Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 10-4-19

October 4, 2019 | 6 Tishrei 5780

Candlelighting 6:40 p.m. | Havdalah 7:36 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 40 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY

Wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur

LOCAL The UN’s anti-Semitism report

Two area residents contributed Pittsburgh perspectives to the conclusions.

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ACAT is modeled on Manchester Bidwell, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that has proven that at-risk populations can thrive when allowed to learn in an environment of respect and beauty. For the last four decades, it has reversed the negative trajectory of scores of Pittsburghers through such avenues as photography, horticulture, ceramics and the culinary arts, boosting individual confidence and providing people with skills they can use to find jobs.

Since November 2016, ACAT, following in the footsteps of Manchester Bidwell, has provided photography and three-dimensional printing training to underserved youth, while at the same time supporting coexistence among Jews and Arabs. In less than three years, ACAT has trained more than 1,400 students while providing a space

hen hospital personnel removed the breathing tube that had been inserted after Dan Leger was shot on Oct. 27, and he was finally able to speak, one of his first comments concerned his assailant.

“The first thing I said was the Shema,” recounted Leger, a former nurse and hospital chaplain, and a member of Congregation Dor Hadash. “The second thing I said was ‘I love you’ to my family. The third thing was ‘God forgive him.’”

Leger was one of 13 congregants, from three separate congregations, shot by an anti-Semite that Shabbat. Eleven people died. Along with Andrea Wedner, a member of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, Leger survived his injuries.

Leger will be participating in a conversation on “Forgiveness and Repentance” at 3 p.m. on Yom Kippur, Oct. 9, at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.

The conversation will include Ivy Schamis, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a survivor of the Parkland, Florida shooting, and will be moderated by Rev. Tim Smith, CEO of Center of Life and pastor of the Keynote Church of Hazelwood.

“The last year has been one where a great deal of challenge has come into play with regard to forgiveness, because when you lose 11 people to a murder just because they are Jews praying in a place of worship, it is very difficult for some people to package in the word ‘forgiveness’ when you think about that,” Leger said. “But for me, it’s been part of the journey.”

In the case of the Pittsburgh shooter, forgiveness “does not mean that I forgive

Please see Photos, page 14

Please see Forgiveness, page 14

LOCAL A soldier finally at rest

Page 3

LOCAL Considering the First Amendment

 Rabbi Jeffrey Myers blows a shofar on September 17th during an open house at Calvary Church where Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha holds High Holiday services this year.

Photo by Ellen Sikov

Photos by students at Arab/Jewish center in Israel show hope for the future

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

B Nina Totenberg brought Supreme Court expertise to the JCC. Page 4

Pittsburgh, Parkland survivors to speak on forgiveness at JCC

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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Squirrel Hill native’s remains discovered and returned to family.

$1.50

ill Strickland has a pretty lofty goal, and one that might seem like a flight of fancy — for anyone else.

Strickland, the founder and executive chairman of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, wants to change the world.

And if the success of the Akko Center for Arts and Technology (ACAT) in Israel is any indication, he just might do it.

Strickland was at Rodef Shalom Congregation on Sept. 23 for the opening of “CONNECTING,” a photographic exhibit featuring the work of Arab and Jewish teens who are learning not only marketable job skills, but how to get along with one another.

The 31 photos in the exhibit, which runs through Oct. 31, showcases the technical prowess of the students as well as the relationships fostered between them.

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Headlines UN releases ‘unprecedented’ report on anti-Semitism — LOCAL — JNS

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sraeli, Jewish and pro-Israel groups all applauded the publication of an ‘unprecedented’ United Nations report on anti-Semitism.

“This report marks one of the first times the U.N. has addressed the issue of anti-Semitism in any detail,” said Anne Herzberg, legal advisor and U.N. liaison at NGO Monitor. “The Special Rapporteur condemned the use of anti-Semitic tropes and denial of Israel’s right to exist.”

The report, “Combating Antisemitism to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief,” which was released by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Ahmed Shaheed, defines anti-Semitism as a global phenomenon — not one largely confined to the United States and Europe. The Special Rapporteur recognizes that the sources of anti-Semitism are varied, coming from the far right, from members of radical Islamist groups and from the political left.

Two local experts were interviewed for the report, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jeff Finkelstein and Rabbi Seth Adelson of Congregation Beth Shalom.

According to Adelson, he and Finkelstein provided input in April to the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights in New York, which gathered information from American Jews for the report.

“I spoke about what is the state of Jewish Pittsburgh as a result of the shooting? How did it affect the lives of Jews in Pittsburgh? I spoke about that based on what I’ve seen as a rabbi in the community.”

Adelson said that while there were “people

p The United Nations building in New York City. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

“ We hope that this report serves as an eye-opener to the United Nations and its member states and that they finally take concrete action to stem the surge

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of anti-Semitism across the globe.

— WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS PRESIDENT RONALD S. LAUDER there more qualified to discuss the subject that had hard numbers and statistics … I was there to speak about the human element.”

The report identifies violence, discrimination and expressions of hostility motivated

by Jew-hatred as a serious obstacle to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief. It expresses “serious concern that the frequency of anti-Semitic incidents appears to be increasing in magnitude and

that the prevalence of anti-Semitic attitudes and the risk of violence against Jewish individuals and sites appears to be significant, including in countries with little or no Jewish population.”

The report recommends that all U.N. member states adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism. So far, 18 of them have done so.

“The Special Rapporteur recognizes that the IHRA Working Definition of Anti-Semitism can offer valuable guidance for identifying anti-Semitism in its various forms, and therefore encourages states to adopt it for use in education, awareness-raising and for monitoring and responding to manifestations of anti-Semitism,” states the report.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, commented that “we welcome the release of this unprecedented report on the subject of anti-Semitism. The report reflects the organizational change towards Israel. As I have said many times, anti-Semitism has no place in our society, and must be denounced everywhere and from every platform.”

“Thanks to Ahmed Shaheed’s methodical and determined leadership, the U.N. finally is recognizing the severity of this ages-old hatred against Jews, and offering constructive guidance to member states on how to combat anti-Semitism effectively in their own countries and globally,” said Felice Gaer, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights.

The World Jewish Congress also applauded the report’s release.

“We hope that this report serves as an eye-opener to the United Nations and its member states and that they finally take concrete action to stem the surge of anti-Semitism across the globe,” said World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder.

“We are grateful to have been able to take part in the facilitation of this research to ensure that the very real concerns facing our communities on a daily basis were not only taken into consideration, but also addressed as areas deserving of serious and direct attention.” PJC Additional reporting by David Rullo.

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Headlines Fallen soldier comes home — LOCAL —

By Hilary Daninhirsch | Contributing Writer

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eventy-five years after he disappeared and was presumed dead, Army 1st Lt. Herschel H. Mattes of Squirrel Hill was finally given a proper military burial in Connecticut, where his 92-year-old sister, Estelle Sherry, resides.

In 1942, Mattes enlisted as a soldier in World War II and was a pilot with the 525th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 86th Fighter-Bomber Group.

“The last time I saw him was after he finished flight school; he had a short leave before he went overseas,” said Sherry.

Mattes was killed on March 6, 1944, when his plane was shot down on a reconnaissance mission near Manziana, Italy, just 25 miles north of Rome. For more than 70 years, neither Sherry nor her family knew what had happened to Mattes.

“I had a lot of hope, and as the years went on and on and nothing was happening and we couldn’t get any information, I frankly said, it will not happen in my lifetime, if it ever happens,” she said.

But in 2014, Vincenzo Lucherini, an Italian physicist living in Manziana, reached out to Sherry’s son, who lives in New Jersey, with the surprising news that Mattes’ remains

p The Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency announced that the remains of Army 1st Lt. Herschel H. Mattes, 22, of Pittsburgh, missing since World War II, were accounted for July 29, 2019.

Photo courtesy of

Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs via Facebook

might have been found.

Lucherini grew up in the town in which the incident occurred, and even though it happened before he was born, he always had an interest in aviation as well as in the events of World War II that played out locally.

Lucherini learned that when the military plane crashed in 1944, the unidentified remains were eventually moved to a

cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, where they rested for 70 years accompanied by a plaque that read, “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to G-d.”

After visiting the crash site with a metal detector, Lucherini found fragments of what was presumed to be Mattes’ plane; one had the number 97 embedded in it. That clue — along with other corroborating information — enabled him to piece together the probable identity of the fallen soldier. Lucherini worked in conjunction with Stephen Johnson, a historian with the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, who simultaneously researched the case from his office in Washington, D.C. “He (Lucherini) felt that anybody who helped to liberate his town from German occupation should be back with their families in the U.S.,” said Sherry, of the physicist’s desire to help solve the mystery.

Even after Sherry was notified and gave permission for the exhumation of Mattes’ remains, she had to wait another five years until she received the official confirmation that the unidentified fallen soldier was her brother.

The Mattes family hailed from Squirrel Hill, and Sherry, Mattes and their sister, now deceased, attended Taylor Allderdice High School. Mattes also attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.

“He was six years older; I was the bratty kid sister. He used to tease me all the time, but it didn’t matter because it was a loving tease. He was the kind of guy who looked out for me, and taught me how to ride a bike,” recalled Sherry.

Both Lucherini and Johnson flew to Connecticut to attend the memorial service for Mattes. In a speech, Lucherini detailed the process of identifying Mattes, which hit a number of roadblocks and took several twists and turns through bureaucratic red tape over the years.

Lucherini concluded his speech by saying, “Dear Herschel Howard, We did not know each other. We lived in so different space-time frames that was hard to even think our roads could cross. You gave your life doing your duty, to combat bravely against whom was not just an enemy but an evil. You too now, finally, are here, at home, reunited with your family.”

There are more than 72,000 service members from World War II whose bodies are still unaccounted for. Lucherini was happy that he could provide an answer for at least one family.

For Sherry, last week’s service, a combination military and Jewish funeral, represented closure. “It’s just been an incredible journey, I never thought that this was going to happen after so many years.” PJC Hilary Daninhirsch is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

BE OUR GUEST AT TEMPLE SINAI FOR THE HIGH HOLY DAYS!* YOM KIPPUR*

Tuesday, October 8 6 PM Kol Nidre Intergenerational Family Service Wednesday, October 9 1:30 PM Minchah Afternoon Service 2:45 PM Beit Midrash

Wednesday, October 9 (cont.)

4 PM Community Unity Sing-In of “May It Be” (“Lu Yehi”)** 5:15 PM Yizkor and N’ilah 7:15 PM Break Fast: light snack *Donation requested. For security reasons, registration is required for all services.

**Community Unity Sing-In of “May It Be” (“Lu Yehi”) Make a statement of solidarity, peace, and harmony. We’ll gather in groups to prepare our parts, then come together to sing. No musicality required. Raise your voice as part of our Pittsburgh community!

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Visit www.TempleSinaiPGH.org to order your Card of Admission for High Holy Days Community & Tot Services or contact Rebekah Malkin at (412) 421-9715 ext. 121 or Rebekah@TempleSinaiPGH.org.

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Looking for an informal, inviting way to teach your little ones about High Holy Days?

Join Rabbi Keren Gorban for a fun, active service of stories, singing, and dancing for families with children ages 0–5.

We invite you to join us for Yom Kippur Beit Midrash.

Kol Nidre: Tuesday, Oct. 8, 5:30 PM Yom Kippur: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 8:15 AM *For security reasons, registration is required for Community & Tot Services.

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“‘Moth-Inspired’ Storytelling: Who Am I as a Jewish Person?

How Did I Become Myself?” Alan Olifsen & Rabbi Gibson “Torah: Up Close and Personal” “Trauma & Healing in the Face of 10/27” Rabbi Ellen Lewis “Who Will Live & Who Will Die? Dealing with the Prayer ‘Unetaneh Tokef’” Rabbi Larry Freedman “Preparing to Sing ’May It Be’ (‘Lu Yehi’) as a Community” Cantor Laura Berman “The Refugees in Our Midst: Who Are They? What Are We Doing on Their Behalf?” Jordan Golan, CEO, Jewish Family & Community Services *Donation requested. For security reasons, registration is required

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OCTOBER 4, 2019 3

Headlines National experts join local leaders in exploring First Amendment — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ocal faith leaders and community members gathered this week for a national perspective on the First Amendment. Keynote speakers, panelists and attendees of the Sept. 23 program highlighted current struggles with the freedom of religion and its place in American jurisprudence.

