Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 11-1-19

November 1, 2019 | 3 Cheshvan 5780

Candlelighting 5:59 p.m. | Havdalah 6:58 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 44 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Moving forward together

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Headlines Public memorial strikes tone of remembering and repairing together — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

s they did once before, thousands came to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum for a public program bookending one year since last October’s attack. Whether traveling to Oakland represented a chance to remember, to grieve or in some sense move forward, more than 2,000 people gathered again in the historic auditorium for an evening of words and music.

Like last year’s vigil, speeches were delivered, but there was a different tone at this memorial. Absent were the thundering remarks from local and international politicians decrying bigotry and imploring resilience. Replacing them was a poem shared

by Gov. Tom Wolf and readings by Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald. Gone was the assembling of numerous and diverse religious leaders on the 78-foot-wide stage. Rev. Liddy Barlow and Wasi Mohamed represented the Christian and Muslim communities and jointly told an 18th-century story of Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov, who was dialectically taught by a peasant that love is knowing what pains another and bearing the burden of their sorrow. Unlike last year’s event, neither “The Star-Spangled Banner” nor “Hatkiva” were played — instead, Radiant Springs, a Pittsburgh CAPA alumni ensemble, performed two classical instrumental pieces.

As a whole, the program, which included a video that afforded biographical insight into the lives of several of those killed in last year’s attack, was intended to respect “the needs and wishes of those most directly impacted,” said Cindy Snyder of the Center for Victims.

Psalm 23 was recited by Rabbi Elisar Admon

and Malke Frank, representatives of Pittsburgh’s Jewish burial societies. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, intoned “El Maleh Rahamim,” and rabbis Jonathan Perlman and Doris Dyen, of congregations New Light and Dor Hadash, read “Mi Sheberach,” a prayer for healing, and “Birkat HaGomel,” a prayer for surviving a dangerous situation, but the rousing addresses that typified last year’s vigil were largely held to a minimum.

Such tone reflected the victims’ families’ wishes that the day be “non-political” and allow the commemoration to focus “on the lives we lost and the needs of the victims,” said Adam Hertzman, p Thousands came to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum for a public program Jewish Federation of Greater commemorating Oct. 27, 2018.

Photo by Adam Reinherz Pittsburgh’s director of marketing. Prior to the event, Hertzman said 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not Perlman similarly mentioned the press he hoped that “the people who have political want”). Myers said it was through the help after exploring the early biblical stories of interests don’t choose to demonstrate or show of a 50-year-old Rolling Stones lyric that he Cain and Noah. The two narratives of bloodtheir political leanings on that particular day.” came to better understand the aforemen- shed “teach us that bad comes with good, Speaking from the podium, Anne-Marie tioned verse, “I have learned from Mick that evil will always be present in the world Mizel, of Dor Hadash, described the congre- Jagger that I can’t always get what I want, but and it’s our duty to learn the good so we can gation’s roots and noted the collective’s if I try sometimes I find I get what I need.” destroy the evil,” he said. wounding by a gunman’s “act of hatred born Through the help of God, time and again, Listeners should “get moving” on becoming of xenophobia and anti-Semitism.” the past year has provided a pathway to better, implored Perlman, who also offered “Xenophobia is as ancient as humanity. “decry any and all who weaponize H speech,” instructions for media and government. “I Anti-Semitic hatred is also nothing new. It Myers added. “I prefer to focus on a better think that we need to go gently during the has been with us for hundreds of years. It has H word: hope. My hope is born from my second year and understand what trauma not defeated us yet, and it will not defeat us faith that we humans are capable of sublime means and not to re-traumatize the victims now,” said Mizel. achievements and that despite the non-stop and survivors of this event, and to know Myers interjected levity by thanking God bad news that is the only diet that we are fed when a hot story, maybe it needs to be told for the blessing of providing “graciousness” I have chosen a new diet. There are really next week, and just leave us alone so that we and answering a “daily need” for finding the wonderful people doing some incredible can mourn,” he said. “right words” after citing his paradoxical things toiling in anonymity. They are the Please see Memorial, page 32 relationship to the opening line of Psalm people who deserve to be in the news.”

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Headlines ADL’s Greenblatt on combatting anti-Semitism after Oct. 27 — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

J

onathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, recognizes that the massacre at the Tree of Life building last year was not just an attack on the three congregations that shared that space.

“It was attack on the entire Jewish community,” said Greenblatt, who was in town last weekend to stand with Jewish Pittsburgh in marking the one-year commemoration of the anti-Semitic shooting that left 11 dead and several others wounded.

“It’s been a year of mourning,” said Greenblatt. “And now it needs to be a time of mobilization.”

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the United States and elsewhere throughout the world.

In the year since the attack at the Tree of Life building, at least 12 white supremacists have been arrested in the U.S. for their alleged roles in terrorist plots, attacks or threats against the Jewish community, with many of the offenders inspired by prior white supremacist attacks, according to a new ADL report. Additionally, in the last year, there have been at least 50 attacks on the property of Jewish institutions by white supremacists.

Anti-Semitism is nothing new, Greenblatt noted. It has had a continual presence for thousands of years, but in the last 100 years,

anti-Semitic attitudes in America have steadily decreased. Whereas in the early to mid-20th century, Jews often were restricted socially, professionally and in housing and educational opportunities, those barriers have been mostly overcome.

At the start of World War II, roughly 40% of the population harbored anti-Semitic sentiments, but by the 1960s, that had dropped to about 30%, according to Greenblatt.

“Today, the number is roughly 13%,” he said. “The anti-Semitic attitudes have dropped more than half.”

Paradoxically, though, anti-Semitic incidences — which the ADL has been tracking since the 1970s — have been on the rise in the last three years. Those incidences include criminal acts of violence and vandalism, and also “acts of harassment, intimidation, bullying, things that the police wouldn’t pay attention to but we do,” according to Greenblatt.

In 2016, anti-Semitic incidences in the U.S. spiked by 34%, and in 2017, the number jumped 57%.

“That’s the largest single year surge we’ve ever tracked in 40 years,” Greenblatt said..

In 2018, the incidences decreased 5% in overall number, but “acts of harassment were up and acts of violence more than doubled,” he explained. “And the number of victims almost tripled, and that of course includes the attack at Tree of Life.”

Please see Greenblatt, page 24

We stand with you today & always.

Our S&T Bank family continues to send heartfelt thoughts, prayers, and support to our friends and neighbors in Squirrel Hill and the entire Jewish community. We remain dedicated to the communities we serve and the people who make those communities thrive.

Together, let’s remember, repair, and remain #Pittsburghstrong.

p ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and his wife Marjan Keypour Greenblatt at the commemoration program at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall.

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

On the cover: Pittsburgh-born pop artist Burton Morris designed this week’s cover art. Morris originally created the work, “Peace, Love & Judaism,” for his daughter’s preschool a few years prior to the shooting on Oct. 27, 2018. Morris modified the piece for this week’s special issue. He and his wife, Sara, maintain strong ties to the Steel City and its Jewish community. Morris’ parents are Bunny and the late Sonny Morris. Sara’s parents are Nate and Debbie Firestone.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 3

Headlines Pittsburgh Jews protesting Trump arrested — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

S

everal members of the progressive Jewish group Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh were among 14 people arrested on Oct. 23 as they knelt at an off-ramp downtown during the morning commute in protest of President Donald Trump’s visit here.

Trump came to Pittsburgh to speak at an energy conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center later in the day.

Members of Bend the Arc — which also organized a demonstration when Trump visited Pittsburgh following the massacre at the Tree of Life building — felt “compelled by our Jewish values� to protest the president’s presence here, said Sara Stock Mayo, a member of Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh. Her husband, Jonathan Mayo, was one of at least four Pittsburgh Jews arrested on Oct. 23. “We wanted to send a very clear message that this administration’s hateful rhetoric is causing violence,� she told the Chronicle. “And we believe it is partially what caused violence in our own community, and it is what also causes lots of other violence in other communities. We believe we are under a direct assault from this administration. “We feel Jews are being used to weaponize,�

Mayo continued. “They are trying to divide

arrests throughout the day, although seven members of Bend the Arc — most from outside of Pittsburgh — interrupted Trump’s speech at the conference by chanting “Trump endangers Jews.�

Trump responded to the chants by saying: “Don’t hurt them, don’t hurt them please. They don’t know they’re dealing with very tough people in this room.�

He then added: “All right, go home to Mom. Explain to Mom that you tried to take on very powerful people, p Members of Bend the Arc protest Trump’s visit to Pittsburgh. From left: Diane and many of them physically as well as mentally — that’s not a good thing to Lassman, Kate Rothstein,Elinor Nathanson and Simone Rothstein do, not in this room, be careful. Make Photo provided by Sara Stock Mayo sure you don’t hurt them, please.�

Mayo described Trump’s visit to us. We are trying to remain united with other communities and we believe it is actually very Pittsburgh as having turned into a “campaign anti-Semitic to say things like ‘Jews shouldn’t rally,� which she said was bad timing coming be Democrats’ or people are disloyal — dual just days prior to the one-year commemoraloyalty. And the whole thing about people tion of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

The Bend the Arc protestors who being savages. We feel there is a lot of blatant anti-Semitism going on in this administra- disrupted Trump’s speech also condemned tion, but we also wanted to stand in solidarity Trump for holding a campaign rally the with other communities we feel are under night of the massacre. attack. We think it is all coming from the “Our lives were not worth even a pause for same place, which is white nationalism.� him,� the protestors said in a statement. “As Several other peaceful protests were held we remember the deadliest act of anti-Semitic during the day by various groups, including violence in the history of the United States, the umbrella environmental group People we look with clear eyes at what made this Over Petro. There were no additional horrific attack possible: callous politicians

and pundits who use our fear as their weapon to build a country that’s only for themselves. “The gunman who entered the synagogue a year ago was driven by fear and lies to kill Jewish people and stop new immigrants — but he didn’t invent these lies. He heard them from the mouth of this President and the white nationalists this president and his allies have emboldened and enable.�

Mayo noted the “incredible support� that Jews throughout Pittsburgh have given one another this past year, “crossing boundaries between Reform, Conservative, Orthodox.�

She stressed that Bend the Arc is “not trying to divide our community.� “We feel we are speaking out because we are being guided by our Jewish values,� she said. “And we recognize we don’t speak for everyone in the community. We speak for ourselves. I don’t feel like I’m trying to put words in anyone else’s mouth. I respect their right to have their First Amendment rights to say how they feel.

This is how we feel. And this is also coming from a very deeply Jewish place for us. This is spiritual resistance. This is not just us standing up and saying, ‘No, no.’ It’s saying, ‘Not on my watch.’ It’s saying, ‘Never again.’�

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request from the Chronicle for comment.  PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Social/psychological response to massacre to be focus of UPMC conference — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

W

hen social psychologist Jonathan Haidt was growing up in New York, his mother frequently told him that America was the promised land for the Jews.

Despite rising rates of anti-Semitic violence among extremists, he still believes that to be true.

“That has been my experience of it my whole life,” said Haidt, the author of “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” Haidt will be the keynote speaker at a Nov. 5 conference at Rodef Shalom Congregation organized to help mental health professionals and others in understanding what led to the massacre here on Oct. 27, 2018, and what can be done to effect change.

“I would hate for Jews or members of any other group to lose sight of how wonderful this country is for immigrant groups, and Jews in particular,” said Haidt, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, speaking by phone prior to his visit to Pittsburgh. “We should not lose sight

p Jonathan Haidt

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Haidt

of that while also recognizing there has been an increase in attacks by some extremist groups that represent a very fringe element of American society.”

The day-long conference, “Stronger than Hate… Healing the Divide: A Social and Psychological Response to the Tree of Life Shooting,” is sponsored by UPMC along with several community partners, and aims

to provide a research-based foundation for hope, according to Dr. Jon Spiegel, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and one of the organizers of the conference.

Following the massacre at the Tree of Life building last year, members of the community that Spiegel was seeing in a professional capacity, along with many of his friends,

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“were having trouble believing that things could ever get better,” explained Spiegel, a longtime member of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha and Congregation Dor Hadash.

“To go into that place of darkness where there is no hope is really dangerous.”

Spiegel knows that “things feel dark to many of us,” he said. “We know there is violence targeting religious groups, ethnic groups and racial groups. And we know this because we are bombarded by these tragic stories daily. But at the same time it is essential to tell stories of hope because without hope there is no healing. Without hope there is no motivation for change. So my aim of this conference is to provide a well-researched basis for hope and for action.”

Research has shown that the United States is enmeshed in the “biggest partisan divide since the Civil War,” Spiegel said. “And as societal divides increase, violence against minorities increases.”

While these facts are “troubling,” he said, “it is important to know that we as a species are not destined to have endless conflict.”

Haidt, whose research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, will speak on two topics: Societal Divide and the Human Please see UPMC, page 30

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Headlines ‘Look to Pittsburgh’ says HIAS head — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

M

ark Hetfield traveled to Pittsburgh days after last October’s attack. He returned to the Steel City throughout the year. This past weekend, Hetfield, the president and CEO of HIAS came once again from Bethesda, Maryland to demonstrate solidarity with partnering organizations and make clear that hate speech, xenophobia, Islamophobia and other fears are harming the Jewish people and society in general.

During his initial visit to Pittsburgh, Hetfield met with representatives from Jewish Family and Community Services, and congregations Dor Hadash and Temple Sinai.

All three are local partners of HIAS, explained Hetfield.

Whereas JFCS has long aided HIAS in refugee resettlement, the two congregations are members of HIAS’ Welcome Campaign.

As such, representatives of Dor Hadash and Temple Sinai are committed to educating others about refugees, advocating on refugees’ behalves, fundraising to support refugees and aiding local refugees.

More than 400 congregations throughout the country belong to HIAS’ Welcome Campaign, noted Hetfield.

Members of the Welcome Campaign take

p Mark Hetfield

Photo courtesy of HIAS

action in different ways. Shortly before last year’s attack, more than 300 congregations around the country, including Dor Hadash, celebrated HIAS’ first ever Refugee Shabbat.

The event was held nationwide on Oct. 19 and 20, although Dor Hadash marked the event with programming on the weekends of both Oct. 13 and 20, noted Hetfield.

At the time, HIAS was unaware that the Refugee Shabbat celebration “was something that the murderer who invaded the Tree of Life was more of less obsessed with,” said Hetfield.

Coming to terms with last year’s attack was difficult, he noted. Upon arriving in Pittsburgh days later, Hetfield, like others he noticed, was “in a state of shock.”

on November 5th

What he saw in the aftermath of the atrocity, however, lifted his spirits.

Along with physical displays of encouragement, fundraisers and events throughout the city demonstrated solidarity with refugees and the Jewish community.

“Really it kind of restored my faith in humanity,” said Hetfield. “I cry every time I think about the buses that said ‘Pittsburgh Strong’ and the signs of support for the community.”

Seeing such markers throughout Pittsburgh was “wonderful” and it led Hetfield to believe that “maybe we’ve turned a corner.” Returning home, however, proved otherwise, he said. “I got back to Washington and nothing had changed. In fact, the hateful rhetoric that we hear on a regular basis here, including coming out of the White House, has continued to get worse and nothing was done in Washington to confront this hate.”

All the while, atrocities continued to occur in Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Poway and Halle, Germany.

“What I saw in Pittsburgh was really encouraging but things continued to get worse,” said Hetfield. “I really thought that at a minimum, at a minimum, after Pittsburgh, President Trump would stop using the word ‘invader’ to refer to asylum seekers. And not only did that not happen, but he actually continued to use it more often, and he would even use it in speeches he was giving

where he was talking about Pittsburgh,” noted Hetfield. “I just can’t believe that after Pittsburgh that not only did that continue to happen, but he actually accelerated and did it even more often. And now he’s lowered the number of refugees allowed to come into this country to the lowest number in history.”

During fiscal year 2020, the United States plans to admit a maximum of 18,000 refugees, which is 12,000 fewer than the number of refugees admitted during the year ending Sept. 30, 2019 and would be “the lowest number of refugees resettled by the U.S. in a single year since 1980 when Congress created the nation’s refugee resettlement program,” according to Pew Research Center.

Since 1881, when it was founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS has assisted immigration efforts. The organization is one of nine national refugee resettlement agencies that works with the United States government to resettle refugees.

Given this country’s history of welcoming newcomers, Hetfield believes it’s possible to change current trends and behaviors.

“It’s gonna take a lot of work and some courage. The most important thing is we need leadership and we’re not getting it,” he said.

Hetfield is well aware that his comments and visit one year after the attack may be construed as politicizing, however, this is Please see HIAS, page 38

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Headlines ‘Stronger Than Hate’ design resonates in wake of Oct. 27 — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

I think from that link about 2,000 people downloaded it.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 30, Hindes was on the phone with a lawyer from the Pittsburgh Steelers who called with an offer to help and a deal. Hindes would maintain design rights of the image, which relied on parts of the Steelers’ logo, and they would take over merchandising rights.

Once he agreed, Hindes was able to step back and allow the Steelers to police both the image and its use. “They had the power and authority to go after folks that were using it to profit. I know they sent cease and desist letters to those that could not prove they were donating funds to appropriate groups.”

In fact, several retail outlets in the city and online, including some in the Strip District, were told by the team’s lawyers that they

im Hindes is not Jewish. In fact, the first time he was called a mensch, the designer had to look it up.

Hindes is the creator of the “Stronger Than Hate” logo that adorns T-shirts, kippahs, lawn signs, hoodies, buttons and more. It has become synonymous with support for both Pittsburgh and the Jewish community following the shooting at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27. The logo was his reaction to the massacre. Hindes had no special connection to the Jewish people, he simply sketched out something that spoke to him.

“I created it as my own individual sharing of support. After creating it, I shared it to my Facebook page, meant as my own personal Please see Design, page 30 reflection on the tragedy, in support of Pittsburgh, in support of the Jewish community and really just saying we’re better than this.”

At a friend’s urging, Hindes made the post public. “It snowballed from there.”

By Monday, Oct., 29, his design had gone international.

Hindes, who is the CEO of Trailblaze Creative, created a three-question survey for people to answer before being granted access to the image.

They had to agree “not use it for their own personal gain; that all profits would be donated to proper victims’ funds or to anti-hate groups in the city of Pittsburgh or the Pittsburgh region; and to p Local musician Rob Marsili proudly displays a use it for good and not evil. sticker of the logo on his kick drum Photo provided by Rob Marsili

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p The “Stronger Than Hate” logo that adorns T-shirts, kippahs, lawn signs, hoodies, buttons and more. It has become synonymous with support for both Pittsburgh and the Jewish community following the shooting at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27.

Photo by Dave Rullo

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Headlines What Barry saw — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

B

arry Werber came to shul with two rings on his finger. It was a special day. Werber, 77, had yahrzeit for his mother, so he marked the occasion by placing her wedding band above his own.

“On meaningful days like that I try to wear something from all of our families,” he said.

Werber wasn’t a regular on Shabbat mornings. He often came on Sundays, as those services were followed by a breakfast of bagels, eggs and lox prepared by Dan Stein, New Light Congregation’s Men’s Club president.

For Werber, Saturdays were for sleeping in, but he wanted to say kaddish for his mother, Sylvia, so he rose up early and headed toward Squirrel Hill and the Tree of Life building.

Werber grew up attending Congregation B’nai Israel in East Liberty, but about 25 years ago, before the congregation closed, he joined New Light Congregation and became an active member.

He was among those who, on a brisk November 2016 day, accompanied New Light’s Torahs down Denniston Street in a procession marking new beginnings — after occupying the corner of Forbes Avenue and Beechwood Boulevard since 1957, New Light sold its building and became a tenant

p Officer Michael Smidga, left, and Barry Werber, reunite on Feb. 27, 2019.

Smidga and his partner, Officer Dan Mead, were among the first units to arrive at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018.

Photo courtesy of Barry Werber

at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha.

Werber captured the occasion by photographing a beaming Richard Gottfried, the congregation’s religious committee head, and Stein proudly hoisting Torahs in the streets of Squirrel Hill. Once inside the building, Werber photographed New Light Rabbi Jonathan Perlman ceremonially affixing a mezuzah and the smiles of joyous congregants from Tree of Life and Dor Hadash who came to welcome

Saturday, Nov. 2, 7 PM

ON PURPOSE:

Rabbi Deborah Zecher’s One-Woman Cabaret

their new neighbors. Rose Mallinger was there, as were Bernice and Sylvan Simon. Cecil Rosenthal stood in the back near Dan Leger.

Audrey Glickman and Joe Charney were a few tables from Mel Wax, who stood to the side of a singing Rabbi Jeffrey Myers.

Werber took their photographs on his small point-and-shoot camera, edited the images at his Stanton Heights home and sent the pictures to friends, fellow congregants

Tuesday November 12, 2019 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill Branch, Meeting Room B

The Jewish Pro-Life Foundation invites you to attend this inspiring educational opportunity exploring Judaism’s traditional principles regarding unborn life.

