchildren, Zachary and Alyssa Leventhal; brother, Edwin (Susie) Balis of Churchill; and cousin, Ed (Karen) Shaffer of Murrysville. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth H. (Wolff) Balis. A graveside funeral service and interment was held on Friday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m. at the Ohav Sholom Cemetery, Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Funeral arrangements entrusted to the James C. Stump Funeral Home Inc., 580 Circle Drive, Rostraver Township (724929-7934) jamesstumpfuneralhome.com. The family suggests memorial contributions to Ohav Sholom Cemetery (mailing address: 313 Rolling Drive, Rostraver Township, PA 15012). GOTTLIEB: David Gottlieb. On Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. Beloved husband of Carol Gottlieb and the late Vivien Gottlieb. Beloved father of Michele Boory. Brother of Joyce (Sandy) Lobliner, Judy (Arthur) Perlman and the late Beverly (late David) German. Poppy of Maxwell and Justin Boory. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services and interment were private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family-owned and -operated. schugar.com. GREEN: Solbert “Sol” Green, age 94, passed away on Oct. 10, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio. Preceded in death by his wife, Geraldine Green, parents, Samuel and Jeanne Green, and sister Gertrude Feld. He is survived by his adoring daughters Ellen Green, Jody Greenwald and husband Gary, and Lisa Green and husband Ted Moulinier; grandchildren Lauren and Roni Lagin, Matthew and Chaya Aronson, Allison and Jason Javer, Stacey and Steve Jones, and Michael Greenwald and wife Laura Spencer; great-grandchildren Myla, Arlo, Malka, Camden, Jack and James; and sister and brother-in-law Karen and Roger Ruben. Funeral service and interment will be held in Columbus, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Sol’s memory may be made to Trinity Mt. Carmel Hospice, 1144 Dublin Road, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Online guestbook at epsteinmemorial.com. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG
PETTLER: Marti Pettler passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, in Naples, Florida. She was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from Peabody High School and the University of Pittsburgh after which she taught school, including special education classes. Upon moving to Florida, she proudly served as a Collier County first responder and donated time at Avow Hospice. Marti was a member of the Pelican Bay Women’s League, the local Women’s Republican Club and the Naples Jewish Congregation. She will be remembered for her intelligence, her kindness and her love of laughter. Her son Ted (Corinna) preceded her in death. She is survived by David, her beloved husband of 53 years. She also leaves behind sons Steven (Kimberly) and James (Sasha) along with grandchildren Josh (Carrie), Levi, Evan Tillie and Jesse, and countless residents and staff at Glenview Place. Respecting the threat presented by COVID-19, the family has decided upon a private funeral service. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the charity of your choice. STEIN: David Stein, age 84, passed away on Sept. 27, 2020, in Delray Beach, Florida. David was preceded in death by his father, Joseph Stein, and mother, Belle (Schwartzdorf) Stein, his first wife, June (Kanenson) Stein, and brother, Samuel Stein. He is survived by his wife and partner in all things, Sheila (Dworkis) Stein. David was loved by many including his stepdaughters, Margie Thomas and Judy Weisman, daughter, Mindy (Stein) Ampel, son, Ben Stein, and grandsons Elex and Colby. His generous and compassionate heart endeared him to his nieces and nephews, Caryl (Stein) Segalewitz, Jay Stein, Howard Stein, Todd Narvol and Michele Narvol (2002). “UD” could always be counted on for an empathetic ear, a great laugh and unwavering love. David was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was chosen to attend P.S. 108, an elementary school for gifted children. His family moved between Brooklyn and Pittsburgh in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and he graduated from high school in Pittsburgh (1952). He worked in an uncle’s auto supply store and enrolled for some evening courses before enlisting in the United States Army in December 1954. After basic training, he was assigned to the Signal Corps as a photographer. He attained the rank of sergeant during his three years in uniform. One of his photographs was published in Life Magazine’s “Speaking of Pictures,” a weekly full-page spread on the last page of the issue. Mr. Stein ran a successful local delivery business for many years until he and his family left for warmer climates. WOLK: Stella R. Wolk. On Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020. Daughter of the late Henry and Irene (Green) Wolk of Pittsburgh. Sister of the late Edward Wolk. Cousin of Beverly (Robert) Churchfield, Marilyn (Dr. James) Rossen of California, Richard (Arlene Saly) Green of Jefferson Hills, Marc (Dorothea) Green of Toronto, Sonia (late Earl) Grobstein and Leonard (Elaine) Grobstein of Phoenix. Also survived by caregivers, Patricia (Reginald) Wallace and Pearl (Edward Benni) Kuadey, who generously invited Stella into their families. Graveside services and interment private. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity of your choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family-owned and -operated. schugar.com PJC
Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from …
In memory of …
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Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Jay Eger
Suzanne Kessler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mollie Goldenberg
Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Solomon Abramson
Elaine Levine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Betty Ainsman
Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roza Rokhkind
Carol & Richard Margolis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louis David Simon
Elaine Arlott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arthur Speizer
Larry Myer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana Z. Myer
Donald Berk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sara Berkowitz Rozway Charles S. Berney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Firestone Sherri Cohan & Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miriam M. Glantz Michael & Christine Cushner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Helen Pearl Cushner Arlene B. Fogel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marian S. Beck Arlene B. Fogel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Ann Schwartz Larry Gerson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther Hershkovitz Arnie & Maria Glantz, Andrew & Melissa. . . . .Miriam Magadof Glantz
Mr. George Pattak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morris Pattak Barry Reznick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grace Miller Mr. & Mrs. Neil Rosenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Rosenstein Karen K. Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sadie Levy Everne Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arthur Firestone Janice Standel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grace Levenson Ronald M. Tepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Tepper
Sherwin Glasser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacob J. Kurtz
Ruth Yahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I. Leroy “Lee” Yahr
Ms. Marjorie Halpern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miriam Magadof Glantz
Ruth Yahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sigmund Yahr
Amy R. Kamin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Kaddell
Sanford H. Zaremberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Davidson
Suzanne Kessler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emanuel Goldenberg
Sanford H. Zaremberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Zaremberg
THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday October 18: Betty Ainsman, Harry Barash, Bernard M. Bennett, Ruth Mermelstein Cramer, Rhoda Fisher Jonas, Freda Leff, Jacob Levenson, Lillian B. Martin, Charles Monheim, Traci Michele Perilman, Sadie Schnitzer Monday October 19: Fagie Cohen, Oser Cohen, Edward Dobrushin, I. Louis Eckhouse, Morris Freeman, Israel Gershon, Dorothy Goldstone, Marlene Harris, Marlene Harris, Albert Hendel, Jacob Katz, Louis A. Livingston, David Miller, Eugene Moskovitz, Morris Pechersky, Peter Pink, Sarah Ruth Saul Rosenberg, Berde S. Ruttenberg, Sarah Sable, Myer Skirboll, Louis Stern, Rose Wyatt, Bertha Cooper Young, Henry L. Zacks Tuesday October 20: 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 Wednesday October 21: 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 Thursday October 22: Phillip Americus, Claire Ann Block, 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 Friday October 23: Janice Gay Barovsky, Anne Tauber Dym, Louis Kaddell, Fannie Klein, Elizabeth Rothstein, Saul Schilit, Molly Schutte, William Schwartz, Frank Shakespeare, Gilbert Shepse, Freda Ulzheimer, Abe Wekselman Saturday October 24: Jules Joseph Anatole, Hyman Bales, Albert Blumenthal, Rachel Cohen, Jennie B. Glass, Minnie Hoffman, Louis Kaddell, Robert Klein, Jerome Meyer, Sylvia Steinberger Moskovitz, Arthur B. Moss, Helen Sachs, Michael Stone, Wolfe Tex, Roxine M. Weinthal
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OCTOBER 16, 2020 19
Headlines Family: Continued from page 11
but are aimed at finding ways for LGBTQ Jews to manage their family lives within religious communities. Lau is affiliated with Israel’s Religious Zionist camp, an Orthodox movement that is more integrated into Israeli society than the haredi Orthodox community. In the the past,
he has drawn ire from some in his community for his progressive positions on a range of issues, including LGBTQ acceptance. Like the Modern Orthodox community in the United States, Israel’s Religious Zionist community has struggled in recent years with the tension between the Torah’s prohibition on homosexual relationships and the increased acceptance of LGBTQ people in the secular world. The guidelines are significant because of Lau’s
prominence and because few Orthodox rabbis have been willing to speak out in favor of LGBTQ acceptance. Lau’s guidelines address the issue of same-sex weddings, for which he says there is no “no acceptable solution” with a Jewish religious framework. Still, he said the impulse to marry and have one’s relationship publicly affirmed is “understandable” and should not be ignored. Creating an alternative ceremony that does not attempt to