“We are fighting for our spiritual lives,” said Rev. Richard L. Freeman Sr., of the Resurrection Baptist Church in Braddock.

The need to protect the First Amendment is “critical,” he continued. “If we don’t fight, our children or grandchildren will pay.”

Beyond issuing a call to action, Freeman explored his own relationship to the First Amendment when describing himself as both “pro-choice” and “pro-life.”

In faith, Freeman is “pro-life,” but as an American citizen he is “pro-choice,” he explained to more than 200 listeners at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Katz Auditorium.

Wrestling with such tension is part of the American tradition, explained Michael McConnell, the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

McConnell noted that at this country’s founding, as evidenced by the inclusion of Moses Seixas at George Washington’s 1789 inauguration, the founding fathers made clear that the value of religious liberty was more than simply tolerating the actions of others.

Inviting Seixas to publicly march in a parade, and providing him with kosher food during a feast, exhibited the intentional nature of recognizing religious minorities. “The deliberate effort of inclusion and accommodation set the tone,” said McConnell, for American tradition.

But recent events have demonstrated the difficulties of such inclusion as it’s played out in modern American jurisprudence, McConnell said, pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision that a bakery could refuse to make a custom wedding cake for a gay couple’s marriage, or its ruling prohibiting a Muslim prisoner from growing a short beard.

Those concerned with the preservation of the First Amendment, said Nina Totenberg, National Public Radio’s legal affairs correspondent, would do well to pay attention to current cases like Espinoza v. Montana Department of Taxation, in which the Montana Supreme court decided that religious schools cannot benefit from public tuition aids. At the same time, looking at the decisions of past justices is also instructive, she explained, recommending James F. Simon’s “F DR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court and the Epic Battle Over the

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p Rabbi Ron Symons listens as National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg discusses her reporting on the Supreme Court.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

New Deal,” John Jeffries’ “Justice Lewis F. Powell: A Biography” and Jean Edward Smith’s “John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.”

Rabbi Ron Symons, of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness, which brought Totenberg to speak, asked his guest why all of her recommendations were biographies.

“I think biographies are a great way to learn history,” she said. “It’s a rare history book that you don’t skip part of. But biographies, if they’re well-written and well-edited, are really a great way to give an insight into America. Hamilton is probably the best example of somebody who was almost forgotten in modern American history and now is such a force because of a biography and play — but first came the biography.”

When a conference attendee asked Totenberg to return to the subject of the current Court’s makeup and discuss whether any of the justices are capable of listening to one another, Totenberg replied that they have “some ability to listen.”

“I do think this group of people are more locked in than previous courts have been because of who they are, and who appointed them and why they were appointed,” she said.

It’s all quite different from when Totenberg began covering the Court decades ago.

“The country wasn’t as polarized, the nominees weren’t as polarized, the people weren’t as polarized and the issues that came before the Court weren’t as polarized,” she said. “In fact, the most polarized cases they

tried to stay away from as much as possible.

When I was young, up in Court it was the Vietnam War, and they didn’t go anywhere near dealing with a case that challenged the legality of the Vietnam War. It ultimately had to deal with issues involving the draft but it really did everything in its power to stay away from that.”

Totenberg was the highlighted speaker at the Center for Loving Kindness’ day-long program, which also included an address from Witold “Vic” Walczac, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, and a panel of local faith and civic leaders moderated by Shannon Perrine, of WTAE. “Nina Totenberg we knew would just help

us better understand what’s going on in the Supreme Court now, and how it is that we can understand what was, what is, what will be and what we should be looking out for,” said Symons.

Although the “intention of this conference was to bring a national perspective on the First Amendment, at the end, our work is local, our work is regional,” said Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of Pittsburgh’s JCC. So it made sense that the concluding panel included Som Sharma, Rabbi Jeremy Weisblatt, Majestic Lane, Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, Imam Hamza Perez, Rev. Janet Edwards and Father David Poecking.

“Every single one of them wants religion, the values of religion, to be at the forefront of how it is that we build community without it offending someone else,” Symons said. “If we can seek out, through the Center for Loving Kindness and all the networks that we’re a part of, a way to identify those core values that drive us and that bring us together, as opposed to the things that divide us, and still celebrate and embrace the joy of what it means to be Jewish or Christian or Muslim or Hindu or Sikh or Baha’i or whatever your faith is, that you don’t give up on your faith and your ritual, but that you understand how we’re all connected to one another, even beyond the ritual, that’s what we’re hoping for.”

The idea is collaborating, said Schreiber, “together with partners with whom we work with, with whom we’re in relationship, so we’re all working together for a better Pittsburgh that also makes for a better Jewish community.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Totenberg gets personal On Aug. 6, 2015, nearly three years after her father’s death, National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg departed from her regular reporting on the Supreme Court to file a more personal story. Totenberg’s seven-minute piece, which aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” addressed the recovery of a treasured musical instrument that had been taken from her father 35 years earlier.

After a concert, her father, virtuoso violinist Roman Totenberg, discovered that his instrument and “musical partner,” a 1734 Antonio Stradivari violin, was stolen from his office at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“It was a crushing loss for my father,” she said. “My father would dream of opening his violin case and seeing the Strad there again, but he never laid eyes on it again.”

Totenberg reported on the instrument’s ultimate whereabouts — an aspiring student had stolen the violin and kept it locked away, only for his ex-wife to find the instrument after his death — and the process of getting it back.

Totenberg recalled this story for the Chronicle after the Sept. 23 First Amendment program at the Jewish

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Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.

“I wanted people to realize who my father was, what playing the violin meant to him and what it meant to recover an instrument like this that he called ‘his partner,’” she said.

The story required Totenberg to scour her late father’s recordings.

“I sat there listening to his CDs and saying, ‘Well, should I use this one? Should I use that one?’”

Totenberg finally selected music and paired it with her own words. It was all quite different from her regular duties, which did not generally involve tears.

When putting together a personal story, “you’re allowed to cry when you do that,” she said. Speaking about coverage of communal tragedy, such as last October’s synagogue shooting, she advised, “I know this is really hard, but try to keep your distance. It’s the only thing you can do.

Otherwise, it’ll suck you in.”

Such distance is essential. “You have to go on. And as hard as it is to go on, the only way to do it is to sort of try to step back and say, ‘My heart’s broken about this but I need to do my job.’” PJC — Adam Reinherz

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Calendar q FRIDAY, OCT. 25 q SUNDAY, OCT. 6 Apples taste better when you pick ‘em yourself! Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for a lunch-time apple picking adventure.

11 a.m., Soergel Orchards (2573 Brandt School Rd., 15090). For more information visit shalompittsburgh.org/event/ yad-goes-apple-picking.

>>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Submissions will also be included in print.

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

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q SATURDAYS, OCT. 5; NOV. 2; DEC. 7 Join Lauri Lang, RDN LDN Concierge Wellness LLC for a four-part (once a month Sept.-Dec.) Holistic Nutrition and Wellness Series which will contain the following elements under four umbrella themes: Interactive Lecture with Q&A; Featured Item for Sampling and Discussion; Guided Meditation and/or Breathwork (Pranayama).

The three umbrella themes are: Oct. 5, 2019: Chronic Disease and Cancer Prevention; Nov. 2, 2019: Women’s Health Across the Lifespan; Dec. 7, 2019: Enhancing Immune Function, Vitality and Graceful Aging. Each Workshop is 75 minutes in length. $59 for one workshop/$99 for all four.

Visit www.sthielpilates.com for more information and to register. q MONDAY, OCT. 7 Dr. Barbara Burstin discusses her new book, “Sophie: The Incomparable Mayor Masloff” at First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum.

All First Monday events begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m., $6. To RSVP, call 412-561-1168.

an appointment visit vitalant.org, click on the Donate button and search with group code G0020005. q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16 The Squirrel Hill AARP chapter will hold their Oct. 16 meeting at Rodef Shalom Congregation (4905 Fifth Ave.) at 1 p.m.

All seniors are invited. Speaker Christine Sadowsky Trembulak, insurance professional, will discuss changes in the 2020 Medicare program along with various local plans available to all senior Pittsburghers. She asks you to bring your questions and will be pleased to make private appointments. The chapter will also launch a new community program collecting needed items for women and children at Women’s Center and Shelter. Donations can be brought on both the Oct. and Nov. meetings. For more information contact President Marcia Kramer at 412-731-3338. q THURSDAY, OCT. 17 Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at 4:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Learning Lawn (4200 Fifth Ave.) for the opening of Luigi Toscano’s latest iteration of Lest We Forget.

This internationally renowned exhibit that has traveled from Berlin to New York City is coming to the University of Pittsburgh campus this October. To learn more visit hcofpgh.org/lest-we-forget.

q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 9, 16, 23, 30; NOV. 6

q SATURDAY, OCT. 19

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

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

Join other Pittsburgh Jewish young adults and enjoy an evening in the Beth Shalom Sukkah from 8-9:30 p.m. at Young Adult Wine & Wisdom in the Sukkah. Sip wine and share some words. Non-alcoholic beverages and nosh will be available. Visit jewishpgh. org/event/young-adult-wine-wisdom to register for this free event.

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

q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 23; NOV. 6, 20

q SUNDAY, OCT. 13 Donate Blood. Save Lives. Schedule an appointment to give blood at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills between 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Walk-ins welcome. To make

In More than Manischewitz: A Taster of Jewishness for Interfaith Couples, participants tackle how to confront the challenges faced by today’s interfaith families. By the end of the 12 classes, students will be more knowledgeable and comfortable about Jewish ways of living and making informed family decisions together.

Each session begins at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (2000 Technology Dr.) Visit foundation. jewishpgh.org/more-than-manischewitz.

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Come together with other young adults beginning at 6 p.m. at Together at the Table: A Community Building Shabbat Dinner. Reflect on the past year and look forward to the future of Jewish Pittsburgh.

Visit shalompittsburgh.org/event/youngadult-commemorative-shabbat-dinner to learn more.

With the USC Shoah Foundation No-Cost Professional Development Opportunity, ITeach Seminar, educators will learn to use testimony to address challenging social climate issues such as contemporary antiSemitism and the rise in hate crime, learn how IWitness provides students a unique primary source that connects learners with contextualized first-person views of history through multimedia activities, and learn effective strategies to teach with IWitness, an educational website that offers students over 3,000 full life testimonies of survivors and witnesses to genocides. Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh (826 Hazelwood Ave.), 11 a.m. Free. To register, visit trainingreport. formstack.com/forms/pa_registration_form. q SATURDAY, OCT. 26 Temple David (4415 Northern Pike, 15146) will conduct a special program, “Remembering October 27, 2018: From Darkness to Light...

From Embrace to Hope.” A family program will begin at 6:15 p.m. including a visit by a therapy dog, an original mosaic art project and a take-home project. At 7 p.m. “From Darkness to Light:” a simple ceremony separating the Sabbath from the new week, called “Havdalah.” Families with young children may choose to leave afterward.

At 7:30 p.m. “Embrace to Hope” begins. A comfort program through words and the songs of an interfaith choir which will honor first responders and features Brandi Gurcak, clinical coordinator for the Center for Victims, presenting “Creating Space for Hope.” A reception will conclude the evening. Open to the public. templedavid.org Celebrate with Chabad House on Campus at their 31st Anniversary Event dessert reception honoring University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher at the William Pitt Union, Tansky Lower Lounge (3959 Fifth Ave.) beginning at 8:30 p.m. Couvert: $54/person; $100 per couple; $1,800/VIP Reserved seating for 10 guests. q SUNDAY, OCT. 27 Remember. Repair. Together. Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the one-year commemoration of the October 27 massacre. Take part in community service opportunities (11 a.m.-1 p.m.), Torah Study (2 p.m.-4 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation) and a community gathering at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall beginning at 5 p.m. Registration is now open. Visit PittsburghOct27.org to learn more. q MONDAY, OCT. 28 Music at Rodef Shalom presents: Theater Songs … The Music of Douglas Levine.

Pianist, composer and music director Douglas Levine presents an evening of original musical theater compositions from the last 20 years. Performers include six outstanding local singers backed by an instrumental

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

combo with Levine at the piano. The event is free, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30 Celebrate with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at the CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV: Women’s Stories Launch Party beginning at 6 p.m. at Chatham University’s Boardroom (Woodland Rd., 15232). Hear from the creators about the process of putting the book together. Light hors d’oeuvres served.