We will present a short slideshow followed by Q & A. Bring your curiosity and conversation, but please leave any politics and polemics at the door. Program is free of charge.

Light refreshments will be served. Questions? Call Cecily at 412-758-3269 or email her at cecily@jewishprolifefoundation.org

FREE & OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY. Donations encouraged.

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

REGISTER ONLINE www.TempleSinaiPGH.org.

Our Family at Murray Avenue Kosher Will Forever Remember and Honor Those Lost On October 27, 2018.

Z”L

Joyce Fienberg • Richard Gottfried • Rose Mallinger Jerry Rabinowitz • Cecil Rosenthal • David Rosenthal Bernice Simon • Sylvan Simon • Daniel Stein Melvin Wax • Irving Younger

Murray Avenue Kosher Our Community Is Stronger Together and Stronger Than Hate.

8 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Please see Barry, page 38

Judaism: The Original Pro-Life Religion An Uplifting Educational Program

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

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

and others interested in the congregation.

Doing so was nothing more than helping preserve what he saw: “history,” he said.

Werber emails late into the night, but he is still punctual. He doesn’t operate on “Jewish Standard Time,” he explained, so on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, Werber arrived at the Tree of Life building for services well before the 9:45 a.m. scheduled start.

He made his way downstairs around 9:30 a.m. to New Light’s sanctuary and spotted Cecil Rosenthal, a member of Tree of Life, seated by the front. Near Rosenthal was Wax, a New Light member. Werber prepared himself for Shabbat morning worship. As he donned a tallit and reached for a siddur, he noticed Wax entertaining Rosenthal.

“Mel always was telling jokes, always had a smile on his face,” Werber said. “Cecil was trying to get him to explain his jokes, and Mel couldn’t hear Cecil. And Cecil was looking at him with a blank stare and Mel kept on going with his jokes. Finally, when it got closer to services, Cecil went to their services and Mel got ready to do ours,” said Werber. “That’s when the tumult started.”

After what seemed to be a crashing noise, Werber, Gottfried’s sister Carol Black and Perlman headed toward the sanctuary’s entrance.

This program or event is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

‫המוסד למע� קדושת חיי אדם‬ Saving Jewish Lives Healing Jewish Hearts

www.JewishProLifeFoundation.org The Jewish Pro-Life Foundation is not affiliated with any Jewish denomination, political organization, or the messianic movement.

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Headlines Eleven Pittsburghers in Israel on Oct. 27 found strength in each other — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

S

hortly after hearing the news that 11 Jews in Pittsburgh had been murdered on Oct. 27 by an anti-Semite, 11 Jews from Pittsburgh who were traveling together in Israel headed to the Western Wall.

The trip, organized by the international women’s group Momentum, marked Upper St. Clair resident Kelly Schwimer’s first visit to the Jewish state. Schwimer, along with the other 10 Pittsburghers, was in the Old City in Jerusalem, listening to a presentation from Israeli soldiers, when she began receiving text messages from home that there had been a shooting at a synagogue in Squirrel Hill.

The news, which was spotty at first, was “emotional” and “surreal,” said Schwimer, currently the Chronicle’s sales director.

But she found comfort being in Israel as part of a group in which she had already forged close bonds.

“If there was any place I’d rather be than at home in Pittsburgh with my own community and my own family, I was in the right place,” Schwimer said. “It was almost a gift.

It was meant to be. The 11 of us, together in Israel, where moments after we heard the news, we were able to pray at the Wall.”

The eight-day Momentum trip, which

p Eleven women from Pittsburgh at Masada with their “Terrible Tallis” on Oct. Photo provided by Kelly Schwimer.

28, 2018.

brought the 11 women from Pittsburgh together with hundreds of other women from around the world, began on Oct. 22. The trip, which is highly subsidized, is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Classrooms Without Borders.

“The goal of the trip is to build a cohort of women in Pittsburgh who meet over a

15-month period,” beginning three months prior to the trip, said Emily Richman, the Federation’s director of development operations. Richman staffed the trip along with Chani Altein, co-director of Chabad of Pittsburgh.

Although the women were discouraged to have their cell phones with them on

Shabbat, several who had children at home nonetheless had them on hand on Oct. 27, Richman said.

The texts about the shooting at the Tree of Life building came fast and furious. Because the women were in a learning session, they began “communicating quietly with each other,” Richman recalled.

“One of our participants lives a block from Tree of Life and her husband has a police scanner,” she said. “She was in communication with him, and she was getting as much information as possible. We were all talking to different people at home and getting updates.”

After the learning session concluded, two Israeli women who had been traveling with the group came into the room to formally share the news about the Pittsburgh shooting. Because Shabbat was concluding, a gentleman then led the women in a Havdalah service, at which time Richman and another Pittsburgh participant addressed the group.

“We said we appreciated everyone’s support and we had a moment of silence,” Richman said. “We asked them to pray for everyone. It was very emotional.”

Then the 11 women headed to the Kotel, “and we prayed together,” she said. “I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason and you are where you are at the time because that is where you are meant to be.

Please see Strength, page 30

The Duquesne University Fifth Annual

Kristallnacht Commemoration MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 | 4 TO 6 P.M.

In the blowing

Charles J. Dougherty Ballroom Power Center, 5th Floor 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

of the wind and in the chill of winter,

We Remember Them.

FEATURED KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Colin Shindler

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

“The Road from Kristallnacht: Unlearning the Past” The lecture is free and open to the public.

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

Co-sponsored by Classrooms Without Borders.

Lee & Lisa Oleinick PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 9

Headlines Ongoing fallout of Oct. 27 includes sleeplessness, back pain, headaches — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

I

t’s been a year since the anti-Semitic massacre at the Tree of Life building, but physicians with patients from Squirrel Hill and surrounding neighborhoods are still treating physical symptoms associated with the trauma.

“We’ve had patients with both emotional and physical responses to the Tree of Life shooting,” said Dr. Michael Finikiotis, a primary care physician who treats patients from Squirrel Hill. “We’ve had patients that have had fatigue, insomnia, difficulty with headaches, back pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea, any number of symptoms that are probably anxiety-induced.”

Many of his patients tell him they believe their symptoms are related to the shooting.

“Some can’t identify it, but most of them have a sense that there is a connection,” he said, adding that symptoms “seem to be exacerbated” when news breaks about other mass shootings.

“So, for instance the shooting in El Paso, Please see Fallout, page 31

p Since the massacre on Oct. 27 2018, many community members have suffered from various physical maladies associated with the trauma.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

D JOIN BARI LWEISS IN PITTSBURGH OSE C

NDISCUSSION OF HER BOOK, O I FOR A T A

ST I G E

R

R HOW TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM

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

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

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

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

10 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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CROWN

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First Person ‘Where were you on Oct. 27, 2018’?

— LOCAL —

F

or this commemorative issue, we asked people in the Pittsburgh community to recall where they were when they heard the news about the shooting at the Tree of Life building, and how things have changed from them in the year since. These are their answers, presented in alphabetical order.

Evelyn Aizenstein, Community Day School eighth-grader

I remember when I found out. It was the weekend after my bat mitzvah. I overheard my mom talking with my grandma and I was confused. I heard my mom saying things like, “We are safe.” I also heard the name of my synagogue, Dor Hadash, followed by “I hope everyone is OK.” I was confused. I went to my room and searched “Dor Hadash” on my phone.

I wasn’t expecting anything, but sadly I was wrong. I saw articles labeled “Tree of Life Shooting.” I clicked on one of them. That was the moment I realized what had happened.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There had been a shooting at my synagogue. The same synagogue where I had my bat mitzvah the previous week. This can’t be happening. I walked back downstairs, and sure enough, I saw my family in the living room with the news turned on: “Breaking News: Mass Shooting at Synagogue Tree of Life.” I quietly sat down and silently watched the news in shock and heartache.

I watched as the news changed from three people injured to 11 people murdered and six injured in a matter of minutes. I took out my phone and saw countless notifications.

They all read the same thing: “Are you safe?”

The same message came from my closest friends to people who I haven’t seen in years.

Throughout the entirety of that day, I was unable to comprehend what had happened.

You hear about these things happening on the news, but you never think that they are going to happen where you live. In your place of worship. In your neighborhood.

In this tragic event, all of my friends and family came together. Through this, I learned that during times of hardship, a community is strengthened and brought together.

Levi Altein, eighth-grader, Yeshiva Schools

When the shooting happened I was a few blocks away in the new building, Chabad of Pittsburgh, on Beechwood and Forbes. A good friend came over to our shul and informed us of the shooting. At that time, we didn’t have much security, which frightened us. The best thing we could do was go into lockdown, which is what we did. While in lockdown, we were all thinking about what was happening at the Tree of Life.

I felt very sad when I heard about it.

The Tree of Life incident was very tragic,

not just for the Jewish community, but for the whole world. The “hate crime” was of course done for no reason, except for the fact that we are Jews. The way to fight back hate crime is by spreading love and being prepared for an attack.

The main reason I think the shooting happened was because we are different.

When people act different they are hated.

This doesn’t only happen with Jews, but also with other religions and races. This incident is not the only time the Jews have been discriminated against. Throughout our history there have been many incidents of hatred against us.

Another remarkable point after the shooting is that everyone responded the same way. Everyone was devastated, but still we all helped out in our own way. Everyone in our Pittsburgh community helped. Even people around the country sent us cards and donations to rebuild the Tree of Life.

I think the best way we can stop future attacks is by being prepared with security.

We also need to be a good example on the street when everyone sees us. As Jews, we need to spread the light of Torah and fight back the darkness with light.

Ann Belser, publisher of ‘Print,’ Pittsburgh’s East End weekly newspaper

I used to play Pokémon GO against my teenage son. The Tree of Life synagogue, which had three congregations, was the location of three Poké Stops. My dog even got used to sitting on the steps of the synagogue during his last walk of the night while I “caught” Pokémon.

We last did that on Oct. 26, 2018.

On the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, I was walking the dog before starting a full day of reporting for “Print.” I heard the first five shots and thought it was boxes falling in the UPS truck that had just turned the corner, but the dog tried to pull me away. A man who had been inside the synagogue when the shooting started ran to our house to call 911. He was inside with my family when I got home. He told me there was a shooter. I grabbed my camera and ran toward the synagogue, which is only 400 feet away. I was about halfway there when two police officers yelled for me to get back.

Those first weeks were awful. The television news crews, the police barricades, and the yellow police tape were constant reminders. For months, as the dog and I walked past the synagogue at night, I would get furious that a man thought it was heroic to kill elderly and defenseless people.

Our neighborhood still has the scars.

Though I extricated the last bit of police tape from my hedge in July, there are knitted Stars of David hanging from the utility poles. The lights that were never on at night in the synagogue are lit every night. The building is behind a fence. People are leaving flowers there again.

My anger now is tinged with sorrow. I cry when I am alone and thinking about the shooting, as I am now, writing this for you.

And I still do not play Pokémon GO.

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Katriel Camp, ninth-grader at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

Sirens had been racing up Murray Avenue all morning. In services at Shaare Torah, we were wondering what was going on. When Rabbi Wasserman interrupted the service and grimly told the congregation that there was an active shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, I was shocked. Really? Here in Squirrel Hill?

As the news sunk in, I was consumed by fear. As we did not have cell phones or access to media outlets, the scariest part was that there was so much we didn’t know. Had the shooter been caught? Had anyone been hurt? Were we safe? As services continued, there were more sirens and more announcements. We soon heard that people had been murdered. Everything was surreal.

At that point, my mother stepped out of the service to try to contact my grandparents to tell them we were OK. I trailed after her, not wanting to be separated from her. As she walked down the stairs to find a phone, my grandfather was coming up, looking desperately for us. They ran to each other, crying and embracing. I could see the relief in their eyes.

My grandfather then communicated with other relatives, including my uncle in California, to reassure them that we were OK. We realized that Squirrel Hill must be making national headlines. It was only 8 a.m. in California and our family there had already heard the news.

Now, a year after that virulent act of anti-Semitism, whenever I think about that terrible day, I again hear the constant wailing of sirens. I feel the fear of sitting in shul that morning with only minimal information, and I feel the tearful relief of seeing my grandfather. The safety of my home, our community, was invaded. What happened that day will be with me forever.

Steven Field, Class of 2020, University of Pittsburgh, past president, Panthers for Israel (Hillel JUC)

On Oct. 27, 2018, my girlfriend and I were sitting on the Squirrel Hill 61C bus heading to Pamela’s when my phone started buzzing. I remember looking out the window as we turned onto Murray Avenue and expecting to see people running in the opposite direction of the Tree of Life building, or some sign of panic, something to validate what I felt inside. But there were only regular people going about their Saturday. My girlfriend and I sat on the bus past our stop. We sat tearfully until the end of bus route and took an Uber back to campus in silence.

At the time, I was president of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. I was still texting to make sure my brothers were safe when I began receiving proposals for how we could best heal with our community. We thought of everything: vigils, memorials, public art.

By chance, we already had planned our annual event to bring a Holocaust survivor

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to campus. On Oct, 27, 2018, after an afternoon of mourning, my mindset changed to a need for action.

On Nov. 4, we gathered 350 students at the William Pitt Union to hear survivor Shulamit Bastacky speak. Planning the survivor event consumed all my energy, and my fraternity brothers had similar experiences. Hillel JUC gave us resources and centralized the campus Jewish community, which we simultaneously sought to help heal and receive healing from.

On Nov. 10, 2019, Ms. Bastacky is coming back to Pitt’s campus. This annual event has been our most important event since its inception in 2016, before Tree of Life. It is still our most important event, though the tone has changed. Of course we still plan this for the campus community, but since Tree of Life, we plan it for ourselves, too.

Corey O’Connor, member of Pittsburgh City Council

As I was about to leave my home Saturday morning to attend an event, I received a phone call that there was something “very bad” going on at Tree of Life Synagogue.

I called the city’s public safety director, who told me there was an active shooter there and I immediately headed toward the site.

When I arrived, I saw that Public Safety had set up a “command center” at Murray Avenue off Wilkins. It was there that state and suburban SWAT teams gathered and the place for the mayor, chief executive and other elected officials to be briefed as information became available.

The overarching fear that first consumed me was a family issue. I have several young cousins who live one block behind Tree of Life. Because they are observant, they neither carry nor use cell phones on Shabbat and so would have no way of knowing what was happening literally in their back yard.

Their walk to services each Shabbat follows a path that would have placed them close to the scene. With no way to warn them, I was terribly afraid for their safety.

My bigger reaction was one of shock and horror. While I was aware that anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry are ever present and seemingly growing, I still couldn’t believe that it had hit home in such a horrific and violent way. I find that one year later, I still feel much the same. Knowing that 11 good people, some of whom I knew, were murdered on the corner of Wilkins and Shady because they were Jewish is difficult to process. However, the outpouring of support from the Jewish community here and around the country, the entire Squirrel Hill neighborhood and our non-Jewish friends and neighbors has shown me that we have the capacity to stay strong and move forward.

Please see Where, page 12

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 11

First Person Where: Continued from page 11

Rabbi Yisroel Smith, 5-12 boys assistant principal, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

Never forgetting the past—standing with you in hope for the future

I was in Cleveland for my niece’s bat mitzvah when my brother-in-law pulled me aside to tell me that there had been a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. This was terrifying for me because my 12-year-old son had stayed in Pittsburgh for his friend’s bar mitzvah. He told me it was at Tree of Life but, at the time, I couldn’t place where exactly that was until a non-Jewish friend who was there looked up the address on his phone. The friend continued to give us updates as they came in. Right after Shabbos, after we found out my son was OK, my phone exploded with texts, emails and phone calls from close friends to casual acquaintances checking in to see if we were OK. We got back to Pittsburgh just in time for the unity gathering at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. As we had rushed over and didn’t imagine it would be that full, my wife and I didn’t bring a coat or umbrella and we found ourselves standing in the rain. A woman saw us getting wet and she gave us her umbrella. It was a small gesture but it was meaningful to see people doing whatever they could to show that they empathized with our pain.

Since the shooting, I am both fearful of the renewed resurgence of violent anti-Semitism, while at the same time, grateful for the show of love and unity expressed by the larger Pittsburgh and world community.

I am a grandchild of Holocaust survivors who maintained their faith despite having lost parents, siblings and children. I continue to be guided by the same trust that they had that, no matter how bad things seem, Hashem loves us and will always do what is best for us.

Jeffrey Solomon, chairman and CEO, Cowen Inc.

I returned to my home in Larchmont, New York, from getting my Saturday morning coffee when the call came from my mother. I picked up the phone to say hello and immediately got a second call from my daughter who was calling me from Emma Kaufmann Camp. When I asked my mom to hold on, she said, “Wait! She is calling you to tell you that there is an active shooter at the Tree of Life. Dad and I are OK. We are out of town.”

In that moment, the world changed.

My wife, Linda, is also a Pittsburgh native.

We spent the rest of the day together at home waiting for news. Waiting for the names that we knew would come. Like so many of us who live in the Pittsburgh Jewish Diaspora,

we both remain closely connected to the community that birthed and raised us. For me, Tree of Life is the place where I first learned what it means to a Jew. It is where I became a bar mitzvah. We sobbed uncontrollably when we got word.

The next day, we accompanied a contingent from the UJA Federation of New York to the vigil at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. Joined by our families, in a state of deep pain, we marveled at the outpouring of support from the greater Pittsburgh community. And the healing began.

Over the past year, I have spoken about the events of Oct. 27 all over the world. I have told many people about the specialness that is the Tree of Life, that is Squirrel Hill, that is Pittsburgh in the hopes of connecting them in a more personal way to the tragedy. And I have taken comfort in the grace extended to me by so many. More importantly, I work hard every day to do something good — something deliberately positive — in the memory of those who perished.

Erika Strassburger, member of Pittsburgh City Council

I was attending a gathering two blocks away on Shady Avenue, preparing to knock on doors for a political candidate. The event began at 10 a.m., and on my way, I noticed that a police vehicle was blocking a portion of Shady. As the councilperson for the area I made note of that and was just about to check with our police commander to see if there was a downed tree limb or perhaps a disabled traffic signal, when one of the hosts of the gathering said to me, “Erika, I think you should know, there are reports of an active shooter at Tree of Life.”

Within minutes, I was fielding calls from The New York Times, doing my best to update them on the situation even as I was struggling to find information myself. I was four months pregnant at the time, and while I knew I needed to keep myself safe, I felt a strong desire to get onto the scene and to help in any way I could, and I quickly joined others who had gathered in the staging area awaiting news.

Over the next several months, I did my very best to represent the district, Squirrel Hill and Pittsburgh in what felt like nonstop media interviews. I attended vigils and gatherings, and checked in with constituents I was concerned about — and yet I felt I was not doing enough. It took me a while to process my own feelings. The grief from that day washes over me at unexpected moments, more often now that the one-year remembrance is approaching.

Today I oscillate between two main feelings: concern and sadness for those most immediately affected and Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, and heart-bursting pride at the way Squirrel Hill and the city came together for their neighbors. PJC

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 12 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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First Person Keep showing up

By Rev. Liddy Barlow

N

o one wants to excel at planning interfaith memorial vigils.

We’d all rather that there was no need for them.

And yet, in the past year, my colleagues and I have honed that skill to a fine art. We know who to call to get the planning started.

We can suggest songs and scripture readings from any and all of our different traditions. We know how to find candles to light, baskets to collect an offering, people to hand out bulletins. We can send press releases, craft gentle welcomes and offer fierce calls to action. We don’t want to do any of it, but we know now just how it’s done.

That’s not a new skill for our community, of course; we didn’t start from scratch last October. Our interfaith community had lamented together before, after the shootings at Mother Emmanuel in Charleston and at Pulse in Orlando, to name just a couple examples. Through these earlier vigils, other collaborative projects and even the occasional celebration, we forged the relationships that allowed us to respond so quickly one year ago, and with such genuine caring for each other.

However, the response to the 10/27 shootings was on a new scale. This time, the vigils lasted for weeks: not just the

the depressing mundanity big ones at Soldiers & Sailors of shared grief. It’s easy to Memorial Hall & Museum and Point State Park, but dozens of echo the cry of the Psalmist: smaller services too, hosted by “How long, O Lord?”

And yet, in the midst of this churches, synagogues, mosques grim repetition, I see a sign of and temples across the region. hope.

Its source is simple: We Again and again we gathered, keep on stubbornly showing spoke aloud our common up.

We keep on exercising commitment to compassion the muscles of mutual care, and respect, lit candles and strengthening our ability to remembered the dead. love one another.

We keep There is a kind of unreasonable hope, a magical thinking, on imagining a better world, that each vigil might be the last: one that reflects more closely God’s dream of wholeness that violence might actually end, and peace. The grief we share that something will shift inside p Rev. Liddy Barlow in these public gatherings is human nature so that we will no Photo courtesy of longer need to gather this way.

