Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 1-10-20 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

January 10, 2020 | 13 Tevet 5780

Candlelighting 4:54 p.m. | Havdalah 5:58 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 2 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Another day, another page for several Pittsburgh Jews

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Meet Shawn Brokos

Scholars weigh in on death penalty for Pittsburgh synagogue murderer

Federation’s new director of community security was an FBI agent. Page 2

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

LOCAL

For years, Balaban and Isenberg had studied Jewish texts. Through classes at synagogues and other institutions dedicated to Jewish learning, or on their own, the two regularly toiled with the corpus of Jewish literature, but neither had successfully completed what so many others at MetLife Stadium had come to celebrate. “When Rabbi Frand was talking about daf yomi,” and the commitment to studying one page of Talmud each day, a spark was lit, explained Balaban: “It made you feel why not, you had to do it.” “I was inspired and I said, ‘Why not try it? Worst case scenario I fall short but at least I tried,’” said Isenberg. Last week, after working through thousands of pages of the Babylonian Talmud, additional material from the Jerusalem Talmud, and dedicating nearly seven and a half years to the process, Balaban and Isenberg completed the cycle for the first time. “I feel quite accomplished,” said Isenberg.

hortly before the Department of Justice filed notice last August that it would seek the death penalty against the alleged murderer at the Tree of Life building, two of the congregations attacked in the massacre — New Light and Dor Hadash — sent letters to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, imploring him to accept a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence instead. Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of New Light said the death penalty was contrary to Jewish teachings. Other congregants expressed dread in anticipation of what could be a drawn-out trial and appellate process, the trauma witnesses would endure in recounting the events of Oct. 27, 2018, and the descent of an intrusive media on Squirrel Hill once again. Still, the DOJ is pursuing the most severe punishment available under federal law against the accused anti-Semitic killer of 11 Jews in their place of worship, and, as is typical in capital cases, the defense attorneys are fighting it. Failing to negotiate a deal with the DOJ for a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, defense attorneys filed motions in federal court last month seeking to strike the death penalty as a sentencing option, challenging its constitutionality on several grounds. One of the defendant’s attorneys, Judy Clarke, is considered an expert in capital cases. She has successfully negotiated plea deals for several high profile clients, including the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; a 9/11 hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui; and white supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr., who stormed a Los Angeles Jewish Community

Please see Daf Yomi, page 14

Please see Murderer, page 16

Being a good neighbor

The Center for Loving Kindness reaches out.

 Attendee Daniel Solomon reads from the Talmud during the Siyum Hashas.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Page 3

LOCAL New Light announcement

The congregation will stay at Beth Shalom building. Page 4

$1.50

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

wo-thousand-seven-hundred-andeleven pages ago, Carey Balaban and his son-in-law Shmuel Isenberg committed to a seven-and-a-half-year project. It was 2012 and the two Squirrel Hill residents were returning from East Rutherford, New Jersey. As they followed the weaving path of Pennsylvania’s Turnpike toward Pittsburgh, the travelers reflected on their trip to the 12th Siyum HaShas — a global celebration of daily Talmud study — where they, along with nearly 90,000 other Jews at MetLife Stadium heard a resounding call to increase Torah study. “Today we must leave here with a plan. If you have never learned the daf yomi (daily page of Talmud), then tomorrow is the day to start,” announced Rabbi Yissocher Frand, a senior lecturer at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, Maryland, to the assembled masses. “If this is your second or third time finishing shas (the six orders of the Mishnah and Talmud) then you must ask yourself, ‘How am I going to do better next time around?’”

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle

LOCAL History of a postcard

NATIONAL March in New York

NATIONAL Pittsburgher tapped by Sanders

Headlines Shawn Brokos to succeed Brad Orsini as director of community security — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

hawn Brokos, recently retired from the FBI after a 24-year career there, begins her new role as the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s director of community security on Jan. 13. A longtime colleague of Brad Orsini, the Federation’s first director of community security, Brokos intends to continue the work he initiated, emphasizing education, prevention and response. Orsini, who began his tenure as Jewish Pittsburgh’s security director in 2017 — and saw the community through the massacre at the Tree of Life building in 2018 — has been tapped to become the senior national security advisor for the Secure Community Network with the Jewish Federations of North America and will be leaving his post in Pittsburgh on Jan. 10. “I have known Brad since 1996, and I have followed a very similar career path,” said Brokos, a native of Philadelphia. “When he knew he was leaving (the Federation), he called and asked if I would be interested in this position. And the timing worked out well, because I was eligible to retire from the FBI in September of 2019. We began the discussion, and the job sounded fascinating and sounded like it would be a natural progression for me leaving the FBI, and what I did with my work there.” Brokos has lived in Pittsburgh since 2013, along with her husband, who also is an FBI agent. She most recently served as a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s Pittsburgh

p Shawn Brokos

Photo by James Uncapher

office, managing complex investigations involving hate crimes, corrupt officials and complex financial frauds. She frequently worked with Orsini “in a liaison capacity, helping out with potential threats to the Jewish community,” she said. Brokos also served as a crisis management coordinator for the FBI, with her work including the management of the agency’s response to the massacre at the Tree of Life building. Orsini’s passing the baton to Brokos “will

not be a large transition,” said Brokos. “Our approach to situations is going to be largely similar, and how we interact with people is also very similar.” With significant experience in community outreach and in bringing awareness of hate crimes and civil rights to the general public, Brokos will be doing a lot of outreach. Public awareness and education is crucial, she said, as recent national statistics show that hate crimes are “becoming more violent in nature,” and that “the threat against the

Jewish community is considered the largest threat of any ethnic or marginalized group.” Brokos will be making security training for communal institutions a priority, as did Orsini, who trained 2,205 people in Greater Pittsburgh in 2017, his first year on the job. In 2018, Orsini trained 5,183 people, and in 2019, that number grew to 7,682. “To me, training is essential for prevention,” Brokos said, adding that although many in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community already have received training, refresher courses are vital because response techniques continue to be updated. It is also crucial for community members to practice what they have learned. “The more we do it, the more ingrained it will become with people,” Brokos said. “If you train once a year, it may be the greatest training in the world, but muscle memory proves that you’ll walk away and you may retain it for a bit. But if you keep training, you’re more inclined to remember what you’ve learned and how to best respond.” She also plans to continue several initiatives begun by Orsini to help secure and harden Jewish communal facilities. “One of the initiatives is the alert systems, which I won’t go into detail about, but we’ve gone out to bid to obtain alert systems for the three (day) schools,” Brokos said. “And then, after we fully equip the three schools with these alert systems, we move on to the 11 (Jewish) early learning centers. Protecting children is absolutely a priority.” Go Bags — containing first aid items as well as tools such as flashlights, hammers, whistles and charging devices — will eventually Please see Security, page 15

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Headlines Center for Loving Kindness moves the notion of neighbor beyond the neighborhood — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer

abbi Ron Symons began a new chapter in his rabbinate in July 2015 when he accepted the position of senior director of Jewish life at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. For two years, Symons helped the JCC overhaul its teen engagement program and assisted with key initiatives including enriching Jewish life, tradition and community. During that time, the community center revamped the space previously occupied by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, creating the 2nd Floor, a location Symons called “Hillel on campus for teens.” In a precursor to the community work Symons would soon begin, he viewed this new space as a place for partnership and collaboration and worked with NFTY, USY, NCSY, BBYO, Young Judaea and Bnei Akiva to fulfill that vision. When Symons and JCC CEO Brian Schrieber began to discuss and envision a “21st century way of engaging in a Jewish value proposition through the JCC,” he kept coming back to the importance of partnership and community.

p A community member signs a banner that the JCCPGH Center for Loving Kindness will send to neighbors in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, White Settlement, Texas and Monsey, New York. Photo by David Rullo

Three Jewish principles guided Symons as he began the work of creating what would become the JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement. The first two were from the book of

Leviticus: “Love your neighbor as yourself ” and “do not stand idle while your neighbor bleeds.” The final concept came from Rabbi Joachim Prinz. Prinz escaped Nazi Germany

Featuring Rabbi Danny Schiff

and became deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement in America. It was Prinz who addressed the crowd in Washington, D.C., before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Prinz articulated the third Jewish concept Symons and Schrieber would come back to time and again when creating the Center for Loving Kindness. “That in the Hebrew bible,” Symons explained, “neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.” With these three underlying Jewish principles, the pair began the work of building a “center within a center.” Over the next several months, the CFLK began engaging both Jews and non-Jews in a way that Symons said wasn’t happening at the time. That work was made easier by the locations of the two Pittsburgh JCCs in Squirrel Hill and the South Hills. “Location, location, location,” Symons illustrated. “It’s where the branch is located that so many people look to it as a town square and it’s the location of the people located in the right places.” Rather than pushing a stand-alone vision from the top down, Symons believed it was important the new center “influenced the Please see Kindness, page 15

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents our Jewish Community Foundation’s annual

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JANUARY 10, 2020 3

Headlines New Light will stay at Beth Shalom building — LOCAL — Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

ew Light Congregation has resolved to remain put. After three moves in three years, the Conservative congregation unanimously voted to stay at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill. The Jan. 5 decision reflects a desire on New Light Congregation’s part “not to return to the Tree of Life building but instead to seek a long-term arrangement with Beth Shalom and make that our permanent home,” said Stephen Cohen, New Light’s co-president. “Beth Shalom has been very gracious and welcoming and responsive to our needs and requests.” Remaining at Beth Shalom represents a new chapter in New Light’s century-plus history. The congregation, which was formerly called Roberts Street Ohel Jacob Synagogue, resided in the Hill District for nearly 60 years. In 1957, New Light purchased the lot on the corner of Beechwood Boulevard and Forbes Avenue, and remained there until 2017, when due to “a declining and aging membership” as well as “an aging building” the congregation decided to sell its building, noted Cohen in a previous statement to the Chronicle. In November 2017, after reaching an

agreement with Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, members of New Light marched their Torah scrolls up Deniston Avenue and rededicated a new home on the corner of Shady and Wilkins Avenues. “To us, New Light has never been about the building. We are family — sharing simchas and sorrows, studying and learning — together,” said co-president Barbara Caplan in a statement at the time. Following the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life Building, New Light resumed meeting inside Beth Shalom’s Helfant Chapel. Since then, New Light has held regular services at Beth Shalom, as well as transferred congregational items such as artwork and yahrzeit plaques to the venue. In October 2019, a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh-convened independent committee approached New Light about returning to the Tree of Life building, which has remained closed since the 2018 attack. The committee extended a request for space requirements and other conditions, but after discussing the possible return, New Light rejected the suggestion, explained Cohen: “We met in November and then again in December and the decision was that there were no conditions, that we really would prefer not to return to the building but instead to stay at Beth Shalom.” “There were many reasons cited for this decision,” added Cohen in a statement.