“imitate” a traditional Jewish wedding may reduce the reluctance of religious family members to participate, he said. Lau was previously the rabbi of the Ramban synagogue, a prominent Orthodox congregation in Jerusalem. He is the nephew of former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and the cousin of David Lau, the current chief rabbi. His brother, Amichai Lau-Lavie, is an openly gay rabbi living in New York. PJC
Pittsburgh police officer injured in synagogue shooting returns to work
A
lmost two years after being injured during the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life building, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Officer Timothy Matson has returned to work. Matson was shot multiple times by the perpetrator during the anti-Semitic attack against Congregation Dor Hadash, New Light Congregation and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha at the Tree of Life building. Eleven worshipers were murdered that day, and two seriously injured. Matson was one of four officers wounded while rushing the building and required extensive rehabilitation before his return to work. On his Facebook page, Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers called Matson one of his heroes, writing, “I’m so grateful for Tim’s bravery, and delighted that he has returned to duty. May God watch over him and protect him. ” “Tim said from day one that he would be back,” Police Chief Scott Shubert said in a press release. “He’s worked extremely hard over the last two years to make this a reality
and we couldn’t be prouder or more thankful to Tim and all who stood by his side during this incredible journey.” Tree of Life published a post on its Facebook page, announcing Matson’s return and thanking him for his service. “Officer Matson is a model of selflessness and dedication to others, and a great example of the public service police officers and other city employees provide to Pittsburgh residents every day,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said in a press release. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich called Matson’s return to modified duty, “A bright spot to emerge from a dark chapter in the city’s history.” Matson, who has been a member of the SWAT team since 2016, is a 15-year veteran of the police force. The Pittsburgh Jewish community will mark the two-year commemoration of the shooting with community service, Torah study and a livestreamed and pre-recorded public ceremony. PJC p Officer Timothy Matson
— David Rullo
Photo by Anthony Seretti
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412-661-4456
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Situated behind Shadyside Country Day school on 3+ acres. Fabulous rustic contemporary with wrap around deck, stone patio, hot tub, fire pit. 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. Wonderful 3 car garage. Unbelievable first floor living space. Too much to list.
SQUIRREL HILL • $1,125,000 For the most discriminating buyer. Fabulous 6 year young grand property with a gourmet great room kitchen, 6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, unbelievable living spaces, coveted 3 car attached garage, wonderful yard. Finished and unfinished spaces approximately 7,000 square feet, a whole house generator. Must see!
DOWNTOWN • $950,000 Gateway Towers. Primo sensational double unit. Over 3000 square feet. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. View of all three rivers. New windows installed (approx $70,000). The best unobstructed space and views in Pittsburgh. This is a full service building and PET FRIENDLY.
h
FOR SALE
FOX CHAPEL • $1,100,000
SHADYSIDE CONDO • $1,200,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVE
THE BEST OF THE IN YOUR EMAIL
Rare find. Lovely updated 1.5 units. Approximately 4,500 square feet with a 3 car side by side garage. Enjoy top floor with skylights. 3 bedrooms, den, 3.5 baths including his & hers bath in master suite. Must see.
OAKLAND • DITHRIDGE HOUSE • $345,000 New listing! Desired spacious 3 bedroom (rarely come on market). 2.5 bath, in-unit laundry, balcony, in building with lots of amenities. Pool, exercise room, guest suites, indoor parking and so much more. Rare find!
INBOX ONCE A WEEK.
SQUIRREL HILL • $220,000 • IMPERIAL HOUSE New listing. 2 bedroom/2 bath in move in Lovely condition. Enjoy beautiful screened in balcony. Building has many amenities including pool, exercise room guest suites, and party room.
SQUIRREL HILL • BEACON PLACE CONDO • $140,000 New Listing! Move in condition. Renovated. Unbelievable storage and closets in unit. Enjoy a balcony. Enjoy the proximity to shopping, the movies, library and restaurants. This is a Senior building. Occupant must be 62+ years
CONDO FOR SALE Fabulous three bedrooms 2½ bath Integral garage In University area
SQUIRREL HILL • $185,000 • BEACON PLACE South facing balcony. Updated 2 bedroom, 1.5 Bath lots of storage and a pantry. Convenient to shopping, restaurants, libaray and transportation Occupant must be 62. See with Kate White 412-310-0765
Real Estate Services
www.howardhanna.com
SQUIRREL HILL • $330,000
ING END possible 3-5 bedrooms, c/a, 2 car detached garage and in the Colfax School First Time offered! Renovated housePwith District. Just what you have wanted. Unbelievable first floor living space. Too much to list.