Learn more at hcofpgh.org/cp4kickoff. q SUNDAY, NOV. 3 Join the Jewish Federation Young Adult Division, PJ Library and Community Day School for some Noah’s Ark-themed fun beginning at 1 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Spend the afternoon at 2x2 at the Zoo with PJ Library learning about and getting up close and personal with some animals and participate in fun activities and crafts. Visit jewishpgh.org/event/2-x-2-at-the-zoo for more information. q MONDAY, NOV. 4 Jack Mostow presents “RoboTutor: $1 Million Finalist in the Global Learning XPRIZE competition” at First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum. All First Monday events begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m., $6. To RSVP, call 412-561-1168. q SATURDAY, NOV. 9 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents Etty, the one-woman play based on the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum and adapted and performed by Susan Stein. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall (4400 Forbes Ave.), Commemorating the 81st Anniversary of Kristallnacht. The play will be followed by a discussion with the audience. For more information visit hcofpgh.org/kristallnacht19. q TUESDAY, NOV. 12 The Jewish Pro-Life Foundation invites you to attend Judaism: The Original Pro-Life Religion, an uplifting educational program exploring Judaism’s traditional principles regarding unborn life. A short slideshow will be presented followed by Q & A. Bring your curiosity and conversation, but please leave any politics and polemics at the door. The program is free of charge. Light refreshments will be served. Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill Branch, Meeting Room B, 1 p.m. q TUESDAY, NOV. 19 Celebrate with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh at the CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV: Women’s Stories South Hills Launch Party beginning at 7 p.m. at the South Hills JCC (345 Kane Blvd., 15243). Hear from the creators about the process of putting the book together. Light hors d’oeuvres served.

Learn more at hcofpgh.org/cp4kickoff q SUNDAY, DEC. 8 Volunteer at Super Sunday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual mega phone-a-thon, at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Three time slots available. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org/event/super-Sunday-2. PJC

OCTOBER 4, 2019 5

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Reform and Conservative rabbis to join White House High Holidays call following two-year absence Rabbis from the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements said they will participate in the White House’s annual High Holidays conference call, ending a two-year absence from the event.

Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin, the president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the union of Conservative rabbis, told the Forward that its board had taken a vote and decided to have a representative participate in the call this year.

“The overall sense was, regardless of how people feel about the president, that respect should be shown for the office of the president,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Union for Reform Judaism also said a representative would participate in the call Friday, the Forward reported.

The Reform and Conservative movements, the two largest Jewish denominations in America, had traditionally organized the annual call, which dates back to the Eisenhower administration, the newspaper reported.

But they and the smaller Reconstructionist movement decided not to participate in 2017 shortly after President Donald Trump said

there were “very fine people” on both sides of a conflict in Charlottesville, Virginia, that featured deadly violence and racist behavior by far-right nationalists.

Critics protested what they understood to be Trump’s endorsement of some far-right extremists, though his advocates say he meant to say that there were fine people on both sides of a dispute that preceded and possibly amplified the violence over whether to remove a statue in Charlottesville of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Senate committee commemorates 25th anniversary of Jewish center bombing in Argentina The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.

The resolution honored the victims and reiterated the Senate’s “strongest condemnation” of the 1984 attack, which left 85 people dead and hundreds injured and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history. It also expressed “serious concern about Iran’s influence networks in the Western Hemisphere.” Several Iranian nationals are suspects in the case.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Tim Kaine, D-Virginia; and Todd Young, R-Indiana.

“Today’s passage shows our continued

commitment to finding justice for victims of terrorist attacks across the world,” said Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I look forward to working with my colleagues as we continue to support the government of Argentina in their investigation into the event.

Our world has no place for anti-Semitic acts, not then, not now, and not ever.”

The resolution also recognized the efforts of Alberto Nisman, the Jewish prosecutor who investigated the bombing. Nisman was found dead hours before he was to testify about the efforts of Argentina’s president to cover up alleged Iranian involvement in the bombing.

OK hand gesture is a hate symbol, ADL says The OK hand gesture and the bowlcut hairstyle are among 36 new entries to the Anti-Defamation League’s online listing of hate symbols.

The new entries include white supremacist symbols adopted in recent years by the alt-right segment of the white supremacist movement.

The OK gesture began as a hoax but became a symbol of white supremacy, according to the ADL. It was flashed in court by the man accused of killing 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. The bowlcut is associated with Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine AfricanAmericans at a church in Charleston, South

Carolina, in 2015.

Other new entries include the Happy Merchant meme, which depicts a drawing of a stereotypical-looking Jewish man greedily rubbing his hands together, and “Anudda Shoah,” a phrase that became popular with white supremacists in 2014 who claim Jews bring up the Holocaust, or Shoah in Hebrew, when confronted with anything they don’t like.

Also included are the logos of various hate groups, including the neo-Confederate white supremacist League of the South; the neo-Nazi National Socialist Legion; the Rise Above Movement; the Patriot Front; and the American Identity Movement, successor to Identity Evropa.

“These are the latest calling cards of hate,” said Mark Pitcavage, senior fellow in ADL’s Center on Extremism and an expert on hate symbology. “While some hate symbols are short-lived, others take on a life of their own and become tools for online trolling. We pay special attention to those symbols that exhibit staying power as well as those that move from online usage into the real world.”

Such symbols have appeared at white supremacist events such as the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The slogans and symbols also frequently appear online in venues such as 4chan, 8chan and Reddit.

Some have also spread into other more popular mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, or gaming platforms.

ADL created the Hate on Display symbols database in 2000 as part of its effort to track hate groups. PJC

This week in Israeli history coast. The terrorists fatally shoot wheelchair-bound American Jewish passenger Leon Klinghoffer.

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

Oct. 8, 1576 — Jews ousted from Safed

Oct. 4, 1992 — El Al 747 crashes El Al Flight 1862, a 747 flying cargo from New York to Tel Aviv via Amsterdam, crashes into an apartment complex in Bijlmermeer, Netherlands, killing four people on the plane and 43 on the ground.

Oct. 5, 1941 — Brandeis dies

Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, dies at age 84 in Washington. He made Zionism more acceptable among American Jews and helped secure U.S. support for the Balfour Declaration.

Oct. 6, 1914 — Jewish aid reaches Palestine

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Gold worth $50,000, raised in two days by American Jewish leaders in response to a plea from Henry Morgenthau on Aug. 31, arrives in Jaffa on a U.S. battleship to help the Jewish community in Palestine.

Oct. 7, 1985 — Achille Lauro hijacked Members of the Palestinian Liberation Front seize the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro off the Egyptian

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Ottoman Sultan Murad III orders 1,000 “rich and prosperous” Jewish residents of Safed to be moved to the city of Famagusta in Cyprus in the hope that they will spur economic development on the island.

Oct. 9, 1917 — Spy Aaronsohn dies

Sarah Aaronsohn, a leader of the Nili spy network feeding information from Palestine to the British, dies eight days after being captured by Turkish authorities and four days after shooting herself in the head to end her torture.

Oct. 10, 1983 — Shamir named premier

Yitzhak Shamir becomes Israel’s seventh prime minister after fellow Likudnik Menachem Begin resigns for health and personal reasons. Shamir serves until an election in July 1984, then again from 1986 to 1992. PJC

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Headlines Inspiring Jews who died in 5779 “A Tale of Love and Darkness” — later made into a film by and starring Natalie Portman — Oz chronicled the emotional development of his Amos Oz young country. He died p Photo by Stephanie of cancer in December Pilick/picture alliance via Getty Images at the age of 79.

— WORLD — JTA Staff

T

he close of every year brings with it bittersweet reminders of the incredible figures we lost in the year that was.

This year the task of remembering the departed is particularly fraught as 12 people on the list were lost to acts of anti-Jewish violence in U.S. synagogues. Along with the shooting victims in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, are artists, activists and ordinary folks who heroically answered the call of history.

Here are some whose stories inspired us the most.

Pittsburgh victims

p The Pittsburgh shooting victims

On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue building and opened fire while shouting anti-Semitic slogans. The shooting would become the deadliest act of terrorism against American Jews in the country’s history. Eleven worshippers were killed that morning, ranging in age from 54 to 97. Among the dead were a married couple, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, and two brothers, David and Cecil Rosenthal, along with Daniel Stein, Jerry Rabinowitz, Richard Gottfried, Joyce Fienberg, Rose Mallinger, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

JC Opn News FIN_Eartique 4/12/19 5:04 PM

Peggy Lipton

JTA collage

Herman Wouk

When Time magazine put Herman Wouk on its cover in 1955, it found the Orthodox novelist’s blend of literary achievement and religious practice p Herman to be paradoxical. But Wouk Photo by Alex over the course of his Gotfryd/CORBIS/ nearly seven-decade Corbis via Getty Images career, Wouk would help usher Judaism into Page 1 American mainstream through more the

than two dozen novels and works of nonfiction, several of which were adapted for the screen. He died on May 17 at the age of 103.

Amos Oz

Amos Oz won virtually every literary prize short of the Nobel and was perhaps Israel’s most widely translated author. He was also among its most vocal peace activists, calling Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian territories a “moral imperative” and helping to found Peace Now in 1978. In novels like “My Michael,” “Black Box,” “Where the Jackals Howl” and his 2002 autobiographical

Actress Peggy Lipton was descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants and raised in a heavily Jewish enclave on Long Island, New York, but she became p Peggy Lipton the quintessential Photo by ABC/ f lower Hulton Archive/ Amer ican Courtesy of Getty child as the star of the Images crime drama “The Mod Squad.” In 1974, she married the legendary music producer Quincy Jones, with whom she had two daughters. She died of cancer in May at 72.

Lori Gilbert-Kaye

When a gunman burst into the Chabad of Poway synagogue in April, Lori Gilbert-Kaye Please see Inspiring, page 8

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Headlines Inspiring: Continued from page 7

reportedly leapt in front of the rabbi to shield him from the bullets. Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was the only fatality in the attack on the San Diego-area congregap Lori tion. Remembered as a Gilbert-Kaye Photo via Facebook pillar of the community and a regular hostess of Shabbat meals filled with guests, GilbertKaye was survived by her husband, Dr. Howard Kaye, and their daughter, Hannah.

Yechiel Eckstein

History will remember Yechiel Eckstein as the man who raised hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly from Christians, to benefit

needy Jews in Israel and beyond. But to thousands of Jews in conflict zones who he helped bring to Israel, Eckstein was something of a guardian angel. Eckstein founded the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983, and through a combination of pluck, charisma and tireless legwork made unprecedented progress in raising money for Jewish causes from evangelicals. In February, he died of heart failure in Jerusalem at 67.

David Berman

David Berman was a founder of the influential band Silver Jews, which released six albums between 1994 and 2008. Berman, who battled various p David drug addictions over Berman Photo by the years and survived Yani Yordanova/Redferns/ multiple overdoses, Getty Images long described himself as “ethnically Jewish.” But after a stint in rehab in the mid-2000s, he began going to synagogue and studying Jewish texts. He died in August at 52.

Barbra Siperstein

p Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

Photo courtesy of International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

On Feb. 1, the Babs Siperstein law went into effect in New Jersey, allowing residents to change their gender identity without proof they had undergone gender reassignment surgery.

Two days later, the law’s namesake died at 76.

Barbra Siperstein was an advocate for gender

p Barbra Siperstein

Screenshot from YouTube

equality and transgender rights. In 2009, after completing sex reassignment surgery, she officially changed her Hebrew name from Eliezer Banish to Baila Chaya at a ceremony at her Conservative synagogue in Freehold.

Eva Mozes Kor

Eva Mozes Kor was born in Romania and, along with her twin sister, sent to Auschwitz in 1944.

At the concentration camp, they underwent p Eva Kor medical experiments at Photo courtesy of Kor the hands of the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. But Kor was not the type to hold grudges, even against Nazis. She publicly forgave Mengele and made headlines in Germany for embracing Auschwitz guard Oskar Groening at his trial in 2015. Kor died in July in Poland while on a trip organized by the Candles Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which she founded in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1995.

Stan Lee

Few had as significant and enduring an impact on the comic book industry — and

the international mega-blo ckbusters that it would eventually spawn — as Stan Lee, the genius behind Marvel comics. Among the characters he cocreated with other artists are Spider-Man, p Stan Lee Photo by Rich Polk/ the Hulk, the X-Men, Getty Images for the Fantastic Four, Entertainment Weekly Iron Man and Thor.