“Some members are unwilling to go back into the Tree of Life building, regardless of its future structure. Others cited the fact that because New Light Congregation has had three homes in three years it would be emotionally and financially draining to move again. In addition, members were unwilling to deal with the uncertainty and potentially lengthy process as Tree of Life finalizes its plans for the site’s future.” Cohen said he informed members of the independent committee, as well as representatives of Tree of Life, following the congregation’s Jan. 5 vote. “This decision will not impact the longterm relationship between Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha and New Light. We will continue to collaborate on joint Men’s Club Sunday services as well as other joint programming efforts,” said Caplan in a statement. “In addition, New Light will continue to participate in the Tree of Life rebuilding effort because the site vision includes a memorial. All of us at New Light wish the very best to our friends at Tree of Life and their future plans.” “We don’t see this as changing anything in terms of our relationship,” echoed Cohen. “It simply speaks to where we think it’s best for us to be residing permanently as a congregation.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ JC ReSound Rechargeable FIN_Eartique 11/12/18 pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Barbara Caplan, co-president of New Light Congregation, stands inside Helfant Chapel at Beth Shalom holding 1,000 paper cranes that were presented to New Light following the October 2018 attack. 9:42 AM Page 1

Photo by Adam Reinherz

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Headlines A postcard from the early days of Yeshiva Schools — HISTORY — By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

n Dec. 1, while browsing the archive, I came upon a folder of correspondence donated by Meyer Fogel in 1992. Fogel was a businessman and community leader. The correspondence had been sent to him by notable Jewish figures throughout the area. In the folder were two postcards, handwritten in Yiddish, signed by Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein of “Agudas Chasidei Chabad.” They were dated February and March 1942. I was intrigued. As a graduate of Yeshiva Achei T’mimim, the local Chabad day school, I knew the name Altein, although not this Altein. A quick online search revealed that Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein, of blessed memory, had passed that very day, at the age of 100. His obituary credited him as the founder of Yeshiva Achei T’mimim. I was again intrigued, having always heard that Rabbi Sholom Posner founded the school in 1943. Moved by divine providence, I sent copies of the postcards to Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein’s grandson, our local Rabbi Yisroel Altein. A few days later, we met at Chabad of Squirrel Hill to follow the footsteps of his grandfather from 1941 to 1943 using two volumes of Chabad history. The first was Toldos Chabad B’artzos Habris: 5660-5710, a chronicle of the Chabad movement in the United States from 1900-1949. The second was the 5702/1941-1942 volume of Igrois Koidesh Marayatz, the letters of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, now known as the Frierdiker Rebbe, or “Previous Rebbe.” In late 1941, the Frierdiker Rebbe received a letter from a Jacob Schiff in Pittsburgh, detailing concerns about the state of Jewish life in the Hill District. Schiff represented Congregation Anshe Lubovitz, “people from the town of Lubavitch.” It had been founded in 1907, when the Hill District was a mostly Jewish neighborhood and pulsing with communal energy. By the early 1940s, though, the major Jewish institutions of the neighborhood either had relocated to Oakland and Squirrel Hill or were preparing to do so, leaving a spiritual desert for those

 Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein sent this postcard to Meyer Fogel in March 1942, as he prepared to launch Yeshiva Achei T’mimim.

Image courtesy Rauh Jewish Archives

who were forced by circumstance to stay. Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein had been born in New York in 1919. As a young man, he learned Chassidic thought with Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson and other followers of the Frierdiker Rebbe, who had come to the United States from Europe in March 1940. On December 7, 1941, in the shadow of Pearl Harbor, the Frierdiker Rebbe dispatched Rabbi Altein to Pittsburgh “to learn Torah and create activities among the youth.” The young rabbi was refined and supremely dedicated to his mission. And, like most of the children of the Hill District, but unlike their parents or grandparents, he was American-born. Rabbi Altein launched an afterschool program in a private home and worked to build something more permanent. On March 19, 1942, he wrote this postcard, inviting Fogel to a meeting at the home of Solomon Oklin at 5700 Melvin Street in

Squirrel Hill, where a group would discuss the necessary steps required to establish a yeshiva in Pittsburgh. By summer, Rabbi Mordechai Dov Altein had started Yeshiva Achei T’mimim, the first Lubavitch yeshiva in America outside of New York. The afterschool program was based in three places at once: a home at 2124 Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill (where Engel’s Market used to be), at Anshe Lubovitz in the Hill District, and at Adath Israel on Ward Street in Oakland. The schools had combined enrollment of 60 students and growing. Over the fall, Rabbi Altein consolidated this sprawling operation into one school at Adath Israel. A notice in the Nov. 20, 1942 issue of the Jewish Criterion states, “Courses being offered include a study of the Bible with its commentaries, Tanach, Shulachan Aruch, Jewish History, Jewish and Hebrew Writing, Mishna, Talmud with all commentaries, both ancient and modern. A special

endeavor is being made to create a general revival of interest in the study of the Torah and traditional Judaism throughout the city.” Rabbi Sholom Posner arrived in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1943. He turned Yeshiva Achei T’mimim into the parochial school it is today, with Hebrew and secular studies and separate programs for boys and girls. The yeshiva soon moved into a house with a surprisingly expansive yard at 3329 Dawson Street in Oakland. Rabbi Altein stayed in town as principal through the rest of the year. He married in late 1943. The following summer, he left for New Haven, Conn., on a new assignment from the Frierdiker Rebbe, before returning to the Bronx, where he established a yeshiva and remained for 50 years. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

White supremacists attend Pittsburgh anti-war rally

ore than 100 people attended an anti-war rally Saturday, Jan. 4, to protest the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and the decision to send thousands of troops to the Middle East. The Schenley Park rally was just one one of many held concurrently nationwide. During the rally, five white supremacists, separate from the larger group, chanted “no war with Iran.” But the signs displayed by the group presented a different message. One proclaimed “Zionists lie, Americans die” and featured a crude drawing of George Soros surrounded by dollar signs. A second placard depicted the face of Trump’s

One of the white supremacists was identified on social media as Greg Conte, a high-profile figure and the former director of operations at The National Policy Institute, a white nationalist organization run by Richard Spencer. According to an account by the Pittsburgh City Paper, Conte also attended the deadly Unite the Right Rally in  White supremacists stand near Saturday’s rally holding anti-Semitic signs. Photo by Mike Elk/Payday Report Charlottesville, Virginia. Pittsburgh City Paper also son-in-law Jared Kushner with the words reported that Ann Belser, publisher of the “Deport Kushner.” community newspaper Print, spoke with

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Conte, who confirmed his identity for her. Conte and his companions left after being confronted by a group of protesters shouting, “Nazis out!” In a video posted on Twitter by Mike Elk, a reporter with Payday Report, Conte can be seen attempting to speak to the crowd before being surrounded and pushed into an intersection. The rally, organized by Answer Pittsburgh, the Answer Coalition and CODEPINK, continued after the Pittsburgh Police arrived and the five white supremacists left. PJC — David Rullo JANUARY 10, 2020 5

Calendar >>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions will also be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, JAN. 10 Rodef Shalom Congregation presents the 2020 Milton E. Harris Interfaith Lecture “Why Is It Always the Jews?” featuring Scholar-In-Residence Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin. Anti-Semitism is history’s oldest ideology. What provokes this intense hatred? Join preeminent Jewish thought leader Salkin for an interfaith lecture and luncheon at Rodef Shalom Congregation (4905 Fifth Ave.) 11:30 a.m. No cost for clergy. Questions? rodefshalom.org/rsvp Bob Dylan has journeyed from Judaism to Christianity and back again. How do his songs illuminate his spiritual journey? Join Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin for “Rock of Israel: How Does It Feel?” a dinner and a discussion about this rock legend, 6:45 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. $15 for adults, $10 for kids, $20 for nonmembers. rodefshalom.org/rsvp

at 7 p.m. Visit bethelcong.org for more information and the RSVP or call 412-561-1168. q TUESDAY, JAN. 14 Enjoy a delicious lunch and a presentation on nutrition by Comfort Keepers at Chabad of the South Hills’ Senior Lunch. $5 suggested donation. 1701 McFarland Road. 12 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Call to preregister: 412-278-2658. chabadsh.com q WEDNSDAY, JAN. 15 The Squirrel Hill AARP chapter will hold its first meeting of 2020 at 1 p.m. in the Falk Library in Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Ave. Included with the business meeting will be an updated legislative report, senior health advice for the winter months and an update on the club’s monthly “lunch outs” events. Anyone who is a member of the national AARP is eligible to join the local chapter, but all interested seniors are invited to attend the monthly meetings. January’s guest speaker will be Michael H. Marks, principal attorney at Marks Elder Law. For more information, contact President Marcia Uram at 412-731-3338.

Join Rodef Shalom (4905 Fifth Ave.) for a continuation of discussions centered on “Mahloket Matters: How to Disagree Constructively – Unit 2 – Fear War or Trust Peace.” Presented by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin at 12:45 p.m. $5. To register, visit rodefshalom.org/rsvp. Walk-ins welcome.

Make some new friends across generations at Moishe House’s Intergenerational Bingo Night with the JAA and the residents of Weinberg Terrace. The Jewish Association on Aging warns that the residents take their bingo “very, very seriously,” so be prepared for a pretty intense night. Think you can handle it? The fun begins at 7 p.m. 5757 Bartlett St. facebook.com/events/2059923740777207

q SUNDAY, JAN. 12

q FRIDAY, JAN. 17

Join Congregation Beth Shalom Sunday mornings for Lox & Learning at Beth Shalom, a breakfast sponsored by Beth Shalom’s Men’s Club and learn more about fellow congregants’ jobs and hobbies. The event is free. Shoshanna Barnett is currently a software engineer at Uber in Pittsburgh. She will be speaking about how she makes complex ideas simple using data visualization, from energy storage to driverless cars. 10 a.m. bethshalompgh.org/ events-upcoming

MoHo Goes to Racial & Economic Justice Shabbat Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Join Moishe House for a meaningful Shabbat dinner to learn about racial and economic justice here in Pittsburgh, led by Repair the World, at the East End Cooperative Ministry, 6140 Station St. Over a vegan-friendly meal, Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy will be honored by exploring local injustices and learning how to take action to make Pittsburgh livable for all. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/2526493907598441.

Inspired by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin’s book, “Searching for My Brothers: Jewish Men in a Gentile World,” the Jewish Masculinities Panel Discussion will examine the experiences and philosophies of being and raising Jewish men. The panel includes Salkin, Rayden Lev Sorock, Peter Rosenfeld and Nathan Rybski. Free and open to the public. All are welcome. 10:30 a.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org

q SUNDAY, JAN. 19

Temple Emanuel of South Hills presents Bagel Bytes, a monthly brunch and speaker program. This month’s guest speakers are Jim Busis, CEO and publisher of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, and Peter Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette religion writer. 10:30 a.m. Free. 1250 Bower Hill Road. For more information, visit templeemanuelpgh.org/ event/bbbjan12.

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for a tour of Cinderlands Warehouse, 2601 Smallman St. 2 p.m. Free. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/young-adult-brewery-club-atcinderlands-warehouse.

q SATURDAY, JAN. 11

New Light Congregation and Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church will present a program honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 5 p.m. in the ballroom at Congregation Beth Shalom (5915 Beacon St.) The program will be followed by dinner. Everyone is welcome. The event is free. Please call Barbara Caplan at 412-519-7141 to register. newlightcongregation.org/events/honoring-drmartin-luther-king-jr Beth El Congregation will host an adult education movie night on the film “Labyrinth and Lies.” Based on a true story, the film follows a German prosecutor determined to bring to justice former Nazis who returned to their pre-war lives. $10. The event will begin with dinner at 6 p.m., followed by a discussion with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum at 6:30 p.m. and the film

Join Community Day School and PJ Library Pittsburgh with your children (ages 2-5) from 10-11 a.m. for PJ Invention Time featuring PJ Library story, snack and building inventions with a Jewish holiday theme using recycled materials. Free. CDS Annex Building (2740 Beechwood Boulevard). comday.org/pjinventiontime

How do you want to fight for gun violence legislation in the new year? Join Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence at the Jewish Community Center, Room 202, for their 2020 Planning and Strategy Meeting. 3 p.m. To become a member and to participate in the meeting, visit squirrelhillstandsagainstgunviolence.org/join. q TUESDAY, JAN. 21 Attend the next Rodef Shalom Book Club Meeting for a discussion of “Memento Park,” 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries Jewish Fiction Award-winning novel by Mark Sarvas. Copies of the book are available in the Lippman Library. Wine, cheese and crackers will be served. This event is free and open to the public. 6:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave.

Escape the bitter winter with a night of puzzles, warm drinks and Harry Potter audiobooks at Moishe House. 7 p.m. Message a resident or the page for the address. facebook.com/ events/498882994069101 Temple Emanuel of South Hills is hosting $camJam, a free informative evening on financial and investment scams targeting seniors. Speakers from the PA Department of Banking and Securities, the PA Office of Attorney General and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office will present. 7:30 p.m. Free. Registration is encouraged to templeemanuel@ templeemanuelpgh.org or 412-279-7600. For more information, visit templeemanuelpgh.org/ event/scamjam. q WEDNSDAY, JAN. 22 Dr. Barbara Burstin will speak about her book, “Sophie: The Incomparable Mayor Masloff,” and the journey of Sophie Masloff, the daughter of Romanian Jewish immigrants who grew up in the Hill District to become the first female and Jewish mayor of Pittsburgh. 4 p.m. 501 Cathedral of Learning q THURSDAY, JAN. 23 If you get a little bit too excited about dinosaurs, evolutionary theories of altruism or other nerdy topics relating to natural history, come to Nerd Nite’s Natural History Nite with Moishe House Pittsburgh for an incredible chance to meet your fellow nerds over some drinks. Nerd Nite is a lecture series that’s a mix between a TED talk, a happy hour and freshman orientation. Admission is $5, but if you sign up through Moishe House by Tuesday, Jan. 21, they will pay for your ticket and provide transportation from the house in Squirrel Hill. Spirit 242 51st St. 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/564137781088558. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents “Generations Speaker Series: Deborah Leuchter Stueber.” Stueber will recount the story of her parents, Kurt and Edith Leuchter, surviving the Holocaust, fighting Nazis in the French Resistance and making a new life in America. Free, but advanced registration required at hcofpgh.org/ generations-speaker-series. 7 p.m. Mt. Lebanon Public Library (16 Cast Shannon Boulevard). q FRIDAY, JAN. 24-SUNDAY, JAN. 26 Congregation Beth Shalom is proud to announce its Scholar-in-Residence Weekend: Jewish Spirituality in the 21st Century, a weekend of engaging and enlightening programs with scholars Dr. Deborah and Rabbi Jeffrey Schein. 5915 Beacon St. For complete details, visit bethshalompgh.org/scholars. q SATURDAY, JAN. 25 Get ready to party like a rock star at Community Day School’s Rock-n-Roll Annual Party. The 10th annual fundraiser will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Nova Place, 100 S. Commons, in Pittsburgh’s North Side. Honorees include: Dr. E. Joseph Charny; Kara McGoey Ph.D.; and Tzippy Mazer. The event will feature a silent auction to raise funds for the CDS Class of 2020 Israel trip, as well as a luxury raffle. $150/person, $75 first-timer rate, $50 alumni (ages 21-30). For tickets, visit comday.org/cdsrocks or contact Jenny Jones at jjones@comday.org or 412521-1100, ext. 3207. q SUNDAY, JAN. 26 Join the I-Volunteer crew at Brother’s Brother (1200 Galveston Ave.) and do good throughout the community. Help prepare medical and emergency supply kits to be distributed across the globe. This project is aimed at young adults. Please wear closed-toe shoes and comfortable clothing. If you

require accommodations for a disability, please contact Bex Frankeberger at bfrankeberger@ jfedpgh.org. 11 a.m. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/ event/i-volunteer-brothers-brother-project. Beth El Congregation of the South Hills will host the Musicians of Steel for a 412 Food Rescue Benefit Concert at 7 p.m. Free, donations are accepted at the door or online with your RSVP. 100% of the money collected will support 412 Food Rescue. This program will feature the chamber music of Mozart in honor of his birthday. 1900 Cochran Road. To register, visit eventbrite.com/e/ concert-series-presented-by-musicians-of-steeltickets-86383323847. Be amazed and mystified by World Renowned Master Illusionist Ilan Smith at Chabad of the South Hills’ “Magical Evening” at 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Stage (25 W. Main St.) Reserve tickets at chabadsh.com/magic or mussie@chabadsh.com or 412-344-2424. Early Bird Special $36 before Jan. 6. Starting Jan. 6 couvert is $50. Women of Rodef Shalom and Brotherhood present the next Rodef Shalom Movie Night. “School Ties” is a thought-provoking film set in the 1950s that exposes intolerance and bigotry in an upper-crust prep school. Free and open to the public. 7:30 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave. Attendees are encouraged to wear old-school ties, caps and sweatshirts in keeping with the spirit of the film. q MONDAY, JAN. 27 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for an information session about the upcoming Derekh Civil Rights Journey, April 26-28, 2020. They will outline the trip, work through the details and answer any questions you may have. If you have questions before the session, please email Rabbi Markiz at jmarkiz@bethshalompgh.org. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming q TUESDAY, JAN. 28 Join the ladies of E3 for An Evening at Manchester Bidwell with Bill Strickland at 6:30 p.m. For questions, contact Rachel Gleitman at rgleitman@ jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5227. For more information or to register online, visit jewishpgh.org/event/ e3-15. Free. 1815 Metropolitan St., 15233. RSVP by Friday, Jan. 24. q TUESDAYS, JAN. 28; FEB. 4, 11, 18, 25; MARCH 3; SUNDAYS, FEB. 3, 10, 17, 24; MARCH 1, 8 The new Rohr Jewish Learning Institute course, “Judaism’s Gifts to the World” will take place on six consecutive Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. at the South Hills JCC (345 Kane Blvd.) or Sundays at 10:15 a.m. at Chabad of the South Hills (1701 McFarland Road) For more information, visit chabadsh.com. q WEDNESDAYS, JAN. 29 & FEB. 12, 19, 26; MONDAYS, FEB. 3 & MARCH 2 Join Beth El Congregation for its annual Winter Speaker Series beginning Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. The series continues through March 2. Free and open to the community. 1900 Cochran Road. For more information, including speakers and topics, and to RSVP, visit bethelcong.org/events/winterspeaker-series/2020-02-03. q THURSDAY, JAN. 30 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for Trivia Night at Bingham Tavern (321 Bingham St.). Arrive by 7 p.m., trivia begins at 8 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/young-adult-bar-club-triviaat-bigham-tavern.

Please see Calendar, page 7

6 JANUARY 10, 2020

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Calendar q T HURSDAYS, FEB. 6, MARCH 5, APRIL 2, MAY 7, JUNE 4

Calendar: Continued from page 6 q FRIDAY, JAN. 31 Put on your finest flapper dress and celebrate the decade with a throwback to last century’s 1920s at Moishe House’s Roaring Twenties Shabbat. A vegetarian dinner will be provided. Message a resident for the address. facebook.com/ events/2537242869706899 q SATURDAY, FEB. 1 Join Congregation Beth Shalom (5915 Beacon St.) for Sisterhood Shabbat, as they honor Marlene Behrmann-Cohen, Ilanit Helfand and Pat Weiss, along with speaker Danielle Kranjec. Sisterhood Shabbat celebrates the women in Beth Shalom’s congregation and presents an opportunity for all to learn together. bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming q MONDAY, FEB. 3 Beth El Congregation hosts First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum, its monthly lunch program, this month featuring Abby Mendelson. Mendelson will present “Jewish Hollywood: Then and Now.” Mendelson has written 13 nonfiction books and teaches at Point Park and Chatham universities. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the program starts at noon. 1900 Cochran Road. $6. For more information and to register, visit bethelcong.org/events/firstmondays-abbymendelson.

Facilitated by local clergy, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue at Rodef Shalom (4905 Fifth Ave.) explores topics of similarities and differences. Themes range from wedding rituals to the story of Noah. Attendees are invited to join for any and all sessions. 12 p.m. Free and open to the public. q SUNDAY, FEB. 9 New findings from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos will be the topic of a presentation by Dr. Andrew Kloes at the Rodef Shalom Brotherhood’s Herzog Breakfast Discussion (4905 Fifth Ave.) at 10 a.m. Dr. Kloes, a Penn Hills native, is an applied researcher in the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Light breakfast served. Free. rodefshalom.org

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020 6:00 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat (Hod veHadar) & Dinner to follow services

Celebrate Tu B’Shevat with PJ Library and Repair the World at 10 a.m. Enjoy a birthday party for the trees with fun tree-themed crafts, games and stories; plus the usual birthday party fun. Attendees will also fill bags for Beverly’s Birthdays. The event is free, but you can sponsor a Birthday Bag with a suggested donation of $10. JCC Squirrel Hill. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/yad-tu-bshevat-2020.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020 10:45 a.m. Family Shabbat Service 12:45 p.m. Shabbat Shi'ur

Join Beth Shalom Men’s Club for a Sports Luncheon. Enjoy a hamburger and hot dog lunch at 12 p.m. at the Beth Shalom Samuel & Minnie Hyman Ballroom (5915 Beacon St.) Local sports celebrities will attend. Autographs and surprises, gifts for all. All are welcome, no charge. Please RSVP by Jan. 29 to Ira Frank at natfabira@juno.com. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming. PJC

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020 1:00 p.m. Panel Discussion

BETH SHALOM BALLROOM • 5915 BEACON STREET • 15217

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Medicare Payments for Therapy in a Nursing Home After Jimmo? This is one in a series of articles about Elder Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq. Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney with offices in Squirrel Hill and Monroeville. Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com.

When a patient is discharged from the hospital to a nursing home, a common important question is how long are they entitled to have Medicare pay for their therapy and, therefore, how long Medicare will continue to pay for their nursing home stay overall. For patients receiving Medicare paid therapy in a skilled nursing facility, or in a home health or outpatient therapy setting, Medicare payment was typically cut off when the patient had stopped improving, or “plateaued,” and was no longer getting better as a result of the therapy. Consumer advocates argued that this was an unduly restrictive test and pushed for a standard more favorable to patients. A federal lawsuit brought on behalf of consumers and patient organizations was settled in 2012, with binding national effect. Under the case of Jimmo versus Sibelius (the “Jimmo” case or settlement), the improvement standard was replaced with a more liberal test for when a patient can still receive Medicare paid therapy and skilled nursing. Medicare coverage now does not depend on whether there is the potential for improvement, but rather on the need for skilled care, even just to prevent, or slow decline or deterioration.

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In other words, just because the patient has stopped improving or getting better as a result of the therapy, or has a chronic condition that’s unlikely to improve at all, doesn’t mean that they don’t still need therapy to maintain the gains that they have made, or prevent regression or decline later. Potential for restoration or actual progress is not the deciding factor.

