Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle October 20, 2017

P I T TS B U R G H

October 20, 2017 | 30 Tishre 5778

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Candlelighting 6:14 p.m. | Havdalah 7:12 p.m. | Vol. 60, No. 42 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Rabbis deliver various approaches to addressing gun control after Las Vegas

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A special kind of outreach Sara Stock Mayo offers funerary services to city’s Russian community.

Page 3 LOCAL

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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To trick or treat … or retreat

today both in terms of security and diplomacy,” he explained.

Before addressing each of the aforementioned areas, Dayan employed some humor.

While prefacing Sunday’s speech, which according to materials from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh was to center on “religious pluralism in Israel and the Diaspora; Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas; and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trips to Africa and Latin America, ore,” the former business executive quipped, “We are Jewish so we can’t avoid our complicated tradition of starting with the tsuris.”

Today, there are “three main strategic challenges facing Israel. One challenge is important, another is urgent, and the final is delicate. The important challenge is Iran; the urgent challenge is Iran; and the delicate challenge is Iran,” said Dayan.

The complications posed by Israel’s eastward adversary are that “Iran is not only

etween Yizkor, the holidays and the several Saturdays since the Las Vegas massacre on Oct. 1, ample opportunities have existed for local rabbis to address the recent tragedy and associated issues surrounding gun control. In driving home any messages to congregants, Steel City spiritual leaders have sermonized their thoughts, communicated through writing and elected to employ prayer as a particular vehicle.

“The shooting in Las Vegas hit too close to home. My uncle lives there. I have friends who live there,” said Rabbi Stacy Petersohn of Congregation Emanu-El in Greensburg in an email to congregants immediately following the shootings.

After spending much of the day on Oct. 2 locating each of her Las Vegas connections and ensuring their safety, Petersohn remaining unsettled. “That did not assuage the horror that once again a community in the United States was rocked to its core by gun violence,” said the rabbi.

“Seriously, what is there to say that hasn’t already been said after Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary, the Pulse Nightclub massacre, the Dallas sniper shootings, San Bernardino? On and on!” said Rabbi Mark Mahler of Temple Emanuel of South Hills. “You follow the news: This is almost a daily event. Tragic beyond words.”

The matter of gun control and concerns surrounding the Second Amendment have been previously addressed by Rabbi Alex Greenbaum of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. In making clear his interpretation to congregants, the rabbi has explained that based on various Talmudic and biblical sources, Judaism “supports gun control,” he

Please see Dayan, page 20

Please see Guns, page 20

 Counsel General Dani Dayan addresses Pittsburgh community members.

Photo by Jim Busis

Jewish views on ghoulish “holiday” are a quintessentially American mix.

Page 5 WORLD

Consul General of Israel in New York makes several stops in Pittsburgh

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

They’ve got a home in England

Jews flock to gritty town of Gateshead.

Page 17

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ani Dayan, the consul general of Israel in New York, recently made his Pittsburgh debut with speaking engagements throughout the city. On Sunday, Oct. 15, the Argentinian-born Israeli citizen addressed more than 50 community members at the Katz Theatre of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.

The following day, Dayan met with business-minded students from the TAMID chapter at the University of Pittsburgh, select student leaders from local college campuses and, later, with a larger group at the Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh.

The purpose of the consul general’s visit and multiple speaking engagements was to “answer the questions about Israel,” he said prior to Sunday evening’s event.

“There are many messages I wish to share, particularly a better understanding of Israel’s situation, about our challenges and opportunities and what we are doing

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LOCAL New book out on biblical garden

WORLD Solving Anne Frank mystery

WORLD Israel a friend to women clergy?

Headlines New book sows insights on Biblical Botanical Garden — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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alter Jacob’s newest book about Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden, “More Than Just Plants,” “comes rather belatedly,” admits Jacob, the congregation’s rabbi emeritus and senior scholar and longtime steward of the garden.

Although the Biblical Botanical Garden, established 30 years ago, inspired Jacob and his late wife Irene Jacob — who passed away in 2012 — to write several guidebooks about the garden they founded, this book is different, he said.

“It’s not a guide to the garden,” he said. “It’s a guide to the idea of the garden.”

Throughout its run, the one-third acre garden “has been well-supported by the congregation, with continuous attendance by the broader community,” Jacob said. “But I thought one of the things that was necessary was to explain more broadly the purpose of a biblical botanical garden, or a biblical garden altogether. So, that’s what this book tries to do: first of all, to put it in a historical setting of ancient Israel, but at the same time, to put it in a modern setting. What does the modern State of Israel look like from a horticultural point of view? It’s certainly totally different from 2,000 or 3,000 years ago.”

“More Than Just Plants” reads as part history tome, part horticulture manuscript and part mindfulness manual.

“For a lot of people, the garden is a place for meditation,” Jacob noted. “And that’s important and often neglected. Lots of people don’t want a tour, they don’t want to look at labels. They just want to sit there and think.”

The Biblical Botanical Garden displays

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more than 100 temperate and tropical plants and seeks to replicate the land of Israel in both shape and topography. It has a cascading waterfall, a desert, a bubbling stream and the “Jordan River.” Biblical plants are featured as well as those not native to Israel, such as local plants with biblical names like “Moses in the Basket.”

Jacob has been wholly involved in most every aspect of the garden, from weeding, to giving the occasional tour.

“It’s worked out quite well for most of our visitors,” he said. “If you give them a chance and talk to them a little bit, you begin to interest them in a totally different world.

“Loads of visitors come from out of town, and some make this one of their primary destinations,” he continued. “I try to greet them if they’ve come all that way.”

His new book, he said, was intended to help celebrate the garden’s anniversary.

“We needed something to commemorate 30 years,” he said. “After all, 30 years of picking weeds is a long time.”

This year, a new associate director, Helena Nichols, was added to the garden staff to give a hand to Jacob, who frequently travels to Germany where he teaches at the Abraham Geiger College, the first rabbinical seminary in the heart of Europe since the Holocaust.

Jacob co-founded the Geiger College in 1998.

Before Nichols came on board, “every

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 Water lilies float in the headwaters of the “River Jordan” in Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Biblical Botanical Garden.

Photo by Geoffrey W. Melada

morning, before the garden was open — and even when it wasn’t open on weekends — I was there to make sure it looks nice, first of all, and to make sure the water system which you are counting on really works. So, I was here almost every morning before 7:30 and 8.”

While the garden has “developed as a place for outdoor services,” and for concerts, it is a priority for Jacob — and now Nichols — to “make sure the basic function of the garden is not overlooked,” he said, adding that is one of the reasons why weddings are not permitted in the garden. Wedding guests tend to be “uncontrollable,” and plants could be at risk of being trampled.

Jacob, 87, is still a prolific writer. So far, he was written 43 books and is in the process of publishing a new one called “The Modern Child and Jewish Law.” “I keep writing books, and so did Irenie,” he smiled. “It’s a disease. And

there’s no recovery.”

The intended audience for “More Than Just Plants” — which is published by Rodef Shalom Press — is local, he said.

“That’s why I didn’t go with this book, or any of the other books, with a major publisher,” he said. Jacob wanted to keep the cost low so that the many visitors from garden clubs would not find the price an obstacle to purchasing the book.

At $15, “More Than Just Plants” is available at Rodef Shalom, as well as through Amazon and other online booksellers.

From its inception, the garden has not been part of the congregational budget, and for years, the Jacobs covered much of the costs associated with it themselves, supplemented by occasional donations. Now, an endowment fund has been established to insure the garden continues to grow well into the future. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Sara Stock Mayo thoughtfully serves Russian Jewish community — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

S

ara Stock Mayo has surpassed a cultural hurdle without even speaking a word of Russian. Despite an obvious language barrier, for the past 18 months, Mayo, an American-born drama therapist, musician and chaplain, has officiated at funerals for members of the Russian Jewish community.

“Many of the people who have reached out to me have no specific connection with a synagogue or rabbi,” explained Mayo, who was a cantorial soloist for Temple Sinai for 11 years.

“When I basically became a free agent, Schugar’s [Ralph Schugar Chapel] called and asked, ‘Do you still do funerals?’ Based on my background, they knew that I could sing or do a eulogy; their question was whether I was interested in that line of work.”

Mayo indicated that she was and shortly thereafter began receiving referrals from the Shadyside-based funeral home.

“I started just doing several of them and got to know some people in the community,” she said.

Through word of mouth, news of Mayo’s abilities spread. What followed was an appreciation for how the Russian-speaking community existed in relation to the wider Jewish

community. The Steel City Judaism but from a synaresident remembered 1980s gogue standpoint, not necessynagogues across Pittssarily so,” said Mayo. burgh displaying, “Save Over the past year and a Soviet Jewry” signage. half, the now soloist at Beth She also recalled “tons of El and Temple David has Russian families” from her sought to learn more about college days working at the the other community she Jewish Community Center sometimes serves. of Greater Pittsburgh’s Noar “To me, people’s personal and Bogrim summer camps. stories are interesting, p Sara Stock Mayo The movement to save Courtesy photo that’s kind of what you do and welcome Soviet Jews in a funeral, tell someone’s was successful in certain regards but failed personal story,” she said. in other aspects, she explained.

From these endeavors, Mayo has discov“We did so much stuff to get Russian Jews to ered harrowing tales of perseverance and America, but I don’t know what they did once sacrifice. She learned of people who survived they got here. In the years I’ve worked in syna- Chernobyl, highly educated individuals who gogue life, I haven’t seen many Russian families.” gave up touted professions abroad to work However, such inconspicuousness should at Eat’n Park here and even others whose not be mistaken for inexistence, explained dream of coming to America was driven by a desire to own a car and possess the freedom Mayo. “It’s a very tightknit community.”

Rabbi Sharyn Henry of Rodef Shalom to take it wherever they wished.

“To me, it’s the greatest thing to learn about Congregation agreed.

“It’s interesting that the Russian Jewish people’s lives,” she said, “and I’m certainly no community stayed together and didn’t expert, I would like to learn more.”

From her various involvements, the singer, really mix in with the [wider] Pittsburgh Jewish community,” noted the rabbi, who who is also spiritual leader and managing has performed various lifecycle events director of Pittsburgh Playback Theatre, for members of Pittsburgh’s Russian admits that she is not entirely certain as Jewish community. to “what role religion or God play in the “We did a very good job financially inte- community.” Nevertheless, even when grating them into the communal aspect of Russian Jews request a funeral devoid of

traditional practices such as the Kaddish or El Malei Rachamim, Mayo is more concerned with providing Jewish service than Jewish services.

“Anyway that we can help people who are suffering, it’s our duty to.”

Such is why Mayo performs funerals for those with whom she deeply differs in religious views.

“For me, even though it’s not a Jewish funeral, it’s a Jewish act,” she said.

There is also the personal element involved.

“My family is from Russia. I am a third-generation American; we’ve been here for a long time,” Mayo said. “I don’t know a lot about that part of my family’s history, but when I do a funeral for a family and am surrounded by a family speaking Russian, there is some shtetl mentality that seems to make sense to me.”

Along with the narratives and knowledge uncovered, serving this niche has generated growth, added Mayo.

“Particularly as Jews, often we are coming from a situation of privilege, and we are not always experienced to feel what it is to be the other, even though we are,” she said. “What these experiences have caused me to do is ask myself, ‘Among our own people, how can we do that better?’” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Genealogical research can lead to self-discovery — and a lot more Facebook friends — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

W

hile studying abroad in Russia one semester, Stephanie Wright had no clue why people kept asking her if she had Russian heritage. Wright, who was born in Oregon and was enrolled at Brigham Young University-Idaho at the time, and was a practicing Mormon, had been told by her family that her ancestors were from Norway. Still, she admits, she felt an unusual sense of “being at home” while in Russia.

Now she knows why.

The results of a DNA test Wright took while tracing her family tree for a college class in 2012 left her “speechless.”

“The test came back mostly Ashkenazi,” 25 percent compared with only 20 percent Norwegian, said Wright, who is now at Chatham University getting her master’s in food studies.

“I didn’t know what to do with the results,” she said.

Wright, whose parents had never married and who had been raised by her maternal grandmother, called AncestryDNA, which had done the DNA analysis, to confirm the results.

“They said, ‘Yes, there is definitely a Jew at

p Stephanie Wright and her grandmother, Lynda Biersdorf, wear matching Star of David necklaces.

They have both embraced Judaism as a result of genealogical research.

Photo provided by Stephanie Wright

your table,’” Wright recalled.

Having grown up without really knowing her father’s side of the family, she decided then to “jump in and do genealogy,” she said.

“I wanted to find my family.”

What she found was that her paternal grandmother was Jewish, information that had never been shared with Wright’s father and that her ancestors came from Russia,

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Photo provided by Steve Jaron

Romania, Poland and Ukraine. And she found Jewish cousins, with whom she remains in contact, who live in Israel.

But perhaps the most life-changing consequence of her discovery is that she, her father and her paternal grandmother all have come to embrace their Jewish heritage, with Wright currently in the conversion process. She attends services at Temple Sinai and events

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Please see Genealogy, page 21

Tuesday, October 24, 6:30 pm • Rodef Shalom

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p Steve Jaron, left, poses with his newly found double fifth cousin, Benjamin Duenas, from Santiago, Chile.

sponsored by J’Burgh and Moishe House.

Wright, now a firm believer in the power of genealogy research, is the outreach coordinator of the newly launched Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh, which will have its first meeting on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 10:30 a.m. at the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center on Smallman Street.

The event, called “Family at Your Fingertips,” will have presenters discuss current tools for genealogical research, including DNA testing, online resources for vital records and newspaper entries.

Wright said she hopes the group can be a resource for those who have always known they are Jewish to help gather records of their family and also to assist those who have recently discovered their Jewish roots “put the pieces together.”

Steve Jaron, the group’s current president, said that JGSP had a previous incarnation about a decade ago, but dissolved. Although there are many genealogical groups in Western Pennsylvania for various communities and ethnicities, Jaron wanted to re-launch the JGSP to put the focus on Jewish roots.

“Our history is different in the U.S. and abroad,” said Jaron, 38. “Our history and

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Saturday, November 4, 7:30 PM Kick off Rabbi Jamie Gibson’s 30th year with

a special MUSICAL CELEBRATION featuring: • Special guest Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller • Area cantors and soloists • A local church choir • Jewish music by notable composers

Andrew W. Gurman, MD Immediate Past President of the American Medical Association

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Headlines Halloween: Trick or treat, or just sit it out?

— LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

F

or some, it’s an excuse to have those miniature chocolate bars lying around the house. For others, it’s a reason to adorn their home with carved pumpkins and phony spider webs, or to throw a party with kitschy spooky music and guests donning clever costumes.

And for most American children — even Jewish children — Halloween is a much-anticipated autumn highlight, affording them the opportunity to dress up, roam neighborhood streets with their friends and collect treats which they then hoard and guard in the days that follow like precious gems.

Despite Halloween’s likely pagan and religious roots, it continues to be embraced by Jews as simply an evening to have some fun.

But not everyone agrees that the holiday should be celebrated, at least not full-throttle.

Halloween is believed to have begun with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, “when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts,” according to History.com. “In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the JC ReSound AM traditions of Family_Eartique Samhain. The 5/23/17 evening10:03 before

was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween.”

“The basis of the holiday is of course religious,” noted Walter Jacob, rabbi emeritus and senior scholar at Rodef Shalom Congregation. “But it has gone so far away from that, my guess is that almost anybody on the street that you asked would say, ‘What are you talking about?’”

So, is it inappropriate for a Jewish child to trick-or-treat?

“No,” the Reform rabbi chuckled. “But from a dental point of view, yes.”

Neither should members of a Jewish household feel they necessarily must abstain from passing out candy to the children in their neighborhood, according to Jacob.

“It’s become a folk holiday,” he explained.

“It has nothing to do with the origin at all, and it’s really a children’s holiday, and it’s a lovely children’s holiday.”

Jonathan Perlman, spiritual leader of New Light Congregation, which identifies with the Conservative movement, also views Halloween as “a fun American holiday for Page 1 children, ” but does think that Jews should

not participate in celebrating the macabre aspects of the holiday.

“I have no objection to giving out candy, or having children getting dressed up and getting candy from the neighbors,” Perlman said. “But I draw the line at decorating your home and holding parties for Halloween because I think we shouldn’t take it all that seriously because of what it represents — ghoulishness and death.”

In Jewish culture, Perlman said, there is no “day to celebrate death, which is essentially what Halloween is. In Judaism, there is no place for that. We have our own expressions we should be proud of.”

It’s “ironic,” Perlman continued, that Sukkot generally falls within close proximity to Halloween.

“Sukkot is a celebration of life and gratitude to God,” he observed. “I’d rather see our community celebrate Sukkot and have parties to celebrate Sukkot and life rather than celebrate something ghoulish and celebrate the hereafter.”

Although he permitted his own daughters to trick-or-treat, they never wore costumes

associated with death, but rather generally went the princess route, he noted.

While Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum, spiritual leader of Chabad of the South Hills, “is neighborly in many ways” to his predominately non-Jewish neighbors in Mt. Lebanon, he and his family generally try to avoid Halloween “by not being home, or keeping the lights off,” he said.

When there is the occasional knock at the door, “we explain very respectfully that it is not part of our tradition,” he said.

Like Perlman, Rosenblum pointed to a Jewish holiday as being a more appropriate day for children to embrace. Purim, he noted, celebrates “light, joy and happiness,” rather than the darkness of Halloween.

“Purim originates from our sources and is more understandable and relatable to children,” Rosenblum said.

While he acknowledged that Halloween “no longer is religious in nature,” it did have its roots in paganism, “and the Torah says to stay away from those things.”

“When we celebrate anything,” Rosenblum continued, “we look for some sort of inspiration. With the skeletons and the ghosts and the goblins, what’s the message? I don’t get it.

“This is one that we sit out, just for these reasons,” he said. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Calendar q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8 The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh will hold a luncheon with Ambassador Thomas Pickering from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Duquesne Club, Main Room, 325 Sixth Ave. Pickering served more than four decades as a U.S. diplomat. He last served as under secretary of state for political affairs and has served as ambassador to the United Nations, Russian Federation, India, Israel and Jordan, and holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador. This event is presented in partnership with the Iran Project. Visit worldpittsburgh.org/event/10299/ for more information and to register. PJC q THURSDAY, OCT. 19 The ninth annual Celebrating Senior Champions will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Rick Sebak is master of ceremonies. Honorees include Community Champion Karen Wolk Feinstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation; and Grand Champion Arthur S. Levine, M.D., University of Pittsburgh senior vice chancellor for the Health Sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine. Make reservations by Oct. 5 at upmc.com/celebratingseniorchampions or by calling Lynn Orbin at 412-864-3521.

Love & Knaidels: Cooking for a Cause. Join other women to prepare homemade food for Keren Racheim, a local organization that helps families with some of their basic needs including food for Shabbat, at 7 p.m. at Chabad of the South Hills, 1701 McFarland Road. Contact lydiablank@gmail.com for more information.

Jewish National Fund partner, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, will make a presentation during the University of Pittsburgh’s International Week from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 548 William Pitt Union. This educational session for students, open to community members, will inform participants about the cross-cultural community and environmental studies research at the Arava Institute, where Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and global students investigate and collaborate on solutions to environmental challenges. This event will feature two alumni of the Arava Institute — one from an Israeli background and one from an Arab background who came together to study trans-boundary environmental issues at the Arava Institute.

Visit internationalweek.secure.pitt.edu/ crossing-borders-environmental-cooperationisrael-and-palestine for more information.

Four members of the Pittsburgh 10+ have been selected to be a part of the biennial Women in Art juried exhibit opening on Thursday, Oct. 19 at the Harlan Gallery, Seton

Hill University, Seton Hill Arts Center, 205 W. Otterman St. in Greensburg. The opening and artists’ reception will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The exhibit runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 21.

Pittsburgh 10 + members included in the Women in Art exhibit are Lila HirschBrody (who teaches painting at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh), Kathy DePasse, Phiris (Kathy) Sickels and Susan Sparks. These four women are professional artists with extensive exhibition experience.

The works are contemporary in character and run the gamut from abstract expressionism to realism and represent unique perspectives, including painting and mixed media.

Contact Susan Sparks at 724-575-0210 or suzi.sparks@gmail.com for more information. q FRIDAY, OCT. 20 I-Volunteer is a partnership between the Jewish Federation Volunteer Center and the Friendship Circle. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 of all abilities combine entertainment with community service in a comfortable social setting. Each month, the Friendship Circle partners with a different young adult organization including Repair the World, Shalom Pittsburgh, J’Burgh, Hillel JUC and Moishe House. Together, they perform meaningful work within the Pittsburgh community. In collaboration with the partner organizations, this year’s I-Volunteer series will start with a Shabbat dinner at Friendship Circle, 1922 Murray Ave. Register at bit.ly/2gJMGlq. Include any dietary needs in the comments.

q SATURDAY, OCT. 21 Travel with Classrooms Without Borders to Gnadenhutten, Ohio to see how genocide has taken place in our own backyard. Learn about the history of a town that was witness to a large massacre of Native Americans in 1782. For more information and to RSVP, visit is.gd/bgkI6n. q SUNDAY, OCT. 22 News, Jews and Views, A Conversation with Bari Weiss at the Jewish Community Fall Foundation Event at 10 a.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation. The program will feature a conversation between Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation scholar, and Bari Weiss, editor and writer for The New York Times op-ed section.

Brunch will be served, dietary laws observed.

This is a non-solicitation event. RSVP by Oct. 16 at jfedpgh.org/foundation-fall-event.

Contact Patti Dziekan at 412-992-5221 or pdziekan@jfedpgh.org for more information.

Children’s Village Open House. Join Classrooms Without Borders for an informative and engaging afternoon focused on its 2018 Children’s Village Seminar. During the open house, attendees can hear from a guest speaker, review an outline of the itinerary, gain an understanding of costs involved and ask questions. 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation. To learn more and to RSVP, visit is.gd/6jdBh7.

Please see Calendar, page 7

NA’AMAT USA, PITTSBURGH COUNCIL Invites you to

The Annual Spiritual Adoption/Scholarship Fundraising Dinner Honoring Marcia J. Weiss National Vice President and Board Member Past Council President

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 • 6:30 p.m.

Samuel and Minnie Hyman Ballroom Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon Street RSVP to Jackie Braslawsce, 412-521-5253 or email naamatpgh@hotmail.com Reception: 6:30 p.m.

Dinner: 7:30 p.m.

Dietary Laws Observed

$360 Minimum Contribution $100 First Time Attendee Contribution $40 Dinner per person

– COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS – Gloria Elbling Gottleib, Carole Wolsh and Julian Elbling President - Lisa Steindel

Executive Director - Jackie Braslawsce

NA’AMAT USA Pittsburgh Council Spiritual Adoption Campaign provides financial and emotional support for the children of Israel, from newborn babies to university graduates. When you spiritually “adopt” a child through NA’AMAT USA Pittsburgh Council, you are providing the funds necessary to send a child in Israel to one of the world renowned NA’AMAT Daycare Centers. There, our young ones are fed three hot meals a day and are nurtured by our specially trained staff of teachers and counselors.

For older students unable to matriculate in the regular school system, NA’AMAT offers our Technological and Residential High Schools to help them navigate new educational challenges. With your help, NA’AMAT students are provided an excellent education which contributes to their self-esteem. They learn to succeed and to become productive citizens of the Israel we cherish.

x

A voice for women and children—A voice for Israel

6 OCTOBER 20, 2017

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Calendar Calendar: Continued from page 6 Moishe House Gets Moving: Aerial Silks Party, 3:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Learn aerial silks in a private class at Pittsburgh Aerial Silks just for MoHo. Come to the house at 3:15 p.m. for rides, or meet us at the Pittsburgh Aerial Silks & Pittsburgh Dance Center, 4517 Liberty Ave. at 4 p.m. Space is limited, so register at facebook.com/events/349646855459961/.

The Rodef Shalom Sisterhood movie series will screen an Israeli film, “The Band’s Visit,” which won multiple awards in Israel for 2007, including best film by the Israeli Film Academy. The film is a comedy set in a small Israeli village where nothing ever happens until a very straight-laced Egyptian band called the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra becomes accidently lost on its way to an Arab cultural festival for 24 hours with no place else to go until the next day.

The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Levy Hall. The film is in Hebrew and English and also has subtitles. “The Band’s Visit” is now a Broadway musical at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York.

The film is open to the community at no charge and will be followed by light refreshments. q MONDAY, OCT. 23 Celebrating 70 Years of Israel. Ghaida Rinawi Zoabi talks on Israeli Arabs in the Jewish state and the screening of “77 Steps.”

Visit jfedpgh.org or contact Eric Probola at

412-992-5247 or eprobola@jfedpgh.org to register and for more information. q TUESDAY, OCT. 24 The Jewish Association on Aging will discuss “Healthcare: The Great Debate” at 6:30 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation. The event is free to the public. The event is part of the JAA annual meeting. The panel will include Dr. Andrew W. Gurman, the immediate past president of the American Medical Association; Martin Gaynor, Ph.D., E.J. Barone Professor of Economics and Health Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and the former director of economics at the Federal Trade Commission; and Daphna Gans, Ph.D., from UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research. Karen Wolk Feinstein, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, will moderate.

Some of the issues being discussed include what the recent executive orders mean to the future of the Affordable Care Act; what can happen to premiums under the administration’s new policies; where does Medicare and Medicaid stand now; and what can average Americans do to get their voices heard about what sort of health coverage they want in the future. Contact Beverly Brinn at bbrinn@jaapgh. org or 412-521-2586 for more information. q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25 NA’AMAT USA Pittsburgh Council will hold its annual spiritual adoption scholarship dinner honoring Marcia J. Weiss at Congregation Beth Shalom. The 6:30 p.m. reception will be followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. Dietary laws observed. There is a charge.

Contact Jackie Braslawsce at 412-303-5769 or 412-521-5253 or naamatpgh@gmail.org for reservations and more information.

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills invites the community for a thoughtprovoking evening on the political climate with Mt. Lebanon high school teacher and radio journalist George Savarese. The evening begins with a wine and cheese reception at 7 p.m., followed by the talk from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. and a Q&A to conclude.

Beth El’s Adult Education Committee presents these evenings with no charge to the community. Visit bethelcong.org for more information and to RSVP in advance, or call 412-561-1168. Beth El is located on 1900 Cochran Road.

Root of Peace: A Jewish Settler and Palestinian Activist in Dialogue is an evening with two Roots activists, Antwan Saca, a Palestinian Christian, and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, an Israeli settler, who tell their personal stories in seeking peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis. 7 p.m. at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 North Highland Ave. This event is free, but preregistration is requested.

Roots is a grassroots Palestinian and Israeli initiative for understanding, nonviolence and transformation. They work in Israel and the United States for education, dialogue and action in service of peace with dignity for all.

Co-sponsored with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania. Contact 412-4413304, ext. 2196, or rmenard@pts.edu for more information.

q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25 –

SUNDAY, OCT. 29

Film Pittsburgh announced the full lineup for the first annual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival — five days celebrating the best contemporary short films from around the globe. This year’s lineup features 90 short films from 20 countries, including narratives, documentaries and animated films. The Festival takes place at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. Tickets and schedule information are available at FilmPittsburgh.org. q THURSDAY, OCT. 26 Helen Faye Rosenbloom, writer, teacher and community reviewer, will review “Forest Dark”

by Nicole Krauss at 10:30 a.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation. The book is about Jewish identity and the relationships between generations.

Four hundred women will be mixing, kneading and braiding 800 challahs at Congregation Beth Shalom during Chabad of Pittsburgh’s Mega Challah Bake, which will be one of more than 400 such events taking place in hundreds of cities all over the world. The Mega Challah Bake is the kick-off to the Shabbat Project, a global, grassroots movement to bring together Jews from around the world to celebrate one complete Shabbat. The event is open to women and girls ages 12 and above.

Reservations can be made at megachallahpgh. com and are required by Oct. 21.

Please see Calendar, page 8

Rodef Shalom Congregation 4905 F I F T H AV E N U E • P I T T S B U R G H , PA Solomon B. Freehof Book and Author Series

Rodef Shalom Congregation invites you to attend the 83rd year of the Solomon B. Freehof Book and Author Series.

Kristallnacht 2017 From Berlin to Pittsburgh: One Family’s Story A multi-generational, multimedia evening focused on the story of a German-Jewish immigrant to Pittsburgh, Eric Moses, and his family members who remained in Berlin.

Thursday, November 9, 6pm Heinz History Center Event is free and open to the public Learn more and register: www.jfedpgh.org/kristallnacht or call 412-939-7289

Rabbi Danial Schiff, Foundation Scholar, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (The panel discussion is cosponsored by the Faith Weinstein Book and Author Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.)

There will be no charge to attend these events, and everyone is welcome.

Refreshments will be served before the Thursday review and after each Sunday event.

The Solomon B. Freehof Book and Author Series is sponsored by the Sisterhood.

Rauh Jewish Archive

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Thursday, October 26, 2017 Helen Fay Rosenbloom, writer, teacher, 10:30am and community reviewer will review “Forest Dark” by Nicole Krauss.

This book is about Jewish identity and the relationship between generations.

(Nicole Krause is the ex-wife of Jonathan Safron Foer.)

Sunday, November 5, 2017 Panel discussion based on the book “Option B: 7:00pm Facing Adversity, Building Resistance, and Finding Joy” by Cheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant The panel will be moderated by Rabbi Sharyn Henry, Rodef Shalom Congregation.

The panel will consist of: Rabbi Aaron Bisno, Rodef Shalom Congregation Rabbi James Gibson, Temple Sinai

Teri Cowan, Karen Hochberg, Ellen Primis, Co-chairs Jan Shaw, President, Rodef Shalom Sisterhood

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OCTOBER 20, 2017 7

Calendar Calendar: Continued from page 7

South Hills College Connections is an opportunity for South Hills high school students and their parents to explore the many and varied opportunities for Jewish life on and around college campuses.

Professional representatives from the Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and John Carroll University in Cleveland, as well as students from the University of Pittsburgh, will hold an interactive presentation with a Q&A. Snacks and refreshments will be provided; dietary laws observed. The event is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mt. Lebanon Public Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. There is no charge. South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh is organizing the program.

Visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/event/ south-hills-college-connections/ for more information. q FRIDAY, OCT. 27 Itzhak Brook, M.D., will speak at Shabbat services on at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 1250 Bower Hill Road in Mt. Lebanon. Brook will present “The Yom Kippur War — A Doctor’s Memories from the Battle Front.”

He is an adjunct professor of pediatrics and medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, specializing in infectious diseases.

All are welcome to the worship service, followed by an oneg.

Chabad of Pittsburgh invites the community to Keeping It Together, celebrating Shabbat with thousands of Jews around the globe. It begins at 6 p.m. with candle lighting followed

by Kabbalat Shabbat and a special children’s program. Shabbat dinner is at 6:30 p.m.; there is a charge. Visit chabadpgh.com or email info@chabadpgh.com for more information.

Secular Purim: Moishe House Does Halloween, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. It’s the sixth annual Halloween party, and costumes are required for a night of candy, drinks and shenanigans. Snacks and some drinks provided, but contributions are always appreciated. All are welcome, so feel free to bring friends, partners, personal heroes, etc. Message a resident or the page if you need the address. facebook.com/ events/834161526742876/ q SUNDAY, OCT. 29 Kollel Jewish Learning Center presents Women’s Health Expo Heart And Soul from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Robinson Building. Enjoy a healthy breakfast and informative sessions with featured speakers.

There is a charge. Contact stacie@kollelpgh.org to make reservations or for more information.

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh will host Family at Your Fingertips from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rauh Jewish Archives Detre Library, 6th floor Reading Room in the Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St. in the Strip District. Admission is free. Presenters will discuss current trends in genealogical research such as DNA testing, online resources for vital records, burials, naturalizations and newspaper entries and ways to share and collect information, all from one’s personal computer.

The mission of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh is to provide a means for members and the community at large to reconnect with

8 OCTOBER 20, 2017

their Jewish roots in Southwestern Pennsylvania as well as in the countries and regions in which their families previously lived. Contact pghjgs@ gmail.com for more information.

Immediately following this event at 1 p.m. will be a presentation by Rabbi Barbara Aiello on Italian Jews during World War II. As the Nazi Holocaust took the lives of 6 million Jews across Europe, a different story played out in Italy. According to most estimates, around 80 percent of Italy’s Jews survived the war. What accounts for the Jewish survival rate in Fascist Italy?

In her lecture, Aiello will focus on the southern region of Calabria, where she serves as rabbi of Congregation Ner Tamid del Sud. Calabria was home to Italy’s largest concentration camp, Ferramonti, where 4,000 Jews were interned. Extraordinarily, only four Jews perished in Ferramonti from an Allied bombing raid. Aiello will share stories of the Calabrian villagers and other Italians who protected their Jewish neighbors at great personal risk at 1 p.m. at the Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St. There is a charge.

The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives is the event organizer. Visit heinzhistorycenter. org/events/italian-jews-world-war-ii for more information.

The Beth El Sisterhood and Westminster Presbyterian Church will host the second interfaith program in the South Hills at 2 p.m. Eight women, representing Buddhism, Catholicism, Greek Orthodox, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism and Protestantism, will be part of the program, which will include a reading for peace, music, a question-answer period and a general prayer for peace, to be followed by a light dessert. The program will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair and is open to the community. q MONDAY, OCT. 30 The annual AIPAC Pittsburgh program and dessert will be at 7:30 p.m. at Embassy Suites Pittsburgh, 535 Smithfield St., with guest speaker Mike Rogers, a former member of Congress from Michigan. Reservations are required by Oct. 15. There is a charge; dietary rules observed. RSVP at 410-223-4190 or aipac.org/Pittsburgh.

OneTable is relishing the moment and presenting an event aimed at teaching the history, benefits, and processes to make all things pickled. OneTable’s chef, Sara Fatell, national community manager, is teaching the master class on both lacto-fermented and vinegar fermented foods and their places in Judaism, as well as in our diets. Guests at this first official Nosh:pitality with OneTable will start custom jars of pickles and kraut to take home, while also gaining skills that can be used to pickle anything and everything. The night includes dinner and drinks. OneTable is a social dining platform for Jews in their 20s and 30s that enables individuals to cultivate a Shabbat dinner practice.

From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Repair the World Workshop. Contact Carolyn Slayton at cslayton@jfedpgh.org or 412-9925263 or visit shalompittsburgh.org for more information. q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 The Zionist Organization of America will honor Lou Weiss with its Lifetime Achievement Award during ZOA’s annual tribute dinner and will also present two other distinguished members of the community with awards. Adrienne Indianer

will receive the Israel Service Award for her love and support of the State of Israel. The Ivan and Natalie Novick Community Leadership Award will be presented to Ira Frank for his work with ZOA and other organizations emulating the Novicks, who were ardent Zionists. For information and reservations, call ZOA Executive Director Stuart Pavilack at 412-665-4630. q THURSDAY, NOV. 2 Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania has published a collection of sermons, articles, and other writings by local preachers. “I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me: Southwest Pennsylvania Preaches on Refugees and Immigration” brings together the work of 13 local Christian and Jewish clergy who address immigration from a biblical perspective. It is available for free download at casp.org/sermons; paper copies will be available soon for a nominal fee.

The sermons will inspire conversation at an event co-sponsored by Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement and All for All from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the JCC’s Robinson Building in Squirrel Hill. Preregistration for the free event is appreciated, though not required, by visiting casp.org/immigrantconversation. q THURSDAY – SUNDAY, NOV. 3-5 National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh Section will hold its 47th Designer Days fundraiser at Thriftique, 125 51st St., NCJW’s upscale, resale store located in Lawrenceville. Abundant free parking is available in the plaza lot. Buy tickets at is.gd/LttIkc. q SUNDAY – MONDAY, NOV. 5-6 Going Beyond Memory, a conference on synagogue archiving, will be held at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Visit americanjewisharchives.org for more information and to register.

The Art of Grieving: Exploring One of Life’s Inevitable Experiences at 7 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. Join Sheila K. Collins, Ph.D. as she shares her perspective on love, loss and healing. Visit rodefshalom.org/collins for tickets. The first 20 people to RSVP will receive a signed copy of Sheila’s award-winning book “Warrior Mother: Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss and the Rituals that Heal.” Books will also be available for purchase the evening of the event. Visit SheilaKCollins.com for more information about Collins. The event cost is $15/public and free for Rodef Shalom members. q FRIDAY, NOV. 10 Shabbat Around the World, an Israeli-style Shabbat dinner, will be held at 6 p.m. at Chabad of the South Hills, 1701 McFarland Road. Call 412-344-2424 for reservations. The event website is chabadsh.com; the cost is $18/individual, $54/family max. q SUNDAY, NOV. 12 The third annual Jewish Comedy Adult Night Out will be at 7:30 p.m. at Hollywood Theater, 1449 Potomac Ave., featuring Avi Liberman, who has performed on the CBS “Late Late Show” with Craig Ferguson and the Comedy Central network. Drinks and appetizers will be available. For more information and registration, contact chabadsh.com or mussie@chabadsh.com or 412-344-2424.

Event organizer is Chabad of the South Hills.

The cost is $18 before Oct. 22 and $25 after. q TUESDAY, NOV. 14 Jewish National Fund Western Pennsylvania, Tree of Life Award Dinner. 6 p.m. cocktails, 7 p.m. dinner honoring Greta and Art Rooney II at Omni William Penn Hotel. Contact JNF at 412-521-3200 for more information.

Chabad of the South Hills will hold its lunch for seniors at noon. The Mt. Lebanon Police Department will hold a safety presentation on Frauds, Cons and Scams at 1701 McFarland Road. Contact barb@chabadsh.com or visit chabadsh.com for more information. There is a $5 suggested donation.

q MONDAY, NOV. 6 Community Day School Class of 2018 families invite the community for Comedy & Cake featuring comedian Benji Lovitt from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 6424 Forward Ave. There will also be an auction and dessert. The program will help raise funds to send the CDS eighth grade graduating class to Israel in the spring. RSVP and pay online at comday.org/ CDSIsrael. Contact Jenny Jones at jjones@ comday.org or 412-521-1100, ext. 3207, for more information.

q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 15

As part of Beth El Congregation’s First Mondays Series, Dan Kamin will discuss “Charlie Chaplin’s Red Letter Days” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; lunch is from 11:30 a.m. to noon.

Kamin is a mime artist and Chaplin expert who trained Robert Downey Jr. for his Oscarnominated performance in “Chaplin.” There is a $6 fee for this program. RSVP in advance at bethelcong.org or 412-651-1168 by Nov. 3.

The Translation Fellowship Program is part of the Yiddish Book Center’s translation initiative to train and mentor a new generation of Yiddish translators and publish newly translated works. Up to 10 translation fellows will be selected to receive yearlong mentorship and training to complete booklength projects in Yiddish translation.

Each fellow will receive a grant of $5,000 and will attend three two-day workshops at the Center to workshop his or her writing in a rigorous collaborative environment led by seasoned literary translators and other experts in the field. Applications are due Nov. 15. Contact Sebastian Schulman at translationfellowship@yiddishbookcenter.org or visit yiddishbookcenter.org/translationfellowship for more information.

q THURSDAY, NOV. 9

q SUNDAY, NOV. 19

Temple David will present a Kristallnacht Commemoration and Holocaust Memorial Dedication at 7 p.m. at 4415 Northern Pike, Monroeville. For additional information, contact the Temple office at 412-362-1200.

Author Dorit Sasson will speak about her service with the Israel Defense Forces and her book “Accidental Soldier” at Parkway Jewish Center, 300 Princeton Drive. The program will be followed by brunch and an early opportunity to shop at the Sisterhood’s Chanukah Gift shop.

Contact PJC parkwayjc@verizon.net or 412-8234338 for the time and more information. PJC

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

KKK drops anti-Semitic fliers in Florida neighborhoods The Ku Klux Klan dropped anti-Semitic and racist fliers in Jacksonville, Fla., neighborhoods in a recruiting pitch.

The fliers contain a phone number linked to a recording that attempts to recruit members.

ABC-First Coast News reported Oct. 10 that the content of the fliers, which have been dropped in recent weeks, has increased in vitriol, including specific threats.

One flier reads: “He who fights the Jew fights the Devil,” citing the Nazi children’s book publisher Julius Streicher, and shows a good Jew as one with a bullet in his forehead.

Another says “Smash Jew Communism.”

The racist fliers threaten African-Americans who are caught “making eyes” at white women.

The Jacksonville Sheriff ’s Office told the local media it is investigating the fliers.

U.S. doctor working in Israeli field hospital injured by Syrian gunfire An American doctor working in an Israeli field hospital on the Golan Heights was injured by gunfire from Syria.

The doctor, who was not named, was treating Syrians wounded in the country’s long-running civil war as part of an Israeli military program when he was hurt Oct. 10, according

to the Israel Defense Forces. The doctor was treated at the scene. The field hospital is located adjacent to the Syrian border.

The gunfire is believed to be accidental spillover from fighting in the civil war, though the incident is under investigation, according to the IDF. Dozens of mortar and gunfire from Syria has landed in Israel, most on the Golan Heights, during the fighting.

The IDF has responded to most of the incidents with return fire.

More than 4,000 people from the Syria fighting have been brought to Israel to receive medical treatment, among them hundreds of children, the IDF said. The military also transfers medicine, supplies and equipment, as well as food to Syrians across the border.

Jewish prisoners in Michigan sue for kosher meals Jewish prisoners in Michigan are seeking class-action status in a federal lawsuit that claims they are being denied kosher meals.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Flint against the Michigan Department of Corrections claims there are 50 to 100 Jewish prisoners approved to get kosher meals and that requests to receive them have been refused by the Corrections Department.

The suit was filed originally in 2013 on behalf of inmate Michael Arnold by attorney Daniel Manville, who is with the Michigan State University Civil Rights Clinic, the MLive news website reported. That lawsuit charged that the prisoners were forced to eat

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vegan meals instead of kosher ones.

The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced in 2013 that it had reached a final settlement with the Michigan Department of Corrections officials over accommodating the dietary needs and worship schedules of Muslim prisoners, including providing halal meals and giving time for prayers. The lawsuit in that case had been filed in 2006.

Lawsuit challenges Kansas law targeting boycotters The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Kansas law banning state business with companies that support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

The ACLU said it was representing a public school math teacher who was denied a state contract because she participates in the anti-Israel boycott.

The law, which took effect on July 1, requires that any person or company that contracts with the state submit a written certification that they are “not currently engaged in a boycott of Israel.” The ACLU said that requiring teacher Esther Koontz to certify that she won’t boycott Israel violates her First Amendment rights.

“The First Amendment prohibits the government from using its financial leverage to impose an ideological litmus test,” ACLU attorney Brian Hauss said in a statement.

“This law is an unconstitutional attempt

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by the government to silence one side of a public debate by coercing people not to express their beliefs, including through participation in a political boycott.”

The ACLU said it takes no position on the boycott of Israel or any other country.

Koontz, who said she shares her opposition to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians with other members of her Mennonite congregation in Hutchinson, Kan., sought a training position with the Kansas Department of Education’s Math and Science Partnerships program.

“You don’t need to share my beliefs or agree with my decisions to understand that this law violates my free speech rights. The state should not be telling people what causes they can or can’t support,” Koontz said in a statement. “I’m disappointed that I can’t be a math trainer for the state of Kansas because of my political views about human rights across the globe.”

While most of the largest Jewish groups have celebrated the passage of anti-BDS laws in Kansas and at least 20 other states, the ACLU suit drew support from the leftleaning New Israel Fund.

“No friend of democracy, nor any friend of Israel can, in good conscience, support this or any gag bill that silences dissent and erases the Green Line” marking the distinction between Israel and the West Bank, said Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund, in a statement. “We don’t support the global BDS movement, but we’re grateful to the ACLU for its work challenging this damaging legislation at the federal and state levels.” PJC

OCTOBER 20, 2017 9

Headlines Can cyber technology solve the Anne Frank, Raoul Wallenberg mysteries?