He was born Stanley Lieber to Romanian-Jewish immigrants. He died in November at 95.

Simcha Rotem

Few historical events more dramatically signify Jewish defiance in the face of persecution than the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. And Simcha Rotem, who p Simcha died in Jerusalem in Rotem Photo by Flash90 December at 94, was its last known surviving fighter. Born Kazik Ratajzer in Warsaw in 1924, Rotem lost six members of his family when the Germans bombed his home in 1939. After the uprising, Rotem led surviving fighters from the ghetto through the city sewers, saving their lives. He immigrated to prestate Israel in 1946 and fought in its War of Independence. PJC

May we all be sealed in the Book of Life.

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8 OCTOBER 4, 2019

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Headlines With Putin cracking down on democracy, Russian Jews are increasingly moving to Israel — WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

L

ess than a year after he immigrated to Israel from Russia, Dima Eygenson has already voted twice in his adopted country.

In April, Israeli voters cast ballots in an election that resulted in a virtual tie between the longtime incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and political newcomer Benny Gantz. A few months later, they were back at the polls because Netanyahu couldn’t cobble together a governing coalition.

“I’m a seasoned voter by now,” Eygenson, a 39-year-old marketing specialist, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It’s pretty exciting and new to me that voting could actually make a difference, lead to a real change in the country’s fate. You can vote in Russia, but it will make no difference.”

The sense that Russia is growing increasingly illiberal is helping drive a surge of emigration

by Jews there to Israel in the past four years.

Since 2015, nearly 40,000 of them have arrived in Israel. In the entire decade prior to 2015, only 36,784 Russian Jews had come.

That’s not the only reason for the current

p Immigrants from Russia on their way to Israel at Helsinki Airport. .

Photo courtesy of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem

wave of immigration: among other causes are economic woes and a persistent crime problem. Yet many observers and immigrants see those issues as merely contributing factors to an exodus pushed largely by the significant deterioration in personal freedoms under

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President Vladimir Putin, a phenomenon some have begun to call the “Putin aliyah.”

For Eygenson, who had a thriving business in Russia, the draw of Israel was largely spiritual. While visiting the mystical northern city of Safed several years ago, he experienced a

“sudden and deep connection” to his Jewish identity. But Putinism and its consequences was a decisive factor in his decision to move along with his 14-year-old daughter and non-Jewish wife, who gave birth to a second child in Israel earlier this year.

“Ninety percent of Russians really love Putin. They admire him, they think he’s doing the right thing, focusing on hating minorities and gay people,” Eygenson said. “The other 10 percent, to which I belong, don’t feel free to say what we think about this.”

Marina Shvedova, a Jewish translator from Moscow, left five years ago to study in the United States and never returned.

“I felt I couldn’t live anymore surrounded by insane people wearing stupid Putin T-shirts,” she said.

Peter Pomerantsev, a London-based Jewish journalist, left Moscow in 2010 “to escape Putin’s assault on reason,” as he wrote in The Guardian recently. “I wanted to live in a world where words had meaning.”

Grigory Zisser, a 32-year-old programmer who immigrated in 2017 to Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, said he made the move because “when I start a family, I want my kids to grow up in the free world.”

Please see Russia, page 20

Lunch and Learn Macular Degeneration Wednesday, October 16 11 AM-1:30 PM JCC Squirrel Hill• Robinson Building Lunch included • RSVP required Guest Speaker Dr. Ethan Rossi, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, will speak about age-related macular degeneration, research at Pitt’s vision lab and vision research volunteer opportunities.

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Headlines Israel’s crackdown on foreign workers is driving some families into hiding — WORLD —

By Sam Sokol | JTA

T

he woman approached with trepidation, fidgeting and glancing nervously over her shoulder as she sat down in a coffee shop.

A Filipino caregiver who has been living in Israel without a visa for years, the woman said her home had been raided by Israeli authorities in late August, only a week after she took her children and went on the run, spooked by a series of arrests of foreign workers and their Israel-born children.

Since then, they have spent time in three separate safe houses. Except for moving between hiding places, the children hadn’t been outside during the daytime all summer.

“If we buy stuff for the kids, we have to do it at night because the kids are scared that during the daytime something will happen to us,” said the woman, who insisted on remaining anonymous as a condition of speaking with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. She added that she is “very scared and tired of hiding.”

Israel has been cracking down on foreign workers who have overstayed their visas, putting thousands of people at risk of deportation. Hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish foreigners work in Israel in a variety of occupations, and of those thousands are estimated to have remained in the country illegally after their visas expired. Some have given birth to children for whom Hebrew is their primary, and sometimes only, language.

Over the summer, in a move seen by some activists as representing a change in policy, authorities conducted a series of raids targeting foreign workers and their families, leading many families who had lived relatively openly to go into hiding. Some were taken in by sympathetic Israelis but remained on the move to elude the authorities. Many of those targeted for expulsion were born, raised and educated in Israel, and advocates say it’s cruel to deport them.

“After 21 years serving the Jews and Israelis, especially the elderly, I think they

p Filipino workers and their children take part at a protest outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem in June.

Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 via JTA

p Mika and Maureen Velasco being arrested in August.

Photo courtesy of United Children of Israel via JTA

can be compassionate to our children and let them live their dreams and have a better future,” said Beth Franco, a caregiver from the Philippines who has lived in Israel for more than two decades and is an organizer for the advocacy group United Children of

Israel. “It’s better here for our children. They don’t have Jewish blood, but in every sense of the word they are Israelis.”

The government doesn’t see it that way.

Earlier this summer, the Interior Ministry announced plans for an operation to track

down and deport some 100 workers and 50 of their Israel-born children who were in the country illegally. That led thousands of Filipinos and their Israeli sympathizers to take to the streets in a series of rallies organized by United Children of Israel.

“You need to play cat and mouse. You have no peace of mind,” Franco said. “You look over your shoulder on the street and you have to be sharp. When you go home you have to make sure you don’t go straight, and you have to zigzag and take shortcuts in order not to be followed. This is the life we are living. It’s really hard.”

Shira Abbo, the spokeswoman of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, a nongovernmental organization that works to defend the rights of migrant workers, says that except in rare circumstances, foreign workers in Israel are barred from having romantic relationships and having children in Israel. Israel is unique in imposing such restrictions, Abbo said.

“No other Western country is importing this number of young women and forbidding them to have families and letting them stay for so long,” Abbo said. “It’s this combination that creates the issue. They stay for so long and the state expects them not to have families.”

One of those arrested this summer was Sheila Velasco, a Filipino caretaker who has been in Israel illegally for years and whose children studied at Tel Aviv’s Balfour School.

On Aug. 18, Velasco was arrested along with her partner, Randy Bakaru, and their daughters, Mika and Maureen.

For 12 days, Velasco and her daughters were held in detention and allowed to see Bakaru, who was held separately, for only 20 minutes a day. Authorities would occasionally allow her to order Israeli snacks from a nearby store to give her native Israeli, Hebrew-speaking children a sense of normalcy. A judge eventually ordered the family released on bond for the duration of the legal proceedings against them, ruling that continued detention could prove harmful to the children.

Please see Foreign, page 20

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High Holidays of Hope

Yom Kippur: Forgiveness and Repentance Wednesday, October 9 3-4:30 PM JCC of Greater Pittsburgh • Katz Performing Arts Center • 5738 Darlington Road

Gather on the holiest day of the year to explore the role that forgiveness and repentance have in our daily lives and in light of traumatic circumstances.

Our conversation features:

Dan Leger Member of Congregation Dor Hadash Retired Hospice Nurse and Certified Clinical Chaplain Survivor, October 27 Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre

Ivy Schamis Social Studies Teacher Survivor, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting, Parkland, FL

Casual Attire RSVPs requested: tinyurl.com/yk1092019 For more information: Rabbi Ron Symons, rsymons@jccpgh.org • 412-697-3235

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OCTOBER 4, 2019 11

Opinion The UN recognizes anti-Semitism — EDITORIAL —

L

ate last month, the United Nations issued a report on anti-Semitism that was characterized in the press as “unprecedented.” Titled “Combatting Antisemitism to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief,” the report was authored by Ahmed Shaheed, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Shaheed ominously warned that anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world, “increasing in magnitude in several countries,” and noted that the hatred comes from right and left, white supremacists and Islamists, and is prevalent online.

None of Shaheed’s findings is particularly surprising, as our community already knows well that anti-Semitism is widespread and growing. But the report did hit some unexpected notes, including the fact that anti-Semitic attitudes are common even in countries with few Jewish people, or even no Jews at all.

The report urged U.N. member states to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism: “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical

p Gilad Erdan, left, Elan Carr and Mencahem Magolin presenting a report on BDS in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept. 25, 2019 Photo by Yonni Rykner

manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/ or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Based upon that language, it would have made sense for the report to label the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as anti-Semitic.

But it didn’t quite say that. Instead, the report voiced criticism of BDS proponents,

noting that “expression which draws upon anti-Semitic tropes or stereotypes, rejects the right of Israel to exist or advocates discrimination against Jewish individuals because of their religion should be condemned.”

However, the report expressed support for boycotts, saying, “international law recognizes boycotts as constituting legitimate forms of political expression, and that nonviolent expressions of support for boycotts are,

as a general matter, legitimate speech that should be protected.”

If you find the report’s logic a bit confusing, you’re not alone. Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, praised the report’s determination that the BDS movement encourages anti-Semitism, even though the report said no such thing. Instead, the report merely acknowledged that there are those who view “the objectives, activities and effects of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement [to be] fundamentally anti-Semitic,” but added that “these allegations are rejected by the BDS movement.”

Even with its limitations, however, the report is welcome recognition from a world body that has, until now, buried its head in the sand on issues relating to Israel, and by extension, world Jewry. Now, through the report, the U.N. has recognized, acknowledged and provided some guidance regarding the very real threat of anti-Semitism for all of its member nations, and that is significant.

It will take a concerted effort to get governments of the world — democracies and autocracies alike — to take the issue of anti-Semitism seriously, and to do something about it. But this is a start. Jewish communities and organizations, and Israel, must figure out a way to be international partners in that work. PJC

The Tragedy Test Guest Columnist Joel Mark Mahler

J

ust beyond the High Holy Days and Sukkot looms the first anniversary of the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagogue building attack. Every member of our community surely will recall where we were when we first learned of the unfolding tragedy.

I was at Rodef Shalom. During the break between Torah study and the Shabbat morning service, I learned of the attack from a first-responder family member. I notified Rabbi Bisno. He and Executive Director Barry Weisband immediately put the building on lockdown, just as Pittsburgh policemen were taking up stations around the building.

Events at Tree of Life cast an ominous shadow over the Rodef Shalom morning service. Physically, we were safe, but spiritually, I felt that faith in God was under attack. I measured the mayhem a mile away where innocents had gathered to praise God and celebrate Shabbat against the self-same prayers that we were offering from the very first: Mah Tovu, “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel ... Adonai, I love Your house, the dwelling place of Your glory ... O God, in Your abundant faithfulness answer me with Your sure deliverance.”

So it continued throughout the service, prayer upon prayer pierced by the specter of bullets flying a mile away in a synagogue

12 OCTOBER 4, 2019

Last year’s tragedy poses vexing questions especially to those with faith in God. The deeper the faith, the more vexing the questions.

Still more, the greater and closer the tragedy. turned battleground. Then we learned of the death toll and wounded, then their names, and then their loved ones’ loss and pain.

Whose faith in God could not be shaken that Shabbat?

The Chofetz Chaim once famously said, “For those with faith there are no questions, and for those without faith no answers.” I respectfully disagree. Last year’s tragedy poses vexing questions especially to those with faith in God. The deeper the faith, the more vexing the questions. Still more, the greater and closer the tragedy.

Such questions are raised in a new book

by Richard Agler, “The Tragedy Test,” subtitled “Making Sense of Life-Changing Loss: A Rabbi’s Journey.” Rich and I became fast friends our first year of rabbinic seminary in Jerusalem in 1973, and so we have remained over the decades and the distances since.

Many Pittsburgh snow bunnies may know him as the founding rabbi of Congregation

B’nai Israel in Boca Raton. Shortly after Rich retired, he contacted me to scratch his lifelong itch of attending Groundhog Day in nearby Punxsutawney and then spend the following Shabbat with us in our home and at Temple Emanuel. His wife, Mindy, even planned to join us for Shabbat. A few days before Rich’s planned arrival, I received the following email from Rich.