For example, there is a difference between the appeal procedures established for traditional Medicare, and those for Medicare Advantage plans. There are both expedited or fast-track appeals, and standard appeals, with different rules. There are multiple successive levels of potential appeals, and in addition, multiple simultaneous appeals are sometimes necessary, Also now, the decision for every patient must be such as to appeal both the initial denial, and made based on an individualized assessment of to separately appeal for continued, subsequent their specific needs and situation, and not as a services! result of any shortcut guideline or general rule of In any such scenario, certain practical problems thumb. The new Jimmo rules are not limited to are present. First, it can be economically any certain diagnoses, conditions or diseases, but nonviable to pay privately for continuing care instead apply to anyone who needs skilled care or while an appeal is pending, as you may ultimately therapies. It applies to Medicare Advantage plans be personally financially responsible for ongoing (such as UPMC for Life or Security Blue in this care. locale) as well as to traditional Medicare coverage. The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) was ordered by the court to undertake a corrective action plan, including placing new information on its webpage, revising policy manuals and instructions, and implementing a program of education for care providers. If you are denied, you must be given advance written notice (including a “Notice of Medicare Noncoverage,” and a “Skilled Nursing Facility Advance Beneficiary Notice”), and if you appeal, it’s crucial to file promptly. However, appealing a denial can be a complex mess.

Second, the initial levels of appeal may in effect just rubberstamp the denial determination, and it may not be until several appeals into the process that you get an actual fair hearing and real consideration of your arguments. Also, it can be difficult to obtain or effectively present medical evidence to oppose the denial. Dysfunctional regulatory methods put great financial pressure on nursing homes to stop a patient’s Medicare therapy coverage sooner instead of later. While Jimmo and its consequences represent real change for patients, the appeal process to enforce Jimmo rights remains broken. At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you and your family.

helping you plan for what matters the most

www.marks-law.com

412-421-8944 4231 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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With the increasing costs of long-term care, having the help of a legal professional when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions that can result in keeping more of your money. We help families understand the strategies, the benefits, and risks involved with elder law, disability and estate planning.

Michael H. Marks, Esq. Linda L. Carroll, Esq. michael@marks-law.com member, national academy of elder law attorneys

linda@marks-law.com

JANUARY 10, 2020 7

Headlines 25,000 march against anti-Semitism in New York City — NATIONAL — By Ben Sales | JTA

n estimated 25,000 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and held a rally on Sunday, Jan. 5, in New York to protest rising anti-Semitism. The rally comes following a spate of attacks on Jews — including, most recently, a stabbing attack at a rabbi’s home in the New York City suburb of Monsey and a shooting in a Jersey City kosher supermarket that claimed four lives. There has also been an unending stream of verbal and physical assaults on Jews in neighborhoods of Brooklyn with large Orthodox populations. The rally, organized just within the past week and endorsed by the New York Times Editorial Board, drew throngs of Jews from the state, which is home to nearly 2 million Jews and delegations came in from cities across the country like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Cleveland. And the march included the state’s most senior politicians, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer. “What has happened in Brooklyn, what has happened in Monsey, New York, was an attack on every New Yorker and every New Yorker has felt the pain,” Cuomo said ahead of the march. “Racism and anti-Semitism is

p Participants holding a sign at the rally. Thousands of New Yorkers of all backgrounds joined community leaders and city and statewide elected officials in Foley Square at the No Hate. No Fear. solidarity march in unity against the rise of anti-Semitism.

Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

anti-American and we have to remember that. It is ignorant of our history because to know the history of the Jewish community is to love and appreciate the Jewish community

because New York would not be New York without the Jewish community.” Despite the somber reason for the march, the atmosphere was relaxed and even

uplifting. Scores of Jews traversed the bridge, singing and stopping to take selfies amid the occasional chant of “No hate, no fear” — the rally’s slogan. People chatted about television shows, which kosher restaurant they would choose for lunch and how many pounds they were dropping on the mile-and-a-half walk. But marchers interviewed along the route all said they felt a certain measure of fear, as well as the need to display their defiance in the face of the uptick in Jew-hatred. Rabbi Rachel Ain of Manhattan’s Sutton Place Synagogue, which was graffitied with a swastika in 2017, said that she is “in a combination of denial, shock and sadness.” “We had hoped anti-Semitism was a moment of the past and what we’re seeing now is that it’s rearing its ugly head and we can’t ignore it,” Ain said. “I am aware there’s increased hate and I’m conscious of it, but I still walk with my kippah, I still go to shul, I still send my kids where they should be sent for their Jewish learning and I won’t back down.” Nathan Wieder, a 16-year-old who came as part of the Cleveland delegation, said teachers at his Orthodox high school tell their students that the long history of anti-Semitism is repeating itself. “I have great-grandparents who survived the Holocaust, and the fact that I would be Please see March, page 9

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Headlines March: Continued from page 8

here right now showing I’m proud to be Jewish and fighting back — their souls are smiling on me right now,” said Wieder, who draped himself in an Israeli flag at the march. “Yeah, bad things are going on. I don’t think you can compare it to (Nazi) Germany, but I think the whole point of their trying to attack us, not make us feel safe where we want to be, that’s kind of similar.” Along with signs bearing the official slogan, people brought homemade signs condemning their chosen ideological targets. One said, “America 2020 not Germany 1933.” Some condemned President Donald Trump for fomenting racism. Another took aim at Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who support the movement to boycott Israel and have been widely accused of anti-Semitism. One read “NYT fire Bret Stephens,” the conservative New York Times columnist who recently penned a controversial piece on the roots of Jewish genius. Stephens was reportedly at the march. At the rally afterward, which filled Cadman Plaza on the bridge’s Brooklyn side, demonstrators danced along to Matisyahu and the Maccabeats, a men’s a cappella group from Yeshiva University, amid a chorus of speakers from the New York Jewish community and their allies who all stressed that anti-Semitism should never become acceptable, no matter the source. One of the speakers was New York Times columnist Bari Weiss. “The broader community has to stand up and, by the way, we have to stand up for the broader community in fighting all sorts of hatred,” said Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York. “Too many people are pointing fingers at the other, at the other community, the other political party. We need to call out inappropriate conduct in our own communities, in our own parties.” UJA was one of many Jewish groups that lent their name to the event, along with the local Jewish Community Relations Council, the Anti-Defamation League and a host of others. But the event was notable for having apparently few marchers from the Chasidic community, despite Chasidic Jews being the victims of most of the recent attacks. “The reason why they’re not here, there’s no reason other than because there was no outreach, but I’m not thinking into it,” said Chesky Deutsch, a community activist in

the Orthodox Jewish community of Jersey City who attended the march and praised it. “There wasn’t a broad outreach? That’s OK. Everyone shows sympathy and support in their own way.” Officials also used the demonstration to present their plans for fighting anti-Semitism. Speaking before the march, Cuomo vowed to introduce a law that would define anti-Semitism as domestic terrorism, as well as increase the ranks of the state police force and the state Hate Crimes Task Force. Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Gillibrand also pointed to Congressional efforts to increase funding for security at houses of worship, as well as a parallel federal bill on domestic terrorism. “I’m going to work very hard to increase our funding for the not-for-profit security grants both for rural and urban areas,” Gillibrand told JTA. “We’re going to try to exponentially increase the amount of resources we have to protect this city.” Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, said that defining anti-Semitism as domestic terror would allow for the government to bring to bear the full brunt of its force. He called out elected leaders in both major parties for having “given permission for people to use prejudice.” “I think we need to call out these acts,” he said, referring to anti-Semitic attacks. “When you attack someone because of how they pray or where they’re from, that’s an act of terror. That doesn’t just affect the individual but it impacts the entire community.” Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate, told JTA that he disagrees with the idea of increasing police presence in Brooklyn to stem anti-Semitism. He attributed the spike in anti-Semitism to hatred “being pushed in the highest halls of our country,” and said that putting more police on the street would not solve the root causes of the problem. He called for increased education against hate, as well as enhanced mental health treatment. “I think cops should be used for acute situations and we have to work with our police officers, but anytime we directly go there and we have to have more cops for everything that means the rest of us are failing,” Williams said. “I don’t know if it’s a problem that cops can solve. We as a community have to get together and make sure people are not just tolerating folks but understanding and accepting the beauty of everyone’s culture, the beauty of everybody’s religion, and that takes time.” PJC

In the rising of the sun and its going down,

We Remember Them. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,

We Remember Them. In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring.

We Remember Them. In the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer,

We Remember Them. In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn.

We Remember Them. In the beginning of the year and when it ends,

We Remember Them. When we are weary and in need of strength,

We Remember Them. When we are lost and sick of heart,

We Remember Them. When we have joys and special celebrations we yearn to share,

We Remember Them. So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are part of us.

We Remember Them. For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as,

We Remember Them.

p From right: Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Sen. Chuck Schumer, UJAFederation CEO Eric Goldstein and Jewish Community Relations Council CEO Michael Miller kick off the march against anti-Semitism in New York City on January 5. Photo by Ben Sales

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Lee & Lisa Oleinick JANUARY 10, 2020 9

Headlines Bernie Sanders picks Pittsburgh native as liaison to Jewish community — NATIONAL — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

he Bernie Sanders campaign has named an insider in both the Jewish and Democratic establishments — entities that the presidential candidate has previously kept at a distance — as its liaison to the Jewish community. The appointment of Pittsburgh native Joel Rubin, 48, a former Obama administration official and former columnist for the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, was announced last week to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Rubin was a co-founder of J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, and recently served on the board of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a group that slots into the mainstream both of the pro-Israel community and the Democratic Party. “It’s really exciting because Bernie is building a movement here that is one that is essentially engaging the diversity of America,” Rubin told JTA in an interview. “What we’re going to do is make sure that the Jewish voice and community is part and parcel of that movement.” Rubin also served as an aide to the late

Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and was a deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs — the State Department’s liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives — under President Barack Obama. It’s a signal of how markedly different this Sanders campaign for the Democratic nomination is from the one he ran in 2016 as an outsider, when it took months to address his Jewish background and upbringing. Now Sanders brings it up frequently. Four years ago, the Sanders campaign was led by figures who reviled the establishment. Now the longtime Vermont senator is attracting Democratic establishment figures and bodies. It’s partly a testament to how the establishment has adopted some of Sanders’ policies, including a $15 minimum wage and expansive health care reform. His Jewish outreach hire in 2016, Simone Zimmerman, generated headlines because of her roots in the insurgent anti-occupation IfNotNow group. She was forced out almost as soon as she started after obscenity-laced Facebook posts targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to light. Rubin is a well-liked Washington Jewish figure who is as comfortable on cable news defending the Iran nuclear deal that Israel reviled as he is schmoozing at an Israeli

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p Joel Rubin says of Bernie Sanders: “It is so valuable to have a politician and a leader running who gets it in his kishkes.”