Helen Eaton
Office: 412-421-9120 ext 241 Cell: 412-915-8801
BUYING OR SELLING?
MURDOCH FARMS • $899,000
G DIN First Time offered! Private road. 6 bedroom PEN 3.5 bath unique home. Beautiful architectural appointments. Needs to be updated, but a real jewel.
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JILL and MARK PORTLAND RE/MAX REALTY BROKERS 412.521.1000 EXT. 200 412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK
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Grandma & Pap’s VERY Old Clothing, Costume Jewelry, Hats, Purses, Shoes, Fur Coats/Stoles, Wedding Gowns, Quilts/Textiles. Quantity preferred, will pick up. Toll Free 888-736-7242
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Extensive experience as middle and high school English teacher, University Pittsburgh Writing Center consultant, and college admission essays tutor. Virtual tutoring with patience, enthusiasm, and encouragement! Contact Ronna Edelstein: RonnaEdel@gmail.com
OCTOBER 16, 2020 21
Community Seasonal doings at Temple Emanuel
Rabbi Rothstein is on the move Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein, director of Chabad at Pitt, spreads the joy of Sukkot at the University of Pittsburgh with a Sukkahmobile, lulav and etrog and hot matzah ball soup. t Pitt Police Officer Justin Reck shakes the lulav and etrog in the Chabad sukkah mobile with Rabbi Rothstein.
p Dr. Harvey Rubin blows the shofar at one of Temple Emanuel’s five socially distanced neighborhood experiences.
u Jacob Singer, Pitt junior, shakes the lulav and etrog with Rabbi Rothstein.
p Rebecca Closson demonstrates that a lulav, etrog and ukulele are the ultimate combination.
t Megan Parr, Pitt Junior, shakes the lulav and etrog with Rabbi Rothstein. Photos courtesy of Chabad House on Campus
p Rev. Dr. B. De Neice Welch, of Bidwell Presbyterian Church, delivers the Yom Kippur afternoon sermon.
Bye-bye sins, hello lunch
p Rabbi Jessica Locketz celebrates the end of Shabbat with a havdalah service. Screenshots courtesy of Temple Emanuel of South Hills
p Members of Temple B’Nai Israel of White Oak enjoy a tashlich picnic
22 OCTOBER 16, 2020
PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
Photo courtesy of Rabbi Howie Stein
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Community Socially distanced Jewish soul food
App-solutely meaningful
p Repair the World Pittsburgh gathered over Zoom with Kesher Pittsburgh to learn about Rosh Hashanah then met up at Triple B Farms and picked apples to donate to East End Cooperative Ministry. t More than 55 pounds of food were donated to East End Cooperative Ministry. Photos courtesy of Repair the World Pittsburgh
p Pitt student Sam Hanks, from San Jose, California, makes six-braided round challahs for the holidays at Chabad House on Campus.
Service with a smile During the suspension of regular services at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, AgeWell at the JCC is offering Lunch Meals to Go for participants who are already registered in the Senior Center program
p Students enjoy a prepackaged meal to-go after Yom Kippur. Photos courtesy of Chabad House on Campus
Macher and Shaker
File photo
United Nations Watch, the Genevabased non-governmental human rights organization, announced that Bari Weiss will receive its Per Ahlmark Award, in recognition of her moral courage and eloquence in defending the principles of democracy and in combating anti-Semitism, during the group’s 2020 online gala on Nov. 1.
p JCC senior fitness specialist Marsha Mullen, right, delivers a kosher meal to go. Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
OCTOBER 16, 2020 23
KOSHER MEATS
Empire Kosher Fresh Whole Frying Chicken
All- natural poultr y whole chicke ns , breast s , wings and more All-natural, corn-fed beef steaks, roasts, ground beef and more Variety of deli meats and franks
Available at select Giant Eagle stores. Visit gianteagle.com for location information.
3
49 lb.
Price effective Thursday, October 15 through Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Available at 24  OCTOBER 16, 2020
and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE
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