“With inexpressible sorrow and loss, we inform you of the sudden passing of our daughter and sister Talia, on Friday, Jan. 27, in Washington, D.C. Tali was jogging along the National Mall when she was struck by an automobile and fatally injured on Thursday evening. ... Tali sought to better the world and she succeeded in doing so — through her work, through her wit and through her love. Her memory is more of a blessing than we can say.”

As I absorbed this email, I could not breathe. Of course, Alice and I traveled to

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D.C. for the funeral service and shiva, where Rich introduced me as “his best friend in the rabbinate,” touching me beyond words.

Like Jacob’s wrestling match at P’nuel, “the Face of God,” “The Tragedy Test” is Rich’s wrestling match with a God worthy of belief in the face of young, talented and beautiful Tali’s tragic death. The book is divided into three parts: “Challenge”, “Response” and “Acceptance.” Where Harold Kushner’s “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” dealt with the quandary of believing that God is either all-powerful or all-loving, ultimately opting for all-loving, “The Tragedy Test” delves more deeply not only into the complexities of such quandaries but also into pastoral platitudes that people are often spoon-fed following tragedy, e.g., “everything happens for a reason,” “she is now in a better place,” “he completed what he needed to do in this life” or my least favorite, “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle,” or mystic rationales founded in reincarnation or the resurrection of the dead. One by one, Rich dismisses them as inadequate and unacceptable. “Response” and “Acceptance” then offer answers that satisfy mind and soul, while acknowledging that no answer will ever fully satisfy the heart. As God passes the Tragedy Test, God helps us surpass ours.

Read it and take it to heart, especially if you are a Pittsburgher, especially if you are Jewish, but no matter who you are.

Who has ever lived a life unalloyed by trial and tragedy? PJC Rabbi Mark Joel Mahler is rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel of South Hills.

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Opinion Practicing ecological teshuvah Guest Columnist Mikhal Weiner

O

n Aug. 28, Greta Thunberg, the teen Swedish climate activist, climbed off her zero-emissions boat with a glint in her eye. She had traveled across the world to deliver a message to the UN General Assembly. Her journey had led her to speak in, arguably, the most consequential hall in the world, to address those with the most power to enact change.

“People are suffering, people are dying,” she asserted, “and our ecosystems are collapsing ... and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”

Many have written about Thunberg’s eloquence and determination. Many others have questioned her influence, pointing to her

youth as evidence of her potential naiveté. She is a puzzling character, at once galvanizing and infuriating. It all depends how you feel about climate change and ecological activism.

Listening to her fiery speech brought to mind another nautical messenger traveling across his known world to call a populace to repent before destruction should befall them. I am, of course, relating to the prophet Jonah, whose story of reluctant prophecy and angst we will chant in synagogues the world over on Yom Kippur.

Jonah and Greta have a lot in common. They both felt a call to service — Greta in the form of a sense of personal responsibility and dread, Jonah in the form of the “word of the Lord” (Jonah 1:1). They both had to leave behind their native lands and travel over dangerous waters, to encounter unknown perils, in order to relay their message to those with the power to make change. They both had to find within themselves the faith in the truth of their message in

Let’s use this season of atonement to take stock of what we as individuals and what our global leadership is doing to combat the impending destruction of our planet.

order to relay it with the appropriate fervor.

We all know how Jonah’s story ends. After a turbulent sea passage and a few days inside a “great fish,” he makes it to Nineveh and warns the people of their impending doom. Time is running out, he tells them: “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).

The people of Nineveh listen and are saved. The king goes so far as to declare a nationwide fast and a time of repentance and prayer. He calls upon his people to heed the word of this prophet. To return from their evil ways because “who knoweth if God will not ... turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” (Jonah 3:9). The king saw that even if the chance for redemption is slim, his role is to lead his people towards safety, to heed the words of this unlikely prophet.

The parallel between Jonah and Greta strikes me as particularly troubling. Especially when I see how Thunberg’s message has been received by the powerful men and women at the UN and by the general public. Not well, to say the least. Although millions gathered around the world to support her in a Climate Strike, I haven’t seen or heard anything about policy changes or even commitments to make such changes. The Amazon is still on fire. EPA regulations continue to be cut.

In a particularly absurd moment, the state of California recently filed suit against the federal government to demand the right to be more stringent about car emissions.

The 10 days of awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur present us with an opportunity to take stock of our deeds and to find the

places in our lives that need fixing. We do this by partaking in teshuvah, from the Hebrew root that means “to return.” This is the act of recognizing our misdeeds and finding our way back to the path of righteousness. On Yom Kippur we’ll recite tens of categories of misdeeds during the prayer entitled “Vidui” (confession).

These are usually broken down into categories; misdeeds against God versus misdeeds against other people. Sins of action versus sins of inaction. It seems to me that ecological wrongdoing falls into all four of those categories.

Let’s use this season of atonement to take stock of what we as individuals and what our global leadership is doing to combat the impending destruction of our planet. Surely to turn a blind eye to rising sea levels and natural disasters is a sin against God and man, of action and inaction. It’s time for some serious ecological teshuvah.

Greta and Jonah share an understanding of the power held by a population determined to make change. They share a vision of the necessary action and the swiftness with which it should be carried out. They share a hope for the redemption of mankind, along with a weariness that comes with seeing the forces that they must stand up to. They share a message. This Yom Kippur, as we listen to the tale of Jonah, let’s heed the words of our unlikely seafaring prophets — before it’s too late. PJC Mikhal Weiner is a writer and musician from Israel who currently lives in New York.

Her work has appeared in GO Magazine, Lilith and Entropy Magazine.

What working as a prosecutor has taught me about Yom Kippur Guest Columnist Anonymous

T

he court officer calls out the calendar number and reads the docket into the record. The defendant, accompanied by his attorney, enter the well. The judge and the prosecutor are there already, waiting.

The defense attorney states his name for the record, as does the prosecutor. Then the judge asks, “Where do we stand?”

The defense attorney answers. He tells the judge that his client has completed the court-ordered program and hands up the documents as proof. The judge reviews them and concurs. He congratulates the defendant on his completion of the program. Then, something unexpected occurs. The judge stands and applauds. The court officers and the prosecutor join him, with joy. The defendant looks down sheepishly, then approaches the bench as the judge waves him over to hand him a certificate of completion. When he returns to his spot, the judge asks if he has anything he’d like to say. He does. He smiles

and tells the court that this is the first time he has ever graduated from anything. Then, in the mixed up emotions of pride and shame, he begins to cry.

The criminal justice system, and the modern shift toward rehabilitative justice (focused on reforming an offender) described in the story above has a lot to teach us about how we approach Yom Kippur.

I often end Yom Kippur feeling like I’ve just gotten away with something. The weight of our sins is too great a burden to bear. We know that we are guilty, but we pray that God’s mercy outweighs what justice demands, that despite our sins we should be found worthy of another year, and a good year at that. The facts are not on our side, and neither is the law. For how can we dispute what the Omnipotent One already knows? So we pray for mercy, that God wipes away our sins, and He in His infinite mercy cannot help but do so.

But what have we really accomplished? We are still the same people we were before, just with a clean slate for the new year. We are not, in any way, reformed. So we walk away from Yom Kippur with the certainty that we have been forgiven, but with the nagging feeling that we didn’t really deserve it. In a sense, it is far easier for God to forgive us

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than it is to forgive ourselves.

That is the power in rehabilitative justice.

It reminds the offender that it is not solely by the grace of the court that he goes free.

Rather it affords him the autonomy to earn his forgiveness. Through this lens, Yom Kippur evolves from the constricting binary of Justice against Mercy, Guilty against Not Guilty, and instead can be viewed as an empowering opportunity for each of us to reform ourselves and earn our forgiveness.

To make amends. In doing so, we become worthy of forgiveness. We can proudly walk away knowing that we have earned the right to utter the word “salachti” — forgive me.

In the context of Yom Kippur, true forgiveness combines God’s two attributes of Justice and Mercy into a rehabilitative program. As the liturgy tells us — through repentance, through prayer and through our charitable deeds — we can tear up an unfavorable sentence from the heavenly court. That is the rehabilitative program that God proscribes for us — a carrot-and-stick approach to forgiveness.

Perhaps this is why we end Yom Kippur by reciting “Hashem hu ha-Elokim,” God is the Divine Judge, seven times. For it is only through the combination of God’s attribute

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of mercy (associated with the name YKVH) and God’s attribute of Justice (associated with Elokim) that we can achieve “teshuvah,” true repentance and forgiveness. The stick of justice, demanding that we follow God’s rehabilitative plan, coupled with the grace of God’s mercy to give us that chance to earn it, affords us the opportunity to clean the slate, expunge our record and find forgiveness from the heavenly court.

But one more opportunity remains. As the final cry of “Hashem hu ha-Elokim” fades away, and the tension of the day breaks, there is a moment of perfect silence. Listen for it.

Feel it. A moment of reconciliation with God, when Yom Kippur has ended but the new day has not yet begun. A moment when the world is pure and cleansed.

And in that moment, you will find what you have been searching for all along.

A chance to forgive yourself. PJC The author is an active prosecutor in a major U.S. city. Due to the nature of their work, they must write anonymously. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

OCTOBER 4, 2019

13

Headlines Photos: Continued from page 1

for young Arab and Jews to learn, work and socialize together.

Strickland has been touting ACAT’s success worldwide, and by doing so, has sparked interest in creating similar centers in various locales including in India, South Africa and throughout Israel, he told the 70 people gathered at the opening reception for “CONNECTING.” “The center in Akko is bearing huge dividends,” Strickland said. “And I’ve decided the real conversation is to use this model in Akko in many places in Israel. So, just in case you thought we were finished, we are at the beginning of the conversation, not the end.

“I’ve got my eye on Haifa,” he continued.

“We’ve got our eye on Tel Aviv. We’ve got the model. The thing works. We know we can do this all over Israel, preferably yesterday.

Because we are running out of time.”

Because of the success of ACAT, Strickland has garnered the attention of the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, he said. He also had the support of Shimon Peres, who died just two months before the opening of ACAT. “Shimon Peres, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu are now part of our kitchen cabinet,” he quipped. “This is not just about one center. I’ve decided the game is let’s change the world.”

ACAT is “one of the first facilities in Israel that really is bringing people together,” explained ACAT CEO Naim Obeid, in town for the exhibit. He noted that the center’s student body is 50% Arab and 50% Jewish.

“It’s a safe environment,” he said. “It’s amazing every time to see these kids find a way to connect. We have a lot to learn from them.

“We are very proud of what we are doing,” Obeid continued, adding that ACAT is also providing jobs to adults from underserved communities.

Forgiveness: Continued from page 1

this person for having killed 11 people, because I can’t do that,” Leger stressed.

“The only people that can forgive him are the people he killed and they are incapable of doing that.”

What forgiveness in this context does mean, Leger said, “is it allows me to view all human beings — including this person who in many ways is an absolute monster — as one of God’s creations. He is made in the image of God just like I am. He made a horrible choice, he did a horrible thing. And he needs to be off the streets for the rest of his life. There is no question about that. But if I want to live my life and go forward, I have to find a place in myself that gets rid of the power that this act had over me.”

And yet, what happened on Oct. 27 “will always be with me,” Leger said. “I mean, my body has changed. My life has changed. My friends are dead. But I can’t let this thing continue to have power over my life and prevent me from doing the things I have to

14 OCTOBER 4, 2019

p An exhibit of photos by Arab and Jewish students learning together in Akko, Israel, is on display at Rodef Shalom.

Photo provided by Mark Frank

p Mark Frank and Bill Strickland

do. And by that, I don’t mean being able to go to parties and stuff. I mean being able to be active in my sense of being a Jewish person in the world, being a responsible person in the world. A person who will work toward the change in laws that let us come together rather than separate us.”

For Leger, it is important to move beyond anger, and to instead focus on positive actions.

“One of the reasons I am a member of Dor Hadash is because we do have this ‘pray with our feet’ attitude, and so I have tried to speak about the need to change the laws regarding gun safety,” he said, although “it’s hard because I can feel my anger rise when I do speak about it.”

Despite — or perhaps in some ways because of — what happened to him on Oct. 27, Leger believes ardently in the power of kindness.