Liddy Barlow evidence of our unbroken shared humanity. Our lament But of course, that’s not how it works. Just 10 days after 11 people died in the knits us together. It’s our love for neighbor and shooting in Pittsburgh, 12 more were killed stranger that leaks from our bodies, absorbed by gunfire in Thousand Oaks, California. by the tissues we’re so eager to share.

There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, about Anti-Semitic incidents, other hate crimes and violence in houses of worship have the 20th century pacifist and pastor A. J. Muste. continued, too. There seems to be no end to (I learned that Jewish author Elie Wiesel tells the need to keep vigil. a similar story about a Just Man’s visit to So we keep on. In the past year, we’ve Sodom and Gomorrah.) It’s said that, during gathered for Christchurch. For Poway. For the Vietnam War, when he was in his 80s, Sri Lanka. The same faces, the same flick- Rev. Muste came to the sidewalk outside the ering lights, the same scripture passages, the White House each evening, and stood there same songs. It’s easy to get discouraged by for an hour, holding a single lit candle. After

many days, a police officer approached him.

“All you’re doing is standing there,” he said.

“Do you really think you’re going to change the world that way?” Rev. Muste replied, “I’m not doing this to change the world. I’m here so that the world does not change me.”

That’s why we gather, over and over, each time a grave act of evil harms our neighbors. Our vigils, however moving and well-organized, are unlikely to change the world. But they are our way of insisting that that violence and bigotry do not get the last word. Despite all who would do harm, we will continue in our kindness, our mercy and our justice-seeking. Just as our scriptures affirm, and as our T-shirts and lawn signs proclaim, love is stronger than hate.

Last year, at Soldiers & Sailors, I spoke about the biblical tree of life. I imagine that tree taking root among us each time we host a community vigil. I imagine each healing leaf of that tree shining in the light of our candles, and the wind in her branches echoing back our prayers and songs. We will gather underneath that tree as often as we need to, again and again and again: Like a tree standing by the waters, we will not be moved. PJC The Rev. Liddy Barlow serves as executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania.

Fight for a compassionate world

By Donna Coufal

W

e cannot go back to who we were. We are more ourselves than ever. That is the paradox of the past year for Congregation Dor Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation deeply rooted in tradition while exploring new ways of being Jewish. Our congregants are Jews by birth or by choice; single or families; we include people of different races, places of birth, sexual orientations and gender identities; and we live in households that are of the same or different faiths. We have been privileged to count among our members such moral and humane examples as Jerry Rabinowitz (z”l), Dan Leger and our longtime cantor, Cheryl Klein. They and many others have shared their unique Jewish selves and have set examples of lives worth living.

Founded in 1963, we are a lay-led congregation that mostly met in people’s homes. As we grew and became aware of the need for accessibility, our school and congregation became increasingly centered in the buildings where we rented space. We kept our costs down, raising our children in a spirited, stimulating and caring community.

When the shooting happened we were in a state of shock. We first protected the privacy of our injured and survivors. The day after the shooting we gathered at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Never could we have anticipated the number of past and present members who came to support one another.

We clung together in both disbelief and pain.

The anti-Semitism that had been brewing and bubbling up had killed one member

and severely injured another. that we weren’t going back We could no longer think of to a familiar place anytime mass shootings as events that soon. Our college students happened to other people. We and young adults who were could no longer stand up for on their own for the first time our moral value of welcoming did not have the commuthe stranger without the nity to lean on. Everyone fear that we were putting around them went about ourselves in harm’s way. their business, the world Thankfully we were not was normal for everyone alone. First responders rushed else, but not for them. Their into a building, sacrificing isolation was palpable. their own well- being to save In the meantime, we knew our lives. The JCC opened its our cantor was stepping down doors and provided a caring and our school principal was place for families waiting to p Donna Coufal retiring. What would have Photo courtesy of hear the fate of their loved been enormous but anticiDonna Coufal ones. We have received help pated internal changes were from the Jewish Federation of Greater folded into new problems — increased Pittsburgh, Jewish Family and Community security needs, adjusting to a new home and Services, Rodef Shalom Congregation, figuring out how to respond to the trauma Pittsburgh’s leadership, and new and old we had suffered. friends in Squirrel Hill. Pittsburgh’s Muslim Our High Holiday services were remarkable. and Christian communities reached out and Our service leaders inspired us, talks by our lay touched us deeply. We have been embraced members were profound; singing and praying by the Reconstructionist movement, and together in a new space, in new circumstances, by communities who experienced mass only strengthened our desire to be together. shootings — Parkland and the AME Church We miss our old ways, our old places, but we in Charleston. embrace all that has been given to us and we Within days, we found the resolve to stand recognize ourselves as a thriving community. up to the hatred and violence that confronted Our voice is the most powerful part of us. We refused to put our heads in the sand. our healing. It is our hope of sparking some We spoke out against white supremacy, racism good in this very fractured world. We cannot and anti-immigration. We developed a strong go back to what we were, a small commuorganization that works to end gun violence. nity outside the Jewish mainstream. Our We pleaded against the death penalty. voice, in response to the circumstances we We worried about our children, some of were thrust into, has become a model for whom could not sleep, others perplexed progressive Jewish values.

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We notice our edginess, that small slights get under our skin. That we are not at peace.

We miss Jerry and cannot bring him back. No one can convince us that the world will ever feel as safe, as kind or as stable. In spite of the outpouring of love, the hate is not shrinking, and we cannot let the haters destroy our beautiful world. We cannot turn a blind eye to the greed and the indifference to human life, to the destruction of our planet. This was not a random act but part of a systemic failure that has been in the works for a long time.

The mass shootings, acts of anti-Semitism and the hatred and fear of immigrants and people of color have only increased in the past year. We resist the inflammatory language of white supremacists embraced by our political leaders and we continue to fight for a just, compassionate and safe world. It’s hard to remember the before, when we did not feel the threat to our existence as imminent.

Sometimes we want to run and hide, but we continue to help one another build our strength and resolve for the long haul. Our work is intrinsic to our identity, but we do not want to be defined by what has happened to us.

We at Dor Hadash are extremely fortunate to have a community, something sorely lacking as people become more isolated from one another. We remember to sing together, to talk together, to understand how Jewish we really are — that the values that have helped us maintain our compassion and strength are rooted in our Jewishness, something many of us have never fully owned until now. PJC Donna Coufal is the president of Dor Hadash Congregation.

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 13

First Person Kindness and community

By Danielle Kranjec

F

or the past year, I have been thinking about what it means to live the values of hesed and kehillah, kindness and community, in Jewish life on campus. In previous years, I have often felt that tzedek, or justice, was the most resonant value for students on the campuses served by Hillel Jewish University Center. However, since Oct. 27, 2018, there has been a shift in the lens through which we view our work.

Immediately following the attack, our Jewish students held all the range of emotions one can probably imagine. The vast majority of them had never been inside the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha building and had never prayed with any of the three congregations so cruelly torn apart that day. Yet in many ways the students, as did so many Jewish people around our city and country, felt that they themselves were under attack.

They wanted to help, but did not know how. They wanted to mourn, but did not know how. They wanted to be seen, as Jews, on campus, but they did not really even know what that meant. They wanted to stand in solidarity with the broader Jewish community, but in many cases did not have the personal connections or experiences to make that happen. Expressing hesed and kehillah, both internally on campus and as a bridge to Squirrel Hill, has provided a way

p Danielle Kranjec

File photo

for students to embrace their identities as Jewish adults, and to come into ownership with a positive connection to their tradition.

To give you a glimpse into the lives of our students, and their longing to do hesed and be in kehillah, let me share a story: On Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, I headed to Hillel JUC around 10 p.m. As I made my

way to the third floor of our building, I was overwhelmed by the smell of freshly baked challah filling the building.

I found a small group of student leaders boxing the last of hundreds upon hundreds of loaves of challah.

That night nearly 300 student volunteers — Jewish and non-Jewish — had come together to braid and bake, resulting in 575 loaves of fresh, warm, kosher bread.

By the time I arrived, only the student leaders remained to finish the counting, boxing up and sending out a physical representation of connection to our Jewish tradition, an edible symbol of what it means to do kindness for someone by feeding both physically and spiritually. Having themselves experienced a few hours of comfort in community, in the presence of those with shared values and a shared vision to do good in the world, they wanted to then pass that moment of connection with families who might use the challah at their Shabbat table.

The love that those loaves represented proved to be one of the most powerful, tangible and deeply Jewish responses that we helped to create at Hillel JUC. One of our most active, student-led groups is our Challah for Hunger group, which bakes challah weekly, does anti-hunger advocacy work, and sells their challah loaves with all proceeds donated to anti-hunger nonprofits. In the immediate wake of the

attack, the student president at the time, Emma Shapiro, posted a Google sheet and asked people to sponsor a loaf of challah for “a family in Squirrel Hill” and organized an event much larger than the weekly baking, calling it “Braiding Together Against Hate.”

She shared with me, “Our first response among all the student leaders was that we have a platform and we wanted to do something to help. We immediately did our best to combine the quantitative stuff like money and fundraising with something so qualitative like the love of spreading challah ... we truly baked a difference.”

My experience of helping to deliver hundreds of loaves of challah baked by our students for the community has shown me that the most healing way for Jewish students to respond to Jewish tragedy is through deeply Jewish action. Positive action, rooted in the ancient values of our people and the universal values that humanity shares, has the power for transformation. Symbolic actions on their own can feel good in the moment, but the symbolic power of challah goes beyond and becomes the embodiment of the thing itself: in this case, kindness, community and a connection uniting our campus community to those in Squirrel Hill. PJC Danielle Kranjec is Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh.

“Community is the human expression of Divine love.”

—Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

To the Dor Hadash community I am blessed to call home: For your trust in my leadership and unwavering support throughout the past year For your strength, courage and fortitude in the face of unspeakable horror For the immeasurable acts of kindness you show within and beyond our precious community, and For all you do to make this world a better place, My gratitude and love.

May the community go from strength to strength.

Ellen Surloff

14 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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First Person Joy and sorrow

By Rabbi Jeremy Markiz and Dr. Elana Neshkes

O

n Oct. 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, we got married, and though surrounded by family and friends, our hearts were at once filled with joy and sorrow.

Our journey began the week before the shooting, when Beth Shalom hosted Refugee Shabbat with HIAS along with our aufruf.

We felt that it was fitting to share our joy by showing our values. We would spend the following week holding on to this with pride.

On October 27, we woke to the news of the shooting in our neighborhood. Jeremy remembers being woken up by his father and later standing in the hotel lobby, watching neighbors and community members on the news. Elana remembers her friends asking if she was OK and knowing that her friends were preparing for victims in the emergency department. We continued to our local synagogue that morning, for our Los Angeles aufruf. It just felt right.

That morning was a blur, slowly working through the shock of what had happened, with no real information. Elana’s sister offered some important wisdom — that we should see our emotional state like the image of the coin — one side containing sadness and the other, joy. This was an important symbol for Elana, a touchpoint throughout the whole weekend.

We received hundreds of text and

online messages of support from people all over. It meant so much to us to feel the support of everyone.

Over the course of Shabbat, we struggled over the question, how are we going to celebrate our wedding with this hanging over us?

What are we even allowed to feel? Despite our sadness, we made a commitment: this is our wedding and we needed to be able to celebrate.

In the Talmud, it teaches, “One reroutes the funeral procession to yield before the wedding procession.” This lesson, to be taught by our rabbis before the wedding procession, became our mantra. This gave us the permission we needed to have our day.

We began getting ready on our wedding day, keeping our phones and the news at bay, allowing the celebrations to be our sole focus. We decided that all Pittsburgh related talk could wait until at least Monday. What else could we do?

And we did have our day, allowing the celebration of the life we were building together to be our focus. We sang, we danced and we got married.

When we came to the airport on Tuesday, we reoriented and prepared for our return.

Our conversation turned to, how can we serve our community? What did they need and what could we do?

We knew it was important to come back to our Pittsburgh community ready. It was powerful to recognize how much we needed them and

ROAD RUNNER PLUMBING

p Dr. Elana Neshkes and Rabbi Jeremy Markiz

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Markiz

two weeks straight, keeping me propped up so that I could help others. She was helping everyone, running around the city, supporting whoever needed it. I remember thinking, this is not how I wanted to begin married life, but that this kind of love and support was a powerful way to start.”

We had the opportunity to share a number of sheva berachot with friends, but one stands out in particular.

On the Shabbat after the Shooting, in the presence of hundreds, a few of our beloved community members at Beth Shalom organized a sheva berachah after kiddush. As we began to chant the seven blessings as a part of the Birkat Hamazon, amongst the tears, we could feel the change. The weight on our shoulders began to lift, our hearts started to rise, and just as with our voices, so too with our bodies. Elana and a few of the other women present began to dance.

Circling round and round, singing louder and louder. After a few minutes, dozens of us had joined them, dancing and singing.

Together we brought to life what it says in the Psalms, “You turned my mourning into dancing, my sackcloth into robes of joy.”

And now, as we celebrate our first anniversary, we hold the impossible again, joy and sorrow. PJC

that they needed us. We heard, time and time again, that the happiness of our wedding was a light in the darkness. On Wednesday, our first day back in Pittsburgh, we started our day at morning minyan. Jeremy remembers standing and offering hugs to funeral attendees as they left Beth Shalom. It was a powerful and strange experience to be wished mazel tov amongst the sorrow. Jeremy felt that it was his duty to be present and to serve.

Elana remembers, “Jeremy was constantly working to provide people a sense of consistency, safety, and the message to take care of themselves and others. He used whatever means he could to reach people, broadly and one-on-one. Jeremy went on overdrive, working with trauma experts and the Rabbi Jeremy Markiz is director of Derekh Beth Shalom staff.” and Youth Tefillah at Congregation Beth JCJeremy Opn S remembers, Sound Bar_Eartique 12:29 Page 1 Elana Neshkes is a resident at UPMC. “Elana5/14/19 was there, forAM Shalom.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 15

First Person Build collective power

By Sara Stock Mayo

T

he collective grief and its aftermath of Oct. 27, 2018, has changed all of our lives, but it is also a story about survival, resilience and building strength and capacity among allies and knowing that for me, it is the only way to have hope.

There are two parts of this story for me.

The first part is about proximity to grief — I live a block and a half from Tree of Life and for 10 days, the three-block radius around my house was an active crime scene. I didn’t personally know the victims, but knew of them and had various connections to them.

I was not directly in mourning. The enormity of what my neighbors who had lost loved ones were going through was a weight upon my heart. The senseless cruelty of it all is something we all have to grapple with, but the direct pain was not mine to bear.

Much of the first week after is a blur to me now. I wanted to sing, I wanted to hug children and teens, I felt strong and clear and just a bit numb. I marched and led song as a part of the Bend the Arc action held to both come together with the larger Pittsburgh community, Jewish and non-, to pour out our love, anger and disbelief at both the heinous act and at governmental leadership that refused to call out the ideological white supremacy that motivated the shooter and so

many others like him. I wanted to honor that we can all play multiple roles in the community and that some involve comforting and dealing with the immediate aftermath and some involve using our voices in bold ways to speak out about our Jewish values, which dictate that we do not stand idly by while our neighbors bleed. This time, it was our literal neighbors and I knew I could not remain silent.

I felt strong in my resolve and didn’t really have time to cry until the service that Rodman Street Baptist Temple held for Congregation New Light. The congregation’s ability to hold space for the shaken community is something I will never forget. It was not lost on me that I was standing among people who had lost loved ones to daily gun violence who literally held their arms out to people falling into them sobbing. I shouldn’t have looked up when I sang because I began to cry as well and could barely finish the song. Three angelic voices from within the congregation belonging to the daughters of Rabbi Jonathan Perlman and Beth Kissileff helped me finish the song, all the while smiling up at me. The whole experience was humbling and profound.

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p Sara Stock Mayo

others to join us for Shabbat. Those things are important and must continue, but for me the goal is to be both deeply rooted in our wonderfully diverse Jewish community and continuing to meet with other communities in our city in order to build collective power. As a member of Bend the Arc, I have been blessed this past year to be a part of that building. With anti-Semitism

Sara Stock Mayo is a member of Bend the Arc Pittsburgh, and a spiritual leader.

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rising worldwide, we are all rightfully scared. I have found comfort and strength in knowing that pain is being seen by others and at the same time, bearing witness to their pain and feel that I can and must do both things simultaneously. We are working to build the kind of Pittsburgh and the kind of world we all want to raise our children in.

When I think of that time, a year later, I feel much the same way I did then. I see reporters descending on Wilkins and Shady Avenues, I see new signs for the commemorations replacing the old “Stronger than Hate” File photo signs from a year ago, I protested downtown once again asking our president to call out hate speech and violent acts stemming from white nationalism. But it is also another beautiful fall day with the leaves starting to reach peak colors. It is another day we are all still standing here and declaring: Never again. PJC

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First Person Reflections one year later

By Rabbi Jeffrey Myers

T

o reflect means that we call upon a body of prior experiences to guide us in our assessment. For the Jewish community of the United States, we have no prior experience that can provide sufficient history for proper reflection of what happened to us on Oct. 27, 2018. What we do possess is a treasury of responses following that horrible day. It is likely that persons or events may be overlooked in my meager attempt to reflect upon the worst massacre to befall the American Jewish community in its 355-year history. The oversights are mine alone, and I humbly apologize to any who might be offended. Memory is not always a friend.

The world responded in ways that I could never have anticipated. Clergy and people of all faiths reached out not merely to sympathize, but to share in their own disbelief and grief. Friends and strangers alike descended upon Pittsburgh during the week of funerals, fulfilling the mitzvah of nichum aveilim, comforting mourners, and performing what my new friend Pastor Eric Manning of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, modeled — “a ministry of presence” — just by being there. I quickly learned that an attack upon Jews praying in a synagogue on their Sabbath was not only an attack upon

p Rabbi Jeffrey Myers

the world Jewish community, but it was an attack upon all people of faith. Not only were we consistently embraced in a worldwide hug, but the vast humanity on this planet strenuously rejected the inhumanity of the perpetrator, reassuring us that this does not represent them.

The nonstop letters, cards, emails and gifts that we received were incredible. In the immediate aftermath, we were overwhelmed emotionally, as we were with the sheer volume of communications received.

It is likely that warm wishes and gifts may have been overlooked or misplaced, and I

hope that you can forgive us for any unintended slights or failures. It truly made me wonder if it is possible to receive too much love. Despite our lack of organization, the outpouring of support knows no bounds. We can never truly find the right words to say, “thank you,” as these two words seem insufficient, but they will have to do for now. Thank you.

The residents of Greater Pittsburgh demonstrated Photo by Mike Weiss to the world that people can live together in peace with mutual respect, and that they must. While we certainly have much work ahead to do, people from all faiths, colors and sexual orientations resoundingly affirmed their common humanity with us, and continue to do so one year later. I find this so reassuring at a time when we can use all the reassurances that we can get.

Still, the rise in “H speech” throughout our nation, indeed throughout the world, makes us wonder what happened to civility.

The intentions of the founders of the United States were quite noble. It is we, their inheritors, who have much work to do if we want

to achieve their lofty goals in this experiment called democracy.

I have come to learn the stories of fellow citizens that I knew not: stories of inequality, racism, bigotry and pure “H.” I can see how easy it may be to journey to the dark side, sometimes unintentionally, by those of us who should know better. The problems of our society can only be addressed when we know what it is like to walk a mile in our fellow’s shoes. To add to this, it is true that we do not really know our neighbors. We remain cloistered in our own silos, rarely venturing out to learn who is living in a nearby silo. Only when we know our neighbors can we use our commonalities to work for the betterment of society.

It can be easy to surrender to the dark forces, as the mind-numbing torrent of bad news anesthetizes us to the realities we face. I have come to appreciate a far more important four-letter H word: hope. I not only continue to hope for a better world, but I am trying to find avenues to do so. I refuse to give up on humanity, and thus I have hope. God has guided me well so far, and I feel God’s reassuring embrace every day. Psalm 27 concludes with the following: “Hope in God. Strengthen your heart, and hope in God.” Hope. PJC Rabbi Jeffrey Myers is the rabbi of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation.

Just Like Pittsburgh…

Hadassah is about compassion, healing, and life.

Today, and every day, Hadassah is proud to be part of this remarkable and resilient community.

Remember. Repair. Together.

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60 Revere Drive, Suite 800, Northbrook, IL 60062 847.205.1900 | midwest@hadassah.org | hadassah.org/midwest ©2019 Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. Hadassah, the H logo, and Hadassah the Power of Women Who Do are registered trademarks of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 17

First Person How we’ve grown

By Rabbi Jonathan Perlman

I

have been the rabbi of the New Light Congregation in Pittsburgh for nine years. This year, at Kol Nidre services on Yom Kippur, I preached about calm.

Our congregation is part of a maelstrom going around the world right now of anger and extremism. Last year, we and our fellow Jews at the Tree of Life building were the targets of one man’s anger. Now, it is time for us to calm down.