Photo courtesy of Joel Rubin

Embassy social event. He said his experience inside the establishment was precisely the point. When he was working in Congress, for Lautenberg and then for the Obama administration, he routinely engaged with the legacy Jewish organizations. “That’s going to be part of the work — I want them to hear from us and I want us to hear from them,” Rubin said. Rubin often cites his typical Jewish

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Please see Rubin, page 15

This week in Israeli history Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

Nathan Lane

upbringing, his summers at Ramah camps, his membership in United Synagogue Youth and his time spent at university in Israel. In 2017 he contrasted for the Forward how participating in the March of the Living in Poland, a Holocaust education experience, influenced him as well as Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s leading adviser and son-in-law. “For me, the march deepened my resolve to work for a world of peace and tolerance. And it cemented my commitment to Israel as a refuge for the Jewish people,” Rubin said. “What it did not do was inspire me to work for an administration that would shut out those fleeing mass murder, such as is happening today with Syria’s refugees.” Rubin has his work cut out for him. As much as Sanders has embraced his frontrunner status, he also continues to espouse positions on an array of policies that ensconce him on the party’s left, including on Israel issues. Sanders has advocated leveraging aid to Israel to influence its policies, and his campaign has embraced as surrogates Democrats who are hostile to Israel and have been widely accused of stoking

Jordan’s King Hussein makes his first public visit to Israel nearly 15 months after signing a peace treaty with Israel. His stops include Ichilov Hospital and the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.

Jan. 11, 1929 — Gen. Rafael Eitan is born

Rafael Eitan, the 11th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, is born in Tel Adashim. He joins the elite Palmach at age 16 and is wounded four times before becoming the chief of staff in 1978.

Jan. 12, 1981 — Bedouin Knesset member assassinated

Hamad Abu-Rabia, 51, the first Bedouin to serve in the Knesset, is fatally shot in his car outside the Holy Land Hotel in Jerusalem. The killers are the sons of a Druze political rival, Jabr Muadi.

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Jan. 13, 1898 — Zola accuses French of anti-Semitism

The newspaper L’Aurore publishes a 4,500word letter from Emile Zola under the headline “J’Accuse” (“I Accuse”), in which he charges the French government with anti-Semitism in the Dreyfus Affair.

Jan. 14, 2018 — Netanyahu visits India

Benjamin Netanyahu pays the first state visit to India by an Israeli prime minister in more than 15 years, reciprocating a trip to Israel by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.

Jan. 15, 2014 — Israel joins CERN as full member

A flag-raising ceremony at the Geneva headquarters of the European Organization for Nuclear Research marks Israel’s new status as the 21st full member of the 60-year-old CERN.

Jan. 16, 1948 — Convoy of 35 slaughtered

All 35 Haganah soldiers in a convoy bringing supplies on foot to the blockaded Gush Etzion settlements are killed after being stopped by Arab fighters. The Arabs mutilate the Jewish bodies. PJC

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FIRST DRAWING

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JANUARY 10, 2020 11

Opinion Guest Columnist Audrey Glickman

he cancellation of Point Park University’s theatrical production of “Parade,” which the Jewish Chronicle wrote about in the Jan. 3 issue, exemplifies our current disconnected society, serving up another helping of sadness, disappointment and despair. University President Paul Hennigan is wrong when he says that the priority is the students. The priority is not the students, it is the education of the students. These particular students may have come to the school with premade conclusions about a broad range of matters, and are maybe not yet open-minded enough to delve into the price to be paid by society for their opinions. They must be taught. “Parade,” it seems (I have not yet seen it), not only addresses anti-Semitism, but also echoes the arrests and convictions (and deaths) of the many minority individuals who simply did not do the crimes. How will these students understand the subtleties of such matters, not to mention derive ways to stand against injustice, if they avoid the issues? Will they ever learn? Not if they don’t do the plays. When I was a student majoring in theater, we were ready to produce anything from “The Mikado” to “Krapp’s Last Tape.” In presenting a play, we turn the singular voice of the playwright on the page into a collaborative interpretation expressing not only what is written but also what comes through those performing it in an immersive live experience unique with every performance. During those years, we presented “The Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare’s play in

which a Jew is the title character. We didn’t hide from the controversy; we addressed it. Did the author write a real person? Did he write a stereotype? Did Shylock have a human side? Was he just grumbly because he had suffered so much loss? Those who are interpreting the play can collaboratively flesh out the words on the page as they find the meaning for themselves. We even questioned whether Shylock would wear tzitzit showing. We also presented “The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd.” That musical would make a nice counterpoint (with a chance for multicultural casting) to “Parade” in a season. It also holds a timely message, and interestingly one of its songs has recently been a hit (“Feelin’ Good”). In my years working in theater, I’ve seen an audience member try to censor the show before attending. I thought then and still think it wrong to say, in that instance, “Take the word ‘bastard’ out of ‘1776’ or I can’t take the middle-schoolers to see it.” Ben Franklin actually said the sentence quoted in the play, and ultimately the teacher did bring

the students to the uncensored performance. The word did not make or break the experience, and the students learned a good deal about the human beings who created our country that they might have missed had that attempt at censorship succeeded. This instance at Point Park, though, goes well beyond this sort of tight-tushy attitude toward a word. This is censorship based on misconception of what is “right” in society. Censoring anything out of prejudice or hate masquerading as political correctness is part of a fatal descent through limiting art to the floral, making only happy movies, limiting news reporting, burning books, ostracization, segregation, torture and extermination. We know how this works, and we are in the middle of it once again around the world and right here. Shame on those students, and on their educators for permitting their ignorance to flourish. If we must re-learn to appreciate art, then let us begin now. An artist’s job is to be a mirror, to reflect us back to ourselves. If we don’t take in the work, we cannot benefit. Does the singer use an objectionable turn

of phrase? Did the artist paint something hurtful? Did the author write a scathing indictment of the fashion industry with which you disagree? The answer is not to tell them to stop; the answer is to understand whether the artist wanted you to feel as you do, and what your next action as a human being should be. Should George Carlin have made us feel uncomfortable? He thought so. Did we learn from it? Did it change us? We are supposed to criticize art after we take it in, and not necessarily by criticizing the artist(s). We are supposed to look at a work from all directions, interpret what might be shrouded or hidden, and understand and take away whatever message we derive. And then we should reinterpret it again and again through the years. (Sounds like the way we are taught to study our faith, too, doesn’t it?) We do not get to delete the work; we may not break the mirror. Censorship only drives things underground, where a good idea dies and where a bad idea festers. The very point of attending an arts university is to get a broad education in the arts. If these students want to major in theater, they had better learn to dig deep and find the meaning, application and relevance in any work they are presenting. And “no” is not an option. Let’s help them learn the one lesson they might take away from this: how to navigate the public relations necessary to attempt to explain and apologize for a change of advertised season, rejection of a nationally acclaimed work and how their behavior compares with what we baby boomers did at their age (much as they may malign us), in being open to seeking the meaning of life. PJC Audrey N. Glickman majored in and has worked professionally in theatrical production, as well as other fields. She has spent a lifetime among delightfully expressive artists, and is the author of “Pockets.”

A time for vigilance; a time for action Guest Columnist Howard Rieger

ast month, we marked the first anniversary of the Dec. 24, 2018, fire and explosion at the U.S. Steel (USS) Clairton Coke Works that blew out a football-sized portion of the 120-year-old plant just down-river from Pittsburgh. What was already our region’s worst air polluter got many times worse, spewing noxious gases into the air for over three months. On June 6, 2019, USS and the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) announced a settlement agreement whereby USS would invest $200 million in upgrades to its Clairton Coke Works and $1.1 billion to build a new mill in its Mon Valley Works. On Oct. 1, 2019, USS announced that for

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$700 million it was acquiring a 49.9% stake in Big River Steel, Arkansas, a modern electric arc furnace mill, with plans to acquire the remainder of the non-union operation within two years. On Dec. 15, 2019, the Wall Street Journal revealed the findings of a 59-page report on the December 2018 explosion conducted for USS by an engineering firm. Citing current employees, former executives, hourly workers and investors, the study noted that the near disaster “… fits a pattern of failures that have made many of USS’ largest plants unreliable, inefficient and, in some cases, dangerous for workers and the surrounding communities.” USS had a policy of cutting maintenance and failures were inevitable. The fire and explosion was caused by corroded sprinkler pipes and compressor valves. It could have been prevented. It gets worse. Workers knew that an oil-fed compressor needed to be taken offline but managers decided to wait until after the

holiday to avoid paying overtime. That compressor fed the fire. USS saved the money and the citizens of our region paid the price. All of this is compounded by a company in disarray. Last fall Moody’s Investment Advisers cut USS’ credit rating to highly speculative, and its bond rating for unsecured debt and environmental clean-up to one notch above substantial risk of default. On Dec. 19, 2019, USS announced that its financial picture was even worse than it had projected for year-end and it will slash its dividend, stop stock repurchases, lay off workers, suspend some operations and lower its capital spending for 2020 by $75 million. The Allegheny Conference on Community Development, created in 1944 to work in partnership with Mayor David Lawrence to clean up our smoky city, has given up that mandate. Its summit to chart its next 75 years was partially funded by USS. Air pollution wasn’t on the agenda. They have assured their irrelevance. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald heads

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an operation charged with environmental protection, yet he is a cheerleader for USS. He wanted to secure political support rather than push to improve our air quality. He was reelected last November. Officials at ACHD have stated that if USS doesn’t live up to the settlement agreement the Clairton Coke Works will be shut down. Given the precarious financial condition of USS, it is likely the settlement agreement won’t be fulfilled. We must monitor this process, and if commitments are not met, hold our elected officials accountable. With no election in the offing, this may be a time for public protest. It has worked at other times for other issues. It can work here too. PJC Howard Rieger was president/CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, 1981-2004, and president/CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, 2004-2009. He is a community activist in Pittsburgh and Chicago.

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Photo courtesy of Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse

Decision to cancel ‘Parade’ represents larger problem

Opinion Never Again, circa 2020 Guest Columnist Mitchell Bober

hat does the phrase “Never Again” mean to you? And what should it mean to Jews living in the United States in 2020? In light of recent acts of anti-Semitic violence in such places as Poway, Monsey, and of course Pittsburgh, this question looms large. When considering these questions, it behooves us to acknowledge that the historical impetus for this phrase — a fully operational policy of eliminationist anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany — thankfully no longer exists in the world today. Notwithstanding the disturbing frequency of recent attacks, our society bears little resemblance to pre-war Germany, a society that seethed with racially motivated hatred toward Jews cultivated through hundreds of years of immersive religious and cultural anti-Semitism. Germans enthusiastically elevated Adolph Hitler to power in 1933 through democratically held elections well after his views toward Jews were widely known, and subsequently volunteered by the millions, in both military and civilian capacities, to help turn his genocidal aspirations into a reality. (The fact that a troubling number of young people today erroneously believe that Hitler seized political power by force and unilaterally imposed his murderous agenda on an unknowing citizenry is a whole other issue.) In striking contrast, today’s anti-Semitic perpetrators are met with immediate and universal condemnation by citizens and political leaders alike (one of the few issues Democrats and Republicans can agree on), and they are ostracized as “fringe” elements deserving the harshest punishment allowed under law. Indeed, if anything, these attacks have resulted in calls to change the law to allow for even greater punishment, in the form of enhanced sentences under proposed hate crime legislation. Thus, as disturbing as these attacks may be, the fact remains that today’s Jews — especially those living in the U.S. — enjoy a level of freedom and security that precious few of our ancestors during the last 1,500 years could have dreamed of.

So, what does “Never Again” mean for us today? First and foremost, it remains a clarion call, as it was 75 years ago, to guard against a society like pre-war Germany from ever surfacing again. But recent events now dictate that it take on an additional meaning: to purge forever the identity of weakness and vulnerability that we have allowed to become associated with our religious communities, creating an environment in which violent attacks often take place with impunity. For far too long, Jews when confronted with acts of violence have simply taken it, doing little more that reverting back to our all too familiar “victim” status, lamenting these abhorrent acts as reflective of our preordained destiny (“It’s happening to us again … ”). Our only recourse: relying on the efficacy of law enforcement and sympathetic politicians to protect us. This must change. The time has come to protect ourselves. Those who would seek to do us harm, who view Jews as easy targets, equating yarmulkes, payot and tefillin with weakness and vulnerability, must be taught otherwise. This can only be done through displays of physical force equal to that which would be levied against us. It will require preparation, professional training and armed self-defense when necessary, and must be organized in our communities and carried out in conjunction with local law enforcement. And while these efforts will not be easy, it has been done before (under far worse circumstances). To readers who find this admonition discordant or unsettling (“We’re Jews, what do we know of fighting and weapons and self-defense?”), keep in mind that as long as we view ourselves through a lens of vulnerability and helplessness, this is where we will remain. Must we always place our safety and security in the hands of, and at the mercy of others, be they our elected representatives, the police or our attackers? When is enough enough? The time has come for Jews to realize, finally and forever, as our Israeli brothers and sisters have for the last 70 years, that our future need not be defined by a tragic past, but rather by an identity imbued with strength and self-determination. Any other mindset must be banished forever. PJC Mitchell Bober is an attorney and adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

— LETTERS — In response to the recent JTA op-ed regarding France “My Chasidic Community Taught Me To Avoid Non Jews,” I offer word of caution as French culture is uniquely secular: what to an American might seem like anti-Semitism might in fact reflect “laïcité,” France’s version of separation of church and state. To be clear, the wearing of overtly religious garb of any kind is more likely to provoke a reaction in France than in the USA, so if the waiter’s hostility was directly related to the writer’s yarmulke, it may well be that he would have had the same reaction had he been a woman wearing a hijab. My comments are not intended to deny the existence of anti-Semitism in France, but rather to suggest that national culture is an important consideration. Henry Posner III Oakland

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In this time of crisis, the Jewish community must do more — and we will Guest Columnists Eric Fingerhut Mark Wilf

n Sunday, Jan. 5, a huge crowd responded to the call from UJA-Federation of New York to march against anti-Semitism. The sense of threat is so pervasive at this moment that Jewish Federations and other organizations bused thousands from other states and locales to march in solidarity with the Jews of New York, who have experienced an unprecedented wave of violent anti-Semitic attacks, most recently in Monsey on the seventh night of Chanukah. People may be asking what the leadership of the Jewish community in America is doing. The answer is that we are dramatically accelerating work on safety and security that has been underway since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Following 9/11, The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the umbrella for 146 local Federations and 300 other networked communities, acted on several fronts. First, recognizing the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens in their houses of worship and community centers, we urged Congress to establish the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) to bolster nonprofit institutions at risk of attack. Since then, JFNA has worked with Congress and a broad coalition of partners to increase the NSGP to $90 million for the coming year. This amount — a 50% increase from the prior year — was signed by President Trump days before the New Year and just one week before the attack on Rabbi Rotenberg’s house in Monsey. Already, we are working with bipartisan leadership in Congress to support Sen. Chuck Schumer’s call for an emergency increase in these funds to $360 million. All told, these advocacy efforts have secured $419 million in U.S. government funding that has been invested in increasing the security of our synagogues and communal institutions. We anticipate that much more will become available as a result of our efforts. We are also working to ensure that the institutions that need the funding the most can receive it. Until recently, only facilities in designated “urban areas” could apply for federal NSGP funds. Today, thanks to intense advocacy and the leadership of U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), institutions across the country, from urban areas to rural ones, can apply for funding. That means houses of worship in places like Rockland, New York, and White Settlement, Texas, both of which were attacked this week within 24 hours of one another, can now seek funding.

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In our system of government, state and local agencies have significant responsibility for law enforcement. The state advocacy teams of our local Federations, in coalition with many others, have so far worked successfully with eight states to provide security funding for faith-based institutions. We believe every state should do the same. However, as much as we can push on government to meet its responsibilities, we will not leave the security of the Jewish community to government alone. We know we must organize ourselves effectively to ensure the safety of our community. Following 9/11, JFNA worked with law enforcement partners and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to create the Secure Community Network (SCN), a safety and homeland security organization established to protect the Jewish people. SCN coordinates with federal law enforcement, provides critical training and support to local communities, and works with national organizations like Hillels, Chabad on Campus, AEPi and the Foundation for Jewish Camps. In addition, SCN has the skills and resources to help institutions access and effectively use government security grants, a capacity that will have to grow dramatically and quickly. Most importantly, many of our largest local Federations have created their own Community Initiatives that both draw on the resources and expertise of their local communities and partner with our national system to make sure we are all working together and developing the highest standards for security. They have hired local Community Security Directors, helped with funding to harden community facilities, organized training, and maintained constant vigilance in their service areas. SCN is making sure that every community has a local system that meets the highest standards of security and coordinates with our national efforts. The attacks on the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh will likely be looked back on as our community’s own 9/11. Though the training provided by the Pittsburgh Federation’s Community Security Initiative and SCN saved lives on that horrible day, the urgency of building out security systems across communities, large and small, is now clear to all. The Chanukah attacks in New York, so soon after the Jersey City attack, will be viewed as a moment when the process of securing our community accelerated dramatically and began to reach critical mass. No further evidence is needed — just purposeful, effective and clear action to complete the security umbrella for the Jewish community. We will do it. PJC Eric D. Fingerhut is president and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America. Mark Wilf is chair of the board of trustees of The Jewish Federations of North America.

JANUARY 10, 2020 13

Headlines Daf Yomi: Continued from page 1

There’s something transformative about committing to regularly studying rabbinic teachings, explained Alex Sax, of Squirrel Hill, who also participates in the project. “It helps us discover the reasons why we do the mitzvahs (commandments) expected of us as hinted in the Torah,” he said. Daily study also speaks to the heart of the Jewish enterprise, added Jerry Parness, of Squirrel Hill, another daf yomi scholar: “This is our answer to anti-Semitism.” The Babylonian Talmud was compiled around the beginning of the sixth century. Encompassing both the Mishnah (a written collection of Jewish laws and traditions) and the Gemara (Diasporic rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah), the Babylonian Talmud represents an encyclopedic collection of ideas, practices and histories regarding rabbinic Judaism. Before the internet, phone conferencing and a surplus of printed materials facilitated the accessibility of Talmud study, the rigorous analysis of material dating to the time of late antiquity was limited and largely relegated to select houses of study. But about 100 years ago, an expansive push was made. During the First World Congress of Agudath Israel, Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Poland announced a unifying project to thousands gathered in Vienna. If Jews worldwide followed an established schedule of daily Talmud study, Shapiro said, global Jewry could literally be on the same page. The plan was accepted and on Rosh Hashanah morning, Sept. 11, 1923, the daf yomi cycle began. Nearly seven and a half years later, on Feb. 2, 1931, the first Siyum HaShas was marked by celebrations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Jerusalem and throughout Europe. Last week’s gathering of nearly 90,000 Jews at MetLife Stadium — plus thousands who watched via live feed or held similar meetups, including 20,000 Jews who attended a spillover ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and scores who congregated at a special Saturday evening event at Shaare Torah Congregation — represented the 13th Siyum HaShas. “This was the third time I went,” said Rabbi Shimon Silver, of Young Israel of Pittsburgh. “The first time was in 1982.” That first time, which marked the eighth Siyum HaShas, was held at the Felt Forum in New York City and welcomed approximately 5,000 people. Silver attended as a student. Nearly 40 years have passed, and in the interim Silver has continuously studied the Talmud. In 1999, he began teaching daf yomi regularly. These days, he offers a class at Young Israel each night of the workweek, excluding Fridays — an extra Sunday session enables participants to catch up on Friday’s missed material. Depending on the page, topics referenced and the number of commentaries cited, a typical class lasts about 40 minutes, he said. For those unable to attend Young Israel’s weekday evening sessions, both Shaare Torah Congregation and the Kollel Jewish Learning Center offer morning options.

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p Nearly 90,000 people attended the Jan. 1 Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

p Rabbis Elisar Admon and Daniel Wasserman tailgated before entering the Siyum HaShas. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Elisar Admon

Sax, who has gone through one and a half cycles of study, attends classes at Young Israel and Shaare Torah. When he is unable to make either, he listens to prerecorded lectures online. Parness, who is in the middle of his fourth cycle, similarly splits his time between local classes and digital options. “I use a shiur (lecture) from YUTorahOnline by Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz. His knowledge of Torah is all-encompassing,” said Parness. “Otherwise, I’m with Rabbi Silver.” Balaban and Isenberg studied on their own. That allowed Balaban to “take as much time as I needed, to read the various commentaries and to get what I needed to know,” he said. Isenberg, a pharmacist whose work routine precluded attendance at a local class, found it easier to rely on his own copy of the Talmud, and open it “at any spare moment I had throughout the day,” he said. In studying alone, both Balaban and

Isenberg relied on Mesorah Publications’ Artscroll edition of the Talmud. Because of its English translations and elucidations, the Artscroll Talmud is “very accessible,” said Balaban.“It’s really enabled a lot of us to do it.” Parness previously used both the Artscroll Talmud and the Steinsaltz edition (the latter being a Hebrew translation of the text with commentary by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz). “I think that for daf yomi the Steinsaltz is a better approach than the Artscroll because the Steinsaltz is more encompassing. It uses history, archeology, language analysis and word origin,” he said. A recently printed edition, the Koren Talmud Bavli, which offers Steinsaltz’s insights in English, “is fabulous, especially for people who have no yeshiva background.” Thanks to the Koren Talmud Bavli, podcasts on the day’s learning and dedicated Facebook groups, daf yomi is opening to an even greater audience, said Rabbi