“Chesed makes the world go round,” he said. “Kindness is at the heart of what it is to be a human person in the world. There is so much that gets in the way of our being kind all of the time and some people unfortunately are so hurt and so damaged that

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

they just can’t quite get there.

I understand that. I appreciate it. But if it weren’t for kindness, the world would not be a functional place.

We would all p Dan Leger just be animals.”

For Schamis, a social studies teacher whose Holocaust history class was stormed by a gunman on Feb. 14, 2018, finding forgiveness for the man who killed 17 people at her school — including two students in her own classroom — is difficult.

Her first instinct, she said, is not to forgive the murderer in Parkland.

“It’s one thing to forgive someone who wrongs you, but not in that kind of way,” she said. “And honestly, the forgiveness really has to come from the victims, and the victims don’t have any ability to forgive.”

Schamis was teaching a lesson on how to fight hate on college campuses when she

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The images in the photos, showing Arabs and Jews getting along together through shared art “is really true,” Obeid stressed.

“The kids are connecting because they have a universal language.”

In addition to photography and 3-D printing, ACAT recently began offering film editing, according to Obeid.

“I think the best thing we give them is the ability to express their feelings through the lens,” he said, which often is a more comfortable medium “to talk about sensitive issues.”

Frank expressed gratitude to Rodef Shalom.

“I don’t believe the Akko Center for Arts and Technology and all the good that it has done in the Western Galil would have been possible without this congregation’s help,” he said, noting that the honorarium it gave to Strickland as part of the Pursuer of Peace award he received in 2012 funded the project’s feasibility study.

Frank also read a letter written by Ahlam Doawd, a teacher from an Arab village who was initially doubtful that her students would come together with Jews at ACAT. Her concerns were soon allayed.

“They began to wait for meetings, among other things, to meet with their friends from the other school,” she wrote. “They had their pictures taken together and also took pictures together, worked on common designs, exchanged telephone numbers and became friends on social networks.”

Moreover, even the students who had assumed they would drop out of the course “became interested and wanted to learn and know more,” she added. “They began to believe in themselves, their self-image rose, their motivation for learning increased.”

“This is where it begins, in my opinion,” Frank said. “This was transformational for them both in terms of their own self-esteem and coexistence.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

witnessed two students “get blown away by an AR-15. There is a lot more to it than just, ‘Oh you’re forgiven,’ when the person that did it isn’t even asking for p Ivy Schamis forgiveness. He Photos courtesy of Rabbi Ron Symons/Center for doesn’t even have Loving Kindness any repentance that I know of.”

Forgiving him “is not happening,” she said.

Instead, she is inspired by those who have been using their pain as motivation for positive actions. One surviving spouse in Parkland is running for school board, another is working to “pass better gun laws,” and many of the surviving students also have become anti-gun activists.

Schamis quoted the words of a Holocaust survivor: “Pain should not be wasted.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Transnistria is a tiny, poor state in Eastern Europe.

The few Jews left there eye an escape.

— CULTURE —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

O

fficially, this disputed sliver of land between Ukraine and Moldova is called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. But to visitors to Transnistria, a breakaway region that declared its independence in the 1990s but which most of the world considers part of Moldova, it looks more like a Soviet state frozen in time.

Communist monuments, long since removed from most everywhere else in the former Soviet Union, remain ubiquitous here. In this capital city, a monument calling for “power to the Soviets” towers over a riverside esplanade. Transnistria is the only place in the world whose national symbol is still the Soviet hammer and sickle. Statues of Lenin and, more controversially, Stalin still decorate city squares. Russian soldiers are everywhere, assuring Moscow of a foothold in the territory of a client state strategically located on Ukraine’s western border.

“It’s just a time machine,” said Larisa Privalskaya, a Jewish academic from Moscow who returned recently from a research trip to investigate the life of a Transnistrian rabbi.

“An amazing time machine.”

For tourists motivated enough to obtain a visa, a complicated process that results in a permit granting entry for just a few hours, it can be an exciting place. But for Transnistria’s 458,000 citizens, the twilight zone they call home is a place indelibly marked by the history of political turbulence that has shaped this unique piece of Europe.

Since 1993, Transnistria has lost a third of its population largely because it is so poor that $300 here is considered a handsome monthly salary. The emigration has weakened its economy and nearly wiped out the Jewish community, once the region’s largest non-Christian minority, which now survives only in neighboring Moldova.

Transnistria seceded from Moldova only in the early 1990s in a war of independence led by pro-Russian separatists, and the Jewish population of both places shares common languages and history.

Of the 11 synagogues in Tiraspol before the fall of communism, only one remains.

Housed in a residential building, a graying group of about a dozen men and women convenes there every Sunday. The younger generation consists of fewer than 10 people.

“It’s rare to actually witness the death of a community, but here it is before our eyes in Transnistria,” said Evgheni Bric, director of Moldova’s Judaica Institute, a nonprofit that seeks to build identity among the Jews of Transnistria and Moldova.

Nowadays, freedom of worship is assured to Transnistrian Jews and anti-Semitism is marginal, local Jews say. But many still want to leave for economic reasons. Salaries here are half those on offer in Moldova, Europe’s poorest nation.

Musia Efimova, a retired Jewish dentist from Tiraspol, said that her government pension is $70 a month. She calls her

p Rabbi Shmuel Zalmanov at the Alte Shul Synagogue on Chisinau, Moldova.

p Marina Edakova, left, Fiodor and Anna Kushnir, and Musia Efimova at the Wooden Synagogue of Chisinau, Moldova Photos by Cnaan Liphshiz

p Anastasia and Vitaly pose for wedding photos in Tiraspol.

Photo courtesy of Roman Yanushevsky/Channel 9 via JTA

homeland’s peculiar Soviet monuments “signs of nostalgia for better times.”

Fiodor Kushnir, 26, earns about $200 a

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month working full time as a high school teacher in Tiraspol. Under Transnistria’s quasi-socialist regime, teachers are entitled

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to free housing in government apartments, Kushnir said. But those apartments have poor public transport connections to the city, making them less than ideal.

“We’ve planned to make aliyah several times, but each time something happens that delays the move,” Fiodor said of immigrating to Israel.

In a place largely dependent on imports to feed its population, salaries under $200 suffice for little beyond the bare necessities, according to Marina Edakova, a 32-year-old Jewish psychologist from Bender, Transnistria’s second-largest city.

“And that’s just as well because in any case, there’s nothing to do here after 9 o’clock. Everything is shut. It’s an unofficial curfew,” said Edakova, who plans to leave after she marries.

A 1930 census of Bender’s population reported that half of its residents said their mother tongue was Yiddish. Thousands of non-Jews also spoke the language because of their close work and trade with Jews, according to Bric. Most of the city’s Jews were killed in the Holocaust and the few survivors emigrated as soon as they could. None of Bender’s dozen synagogues is still in use.

Other Transnistrian cities, like Rybnitsa, which was once one-third Jewish, now have no Jews. One of the city’s best-known (and last) Jews was Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz, a Chasidic rabbi who died in 1995 in the United States. Abramowitz was one of a handful of Orthodox Jews who were able to lead an observant lifestyle even under Stalin, largely thanks to his popularity with the local population.

As in Transnistria, Moldova’s Jewish population has also been decimated by mass emigration. Still, Jewish life has survived far better there, in part because it has absorbed some of the thousands of Jews who have left Transistria. Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, has four synagogues and about 3,500 members of its Jewish community.

To Chaim Chesler, the founder of Limmud FSU, which runs Jewish educational programs for Russian-speaking Jews, the disappearance of the bulk of the Jewish minorities of both Transnistria and Moldova is only more incentive to hold events for Jews from both places.

“Some say a dying community is a bad investment,” Chesler said. “I think it’s a crucial one. We leave no one behind.”

The mass emigration from Transinistria, which most of the world considers part of Moldova, is visible everywhere. Along the banks of the Dniester River in Tiraspol, prime real estate in more affluent times, apartment blocks have been reduced to carcasses.

“Communism has left, and capitalism hasn’t arrived yet and we are here in the middle,” said Anastasia, a newlywed posing for photos with her husband, Vitaly, along the riverside. Their only audience is a photographer and Anastasia’s mother, Tamara.

Without being asked, Vitaly offers this explanation for the absence of guests: All the couple’s friends have left in recent years to find work abroad.

“One day,” Anastasia said optimistically, “this will be a second Switzerland.” PJC OCTOBER 4, 2019 15

Life & Culture Is ‘Seinfeld’ still ‘fresh’ in 2019, like Netflix says it is?

— TELEVISION —

By Daniel Treiman | JTA

A

lot happened in 1989. The Berlin Wall fell, the Iron Curtain crumbled and a young political theorist named Francis Fukuyama announced that with Western liberal democracy’s triumph, we had reached “the end of history.”

Also that year, the pilot for what was then called “The Seinfeld Chronicles” aired on NBC. While NBC was tentative initially about the show’s prospects, “Seinfeld” would become not just an unlikely hit for the network but the most popular sitcom of the 1990s. To put it in perspective, 76 million viewers tuned in for the sitcom’s 1998 series finale — that’s nearly four times the number who watched the last episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” earlier this year.

What more propitious time for a “show about nothing” than the end of history?

Now, 30 years after the debut of “Seinfeld,” Netflix is betting big on the timeless appeal of the TV show that yada, yada, yada’d its way into America’s hearts, buying its exclusive streaming rights starting in 2021. “‘Seinfeld’ is the television comedy that all television comedy is measured against,” Netflix’s chief content officer said in a

16 OCTOBER 4, 2019

p The stars of “Seinfeld” at the 1993 Emmy Awards. The show was the most popular sitcom of the 1990s.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc/Getty Images

statement. “It is as fresh and funny as ever.”

The enduring charms of “Seinfeld” in the streaming era, however, should not obscure the fact that the show is also very much a product of its time.

One aspect of the “Seinfeld” story that seems like a relic from a distant past is

NBC’s initial concern that the show was “too New York, too Jewish” to be a hit, as the network’s entertainment president, Brandon Tartikoff (a New York Jew himself), memorably worried.

“Who will want to see Jews wandering around New York acting neurotic?” he asked.

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Amid such shpilkes, the Jews behind “Seinfeld” masked the Jewishness of the show’s characters. True, the show’s four main characters seemed like over-the-top caricatures of Jewish New Yorkers (some were even based on real-life Jews, with George Costanza as a stand-in for series co-creator Larry David, and Cosmo Kramer inspired

by David’s former neighbor Kenny Kramer).

But aside from Jerry Seinfeld’s eponymous character, none of the main characters were identified by the show as Jews.

No matter how Jewish Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) seemed, “Seinfeld” viewers learned that she was, in fact, a magnet for Jewish men due to her “shiksappeal.”

Meanwhile, the fact that George, played very Jewishly by Jewish actor Jason Alexander, had an Italian last name was cause for considerable confusion, including for the Jewish actors (Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris) who played his parents.

“It was never really clear if the Costanzas were Jewish or Italian or what they were,” Stiller later recounted. “Jason, Estelle and I were given the name Costanza, which sounds Italian, but there were episodes where I cooked Jewish food and ate knishes and kasha varnishkes in bed. When people asked me about this, I would simply say it Please see Seinfeld, page 19

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OCTOBER 4, 2019 17

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

Moving forward Rabbi Elchonon Friedman Parshat Vayelech | Shabbat Shuva Deuteronomy 31:1-30

“V

Krasnow/Dunlop: Rachel J. Krasnow and Debra and Jeffrey Krasnow of Squirrel Hill are thrilled to announce the engagement of their son, Andrew Michael Krasnow, to Hannah Sherry Dunlop of Wexford. Hannah is the daughter of Scott and Katherine Dunlop of Wexford. Grandparents are Jocelyn Lehman, Ann Sherry, Graham and Sandra Dunlop, Martha Solomon and the late Nettie and Edwin Krasnow and the late J. Donald Sherry. A May 2020 wedding will take place in Chautauqua, New York. PJC

ayelech Moshe” — and Moses went to gather the Jewish people, telling them, “Today I turn 120 years old and I cannot continue to come and go … ” What an appropriate name for our parsha, the Torah portion preparing us for Moses’ passing: vayelech, “to go.”

We use the term “passed on” to refer to death, but is this truly the appropriate term or are we just passing off our ability to deal with tragedy? Sometimes you hear an individual comforting a mourner with encouragement to move on, but can they?