Trauma is a wound you carry with you forever. Unlike grief, which can go through predictable steps and leave the psyche, trauma has stickiness to it. It makes a home in the mind; it can damage the spirit. It sends reactive impulses throughout the nervous system.

Whenever a car backfires on the street, I feel it in my bones. For some, they hear a piercing sound and run. Action movies are no longer entertaining. Talk of the “massacre” can break a mood. People take circuitous routes around town to avoid bad memories. Others swear that they will not enter the Tree of Life building ever again.

If one would ask the question, “Where are we today?” I would say that we are in a state of repressed shock. People constantly ask me how I am doing, and I just shake my head. I know they mean well, but the wound is still fresh, and I just don’t want to talk about it.

I would say that is true for many of our

We never thought it could happen here in America, and yet it did.

I am heartened by the overwhelming amount of positive sentiment coming our way; donations, letters, art, tokens of love and hope arrive daily from all over the world. In our city, whose citizens registered the attack through tears and sorrow, there were multiple positive responses that cannot be counted. Pittsburgh is a p Rabbi Jonathan Perlman Photo by Joshua Franzos city of champions. I have never felt so grateful for the members at New Light. I have persuaded support we received internally from our own many of our members and their children to Jewish Federation, JFCS, and Congregation begin psychotherapy. I think a large number Beth Shalom, and externally from the Office of members have sought out the services of the Mayor and City Council, from our of Jewish Family and Community Services sports teams, from businesses, small and and the Center for Victims, even those large, to schools and to all our neighbors who have lived a lifetime and never needed in the five county area that stood with us at the services of a trained therapist before. I rallies and vigils. wonder how many Pittsburghers are still But there is still more work to be done. The talking in the rooms of sensitive therapists U.S. Justice Department blundered twice in to mitigate their own traumas and cope with the last month: It rejected a guilty plea from their own worries. the shooter who started this horror, insisting The fear that something frightening could on a trial planned a year from now. And it happen is a repeating curse that Jews see in has scheduled the trial four days before their own “lachrymose history,” as scholar Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days in Salo Baron put it in the early 20th century. the Jewish year.

This trial will certainly re-traumatize the sensitive among us and bring back the journalistic circus that will increase our pain.

On the plus side, New Light has enjoyed a year of members stepping up to continue the rich traditions of our synagogue. We started a Hebrew reading program. New members have learned how to read the cantillation from the Books of the Prophets. Adult education classes are fuller than ever. The Board is engaging in important existential questions about our future.

There are those who are engaged in memorialization and others who look for opportunities to bring joy and calm though musical events and suppers. I was very delighted to see Leigh Stein, daughter of our beloved Dan Stein, throw the first pitch to her brother Joey at a recent Pirates game.

Their father coached them for years at baseball and softball games.

There is something about living in the moment and tuning out the noise, the honking, the cursing, the finger pointing and drama that descended on our brave little city.

We are not a big metropolis that thrives on that kind of caustic energy. Pittsburgh is different.

We discover mindfulness in our daily prayers, marking Shabbat and finding inspiration in our Torah. That is what our martyrs did. We are following their example. PJC Rabbi Jonathan Perlman is the rabbi of New Light Congregation in Pittsburgh.

Despair displaced by determination

By Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld

W

hen I was invited to reflect on the past year, I had to relive those terrible days. Even after 12 months, how do you comprehend something so incomprehensible? How do you comfort those who cannot feel consoled? How do you embrace the present and future in the face of an unbearable past?

As someone who has lived in Squirrel Hill for over 40 years and who personally knew some of the kadoshim, the questions kept coming. There were no simple answers back then, and no easy answers today. However, certain ideas and actions have resonated with such force that their effect, and their truth, cannot be denied. Permit me to share some of these ideas.

What happened in Pittsburgh was felt throughout the world. Jews and non-Jews.

Men, women and children. Religious and non-religious alike. We were deeply hurt, and emotionally crushed by violent hatred against innocent, well-meaning people whose only “crime” was attending services on Shabbat.

Almost all who were touched were not paralyzed by grief, as much as they were motivated by it. They came by the thousands day and night. In some cases, they drove hundreds of miles just to spend a few minutes in prayer outside the building or to leave flowers at the makeshift memorial, a memorial that grew 18 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

and grew until it covered the Israelis of all stripes were area in front of the synagogue. shocked. Many of them had They performed myriads lost relatives at the hands of good deeds and acts of of the Nazis. Their memokindness. It was a tsunami ries were still raw and now of compassion that stretched this. Anxiously, these Jews around the world and turned to the Lubavitcher reached the heights of Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem heaven. Jewish men donned Mendel Schneerson for tefillin in their merit and comfort. The Rebbe did memory. Communities not let them down. learned mishnayos, In a telegram, the sections of Oral Law, in the Rebbe wrote, “Behemshech memory and merit of these habinyan tinacheimu — By fallen heroes. Charitable p Rabbi Yisroel your continued building File photo funds were established to Rosenfeld will you be comforted.” So it carry on the noble deeds was. Despair was displaced of the departed. by determination. The community began to I am proud to say that movement that rebuild spiritually by rebuilding physically. united people 12 months ago has not abated.

So it is today. The funerals, the bitter weeks It has not weakened. Locally, nationally and of mourning, the tears have mostly dried. In globally, it has become a force for good. Evil their place, one can feel a sense of resolve. “By has met its match. building will you be comforted.” Building new This is not the first time that inno- relationships between people, between orgacent Jews have been struck down as they nizations, between communities. These walls prepared to raise their voices to their are stronger than those that can be pierced by Creator. Sadly, a similar event occurred bullets. It is my personal hope and expectain 1956, not in Pittsburgh but in the tion that they will last longer, as well.

Israeli village of Kfar Chabad. A band of Yet another point must be made; one that Arab fedayeen attacked the local voca- seems so counterintuitive that, if it wasn’t tional school, killing five children and made by the Rebbe, it could be easy to reject. one teacher and wounding 10 more chil- Speaking at an assembly of Chassidim gathdren while they were engrossed in prayer. ered to mark the day of passing of the Rebbe’s PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe remarked, “Every year, a yahrtzeit brings renewed vitality.”

Renewed vitality to those who passed away? Yes, according to Jewish tradition, the souls of the departed ascend to higher and higher levels of spirituality when their lives on this world are remembered and commemorated appropriately. How much more is this true of those who passed away al kiddush Hashem! So we come to the ultimate reconciliation — those who are no longer in this world are being bolstered by all the good deeds they performed in their lifetimes, by all the kind acts and positive resolutions performed by tens of thousands of Jewish people around the world, by the organizations and efforts that have come as a result of the unspeakable tragedy that befell them, and finally by the Comfort that only the Creator can provide.

Twelve months have passed and the world continues, but it is no longer the same. As long as we continue to carry the positive messages of their lives in our thoughts, words and deeds, we will ensure their lives were not lost in vain.

At the same time, we will hasten the coming of Moshiach when we will all be reunited with our loved ones. May it be speedily in our days. PJC Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld is the dean of Yeshiva Schools and Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh.

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First Person Where do we go from here?

By Rabbi Danny Schiff

W

e forget that the Torah actually ends in tears. Moses dies, leaving the people bereft. They grieve his loss deeply. And what the children of Israel do next is quintessentially Jewish: Still emotionally fragile, the community brings its mourning to an end. It is time, they resolve, to move forward.

They would always recall Moses. Without him, nothing would be the same. A precious part of them was gone.

But the point had come to set their sights on fulfilling the goal that had been at the core of Moses’ life: to reach the promised land. No sooner does the Torah conclude than God instructs them to prepare to cross the Jordan. Notwithstanding the fact that their world had been completely upended, God reassures them that they are neither weak nor vulnerable: “chazak v’ematz” — “be strong and of good courage,” God emphasizes as they advance.

So it has been throughout Jewish history.

Repeatedly pummeled by savage blows that ought to have pulverized the Jewish spirit and left us a lifeless husk, we have never given in to despair. How to explain this remarkable reality?

Simple: We know who we are, and we know what we are here to do. No generation of Jews has ever allowed shattering losses — no matter how horrendous — to deter us from our goals.

A year has passed since that life-changing October Shabbat of searing sirens, devastating pain, and agonizing loss — a year since a murderer stalked our streets declaring that “all Jews must die.” We will never forget that day or the weeks and months that followed.

Together, we buried our beloved dead.

United, we held each other and mourned. As best we could, we bound up the wounds. We pledged that we would remember all of it.

Now, a year on, we ask: Where do we go from here?

There are some who would have us focus our agenda on anti-Semitism. And, there can be no doubt that anti-Semitism must be watched diligently. But here’s the truth: Anti-Semitism will never be extinguished. It is a perennial symptom of society’s maladies. At some level it will be with us until the Messiah arrives.

And here’s the other truth: Vanquishing anti-Semitism is primarily the task of non-Jews, not Jews. Historically, Jews have had little impact on curbing anti-Semitism.

Healthy societies expunge anti-Semitism from their midst. While Jews have a part to play, we are not central.

Anti-Semitism need not, should not and must not be our primary preoccupation.

Monitoring and countering anti-Semitism is not Judaism. In fact, the opposite is the case: Making anti-Semitism a significant feature of our Jewish functioning grants anti-Semites a victory by turning us away from our

own vision of the world and toward theirs.

There are some who urge that security ought to be our paramount concern. And, after the events of last year, who could deny that personnel, systems and training are indispensable? No responsible Jewish leadership can ignore its duties in this area.

Nevertheless, just as regular citizens are not expected to guard the borders or manage troop levels, most Jews do not need to put security on their individual task lists.

Thankfully, we are blessed with an extraordinary cadre of professionals and leaders who are charged with the work of responding to anti-Semitism and ensuring the security of our community and its institutions. They deserve our full support.

If, though, we want the Jewishness that we cherish to be preserved and to flourish, we — you and I — have a different job to do. This job is more important, and a higher priority, than addressing anti-Semitism and ensuring competent security. And it is achievable.

Let me be very specific about what that job is: We need to be able to teach Judaism to our children; we need to be role models for the type of Judaism that we seek to preserve; we need to be able to speak about why it is that continuing Judaism is so important, and to act accordingly. I do not mean that we need rabbis and teachers to be able to do this. I mean that we each need to be capable personally.

Consider this: If we do not do this job,

then, sooner or later, the security guards will have no one left to protect and the anti-Semites will revel in our weakness.

This much seems certain: No physical monument or p Rabbi Danny Schiff File photo memorial that we might build for those we lost last year will ever be as significant a tribute as our personal commitment to devote ourselves to perpetuating a vibrant Judaism — the very Judaism that meant so much to them.

Where do we go from here? Our texts show us the path: Mourning ends, and we move forward; not tentatively and not fearfully, but resolutely and proudly. Our goal is clear: to be exemplary bearers of a powerful tradition that has the capacity to transform lives and even civilization itself. Never forgetting our losses, we pledge ourselves to carry on the work of those who went before us in the same way that our ancestors did — chazak v’ematz, with unwavering strength and good courage. PJC Rabbi Dr. Danny Schiff is the Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the founder and president of MOJI, the Museum of Jewish Ideas.

An unprecedented year

By Brian Schreiber

I

distinctly remember two phone calls my wife and I received shortly before 10 a.m. that day. “Are you in shul? The street is blocked by police cars,” the congregant inquired. We replied that we were out of town and not at synagogue. A minute later the phone rang again. It was Sam Schachner, president of Tree of Life, who informed us of an active shooter situation in the building and that people were beginning to head toward Shady and Wilkins. I quickly replied, “Tell them to go the JCC. We’ll figure it out from there.” We immediately returned to Squirrel Hill.

Such was the beginning of an unprecedented year of response, through experiencing wide ranging emotions, learning, healing, resiliency and other attributes too numerous to mention. This has been a year like no other as we continue moving forward in unfamiliar territory.

The aftermath of Oct. 27, 2018, continues to be the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and often the last thing on my mind when I go to bed. My waking moments are defined by an ongoing journey of collaboration to create a playbook not yet written for our neighborhood, our city and both the local and American Jewish communities.

That emerging playbook integrates how we regain a new normalcy and comprehensively support individual response to trauma with an unshakable resolve to safeguard the vitality of our community and a determination to ensure that good can come from evil.

I have been privileged to I find myself with less anger and past year and wholeheartedly believe in our participate in a planning more openness to reflection. I mission and core values along with the true process convened each week am more comfortable grappling partnership of lay leadership who are always for nearly a year through with questions than quickly with us every step of the way.

I am blessed to work and live in a commuthe U.S. Attorney’s Office to coming up with answers. I feel a support our community’s deeper sense of gratitude for the nity I love and a neighborhood that so often response and the establishpeople and community around embraces the values that are near and dear ment of a new resiliency center, me and more open to hearing to me of all races, faiths and backgrounds.

I am grateful to often be in the company the 10.27 Healing Partnership. opposing points of view. There I value the tireless efforts continue to be triggers every of my spiritual advisor, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, of multiple stakeholders, day that I must acknowledge and in admiration of his ability to speak to p Brian Schreiber including the JCC, Jewish as I learn to accept “life on life’s his beliefs on a national stage while directing File photo Federation, Jewish Family & terms” through uncertainty and the day-to-day rabbinic responsibilities of Community Services, Center our shul with as pure a sense of emunah vulnerability. for Victims and congregations Dor Hadash, I have deep gratitude for the many bless- shlemah as I have experienced.

New Light and Tree of Life and others who ings in my life.

Finally, I am blessed to have personally have worked painstakingly through previI am blessed to have a wonderful and known and am now learning to better know ously unchartered waters and will continue supportive family around me, all of whom the 11 beautiful souls taken from us last to do so for years to come. acknowledge that the impact of 10/27 will year. Their lives and deeds are an indelible Midway through the year, we were joined always be with us, but will not let it define part of my being and their personal sacriby three victims/survivors most directly us. I am saddened that my two children have fice a charge that I and the rest of us can impacted by the aftermath of 10/27. Each been displaced from their place of worship always do better. PJC moment with them touches the depths of my and forced to grow up and face some difficult soul and rekindles my determination to keep realities far sooner than they should.

Brian Schreiber is president and CEO of moving forward. I cherish the time to be in I am grateful to lead a workforce of the Jewish Community Center of Greater their company and recognize that my own committed and caring professionals at the Pittsburgh, a member of Tree of Life congrepain pales in comparison to what they live JCC who rose to every challenge over the gation and a Squirrel Hill resident. through each day. Hosting our new friends from Parkland/Coral Springs, Florida, supported my belief that we can bring people May we never forget the lives of the loved ones who we lost. closer together through relationships and We will remember them always. shared experiences. We cannot fix what is broken, but we can help support the future May they rest in peace. we aspire to create.

While my own level of observance has not Leslie Spiegel changed over these past 12 months, my inner Randi and Ellis Weinstein connection to my spiritual self has deepened.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 19

Commemoration Oct. 27, 2019, one year later

p Rachel Felver, of Annapolis, Maryland, wrote wishes for healing outside the Tree of Life building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Daejanae Hipps, right, and Latrell Brimage of Greater Love Ministries brought flowers to the Tree of Life building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

t Words matter.

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

p State Rep. Dan Frankel joins volunteers on Oct. 27, 2019 at Friendship Circle.

Photo by Jim Busis

u Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Josh Sayles, left, speaks with ADL’s CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt and his wife Marjan Keypour Greenblatt at Rodef Shalom Congregation.

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

u A card for first responders

p Outside Tree of Life building

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Outside Tree of Life building Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

20 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

p People came to the Tree of Life building to write messages and draw pictures with chalk. Photo by Adam Reinherz

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Commemoration

Remembering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum

p Pitt athletes before procession into Soldiers & Sailors.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick p Crowds gathered for public memorial well before doors opened

Photo by Jim Busis

p American Red Cross volunteers provided tissues.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

p Rabbis Jeffrey Myers, Jonathan Perlman and Doris Dyen at the commemoration event.

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

p Mayor Bill Peduto, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Gov. Tom Wolf

Photo by Joshua Franzos

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p Loved ones lit 11 candles.

Photo by Joshua Franzos

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p Dan Leger, second from left, was injured in last year’s attack and stood with family members during prayer for those who survived danger.

Photo by Joshua Franzos

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 21

Commemoration Repairing through community service

p Ruth U., a Holocaust survivor, came from Chicago to Pittsburgh to write thank you notes to those who supported Jewish Pittsburgh after the massacre.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

p Volunteers cleaned Beth Abraham Cemetery.

Photo by Mindy Shreve

p Volunteers at Family House University Place made comfort food for families supporting hospitalized patients far from home.

Photo by Elan Mizrahi

p At Achieva, volunteers painted rocks for use in stress relief.

Photo by Elan Mizrahi

p Hillel Goldberg writes a thank you card at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Volunteers at Squirrel Hill Food Pantry packaged items into boxes for delivery to clients.

Photo by David Bachman

p Jewish Community and Family Services volunteers made blankets for refugees resettled.

Photo by Jim Busis

22 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

p Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, decorates a cookie at Center for Victims

Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

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p Debbie Graver donates blood at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.

Photo by Jim Busis

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Commemoration Coming together

p Pittsburgh teens participated in a memorial havdalah ceremony on Oct. 26, 2019 at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Photo by Marissa Tait p Bishop David Zubik addresses crowd at Catholic Charities United by Love walk.

Photo by Bill Cone

p Members of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh showed support at Tree of Life building

Photo by Shelly Schapiro

p Rabbi David Sandmel, ADL director of interreligious engagement, led a study session at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Photo by Sean Carroll/ADL

p Rabbi Daniel Yolkut, center, of Congregation Poale Zedeck, and others participate in Maariv, the evening prayer service, outside Soldiers & Sailors.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh students Reuven Kanal, left, and Benji Marcus encouraged people to adopt one of 11 mitzvot.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

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p Anthony Fienberg, son of Joyce Fienberg, led Mincha, the afternoon prayer service, outside the Tree of Life building.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 23

Headlines Local groups mark year of legislative inaction — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

R

epresentatives of Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh, CeaseFirePA and local leaders gathered in Shadyside then again downtown on Oct. 24 to decry legislative inaction pertaining to gun violence.

“I’m angry that it has been a year since my synagogue was attacked by a man with assault style weapons who murdered 11 of my fellow congregants. And then in the bloody year since our tragedy, there has been gun massacre after gun massacre: 369 mass shootings since Tree of Life,” said Dana Kellerman, Squirrel Hill Stands’ policy director and executive board member of Congregation Dor Hadash.

“There have been 81 people murdered by guns in Allegheny County so far this year.

Since last Oct. 27, there has been gun suicide after gun suicide. Suicide constitutes almost two-thirds of gun deaths, largely preventable to us, which cut across every community.”

“In this past year, Congress and our state legislature have done absolutely nothing to make us safer. Nothing that strengthens background checks. No extreme risk orders to temporarily take away guns from dangerous people. Nothing on assault weapons, and nothing on high capacity magazines. This despite knowing full well that the overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians support stronger gun laws, and despite knowing full well that stronger gun laws save lives,” added Kellerman.

“In my view, we must find a way to get guns away from those who are clearly a danger

Greenblatt: Continued from page 3

Greenblatt attributes the surge in anti-Semitic activity to several, interrelated factors, including an environment of anxiety fueled by a charged political climate exacerbated by economic insecurity.

“When people are on edge, they are more prone to conspiracy theories, they are more prone to believe conspiracy theories, they are more susceptible to stereotypes and they are more apt to believe in scapegoats,” said Greenblatt. “Like it or not, this set of circumstances is often that which creates a real space for anti-Semitism because Jews are the ultimate plotters in these conspiracy theories, the scapegoats, the easy to go to stereotypes.”

Xenophobic rhetoric in the public square fuels the climate.

“In this environment, extremists are feeling emboldened,” he said. “When their talking points are showing up on the Twitter feed of our president, when their rhetoric is being repeated by pundits on cable news shows, they feel emboldened. How do we know they’re feeling emboldened? Because the ADL’s Center on Extremism tracks extremists (including on both public and private internet platforms), and literally they are saying, ‘We 24 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

p Rob Conroy of CeaseFirePA speaks at the Oct. 24 event. Photo by Adam Reinherz

to themselves or others,” echoed state Sen. Wayne Fontana. “We are days away from the one-year anniversary of the tragic, senseless Tree of Life shooting. It’s imperative that we continue to fight this fight.”

In February 2019, Fontana introduced legislation, Senate Bill 293, that would grant family members and law enforcement the ability to “petition a court to temporarily suspend an individual’s access to firearms if there is documented evidence that an individual is threatening harm to themselves or others.”

“In nearly half of all mass shootings, including the one here in Squirrel Hill, the killer verbally expressed hateful threats and views aimed at harming people. There’s too many hate views. Certainly too much hate talk, and unfortunately those hate views and hate talk turn into hate actions, usually with guns in today’s world, and now in our city,” said Fontana.