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Amy Bardack, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s director of Jewish life and learning. “There’s so many more resources with every new cycle, making it so much more accessible, and what we will see in Pittsburgh is a handful, not a tsunami but a handful, of women and non-Orthodox people who will be at least starting to take on this project.” As the 14th cycle gets underway, Squirrel Hill resident and Hillel JUC senior Jewish educator Danielle Kranjec plans on utilizing the Koren Talmud Bavli for daily study with her husband. “We have a sitdown breakfast every morning and we used to read out loud to the kids,” said Kranjec. “We read almost all of the works by Daniel Pinkwater, “The Hobbit,” Italian folk tales. Now we’ll be reading Gemara.” Kranjec studied Talmud as a graduate student at Jewish Theological Seminary, and has taught both Mishnah and Gemara, but said she and her husband’s limited knowledge of Aramaic (much of the Talmud and rabbinic literature is written in Aramaic) will cause them to rely on English translations, including materials available at sefaria.org, a free “living library of Jewish texts.” There’s a certain irony to this daf yomi cycle in that it officially began on Jan. 5, making it an almost archetypal New Year’s resolution. Though Kranjec has been told by fellow Jewish educators that “even spending an hour on the daf” will never yield comprehensive Talmudic understanding, she remains optimistic: “I’ve been encouraging people to start and think about learning in a different mode than what you normally do in Jewish learning, and not trying to understand every intricacy, but just starting and seeing where it takes you.” For that reason, along with a request from students, Hillel JUC will begin offering a weekly recap of Talmudic texts covered. Titled “This Week in Daf Yomi,” the regular meetup will allow Kranjec and others to rehash particular ideas without the daily commitment of a traditional program. “I think with the increase of a more pluralistic experience of daf yomi here in Pittsburgh, and sort of across the world, we have an opportunity to bring in really valuable voices to the daf yomi conversation: people’s voices we may not have heard yet around daf yomi,” said Rabbi Jeremy Markiz, director of Derekh and youth tefillah at Congregation Beth Shalom. The globalization of daf yomi welcomes new participants, and there are ample ways to support one’s learning, such as through Daf Yomi Pittsburgh, a Facebook group powered by Federation, said Bardack. With the Jan, 5 start date now behind them, Balaban, Isenberg, Kranjeck and Markiz were among multiple Pittsburgh residents already eyeing June 7, 2027, the date of the 14th cycle’s completion. The secret to making it through is realizing “all you need to do is pick your Gemara up and keep in mind you’re not a quitter,” said Balaban. “Begin to work through it at your level and establish the yomi aspect of it. Every day is what’s important.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Security: Continued from page 2

be placed in each classroom of the three day schools and all Jewish early learning centers. Brokos acknowledged that there are current threats against the Jewish community here, which are being investigated by law enforcement. She would not elaborate on the nature of the threats because the investigations are ongoing. “We are following those very closely,” she said. “We are actively addressing the threats in an effort to do everything we can to protect

the community. The partnership between the Federation and law enforcement is so strong and we continually monitor these threats in an effort to be proactive, and not reactive. I don’t want to instill fear in the community, but I want there to be a healthy awareness.” With the rise in hate crimes against the Jewish community nationwide, and the proliferation of hateful speech on social media, Brokos encourages community members to report to her any perceived threat. Anything “suspicious in nature” should be reported, she stressed. “Something that may seem so insignificant or inconsequential may be part of a

larger threat or activity,” she said. “We don’t dismiss anything in law enforcement, we run every bit of information we get, we vet it out to its entirety, because you just don’t know.” Currently working on a master’s in professional counseling at Carlow University, Brokos also plans to implement trauma management training for the Pittsburgh Jewish community. She views such training as particularly salient here in the continuing aftermath of the trauma of Oct. 27, 2018. In a written announcement regarding the hiring of Brokos, David Ainsman, chair of the Federation’s security committee, praised her “distinguished career in the FBI,” and

Kindness: Continued from page 3

work of the entire JCC community and the Jewish community at large.” As Symons explained, the type of work he felt was needed could only be accomplished through partnerships—both in the Jewish and interfaith communities. “That first year there were over 90 different partners, Jewish Family and Community Services…Repair the World… local churches. Our strongest partner is actually Christian Associates of Southwestern Pennsylvania. They are the ecumenical Christian organization for over 2,000 churches in Southwestern, Pennsylvania.” Planned on the anniversary of the King’s 1963 March on Washington, the inaugural event planned by the CFLK coincided with another event that highlighted the need for the center, the Charlottesville riots. In the 14 months that followed, Symons and the center worked with refugee organizations, sponsored candidate forums, engaged with interfaith partners, confronted racism and bigotry through conversation and programs and created opportunities for communities to come together, exemplified by the “Movies We Have to Talk About Program” which screened the Mr. Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” at the Squirrel Hill JCC. As Symons recalled, the Oct. 27 shooting at the Tree of Life building forced the center

Rubin: Continued from page 10

anti-Semitism. They include freshman congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as well as the Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour. Rubin said part of his role would be to reach out to figures like Omar and explain how to better make their case among Jewish voters. “There are communities who don’t know how to talk about the Jewish community and to engage,” he said. Don’t expect Sanders to distance himself from figures like Sarsour, however, Rubin said.

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p The banner to be sent to neighbors in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, White Settlement, Texas, and Monsey, New York. Photo by David Rullo

to reexamine the work it had been doing. “The difference between Oct. 26 and Oct. 28 is that everything was exactly the same and everything was completely different.” He recalled that because of the work done the previous year, “we had a foundational perspective on what we needed to do, and boy were we grateful.” “What has become different, post Oct. 27,” he continued, “is that we have come to have a better understanding of the empathy we

need when a community is in crisis.” That empathy extended beyond the Jewish community, Symons explained. He noted that while the attack on the Jewish community was a low frequency/high impact event, many communities experience high frequency/ high impact events on a regular basis. Assisting those communities that experience trauma is one of three goals Symons has set for the new year. “One is building relationships across all

“We’re not going to get sucked into the false choice our opponents try to put us into — ‘are you for Israel or against Israel.’ We’re not going to allow others to define for us what it means to care about being Jewish,” Rubin said. The Democratic Majority for Israel, which has consistently pressed Sanders to explain his alliance with Sarsour, said in a statement after publication that Rubin’s posture on Sarsour was inadequate. “We congratulate Joel on his new assignment,” said the statement sent to JTA. “But there is simply no excuse for any candidate failing to condemn anti-Semitic statements made by individuals they appoint as campaign officials.” Sanders consistently performs as one

of the top three candidates by all metrics: national polling, early nominating state polling and fundraising. He posted the strongest take of any Democratic candidate for the fourth quarter of 2019 by far, bringing in $34 million at an average of $18 a donor — $10 million more than his closest rival, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana. (Among all candidates, Trump outdid Sanders, taking in $46 million.) Sanders, like one of his main rivals, Joe Biden, has made the perception that Trump is stoking bigotry and division with his rhetoric a central issue of his campaign. Rubin said he will not be shy about pitching Sanders’ Jewish identity to Jewish voters, casting it as part of the senator representing himself as the voice of the

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noted that she has been “involved in major investigations in her career and received numerous awards for her achievements.” Brokos “was awarded the FBI Directors award for excellence for her work in training law enforcement,” Ainsman wrote, adding that she “has been very involved with the Jewish Community in Pittsburgh monitoring and mitigating threats that affect our community over the last few years…. With the hiring of Shawn, we will have no gaps in our security program for the community.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

communities, including those with perceived and real differences around religion, ethnicity, skin tone, race, geography and politics. “We have another goal of talking about important issues…immigration, the opioid epidemic, etc. “The third goal is helping communities through trauma and healing. We know something about this, right? That’s why we brought people from Parkland to us. Because we knew that Parkland would help us better understand what it means to be attacked.” Schrieber believes the CFLK’s platform “strengthens the fabric of our community and throughout the region through various programs and events that amplify civic dialogue through various forms.” To assist and build community and amplify dialogue, the CFLK is creating a new program, UPstander. This new program will train 75 people, regardless of faith, ethnicity, nationality, or JCC membership. Its goal is to move people from bystander to participant, not standing idle as their brother bleeds and to love their neighbor as themselves. Those concepts, along with making neighbor a moral concept continues to motivate Symons. He hopes they will motivate the Pittsburgh community as well. “In the words of the ancient rabbis,” he paraphrased, “if you’ve learned something and you’ve been inspired, get off your tuchus and go do something.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

marginalized and the persecuted, particularly at a time of increased attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. “It’s a priority for Bernie that the Jewish community knows that it has a candidate here,” Rubin said, noting that Sanders in 2016 was the first Jewish candidate to win major-party nominating contests. “As a Jewish candidate he is a unique voice, he’s a person whose personal bio is rooted in ending up on these shores as a result of suffering anti-Semitism abroad. This is the most quintessential Jewish American story if ever there was one, to have him out there for the American Jewish community, which is attacked and under siege. It is so valuable to have a politician and a leader running who gets it in his kishkes.” PJC

JANUARY 10, 2020 15

Headlines Murderer: Continued from page 1

Center in 1999 with a semi-automatic weapon, wounding five and killing one. She also represents the Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In the case of Tsarnaev, Clarke failed to negotiate a plea deal for life in prison, and he is currently in custody at a supermax prison in Colorado, awaiting appeal of his conviction. None of Clarke’s clients so far have been executed. Clarke and her co-counsel argue that the death penalty is unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, which protects against punishments being applied arbitrarily; that it violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments; and that it violates the anti-commandeering provision of the 10th Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from forcing states or state officials to enforce federal law. The anti-commandeering argument is based on an interpretation of the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994, which the defense says requires state employees to execute federal defendants in state facilities. While the Fifth and Eighth Amendment arguments are fairly typical in capital cases, the anti-commandeering theory is not, and, in practice, state employees have not been required to carry out federal executions in state facilities. Since the federal death

16 JANUARY 10, 2020

penalty’s reinstatement in 1988, only three people have been executed by the United States, all by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Bruce Ledewitz, a constitutional law professor at Duquesne University School of Law, thinks it is unlikely “that there is a command in the federal statute” for states to carry out federal executions. But, he said, “if that’s the case, yeah, it would be unconstitutional.” If any of the defense’s arguments against the death penalty were to gain traction in court, it would be the anti-commandeering argument, according to Ledewitz. The challenges on Fifth and Eighth Amendment grounds, he said, “don’t amount to anything in my opinion. They would apply to any death penalty statute. And so, since we still carry out executions, the general challenges don’t hold up — the Supreme Court has rejected the general challenges previously.” J. Richard Broughton, a criminal and constitutional law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, who formerly served in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., agreed that “it is very unlikely that (the federal death penalty) will be held to be unconstitutional. There is no authoritative case law for that. There is no binding case law on the district court in the Western District of Pennsylvania that would require the court to hold that the death penalty is unconstitutional.” Support for the death penalty has been

waning in the United States, with a 2019 Gallup poll showing that, for the first time in 34 years of tracking, more Americans favor life imprisonment without the possibility of parole over the death penalty, 60% to 36%. Ledewitz, who founded the Allegheny County Death Penalty Project and co-founded the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty, explained that the existence of the death penalty is one reason why the case against the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue murderer is proceeding so slowly. A trial date still has not been set. “This is entirely a gift from the death penalty — murder cases don’t take this kind of time,” Ledewitz said. “Everything slows down in a death penalty case. If the death penalty were off the table, I mean if it weren’t a potential death penalty case, it would have been tried already as a regular murder case. Or if they were willing to take a plea, the case would have been over many months ago.” In a death penalty case, Ledewitz explained, “everyone is especially careful, all legal arguments are looked at especially carefully. All the experts are prepped especially carefully. Everything slows down, not just the death penalty part. No one wants to make a mistake in a death penalty case.” The trial necessitated by the DOJ’s decision to pursue the death penalty will cause the community to relive the nightmare of Oct. 27, 2018, and also force it to hear the life story of the alleged killer, Ledewitz pointed out. “I mean, we’re going to have hear all about

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his damn character,” he said. “And I don’t care. I mean, I don’t want to hear about this guy. All the death penalty does is make him into a celebrity. He was willing to be killed that day, presumably, and, you know, the fact that he’s going to become a martyr to the cause one day and be executed is not a problem for him. “This is true with every single death penalty case. The victims, the family members, the community, they have to relive the whole thing,” Ledewitz continued. “And then, worse than that, they have to have this sentencing hearing in a death penalty case in which we have to pretend to care, you know, that he was abused as a kid. And I don’t want to hear about it. My opposition to the death penalty has nothing to do with sympathy for these killers. I think it’s bad for everybody.” Although support for the death penalty is fading in the United States, there are still vocal proponents, including Robert Blecker, a professor at New York Law School, and a nationally recognized expert on the death penalty who spent decades inside prisons getting into the heads of convicted murderers. Author of the book “The Death of Punishment: Searching for Justice Among the Worst of the Worst,” Blecker refers to himself as a “retributivist,” and says he is less concerned with any deterrent effect on crime that the death penalty might have than he is with apt punishment. “Sometimes the death penalty does act as a marginally greater deterrence than life Please see Murderer, page 17