This past year our community experienced the greatest tragedy to the Jewish people perpetrated on American soil. Eleven souls lost, countless lives shocked and traumatized. A new year has now begun. Is it time to move on?

Moving on means to forget about the past, get beyond it and try to live a brighter future.

By contrast, vayelech — “to go” — means to move forward, to take the past and make it a vital part of our upward-moving future.

In business or in life we are presented with challenging moments. The moments themselves can either be catalysts for greater growth and heights or obstacles in the way of progress. The Torah is teaching us that even the passing of Moses is a step forward, another stop and ultimately another springboard for the Jewish people to grow and strive. After a fire, the earth is more fertile than ever before and greater growth can and must happen.

Here in Pittsburgh, we must challenge ourselves to a year of moving forward. The passing of 11 dear community members must motivate us to strengthen the community they lived in. We cannot stand by nor move on; we must move forward. The institutions, buildings and individuals must be living, shining examples of true life and freedom, places where optimism outshines the greatest sadness, where color, peace and G-dly inspiration overcome the deepest recesses of hatred and anger.

The world is constantly changing for the better, but it’s not fully changed yet. The ugly

head of anti-Semitism and hatred awoke and we must bring it to its end. We must move forward, finding new ways and manners of uncovering value and meaning in each person and implementing modern ways to bring this recognition to every human on Earth.

Once, the Baal Shem Tov sent his disciples to watch how an innkeeper did his Kaparot, the pre-Yom Kippur ritual where one swings a chicken over their head and donates it to the poor as an atonement for one’s sins.

It was early morning after the last drunk had left the inn when the innkeeper began his ritual. He first took out a book in which he had written all of the sins and imperfect moments of his past year — when he had lost his temper, when he didn’t give correct change and when he didn’t focus properly on his prayer — and began reading.

As he finished reading the book with tear-soaked eyes, he pulled out another book. In this book, he had written G-d’s offenses — the day his cow died, the time an anti-Semitic drunk destroyed his tavern, and the new shoes he couldn’t afford for his children when he had no customers. With tears he finished reading the second book, and turning to heaven he said, “G-d! If you forgive mine I forgive Yours.” Then, wrapping both books in paper, he swung them three times over his head and flung them into the burning coals of his hearth.

The beginning of this week’s Haftorah begins “Shuva Yisroel,” “Return, O Israel, to G-d.” But we demand “Shuva Hashem,” “G-d, return to us! You said that Your absence would be momentary, ‘a small moment.’

Moments have a limit on Earth and You spoke in the language of man. The massacre at the Tree of Life building was a moment.

A moment that is lasting way too long for many members in our community. The time has come for You Yourself to comfort them and all Israel, to return to your people, revealed here on Earth, where peace, safety and Your presence will be all that matters.”

It’s time to move forward together, stronger together!

L’shana Tova. PJC Rabbi Elchonon Friedman is the rabbi at Bnei Emunoh Chabad-Greenfield. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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18 OCTOBER 4, 2019

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Obituaries VERMAN: Marvin Verman, on Aug. 30, 2019.

He was an architect. Husband of Leila (nee Lopen). Son of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Verman (deceased) of Beechwood Blvd., Squirrel Hill, PA. Raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Practiced in Philadelphia, where he died. Marvin attended Taylor Allderice High School in 1952 and Carnegie Tech University (Carnegie Mellon).

Seinfeld: Continued from page 16

was because we were a Jewish family in the Witness Protection Program.�

Amid the plenitude of Jewish-themed comedy on “Seinfeld� (public displays of affection during “Schindler’s List,� a desperate quest for a chocolate babka, the high anxiety of a bris, a dentist who converts to Judaism for the Jewish jokes, cavalier comparisons of soup purveyors and burger chefs to Nazis), the fact that the show’s characters could not be openly Jewish seemed like a joke itself.

Perhaps thanks in part to the success of “Seinfeld,� Jewish TV characters no longer need a witness protection program.

Now you can have an entire series about the mishegas of two young Jewesses wandering around New York, moaning about fasting on Yom Kippur and yearning to host a Passover seder (“Broad City�); a show whose protagonist engages her childhood archnemesis from Scarsdale in a “JAP rap battle,� replete with obscure-to-gentiles rhymes about Birthright Israel and the Jewish fraternity AEPi (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend�); another show that spends a whole season on a family trip to Israel (“Transparent�); or a show where a character might crack wise about how wearing a yarmulke into a Palestinian chicken restaurant is akin to the raid on Entebbe (Larry David’s own “Curb Your Enthusiasm�).

And that’s not even mentioning the Emmyconquering “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.� “Seinfeld,� though, was a different animal than any of these. It was the

He served in the U.S. Army. Brother of Beth Verman (deceased). Father of David (Beth), Eric (Harla) and Lesley (Michael) Alter.

Grandfather of Bari (Michael) Dixon, Jayme Matan, Zevi, Madison and Sidney. Greatgrandfather of Amelia. Cousin of Sam Kiss in Pittsburgh, PA. Services were held through Joseph Levine & Sons. levinefuneral.com PJC top show on network television before cable and streaming fragmented the American TV-watching audience into countless niches.

Above all, “Seinfeld� is a product of a more innocent time. At the end of history, with America at peace, Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer could run around preoccupied with minutiae like puffy shirts and close talkers, their audience relatively undistracted by more serious national and world dramas.

Now that history has resumed, a classic “Seinfeld� laugh line like “Ukraine is weak!� seems more ominous. Indeed, the world now intrudes even upon “Seinfeld� itself, as with reports that the pied piper of right-wing populism Steve Bannon managed to profit from the show’s royalties. “Seinfeld� was silly and carefree. By contrast, our new golden era of television has tortured anti-heroes for its most celebrated protagonists. True, the “Seinfeld� characters were themselves selfish miscreants, but they were so endearing that audience members tended to forget that they were kind of awful people. Even on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,� it is harder to overlook the David character’s bad qualities; it’s edgier comedy for edgier times.

Netflix is certainly right that “Seinfeld� is still funny. Like the original ratings-topping sitcom “I Love Lucy,� “Seinfeld� is comedy for the ages. If you stream it, people will watch and laugh.

But is it still “fresh�?

That’s not as clear. Don’t be surprised if the jaundiced eyes of 2021 view “Seinfeld� through a screen of nostalgia.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. PJC

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Jewish Association on Aging gratefully acknowledges contributions from the following: A gift from ...

In memory of...

A gift from ...

In memory of...

Marlene Alpern ...................................Jack Greenberg

Amy R. Kamin ..........................Sarah Deborah Kamin

Bernita Barnett ........................................Allan Barnett

Sally & Tim Litman .............................Mollie Steinman

Edward & Jill Bolner ....................Berde S. Ruttenberg

Howard M. Louik.........................Katie Levine Marcus

Marion Brooks.................................... Alfred Supowitz

Dr. Anita E. Mallinger................... Lena Ripp Mallinger

Allan & Lois Cohen ................................ Jennie Cohen

Carol & Richard Margolis ...Sarah Lynn Simon DuPre’

Arthur & Sybil Epstein .......................... Ruth Seiavitch

Robert Miller.................................... Harold B. Cramer

Irene Ferrara ......................................... Barbara Giffen

Rona Mustin .................................... Bessie Ruth Roth

Florinne I. Friedken ........................... Selma Luterman

Charlotte Perl ..................................... Sylvia Diamond

Jeffrey Glasser ............................ Jacob Joseph Kurtz

Rosalyn Shapiro .....................................Isadore Davis

Sylvia Graditor....................................... Henry Ziskind

Michael Sherman .............................Alex M. Sherman

Paul N. Herman ....................................Leana Herman

Paul & Pauline Staman ........................... Max Staman

Golde Holtzman ...............................Barney Holtzman

Elaine & Leroy Supowitz .................... Alfred Supowitz

Joan G. Israel ...................................... Sylvan J. Israel

Lois C. Waldman ....................... Fannie Sulkes Cohen

Stanton Jonas ........................................ Rhoda Jonas

Harold C. Weiss .............................. Dr. Alred L. Weiss

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday October 6: Goldie Bardin, Irene Berliner, Jeanette Broner Chernoff, Isadore Davis, Harry Dell, Otto Dubovy, Alvin Glass, Louis Goldenson, Tillie Kalson, Ralph R. Kartub, Herschel Klein, Ruth Levy, Arch Lhormer, Evelyn Maryn, Leslie Lou Mullen, Sharon Ruttenberg Post, Dr. Sanford Press, Matilda Amdur Seidman, Rebecca Feiner Sigal, Max Sussman, Alice Tales, Bessie Shrut Weiner, Morris H. Winer Monday October 7: Joyce Berger, Libby Kaplan Cooper, Howard Harris, Harry Levin, Ernest Marcus, Ruth I. Perlman, Myer Reznick, Harvey Sandy Rubenstein, Rebecca Shiner, Elizabeth Silverman, Ruth E. Supowitz Tuesday October 8: Max Berezin, Florence F. Blass, Ida K. Borovetz, Henry Browarsky, Michael H. Cohen, Ruth Geduldig, Donald L. Klein, Hyman Leipzig, Leonard Levine, Marie Morris, Sarah Finkel Moses, Samuel A. Myers, Beile Levinson Ofshinski, Ethel Shaffer Pariser, Esther Y. Podolsky, Abraham I. Rose, Jessie Ruben, Harry Shapiro, Abe Sobel Wednesday October 9: Louis Alpert, Nellie Brodie, Eugene Brown, Louis Chotiner, Morris Cohenn, Ida Goldberg, Anna Halpern, Isaac Halpern, Eugene Rosen, Sylvia Rosenzweig, Alex Sherman, Freda Spokane, Minna B. Trellis Thursday October 10: Charles Bahm, Herman Goldman, Ben A. Herman, Bernard Hoddeson, Jacob Jacobs, Ise Kramer, Frieda Miller, Benjamin Mossoff, Florence Rubin, Abraham Shapiro, Arnold Sommer Friday October 11: Max Danovitz, Max Dobkin, Meyer Jacobs, Ruth P. Kamin, Sarah Kamin, Herman Lang, Mollie Levine, Rose Levine, Max C. Levy, Ruth O. Martin, Samuel S. Mervis, Ida Osgood, Irving Leonard Podolsky, Estelle L. Schaeffer, Samuel Siegal, Alfred Supowitz, Rebecca Zeff Saturday October 12: Mollie Brand Amsel, Ruth Haltman Caplan, Gerald C. Davidson, Thekla Zimmern Gordon, Esther Mandell, Samuel Maryn, Morris Saxen, Jeanette Schutzman, Harry T. Weiner

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OCTOBER 4, 2019 19

Headlines Russia: Continued from page 9

Russia’s repression of the media and political opposition has been painstakingly documented by international human rights groups.

Tanya Lokshina, the associate director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, said that a “turning point” came with the 2012 jailing of Pussy Riot, a rock band whose three members were convicted of hooliganism for performing a song criticizing the Orthodox Church’s support for Putin. Putin’s return to the presidency that year “ushered in a new period of accelerated repression,” Freedom House wrote in its report for 2012.

In 2014, the year Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, the annual Russian immigration to Israel passed the 4,500 mark for the first time in a decade. In 2018, the number of arrivals topped 10,000, and likely will reach 15,000 this year, according to Israeli government projections.

In addition to the general feeling of insecurity shared by many Russian liberals, Russian Jews are beginning to see signs that they are again being singled out in a significant way as an ethno-religious minority.

Foreign: Continued from page 10

“The children were crying,” Velasco said of their time in detention. “In the jail, they didn’t sleep or eat and asked a lot of questions about why they didn’t go to school and why they closed the door and needed to lock our cell.”

Among those who rallied to the family’s defense was Tamar Ben Yishai, a parent of school friends of Velasco’s daughters. After the family’s arrest, a parents’ committee was organized to help United Children of Israel run rallies and advocate for the children. The

In 2013, the corruption trial of a Jewish teacher in a rural area was tainted by allegations that the judge and prosecutor resorted to anti-Semitism to discredit the defendant. In 2015, Russian prosecutors confiscated books from a Jewish school affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement in Yekaterinburg following complaints that its students were being taught to hate non-Jews. In 2017, a court in Sochi blacklisted a book by a 19th-century rabbi about the Jews’ struggle to resist forced conversion to Christianity.

