Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 1-24-20

January 24, 2020 | 27 Tevet 5780

Candlelighting 5:10 p.m. | Havdalah 6:13 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 4 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

$1.50

PA Jewish leaders accompany Jewish Gov. Wolf on his first trip to Israel professor sues Point Park University for alleged discrimination

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Gift of life

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

A

A partial liver donation brings two men together.

Pennsylvanian communities and businesses from Jan. 5 to Jan. 16.

On this, his first trip to the Jewish state, Wolf was joined by his wife, Frances; Butler; Schatz; Jeff Finkelstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh; Josh Sayles, director of the Pittsburgh Federation’s Community Relations Council; Naomi Adler, outgoing CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia; members of his staff and security detail; representatives from the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce; and representatives from the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Butler and the various Federations of Pennsylvania were made aware that Wolf had decided to take trip last summer.

Immediately, meetings were convened in order to figure out what was most important for the governor, Frances and his retinue to see in the three days that would be allotted for such activities.

They broke it down thematically:

longtime professor at Point Park University has sued the institution claiming employment discrimination based on her Jewish and Israeli ancestry, and alleging that there has been a concerted effort led by anti-Zionist faculty and students to create a hostile work environment.

Channa Newman, a Holocaust survivor with U.S., Israeli and Czech citizenship, has been employed by Point Park since 1964.

She is currently the chair of the department of humanities and social sciences and is a professor of French and cultural studies.

In her 18-count complaint filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Newman alleges that Professor Robert Ross, an outspoken critic of Israel, used his position at Point Park to promote “highly anti-Zionist views and activities” and to “foster the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.”

She says that Ross and others sought to have her removed from her position because she did not acquiesce to their one-sided presentation of the conflict.

She is seeking redress for emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress and harm to reputation.

Newman claims in her complaint that, with the support of Point Park, Ross along with Professor J. Dwight Hines, have “advanced militant and hateful views against Israel and in favor of BDS that are anti-Semitic and lead to the creation of a hostile work environment.”

The anti-Zionists on campus tried to remove Newman from her position at Point Park through the filing of a Title IX complaint against her, in which a student

Please see Wolf, page 20

Please see Point Park, page 14

Page 2

LOCAL Helping Holocaust survivors

 From left: Josh Sayles, Jeffrey Finkelstein, Frances Wolf, a JNF representative and Gov. Tom Wolf at the memorial for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Photo provided by Josh Sayles

Judah Samet is one of many survivors who is able to access resources.

Page 3

LOCAL Fashion forward Mindy Epstein opens consignment store for modest dress.

Page 4

By Jesse Bernstein | Jewish Exponent and Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

H

ank Butler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, had been nudging Gov. Tom Wolf to consider a visit to the Jewish state prior to the beginning of his political career.

Robin Schatz, director of government affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, said that she’s been “aggressively pushing” for the governor to do the same, though he might characterize it as “nagging,” Schatz believes.

But Butler thinks that what really pushed the governor to finally plan his trip to Israel was the persistent suggestions from his Jewish friends and acquaintances.

“It was really all the Federations, and quite frankly, in my opinion, the Jewish community in general,” Butler said.

Wolf became the first sitting governor of Pennsylvania since Tom Ridge to visit Israel, where he spent time vacationing and visiting sites of collaboration between Israeli and

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle

LOCAL Archiving cookbook history

NATIONAL Educating young people

TRAVEL Drew Goldberg’s tireless journey

Headlines Orthodox man from California donates part of his liver to Conservative rabbi in Pittsburgh — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

E

ric Steger’s heart is full, although his liver is smaller by 60%.

Steger, a 50-year-old man from Sunnydale, California, affiliated with Chabad, was in Pittsburgh earlier this month fulfilling his dream of donating an entire lobe of his liver to help save the life of another.

The liver recipient, Conservative Rabbi Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner, 53, said he feels like he has been given a second chance at life.

Kurtz-Lendner, who relocated to Pittsburgh from Iowa for the purpose of obtaining a transplant at UPMC, had been diagnosed with fatty liver cirrhosis, but the doctors did not know how serious it was until they were in the midst of the transplant.

“I could have died before I got put onto a list,” said Lendner, who, after the Jan. 7 surgery, is still recuperating but has been discharged from the hospital.

Steger, a math tutor at Foothill College in Northern California, has donated stem cells for a bone marrow transplant and platelets many times, and has been wanting to help save a life with one of his organs for years.

He even traveled to Israel to donate a kidney, but was ultimately turned down because he had hypertension.

About a year ago, though, he saw a UPMC commercial airing in California that advertised the fact that it was now performing “altruistic liver donations.”

“I decided to give it a try,” said Steger.

He then got in touch with Chaya Lipschutz, an Orthodox woman from Brooklyn who donated a kidney to a stranger in 2005, and since then has made it her work to help

p Rabbi Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner and Eric Steger.

others find kidney matches. She receives no money for her services.

Lipschutz had “made the shidduch with the kidney patient in Israel” for Steger that did not work out, he said.

As fate would have it, Lipschutz did know people who needed a live liver transplant.

Steger was medically cleared for the procedure, but the first few people with whom he matched found other donors. Lipschutz then turned to message boards to post that she had an able and willing donor.

“Now I was a solution in search of a problem,” said Steger.