“A bullet has no respect of person: black,

white, red, yellow, gay, straight, gentile, Jew, rich or poor,” said Rev. Glenn Grayson, of Wesley Center AME Zion Church.

On Oct. 17, 2010, Grayson’s son was shot and killed at a post-homecoming party at California University of Pennsylvania.

“It was Oct. 17 for me and Oct. 27 for many who are here. May we collectively work together to stand, to rally, to pray, until real change comes,” said Grayson. “We pause. We remember the victims and demand stronger gun laws. That’s why we’re here today.”

Rob Conroy, CeaseFirePA’s organizing director, noted that although he wasn’t close with anyone murdered at the Tree of Life building, he is still shaken by the event a year later.

“I can’t speculate on how those closer to the victims or to that community are feeling, but I am definitely in a position to say one thing that I believe absolutely needs to be said: There is one thing that enabled that shooter

“ When people are on edge, they are more prone to conspiracy theories, they are more susceptible to

”

stereotypes.

— JONATHAN GREENBLATT, ADL CEO & NATIONAL DIRECTOR feel emboldened.’ That’s what they write.”

The prevalence of opportunities for haters to congregate and encourage one another on social media is also largely to blame, said Greenblatt.

“There are 24/7 rallies online. With just a few clicks you can literally find what was previously unspeakable. Social media has become a breeding ground for bigotry. Some of these businesses, like Facebook have taken some steps. They have. YouTube has adopted some important measures, but they need to do much, much more.”

That’s why, in 2017, the ADL launched a Center for Technology and Society in Silicon Valley through which it collaborates

with large social media companies, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, which are on “the front line in fighting hate,” he said.

In addition to reforming social media, anti-Semitism can be allayed with the help of law enforcement, which Greenblatt urges to sharpen its focus on “identifying and interrupting extremists, whether they are white supremacists, whether they are leftwing radicals that do harm, whether they are political Islamists that want to murder Jews, all of it is trouble.”

While the ADL continues to be “deeply concerned about the delegitimization of Israel,” currently, the more deadly threats

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to transform himself from a fulminating hate-filled man on his Facebook into a mass murderer, and that’s easy access to guns and ammunition that none of our founding fathers could ever have fathomed,” said Conroy.

On the afternoon of the 24th, dozens gathered at the North Shore Riverfront Park to recognize those lost in last October’s attack.

Participants held signs with the words “In Memoriam” and “One year and no action.”

Organizers arranged 11 empty chairs.

“This event was a way for our community to honor the victims of guns and demand action to prevent more tragedies,” said Lydia McShane, a Greenfield resident and Squirrel Hill Stands member, in a statement. “Commonsense gun violence prevention legislation saves lives. We need our leaders to be working every day to make sure no more lives are lost to gun violence that legislation could prevent.”

Kellerman noted several factors played into the event’s timing.

“We wanted to do a commemorative event because it will be one year this weekend, and the weekend has a huge amount of programming, and we wanted to be respectful of all the families and not in any way politicize the tragedy during that weekend. And we ran into Sukkot and Simchat Torah at the other end, which only left us two days,” she said.

“It is very meaningful for me as a member of Congregation Dor Hadash to recognize the victims, but also to recognize that it has been a year with no action, and I think it is also a meaningful time in which legislators feel a bit more pressure to do something on something like a commemorative one year marker.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

are coming from white supremacists, Greenblatt stressed.

“Last year there were 50 extremist-related murders, 49 of which were committed by what you would call right-wing extremists,” he said. “It isn’t to say that left-wing radicalism isn’t a problem; it is. It isn’t to say we aren’t deeply concerned about the delegitimization of Israel; we are. It’s just if we are trying to understand the size and scope of the problem, these aren’t the people who are literally shooting Jews in Germany and San Diego.”

Everyone, Greenblatt said, has a responsibility to stand up against bigotry and prejudice wherever it appears.

“Leaders need to lead,” he said. “Whether you are the president of the United States or the president of a university or the president of the local school board. I think people need to step up and speak out when they see prejudice in the public conversation or when you see it show up in a private place. When it happens across the Thanksgiving table or in the locker room or at the water cooler or in the quad on campus. People in positions of authority need to stamp out stereotypes, but I also think we as private citizens have a role to play, too.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

Submissions will also be included in print.

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

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, NOV. 1 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for Shabbat Dinner and Game Night. This is the first in a new series presented by YAD and is supported by OneTable. The evening begins at 8 p.m. Register at jewishpgh.org/event/ yad-game-night-shabbat-dinner for more information and event location. q SATURDAYS, NOV. 2; DEC. 7 Join Lauri Lang, RDN LDN Concierge Wellness LLC for a Holistic Nutrition and Wellness Series, which will contain the following elements under umbrella themes: interactive lecture with Q&A; featured item for sampling and discussion; guided meditation and/or breathwork (pranayama).

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

The Dor Hadash Adult Education Committee presents The Jewish Music of Leonard Bernstein presented by Flavio Chamis.

Throughout his entire composing career, Leonard Bernstein steadily produced numerous Jewish inspired works. His connection with Israel started before the foundation of the state.

Chamis was a friend of Bernstein’s, having worked for him as a conducting assistant on several occasions. Chamis will share some of the exclusive personal recordings and mementos collected during the years of their friendship. The free event begins at 3 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation.

How can parents help kids stay healthy and get the help they need? Attend Raising Resilient Teens and enjoy an informal discussion among world-class experts in adolescent mental health. Parents, grandparents, caregivers, educators and teens are welcome. There will be time for audience questions at the end. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation; Jewish Family & Community Services; 10.27 Healing Partnership; Hillel Academy; Community Day School; Yeshiva Schools; The Friendship Circle and The Second Floor at the JCC. The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh. Visit jhf.org for more information.

Enjoy a night with friends, popcorn and fun when Rodef Shalom Sisterhood Movie Night Presents: Hester Street, starring Carol Kane. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments are provided. No RSVP required. Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org

q MONDAY, NOV. 4 Jack Mostow presents “RoboTutor: $1 Million Finalist in the Global Learning XPRIZE competition” at First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. All First Monday events begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m., $6. To RSVP, call 412-561-1168.

Barry Rudel presents “A Look Back” reflecting on the Johnston Jewish community and downtown business district at Gallery on Gazebo (140 Gazebo Place, Johnston, PA 15901) at 7 p.m. The gallery exhibit includes presentation boards from Johnston’s Beth Sholom Congregation. Free. For more information, visit galleryongazebo.org. q TUESDAY, NOV. 5 Stronger Together... Healing the Divide: A Social and Psychological Response to the Tree of Life Shooting will provide a psychological and social response to our recent communal tragedy. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jonathan Haidt. Dr. Haidt’s research into moral foundations theory demonstrates how the roots of societal divide reside in the human psyche. The conference takes place at Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Levy Hall, 4905 Fifth Ave. beginning at 8:30 a.m. For a full description, visit upmc.asapconnected.com/CourseDetail. aspx?CourseId=208541.

Join Congregation Beth Shalom for Lunch and Learn at Beth Shalom beginning at noon. Egalitarianism has become part of the core of the Conservative movement, but where did it come from? This year, we will be exploring the Jewish legal basis of egalitarianism through responsa literature and halakhic sources. To register and order lunch, visit bethshalom.org/events-upcoming. bethshalompgh.org/lunchandlearn. q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6 David Finegold joins Rodef Shalom Congregation to discuss “The Changing Higher Education Landscape: The Next Chapter in Chatham’s 150-Year Journey,” a conversation about the University’s efforts to create a larger and more attractive community for Jewish students. Finegold has more than 30 years of experience in higher education. In March 2016, he was appointed the 19th president of Chatham University.

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

Seating is limited. RSVP by calling 412-6216566 or at rodefshalom.org/rsvp. q WEDNESDAYS, NOV. 6, 13, 20, 27 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 the 10.27 Healing Partnership (second floor of the Squirrel Hill JCC, 5738 Forbes Ave., at 4 p.m.

“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 THURSDAY, NOV. 7 The Mediation Council of Western PA

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presents Conflict Resolution Day on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Levinson Hall (5738 Forbes Ave). The event will honor the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh and Brian Schreiber, 2019 Conflict Resolution Day joint recipients, for their actions of healing and reconciliation following the Oct. 27 shootings. www.mediationcouncilpa.org/ conflict-resolution-day q SATURDAY, NOV. 9 Join Congregation Beth Shalom as they celebrate the accomplishments of valued volunteers during the 2019 Volunteer Awards Brunch at 10 a.m. in the Samuel and Minnie Hyman Ballroom. Call 412-421-2288 for more information.

Temple Ohav Shalom hosts The Bible Players in honor of the 50th year of the congregation. The event is open to the entire community. The event begins with havdalah and dessert and then continue with an exciting and hilarious Jewish-infused comedy and improv show. Tickets are $18.

The show begins at 7 p.m. at Temple Ohav Shalom, 8400 Thompson Run Road. Visit templeohavshalom.org/artsweekend.html.

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 SUNDAY, NOV. 10 The Jewish Women’s League of Pittsburgh invites you to attend “Transitions: Choosing the Next Level with Mrs. Aliza Bulow.”

Bulow is an author, educator and mentor to Jewish women around the world. She is the founding director of CORE. Bulow speaks at Shaare Torah social hall, 2319 Murray Ave. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. $36 per person, payable at the door. q SUNDAY, NOV. 10 & MONDAY, NOV. 11 In commemoration of the shooting at the Tree of Life building, Classrooms Without Borders is organizing a conference titled Antisemitism, Hate and Social Responsibility, to take place at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave., from 1-5 p.m. The conference will feature lectures by renowned scholars and workshops that will equip teachers to educate and inspire their students to identify and combat hate, anti-Semitism and racism. This conference is geared toward academia, educators, spiritual leaders, students, and members of the community. Please contact daniel@classroomswithoutborders. org for more information or visit classroomswithoutborders.org/events/ show.php?229. q TUESDAY, NOV. 12 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

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will be served. Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill branch, meeting room B, 1 p.m. q TUESDAYS, NOV. 12-DEC. 17; SUNDAYS, NOV. 17-DEC. 22 Mined from the teachings of the Torah and contemporary psychology, Worrier to Warrior: Jewish secrets to feeling good however you feel, a six-week Rohr Jewish Learning Institute course, takes a fresh approach to the battle against bad feelings, providing realistic spiritual mechanisms for remaining upbeat no matter what life brings.

Offered Tuesday evenings starting Nov. 12 from 7:30-9 p.m. at the South Hills JCC, 345 Kane Blvd or Sunday mornings starting Nov. 17, 10:15-11:30 a.m. at Chabad of the South Hills, 1701 McFarland Road. For more information, call 412-344-2424 or rabbi@ chabadsh.com. q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh to kick off the 2020 Community Campaign. This Is Us will celebrate the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Featuring an interview with chef Kevin Sousa (Superior Motors) and Chef Michael Solomonov (Zahav) about all things Israeli food and Jewish Pittsburgh. This Is Us takes place from 5:30-8 p.m. at Rivers Casino. To learn more, visit jewishpgh.org/event/this-is-us-2. q FRIDAY, NOV. 15 & SATURDAY, NOV. 16 Kulam: Pittsburgh Community Beit Midrash welcomes Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies’ Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield for Shabbat meals and classes on Nov. 15 and 16 at the Jewish Community Center. Rabbi Hirschfield will be teaching two sessions, a Shabbat dinner session: “The Conflict Between Truth and Peace: What Do We Do When We are Committed to Two Values That Are Sometimes Irreconcilable?”

(6:30 p.m. on Nov. 15), and a Shabbat lunch session “Levinas and Radical Responsibility: What Could Jewish Community Model for Humanity?” (1 p.m. on Nov. 16). Childcare will be available for both sessions. Suggested donation: $15 per person/$36 family maximum. jfedpgh.org/donate/foundation q SUNDAY, NOV. 17 Women of Rodef Shalom and the Rodef Shalom Caring Committee present “Marijuana and Your Health.” Learn about the distinction between CBD and THC, by-products of the marijuana plant. These products are being promoted to relieve chronic pain, anxiety, inflammation, and more. Does the research bear out the effectiveness of these products? Breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m. The program starts at 10 a.m. at Rodef Shalom (4905 Fifth Ave.) RSVP to Carol Leaman at CHLOTR@aol. com by Nov. 11. 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. PJC

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 25

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The Taj Mahal is Western PA’s finest Indian restaurant. Its numerous awards, designations, recognition (by no less than the Indian Embassy and delegation) and sheer volume of business, both in the restaurant and through its renowned catering, is evidence for that fact. They have also been featured in numerous cooking exhibitions, taste testings and even on television. From their incredible lunch buffet (served 7 days a week), to their dinner specialities and their exquisite classic catered weddings (oftentimes for more than a 1,000 guests), the Taj Mahal’s reputation and legacy has grown to incredible heights. So whether it’s lunch, dinner or a catered event, the Taj Mahal stands ready to serve you.

26 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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Headlines The history of three congregations — in three documents — HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

T

he second Jewish congregation in a city is usually more intriguing than the first. We know why the first started: there wasn’t one, and there needed to be one. The motivations of the second are a bit knottier. What new thing were they trying to create, and why?

A lot of Jews disparage this tendency to subdivide, dismissing it as a sign of perpetual Jewish dissatisfaction. But not all dissatisfaction is bad. Dissatisfaction, after all, is among the leading symptoms of idealism — the belief that things can always be better.

Some subdivisions even allow for deeper unity. A community with many congregations is really no different than 50 individual states each claiming a shared national identity.

As we approach one year since the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives has created an exhibit celebrating this Jewish tendency to subdivide.

The exhibit, called “Three Congregations,” uses nearly 100 documents and photographs from the archive to bring to life the three congregations that were worshipping inside the synagogue that awful morning: Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, New Light and Dor Hadash.

The exhibit is not a homework assignment.

It contains few names or dates. It instead asks an essential question about these congregations. What qualities did each one bring to the Jewish community of Pittsburgh? Or, put another way: Why was each one necessary?

Being an archive, we always start by listening. We listen to the things each congregation created as it went about its normal affairs. Here is what three of those things have to say.

The charter of Tree of Life

The frequently told origin story of Tree of Life is denominational: Rodef Shalom became Reform, and Tree of Life broke away to retain its Orthodoxy. While true, this telling is anchored to present-day biases. By assuming that their Reform was our Reform, and their Orthodoxy was our Orthodoxy, it overlooks the most interesting aspects of the split.

Tree of Life was founded in June 1864, following six tumultuous months within the small Jewish community of Pittsburgh.

The American Reform leader Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise of Cincinnati had come to town in December 1863, during the final days of Chanukah, to convince Rodef Shalom to adopt new practices. He gave four speeches over three days—“probably more than one should deliver,” he later acknowledged — and left with well-deserved optimism. On Jan. 3, 1864, Rodef Shalom made its first reform. It switched prayer books, trading its Minhag Ashkenaz for Wise’s new creation: Minhag America.

A group of traditionalists at Rodef Shalom soon broke away to form Tree of Life. But this new group also abandoned Minhag Ashkenaz. Its charter, adopted in 1865, called for Minhag Poland, a related but distinct mode of worship. The change suggests discontents beyond the growing

p Confirmation class of Tree of Life Congregation, 1900. (Back row, left to right) Etta Markovitz Berman, Harry Alter, Rachel Reinwasser Cosky, Mark Kaskell Solomon. (Front row) unidentified.

Image courtesy Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives

divide over adapting traditional Judaism to America’s freedoms.

The Jewish community of Pittsburgh in the 1850s had been relatively simple — a segment of Germans and a segment of Poseners perennially bickered. Things got complicated in the 1860s. The breakaway group behind Tree of Life was largely Posener, but it also included Lithuanians and a few Germans and Dutch — united by concerns over reforms.

Like most alliances built upon mutual opposition, Tree of Life was impactful and unstable. The Lithuanian faction soon broke away to form what is now Beth Hamedrash Hagadol-Beth Jacob. They returned to Minhag Ashkenaz as their standard of prayer.

After the split, Tree of Life shifted. It had been created to anchor one end of the spectrum of Jewish observance. Now it balanced in the center. It held that middle ground for a century, helping to establish Conservative Judaism not only locally but also nationally.

Its move to Oakland in 1906 put it at the geographic center of a Jewish community spread between the Hill District and the East End. The vestry room at Tree of Life became a popular meeting place for Jewish groups, like the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, that wanted to transcend the religious and class differences separating those neighborhoods.

With its move to Squirrel Hill in 1952, Tree of Life found new opportunities for bridging communal divides. Before Rodef Shalom offered b’nai mitzvot in 1966, many of its families also joined Tree of Life for a time so that their children could perform the ritual.

A newspaper clipping about New Light

A charter is usually the best way to learn about the ambitions of a new congregation, but the 1909 charter of New Light congregation only tells half its story. To properly understand the spirit of the congregation, you need to start at the midpoint of its history.

A Pittsburgh Press article from Nov. 8, 1955, describes a congregation in limbo. New Light had just sold its Roberts Street synagogue in the Hill District to a Baptist church and would soon begin meeting at a home in

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Squirrel Hill. It had donated two of its Torah scrolls to the new Parkway Jewish Center in Monroeville and moved its remaining possessions into storage at Kneseth Israel on Negley Avenue in East Liberty. It had been without a religious school for at least 15 years and without a rabbi for about four years.

New Light still counted five original members who had attended the dedication of its Robert Street synagogue in 1903, back Name: Sam Surloff Width: 5.0415 in Depth: 6.75 in Color: Black Los Angeles Ad Number: 7773_1

when the congregation was known by its earlier name Ohel Jacob. These five men were remnants of a once-large Romanian settlement on the Hill. But the days of ethnically oriented Jewish congregations in the city were over.

The article casually mentions a remarkable statistic. Over the previous year, New Light had gained 75 new members, “mainly the children of the founders and others through the years who actively participated in the congregation.” A change seemed to be underway.

Within a few years, the change was complete. New Light bought a house at the corner of Beechwood and Forbes to use as its synagogue. It adopted new bylaws, written in English, rather than the Yiddish used for the original. It switched its denominational affiliation from Orthodox to Conservative. It started a Sisterhood and a Men’s Club.

With these changes, New Light became the only small Conservative congregation in the city — considerably smaller than Tree of Life, Beth Shalom or B’nai Israel. It paired liberal observances with the scale and intimacy of its old neighborhood Orthodox shul.

Why did these “children of the founders and others” modify an old congregation?

Why didn’t they just build their desired institution anew? Without the minutes from Please see History, page 33

and Temple Isaiah are my adult home,

my synagogue and my community.

Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill and Tree of Life are my childhood home, my childhood synagogue and my forever community.

Let us never forget the massacre at Tree of Life that shattered our collective lives in so many ways.

And let us sanctify the memory of the 11 victims of the mass shooting by rededicating ourselves to the concept of Tikkun Olam, making the world a better place.

Jews around the country and around the world will forever remain in solidarity with the Pittsburgh Jewish Community.

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Sam Surloff

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 27

Opinion Getting back to the business of joy — EDITORIAL —

O

n Saturday night, Oct. 27, 2018, the Chronicle began working anew on its next issue, which would go to press just three days later.

The newspaper we would ultimately put out that week could not be more different from the one we originally had planned, a special “party issue” in which we were going to feature stories about trends in b’nai mitzvah celebrations and unique wedding venues. In fact, all the party stories were finished, edited, and ready to run.

Of course, we could not run a party issue that week, or in the weeks and months that followed. In fact, we have yet to run to it.

Jewish Pittsburgh has been in a state of mourning this past year. While not all of us lost family members or friends to the ravages of a murderous anti-Semite that day, we nonetheless felt shock, grief, anger and despair. As part of the larger Jewish community, we all were attacked.

Our sages were specific in prescribing mourning rituals, setting out appropriate times frames in which to mourn each type of relative, and detailing which types of activities should be avoided accordingly.

The longest period of time that one should mourn is one year, and that is for a parent.

Parties and other festivities, both public and private, should be avoided during those

12 months, as those types of activities are considered joyous, and it is almost absurd to imagine a child who is grieving the loss of a parent partaking in such events.

Although throughout our lives we continue to feel the loss of those we love, our tradition nonetheless directs us to rejoin our community in celebratory affairs and to resume normal activities after the formal

mourning period has concluded.

It has now been 12 months on the secular calendar since the massacre at the Tree of Life building, the most violent attack against Jews ever to have been committed in America. We know that as a community, we will feel the pain of that day indefinitely.

We will continue to miss those who were murdered. We will continue to join together

in finding ways to fight hatred, against Jews and others. We will, no doubt, continue to weep from time to time.

Although Oct. 27 will resonate for some as marking a year since the massacre, Nov. 16, the 18th of Cheshvan, is the yahrzeit date for Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Dan Stein, Mel Wax and Irving Younger. The yahrzeit date will mark the end of the formal mourning period for their children.

Whether one can relate more to the date of Oct. 27 or the 18th of Cheshvan, it is our hope that as a community we are ready now to re-open ourselves to the joyfulness that helps define a meaningful Jewish life.

Throughout the past year, the Chronicle, a weekly paper, has published hundreds of stories about the Oct. 27 massacre, its aftermath and its effect on Jewish Pittsburgh and the wider world. We value, and will continue to value, the opportunity to do so.

We are also eager to resume an editorial emphasis on Jewish happenings and issues here that we anticipate will reflect a community that is moving beyond trauma.

While we recognize that Jewish Pittsburgh may be fundamentally and permanently changed in a myriad of ways, we are looking forward to joining the community in getting back to the business of joy.

No date is set, but at some point, look for our party issue. PJC

They don’t grab headlines, but retention elections are critical Guest Columnist Bryan Neft

E

lection Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. You may not have even noticed there’s an Election Day right around the corner because the attention surrounding this particular election has been minimal. That’s largely because there are no high-profile races on the ballot this year, but there is a judicial retention election.

A what?

If you’re not familiar with the concept of state court judicial retention elections — also referred to as merit retention elections — you’re not alone. They’re confusing and rarely make the headlines. The truth is, few people understand exactly what they are and how they work and, as a result, precious few people vote in them.

But learning about retention elections and voting in them is extremely important because these elections are the mechanism that we, as citizens, have to either keep qualified judges on the bench or remove unqualified ones.

Having qualified judges in place is crucial if our judicial system is to function as it is supposed to. Having only the best judges on the bench helps make sure that the judicial system 28 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

is fair for all citizens, regardless of their religion, race, gender, social status, or any other factor.

For the readers of this publication, the timing of this year’s retention election is especially meaningful.

No, qualified judges can’t necessarily prevent violence. But judges do play a vital role in the administration of justice when tragedies and violence occur. Justice following a tragedy is likely never more on the minds of those in the Jewish community than right now, as we remember the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting.

So, yes, retention elections are important.

But how do they work?

When a candidate runs for judge for the first time, he or she is running for a 10-year term. Those are contested races, and the candidates are affiliated with political parties.

They’re a lot more of what you’d probably think of as “normal” elections.

Here’s where it gets a little different. After the initial 10-year term is up, a judge does not run for re-election against a challenger, as in most other races. Instead, he or she runs for retention.

These judges run unopposed. The voting public is asked to decide whether each of the judges up for retention should remain a judge, and they’re simply asked to vote “yes” or “no.” If the majority of the voters vote “yes” then the judge remains on the bench for another 10 years.

The retention system has a lot of positives.

For one thing, it takes partisan politics out of the election. This recognizes the unique need for judges to remain independent and allows our judges to focus on their jobs and not on campaigning.

It would be awkward, uncomfortable and not in the best interest of the public for sitting judges to be out in the public eye, campaigning, taking sides on political issues and aligning themselves with political parties. After all, independence is a fundamental pillar of the judiciary.

One negative aspect of the system, however, is that many community members are not exposed to our judges enough to know whether or not they’re doing a good job and therefore worthy of retention. That makes it hard to make an informed decision in the voting booth.

The lawyers who appear before these judges have an entirely different, more informed point of view, simply by the nature of their roles as attorneys.

So how can lawyers’ insights on our judges be shared with the public?

Look to the Allegheny County Bar Association. With nearly 6,000 members, the ACBA is the largest legal trade association in Western Pennsylvania.

Before each retention election, the ACBA surveys its entire membership, asking these lawyers whether they feel each Allegheny

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County judge who is up for retention should be retained. The attorneys are asked to consider each judge’s performance and judicial temperament. Similar to the retention elections, it is a straight “up or down” vote.

The ACBA then tallies these informed opinions and shares them with the public in the form of formal recommendations.

This year there are 12 Allegheny County judges up for retention: one in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, one in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and 10 in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. The attorneys of the ACBA have recommended all 12 of these judges for retention.

I encourage you to visit JudicialVote19.org, a website set up by the ACBA specifically for the purpose of educating the public about judicial elections. There, you can see the names of all 12 recommended judges and gather additional information on this year’s election.

The importance of keeping qualified judges on the bench can’t be understated.

Please join me — and the Pittsburgh legal community — in voting “yes” on Nov. 5 to retain these 12 judges. PJC Bryan Neft, a member of Beth El Congregation, is an attorney at Spillman Thomas and Battle and is immediate past president of the Allegheny County Bar Association.

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Opinion Grieving and coping: What is useful and not useful?

Guest Columnist Gina M. Goth

G

rieving is learning to integrate loss in life.

We never “get over” the loss of our loved ones. There is no timeline, and no right way or wrong way to grieve. But in time we can learn to adjust and to grow forward through grief. We accept that life will never look or feel the same and that sadness, longing and the weight of grief are a part of life.

Adaptive coping is the use of healthy strategies to help us adjust and adapt to loss while finding ways to still live a fulfilling, meaningful life. They cannot erase our sorrow, but they can help us to heal and grow over time.

People who experience trauma and grief try to cope in whatever ways they can. Some ways are harmful: excessive substance use, isolation, overeating, procrastination, alcohol etc.

Other, seemingly less alarming behaviors can be just as unproductive. These are temporary, “quick fix” distractions that reduce emotional pain in the short-term but provide very little in the way of actual healing. Distracting coping is like emotional aspirin; it only numbs the pain temporarily.

In fact, these behaviors may prevent us from effectively processing our emotions and experiences, which can lead to a prolonged sense of anxiety and emotional pain.

Some examples of distracting coping with grief are overworking, staying busy, focusing only on the needs of others, constantly saying “I’m fine,” emotional or physical isolation, seeking constant distraction, emotional eating, fighting and just giving up. These behaviors become a problem when they are consistently used to avoid and numb feelings, when they prevent us from learning how to deal with the emotions and experiences related to our grief.

Just as each person’s experience of grief is unique, coping strategies work differently for each person. Think about the strategies you

Just as each person’s experience of grief is unique, coping strategies work differently for each person. have used successfully when faced with difficult situations in the past. Try using them to help you cope now. Here are some tips for coping with loss: Allow yourself to experience the pain of loss. As much as it hurts, it is natural and healthy to grieve. Sometimes people feel guilty, thinking they should “get over it.”

Let yourself grieve and fully experience your feelings, like shock, sadness, anger

and loneliness. Don’t judge yourself for any feelings you have, even if you think you shouldn’t have them.

Take care of yourself. Remember, grief work is experiential. Explore what provides respite, a buffer, some relief and assimilate those strategies into your daily self-care practice. Try to be patient with yourself and with others. And give yourself a break from grieving.

If you feel you are not making any progress moving forward on your own, don’t give up. Join a support group or seek counseling. Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS) offers free counseling and support to anyone coping with the trauma of Oct. 27, renewed grief over the High Holidays, or anxiety, fear or sadness as the one year mark passes. Call 412-521-3800, email counseling@jfcspgh.org, or visit jfcspgh.org/ communitysupport. PJC Gina M. Goth, M.Ed, CAC, LPC is a Pittsburgh-based counselor and affiliate therapist for JFCS.

Jewish peoplehood connects all victims, whether in the US or Israel Guest Columnists Abby W. Schachter Anat Talmy

O

n the front page of the Oct. 18th edition of the Jewish Chronicle, an Israeli living in Pittsburgh made a remarkable claim. Regarding his initial response to the attack on worshippers at Tree of Life synagogue: “The first thought was ‘let’s go home, there is no anti-Semitism there.’”

Really? What is it there, in Israel, if not anti-Semitism?

And this Israeli’s opinion is not uncommon. Defining terror attacks against Jewish civilians in Israel as something other than anti-Semitism is widespread among Jews in America as well.

Yet, among the new crop of books attempting to define and address the scourge of anti-Semitism, we have the proper response to this foolishness. As Pittsburgh native and New York Times op-ed writer Bari Weiss helps clarify in her book “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” “Judaism is not merely a religion, and it is not merely an ethnicity.

Judaism is a people.”

Too true, and as such, when we are targeted, vilified and murdered because we belong to that people — the Jewish people — isn’t it therefore anti-Semitism when any Jew is targeted? If declaring that the murder of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh was

an act of anti-Semitism, as was the murder of Lori Gilbert-Kaye at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, should the same not be said of other anti-Jewish, murderous violence?

In 2002, 21 people died in a suicide attack on the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, Tunisia. A tanker truck filled with gasoline and driven by a Tunisian blew up outside the synagogue, the oldest place of Jewish worship in Africa. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. It was an act of terrorism to be sure, but also anti-Semitism. After all, the target was a Jewish house of worship, just as it was in Pittsburgh and Poway.

In 2003, several vehicles filled with explosives were aimed at two synagogues in Istanbul: Neve Shalom and Beth Israel.

Thirty people were murdered and 300 were injured. A Turkish cell of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. If the Islamist attackers wanted to kill Jews weren’t these anti-Semitic terror attacks?

In 2014, an attack by two Palestinians against a synagogue in Jerusalem claimed five lives. The attack was the first ever against a Jewish place of worship in the Jewish capital city.

If the murder of Jewish worshippers in America is an act of anti-Semitism, are the murders of Jewish worshippers in Tunisia and Turkey acts of anti-Semitism too? And what about the murder of Jews in a Jerusalem synagogue, is that not anti-Semitism too?

In 1991, Lemrick Nelson, Jr. fatally stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, after being surrounded by a group of 12 to 20 young men shouting, “Kill the Jew.”

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In 2018, 85-year-old Mireille Knoll was stabbed to death and then set alight by two young men who attacked her at home in eastern Paris. French officials defined the case as anti-Semitism following an autopsy and investigation.

In July, a 19-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Jerusalem. In September 2018, Ari Fuld, an American and Israeli citizen, was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist at the entrance to a shopping mall on the West Bank. A father of 12 was shot and killed by a Palestinian terrorist in March of this year, in an attack outside of Ariel in Samaria. In 2016, two Israeli Jews were shot to death in Tel Aviv.

As a reminder, anti-Semitic terror attacks against Jews in Israel didn’t start after 1967 when Israel occupied Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Indeed, anti-Semitic attacks didn’t start in 1948 when the Jewish state was established. In 1920, 1922, 1929 and from 1936 to 1939, hundreds of Jews were murdered by Arabs in Tel Hai, Hebron, Jaffa, Petah Tikvah, Jerusalem, etc.

There are too many incidents of anti-Semitic murderous violence after the State of Israel was established to list them all. Indeed, these killings were collectively defined as part of the Arab-Israel conflict.

And anti-Semitism has been central to the Palestinian liberation movement from its inception. Palestinian leader Hajj Amin al-Husseini denied the right of Jews to be sovereign in their historic homeland and allied with Hitler in order to further his refusal to accept the Jew. All the way down to today and the Hamas founding charter, which states that “the Jews, brothers of

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apes, assassins of the prophets,” conspired with Freemasons to control the world via communism and Nazism. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Ph.D. thesis bordered on Holocaust denial. Anti-Semitism is mainstream among Palestinians, and Palestinian textbooks have long contained blatant Jew hatred.

In April, the U.S. Congress introduced a bill to monitor Palestinian textbooks for anti-Semitic incitement.

Let’s be clear: There is a single principle — Jewish peoplehood — that connects all victims of anti-Jewish murder and all other Jews to the victims. Unfortunately, the more common perception dissects the dead by such categories as geography, national or political conflict and ideology. Yet, dead Jews are dead Jews. Are geography, political conflict, geography and anti-Semitism mutually exclusive? Is Jewish life cheaper if it is taken in Judea and Samaria versus Tel Aviv or Crown Heights or Pittsburgh?

To be sure, there can be other motives for killing Jews. Indeed, anti-Semitism — unlike other forms of ethnic or religious hatred — is adept at accommodating and including various other supposed sins. But the victims of all this violence belong to one common people: the Jewish people. All were targeted, vilified and murdered because they are Jews.

Any additional explanations for their deaths come second to the transcendent fact that they were murdered for the same reason — al kiddush haShem PJC Abby W. Schachter, a writer and editor, and Anat Talmy, a software engineer, are both citizens of the United States and Israel.

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 29

Headlines UPMC: Continued from page 5

Psyche; and Healing the Divide: The Power of Cooperation.

“The first part of my talk will be an attempt to explain what on earth is going on,” said Haidt. “It will explore basic moral psychology, why we are eternally divided, why there is morally motivated violence — by which I don’t mean violence that is moral, I mean violence that is perpetrated in the service of what the actor perceives to be a moral imperative.”

His talk will also focus on “understanding polarization, violence, and the power of moral matrices,” and the role of social media in the perpetuation of violence.

While there is an overall trend of the decline of violence in society, social media has “enabled the construction of some moral matrices, or networks of moral understanding,” that would not otherwise survive the light of day, according to Haidt. Various closed social media platforms such as 4chan

Design: Continued from page 7

couldn’t use the logo.

According to Mike Withrow, sales manager at Underground Printing, they have sold somewhere between 10 and 20,000 units since November 2018 when they began printing the shirts for the Steelers. Those T-shirts have gone to retail stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Pinsker’s Books & Judaica in Squirrel Hill.

In December, Hindes and Withrow presented a check to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Victims of Terror fund at the Steelers’ final home game.

According to team spokesman Burt Lauten, the donation was $70,000.

While both the Steelers and Underground Press made the shirts available at various

Strength: Continued from page 9

So, for me, obviously I would want to be with my family, but I knew that they were safe and that I was where I was meant to be at that moment with these 10 women and hundreds of other women as well.”

The Pittsburghers on the trip felt not only supported by each other, but by the scores of Israelis they continued to meet.

“When we were in Israel, of course we were so sad, but we were in a little bit of a bubble because we were lifted so much by the solidarity of the Israelis,” said Altein. “It was amazing. Wherever we went, and when they saw our tags that we were from Pittsburgh, they were just so full of empathy and sharing their compassion and how they were with us.

“As sad it was,” she continued, “we felt so surrounded by love, and not just from 30 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

and 8chan “allow people to co-construct a network of meanings in which it can seem to be not just a reasonable thing but a heroic thing to give one’s life while killing others.”

The phenomenon has been studied a lot in recent decades, “with particular interest in Islamic terrorism,” Haidt said.

“But now many of those same theories and approaches can be effectively applied to white supremacist terrorism.”

The urge to launch a suicide attack “goes back a very long way,” he explained. The word “zealot” originally referred to a Jewish sect during the time of the Second Temple “that was so upset about the Roman occupation, the zealots would jump Roman soldiers and kill them. So, zealotry is very, very old.”

While zealotry “tends to decline as societies become wealthy and peaceful,” Haidt explained, “social media allows zealotry to regroup and intensify.”

But although zealous violence is on the rise among extremists, there also is a simultaneous long-term trend of Jewish acceptance in America.

“I’ll try to help the audience see that what

happens to the average, and what happens to the extremes, can be very different and can even move in opposite directions,” he said.

Haidt also will discuss what can be done to counter the increase of violence among extremists, and suggest some “systemic changes,” including those related to social media.

“One of the most important things, for so many reasons, I believe, is that America and every country should mandate some form of identity verification before anyone can open a social media account that allows them to broadcast,” he said. “So people could still post anonymously but to create the account, they have to show somebody — perhaps a nonprofit, non-government organization — that they are a real person with a real address.

That would instantly cut down on a lot of the most hateful talk. It would instantly make all democracies less hackable by Russia and other countries. At present, anyone can open a social media account and make grave threats, death threats, completely secure that nothing will happen to them. And I do think that has to change.”

The conference also will include speakers

Kathleen Blee, a sociology professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on white supremacism, and Deborah Brodine, president of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. A session on tikkun olam will include Rev. Dr. Vincent Kolb; Daniel Leger; Wasi Mohamed; Rabbi Jeffery Myers; Mayor Bill Peduto; Rabbi Jonathan Perlman; and Tim Stevens.

The conference is co-sponsored by Tree of Life Or*L’Simcha, Congregation New Light, Congregation Dor Hadash, Carnegie Mellon University, Jewish Family and Community Services, the Black Empowerment Project and East End Cooperative Ministries.

“We all wanted to come together to say this is not just about the Jewish community, it’s not just about the psychiatric community, it’s about all of us,” Spiegel said.

The conference is open to the public, but pre-registration is requested. For more information, contact Nancy Mundy at mundnl@upmc.edu. PJC

retail shops and Heinz Field, 123Shirt.com sells ‘Stronger than Hate” T-shirts exclusively online. The company began selling the shirts immediately following the shooting in honor of owner Larry Barasch’s uncle, Judah Samet.

Samet is a member of the Tree of Life congregation. He was late to morning services on Oct. 27, which most likely saved his life. Samet is also a Holocaust survivor.

The company has sold over 4,000 shirts and has donated $18,000 “directly to the congregation,” according to Barasch. “We wanted this to go directly to the victims.

We’re doing what we can.”

Doing what they can has meant that 123Shirt.com has extended its support to other communities as well. “If you look at our site, you’ll see similar shirts,” Barasch said.

“There is an ‘El Paso Stronger Than Hate’ shirt and ‘Dayton Stronger Than Hate’ shirt.”

Steel City, a local clothing brand with a

retail store in Downtown Pittsburgh, created its own shirt. The company raised over $150,000, according to Brandon Grbach, and donated the money directly to the congregations that were targeted in the massacre.

Grbach said the shirt was available online and in their store. “I think it all happened in 10 days; it was incredible,” said Grbach.

The shirt features a heart shattered and was designed with Steel City collaborator Chris Preksta. Preksta is perhaps best known as one of the writers of the “Pittsburgh Dad” online series. The two decided to use a design that reflected how they felt about the shooting. “Our hearts were broken. There was an overall sadness. That’s what came out.”

Neither Preksta nor Grbach are Jewish. At the time of the shooting, they were working on Mr. Rogers licensing for the company.

Inspired by the TV legend, the pair discussed “what would be the most neighborly thing to

do. What would Fred want us to do? We just wanted to be good neighbors.”

That feeling has inspired both Jews and non-Jews to purchase all variations of the T-shirts and assorted merchandise. Pinsker’s continues to sell the various “Stronger Than Hate” items, having already sold “hundreds upon hundreds,” according to owner Baila Cohen.

Local musician Rob Marsili proudly displays a sticker of the logo on his kick drum and has bought multiple T-shirts.

“It’s important to me to show the Jewish community that we stand behind them in such dark times.”

“Hate is not tolerated or accepted,” Marsili added, “no matter what religion or race we are.” PJC

Israelis, but we were together with hundreds of women from all over the world on this Momentum trip and they just kept coming over to us and showing their love and showing their support and sympathy. What I personally felt when I was in Israel through this was am Yisroel chai, we are one. We’d been through so many tragedies before.

We made it through and we will make it through this one.”

As word got out that there were the 11 Pittsburghers among hundreds from the Momentum trip, people “wanted to know how we, the Pittsburgh women, were reacting or if we knew anybody who had been murdered,” Schwimer recalled. “They just really wanted to grieve with us and go through it with us as if we were Pittsburgh to them.”

The group also began getting contacted by Israeli media for interviews, Richman said.

The fact that there were 11 women from Pittsburgh on the trip was “Divine

providence,” said Altein. “We had applied for 15 spots and there was a misunderstanding and they only gave us 10. Then they squeezed on one more at the end. Eleven is not a typical number. There were 11 women who ended up going and it was so meaningful to all of us.

We all felt like we had a responsibility. I don’t think it was lost on anyone. Not on us and not on any of the people there.”

Several vigils in memory of the 11 Jews murdered in Pittsburgh were quickly arranged, including one organized by youth in Jerusalem, and one in Karmiel/Misgav, Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether region.

Another vigil was held on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv, where Richman spoke, as did Kim Saltzman, the Federation’s director of Israel and overseas operations, who also happened to be in Israel at the time, although not as part of the Momentum trip.

On the Sunday following the massacre, the group headed to Masada.

“That also seemed meaningful,” Altein said. “It drove home that we’ve been through so much as a nation and nothing will take us down.”

Schwimer had with her a “Terrible Tallis” — a tallis resembling a large Steeler’s “Terrible Towel” — made by Rabbi Alex Greenbaum of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. At the top of Masada, Schwimer draped the tallis over the 11 women.

“Even having that there was comforting,” Schwimer said.

Although it was challenging being away from home in the days following the massacre, “it was amazing being with these 10 women,” Richman said. “I don’t think any of us will ever forget being together on Oct. 27, and where we were and that we were all together and there for each other.” PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

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Headlines Fallout: Continued from page 10

I’ve had patients come in and say ever since that shooting, ‘I haven’t felt well. It brings back recollections of the Tree of Life shooting and I’m having more fatigue or more headaches, any number of physical or emotional symptoms.’”

Not all of his patients suffering from Oct.27-related symptoms have a personal connection to a victim of the massacre.

“Some of them have family members that were involved, but many of them had no personal connection,” Finikiotis said.

“They may have had a connection to the synagogue, they may have been members of one of the congregations. But a lot of them aren’t even Jewish.”

Finikiotis estimates that he has seen dozens of adult patients of all ages with physical symptoms associated with the Oct. 27 attack, and is anticipating more coming to his office with these symptoms as the one-year mark of the massacre triggers feelings and memories.

Although Finikiotis has seem some improvement in some of his patients as the year has progressed, and he anticipates continued improvement for some, he knows that won’t be the outcome for everyone.

“For some people it will never go away,” he said. “For some people it will be in the

R

rearview mirror and behind them, but for some I think this is always going to be below the consciousness and part of their life experience.”

Dr. Jonathan Weinkle, a general internist and general pediatrician at the Squirrel Hill Health Center, agrees.

“It will fade with time, for some people,” Weinkle said. “It will be in the background until something triggering happens for other people. And it will be in it for the long haul for still others.”

Many of Weinkle’s patients are not part of the Jewish community, but are nonetheless “allies who quite literally feel our pain,” he said. “We also see a lot of people who have gone through other trauma and for whom the shooting here was a trigger for them to sort of re-live stuff.”

Sleep, Weinkle said, is the health aspect most commonly affected by the trauma.

“And there is a whole cascade of things that happen after that,” he said. “Their concentration decreases, they get headaches, those are the two main things that usually follow from that.”

When sleep is the issue, Weinkle usually recommends “unplugging,” especially from “emotionally charged content.”

“Not being on Twitter, not being on Facebook, not engaging in heated political discussions the hour or so before you go to sleep is a really good thing,” he said.

Weinkle has also seen preexisting health

econstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical

Association work to create a more just and compassionate world. We pledge to act in ways that honor the memory of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz and the 10 others killed on October 27, 2018 and

conditions worsen for some patients following a traumatic event.

“People’s blood sugar goes up, people’s blood pressure goes up, people who have tremors, their tremors get worse,” he said.

Deviating from one’s usual routine, such as neglecting exercise, also can cause health issues.

Those at risk include people who were “actively engaged in the response” to the attack, and put their normal regimen on the back burner.

“The healers also need help,” Weinkle stressed. “Part of the reason we are in such a bind as a community is because so many of us are internally hurting and helping others simultaneously, and it’s really hard to do both. The more you take on somebody else’s pain, the more difficult it is.”

Dr. Adam Rothschild, a cannabis medicine and family medicine physician, also has seen several patients suffering from anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder at his cannabis practice in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood since the Oct. 27 attack.

“The two conditions where the events of Oct. 27 would really play out with respect to medical cannabis and conditions that are approved for medical cannabis in Pennsylvania are PTSD and anxiety disorders,” he said, adding that ‘anxiety disorders was only added a couple of months ago.”

He estimates that he has seen about a dozen patients who have mentioned the Oct. 27 as exacerbating their symptoms.

Although he would not necessarily

recommend medical cannabis as either a “first line or second line treatment” for anxiety — it can actually make anxiety worse for some people, he said — it can work well for PTSD. “Patients usually use cannabis for PTSD in the evening in order to put a stop to the invasive thoughts that are hallmark to PTSD,” Rothschild explained. “For those patients, cannabis can work amazingly well, help them calm their mind, help them get to sleep.”

In fact, he has certified people for medical cannabis who were directly affected by the massacre here, he said.

When treating patients with physical manifestations of trauma, it is important to rule out other causes, according to Finikiotis.

“These are diagnoses of exclusion,” he said.

“You have to exclude other physical causes before you can be assured it is not any other physical disease or condition that caused it.”

Often, patients simply want to be reassured their symptoms are not indicative of something else, he said. For other patients, he recommends talking to a mental health expert.

“Different patients have different treatments,” Finikiotis said. “Sometimes you treat the symptoms — if somebody has abdominal pain there are medications and diets you can use to treat the abdominal pain. But sometimes you have to get to the bottom of the anxiety.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

May we continue to gain strength from our community’s acts of loving kindness

to perpetuate the resilience of Dan Leger and all the members of Dor Hadash. We offer resources for comfort and mourning at Ritualwell.org.

Responding quickly and providing grants to Jewish individuals and families living in Western PA, with no expectation of repayment 412.521.3237 • P.O. Box 8197, Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 31

Headlines Memorial: Continued from page 2

“I would like the government, this year, the federal and state government to finally take action on gun control,” noted the rabbi, who concluded, “Please, please let us treat each other with great warmth and sympathy.

Let’s hope for a better tomorrow.”

Two sets of applause during Perlman’s remarks countered an otherwise quieter evening. Such demonstration was deserved, noted Joan Sweet, of Mt. Washington, who praised the rabbi for discussing firearm access.

“I’m so glad he said it because we need gun

control,” she said.

All of the rabbis’ remarks were “on point,” said Steven Brand, of Squirrel Hill, who described the program as “moving, respectful and very appropriate.”

Throughout the Oct. 27 event, the words “remember,” “repair” and “together” appeared in speeches and signage. The public memorial, organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, largely served as a day-ending capstone dedicated to those concepts, as at sites throughout the city, spaces were afforded for Torah study and reflection, as well as nearly 30 community service projects, such as providing volunteers a chance to deliver cookies to first responders, serve lunch to those

in need or assist landscapers by cleaning nearby cemeteries.

Even for those who didn’t register at pittsburghoct27.org for one of many volunteer opportunities, there were spontaneous chances to remember and repair together.

Hundreds who came to the Tree of Life building on Sunday chose to adopt one of 11 mitzvot or listen to an 11-minute Jewish thought. Groups congregated in public prayer outside both Soldiers & Sailors and the Tree of Life building. Passersby near the corner of Shady and Wilkins Avenues in Squirrel Hill took to the sidewalks to inscribe chalk messages reading “Lord, write in us a new story,” and “Last year sorrow.

This year peace.”

People brought flowers and cards, and embraced once again. Returning to Soldiers & Sailors afforded a chance to head “in the right direction,” said Sandy Spira, of Shadyside.

There is value in congregating and remembering, explained Jon Fischer of Shadyside. “I think everyone here is here to move forward, and not to move on from this.”

Coming to the public memorial “felt good, not exactly closure, but just as a way to take the next step and really get moving I guess,” said Ashley Brown of South Side. “It’s been a long time coming.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Department of Public Safety shares officer update

C

ity of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety issued an update pertaining to the officers injured at the Tree of Life building during last year’s attack. In a statement shared Oct. 24, the Department of Public Safety noted, “Officers Michael Smidga (shrapnel wound to the head), John Persin (hearing concerns/issues), and Tyler Pashel (knee injury) have all recovered and are back on the job. Zone 4 Officer Dan Mead and SWAT Officers Anthony Burke and Timothy Matson continue to recover from their wounds and have not returned to work.”

The Department of Public Safety shared

additional statements from officers Matson, Mead and Burke.

Matson, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, thanked the community, the UPMC staff, his friends, family, coworkers and wellwishers worldwide.

“The support I received was incredible. I have never experienced anything like it. In more ways than I can express, your support helped me through the toughest time of my life,” said Matson. “I would also like to thank my Pittsburgh SWAT teammates. Your actions that day are why I’m here.”

Mead, who suffered a gunshot wound to the

hand, echoed praise for those who helped him.

“The Jewish community’s support and the ways they have shown their appreciation — I’m not used to that. As a carpenter, I would do a job and you’d say, ‘Hey, nice job,’ and I’d leave and go do the next job. But they have been so appreciative, and it’s overwhelming. They’re saying thank you, but I need to say thank you to them,” said Mead. “My father was on this job and I looked up to him and that’s why I signed up to be a police officer. I tried for this job. I wasn’t drafted into it. These poor people that lost their lives and their families, they didn’t sign up for that. Not a day goes by that I don’t

say my prayers for these people. I feel for them.”

Burke, who suffered a gunshot wound to the hand, similarly thanked those who lent assistance during the past year, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the larger Pittsburgh community, his coworkers and their families.

“While my period of healing is coming to an end, there are 11 families who continue to grieve and heal. Please direct your continued support towards them during this tragic weekend and going forward,” said Burke. PJC — Adam Reinherz

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Headlines History: Continued from page 27

those years, we can only speculate. But it isn’t hard to imagine the appeal of keeping alive a half-century tradition, especially a tradition lodged in memories of so many childhoods.

A statement of principles

by Dor Hadash

The charter of Dor Hadash is sparse. In the blank space reserved for describing the purpose of the congregation is “the establishment of a synagogue and study group.”

A much richer account is a “Statement of Principles” created in 1963. The statement is neatly typed down on an 8.5 x 14-inch sheet

of paper with the words “Congregation Dor Hadash” centered along the footer. It contains 10 principles — echoing, intentionally or unintentionally, the 10 commandments and the minimum attendance for a minyan.

For a 56-year-old document, the statement feels remarkably contemporary. Here is the second principle: “We regard as central to Judaism social justice, equality before the law, compassion, freedom, international understanding, brotherly love, ‘tzedakah,’ freedom of speech and thought, and equal opportunity for all men and women regardless of race, color, or creed.” With only a few tweaks to the wording, it could have been written today.

Hebrew Institute Director Dr. Solomon Abrams had convened Dor Hadash in 1963

as a place for local unaffiliated Jews to meet for prayer and study. By the end of the decade, Dor Hadash was in the process of joining the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot, later known as the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation.

The Statement of Principles played a part of that process. As the explicitly unaffiliated congregation stood on the brink of denominational affiliation, the statement served as a lodestar. It was one of many moments throughout the history of Dor Hadash when the membership navigated its ideals through the choppy waters of running a congregation.

From that perspective, the most consequential principle has been the sixth: “We pledge ourselves to conduct our affairs in a democratic manner and to divest our services of all elements of commercialism.”

The reverberations of this principle can be felt in key moments throughout the history of Dor Hadash: its switch from town-hall style business meetings to a traditional board

of directors; its perpetual reluctance to hire a permanent, full-time rabbi; and especially its unwavering commitment to renting space — first at the Hebrew Institute, then Rodef Shalom, then Community Day School, then Tree of Life.

Almost every Jewish congregation begins without a home, a rabbi or a board.

Dor Hadash was the first in this region to build its spiritual identity from those conditions. PJC “Three Congregations” will be on exhibit at the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives, on the sixth floor of the Heinz History Center, through Dec. 27. Admission to the exhibit is free but does not include admission to other exhibits at the center.

Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

Studying Torah in memory of 11 victims

p Stan Angrist, Audrey Schoenwalt and Richard Schoenwalt at the 15th anniversary celebration of Dor Hadash Congregation, 1978.

Image courtesy Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives

The Kollel Jewish Learning Center is marking one year since the attack at the Tree of Life building by arranging Torah study on behalf of the deceased. Interested participants can sign up online at hadranalach.com to learn weekly Torah portions or chapters of the Mishnah. The Kollel is seeking to fill 54 slots of parsha study and 525 slots of mishnah study, and requests volunteers to complete the material by sundown on Nov. 16, 2019

(18 Heshvan 5780). A siyum, marking the completion of study and featuring remarks from local rabbis, will occur on the Hebrew yahrzeit, Nov. 16. Learning is being coordinated by the Kollel Jewish Learning Center, Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh, Congregation Poale Zedeck, Shaare Torah Congregation and Young Israel of Pittsburgh.

— Adam Reinherz

Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, Yehudah ben Yechezkel v’Selma, z”l No one can duplicate the smiles you so easily put on others’ faces, especially when most needed.

In your honor, and in honor of Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger, I will do my best to pay your smiles forward.

Ellen Surloff, Immediate Past President Congregation Dor Hadash

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 33

Celebrations

Torah

B’nei Mitzvah

The power to begin again

Aviv Diamant is the son of Debbey Altman-Diamant and Neil Diamant. He is the brother of Ilana and Eli and grandson of Patricia Altman, Irving Altman z”l, Ralph Diamant, Rachel Halevy Diamant z”l, Richard Gold and Arline Diamant-Gold z”l. Aviv is a seventhgrader at the Environmental Charter School. He likes studying science, cycling and hiking in Frick Park. He enjoys playing music, board games and times spent with friends and family. He loves animals, especially his two dogs. Aviv will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Nov. 2, 2019 at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Landon Miles Blank, son of Lydia and Craig, brother to Abby and Nina, was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Oct. 26, 2019, at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Landon is a seventh-grader at the Environmental Charter School and attends the Joint-Jewish Education Program. While he enjoys playing and watching all sports, Landon’s true passion is baseball. This year, Landon began volunteering with Miracle League of South Hills, where he combines his love of baseball with his strong desire to help make the game accessible to kids of all abilities. Landon is the grandson of Naomi and Paul Herman, the late Myrna and the late Milton Blank, and Jan and Ben Caplan.

Birth

Dr. Michael and Emily Cohen are excited to announce the birth of their daughter, Sophie Quinn Cohen, Sept. 9, 2019. Grandparents are Dr. Robert and Debbie Cohen, of Boca Raton, Florida, formerly of Pittsburgh and Martin and Janis Jacobs of Yardley, Pennsylvania, and Boynton Beach, Florida. Great-grandmother is Jacqueline C. Weiser of Delray Beach, Florida, formerly of Pittsburgh. Sophie is named in loving memory of her great-grandfathers, Norman Paul of Albany, New York, Morton Cohen, of Beaver Falls and her great-grandmother, Sonia Cohen, of Beaver Falls.

Engagement

Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum Parshat Noach Genesis 6:9 - 11:32

I

n words that carry too much meaning to the Pittsburgh Jewish community, the Torah (Gen. 6:13) declares, “The land had become filled with violence.” G-d decided that society could not be saved. The result was a flood, followed by a new era of rebuilding.

Our community faces a similar situation.

We, too, must be rebuilt. Yet how can we ensure that “the flood waters (of hatred) never again destroy (the inhabitants of) the land?”

The Torah portion of Noah provides the answer in the form of Seven Universal Laws, which were rooted in Beraishis, emerged in this week’s reading, and were given to the world again by Moses at Mount Sinai: 1. Acknowledge One G-d, the Creator of All. 2. Respect G-d’s Holy Name; do not swear or curse using the Name of G-d.

3. Respect the Sanctity of Human Life; do not murder.

4. Respect the Traditional Family; follow traditional laws of morality.

5. Respect the Property of Others; do not steal.

6. Respect All Creatures; do not cut and eat meat from a living animal.

7. Establish a fair and impatial Judicial System; follow laws of righteousness.

The Seven Universal Laws are the building blocks of society. As Jews and survivors of

the worst anti-Semitic act in American history, it is our responsibility to encourage everyone to obey them, no matter what religion they practice or what faith they profess.

In 1983, the Lubavitcher Rebbe issued a call for people to follow the Noahide Laws.

This became the basis of a Congressional resolution in 1987 establishing Education Day, USA. The resolution makes note of “the historical tradition of ethical values and principles, which have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws ... ” At the time, I was part of a team of rabbinic students who spent a few weeks in Georgia, distributing literature, meeting with school officials and conducting media interviews.

Everywhere we went, we were well-received, as was the Rebbe’s message. Many things have changed in the ensuing 30 years. The need to follow the Universal Moral Rules, however, is perhaps more important than ever before.

The events on Oct. 27, 2018, and at Chabad of Poway, etc., have clearly shown the need to act as moral leaders and teachers.

It is more than our duty. It is our destiny as Jews to serve as “a light unto the nations.”

By promoting the Seven Universal Laws of Noah may we hasten the time when, in the words of Isaiah, “My House will be called a House of Prayer for all nations.” PJC Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum is principal of the Yeshiva Boys School. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabomin of Greater Pittsburgh.

Helen Eaton of Pittsburgh and the late Joseph W. Eaton congratulate their grandson Jonah Eaton, son of Seth and Karen Eaton, for his marriage to Janet Rubin, daughter of Marcy and Larry Rubin of Teaneck, New Jersey, on Sept. 15 at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Gary and Sharyn Protass, of Roslyn, New York, are happy to announce the engagement of their daughter, Valerie Alexa, to Jonathan Michael Reiser, son of Andrew and Heather Reiser, of Montville, New Jersey. Valerie graduated from Binghamton University and is currently a preschool teacher at Cornell University Childcare Center. Jonathan graduated from Binghamton University and is currently pursuing his MBA at SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Valerie is the granddaughter of Carol Lazear of Pittsburgh and the late Paul Lazear, and Barbara Protass of New York, and the late Harvey Protass. Jonathan is the grandson of Sheila Ehrlich of New Jersey and the late I. Robert Ehrlich and the late Francis and Monroe Reiser of New York. A June 12, 2021, wedding is being planned at Temple Judea of Manhasset, New York. The couple is residing in Ithaca, New York.

Debbi and Tom Samakow of Boca Raton, Florida, formerly of Pittsburgh, are proud to announce the engagement of their son, Justin Julius, to Stephanie Louise Keats, daughter of Marie and Steven Keats of Lake Worth, Florida, formerly of Woodland Hills, California. Justin’s grandparents are the late Norman and Gloria Wedner and the late Malcolm and Marion Samakow.

Stephanie’s grandparents are the late Wellman and Louise Stelter and the late Robert and Jean Keats. Justin received his undergraduate degree in 2011 from Washington University in St. Louis. Justin received his M.B.A. from Harvard University Business School in May 2018 and began a new job as a consultant at Bain and Company in New York City. Stephanie received her undergraduate degree in 2011 from the University of Southern California.

Stephanie received her Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2014.

Stephanie is licensed to practice law in New York and currently works at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP. A 2020 wedding is planned. PJC

34 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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NOVEMBER 1, 2019 35

Obituaries FAGEN: William (Bill) John Fagen, 81, of Pittsburgh, PA, passed away peacefully on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, as the result of a long hard-fought battle with esophageal cancer.

Born May 15, 1938, in Pittsburgh, PA, Bill was the son of Saul and Alice Fagen. William was no stranger to hard work. Since he was a young boy, he had a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. He had a wallpaper hanging business, a drywall company, and even a stint in the hair profession. He worked his last several years of full-time employment alongside his brother, Jack Fagen, at Fagen’s Building Centers. William touched many lives throughout his personal and professional endeavors. He was an avid reader, financially savvy, quick with a joke, and ready with a warm embrace; a very generous and loyal man. William will most fondly be remembered by his family and friends for his great humor and witty spirit, his strong convictions, and his great capacity to connect with others. He will be missed by many and remembered fondly. He was loved. In addition to his children, Jamie Teasdale and Lawrence Fagen, surviving are his brother Robert, his grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, his long-time friend-traveling companion-confidant Ilene Fagen, and of course, his beloved Junior (his four-legged son). Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Saul and Alice, and his older brother Jack. The family is planning a celebration of life ceremony to be held at a later date. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

FEINBERG: Neil Alan Feinberg, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019; beloved father of Jordan Leigh (Robert) Dornin and Hannah Rae Feinberg; loving son of Robert and Miriam “Mitzi” Feinberg; brother of Vicki Lynn Cayuela (Jeff Plymell) and Glen Feinberg; former spouse of Judi Feinberg; also survived by his loving nieces and nephews. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Entombment Beth Shalom Cemetery Mausoleum.

Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. schugar.com, family owned and operated.

FISHER: Dr. Bernard Fisher, distinguished service professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and lifelong Pittsburgh resident, died on Wednesday evening, Oct. 16, at the age of 101. He was predeceased in 2016 by his beloved wife of 69 years, Shirley Kruman Fisher. He leaves behind his beloved children Dr. Beth Fisher (Dr. Harvey Himel), Joseph Fisher (Debra), and Louisa Fisher Rudolph (James); his grandchildren Samuel Himel, Jordan Fisher, Jillian Fisher, Ali Rudolph Kander (Ben), and Jesse Rudolph; his great-grandchildren Yeshaya Fisher and Elle Shirley Kander; sister-in-law Harriett Kruman; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his brother Dr. Edwin Fisher (Carole) as well as brothers-in-law Julius Kruman and Jack Kruman (Estelle). Contributions in honor of Dr. Bernard Fisher’s lifelong dedication to improving the lives of patients with breast and other forms of cancer may be made to the

following: 1.) University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Bernard Fisher Fund. Those contributions can be directed to this Fund via the PittGiving website: http//giveto.pit.edu/ DrBernardFisher. Alternatively checks can be made payable to the University of Pittsburgh and mailed to the University of Pittsburgh, 128 N. Craig Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, noting the fund name in the check memo line. 2.)

In addition, a fund has been established in memory of Dr. Bernard Fisher at Conquer Cancer, the foundation of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Those contributions may be directed to the Dr. Bernard Fisher Annual Memorial Lecture at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) via the Conquer Cancer website at Conquer.org/Donate. Alternatively, checks can be made payable to Conquer Cancer and mailed to: Conquer Cancer, P.O. Box 896076, Charlotte, NC 28289-6076. Services and interment private. Memorial service to be scheduled at a later date. Arrangements entrusted to RALPH SCHUGAR CHAPEL, INC., family owned and operated. schugar.com.