Also that year, authorities kicked out a rabbi from the Chabad movement and labeled him a security threat without providing evidence to back the claim.

About a dozen Chabad rabbis — all of them foreign nationals working in Russia — have been evicted from Russia in recent years for various reasons.

Meanwhile, anti-Semitic incidents, while still rare in Russia compared to Western Europe, seem to have escalated in severity.

Last month, nationalists broke into a synagogue in Krasnodar, near the Black Sea, to conduct an illegal “search” for evidence of what they said was a terrorist plot. The group stole documents, local congregants said, and police have not intervened.

These incidents have prompted vocal

protests by the Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, or FJCR, the largest and most prominent Jewish group in the country.

Rabbi Boruch Gorin, a senior spokesman for FJCR, said the government’s “positive attitude” toward the Jewish community has not changed and that the emigration may owe to political issues, but not to anti-Semitism.

Russian authorities continue to help Jewish communities — especially those led

by Chabad rabbis — carry out an unprecedented revival of Jewish life in the country.

Since 2012, at least a dozen synagogues were opened or returned to Jewish communities across Russia, including in Moscow, Tomsk, Perm, Syzran, Kaliningrad and Archangelsk.

In 2012, a $20 million Jewish museum was opened in Moscow with government assistance. Kosher restaurants and Jewish cultural events are still popping up across Russia, making many Jews feel more at home than they have in decades.

According to Gorin, the expulsion of rabbis is part of a larger crackdown on foreign clergy, while the labeling of some Jewish texts as extremist is part of a wider policy to curtail religious extremism. He said Jews are collateral damage of both policies.

Still, some of those who experienced state-sponsored anti-Semitism under

communism say they are encountering growing reminders of it in Putin’s Russia.

One of them is Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, who in 2012 began giving talks to Jewish audiences about his role in a 1970 attempt to hijack an airplane and fly it to Israel.

Mendelevitch was captured and spent 11 years in a gulag.

Earlier this year, a local newspaper characterized him as a terrorist and criticized his appearance at a Chabad synagogue in Novosibirsk. Soon after, he said, demonstrators began showing up at his talks with placards reading “Mendelevitch is a terrorist.” The terrorist language eventually found an outlet in the national media and Mendelevitch’s popular talks came to an abrupt end.

Mendelevitch said that when he traveled earlier this year to Moscow to inquire why his tour had ended, he learned that Jewish organizations “were told not to host me any longer.” Mendelevitch declined to elaborate, citing the “safety of everyone involved.”

Gorin said Jewish communities canceled Mendelevitch to avoid picketing.

“We have had no message from authorities about Mendelevitch, though the agitation around him clearly came from somewhere,” Gorin said. “We are also asking ourselves where from.” PJC

committee also raised more than 25,000 shekels (over $7,000) within hours to pay for a lawyer.

“For us, they were a part of our community,” Ben Yishai said. “The kids grew up together, sang and celebrated all the holidays and birthdays together. It never crossed our minds that they were in jeopardy in any way.”

According to Abbo, the state once was more lenient with migrants who were parents of schoolchildren, in most cases refraining from deportation during the academic year.

But Sabine Hadad, a spokeswoman for the Population and Immigration Authority, denied that there had been a change in policy.

“The decision to arrest during the school year isn’t a change in policy,” Hadad said.

“There will be arrests during the year as usual.”

David Tadmor, an attorney representing several families of foreign workers, alleged that the authority was taking advantage of Israel’s current political morass to ramp up enforcement. April elections left the leading political parties unable to form a government and Israelis returned to the polls on Tuesday.

“We know these children are really Israeli in every respect and have done nothing wrong except to be born to immigrants who came to Israel lawfully and overextended their stay,” Tadmor told JTA. “Under every principle, including international conventions to which Israel is a party, the treatment of children cannot be determined by the

status of their parents.”

But Hadad said Israel has little choice in the matter.

“In Israel, the law doesn’t say that if you are illegally here for many years you will get citizenship,” she said. “That is the law here.”

Even so, advocates say it’s unreasonable for Israel to expect it can allow large numbers of foreigners into the country and expect they will never fall in love or have children with Israelis.

“You expect a young female in her prime not to get pregnant?” Franco said. “After a week staying with an old lady you have to have a life, even for a few hours. We’re not animals.” PJC

Pittsburgh author publishes new book

P

ittsburgh native David Harry Tannenbaum released his newest book, “The Padre Pirate.” It is Tannenbaum’s eighth work in the Padre series. In this installment, characters Jimmy Redstone and Angella Martinez search for “The Pirate,” a valuable sculpture. The two insurance company investigators travel to familiar Steel City haunts, such as the Three Rivers Arts Festival, to locate the missing bronze piece. Along the way, Redstone and Martinez become enmeshed in the dealings of a Mexican drug lord, as well as the Israeli Mossad, who themselves are seeking art supposedly containing the names of Nazi war criminals.

Tannenbaum has published 11 books in the last 12 years, which is a bit of a contrast to his earlier pursuits. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and from Capital Law School, Tannenbaum worked as a patent attorney for decades. He lived in both New Jersey and Texas, but now splits his time between Miromar Lakes, Florida, and Pittsburgh.

20 OCTOBER 4, 2019

Returning to Pittsburgh with his wife, Mary, after nearly 60 years allowed Tannenbaum to reconnect with the city of his youth. Before studying at Pitt, he graduated from Frick Elementary School and Peabody High School.

Tannenbaum was bar mitzvahed at Tree of Life Congregation, and attended services at both its Oakland and Squirrel Hill locations.

“I spent a great deal of time in the gym at the YM&WHA on Bellefield Street and volunteered as an aide for Saturday morning,” he said.

He was also active in Liberty AZA and attended Emma Kaufman Camp. Back then, buses to the overnight summer camp used to leave from a storefront on Forward Avenue, he recalled.

Tannenbaum is proud to be back in Pittsburgh, and said, “Most of my childhood friends have moved on. To where? I’m not sure I want to know. But the few I am in touch with makes coming home well worth it.” PJC — Adam Reinherz

Seedlings from ‘The Survivor Tree’ coming to Pittsburgh

C

ommunities in Pittsburgh, Las Vegas and Greece will receive seedlings from “The Survivor Tree,” a Callery pear tree that endured the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center. Distribution of the seeds will occur on account of the recipients’ commitment to nurturing the trees to serve as “landmarks symbolizing resiliency and hope,” noted a statement from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

“As the communities in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Greece continue their own journeys toward healing, we in New York City stand in solidarity with them and offer these Survivor Tree seedlings as living symbols of the promise of renewal,” said Alice M. Greenwald, September 11 Memorial & Museum president and CEO. “It is our intention that the seedling program will inspire hope around the world.”

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This year’s recipients have endured recent violence and extreme disaster. In October 2017, a gunman killed 58 people and injured 400 at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Last Vegas. One year later, a gunman killed 11 people and injured six during the attack at the Tree of Life building. During 2018, a series of wildfires in Greece resulted in 102 fatalities and 172 injuries.

Past recipients of seedlings include communities in Parkland, Florida, Puerto Rico and Charleston, South Carolina.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum began distributing seeds six years ago in partnership with with Bartlett Tree Experts of Stamford, Connecticut, and John Bowne High School in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. PJC —Adam Reinherz

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 4, 2019 21

Community Casting a ballot abroad

Book discussion and Holocaust Center event t Pittsburgher Yehonatan Admon voted in the recent Israeli election.

Admon is in Israel for a gap year and traveled from Jerusalem to the Haifa area to cast his ballot.

Photo courtesy of Elisar Admon

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh hosted “Resistance and Resilience: Surviving the Nazis in Amsterdam” at the Jewish Association on Aging on Sept. 19. Hendrika de Vries discussed her newly released memoir, “When the Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew…,” which tells her story of being a young girl in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. t Front: Hendrika de Vries. Back, from left: Laura Oliphant, Aradhna Oliphant, Grant Oliphant and Harlan Green.

Photo courtesy of Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh

Meanings of Oct. 27 Pittsburghers Marlene Haus and Sanford “Cookie” Danovitz shared memories of Oct. 27, 2018 with interviewer Aliza Becker, who is partnering with the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives on a “Meanings of Oct. 27” oral history project. The goal of the project is to collect at least 100 interviews and make them available through the Rauh.

CDS runners place at cross country invitational

Community Day School third graders and cross country runners Ben Goldenstein and Talia Block finished strong at the Winchester Thurston Invitational on Sept. 22. u Ben Goldstein placed 15th in the boys novice division and Talia Block placed fifth in the girls novice division.

Photo courtesy of Bev Block

p Marlene Haus is interviewed.

p Sanford “Cookie” Danovitz shares thoughts.

Photos courtesy

of the Jewish Association on Aging

Happening at Hillel

Macher and Shaker

p Rav Noam Ohayon played guitar with Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh K-4 students at oneg.

The group sang Hebrew songs, including “Hamalach,” “Tov Lehodot” and “Acheinu.”

Photo by Oren Levy

t Stella Berkowitz prepared for the upcoming holidays by painting a honey dish and baking delicious honey muffins.

Photo by Tovi Admon

22 OCTOBER 4, 2019

Evan Indianer received the 2019 Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Gerald S. Ostrow Volunteer of the Year Award on Sept.

24. The award is presented annually to recognize a Federation volunteer leader for significant service to the community and for fostering collaboration. Indianer serves on the boards of the Federation, Community Day School, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. Woody Ostrow established the award in honor of his father. u Woody Ostrow, left, and Evan Indianer

Photo by David Bachman

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Community Students cast a line

Lots of fun at Temple David Weiger School

Rabbi Zalmen Raskin took his Yeshiva Boys School fourth graders fishing prior to Rosh Hashanah. The annual outing teaches students the basics of fishing and provides freshly caught fish to local community members for their Rosh Hashanah tables.

p Yeshiva grandparent Yitzchak Gordon and Rabbi Zalmen Raskin help Shimmie Shkedi with his catch.

p Pittsburgh Shinshinim, Guy and Sivon, introduce Temple David Weiger School students to the Israeli version of Snakes and Ladders. t Aidan Pechersky and beekeeper John Yakim inspect a traveling beehive and discuss the importance of bees.

p Students wait to reel in the big one.

Photos courtesy of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh

History of New Light Congregation shared

p Barry and Brenda Werber attended a Sept. 22 presentation by Eric Lidji, of the Rauh Jewish History Program, on the history of New Light Congregation.

Photo courtesy of Barry Werber

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p Kay Liss and Sylvie Casher taste different kinds of honey in anticipation of a sweet new year.

Photos courtesy of Temple David Weiger School

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 4, 2019 23

Nature’s Basket Fresh Roasting Chicken

SAVE ON YOM KIPPUR

All natural, antibiotic free

2

19 lb.

Prices effective October 4 through October 9, 2019

Empire Kosher Fresh Chicken Leg Quarters

3

29

2/ 7

dietitian pick Organic Red Beets Bunch

$

dietitian pick Yams

lb.

99¢ lb.

KOSHER WINE

Plus all state and local taxes. Not all items and retails available in all areas.

Manischewitz Concord Grape or Blackberry

Bartenura Moscato d’Asti 750 mL

1.5 L

dietitian pick Red Delicious Apples 3 lb. bag

Lipton Kosher Soup Mix

1.9 to 4.3 oz., selected varieties

Sun Maid Pitted or Chopped Dates 8 oz.

2/$7

2/ 5 $

dietitian pick Whole Carrots 2 lb.

Streit’s Matzo

11 oz., selected varieties

Save up to $1.98 on 2

2/ 6 $

2/$4

2

99 ea.

Save up to $1.80 ea.

Rokeach Tin Tumblers 1 ea.,

selected varieties

4/ 3 $

Please visit our stores for additional selections of fine kosher wines

Manischewitz Matzo Ball Soup Mix

4.5 to 5 oz., selected varieties

2/ 5 $

Save up to $2.58 on 2 with your

dietitian pick Manischewitz Fish

24 oz., selected varieties

Save up to $1.76 on 4

7

99 ea.

Save up to $4.00 ea.

MAY YOU HAVE A GOOD AND SWEET YEAR. AND 24

OCTOBER 4, 2019

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Market District Fresh Brisket Flat

USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef

Kedem Grape Juice 64 oz.,

selected varieties

799 lb.

749 ea.

Save up to $1.70 ea.

TOO! PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG