P I T TS B U R G H
January 19, 2018 | 3 Shevat 5778
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Candlelighting 5:05 p.m. | Havdalah 6:08 p.m. | Vol. 61, No. 3 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A new crop of pinball wizards garner national attention
White Oak Jewish community can be revived, say leaders
Esports draws players and audiences. Page 3
T White Oak but affiliate with the congregation nonetheless. Most of the members of both congregations are senior citizens. It is a familiar story: a once-thriving Jewish community in a steel town dwindles when the industry declines and its population migrates to larger urban centers. But Rabbi Moshe Russell, spiritual leader of Gemilas Chesed, believes that White Oak can and should have a Jewish resurgence. A father of nine children — the oldest just 17 years old — Russell is on a campaign to get the word out that White Oak just may be one of the region’s best kept secrets. “We are trying to look forward to see how we can attract people to come to White Oak,” Russell said, citing the community’s many amenities, including the low housing costs and the relatively short 20- to 30-minute commute to Squirrel Hill. Free busses are available to transport children to Squirrel Hill’s day schools, he noted, and snow is plowed from the streets usually before dawn. The community is perfect for a young Jewish family, said Russell, who is originally
he Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which became law last month, will be changing the financial landscape for many individuals, with alterations in the code ranging from the treatment of alimony payments to changes in the alternative minimum tax rules. But for nonprofit organizations, one of the biggest effects of the new tax laws stems from the doubling of the standard tax deduction — to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples. Because fewer taxpayers will be itemizing deductions now, one incentive to donate to charity has been removed. Taking advantage of the deductions still available in 2017, in December alone, 20 donors opened new donor-advised funds at the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, according to Sharon Perelman, director of planned giving at the Foundation. Contrast that to the five new donor-advised funds opened in December 2016 and just 10 during the entirety of 2016. Donor-advised funds allow donors to contribute assets to a fund, from which they can direct distributions to specific charities later. The rush to open these funds in December was to take advantage of itemized deductions before the law changed, Perelman said. “Seventy percent of people who used to benefit from charitable deductions won’t be able to in 2018,” she said. “But there is still good reason to set up [donor-advised funds] now. As long as you will exceed $24,000 in
Please see White Oak, page 20
Please see Donor, page 20
A decade of embracing Steel City’s future
Page 7 NATIONAL Here comes the judge
Ellen Ceisler one of two Jewish jurists to join appellate bench. Page 21
Jewish Community Foundation sees spike in new funds due to changes in tax law By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
LOCAL
Audrey Russo marks 10 years at Pittsburgh Technology Council.
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One of two sanctuaries at Gemilas Chesed in White Oak By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
T
ake a drive down Lincoln Way, the main drag in White Oak, and get ready to be struck with a wave of comfort — the feeling that if you stop into one of the family-owned restaurants lining the street, you will probably be served by a seasoned waitress with a beehive hairdo and cat-eye glasses on a chain around her neck who will call you “Hon.” White Oak, just 16 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, is a small community of about 8,000 residents, with quiet tree-lined streets, a low crime rate, low taxes and affordable housing (an 1,800 square-foot, four-bedroom house in good shape goes for about $150,000). It also happens to have two synagogues, a newly remodeled mikvah and an eruv. There is a solid Jewish infrastructure in place in this Pittsburgh adjacent suburb, but the community is nonetheless running out of Jews. The borough’s Orthodox congregation, Gemilas Chesed, is down to about 50 members, and the Reform congregation, Temple B’nai Israel has fewer than 100 families on its rolls — many who live outside of
Photo by Eliran Shkedi
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