When Kurtz-Lendner’s sister in Teaneck, New Jersey, happened to see Lipschutz’s post, the match was made.

Post-surgery, both donor and recipient are doing well.

Photo by Robin Kurtz-Lendner

“I’m feeling very positive,” said KurtzLendner, noting that full recovery from the procedure will take about a year.

“Two weeks ago, I was dying. Now, I have another 30 years.”

He, his wife Robin, and his oldest daughter will remain in Pittsburgh for at least six months.

Kurtz-Lendner did not meet Steger until after the surgery, and sees him as “an inspiration of a human being. I appreciate what he has done. He just saved my life.”

Steger returned to California this week.

During his time in Pittsburgh, he received warm hospitality from the city’s Jewish community, particularly the Bikur Cholim of Pittsburgh, run by Nina Butler, he said.

“Patients and families who come here from out of town always remind us of how special

our community is,” said Butler. “As the Bikur Cholim of Pittsburgh, I’m simply organizing the generosity of volunteers to provide the specific support that each patient wants.

That started before Jeff or Eric arrived, answering their questions about housing, Shabbat observance and kosher food.”

“Eric is observant and came unaccompanied, so his housing was complicated because the Family House does not allow patients to stay completely alone,” Butler explained.

“We provided home hospitality, and we also organized volunteers to drop off meals for Eric while his hosts were at work. Most of all, we formed relationships with both patients and Jeff ’s family so they knew there were Pittsburghers who had their backs.”

Robin Kurtz-Lendner said that she and her husband “felt so supported, even before we got here. It’s been incredible. The whole community has been rallying around us and it’s really been appreciated.”

Donating part of his liver was not easy, Steger acknowledged. Still, he wants to encourage others to consider organ donation.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was a year out of my life, one full year when I was thinking about this all the time.”

There was a battery of tests, the surgery itself, and now the recovery phase, he said, “which all carry physical and emotional risks.”

But he is hoping what he did will help generate continued interest in organ donation.

“I hope my experience will inspire other people to investigate it for themselves,” he said. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Main phone number: 412-687-1000

Subscriptions: 410-902-2308 SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 410-902-2308

Jim Busis, CEO and Publisher 412-228-4690 jbusis@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

TO ADVERTISE Display: advertising@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 412-721-5931

Josh Sufrin, Executive Assistant 412-228-4547 jsufrin@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Email: newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org BOARD OF TRUSTEES Evan Indianer, Chairman Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary Jonathan Bernstein, Treasurer David Ainsman, Immediate Past Chairman Gail Childs, Dan Droz, Milton Eisner, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Seth Glick, Tracy Gross, Tammy Hepps, Richard J. Kitay, Cátia Kossovsky, David Rush, Charles Saul, Evan H. Stein GENERAL COUNSEL Stuart R. Kaplan, Esq.

2 JANUARY 24, 2020

EDITORIAL Liz Spikol, Acting Editor-in-Chief 215-832-0747 lspikol@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Toby Tabachnick, Senior Staff Writer 412-228-4577 ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Adam Reinherz, Staff Writer 412-687-1000 areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org David Rullo, Staff Writer 412-687-1047 drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org ADVERTISING Kelly Schwimer, Sales Director 412-721-5931 kschwimer@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Phil Durler, Senior Sales Associate 724-713-8874 pdurler@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

DEVELOPMENT Barry Rudel, Development Officer 412-215-9157 brudel@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PRODUCTION Jennifer Perkins-Frantz, Director Rachel S. Levitan Art/Production Coordinator BUSINESS Bill Sims, Director of Circulation 410-902-2315 Devorah Neuman, Circulation subscriptions@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 410-902-2308 Published every Friday by the Pittsburgh Jewish Publication and Education Foundation 5915 Beacon St., 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-687-1000 FAX: 412-521-0154

Manuscripts, letters, documents and photographs sent to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle become the property of this publication, which is not responsible for the return or loss of such items.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle does not endorse the goods or services advertised or covered in its pages and makes no representation to the kashrut of food products and services in said advertising or articles. The publisher is not liable for damages if, for any reason whatsoever, he fails to publish an advertisement or for any error in an advertisement.

Acceptance of advertisers and of ad copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is not responsible if ads violate applicable laws and the advertiser will indemnify, hold harmless and defend the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle from all claims made by governmental agencies and consumers for any reason based on ads appearing in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE, 5915 BEACON ST., 5TH FLOOR PITTSBURGH, PA 15217 (PERIODICAL RATE POSTAGE PAID AT PITTSBURGH, PA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES) USPS 582-740

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines One-third of Holocaust survivors live in poverty, but local and national organizations offer help — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

s thousands gather on Jan. 27 for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, several stories will be told. Apart from narratives of vanished communities and residents killed, there will be tales of individuals who outlived Nazi Germany and the atrocities of World War II. And some of their stories are tales of desperation – even after withstanding the horrors of genocide.

According to a 2018 Blue Card report, one-third of American Holocaust survivors live at or below the federal poverty level. The numbers are even higher in certain cities. In 2013, for example, a report from Selfhelp Community Services noted that more than half of the Holocaust survivors in New York City’s metropolitan area “are in financial distress,” and live 150% below the federal poverty level. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles reports that more than 3,000 Holocaust survivors face poverty.

To counter this grim reality, efforts have been made nationwide to aid survivors.

In Palm Beach County, where nearly 5,000

p Pittsburgh Holocaust survivor Judah Samet has received help from JFCS.

Photo by Megan Walker of JFCS

Holocaust survivors live at or below poverty level, MorseLife Health System in West Palm Beach and the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County recently partnered to provide comfort and dignity through services, reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The greatest breakthrough in senior care?

Mom’s cozy cottage.

Locally, there are also efforts to help.

“We work with 45 survivors,” said Lauren Bairnsfarther, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. The figure doesn’t include the totality of Pittsburgh’s survivor community, as “there are probably people

we don’t know and people from the former Soviet Union who would be considered survivors,” she said, but the Steel City group is committed to helping survivors get resources of all types, “for those who experience food insecurity or have other needs.”

Many of those services are coordinated

by JFCS. “Historically, JFCS has always worked with the survivors, and then in 1998 we started getting this additional funding, which helps provide for home care, medical supplies and services to help keep Holocaust survivors in the community in their homes,” said Stefanie Small, JFCS’ clinical director.

Through the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc., private donations, funding from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and help from the Area Agency on Aging as well as AgeWell Pittsburgh, “we’re able to get all of the survivors, whether traditional survivors or those from the former Soviet Republics, whatever it is that they might need.”

Since 1998, Sandy Budd, a geriatric social worker at JFCS, has helped survivors navigate an often complex web of international regulations — those requesting pension Please see Survivors, page 15

A Tu b'Shevat Community Celebration Music - Food - Crafts - Ritual - Panel Discussion

We help aging parents stay at home, whether they’re dealing with Alzheimer’s, arthritis or anything in between.

Proud Collaborative Partner with the Jewish Association on Aging

412.646.1257 HomeInstead.com/567 PERSONAL CARE | 24-HOUR CARE | MEMORY CARE | HOSPICE SUPPORT | MEALS AND NUTRITION Each Home Instead Senior Care franchise is independently owned and operated. © 2018 Home Instead, Inc.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

No Cost, Donations Appreciated.

All Are Welcome!

RSVP: www.rodefshalom.org/rsvp

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 3

Headlines :HśOO JLYH \RX D OLIW

New venture caters to modest women searching for affordable clothes — LOCAL —

By Hilary Daninhirsch

B

Schedule your therapy with PT@JCC and RXU QHZ YDQ ZLOO SLFN \RX XS DQG GURS \RX Rƨ * For Free!

That's &RQYHQLHQFH 'HOLYHUHG

ecause Mindy Epstein knows how hard it is for observant Jewish women in Pittsburgh to find modest clothing at an affordable price, she is opening a consignment shop, called The Modest Exchange, in the basement of her Squirrel Hill home.

A similar shop in another Squirrel Hill resident’s home closed its doors, so Epstein purchased the remaining inventory and some racks. A basement bathroom will be dedicated to a fitting room. “Dressing modestly is an important part of our culture; especially living in Pittsburgh, it’s hard to find modest clothing,� said Epstein. “Living this lifestyle can be very expensive, and people have a hard time affording clothing. I am aiming this for the population who wants to dress nicely but doesn’t want to spend an outrageous amount of money.�

Epstein will purchase new or gently used clothes from customers and will enter into a contract with the seller, who will get 60% of the sale price. If the item fails to sell within six months, that is the end of the consignment; the customer has the option to donate it somewhere, take it back or ask Epstein to put it on clearance.

Epstein will only accept clothing that meets the standards of modesty: The neckline needs to cover the collarbone, sleeves must cover elbows, and dresses and skirts need to fall below the knee when sitting or standing. With her skills as a seamstress, though, Epstein said that she can alter most styles to fit the standard.

Her inventory will consist of children’s clothing from size 8 to women’s plus sizes and everything in between. She may sell a few scarves and hats at some point but for now, the stock is primarily clothing.

p Mindy Epstein

Epstein calls herself a “sifter� — she likes to shop at thrift stores and find nice gently used or new clothing, but that means of shopping is not for everyone. And while women can shop at department stores, it’s not unheard of to shop all day and come home with nothing, she said.

Running the Modest Exchange is an ideal fit for Epstein, who is also an accomplished seamstress. She always wanted to open a business like this but the timing wasn’t right.

Now, with the help of her daughter, Nechama Epstein Huber, who owns a business called the Pop Cakery, she is ready to make a go of it. “I have been doing alternations for all these years, and l always wanted to see what I could do with my talent, plus I love thrift shopping. This is my niche,� said Epstein.

Since she has absorbed the inventory from the other now-closed shop, she said that she is pretty well stocked and she is currently open for business. Eventually, she will post specific hours, but for now, anyone interested in checking out The Modest Exchange can call her at 412-759-0812 or email her at Mindela123@yahoo.com.  PJC Hilary Daninhirsch is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

* Van transportation available only for seniors with medical needs being treated by PT@JCC.

1R -&& PHPEHUVKLS RU UHIHUUDOV UHTXLUHG 0RVW LQVXUDQFHV DFFHSWHG For hours and appointments: 412-697-3505 MDDSJK RUJ _ )RUEHV $YH 3LWWVEXUJK 3$

p The Modest Exchange sells gently used modest clothing on consignment.

Photos by Hilary Daninhirsch

JAA302-PT_PJC-FINAL.indd 1

4 JANUARY 24, 2020

1/17/20 10:48 AM

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Rauh to preserve Jewish history through cookbooks — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

D

id you know that Amazon includes a bestseller list of kosher cookbooks or that sites like Epicurus and My Jewish Learning include rankings of favorite Jewish cookbooks?

Food plays a central role in Judaism, linked both by cultural and religious influences.

Because of this, many synagogues, Hadassah chapters and women’s clubs collected recipes and sold cookbooks to members as fundraisers. And while these collections most certainly contained recipes for “Bubbe’s Matzo Ball Soup” or “Mom’s Favorite Brisket,” some were geographically unique or varied by one secret family ingredient.

Given the variations and historical import, Eric Lidji, the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives at the Heinz History Center, is initiating a project of collecting cookbooks. The idea is part of a larger initiative; each year, the Rauh will pick a theme and then ask the community for contributions.

“The idea would be to choose things that are broad enough that people from all different segments of the community would have reasonable access to them,” Lidji explained. “For the first year, I thought

p ‘Why Is This Cookbook Different?’ was published by the Yael Chapter of Photos provided by the Rauh Jewish History Program Hadassah in October 1985.

and Archives at Heinz History Center

cookbooks would be a good place to start.”

Cookbooks are not represented in the current archive, and they’re accessible as historical objects.

“It’s not something that’s particular to people who are more religious or less religious, people who are recent transplants or have a lot of generations here,” Lidji said.

Jewish cookbooks have been printed in the region since at least the 1920s, Lidji said,

p ‘The Happy Cooker’ was published by the North Hills Jewish Community Center (Temple Ohav Shalom) in 1975.

but they reached the apex of their popularity in the 1950s through 1970s.

“It does seem like it was part of a culture of 20th-century Jewish communities where you often had women’s groups within congregations who were looking to have some community building or fundraising initiative that felt like it was interesting, authentic and would produce something that people wanted.

“You had all of these food traditions that had emerged from Europe and had come into the United States and were starting to either change or evolve or became indicative of a time that seemed to be passing away.”

Each cookbook the archive receives reveals a different aspect of Pittsburgh Jewish history. Lidji pointed out that cookbooks Please see Cookbooks, page 20

This is beautiful.

This is home.

This is Providence Point. This is where resort-like

amenities combine with stellar wellness and healthcare, an impressive social calendar, and world-class dining so that you can truly enjoy life. Providence Point is a 62+ Life Plan Community, designed for the way you live now, and offering the peace of mind you want for your future.

Choose from 23 styles of patio homes and apartments, including brand new floor plans in Hamilton Tower.

Call today to learn more!

A Baptist Homes Society community

NOW OPEN!

See all floor plans on the residential living tab of our website.

Join us for an upcoming event or schedule your personal tour.

CALL 412.489.3550 www.ProvidencePoint.org

500 Providence Point Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Jewish Chronicle Ad January.indd 1

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

1/20/2020 7:40:13 AM

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 5

Calendar q TUESDAY, JAN. 28

q FRIDAY, JAN. 31

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.

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 TUESDAYS, JAN. 28; FEB. 25; MARCH 31; APRIL 28; MAY 26; JUNE 23 Connect with your community and expand your learning at Rodef Shalom’s Wine and Cheese Lecture Series. Wine and cheese served at 7 p.m., presentations last until 9 p.m. Contact Olivia Tucker, tucker@rodefshalom.org with any questions. Free.

4905 Fifth Ave. rodefshalom.org q TUESDAYS, FEB. 4, 11, 18 Join JFCS for “Talking With the Older Adults in Your Life About What’s Important to Them,” a three-part series designed to help you better understand and work with the older adults in your life.

Free. 5 p.m. 5743 Bartlett St. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/571641643414504.

>>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. 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.

Carnegie Stage (25 W. Main St.) Reserve tickets at chabadsh.com/magic or mussie@chabadsh.com or 412-344-2424. Tickets: $50.

Women of Rodef Shalom and Brotherhood present the 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. If you have questions before the session, please email Rabbi Jeremy Markiz at jmarkiz@bethshalompgh.org. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming

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 Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. 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 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 Join Pittsburgh NCSY at The Q at 8 p.m. The Q is a team-based trivia game fundraiser. Participants can prepare by getting a team of eight to 10 people or be placed on a team if you prefer. No trivia experience required. All proceeds benefit Pittsburgh NCSY. JAA Charles Morris Campus, 200 JHF Drive.

To register, visit centraleast.ncsy.org/theq. 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/first-mondaysabbymendelson.

q THURSDAY, JAN. 30

q THURSDAYS, FEB. 6, MARCH 5, APRIL 2, MAY 7, JUNE 4

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-trivia-atbigham-tavern.

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.

Please see Calendar, page 7

q SUNDAY, FEB. 9 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 and 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.

q SUNDAY, JAN. 26 Join the I-Volunteer crew at Brother’s Brother (1200 Galveston Ave.) and 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, contact Bex Frankeberger at bfrankeberger@jfedpgh.org.

11 a.m. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/ i-volunteer-brothers-brother-project.

Illustration by Kudryashka/istockPhoto.com

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

6 JANUARY 24, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Calendar today. Exhibit opening at 11 a.m. 826 Hazelwood Ave. Free. To register, visit hcofpgh.org/events.

Calendar: Continued from page 6 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. Kloes, a Penn Hills native, is an applied researcher in the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the USHMM. Light breakfast served. Free. rodefshalom.org Temple Emanuel of South Hills presents Bagel Bites, a monthly brunch and speaker program. This month’s guest speakers is Susan Kalson, chair of the URJ’s Commission on Social Action. 10:30 a.m. Free.

1250 Bower Hill Road. For more information, visit templeemanuelpgh.org.

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. RSVP by Jan. 29 to Ira Frank at natfabira@juno.com. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming.

The original exhibit “For You Were Strangers” at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh dives into the history of Jewish immigrants in Pittsburgh, noting the upheavals that drove Jewish immigration, changing U.S. policies in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the local attitudes and institutions that were implemented as these immigrants and refugees came to form the basis of our society

q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12 Chabad of the South Hills presents An Evening with Holocaust Survivor Sammi Steigman beginning at 7 p.m. at Chabad of the South Hills (1701 McFarland Road). Sammi will share his story of life in a Nazi labor camp and being subjected to horrific medical experiments as well as the lessons he’s learned. $10 in advance/$15 at the door. chabadsh.com q FRIDAY, FEB. 14 Enjoy soup and a speaker at Parkway Jewish Center’s “Souper Shabbat Plus Lecture Series.”

Ben Shapiro will present “Sustainable Gardening & Landscaping” and will discuss the ecology of the Pennsylvania/Ohio region. The service begins at 6 p.m., soup and speaker at 7 p.m. 300 Princeton Drive. For directions and more, visit parkwayjewishcenter.org. q SUNDAY, FEB. 16 Author Julie Orringer discusses her book “The Flight Portfolio” beginning at 10 a.m. as parts of the Derekh Speaker Series 2020 at Congregation Beth Shalom (5915 Beacon St.) A book signing will follow this event. Free. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming.

Fighting the Februarys: a Toolkit for Combating a Depressed Mood, featuring Eleanor ShimkinSorock, M.D., M.P. H. and retired psychiatrist; Gary S. Sorock, Ph.D., RN, retired epidemiologist and psychiatric nurse;. 10 a.m. Light refreshments. Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave. RSVP: caringcommittee@ JC ReSound Rechargeable FIN_Eartique 11/12/18 rodefshalom.org 9:42 AM Page 1

q SATURDAY, FEB. 22 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for Clues & Schmooze, a fun trivia event including a raffle, open bar, and snacks. Trivia will be in teams of 3-6 players. Bring your own team or be matched up at the door. $25/person by February 20 • $30 at the door. Registration: 7:45 p.m., Trivia: 8:15 p.m. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming

q SUNDAYS, FEB. 16, 23, MARCH 8, 15, 22, 29

q FRIDAY, FEB. 21 & SATURDAY, FEB. 22

From vaudeville and Yiddish theatre to Broadway and improv, the Jewish people enjoy and kvell at comedy that makes us laugh and enjoy the lighter side of the world. Improv Class at Rodef Shalom is your chance to take the stage, have fun with friends, and laugh along the way. Sign up for this free, lighthearted improv class today for anyone 21 and over. No previous experience necessary. 1 p.m.

Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave. RSVP: Emily Harris, emilyharris.storymaker@gmail.com

Sing A New Light presents Yale University’s Magavet at Congregation Beth Shalom (5915 Beacon St.) during Shabbat services, Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, 9:45 a.m. For more information, visit singanewlight.org/events. PJC

Murray Avenue Kosher 1916 MURRAY AVENUE 412-421-1015 • 412-421-4450 • FAX 412-421-4451

PRICES EFFECTIVE SUNDAY, JANUARY 26-FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020 Candle Lighting Time Friday, January 24, 2020 • 5:10 p.m.

MEAT SPECIALS

TAKE-OUT SPECIALS

MONDAY DINNER SPECIAL

London Broil

$1069 LB

SHABBOS SPECIAL 2 Roasted Chickens 1 Qt. Chicken Soup 4 Matzo Balls

Chicken Schwarma

Israeli Salad • Pita & Hummus

1 Kugel • 2 Pints Salad • 2 Mini Challahs

Serves 4

The world’s most advanced rechargeable solution ReSound LiNX Quattro

™

With its small, discreet size and integrated rechargeable battery, you can rely on your ReSound LiNX Quattro hearing aids for 30 hours of power on a single charge-without ever having to change a battery.

Debra L. Greenberger, M.S., CCC-A Serving the Pittsburgh area for over 25 years

Chicken Breast Bone-In Beef Stir Fry

Spaghetti & Meatballs

$1049 LB

Serves 4

Squirrel Hill ~ 2703 Murray Ave ~ 412.422.8006 ~ eartique.com PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

STORE HOURS

Sun.-Wed. • 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Thurs. • 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Fri. • 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Salad • Garlic Bread

$28.99 WEEKLY SPECIALS

8" ANGEL FOOD TUBE PAN ¢

UNGERS KIDNEY BEANS ¢

OSEM SOUP CANISTERS ALL VARIETIES $ 29

$

MINESTRONE SOUP $ 99

BEEF EGG ROLLS $ 50

DIJON CHICKEN BREAST $ 39

FRIED RICE $ 99

SHOR HABOR MEXICAN TURKEY $ 50

EMPIRE HONEY SMOKED TURKEY BREAST $ 99

49

9

Call to schedule a demonstration today!

$43.99

TUESDAY DINNER SPECIAL

$349 LB

8

The last stop you’ll make in successful hearing aid use

Serves 4

$30.99

EA

QT

LB

HOMEMADE SALADS & SOUPS DELI PARTY TRAYS

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

99 3

8

CAN

EA

LB

6

14 OZ

7

LB

EMPIRE SL TURKEY BACON $ 09

4

4 OZ PKG

We Prepare Trays for All Occasions UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF VAAD OF PITTSBURGH

GOLDS BORSCHT

219 EA 3

LB

HAIFA WHOLE SCHMALTZ HERRING $ 00

5

EA

CATERING SPECIALISTS DELICIOUS FRIED CHICKEN WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES.

JANUARY 24, 2020 7

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Man charged with hate crime for yelling at Jewish couple in New York City

A man was arrested for yelling and cursing at a Jewish couple in midtown Manhattan near Times Square.

Vernon Stevens, 55, who has at least five prior arrests, was charged with aggravated harassment and a hate crime, police told the New York Post.

The incident occurred at about 10 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17. When a 16-year-old witness went to alert nearby police officers on patrol, Stevens called the couple “F***ing Jews!� unnamed sources told the Post.

The incident comes amid an increase in anti-Semitic violence against Jews in the city.

3 more men alleged to be members of extreme neo-Nazi group arrested in Georgia

Three more men alleged to be members of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi hate group known as The Base were charged with conspiring to kill a married couple who are anti-fascist protesters.

The three men were arrested in Georgia after an undercover FBI agent infiltrated the group, The Associated Press reported.

The undercover agent participated in shooting drills with the men. The drills were to prepare for the collapse of the United

States and a race war, the AP reported citing a police affidavit.

The Base believes in an extreme form of survivalism and preparation, in order to prevent the “extinction� of the Caucasian race, the FBI has said.

The arrest came a day after three other members were arrested on federal charges in Maryland and Delaware. They had planned to travel with firearms to a pro-gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order to temporarily ban weapons from the state Capitol grounds before and during the rally.

Authorities said the men arrested in Georgia planned to kill a married couple who were part of the Antifa movement, and believed that killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base, according to the AP. One of the men told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to burn their house down after killing them.

Pennsylvania Democrat one of group pushing bill to reverse Trump ban on migration from some Muslim countries

Two moderate Jewish Democrats spearheaded a call on the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives to bring a bill forward that would nullify President Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration from a number of Muslim majority countries. “As Americans, we must stand against the persecution of religious minorities,� said a letter sent to the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi,

D-Calif., and her deputies. “To pass the NO BAN Act is to stand up for the bedrock American value of religious liberty.�

The letter was signed by 32 moderate Democrats, many of whom represent districts won by Trump in 2016. The letter signals that Democrats see immigration as a winning issue in this year’s congressional and presidential elections.

Two of the three lawmakers spearheading the letter are Jewish: Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Max Rose of New York. The third is Stephanie Murphy of Florida. Among the signatories were another four Jewish Democrats in swing districts: Elaine Luria in Virginia, Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, Kim Schrier in Washington and Susan Wild in Pennsylvania.

The act was introduced last year by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and has the support of most of the Democratic caucus. A release to the press announcing the letter said it was spurred in part by unconfirmed reports that Trump plans to expand the ban to other Muslim majority countries.

The Trump administration says the restrictions are not religiously discriminatory and are based on threat assessments.

Palestinian teen stabs Israeli man near Hebron

An Israeli man was moderately injured after he was stabbed by a Palestinian teen near the West Bank city in Hebron, hours after a Palestinian woman approached soldiers brandishing a knife in the Old City of Jerusalem.

A 17-year-old Palestinian assailant stabbed a 22-year-old Israeli man in Kiryat Arba, the settlement adjacent to Hebron, on Jan. 18. He was said to be praying at the time of the attack. A civilian at the scene helped soldiers to detain the Palestinian suspect, the Israel Defense Forces reported.

The Israeli man was injured in his shoulder and was taken to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment.

Earlier that day, a Palestinian woman in her 50s brandished a knife and threatened soldiers near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. She was taken in for interrogation by Israeli Border Police officers.

The incidents came a day after hundreds of Muslims chanted about killing Jews outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem following morning prayers. Israel Police broke up the gathering.

In footage from the march, many men can be heard shouting in Arabic, “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.�

The cry relates to an event in the seventh century when Muslims massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

They also shouted: “With spirit and blood, we will salvage Al-Aqsa� and “Jews, the army of Al-Aqsa is returning.�

Please see Briefs, page 9

I n - Ho m e Care S e r v i ce s

CS R

NOW OPEN

• IPHONE REPAIRS • DIAGNOSTICS • APPLE/MAC REPAIRS • COMPUTER REPAIRS • IPOD/TABLET REPAIRS • SMARTPHONE REPAIRS HOME VISITS (SQUIRREL HILL ONLY, 15217) CALL NOW! 412-241-3036 • 2705 MURRAY AVE. • 15217

COMPUTER • SALES • REPAIR

Making Moments Matter

Treasured Video and Photo Memories?

6RXWK

(DVW

&LW\

We bring your memories into the digital age

• Companionship • Light Housekeeping • Transportation and Errands • Personal Care Services

We transfer all formats of video, old photo albums, slides, home movies etc. All work is done locally and personally.

No mailing to outside sources and strangers. So come into the digital age and preserve your "life and loves" for future generations!

Most offices independently owned and operated. • Š2015 CK Franchising, Inc.

Pittsburgh-247.ComfortKeepers.com 8 JANUARY 24, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

For more info contact

(412) 829-0266 or nate@sherervideo.com PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Briefs: Continued from page 8

Photos surface showing convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk at Sobibor camp

Photos have surfaced of convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanuk in the Sobibor Nazi death camp, where he denied ever having been a guard.

The recently discovered images come from

the estate of a deputy commandant at the camp, Johann Niemann, one of 10 SS-men killed by prisoners in the famous October 1943 uprising. Parts of his collection will be made public on Jan. 28, at the Topography of Terror archive in Berlin, and in a new book to be released that day.

It reportedly is the first time that Demjanuk has been identified in photos of Sobibor.

Demjanuk, whose U.S. citizenship was revoked in 2002 for lying on his citizenship application about his Nazi service, and who was deported to Germany in 2009, was

convicted in Munich in 2011 as an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews at the death camp.

Sentenced to five years in prison, he died in a nursing home at the age of 91 in March 2012, while awaiting a decision on his appeal.

The Topography of Terror archive said that the photos — part of a series of more than 350 images — provide unprecedented insight into the “Action Reinhardt” phase of the mass extermination of European Jewry in the death camps Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka.

Sobibor was constructed in Germanoccupied Poland in 1942. By the time it

was shut down in November 1943, at least 167,000 Jews had been gassed there with carbon monoxide, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The Topography of Terror archive is working on the project together with the Stanislaw Hantz Educational Center and the Ludwigsburg Research Center on National Socialism at the University of Stuttgart.

Demjanjuk’s conviction set a legal precedent under which those who served where crimes against humanity were committed can be prosecuted as accessories. PJC

Local bookseller and former library staffer plead guilty — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

J

ohn Schulman, owner of Caliban Book shop in Oakland, has pleaded guilty to charges of forgery, theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

Schulman and Gregory Priore, a former archivist at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, were arrested in 2018 after a 2017 audit of the library’s Oliver Room by Pall Mart Art Advisors revealed missing and vandalized works. Of the numerous items

removed from the library was a 1632 edition of Thomas Sternhold’s “The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Collected into English Meeter, Conferred with the Hebrew, with apt Notes to Sing Them with All…” Priore has pleaded guilty to theft of unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

Prosecutors alleged a decades-long relationship between Priore and Schulman whereby the library staffer delivered stolen materials to the bookseller who would then sell them through the shop and online. Police estimated losses at approximately $8 million.

Schulman’s attorneys, Robert Del Greco Jr., Albert Veverka and Ember Holmes, said

in a statement that Schulman had accepted “responsibility for his association with books under circumstances whereby he should have known that the books had probably been stolen,” reported The Washington Post.

Mr. Schulman has dedicated much of his life to contributing to the bookselling trade and regrets that today’s guilty pleas negatively reflected upon the antiquarian book industry, his family and clients.”

Following Priore and Schulman’s Jan. 13 pleas, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh issued a statement: “The shock, the anger and the hurt we feel that individuals who were close to us, who were trusted by us, who were considered

friends and colleagues to many of us at the Library, would abuse the faith we had in them for personal gain will be with us for a very long time. This was a very serious crime committed over a long period of time by educated and well-known members of the community.

“We are hopeful that the sentences given to these two individuals will adequately reflect the significant damage done not only to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, but to the literary community near and far. We are thankful to the District Attorney’s Office and the investigators for the handling of this matter and for their tireless work to attempt to recover the stolen items.” PJC

Renew Today!

3 YEARS FREE print edition

Complete the form and mail or call 410.902.2 410.902.2308 308



Renew my FREE 3 YEAR subscription to the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.*

Address City

Name (Please print) Signature

State

Zip

Phone

Date

* Signature and date required to be valid by the US Postal Service. Restrictions apply.

Residents eligible to receive the free three years subscription must live in the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County or the five surrounding counties.

Email

Mail to: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle | 5915 Beacon Street, 5th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 9

Headlines Non-Jewish students tour the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York in an effort to build empathy, counter anti-Semitism — NATIONAL —

By Ben Sales | JTA

J

yrell McGriff, an African American eighth grader who lives in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, doesn’t interact much with the many Orthodox Jews who share his neighborhood.

He sees them on the street or on buses. He also has fond memories of a Jewish teacher from years ago. Jyrell has trouble understanding the current wave of anti-Semitism cresting over New York City, much of it in his home borough. “I know about what Hitler and the Nazis did to them, and I felt bad actually for them because they’ve been through a lot,� the 13-year-old said of the Jewish people.

Regarding the current anti-Semitism, Jyrell said, “They’re basically getting attacked for no reason and they didn’t do anything to people who were attacking them.

They’re good people. There’s no reason to do that to them.�

Jyrell was among dozens of eighth graders from a Williamsburg public school who Please see Education, page 15

p New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza speaks at a press conference ahead of a students’ tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City in January.