— NATIONAL —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

A

fter 70 years of studying the Holocaust, historians still don’t know the exact circumstances of the tragic fate that befell two of the best-known victims of the Holocaust era: Anne Frank and Raoul Wallenberg.

Frank, the teenager whose journal of her days in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam has sensitized millions to the suffering of 6 million victims, died in 1945 in BergenBelsen after the Nazis caught her. But nobody knows who, if anyone, betrayed her and her family to the Nazis.

Meanwhile, Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved countless Hungarian Jews by issuing them visas to Sweden, disappeared without a trace in the 1940s. Subsequent evidence emerged proving that the Soviet Union lied when it said he had died in 1947 in one of its prisons.

These mysteries separately have caught the eye of two American experts who both believe they can use the power of computation to make progress in the cold cases.

On the Frank case is a retired FBI agent, Vince Pankoke, who last month told the Volkskrant daily in the Netherlands that he has assembled a team of more than a dozen forensics and computer experts. They will use their expertise to scan archives with greater efficiency and speed than ever possible using orthodox methods of historical research.

And on Wallenberg’s trail is a mathematician from Baltimore, Ari Kaplan, whose specialty is to quantify baseball players’ performances to identify patterns over time, which can then be translated into effective strategies.

In both cases, any success will beat the odds.

Dutch police have launched two rather thorough investigations to discover whether Frank was betrayed and if so by whom. The first probe in 1948 was unsuccessful; one mounted in 1963 was to no avail.

Since then, writers and historians have offered various theories, none of which were proven, including one centered on the sister of a typist working for Otto Frank, Anne’s father.

But Pankoke, 59, says that’s not where the case needs to end.

“There is so much information available these days, from archives, old studies,” he told the Volkskrant. “For individual people it is impossible to overview in its entirety, but with the right software it’s achievable. That way you can connect the dots through analysis.”

Analysis is also the name of the game for Kaplan, the baseball fan and math whiz looking into the Wallenberg case.

His algorithms helped pinpoint Wallenberg’s exact cell in Lubyanka prison, according to Marvin Makinen, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Chicago who says he heard from inmates who saw Wallenberg alive long after the bogus death

10 OCTOBER 20, 2017

p Researchers want to know who, if anyone, betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis.

p A passport photograph of Raoul Wallenberg taken in Budapest, Hungary, June 1944

announcement. Makinen, Kaplan and several others are part of an unofficial task force to find out what really happened to Wallenberg.

The algorithm helped Kaplan and Makinen put together a complex database analysis of the cell occupancy at the prison from 1947 to 1972 based on partial Russian prison records.

In the analysis, Kaplan and Makinen show that some rooms in the overpopulated prison had remained empty — on paper, at least — for more than nine consecutive months at a time. To Makinen, this suggested a prisoner or prisoners had been kept there but were not listed on the registry. He and Kaplan believe Wallenberg was kept in the cell listed as empty.

Moscow denied their request for more prison records, Makinen said.

Last year, Makinen and Kaplan visited Moscow to present officials with a 57-page report requesting specific documents, ranging from the Soviets’ wartime intelligence files on Wallenberg to papers dealing with the return in 1999 of Wallenberg’s personal items, Tablet reported last week in an interview with Kaplan.

The research suggests that receiving “just a handful” of the documents from the Russian state archives “would have solved the case or at least shed light,” Kaplan told Tablet.

He insists that Wallenberg’s fate eventually “will be revealed.”

“It is just a matter of when, and I want it to happen soon — for the closure of his family and those he rescued,” Kaplan said. “That is what keeps me upbeat.”

Despite the impasse they have reached, Kaplan and Makinen may be on firmer ground than Pankoke. After all, they know the Russians took Wallenberg, whereas Pankoke may be barking up the wrong tree altogether, according to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Last year that institution, which runs the Anne Frank museum at the Amsterdam address where she hid before her capture and murder, published a report suggesting that Anne Frank and her family were never betrayed, but were caught by chance in a German raid aimed at suspected counterfeiters of food stamps.

The issue is controversial in the Netherlands. For decades, the absence of a traitor in Anne Frank’s story has helped it become a tale celebrating the heroism of resistance activists who helped the family hide from the Nazis.

But the discovery of a traitor could change the story dramatically, giving a face and a name to the massive collaboration that went on in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation — a key reason for the murder of 75 percent of

Photo courtesy of Flickr Commons

Photo courtesy of Laski Diffusion/East News/ Getty Images

Dutch Jewry, which is the highest per capita death rate in occupied Western Europe.

Thijs Bayens and Pieter Van Twisk, respectively a filmmaker and journalist from the Netherlands, recruited Pankoke and initiated his investigation. (This summer they published in the media and online an appeal for information from anyone with knowledge of Anne Frank’s arrest.)

They are working with Xomnia, an Amsterdam-based company specializing in processing and analyzing large amounts of information, to bring closure to her story, they said. The group, which has more than a dozen investigators, is documenting its efforts on a website called coldcasediary.com.

“The amount of data is overwhelming,” Bayens told The Guardian. “It is at least 20 to 25 kilometers of files at this moment and we have just started. To try and make all this data relevant is quite complex, so we started to work on artificial intelligence algorithms to rule the data, as they say.”

Bayens said that most of the people who were around the Frank family and were still alive after the war “are in the police files of the previous investigations.”

“They were brought in for questioning,” he said, “so we have detailed reports on that.” PJC

This week in Israeli history Oct. 23, 1868 British philanthropist and Zionist Alfred Mond is born

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

Oct. 20, 1952 Dalia Itzik is born

Dalia Itzik is born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi immigrants. In the 17th Knesset (2006), she becomes the first woman to serve as speaker of the Knesset.

Oct. 21, 1949 – Benjamin Netanyahu is born in Tel Aviv

Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth and current prime minister of Israel, is born in Tel Aviv.

Although he spends a good portion of his childhood in Philadelphia, Netanyahu returns to Israel in 1967 to fulfill his service in the IDF.

Oct. 22, 1952 Eliahu Elath becomes Israel’s first ambassador to the UK Eliahu Elath presents his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II and becomes Israel’s first ambassador to the United Kingdom (officially called the ambassador to the Court of St. James).

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An early Zionist supporter in England, Alfred Mond (who would later become the first Lord Melchett) is born in England.

Despite the fact that his parents were Jewish, Mond was not raised as a Jew and in fact was married in the Anglican church and raised his children as Christians.

Oct. 24, 1915 Correspondence begins between Husayn and McMahon

The Husayn-McMahon correspondence commences between Arab leader Husayn bin-Ali and British government official Sir Henry McMahon.

Oct. 25, 1895 Levi Eshkol is born in Ukraine

Israel’s third prime minister, Levi Eshkol, is born Levi Shkolnik into a Chasidic family near Kiev, Ukraine.

Oct. 26, 1994 Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian King Hussein sign a peace treaty at the Wadi Arava border crossing between Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, Jordan. PJC

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Headlines Why it’s easier to ordain Orthodox women in Israel than the U.S. — WORLD —

By Ben Sales | JTA

E

ver since Rabbi Avi Weiss began training female clergy and appointing them to leadership positions, he’s been mired in controversy.

Graduates of his women’s seminary in Riverdale, N.Y., have been banned from serving as clergy or in a position of spiritual authority by two umbrella Modern Orthodox organizations. Weiss left the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America in protest of its policies. Rabbis to his right frequently question his Orthodox credentials.

What if a rabbi in Israel did something similar? After all, Israel has a haredi Orthodox Chief Rabbinate, a growing haredi population and government policies that discriminate against liberal Jewish movements. The backlash would be even worse, right?

Wrong. Actually, Israel might be the friendliest environment for Orthodox women seeking something on par with rabbinic ordination. The country has a parallel to Weiss’ organization — an educational network that advances Orthodox women headed by a prominent, outspoken liberal Orthodox rabbi — and it’s enjoyed greater acceptance and had less backlash than the efforts by Weiss.

p Rabbi Shuki Reich, left, seminary head of the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership, and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone, present Rabbanit Shira Zimmerman with her certification as a spiritual leader and arbiter of Jewish law at a ceremony in Jerusalem.

Photo courtesy of Ohr Torah Stone

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the charismatic modern Orthodox rabbi from New York who founded the West Bank settlement of Efrat, has been giving Orthodox women the equivalent of rabbinic training for a decade. His Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership, founded in 2007, offers women the same curriculum as Orthodox Israeli men studying for rabbinical ordination.

After five years of study, the women take the same tests as the men and, Riskin said, graduate with the ability to “teach and direct Jewish law, just like a rabbi.” It’s not that different from Weiss’ seminary, Yeshivat Maharat, whose four-year curriculum gives women the “necessary skills to be confident and compelling spiritual leaders in the Jewish community,” according to its website.

“Studying Torah and developing leadership within Torah is part of every human being,” Riskin said. “Men and women equally are created in God’s image, and one of the miracles of our generation is Torah learning for women.”

But while the Orthodox Union and RCA have issued rulings against Maharat graduates, the Bradfield Institute received a vote of confidence from the modern Orthodox establishment this month: Rabbi Kenneth Brander, a vice president of Yeshiva University, the flagship modern Orthodox school, will be replacing Riskin next year after he retires.

Brander will become president of Ohr Torah Stone, the network of educational institutions that Riskin founded and leads. Along with the women’s seminary, the network includes primary and high schools, academies for young adults and higher education for men. It also offers a program to train women to be advocates in courts of Jewish law.

Riskin, 77, will remain involved with the organization in an unofficial capacity and remain chief rabbi of Efrat.

Brander has a history of advancing Orthodox women: He led the Graduate Program of Advanced Talmudic Studies and Biblical Interpretation for Women at Y.U., where he serves as vice president for univerPlease see Women, page 20

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Headlines Sheldon Adelson group changes how it’s selling Israel on campus — NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

W

ASHINGTON — A group of student leaders from a major American university meets in eastern Jerusalem with Palestinian students on the campus of Al-Quds University, named for Jerusalem, the city Palestinians hope will one day be their capital.

It’s the kind of encounter that once might have sent Sheldon Adelson and other rightwing pro-Israel givers into a tizzy — except it’s the casino magnate and philanthropist who is funding the meeting.

Two years ago, when he launched The Maccabee Task Force to fight the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel on campus, mainstream pro-Israel student groups were wary of Adelson’s reputation as a hardline right-winger. Now the organization is quietly making inroads among progressives on campuses that have been the focus of anti-Israel activity.

Moreover, the group, helmed by David Brog, who maintains an executive role at Christians United for Israel, is working with Hillel, one of the establishment groups that initially held Adelson and his initiative at arm’s length.

“We are very grateful for the really impactful activities to change the conversa-

p Sheldon Adelson at the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting in Las Vegas in 2014

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

tion about Israel,” said Sarita Bronstein, the Hillel director at San Jose State University. In 2015, the campus became among the first to pass a student resolution favoring BDS. San Jose was one of 20 campuses where the Maccabee Task Force sent a team of strategists and funders last year. That’s doubled to 40 this year, an official of the group said.

Beneficiaries say that what sets the group apart is that it provides cash and tactical advice — but leaves the vision up to the students.

“We’re familiar with many organizations

who hire interns, distribute promotional materials and are very intentional about trying to get their name out,” said Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, who directs the New York University Hillel. “It was refreshing to have a group say they would come and support many indigenous organizations with varying political and cultural viewpoints.”

That impression is the opposite of what observers took away from the rollout two years ago of Adelson’s initiative. At a weekend retreat held in June 2015 in Las Vegas, Adelson’s home base, presenters lined up to prove they had the best plan for spending the magnate’s money.

Most of the presenters were on the right — among them The Clarion Project, a secretive group dinged in the past for spreading videotapes and other materials some consider Islamophobic. Mainstream groups either declined to attend or sent observers and did not make a presentation.

Haim Saban, the billionaire entertainment mogul who is a pro-Israel force among Democrats and was part of the initiative, soon dropped out, reportedly under pressure from centrist Jews appalled at the tenor of the rollout.

Brog immediately understood that things had gone awry. Meeting with a reporter in October 2015, within months of the program’s rollout, he said he was recalibrating.

“When you’re trying to appeal to a demographic like students on campus, who are largely progressive, you’d be ill advised to

come with a right-wing agenda,” he said at the time. “We’re still figuring out a strategy.”

The strategy has been in place for a year, and Hillel is now fully on board.

“MTF empowers Hillels and pro-Israel students to develop programs that educate and engage the campus community about Israel’s people, culture and history,” said Hillel’s spokesman, Matthew Berger. “With their support, our students are able to create the programs they feel will have a real impact on campus.”

Not everyone is convinced.

Catie Stewart, the deputy director of J Street U, says her organization is still non grata: Maccabee Task Force won’t have anything to do with the campus adjunct of the national liberal Middle East policy group that emphasizes the two-state solution, supported the Iran nuclear deal and often criticizes the Israeli government. Adelson has made clear he reviles the group.

“Our students would attend Maccabee Task Force meetings, and [MTF officials] would tell the students, ‘OK you guys, you can do whatever you want to do!’ And we would say ‘Great!’ and they would say, ‘Not you, you can’t do what you want to do,’” she recalled.

Stewart said the task force was immediately alienating some of the most committed Please see Adelson, page 21

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The Federation Community Profile: Sandy & Larry Rosen

Sandy and Larry Rosen give back to the Pittsburgh Jewish community through both the Community Campaign and a donor-advised fund created through the Jewish Community Foundation. As a Lion of Judah, Sandy has endowed her annual contribution to the Campaign, ensuring that the annual contribution will continue into the future. In addition to endowing their annual gift, the Rosens have the opportunity to recommend

grants through their fund with the Foundation. With a focus on the Jewish community—as well as youth education and the arts throughout the greater Pittsburgh region—Larry notes that it is “convenient and tax wise to use the Foundation to manage and keep track of our giving while only contributing once a year.”

In addition to contributing through their fund, the Rosens are active volunteers throughout the community.

Sandy volunteers with The First Tee of Pittsburgh and is a docent at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Both organizations are recipients of allocations from their fund. “Whether giving to organizations inside the Jewish community or in the non-Jewish community, [giving from our fund] is seen as coming from the Jewish

Foundation,” said Sandy. “It makes a Jewish statement, which is important.”

Other designees from their fund include The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh, National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh Section and the Jewish Association on Aging’s new initiative: AHAVA Memory Care Residence. Creating a legacy, for the Rosens, means that their fund will outlast them. It will be managed well and will make a positive statement about the Jewish community long after they are gone.

To find out more about creating a Legacy Fund or a Lion of Judah Endowment, contact The Jewish Community Foundation at 412.992.5224.

Leaving a Legacy through an Endowment

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh recently sat down with Lev Society Co-Chair Mina Kavaler to discuss the importance of creating a Legacy Fund with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Jewish Federation: When did you get involved with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh?

Mina Kavaler: I started working with UJF [now Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh] when I was 16.

I was the captain of the high school through Alvin Rogal who had me come to the JCC—at the time it was called “Young Men’s & Women’s Hebrew Association” so it was the YM&WHA—I was on their board as a teenager. He thought that we should start something new to promote money for the Campaign’s benefit.

The three high schools that had Jewish kids in them were Allderdice, Schenley 14 OCTOBER 20, 2017

and Peabody. I went to Schenley. So he asked me to be the captain and that was at the age of 16 and I worked for [Federation] ever since [as a volunteer].

I think knowing that my giving will go on forever and ever is a very important thing.

JF: So how many years has that been?

MK: Well, next Monday I’m 89.

So you can go from 16 to 89, and you know how many years I’ve been working for [Federation].

JF: That’s a lot—am I doing that math right? 73 years?

MK: Yes, that is a lot. I think I am the longest there now, I am the

one who has been there the longest because of my age.

JF: So you are a Lev Society member more than twice over.

MK: I guess so! That’s true, that is very true.

JF: Tell me about the Lev Society.

MK: I think it’s very wonderful that we honor people that have given 32 years or more. Those are people who have given—large or small—for that many years; and many, many way over that number of years. I think they feel that that’s a very nice thing, that they are part of that society.

JF: Why do you feel giving through the Jewish Federation is important?

MK: Well, I feel we have so much here; we need to support Jewish organizations here which benefit both adults and children. And we certainly have to support Israel. And that’s, in my way of thinking, our homeland, for those Jews that don’t live in the United States. So for me, the most important thing is to raise money because: What else can we do?

JF: Why did you choose to endow your contribution?

MK: Because once I’m gone, at least they will have some benefit from all of the years that I did give. That endowment helps what goes on in perpetuity, and that makes me very

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happy. I wish I could do more. You know, when you have children, you want to leave for them, and you can only do so much. I wish that I was able to afford more so that I could do more, but I think knowing that my giving will go on forever and ever is a very important thing.

JF: For what reason would someone with a smaller annual donation choose to endow the donation?

MK: Oh, for the same reason that I do. They’d like to know that all the hard work that they’ve done, and the giving that they’ve done over all these years will go on in perpetuity. I think they feel the same way that I do: It’s just a nice thing to know that it is going to go on. You obviously, given all these years, you must have a feeling to want your children or grandchildren to know you’ve done something worthwhile with the money that you’ve invested in [the Federation]. I think God put us on this earth to be helpful and, hopefully, that’s what I do.

The Lev Society is composed of donors who have given to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Campaign for 32 years or more. To learn more about Lev Society lectures and programs, contact Roi Mezare at rmezare@jfedpgh.org or 412.992.5230.

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The Federation Leaving a Legacy Legacy Funds

Through Your Will You can create a legacy fund either (Testamentary Giving)

during your lifetime or through your will to support the Federation’s Community Campaign or any Jewish agency or program in our community. The Jewish Community Foundation invests the principal of the fund and pays fund income to the Community Campaign. In such a way, a legacy fund in your name ensures that your philanthropic tradition will continue.

Endowments provide a permanent source of income for a Jewish cause you care about, such as the Jewish Federation’s Community Campaign, a particular agency or even a specific field of service or specific program. Creating a legacy fund during your lifetime may provide an immediate tax benefit in the year the endowment is funded. Creating an endowment in your will may reduce estate taxes while enabling you to continue your support for the Jewish community far into the future.

You can create a legacy fund as part of your estate plan. This type of legacy fund meets your long-term philanthropic objectives and provides the additional benefit of an estatetax charitable deduction. When you make a charitable bequest, you direct the Foundation regarding the allocation of your bequest.

For example, you can direct the Foundation to create or augment an unrestricted endowment fund, a legacy fund, a special-purpose fund, a donor-advised fund or a supporting foundation. To enable the Foundation to register your charitable bequest, all you do is sign a letter of intent. The Foundation can provide you with the language for your letter of intent.

A Lion of Judah Endowment (“LOJE”)

A LOJE celebrates a woman who has created a current fund or planned gift of $100,000 or more that will distribute income annually in support of the Jewish Federation’s Community Campaign. Such an endowment perpetuates her legacy.

The National Star of David Giving Society recognizes LOJE funds of $200,000 or more.

A Jewish Community Foundation Unrestricted Endowment Fund

An unrestricted endowment makes grants to provide seed funding for new and innovative programs that strengthen the community and meet unforeseen community needs.

An Agency/Synagogue Endowment Fund

About Legacy Funds

The Jewish Community Foundation helps donors give back to our community by establishing philanthropic funds, endowments, trusts and bequests that address the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s most pressing needs, enrich our culture, and strengthen our community. The Foundation enables donors to create an enduring legacy that honors and reaffirms our traditions and shapes and assures a vibrant future for what we treasure most—families, our community and our Jewish heritage.

For more information about the Foundation, please contact:

An agency or synagogue endowment fund designates money for a particular agency that you care about and want to support in the future.

The Grinspoon Life and Legacy Program Through LIFE & LEGACYTM, the Jewish Community Foundation will partner with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) to help start a community-wide legacy giving program, creating a shared goal for the organizations to work toward.

As a part of the collaboration, the Jewish Community Foundation will, in turn, partner with local organizations as a part of the program that provides coaching, training and incentive grants to ensure that legacy giving becomes integrated in the philanthropic culture of the community.

“The benefits of participating in the Jewish Legacy program are like the ripples from throwing a pebble in a pond,” said Drew Barkley, Executive Director of Temple Sinai.

“There is an immediate tremendous benefit starting with the relational connection of the legacy conversation,

growing to the long-term benefit of the synagogue, working together as a community and assuring quality of Jewish life in Pittsburgh.”

As a participant in LIFE & LEGACY’s 2017 cohort, the Jewish Community Foundation will receive a grant from the Grinspoon Foundation with matching funds of approximately $100,000 each year to provide participating local organizations with the opportunity to receive unrestricted incentive grants based on meeting legacy commitment benchmarks.

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Participating organizations include: Beth El Congregation Community Day School The Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh The Jewish Association on Aging The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Family & Children’s Service Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Residential Services National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section Rodef Shalom Congregation Temple Emanuel of South Hills Temple Sinai

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Dan Brandeis Jewish Community Foundation Director 412.992.5220 dbrandeis@jfedpgh.org

Sharon Perelman Jewish Community Foundation Director of Planned Giving 412.992.5224 sperelman@jfedpgh.org

OCTOBER 20, 2017 15

We see a tree.

None of us knows what the Jewish future will bring. But we can provide for it and enable it to flourish. Plant trees that will bear fruit for decades to come—establish a LEGACY FUND through the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Foundation that will provide the resources for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Call us to find out how you can help at 412.992.5216.

16 OCTOBER 20, 2017

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Headlines Why Orthodox Jews are flocking to this gritty English town — WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

G

ATESHEAD, England — It’s lunchtime, and as they wait for their sandwiches at a kosher deli, five young haredi Orthodox men have a lively discussion in Yiddish about Jewish texts.

Such a scene may be mundane in Jerusalem or New York, or even Antwerp or London.

But it’s not a sight that many outside Britain would associate with Gateshead, a gritty miners’ town in northern England — a region that has seen its once large Jewish communities decline dramatically in recent decades.

Yet due to a unique set of circumstances Gateshead, which sits directly across the River Tyne from the city of Newcastle, has become home to the United Kingdom’s fastest-growing Jewish community. A tight-knit congregation of 8,000 haredi residents now calls Gateshead home, and its size is not its only unusual aspect: The Jewish community here also has an unusual marriage of intellectualism with insularity and suspicion of foreign cultural influences.

Why has the Jewish community in Gateshead doubled in size since 2008?

Opinions vary and there are many factors. Locals cite everything from relatively low housing prices and the leadership of the local chief rabbi to Gateshead’s more longstanding qualities, notably its commitment to educating religious women alongside its renowned yeshiva for boys, one of Europe’s largest.

Whatever the reason, residents and other observers agree that the Gateshead Jewish community has achieved spectacular success in an unlikely setting.

To Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Gateshead has become “the haredi equivalent of Oxford: a unique university town for the very devout and a citadel of Orthodox intellectualism.”

The most prestigious institution of education in town is the Gateshead Yeshiva, a seminary founded 88 years ago with a student body now of 300 aged roughly 15 to 23. The teens and young men study 12 hours a day and live in dormitory rooms inhabited by three to four students.

The Gateshead Yeshiva’s reputation opened the door to at least five other yeshivas that are widely regarded as excellent. This, in turn, created the nucleus of a community of teachers who live here permanently. And that has helped make Gateshead into a major hub of intellectual activity in the haredi world, alongside the town’s seven Jewish bookstores. (The biggest, Lehmanns, is a well-known communal institution with 40,000 volumes in stock.)

Several students said that graduating from the Gateshead Yeshiva will improve not only their knowledge of the Talmud but their prospects of finding a quality shidduch, or match for a wife.

“Studying here will definitely affect who we marry,” said Yishai Rose, 20, of London.

p Gateshead is home to 8,000 haredi Jews.

p Yishai Rose poses for a photo at the Gateshead Yeshiva.

“A girl who wants someone who’s well-developed in his learning, a very, very good student, well, if you went here and did well here, the better girl you’ll get.”

This wasn’t always the case, according to Joseph Schleider, a former leader of the Gateshead Jewish community and a historian who has studied the local Jewish community since its establishment in the 19th century

by Jews fleeing persecution in czarist Russia.

“In Lithuania, nobody wanted to marry a rabbi. It meant poverty” to women who were not brought up inside the haredi education system, Schleider said.

But in Gateshead, this began to change in the 1940s, when a seminary for women and girls opened. That provided “a nucleus of 400 girls who want only someone with rabbinical status,” he said.

This was “a very powerful development that changed the face of the Gateshead Jewish community more than anything else,” he said, and it laid the foundation for the community’s current “renaissance,” as Schleider called it. Another seminary for women opened in 1998.

Still, Gateshead had a far smaller Jewish community less than a decade ago, when there was one small kosher bake shop and little spiritual activity outside its main synagogue, which is located behind the yeshiva. It did not have the amenities to pull in young couples or retain yeshiva graduates wanting to start a family.

Those started popping up in Gateshead shortly after the arrival in 2008 of its current chief rabbi, the New Jersey-born Rabbi

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Photos by Cnaan Liphshiz

Shraga Feivel Zimmerman. He’s known here simply as “the Rov,” a Yiddish pronunciation of the word rabbi.

“Before the Rov, things had been the same for many, many years,” said Shimon Guttentag, an senior administrator at the yeshiva, adding that the change has improved the quality of life for Jews “tremendously.”

Schleider said that Zimmerman — who declined to be interviewed, citing a busy schedule — opened up the community, which Schleider said was more averse than it is now to interacting with the outside.

“For all of many years we’ve been here at Gateshead Jewish community essentially isolated,” Schleider said in an interview last month, referring to the insular attitudes. During the interview, he also noted that men wearing jeans is frowned upon by some members of his deeply conservative community.

Schleider said the insularity changed somewhat under Zimmerman’s leadership, as he “decided he’s not going to be buried in the synagogue but be a communitywide rabbi.”

One of Zimmerman’s reforms was to allow the opening of Gateshead’s first kosher restaurant, Blooms, a takeout place.

Previous rabbis had opposed the opening of such a shop to avoid unsupervised interaction between the sexes. But Zimmerman approved it on condition that men and women be served at separate hours.

More critically, Zimmerman led a massive investment in education for small children

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

with the help of donors from outside the relatively impoverished community of Gateshead, transforming the town into an attractive option for large families. He also created couples counseling and other social services programs especially suited to haredi recipients. And under his leadership, communal representatives began to liaise more closely with municipal officials, locals say.

Yet this relative openness notwithstanding, the Gateshead Jewish community and its leader remain ultra-conservative, to the right of the majority of British Jews. The community shuns most media and cultural influences that are deemed foreign and morally corrupting. In June, Zimmerman called for the removal or resignation of another Orthodox rabbi from London, Joseph Dweck, over Dweck’s assertion that the growing acceptance of homosexuality in society was a “fantastic” development for humanity.

For many haredim, Gateshead’s appeal is an economic one: With housing becoming unaffordable in London, many religious Jews are looking northward for solutions. In recent years, some have moved to Manchester, the only other city in England that has seen its Jewish community grow.

But now, “even prices in Manchester are rising,” leading many haredim to consider Gateshead, said Guttentag, a father of 11 whose family was among the first to settle in the town.

Gateshead is also one of the few places in Britain with a large Jewish community where anti-Semitism is not a primary concern.

The Gateshead Yeshiva doesn’t have any guards or even a perimeter fence.

“We are mindful of the situation today but thankfully, we’ve not had serious incident and it’s not a major problem affecting us,” said Rabbi Gershon Miller, a senior educator at the yeshiva.

Schleider said that part of this reality is the relative scarceness of “ethnic populations” — a reference to Muslims. According to a recent poll, Muslims in the United Kingdom are significantly more anti-Semitic than the general population. Muslim extremists are responsible for about half the anti-Semitic attacks in the kingdom.

The combination of all these factors and more — including the proximity of Newcastle International Airport, an important amenity for haredi families with large numbers of relatives in Israel, the United States and beyond — have transformed Gateshead from an old, sleepy community to a magnet for haredi families.

But progress came with a price, said Schleider, who misses the more personal nature of the community when it was smaller.

Whereas Zimmerman’s predecessor, Bezalel Rakow, who led the community for 40 years until his death in 2003, was “like our father,” Zimmerman is more like “an executive director.”

“The community has seen tremendous growth,” Schleider said, “but has also become big, impersonal and less old-worldly for people like me.” PJC OCTOBER 20, 2017 17

Opinion Harvey Weinstein is not a Jewish issue — EDITORIAL —

O

ver the past two weeks, we have seen many reactions and reactions-to-reactions to the story of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long pattern of reported sexual harassment and assault of women. Most of us are simply repulsed by the allegations of unchecked abuse of power and Sodom and Gomorrah-style depravity. And for some, the reactions are even more pronounced because Harvey Weinstein is Jewish.

While there is clearly plenty to say about the story, the focus on Weinstein’s “Jewishness” is wrong. That’s not to say that the fact that he is Jewish doesn’t add to our concern

about the story — it clearly does. But that’s not because his Jewishness is an element of the offense. Rather, it is because any allegations of public misbehavior by a fellow Jew makes us uncomfortable, and we fear that that fact somehow lends credence to the historical trope that Jews are bad people.

This is an element of our communal concern that somehow Weinstein’s alleged misconduct is a “shanda for the goyim,” and reflects poorly on us. Thus, the misdeeds of a Harvey Weinstein or a Bernie Madoff cause great unease among Jews, even as most of the world may not even be aware that they are Jewish.

In that light, one might read the essay “The Specifically Jewy Perviness of Harvey Weinstein” by Mark Oppenheimer published last

week in Tablet as an attempt to show just how unimportant Weinstein’s Jewishness is by turning him into a jokey subject of literary criticism. “The disgraced film producer is a character straight out of Philip Roth, playing out his revenge fantasies on the Goyim,” Oppenheimer writes.

Nobody laughed. We didn’t either. But white supremacists picked up the anti-Semitic theme of the Oppenheimer piece and circulated it. Following the negative blowback, Oppenheimer published an apology, but the original piece remains on the site.

Let’s be clear: Harvey Weinstein and his alleged misdeeds are not a Jewish issue.

But what he is accused of doing is a moral (and legal) issue — it is so, no matter who is accused of doing it.

The Weinstein scandal has produced a lot of soul searching. Women who have been the victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment are taking to Facebook to declare, “Me too,” in the hope that a societal realization of the pervasiveness of masculine abuse will lead to its eradication. Reactions from our community have largely been in the same vein.

When it comes to this kind of global issue, especially regarding how to regulate the baser instincts of humanity, Judaism has much to offer. Central to our tradition is respect of the individual, a necessary precondition to preventing the kind of degradation allegedly inflicted by Weinstein. The abuse of others offends basic moral values and also breaks the law. We all join in the condemnation. PJC

New Trump pressure against settlements is worrisome Guest Columnist

Stephen M. Flatow

T

he Trump administration is pressuring Israel for further delays in the construction of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, according to apparently reliable media reports. If true, friends of Israel have good reason to be concerned.

Ynet, the news site of the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, reported Sept. 25 that “at the request of the Trump administration,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a meeting of the government committee responsible for construction in the territories. The meeting is necessary to proceed with construction projects that are in various stages of completion.

The actual delay of the meeting is not the biggest problem, assuming that the meeting is held sometime in the weeks ahead. But the principle at stake is a very big problem.

The reason, according to Ynet, is that Trump administration envoys will be meeting soon with Palestinian Authority

18 OCTOBER 20, 2017

officials. In other words, the administration is falling into the old Obama-era pattern of trying to appease Palestinian leaders by demanding unilateral Israeli concessions.

This administration’s rhetoric on these issues is, of course, a welcome change from that of its predecessor. Friends of Israel appreciate the fact that the Trump administration has, for example, declined to embrace Palestinian statehood as the only solution to the conflict.

And clearly the administration has refrained from picking the kind of ugly public fights with Israel over Judea and Samaria construction that President Barack Obama and company were constantly provoking. But if public quarrels have simply been replaced with private pressure, that’s not really much of an improvement.

We all remember the Trump-Netanyahu press conference back on Feb. 15, when the president said, “I would like you to hold back on settlements for a little bit.” Many of us immediately asked: Why? Jewish settlements in the historic Jewish homeland are legal, peaceful, and deeply anchored in the Judeo-Christian heritage that is cherished by Israelis and Americans alike.

Moreover, settlements have nothing to do with the Israeli-Arab conflict. The Palestin-

ians and other Arabs were making war on Israel long before there were any settlements.

They were waging that war before the Jewish state even existed. The idea that “holding back” on settlements would somehow promote peace is, to put it politely, nonsense.

We expected the new administration would understand those basic facts.

And what exactly is “a little bit?” Weeks?

Months? Years? How long should basic Jewish rights be “held back” in order to appease a P.A. regime that glorifies terrorists and incites its people to hatred and violence against Jews?

On March 31, there was more worrisome news. The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that Netanyahu told his security cabinet that in response to “the president’s requests,” Israel would “curb construction” in Judea and Samaria. Henceforth it would be restricted to “existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them.”

An unnamed White House official confirmed to Ha’aretz that Trump is demanding that Israel take his “concerns into consideration.” The official said, “While the existence of settlements is not itself an impediment to peace, further unrestrained settlement activity does not help advance peace.”

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The White House official is wrong. Accelerated Jewish construction in the territories would, in fact, help advance peace. It would send a message to the Palestinian Authority that it cannot succeed in terrorizing Israel into retreat and submission. It would force the Palestinian Authority to face the fact that Israel will not agree to the mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Judea and Samaria. And forcing the Palestinians to face reality is the only chance for making them give up their violence and extremism, and finally make peace with Israel.

The Trump administration’s pressure on Israel to restrict Judea and Samaria construction therefore is both wrong as a matter of principle, and harmful to the possibility of achieving authentic peace. Candidate Trump was right to criticize the Obama policy of publicly pressuring Israel; but if President Trump is continuing any of that policy behind closed doors, it’s just as bad. PJC Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. This article was distributed by JNS.org.

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Opinion How to get more women speakers at big Jewish events Guest Columnist Esther Kustanowitz

I

n November, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America is coming to Los Angeles for the first time since it became my home city in 2008.

Over the course of my Jewish professional life, I have eagerly attended at least six General Assemblies, one of organized Jewry’s largest gatherings: I spoke at a plenary, in front of thousands in Nashville, Tenn. I helped JFNA organize an innovators’ “schmooze” reception at GAs in New Orleans, Denver and Baltimore, and spoke on topics like young Jewish engagement and social media. Each GA represented a massive convening of energy, and the opportunity for Jewish geography, networking and reinvigoration.

And last week, I visited JFNA’s website (generalassembly.org) and saw the list of six “confirmed speakers” on the draft program.

All were men.

I understood that this was a problem of optics, not intentional omission. Logically, I knew the GA program has dozens of panels, workshops and plenaries, and multiple speaker slots. With the number of women in Jewish life, obviously women would be speaking over the course of the conference.

But the elevation of six men as the confirmed speakers seemed to convey that women either had not confirmed as speakers or were

not impressive enough for top billing. And those are optics we should all be sensitive to.

I posted a screenshot on Facebook and the conversation began, with participation from engaged Jews of all ages and professional affiliations, including JFNA professionals. While many started with frustration, the conversation evolved into something precious and productive.

Commenters asked how we could work together to change the optics, if not for this conference, then for the future of Jewish conferences. Some suggested pressuring speakers to make their acceptance contingent on female counterparts. Others recommended resources — tagging women they knew and considered to be speaker-worthy, or providing links to Advancing Women Professionals in the Jewish Community’s Men as Allies pledge, and a Twitter list called #AwesomeJewesses that Jewish communal professional Jeremy Burton started several years ago to help combat what is still, unfortunately, a problem.

I spoke with Rebecca Dinar, associate VP of strategic marketing and communications at JFNA, who told me that JFNA was behind in updating the website because the organization has been “laser-focused” on providing support to communities — including Houston, Puerto Rico and others — suffering the impact of natural disasters.

Perhaps thanks to the Facebook conversation we started, the full program and all of the confirmed speakers — more than half of whom are women — are now available online.

“We’re glad that we were able to put all the

can help. Burton’s #AwesomeJewesses list is a resource. Check out TED Talks, or their Jewish cousins JDOV Talks and ELI Talks. Hire men who are active allies for equal representation and ask them who to call. Or ask an awesome Jewish woman to recommend her favorites.

Give the community a voice. Crowdsource speakers from the local, national and international community. Allow them to pitch and program panels like they do at the tech/ music/film conference South by Southwest, or engage organizations that serve special populations to co-create sessions that ensure a broader spectrum of content Don’t get starstruck. Sure, you want a big name for your program. And maybe men are more heavily credentialed or more famous than the women who speak on the same subject. But be the organization or event that helps increase visibility for women on the rise — help us all “see tomorrow’s stars first.”

This year I will be attending the GA as media.

And I’ll be listening for diverse voices across the spectrum of politics, race, gender and culture, and looking out for those who are flying under the radar, as if they were Jewish communal Wonder Women in invisible planes.

The Jewish community has talent that is diverse, erudite, irreverent, passionate and deserving of a spotlight far brighter than what our community has thus far provided. PJC Esther D. Kustanowitz is based in Los Angeles, where she is an editor at GrokNation.com and a contributing writer at the Jewish Journal.

Political motivation

— LETTERS — What is wrong with us?

The Chronicle makes another reasonable and impassioned plea in its Oct. 13 editorial (“Needed: sensible firearm regulation”). Like many of its sensible ideas, it will be largely well received in our community but will generally fall on deaf ears.

The editorial appeared on the same day as a New York Times essay that indicated that 3 percent of gun owners command half the guns that are in circulation, an alarming average of 17 weapons per person. Why would anyone who is not intent on killing innocent human beings need that amount of lethality?

Despite his ludicrous promise that crime and violence will end on his watch, President Donald Trump cares about two things: loyalty and winning at all costs. Public safety is not on his radar.

The National Rifle Association gave him its support, and the man who once supported a ban on assault-style weapons pledged himself to be loyal to the organization, which has become the gun manufacturers’ lobby. He has delivered.

As the Chronicle notes, after the Las Vegas massacre horror, the NRA offered to give an inch, seeming to endorse a ban on the selling of bump stocks, the device that enabled the savage mass murderer to mow down individuals in rapid fire.

We are a long way from sensible regulation that would interfere with no legitimate gun rights: limiting the number of guns one may purchase to one per month, imposing universal background checks, banning weapons that are designed to kill human beings quickly, and keeping guns out of the hands of those with severe mental illness and those who are on the terrorist watch list.

An 18-year-old Pennsylvanian cannot legally set foot in a casino or even its parking garage or consume alcohol, but he or she may lawfully purchase lethal weapons. What is wrong with us?

State Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Squirrel Hill) is a courageous leader who has fought against the gun menace for years in a General Assembly that shamelessly made the long rifle the Commonwealth’s official firearm. Sadly, his voice and mine are in the wilderness in the grand scheme of things.

Oren Spiegler Upper St. Clair

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information up there because without a doubt it is a priority for us to make sure that the GA represents the diversity of the community at large,” she said, noting that Advancing Women Professionals’ Shifra Bronznick has worked with JFNA for nearly a decade to provide information to federations and advocate for gender equality in the workplace. “We spend a lot of time to make sure there’s balance, and the speakers list and attendees demonstrate that.”

Dinar mentioned as an example one panel that will feature three female legislators who put forward and passed anti-BDS legislation in their states.

Many of us want to move the cause of gender equality and equal representation forward. So here’s what we — as individuals representing organizations large and small — can do.

Make sure that our fliers, brochures, ads and programs for conferences and events reflect gender (and other kinds of) diversity.

This builds visibility, helps reshape expectations in the community, keeps us mindful of the optics and prevents speculation in the absence of information.

Commit to placing women as heads of federations, other Jewish organizations and major initiatives. When all the top-level executives are men, they continue to be the most in-demand speakers, commanding the prime space on the programs and highest speakers’ fees.

Can’t find any women speakers (or speakers of color or speakers from the LGBTQ community)? Seek out people who can help. Advancing Women Professionals, ROI Community and the Schusterman Foundation

I love how the knee-jerk reaction of the ignorant Jewish left is more gun control every time a mass killing takes place (“Needed: sensible firearm regulation,” Oct. 13). This is what happens when you have a political agenda. We have many laws that are not being enforced, and the answer is not trampling on someone’s rights so you can feel good. As Jews, we have been at the mercy of many tyrannical governments that have disarmed us and then persecuted us. The most recent are Bolsheviks and Nazis (both leftist ideologies). The left and ignorant among us would sooner disarm us and everyone else, as it makes it easier to implement their political agenda.

In America, our constitution limits the powers of the federal government and leaves most things to the “Several States” (Tenth Amendment). The right to keep and bear arms was not included for Americans to hunt, but to protect ourselves from the tyranny of government.

Pennsylvania has strict laws that are meant to protect the public without trampling on the constitutional rights of its residents. If you are so quick to limit Second Amendment rights, the other rights in our constitution may also be limited.

Almost all of these incidents involve someone who is mentally ill or unstable. Our laws allow these people to purchase weapons under their current state, unhindered. These are the laws that need to be amended. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Those advocating for more gun laws are being intellectually dishonest and politically motivated.

Berel Sholom Tzvi Pittsburgh

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OCTOBER 20, 2017 19

Headlines Dayan: Continued from page 1

aggressively trying to acquire mass nuclear capabilities, but also [is] the epicenter of a vast terrorist network.”

Given its anti-Israel ambitions, Iran is set to deliver a new global reality, he explained.

“If we inherit to our children and grandchildren a world that has nuclear access from Pyongyang to Tehran, then we are inheriting to our children and grandchildren a world that is far worse than the world we grew up in and worse than the Cold War.” Apart from these concerns is the distressing ongoing reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah, added Dayan. Although “it’s too premature to say what the ultimate outcome and bond between the two Palestinian factions may be, we’re watching it carefully.”

Such insights represent the benefit of the consul general’s visit, explained Cindy Goodman-Lieb, chair of the Community Relations Council, as Dayan’s Pittsburgh stay provides a forum for local residents not only “to have direct contact with a representative of the Israeli government,” but to engage in thought on issues being discussed in Israel and in Pittsburgh.

Although multiple subjects were set for

Guns: Continued from page 1

said. However, in the aftermath of the deadliest shooting by an individual in the United States, the South Hills spiritual leader elected not to engage the subject over the Sukkot holiday and explained that there will be other periods where congregants can hear “the politics of it.” For now, “the innocent victims will be the focus.”

In Shadyside at Rodef Shalom Congregation, those injured were added to the Mi

Women: Continued from page 11

sity and community life. Before arriving at Y.U., he was rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, a large modern Orthodox congregation in South Florida.

“Engaging women to study and engage in leadership roles on the highest level is always something that’s excited me,” Brander said. “It does us proud and empowers us when we’re able to allow them to play leadership roles.”

Graduates of Bradfield are called morat horaah, which Riskin roughly translates to “Jewish legal leader.” The term is similar to the title given to graduates of Weiss’ seminary — maharat, an acronym for “Jewish legal, spiritual and Torah leader.” Yeshivat Maharat graduates have gone on to serve in synagogues and schools. Bradfield graduates have likewise served as teachers and spiritual leaders.

20 OCTOBER 20, 2017

discussion, of particular interest to both Dayan and those present at Sunday’s event is the current relationship between Israel and American Jewry.

“In certain aspects, we are in the midst of a crisis,” said Dayan.

Both because of concerns regarding religious pluralism in Israel and the continuous Palestinian-Israeli conflict (Dayan briefly addressed each topic during Sunday’s 70 minute session), what was once a previous affinity for Israel has now faltered for many American Jews, acknowledged the consul general.

“We have marital issues to work on, but our marriage is a Catholic one: there is no way to divorce,” he said.

What American Jews should understand is that they should become more “active in Israeli politics from the inside.” Either by opening an embassy in Israel, “making hasbara” or lobbying members of the Knesset, American Jews can greatly influence the foreign decision-making process by educating the Israeli people of “who you are and what you want,” he said.

On Monday, while meeting with a group of roughly 20 student leaders from local college campuses, Dayan returned to the subject of a strained American-Israeli union.

“I’m a great believer that the alliance

between Israel and the U.S. shouldn’t only be an alliance between governments but between people,” Dayan said. These days, much like abortion and gun control, Israel has become too partisan in this country, and the overwhelming support for Israel shown by conservatives in contradistinction to liberals is worrying, as “I believe that Israel could be a progressive cause in American politics.”

Returning then to a style reminiscent of Sunday evening’s affair, Dayan delivered several illustrative cracks.

When asked about the shortcomings of Israeli democracy, the speaker replied, “I cannot say that Israeli democracy is perfect because no democracy is perfect,” as evidenced by the Electoral College. The consul general added, “Even before I became a diplomat, I used to feel uncomfortable talking about Israeli politics because it’s aggressive and weird, but now I see that we’re not alone.”

Following the dinner and forum with student leaders from groups including Pitt College Democrats, the Pitt Model UN and the Pitt Interfraternity Council, Dayan delivered his final Pittsburgh talk along with a question-and-answer session at Hillel JUC to a larger student body.

It was an important event as Israel is something which many students feel both committed to but challenged by, said Dan

Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC. “The opportunity for students to get beyond the headlines and have an informed and meaningful discussion with Consul General Dayan allows them to deepen their understanding of Israel and also to ask challenging questions that are relevant to them.”

Meeting with Consul General Dayan “gave us an opportunity to ask questions on a more intimate level,” and it gave him a chance to “hear what life was like on campus,” said Avigail Schneiman, an engagement fellow at Hillel JUC and one of several student leaders who met with the diplomat.

“This was an opportunity to ask questions and deal with those challenges,” and it was a learning experience for all involved, said Marcus, who credited Panthers for Israel, a pro-Israel group at the University of Pittsburgh, for facilitating Dayan’s visit.

“For us on campus facing different challenges, it was inspiring and cool to hear [from the consul general],” said Alan Menaged, a junior at Carnegie Mellon University.

The visiting speaker offered similar sentiment. When asked to describe his highly programmed Pittsburgh trip, Dayan simply termed it “a success.” PJC

Shebeirach list and the dead to the Kaddish list, said Rabbi Aaron Bisno.

At Temple Sinai, the victims who died were “recognized as part of our Kaddish list” on Erev Shabbat, noted Rabbi Jamie Gibson. A similar act was performed at Temple Emanuel.

In New Castle, Rabbi Howie Stein spoke “tangentially” about Las Vegas but did not specifically address gun control. “I emphasized that the idea of saving a life is essential to Judaism and that while we can disagree about policies, we must be mindful of that Jewish value.”

“Jewish tradition implores us to do every-

thing we can to prevent a loss of life in a potentially dangerous situation,” said Petersohn. “In Leviticus 19, which we read on Yom Kippur afternoon, we are commanded to not stand idly by the blood of our neighbor.

This is a call of compassion, to not allow ourselves to be desensitized to the violence that humans are capable of. It is also a call for justice, but what justice can the friends and families of the victims of gun violence have?

Nothing will bring their loved one back. We can learn from it and work toward future preventative measures.”

Immediately following the Las Vegas attack, Petersohn listened to both those advocating gun control and others imploring that the moment for dialogue had not arrived and instead was “a time for thoughts and prayers.”

In invoking a traditional Judaic practice, the rabbi questioned, “To those trying to avoid the conversation, I ask in the words of Hillel the Elder: If not now, when?” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Brander and Riskin both declined to comment directly on Yeshivat Maharat. But Riskin suggested that because Orthodoxy is so dominant in Israeli religious life, there’s more space to subdivide into groups and innovate. While Conservative and Reform Judaism are the largest Jewish denominations in the United States, only a small number of Israelis identify with them. The vast majority of Israeli religious Jews identify with some form of Orthodoxy.

“In America there are problems in assimilation,” Riskin said, adding that American Orthodox leaders “are afraid of any kind of change that might lead to assimilation, the specter of the Conservative woman rabbi. In Israel, we don’t have the challenge of Conservative and Reform. We don’t have the challenge of intermarriage and assimilation.”

Riskin has also been less of a publicly controversial figure than Weiss. Before founding Maharat, Weiss was known as a confrontational activist who would chain himself to public buildings and get arrested for protesting

on behalf of causes like Soviet Jewry and keeping a church off the grounds of Auschwitz.

While graduates of Maharat eschew the title “rabbi,” Weiss ordained his first graduate, Sara Hurwitz, as “rabba.” And when Weiss left the RCA in 2015, it was his own decision, made in protest. His men’s seminary, Yeshivat Hovevei Torah, is seen in part as a liberal challenge to Yeshiva University’s rabbinical school.

By contrast, Riskin has tried to advance his vision of Orthodoxy while avoiding ruffling feathers. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate did threaten to force him out of his chief rabbi position in 2015 before backing down.

Brander says Riskin succeeded in coalescing some Israeli Orthodox leaders around advanced women’s education. Rabbi David Stav, a prominent Israeli modern Orthodox rabbi who leans liberal, became co-chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone in 2015 and will remain in a leadership role.

“What Rabbi Riskin and Ohr Torah Stone have done is create a consensus among a community on the responsibility to educate

women on the highest level,” Brander said, adding that the consensus has created space for “women to play stronger leadership roles in the Jewish community within the parameters of Jewish law.”

Weiss praised Brander and said that Riskin “will be viewed in history as the greatest Modern Orthodox leader of the latter half of the 20th century. He did not comment directly on the contrast between the two schools.

But Orthodox women’s advocates in the U.S. say Brander’s appointment helps them, too. Hurwitz said “there are many, many similarities” between Maharat and Bradfield.

And Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, the executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, said that despite their differences, the modern Orthodox communities in Israel and the U.S. influence each other.

“What the O.U. has done and RCA has tried to do is separate the politics of American Jews from what’s going on in Israel, and you can’t do that,” she said. PJC

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

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Headlines Genealogy: Continued from page 4

genealogy are treated differently both by us and by others.”

Jaron intends the JGSP to be a central place for those putting together their family trees to hear speakers on genealogical research and discuss current research trends.

At the Oct. 29 meeting, Jaron will be presenting on internet research tools. One could say he is a bit of an expert on the topic, having been immersed in his own extended family’s history, and that of his friends’, for the last 10 years, devoting several hours a day to the task.

“When I’m not working or sleeping, I do this,” he said.

For Jaron, the effort has yielded a huge payoff. He has identified and connected with many relatives all over the world.

“Half my Facebook friends are family now, cousins of varying degrees,” he said.

Some of those distant cousins Jaron has met

“ It was finding out who I really was and where I came from. This part of me goes back thousands of years,

— STEPHANIE WRIGHT

in person, including a “double fifth cousin,” Benjamin Duenas from Santiago, Chile. “We share two sets of fourth great-grandparents, as two sisters married two brothers.”

He learned that a distant cousin was a player for the Knicks and that he is connected to a U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. His

Adelson:

‘Show them a lot of narratives’

The group’s modus operandi now is to send a team of Maccabee Task Force advisers to a campus at the beginning of the academic year. The team, usually two people, offers its own ideas, solicits ideas and suggests tweaks — but no major changes — and figures out

grandfather is a first cousin to Robert “Rusty” Stevens, who played Larry Mondello on the old “Leave to Beaver” television series.

Through his research, Jaron also has discovered that he is related to his childhood best friend, Josh Tabor. “He started a family tree on Ancestry.com and I recognized some

“ The campus left is now laser-focused on

Continued from page 12

pro-Israel students on campus.

“It was a classic example of taking a step back,” she said. (Hillel continues to work with J Street U on most campuses.)

Ariana Jahiel, a student at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., who is active with the Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow, said the anti-boycott thrust of the Maccabee Task Force is beside the point for Jewish students living with the specter of renewed white supremacism. She noted the proliferation of expressions of support for white supremacists since the election of President Donald Trump, whom Adelson backed and who has equivocated in condemning bigotry.

“Last week, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there were swastikas found on my campus,” she said in an interview. “My immediate thought was that the people putting these up were not progressive students but white nationalists. If Sheldon Adelson and the Jewish establishment really cared about Jewish students, they would be fighting swastikas, not BDS. Instead, they are cozying up with the Trump administration and its continued support of Israel.”

Brog, meanwhile, suggests that some on the far left are trying in turn to connect Israel to white supremacy as a way to justify their own “pet hatred” of Zionism.

“The campus left is now laser-focused on claims of white supremacy, police brutality and anti-immigrant racism — so Israel’s campus detractors are changing their rhetoric, updating their slogans and aggressively inserting themselves into every new protest,” he told JNS.org last month.

”

and it is an amazing group of people.

claims of white supremacy, police brutality and anti-immigrant racism — so Israel’s campus detractors are changing their rhetoric, updating their slogans and aggressively

”

inserting themselves into every new protest.

— DAVID BROG, CHRISTIANS UNITED FOR ISRAEL funding. Funding per campus, according to a task force official, is in the low six figures per academic year.

Students bring in speakers and organize on-campus Israel weeks — usually timed for Israel’s Independence Day, which usually falls in May. But by far the most successful initiative, participants say, are Israel trips for campus leaders. The only criteria Macabee Task Force sets is that the participants are leaders in a campus group and in their junior year or earlier, allowing the student time to counter anti-Israel activity.

Hillels organize two to three trips a year, each with 20-25 students. Accompanying them are staff from the Hillel, often including a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow, the program that sends post-army young Israelis to Hillels throughout the United States.

“It was enriching because it was not a brainwashing experience,” Sarna said of the three tours that students on his campus did last academic year. “Many people were social justice oriented working for minority causes, women’s rights.”

The tours organized by the campus Hillel and the task force, lasting 10 to 11 days, include stops at Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah and a meeting with a P.A. official.

Also on some itineraries are meetings with African refugees in Israel — a touchy subject

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there, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government facing accusations of cruel and discriminatory treatment.

“The purpose was to show them a lot of narratives on the Israeli-Palestinian narrative as opposed to campus, where everything is very one-sided, very sound bite,” said Noa Shemer, a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow who until recently was assigned to the San Jose campus.

Lipaz Ela, until recently the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at UCLA, helped organize the trip that included the encounter on the Abu Dis campus of Al-Quds University. She said many of the meetings are open-ended — neither Hillel nor the Maccabee Task Force necessarily knew what interlocutors were going to say.

“You don’t know where they are coming from,” she said of the Israelis and Palestinians they meet. “Sometimes Palestinians supported one-state solution, two-state solution, no state solution.”

To be sure, the itineraries are Israel heavy, and students are bound to come away more besotted with Masada sunrises, Tel Aviv’s cafe society and the nation’s embrace of the LGBTQ culture than they are with a critical outlook. And that’s still the point: getting across the pro-Israel narrative, Brog said in a more recent interview.

“Israel, as imperfect as it may be, agree

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of the names on his side,” Jaron said.

Jaron admits that he does “genealogy stalking,” looking at friends’ family trees and combing through archived Jewish Chronicles and Criterions, which can be found at digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/portal/collections/pjn/index.jsp.

“For me, this is like Pokemon,” he said.

“Gotta catch ’em all.”

For Wright, her research has been part of a long journey in self-discovery.

“It was finding out who I really was and where I came from,” she said. “I found out that Judaism was who I was. I was 22 when I found out. I had been thinking I was something else, and it turned my life upside down.

This part of me goes back thousands of years, and it is an amazing group of people.”

For resources on Jewish genealogy research and to learn more about the Jewish Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh, go to jewishgen.org/jgs-pittsburgh/. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

with Netanyahu or not — the story of Israel is compelling,” he said.

Ela said an important component of the program is creating a mix of students, including known on-campus critics of Israel as well as Israel supporters, in order to keep the arguments going throughout the trip.

“We created a dynamic to have open emotional conversations, to bring that back to campus,” he said. (Hillel’s guidelines do not allow joint programming with groups that back BDS, but do not proscribe participation in Hillel programming by individuals who back the boycott movement. It’s not clear if any of the task force tour participants backed BDS.) Response on the San Jose campus, Hillel’s Bronstein said, is such that there are four times as many students who apply for the trips as there are spots. She has instituted an essay question to winnow the applicants — not to assess bias for or against Israel but to see how passionate they are about the subject, whatever their opinions.

“It’s based on how much effort they put into the assignment, not so much what they wrote about,” she said. “We want people who are in the middle of the conflict, but people who are insightful and critical.”

Retention is strong, the Hillel directors said.

“Conversations on campus change, many of the students who went on the trip keep coming for Shabbat dinners,” Bronstein said.

“One of the students is vice president of the student government. If a BDS resolution came up today, she would not be rushing in to vote for it.”

Stewart said the effect of the Maccabi Task Force’s programs on progressive students would be shallow, lacking in the long-term specialized alliances J Street U aims for.

“Progressive students care about Israel’s future as a democratic state, anti-democratic trends in Israel and the United States, two states and two peoples,” she said. “If you try to pretend you care about those things and create a narrative out of nothing, you won’t get anywhere.” PJC

OCTOBER 20, 2017 21

Celebrations

Torah

Bat Mitzvah

On this journey, it’s the destination that matters

Jenna Mantel, daughter of Carole and Jesse Mantel, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. Grandparents are Robert and Leah Lampel of Upper St. Clair and the late Louis and Henrietta Mantel of Pittsburgh. PJC

Rabbi Daniel Wasserman Parshat Noach Genesis 6:9-11:32

S

etting goals is important. Achieving them is hard. It is hard to get started on a path, it is hard to deal with all the obstacles and things that come up as one is traveling the path toward a goal, and even if one gets close, it is hard to finish.

We hear it in the context of sports all the

they achieved their goal. They finished.

Terach, the father of Avraham, had a goal, “to go to the land of Canaan.” It was not easy.

Whenever the Torah says, “and they left,” (as opposed to saying simply, “they went”) it is to remind us that leaving is significant and sometimes difficult. But he left his home, took his entire family and set out on a journey. The path was undoubtedly a difficult one and it certainly took great effort and great resolve. But he did not finish; he did not achieve his goal.

Setting goals is important. Navigating

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time: You have to learn how to finish. Just ask the Atlanta Falcons how hard it is to finish (just don’t take a sack and kick a field goal and you win the Super Bowl!) and to go those last few steps to achieve the goal.

There was a report in the International Business Times in 2014 that, over the past 20 years, 31 million Americans started studying for a college degree but did not finish. Of course, as the researchers indicated, there are many reasons for that, but it indicates how hard it is sometimes to achieve a goal. I wonder how many people are out there who are “just a few credits away” from a college degree, a master’s degree , or a Ph.D. I suspect that the number is significant. That is why, I believe, graduations are such an important celebration and why graduates should receive the credit they deserve. They kept going until

Terach, with his family, reached Charan and decided to settle there. He spent the rest of his life there and did not finish the trip; he did not achieve his goal. The task (in next week’s Torah portion) fell to the next generation, to his son Avraham — to set the goal for himself and to do whatever it took to achieve it, and reap the rewards of achieving the goal.

Setting goals is important. Navigating the path toward those goals is hard. Finishing is even harder. But we have to keep working (and teach our children to keep working), and not stop until we achieve those goals.

Shalom shalom. Chazak chazak. PJC Rabbi Daniel Wasserman is rabbi of Shaare Torah Congregation, president of the Gesher HaChaim Jewish Burial Society and a member of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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OCTOBER 20, 2017 23

Obituaries BALTER: Margie Firestone Balter. The piano no longer plays its sweet song. The joyful singing has fallen silent. The music stopped when our beloved Margie Firestone Balter, partner, daughter, sister, aunt and kindhearted human being, died October 10 in Los Angeles.

Margie was a one-of-a-kind individual who sang to herself much of the day. She reveled in life and adored her many piano students.

She taught almost to the moment of her death.

Days before her passing, people were calling for lessons for young maestros and slightly older ones who wanted to perform (or look like they were) in a movie or TV show. Margie died of complications of cancer. She fought a brave two-year battle in her own private way.

Please don’t remember her for that. Remember her for her gorgeous songwriting, performing and singing, and her daily gratefulness for the simplest elements of life: a sunset, a beach, a swim. Margie was born and raised in Squirrel Hill, graduating from Winchester Thurston School in Shadyside and the University of Washington in ethnomusicology and music.

She performed in an African Marimba band for many years in Seattle, before moving to LA to pursue a career in music and composing and performing. Margie was the family member who took care of everyone else. When her father was sick, she spent five months with him in Florida. She took elegant care of her mother, Alma, now age 100, by moving her to LA to help in many ways. Margie showed a younger sister the way to do everything, and

protected her always. “Margie was an irrepressible optimist, the bright light in everyone’s lives,‘’ said her sister, Joni Balter. Margie was best known in LA as “the piano teacher to the stars,’’ including Tom Cruise, Jack Black and Kevin Spacey and rising star, Magnus Ferrell, Will’s son. When Holly Hunter won the Academy Award for best actress in “The Piano,’’ she owed much of her success to Margie’s brilliant piano coaching. Margie produced a stunningly beautiful CD, “Music from My Heart,’’ with an instrumental that aired on an episode of TV show “Scandal.” She was a voting member of the Grammy Awards.

She loved her students more than anyone can imagine and produced many exemplary young players who played at occasional recitals that she turned into huge productions. “Margie never lost sight of the fact that music was the one language that could make everyone happy, she really believed in its transformative power,’’ her sister explained. Margie is survived by her longtime partner, Roger Mende, her mother, Alma Balter, of Los Angeles, her sister, Joni Balter, and brother-in-law Timothy Egan, of Seattle, brother and sister-in-law Robert and Margery Balter, of Philadelphia, and nieces and nephews Sophie and Sam Kintz, Casey Egan and Meredith and Kevin Croy.

Services were held at Rodef Shalom Temple.

Interment at Temple B’nai Israel Cemetery in North Versailles. A second memorial in her honor will be held in Los Angeles featuring her music and that of her piano prodigies. Arrange-

ments entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. ITSKOWITZ: Dr. Alan L. Itskowitz died Tuesday, October 10, 2017. He is the beloved husband of Leslie Caplan Itskowitz and the father of Amy (Marty) Cohn, Marc (Rina) Itskowitz, and Robert (Shelly) Itskowitz.

He is the dearly loved Zaide of Shaina and Aron Rafkin, Adina, Zahava, Devora, and Sarah Cohn, Yael, Shira, Aviva, Talia, and Zach Itskowitz, and Nate, Yonah, Ashi, and Kivi Itskowitz. He is also survived by great-grandchildren Kovy and Leeba Rafkin.

A native of McKeesport, Dr. Itskowitz lived in Pittsburgh all of his adult life where he practiced medicine for 50 years. He loved his work, his family, and his Jewish faith. His remarkable humility, kindness, and thoughtfulness, in addition to his medical prowess, are an inspiration to others. Funeral services at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Arrangements are entrusted to the Gesher HaChaim Jewish Burial Society. May his memory be a blessing.

LEVINE: Alan H. Levine, born August 22, 1925, passed away on Monday, October 9, 2017. Formerly of Buffalo, N.Y., and recently of Lighthouse Pointe in Pittsburgh, age 92. He was born in Schenectady, N.Y., to the late David and Cele Levine. He was a respected lawyer in Buffalo, specializing in family law. Alan was a voracious reader and avid golfer and tennis player. He continued

to play tennis and golf until his late-80s. Alan served in the 87th Infantry Division, and saw combat in various campaigns, including the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. He graduated from Cornell University in 1950 and the University of Buffalo School of Law in 1956. He will be remembered for his astute analysis of history and politics and his ability to tell a joke exactly pertinent to the topic of conversation. He is predeceased by his wife of 62 years, Doretta Schwartz Levine, with whom he shared lifelong friends in Buffalo, including the Discussion Group, which met monthly for over 50 years, and by his brother, Robert Levine. He is survived by his stepbrother Lewis Grossberger, and his sons Clifford (Rosanne), Daniel (Miette) and Roger (Jeff Gordon); grandchildren Meredith Levine Tsadok (Daniel), Benjamin (Dalila Boclin), Eric, and Rebecca Levine, Leah Riehl (Chris) and David Levine (Vi Nguyen); and great-grandchildren Felicity and Clementine Riehl. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel, 5509 Centre Avenue, Shadyside. Interment at Tree of Life Memorial Park. Given the joy he found in reading and playing golf, contributions can be sent to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 152134080 (carnegielibrary.org) or The First Tee of Western NY, 742 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, NY 14209 (thefirstteewesternny.org).

Please see Obituaries, page 25

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24 OCTOBER 20, 2017

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 24

RUBIN: Leslie G. Rubin of Forest Hills, on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Beloved wife of Charles T. Rubin. Loving mother of Edward A. Rubin and Anna P. Rubin. Sister of John (Mary Ann) Goodrich and the late Bruce Goodrich.

Also survived by loving in-laws and nieces and nephews. Leslie made a true home while being a teacher, a scholar, and very active in her community. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at the Betty Rosenberg Parkway Jewish Center Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Parkway Jewish Center, 300 Princeton Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15235 or a charity of the donor’s choice.

SCHOEN: Shirley Averbach Schoen of Pittsburgh and Gaithersburg, Md., passed away on October 1, 2017. She was the beloved wife of the late Edwin Schoen, beloved mother of Harlene (Larry) Lasday, Elise (Michael) Berger, and Isadore (Roberta) Schoen and beloved grandmother of Shoshana Lasday, Danielle Lasday, E.J. Berger, Bryce Berger, Theodore Berger and Avi Schoen. Funeral service was held at Beth Shalom Cemetery on Oct. 3, 2017. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. SPIEGEL: David (Dave) Spiegel, age 92, of Newville and formerly of White Oak, died on

Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

He was born on July 26, 1925, in Uzhhorod, Czechoslovakia, and was the son of the late Bernath and Malka Lichtenstein Spiegel. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Charlotte (Cecie) Weiss Spiegel, and was the loving father of Joel (Lynn) Spiegel of Greensburg, Miriam (Robert) Robinson of Mount Holly Springs and Eric (Jennifer) Spiegel of Ellicott City, Md.; brother of Jennie (Milton) Reynard of Belmont, Calif.; adored Papa of Julie (Keith) Goddard, Justin (Miranda) Pihony, Sarah (Jon) Malek, Laura Spiegel, Katie Spiegel and Natalie Spiegel; adoring great-grandpa of Mackenzie Goddard, Reese Goddard, Rory Pihony and Rigel Pihony; also survived by many special nieces, nephews, and dear friends. Mr. Spiegel was preceded in death by his siblings, Eugene Spiegel, Willie Spiegel, Rozsie Salomon, Arnold Spiegel, Ari Vanek, Herman Spiegel, Helen Spiegel and Etchuka Spiegel. Mr. Spiegel was a Holocaust survivor and spent several years living in Israel. He worked for 32 years at the Charles Bluestone Company in Elizabeth and for many years was a member of Gemilas Chesed Synagogue in White Oak and its Brotherhood and B’nai B’rith. Services were held at Gilbert Funeral Home And Crematory, Inc. in White Oak. Interment at Temple B’nai Israel Cemetery with Rabbi Paul Tuchman officiating. Donations may be made to Temple B’nai Israel, 2025 Cypress Drive, White Oak,

PA 15131 or the U.S. Holocaust Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024. Condolences may be made at Gilbertfuneralhomeandcrematory.com.

TABACHNICK: Norman H. Tabachnick, on Monday, October 16, 2017. Beloved husband of the late Gladys B. Tabachnick. Treasured father of Sallee (Morry) Silverman, Barbra (Yossi) Shmueli, Saralyn (Kathryn Toth) Tabachnick, Gene (Toby) Tabachnick, and the late Kenneth Tabachnick. Brother of the late Dr. Ted (Barbara) Tabachnick. Brother-in-law of Philip (Roberta) Brown, Fay (late Warren) Kardon, and the late Gloria (late Warren) Friedlander.

Cherished grandfather of Franny, Scott, Laura, Tehila, Tanyah, Elisha, Esther, Avishag, David, Aharon, Reggie, Zoe, Dori and R.J. and dozens of great-grandchildren. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Poale Zedeck Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Poale Zedeck Congregation, 6318 Phillips Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or a charity of the donor’s choice.

WEINTHAL: Robert M. Weinthal, 98, passed away peacefully on Oct 13, 2017, at Family Hospice at Canterbury Place in Pittsburgh. He was predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Roxie, and his parents, Jay and Erma Weinthal.

Surviving are daughters Suzie Somers (late Phil, friend David S. Green) of Pittsburgh, Pat Weinthal of Boston, and Ann Berez (Joel) of Chicago; grandchildren Stuart and Brian

Somers (Lauren), Alex and Emily Berez, and Jive; and great-granddaughter-Alexa Somers.

Bob, born on February 21,1919, grew up in Squirrel Hill, confirmed at Rodef Shalom Congregation, attended Taylor Allderdice and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh (1940), where he was a member of Pi Lambda Phi. As a proud veteran of World War II, he served in the Army, first at Camp Rimini in Montana, where sled dogs were trained for use in war, and then overseas in Southampton, England, as a captain. He was an owner of York Supply Furniture Company and then had a long career as a furniture rep.

Bob enjoyed fishing, playing golf, watching sports, walking his poodle Pepe and playing the stock market. He and Roxie enjoyed traveling, especially to England, Kennebunkport and Sanibel. Most important to him, though, was his family. Dad, we will miss you very much and you will be an inspiration to us forever. The family would like to thank Laura Frankfurt, and all those at Weinberg Terrace, The Haven at North Hills and Family Hospice for his care. Burial was private at West View Cemetery and the family will not be sitting shiva. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Parkinson Foundation Western Pennsylvania, 575 Lincoln Ave., Bellevue PA 15202 or Pets for Vets (Pittsburgh) PO Box 10860, Wilmington, NC 28404 or a charity of one’s choice. Professional Services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville. PJC

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Wednesday October 25: Janice Gay Barovsky, Anne Tauber Dym, Fannie Klein, Saul Schilit, Molly Schutte, William Schwartz, Frank Shakespeare, Gilbert Shepse, Freda Ulzheimer, Abe Wekselman Thursday October 26: Jules Joseph Anatole, Hyman Bales, Albert Blumenthal, Rachel Cohen, Sarah N. Cohen, Jennie B. Glass, Minnie Hoffman, Louis Kaddell, Robert Klein, William S. Lichtenstul, Jerome Meyer, Sylvia Steinberger Moskovitz, Arthur B. Moss, Helen Sachs, Ethel Sarah Simons, Michael Stone, Wolfe Tex, Roxine M. Weinthal Friday October 27: Milton Cohen, Rose Elinow, Fannie Titlebaum Frank, Elizabeth S. Kalovsky, Frank Mayer Marcosky, Dr. Geneva Markus, Mary Opter, Samuel Rosenfeld, Elaine R. Rubin, Morris Spector, Fae Velardi, Dorothy Weinberg, Harry Wishnev Saturday October 28: Harry 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

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 20, 2017 25

Community At Penn State Hillel t Hurricane Relief: As a part of Rebuild-U’s Nadav Ezra Day of Giving, Penn State students volunteered at the State College Faith United Methodist church to package supplies for hurricane victims across the country.

q From left: Penn State students Sami Neumann, Matt Pickard and Stephanie Migdal make hats and blankets for the homeless during Rebuild-U’s 2nd Nadav Ezra Day of Giving.

Photos courtesy of Penn State Hillel

t Becca Budd of Pittsburgh, president of Rebuild U, and Amanda Silverstein of Silver Spring, Md., vice president of Rebuild U, stand in front of the wish bags that are being donated to the homeless in Philadelphia at Rebuild-U’s second annual Nadav Ezra Day of Giving, a day dedicated to volunteering with 22 State College, Pa., organizations.

At Rodef Shalom

p Rabbi Sharyn Henry was joined by Quranic Arabic teacher Malak Bokhari, and associate minister of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, the Rev. Ayana Teter, for a panel discussion entitled, “Courageous Conversations: Women of Faith.”

26 OCTOBER 20, 2017

p Members give the congregation’s Torahs some TLC as part of the Simchat Torah celebrations.

Photos courtesy of Rodef Shalom Congregation

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Community At Hillel Academy

For love of Torah

p The toddler class experienced the holiday of Sukkot in many ways. They shook the lulav and etrog, built a sukkah in their classroom and painted their own etrog boxes. Sukkot was also the perfect way to learn their Mitzvah of the Month, Shalom Bayit, since a sukkah is our temporary home during the holiday. t The Girls High School volunteered with Creative Kosher Catering and prepared special yom tov food for the Tomchei Shabbos Project. The girls pack the boxes for it each week and bake special food for it on the holidays.

p Temple Emanuel Torah Center students enjoyed rolling out the Torah from end to end as part of the Simchat Torah activity with Rabbi Mark Mahler and Rabbi Jessica Locketz.

Photo courtesy of Temple Emanuel

At New Light

Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy

At Temple David

t Jacob Carney receives instructions from Rabbi Barbara Symons on how to shake the lulav.

p New Light Congregation had its last Simchat Torah dinner at its present location. Next year the congregation will celebrate in its new home at Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha.

Photo by Barry Werber

Machers & Shakers

Buddy Valinsky was inducted into the Pittsburgh City League High School All-Sports Hall of Fame on Friday Oct. 7.

The fourth annual event recognizes and honors the greatest players in the Pittsburgh City League history. PJC Photo by Sharon Valinsky

u Sharon Saltzman, Sylvie Casher and Allyson Lippock paint stars to hang in the sukkah.

Photos courtesy of Temple David

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 20, 2017 27

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