GROTSTEIN: Janet Grotstein, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. Beloved wife of Larry Grotstein for 45 years. Beloved mother of Stephanie (Ted) Davis, Ricki Sedaka (Blake) Harbaugh and Victor Sedaka, Todd (Lisa) Grotstein and Lauri Grotstein (Dave) Gravina. Loving grandmother of Leora, Debra (Ben), Ariel, Ali, Alexa and Dara. Loving great grandmother of Chaim, Yitzy, Rikki, Chaim, Eli and Kayla, Maia, Lucas and Macie. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was the youngest of, and survived by nine siblings, including her twin brother. A special thank you to her loving

caregivers Lezlee Hunter and Jenny Howard.

A graveside service was held at Shaare Torah cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to Shaare Torah Congregation at 2319 Murray Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Temple Ohav Shalom at 8400 Thompson Run Road, Allison Park, PA 15101.

HERSCH: Gloria Hersch On Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. Beloved wife of over 70 years to Morton Hersch; loving mother of Russell (Roz) Hersch and the late Bradley (Marilyn) Hersch; proud grandmother of Max (Alison), Meni, Michal (Yoad), Edya (Yonatan), Steven (Xinlei) and Noam. Also survived by 6 wonderful great-grandchildren. Gloria and her husband Morton were founding members of Temple David in Monroeville. She taught art classes at Longwood at Oakmont where she lived. She always had a sketchbook in her hand. She enjoyed watching sports with her husband and she was a beautiful person inside and out. Graveside Services and Interment were held at Temple Sinai Memorial Park.

Contributions may be made to Temple David Congregation, 4415 Northern Pike, Monroeville, PA 15146. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

Please see Obituaries, page 37

Funding announced to help secure Jewish schools

G

ov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania state legislature have awarded $3.2 million to help secure non-public schools, including nine Jewish day schools and yeshivas, one year after the massacre at the Tree of Life building.

Lawmakers added the additional funds as part of the 2019-2020 fiscal budget.

The money will be used to expand safety

provisions to include security equipment and program grants. Five years ago, Pennsylvania was the first state in the nation to fund security personnel at nonpublic schools through the Safe Schools Targeted Grant Program.

Teach PA, a project of the Orthodox Union, advocated along with parents, students and community members for the

additional funding. Arielle FrankstonMorris, executive director of Teach PA, said in a statement, “We thank Gov. Wolf and our state legislatures for awarding these funds to nonpublic schools, making our students and educators safe. The rise in school violence and anti-Semitic attacks, motivated us to spearhead this security campaign and we are thrilled to see these awards announced.”

Dan Mitzner, director of state political affairs at Teach Coalition, of which Teach PA is a division, said in a statement that “with continued teamwork, we hope to achieve even more, to keep all Pennsylvania’s schoolchildren and at-risk institutions safe.” PJC — David Rullo

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 36

NAIMARK: Mona F. Naimark, formerly of White Oak, currently of Asheville, NC, died Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019 at Mission Memorial Hospital, Asheville, NC. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 29, 1932, she was the daughter of the late Monroe and Margaret Stark Izsak. Wife of the late Bernard G. Naimark, she is survived by her sons, Eric (Roberta) Naimark of Asheville, NC and Mitchell (Barbara) Naimark of Severna Park, MD, also by 5 grandsons, 1 great-grandson, and 6 great-granddaughters. Mrs. Naimark served for many years as secretary of the former Congregation Tree of Life–Sfard in White Oak, PA. She was a member of the Congregation Beth Ha’Tephila in Asheville, NC and was a member of the former Congregation Tree of Life–Sfard in White Oak. A graveside service was held Monday, Oct. 28, 2019 at 3:30 PM in the Tree of Life– Sfard Cemetery with Rabbi Paul Tuchman officiating. Hunter Funeral Home, Inc., 1600 Coursin Street, McKeesport, PA 15132 is in charge of arrangements.

PORT: Ivan R. Port, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, beloved husband of 64 years to Arlene (Platt) Port; loving father of Martin Port, Shay Port and Robert (Cyndi) Port; brother of Lorraine Shore and the late Eleanor Shratter and Earl Port. Zayde to Amelia, Phoebe and Micah Port. Mr. Port was a CPA and a former executive vice president of Marmon Keystone in Butler, PA. He was a life master bridge player and also an avid tennis player. Making his family laugh was above all most important to him.

Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Homewood Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Pittsburgh. Chapter, 2835 E. Carson St., Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 schugar.com RICHMAN: Former University of Pittsburgh professor of public and international affairs, wellknown economist, soldier, and author Dr. Raymond L. Richman died at age 101 on Oct. 23 at his home in Pittsburgh. During World War II, he became an officer in the US Army Air Corps, and exited his active military service in 1945 as Executive Officer of the 600th Bomb Squadron with the rank of Major, serving in the European theatre, and joined the US Air Force Reserve and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1957 and afterwards worked as a consultant for the OEEC, the World Bank, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank, the US Agency for International Development and the Asian Development Bank. He also directed the preparation of the Real Estate Assessment Manual of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, published in 1971. He served briefly as head of the Departments of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and taught at the Universidad de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina. When he retired from the University of Pittsburgh

in 1982, he became professor emeritus of public and international affairs. He authored four books, dozens of journal articles and hundreds of commentaries about economic development, tax policy and trade policy.

In recent years most were co-authored with his son (Howard) and his grandson (Jesse), a unique three generational collaboration. Beginning with a commentary in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Sept. 14, 2003, he became one of the first advocates of a policy of balanced trade, an alternative to the free trade vs. fair trade debate. His essential argument was that trade, free or not, benefits both countries if it is balanced.

A member of Rodef Shalom Congregation, Raymond is survived by his wife of 47 years, Wilma T. C. Richman, his children Janice Richman, Howard Richman (and wife Susan Richman), Robin Richman and Lucila Silva, and Maria Silva (wife of Newton Silva), 11 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife Hilda Richman, his parents Reuben Richman and Ida Jakobson Richman, his brother Lester Richman, his sister Dorothy Stern, and his son Newton Silva.

SIEGEL: Joan Golomb Siegel died on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019 in Sarasota, FL. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Aug. 13, 1933 to the late Dr. Milton and Julia Katz Golomb. She was the wife of the late Edmund H. Siegel and mother of the late Jonathan L. Simon. She was predeceased by her former husband David I. Simon. She attended Chatham College for Women and took courses at University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University. She taught piano in Pittsburgh for many years and was an accompanist and lyricist in the various cities where she lived. She had been an antiques dealer, a realtor, and a longtime volunteer teacher of English as a second language. She was an avid reader, traveler, writer, bridge player, and lover of the Arts. She was an enthusiastic cook, hostess, antique collector and decorator. She was infamous for moving and redecorating more than 17 houses. She was well-loved and devoted to her large extended family and friends. She is survived by her daughter Laurie Simon Clark (Andrew), son James N. Simon (Paula), stepdaughter Jan Siegel Binder (Steve), stepson Neil Y. Siegel (Debby), grandchildren Rachel Simon Mamakos (Chris), Joseph Simon (Christie), Drew Clark (Maggie), Matthew Dutro (Anne), Ann Siegel Kaplan (Aaron), Sarah Siegel, sister-in-law of Mary Kay Golomb sister of late Robert Golomb, and aunt to his children; Zeb Golomb (Jodi) and Ruth Lee Golomb. She is also survived by nine great-grandchildren: Sophia, Jack, Camden, Noelle, Summer, James, Genevieve, Eloise, and Hazel. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 10 Glenlake Pkwy NE South Tower, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30328, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, 5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 526, Dallas, TX 75244 or ComForCare Home Care Sarasota, 1055 S. Tamiami Trail, Unit 103, Sarasota, FL 34236. schugar.com

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Please see Obituaries, page 38

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

In memory of...

A gift from ...

In memory of...

Elaine Arlott ..............................................Arthur Speizer

Allan & Vivian Levine......................Hannah Rae Levine

Howard Berger .........................................Selma Berger

Beverly S. Marks..........................................Alvin Marks

Colleen M. Carver................................ Esther L. Carver

Beverly S. Marks..................................... Herbert Marks

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Dane............ Jay David Glasser Pauline Dobkin................................... Jack K. Sussman Dr. & Mrs. Marc Greenstein & Sons ....... Michael Stone Joan G. Israel............................................ Nathan Israel Phyllis Izenson ................................... Helen Gottesman Phyllis Izenson ................................ Eugene Gottesman

David Marks..................................... Joseph Thompson Ann Notovitz .............................................Israel Samuel Edith Schneider ........................................... Max Hirsch Edith Schneider ...........................................Ruth Hirsch Edith Schneider ........................................ David Kaplan

Ms. Amy Kamin ........................................Louis Kaddell

Edith Schneider .........................................William Flom

Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Landay ................. Morrris Landay

Edith Schneider ............................................ Ida Kaplan

Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Landay ..................Bessie Landay

Edith Schneider ..........................Peter Michael Oresick

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday November 3: Janice Gay Barovsky, Anne Tauber Dym, Louis Kaddell, Fannie Klein, Elizabeth Rothstein, Saul Schilit, Molly Schutte, William Schwartz, Frank Shakespeare, Gilbert Shepse, Freda Ulzheimer, Abe Wekselman Monday November 4: Jules Joseph Anatole, Hyman Bales, Albert Blumenthal, Rachel Cohen, Jennie B. Glass, Minnie Hoffman, Louis Kaddell, Robert Klein, Jerome Meyer, Sylvia Steinberger Moskovitz, Arthur B. Moss, Helen Sachs, Ethel Sarah Simons, Michael Stone, Wolfe Tex, Roxine M. Weinthal Tuesday November 5: Milton Cohen, Rose Elinow, Fannie Titlebaum Frank, Elizabeth S. Kalovsky, Frank Mayer Marcosky, Dr. Geneva Markus, Mary Opter, Elaine R. Rubin, Morris Spector, Fae Velardi, Dorothy Weinberg, Harry Wishnev Wednesday November 6: FHarry Robbins Brody, Sol Feinberg, Isadore Feldman, Milton Gottlieb, Isadore Krouse, Sylvia R. Melnick, Minnie Toig Pearlman, Louis Rosner, Harry Sparks, Regina Brown Wand, Sarah Weinbaum Thursday November 7: Pauline Berzosky, Anna Birnkrant, Leonard Farber, Hanna Ficks, Samuel E. Jacobson, Jeanette Kohen Kuperstock, Barnett Marcus, Lillian Pretter, Henry Rosenfeld, Sam Schllessinger, Peter Shaffer, Meyer Shepman, Alberta Myers Walken, Adolph Weitzen, Miriam Yahr, Max Zweig Friday November 8: Mildred Caplan, Frances Citron, Marcia Green Farbstein, Eva Frank, Reva Cohen Goldberg, Sarah B. Gordon, Lawrence L. Green, Rose K. Judd, Jacob Levinson, Samuel Nathan, Jerrilyn Ruth Perilman, Sara Recht, Sam Sambol, Herman Solow, David Srulson, Tobe L. Unger Saturday November 9: Arthur Levine, Solomon Linder, Jennie Rosen, Mayer Eli Ruben, Rose Shapiro, Freda Siegel, Charles Weiss

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 37

STEIN: Shirley Klein Stein, formerly of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died peacefully on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky where she resided for the past 25 years. She was predeceased by her husband, David Harry Stein, and grandson, Justin Gregory Mark. Shirley worked at Mellon Bank in Squirrel Hill for many years and was loved and adored by all of her customers.

Shirley is survived by her daughters, Gail Darling (William), Ronna Mark (Martin), and Michelle Einstein (Sylvan). She is also survived by her grandchildren: Brooke Caplen (Neil), Daniel Mark (Mallory), and Joshua Mark (Jessi). Graveside service and interment was held on at the Shaare Torah Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to Hosparus Health of Louisville, 3532 Ephraim McDowell Drive, Louisville, KY 40205 OR to the Justin Gregory Mark Memorial Lounge and Library, Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh, 5738

Barry: Continued from page 8

Upon opening the doors, “that’s when the rabbi realized what was going on and pushed us into that dark storeroom: myself, Mel and Carol,” said Werber. “What I remember is it was so dark in there. We couldn’t see each other.”

Werber reached for his flip phone, dialed 911 and connected to an operator. The conversation continued until it was no longer safe to speak. By then, Werber’s eyes adjusted to the opaque setting. The gunman, who’d terrorized others throughout the building, then approached the closeted hideout.

He opened the barrier and “I could see him when he walked through the door, very vaguely, because the door closed right away,” said Werber.

Separated by mere feet, the shooter and the congregants stood together in the dark.

From Werber’s vantage point the blackness became an ally, because when the shooter turned and pushed against the door to exit, he was struck by an immediate rush of light.

Because of the brightness, the gunman “couldn’t see anything inside” the storage room, said Werber.

Whether that’s the reason Werber survived or something else, he isn’t sure. While recounting the episode at his home, Werber recalled more of what he saw that day: the bullet-riddled bodies of his friends, the back of the closet and the exit Perlman helped discover, the SWAT team who ushered the survivors out, the officer who returned his fallen yarmulke.

While telling his story, Werber extended his finger. The ring that had belonged to his mother still rested above his own.

“I keep on thinking that I was not only in God’s house, but I was thinking about my mother of blessed memory may be looking out for me.”

Werber rarely cried for months after the attack. Other thoughts and actions 38 NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com VANLANDINGHAM: James “Hutchie” VanLandingham; On Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 at home surrounded by his family; beloved husband of the late Harriet C. VanLandingham; loving father of James S., Alisha and Michelle VanLandingham and the late Betti Ann Strom; brother of the late Elizabeth McCaffrey, Dorothy Carpenter, Vera Faccenda and William VanLandingham; Zady of Jessie Lynn Beck, Joshua William VanLandingham and Molly VanLandingham. Hutchie worked for the Sun-Tele, Pittsburgh Press and PostGazette as a truck driver for 56 years. He also worked at Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium, PNC Park, and Heinz Field as a ticket seller. A devoted family man, Hutchie was selfless, strong, caring and would do anything for anybody. He was a member of the United Commercial Travelers helping with the Special Olympics for over 50 years.

Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Shaare Torah Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to the Leukemia occupied his mind. Then, a few days ago, while watching interviews he’d given after Oct. 27, he burst into tears.

“I just started sobbing. And as quickly as it came, it went, and it almost happened just now again,” he said.

Werber downplayed the matter, but his wife, Brenda, seated on a nearby couch, disagreed.

“He gets emotional,” she said.

The comment led to a lighthearted spat that spoke to their 46 years of marriage — a period most recently marked by Werber’s role as caregiver. Werber organizes medications, prepares Brenda a cup of tea or hot chocolate, makes their bed in the morning, does laundry, purchases groceries and drives Brenda to and from West Penn Hospital for regular cancer treatment and blood work.

He often wears a green pin with the words “I hate cancer” above a black “Stronger Than Hate” T-shirt. In a sense, it’s become his signature garb. When he went to Harrisburg for a joint historic legislative session, he wore it. When he went to the City-County Building for a special proclamation regarding Oct. 27, he wore it. At press conferences, social gatherings and almost every function other than Shabbat services, Werber wears the pin and shirt. And he usually has a camera in hand.

Carrying that camera has allowed him to preserve much of what he’s seen this year: meetings with politicians, visits from foreign and domestic guests, reunification with the officers who rescued him, even complementary trips to the zoo for congregants from New Light, Dor Hadash and Tree of Life. Werber has tried to capture these moments and reduce them to images, while continuing to volunteer at Family House Shadyside, sing in choirs at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and at New Light, serve on the board of the congregation and attend meetings of the Zone 5 Police Organization and Stanton Heights Neighborhood Association.

Since Oct. 27, the almost endless engagements and interactions have demonstrated “how many people really care,” he said.

and Lymphoma Society, River Walk Corporate Centre, 333 East Carson St., Suite 441, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. schugar.com WEISBERGER: Richard William “Bill” Weisberger, 77 of Butler, Pennsylvania passed away Saturday, Oct. 26 , 2019 at his residence. Born June 25, 1942 in Steubenville, OH to the late Sidney and Alice (May) Weisberger. During his 44 year tenure at Butler County Community College, Bill taught European, American, and Western Civilization History, Sociology, and Biography. When called upon, he also taught Economics, Merchandizing, and the History of Medicine. He enjoyed helping students plan their future careers. Dr. Weisberger was a graduate of Steubenville High School. He received his BSFS at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and his MA in History from Duquesne University. Bill obtained his Ph.D. in Modern European and Intellectual History from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980. He achieved Full Professorship at BC3.

Bill was a 32nd Degree F&AM of Lodge #45 of Steubenville, OH. He belonged to the Aladdin Shriners, Scottish Rite Research Society and the Philalethes Society. He was

a publishing author and editor of numerous books on Modern European and Intellectual History, Masonic History, and on hundreds of biographical and journal entries. Bill liked to collect books, play bridge and tennis, swim, and watch baseball and football.

Surviving are his wife of 50 years, Patricia (Bernstein) Weisberger; daughter Carolyn W. Mendelson and her husband Marc, Pittsburgh; brother Phillip L. Weisberger and his wife Joyce, Carmel, IN; aunt Melva D Weisberger, Steubenville, OH; uncle Alfred Perlstein, CA; sister-in-law Ellen B. Barrett, Elkins Park, PA; also several nieces, nephews, and cousins. Mr. Weisberger was a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, PA. A Masonic Service and burial were held on Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 at the Chapel at Union Cemetery, 1720 Sunset Blvd., Steubenville, OH 43952. The family will be receiving visitors Sunday afternoon, November 3rd from 12:00 to 2:00 at the home of Marc and Carolyn Mendelson.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

Thompson-Miller Funeral Home, Inc., 124 E. North Street, Butler is assisting the family with arrangements. Online condolences may be made at Thompson-Miller.com. PJC

Even so, one observation helped reframe them all. Five months after the attack, Werber went to the JCC and heard Leger, a fellow survivor of the shooting, being asked about reentering the Tree of Life building. Leger said he would try and go back, “and that stuck with me,” said Werber. “I hadn’t been back in there.”

Werber had returned for Chanukah candle lighting and other outdoor services, but hadn’t entered since last p Barry Werber outside the Tree of Life building year’s attack. After listening Photo by Adam Reinherz to Leger, “I said to myself, ‘I can’t let the shooter have any control of my around New Light’s former sanctuary, a setting once consecrated by gatherings and life, or as little control as possible.”

Werber called Janet Cohen, of New songs. He headed toward the front and withLight, who made arrangements with Alan drew a photograph wrapped in plastic.

“I put the picture on the bimah, Richard’s Hausman, of Tree of Life. In April, Werber returned to the building with Hausman, picture, and I said a few words, a blessing of Brenda and his psychologist. some sort.” Werber then turned toward the Once inside, Werber made his way down- one place he still needed to see. “I went into stairs. On the left was the kitchen where that storeroom,” he said. “And this time, I left Stein used to prepare bagels, eggs and lox the doors open.” PJC for Sunday morning breakfasts. On the right Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ was the entrance where Perlman affixed a mezuzah. Werber walked in and looked pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

HIAS: Continued from page 6

not his intentions, he said. “It’s a really difficult line to walk and we’re really trying not to politicize it, but the fact of the matter is that we have to confront hate speech, and white supremacy and white nationalism and we need leadership to do that. And we’re not getting that national leadership and that matters. So, we don’t have a political agenda we have an anti-hate agenda.”

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Moving forward, it’d be helpful as a country to look to the Steel City’s example, noted Hetfield.

“Pittsburgh has been a real inspiration I think to the entire country in the way that they responded to this as one community, a unified community, beyond just the Jewish community,” he said. “If the entire country were like this I think we’d be in a different place, a much better place.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Community What’s afoot at CDS

Hands-on fun with YAD

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division hosted its first gettogether of the Explorin’ Pittsburgh club. Twenty-five young adults went to Soergel Orchards for apple picking and more.

p From left: Community Day School sixth-graders Sylvia Svoboda, Mollie Kaplan, Maya Gelman, Alia Rapport and Milana Greg have enjoyed their first season as Lions on the Middle School Soccer team.

p Event organizers Ariel Kline, Morgan Ingber and Marissa Karp

p Niv Friedman plays goalie. p How do you like them apples? t Bryon Miller, Rebecca Gruener and Robbie Gruener

Photos courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Pittsburgh’s shinshinim, from left, Guy Hoffman, Sivan Avhar, Itamar Medina and Tamar Nawy wear pink “To Life” shirts sold by Middle School Student Council to raise awareness about breast cancer and funds for research.

Photos courtesy of Community Day School

Physical and spiritual sustenance

p More than 250 students participated in Yom Kippur services and break-thefast at the University of Pittsburgh.

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p From left: Rayna Saltzman, Livy Mackey, Matt Jankowitz, Claire Lapat and Ariana Jacobs Photos courtesy of Chabad House on Campus

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 39

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