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Headlines Murderer: Continued from page 16

without parole,” Blecker explained. “But none of this is my issue, because I’m a retributivist and I don’t care if it is or it isn’t a greater marginal deterrent. The principal justification for the death penalty is that some people deserve to die and we have an obligation to execute them. And this racist mass murderer is definitely one of them.” Although the views of the victims’ families should be considered when deciding whether to pursue the death penalty, Blecker opined, they should not be dispositive. “Let’s remember that these people saying they don’t want (the death penalty) are not

the victims,” he said. “They are the victims’ families or loved ones. The victims are dead. I want to know what the victims’ views were on the death penalty. And if I am convinced that none of the victims wanted the death penalty — none of them — that should count heavily against it, in my view. “Remember, the prosecution is in the name of the People,” he continued. “It’s ‘the People versus.’ And though the victims should get a voice, they should not get a veto.” Although Broughton noted that the opinions of the families and the victims regarding the death penalty are “taken seriously” by the DOJ, “they don’t decide the issue one way or the other.” The federal government has “an obligation to uniformly enforce federal law,” noted

Broughton, who has advised senior Justice Department leaders and federal prosecutors on issues of law arising in federal death penalty matters. “Even if one particular community has an objection to the enforcement of the death penalty, the Department of Justice has to consider what it will do if the very same crime is committed somewhere else, in a different community. Federal law is the same in Pennsylvania as it is in North Dakota. It is the same in Texas as it is in New York. So the DOJ has to get beyond local concerns about the death penalty and consider more broadly how it is applying federal law across the country.” A trial in the case of the murderer at Tree of Life would be useful, Broughton said, to remind the country of what happened in

Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018. “The trial is going to tell the story of what happened,” he said. “ And that’s an important story to remember. There’s hasn’t been a lot of national news stories about this crime recently, and it is entirely possible that those outside of Pittsburgh and outside of the Jewish community may not fully recall the details of what happened with respect to this crime. So while I certainly respect the objections to having a trial, because it will, you know, put a lot of the same people through the ordeal again, it is important that the story be told. And the trial is one of our mechanisms for telling that story.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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Celebrations

Torah

In times of crisis, study Torah

Bat Mitzvah

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Gabriella (Gabi) Zimmerman, daughter of Brad Zimmerman (Kayleigh Donovan) and Kate Yonko (Cory Savit), will celebrate her bat mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 11th, 2020, at Tree of Life Congregation located at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Gabi is the older sister of Lily Yonko, granddaughter of Irwin and Judy Zimmerman and Dr. Fran Serenka and William Yonko, and great-granddaughter of Anna Mae Serenka and the late Joseph E. Serenka Jr. and the late Matthew and Gloria Goodman and the late Gerson and Rose Zimmerman. Gabi is a seventh-grade honor student at Norwin Middle School, where she plays the clarinet as a member of the band. As part of Gabi’s bat mitzvah project, she started a food drive collecting boxes of cereal that will be donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. PJC

Temple B’nai Israel hires Rabbi Howard Stein

abbi Howard Stein will become the new spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel in White Oak following the retirement of Rabbi Paul Tuchman, the congregation’s board of directors has announced. Tuchman, who retires on May 31, 2020, has served Temple B’nai Israel since 2009. Stein, who currently serves as rabbi for Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek in Lima, Ohio, received his rabbinical ordination and a master’s in Hebrew letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has provided rabbinical and educational services to congregations throughout Western Pennsylvania, including in New Castle, Indiana, Allison Park and Pittsburgh. Prior to his rabbinical education, Stein earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Cornell University and pursued a career as a software engineer. Stein is “very excited” about his new position at Temple B’nai Israel, he said. “They are a wonderful group, a warm congregation, and we had a definite connection when I interviewed there.”

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld Parshat Vayechi | Genesis 47:28-50:26

he Jewish people have been guests in foreign lands throughout history. Looking back, the first time the Jewish people left their homeland for another land was when Yaakov’s sons journeyed to Egypt in search of food to relieve their hunger. After discovering that Yosef, their younger brother, was the viceroy to Pharaoh, they sent for their father to come to join them in this foreign land. Yaakov was convinced and he traveled with his family and settled in Egypt for the remaining 17 years of his life. The Baal Haturim writes that the numerical value of the word “tov” or “good” in Hebrew, is 17. This alludes to the fact the best years of Yaakov’s life were the 17 years that he spent in Egypt. Although Egypt was a place far from home, and was not known for its moral and ethical values nor its love of the Jewish

When one studies the Torah, one comes close to G‑d. This closeness allows one to live with true and genuine vitality, even in Egypt.

p Rabbi Howard Stein

File photo

In addition to leading services, officiating at life cycle events and administering pastoral care, Stein will also lead adult education programs for the congregation He lives with his wife and daughter in Squirrel Hill. PJC —Toby Tabachnick

people, somehow Yaakov managed to make those years that he spent there the very best ones of his life. The Rebbe once related a story of his great-grandfather, the third Chabad Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek: When he was a young boy, his teacher taught him the verse: “And Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years,” explaining these were the best years of Yaakov’s life. The Tzemach Tzedek asked his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe how it was possible that the best years of Yaakov’s life would be spent in a morally corrupt land. The Alter Rebbe answered that even before he arrived, Yaakov sent Yehudah to Egypt to establish a house of study. When

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Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld is executive director of Yeshiva Schools and of Chabad of Western Pennsylvania. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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The lesson Yaakov teaches us is that no matter the pressure, if we have our anchor through connecting to Hashem by studying his Torah and doing his mitzvot, even our very best years can be a land where we face many challenges. Hashem, who is not bound to the limitations or the confines of the physical world, allows us to connect to Him through His Torah and mitzvot. When we do so, no matter the challenge, we can be assured that we will persevere. PJC

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one studies the Torah, one comes close to G‑d. This closeness allows one to live with true and genuine vitality, even in Egypt. Yaakov knew that it would be extremely difficult to be away from his homeland. He needed a life force to keep him grounded and focused. In order to prepare for this, before he traveled to Egypt, he made sure to send his son Yehudah ahead and asked him to establish houses of study, where Torah could be learned. That way there would be a place to connect to Hashem regardless of the challenge. Yaakov knew that in order to be unphased by his surroundings, staying connected to Hashem through Torah study was an absolute must. Recently, we have been faced with an unprecedented amount of challenges as a Jewish nation. Often one may ask himself, “How can I remain a true proud Jew in the face of so much adversity? How can I fend off the pressures coming from society that may require me to change the way I express my Judaism?”

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Obituaries FINKELSTEIN: Myrna Finkelstein, on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019. Proud mother of Dr. Alan (Dr. Lisa Schlar) Finkelstein; sister of Larry Stein and the late Burton Stein; grandmother of Ariana and Jordan Finkelstein; aunt of Darren (Milena Macioce) Stein and great-aunt of Zoe. Myrna was raised in Morningside and graduated from Peabody High School in 1953. She lived in New York City for a decade. When her husband died shortly after their marriage, she returned to Pittsburgh and raised her son, Alan, in Stanton Heights, before moving to Mt. Lebanon. She created a home filled with joy, warmth, love and respect, and instilled those values in her family. She took special pleasure in helping to raise her grandchildren, whom she adored. She loved to travel, to cook, attend theater, and play mahjong with her friends. Most of all, she loved to laugh. Myrna is most remembered for the kindness and love she shared so generously with family and friends. Everyone in her orbit noted her selflessness and concern for others. Graveside services and interment were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, 1 N. Linden St., Duquesne, PA 15110. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com GARVIN: Ruth Garvin on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Norman

Garvin; loving mother of Robert and Ellen Garvin and Marc and Barbara Garvin; sister of the late Dorothy Tables; grandmother of Michael Garvin and Gayle Garvin. Also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. The family wishes to give special thanks to her caregivers. Graveside services were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. family owned and operated. schugar.com LOVE: Charlotte Cohen Love, died peacefully on Jan. 4, 2020, at the age of 96. She lived joyfully, the loving wife of Albert J. Love z’l for 62 years. Charlotte was the beloved mother of Kenneth Love (Dr. Barbara McNulty-Love), and Dr. Deanna Love Rutman (Alan z’l), grandmother of Dr. Maia Rutman (Russell Hirschler), Julia Love (Eric Wu) and Daniel Love (Lila Pla-Almeny), and great-grandmother of Ariella and Elan Hirschler, Abigail and Madeline Wu, and Roc and Pep Love. Charlotte grew up as the youngest of seven in the heart of the robust Pittsburgh Jewish community, in the cradle of the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue where her father served as one of the presidents, amid the rich diversity of the Hill District of the 1920s and ’30s. She was nurtured by her parents, Lena Garfinkle Cohen z’l and Joel

David Cohen z’l, and her adored siblings by whom she is predeceased: Alan (Mary Ann) Cohen z’l, Adriel Cohen z’l, Eva (Abe) Herman z’l, Jerry (Bea) Cohen z’l, Mildred (Meyer) Feldman z’l, and Herbie (Rosella) Cohen z’l. She is survived by her sister-in-law Millye Cohen, the wife of her brother Adriel, as well as nieces and nephews all over the United States. From her upbringing derived her joie de vivre, exuberance and dedication to others. In fact, her early years inspired and featured prominently in her son Kenneth’s 2019 film “Jewish Memories of Pittsburgh’s Hill District.” After graduating from Fifth Avenue High School, Charlotte worked in the Office of Price Administration distributing ration books and finding housing and arranging dances for returning soldiers until the end of WWII. In a ceremony officiated by the revered Rabbi Ashinsky, she married Albert, her high school sweetheart, when he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. During her years raising her family, Charlotte supported B’nai B’rith as member and president — with star turns singing and dancing in elaborate productions. She enjoyed playing bridge with friends in her spare time and volunteered with veterans at the VA Hospital. She led the family to join Young People’s Synagogue/Bohnai Yisroel, of which she was an active and devoted member for more than 50 years. Charlotte worked for many years for the Pittsburgh Board of Education as a school secretary. She was well known for her special zest by students, parents and teachers

at elementary schools including Letsche, Carmalt, Minadeo, Colfax, Overbrook and Connelly. In her 80s she spent much of her time at the Squirrel Hill JCC, where, with her great laugh, she specialized in exercise, unofficial hostessing, political campaigning and helping to develop a summer lunch program for children. In recognition, Charlotte received the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2009 from the Retired and Senior Volunteers Program of Allegheny County. For her contributions to the JCC and the Red Cross, she was given a Jefferson Award for Public Service and honored in the Jewish Association on Aging’s “Eight Over 80” celebration of “The Greatest Generation,” both in 2011. As Barry Chad wrote in his interview for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Oral History Project sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, “This lady, by her own admission, is a live-wire, tireless in her community activities, in all manner of helpfulness, in keeping up with her family and friends. This lady is a doer!” Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Internment at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Family requests donations be made to the Jewish Association on Aging of Pittsburgh, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. schugar.com

Please see Obituaries, page 20