Photo by Ben Sales

SAFEGUARDING YOUR PRESENT & FUTURE

This week in Israeli history — WORLD —

Working with Marks Elder Law when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions keeping more of your money during your lifetime ( Ĺ­ ),Ĺ­3)/,Ĺ­ ( 5 # ,# -ĹˆĹ­ Crafting strategies that allow you to keep more of your assets during your lifetime; Exploring the many payment options for disability and longterm care services; Designing instruments that protect your assets from Medicaid spend-down requirements; Ensuring that your affairs will be handled the way you want if you experience a serious injury or illness; and Administering your estate to ensure proper distribution of your assets while minimizing any taxes owed.

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

Jan. 24, 1941 — Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman born

Dan Shechtman, Israel’s 10th Nobel Prize winner, is born in Tel Aviv. He receives the chemistry prize in 2011 for discovering in the early 1980s that some crystals, dubbed “quasicrystals,� grow without a repeating pattern.

Jan. 25, 1956 — Eban, Dulles discuss arms deal

www.marks-law.com

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

We help families understand the strategies, the benefits, and the risks involved with elder law, disability law and estate planning.

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

Linda L. Carroll, Esq. linda@marks-law.com

10 JANUARY 24, 2020

Abba Eban, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, and John Foster Dulles, President Dwight Eisenhower’s secretary of state, discuss an unsuccessful proposal for the first major U.S. arms sale to Israel.

Jan. 26, 2006 — Hamas wins parliamentary elections

Hamas wins 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council during elections in which 77% of eligible voters cast ballots. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, wins 43 seats.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Jan. 27, 2006 — First UN Holocaust Remembrance Day

The first U.N.-recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day is held on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz as an educational event meant to prevent additional genocides.

Jan. 28, 1996 — Dumping of donated Ethiopian blood sparks riots

About 10,000 Ethiopian Jews protest the government’s decision to accept blood donations from thousands of Ethiopian Israelis, only to throw away the blood for fear of spreading the AIDS virus.

Jan. 29, 2004 — Israel swaps prisoners for man, 3 bodies

Israel frees more than 430 Arab prisoners to win the release of an Israeli businessman abducted in Dubai in October 2000 and the bodies of three soldiers captured by Hezbollah and killed in captivity.

Jan. 30, 1958 — U.S. Commits to Baghdad Pact

In Ankara, Turkey, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles says the United States is committed to the defense of the Baghdad Pact nations: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey, plus the United Kingdom.  PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Where the top 7 Democratic candidates stand on Iran security interest — just as a parallel policy of confronting Iran’s support for terrorism and abysmal human rights record reflects our values and security interests,” the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said.

Amy Klobuchar

p From left to right: Senator Bernie Sanders, Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. images by Getty Images/via JTA

Klobuchar during the debate said she would rejoin the deal, but also suggested that she wanted some improvements related to the expiration dates of some enrichment restrictions and on what the nuclear inspectors are allowed to do.

“I think there are changes you can make to the agreement that are sunset, some changes to the inspections, but overall that is what we should do,” she said.

In her signature foreign policy speech last month at the Council on Foreign Relations, Klobuchar outlined a long-term policy that would confront Iran’s bad acts and also specified its threat to “the security of Israel.”

“We need a realistic long term strategy for Iran that will contain its aggressive actions and prevent it from gaining nuclear weapons,” the Minnesota senator said, but did not add details.

Tom Steyer

— NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

T

he analysis after the most recent Democratic debate focused largely on the ongoing spat between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But the debate featured something else more relevant to readers: Everyone onstage thought that President Donald Trump made a huge mistake in 2018 when he pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and said outright or implied that as president, they would return to the deal. (To be more precise, Warren did not speak up on the topic, but she has expressed similar sentiments elsewhere.)

The situation in Iran has changed drastically since Trump left the deal. So we went searching for the details of what the leading Democrats would do to contain the Iranian threat amid the new tensions brewing between Iran and the U.S. Spoiler alert: There’s not a lot out there.

But in no particular order, here’s what the top seven candidates have to say. (We’re adding Michael Bloomberg because his polling numbers would qualify him for the debates, but his self-funded campaign has him below the outside campaign contribution threshold.)

Bernie Sanders

Sanders would rejoin the nuclear deal as a means of stopping Iran from going, well, nuclear.

“As you know, the nuclear deal with Iran was worked on with a number of our allies,” the Vermont senator said at the debate. “We have got to undo what Trump did, bring that coalition together and make sure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”

His website does not elaborate, but a supporters website, FeelTheBern.org, has compiled his statements and adds some PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

The situation in Iran has changed drastically since Trump left the deal.

perspective. Sanders slots removing Iran’s nuclear threat into a wider effort to denuclearize the planet. In 2009, Sanders said after Obama first mooted an Iran deal, “We must limit nuclear proliferation, now and in the future. We must end the production of weapons-grade uranium.”

Sanders also sees rejoining the nuclear deal as a means of containing the escalating non-nuclear tensions.

Joe Biden

As he said in the debate, Biden believes the Iran deal was doing its job.

“It was working. It was being held tightly,” he said. “There was no movement on the part of the Iranian government to get closer to a nuclear weapon.”

On his campaign’s foreign policy page, Biden does seem to acknowledge some flaws with the package he championed as Obama’s vice president, alluding to the expiration dates on some of its restrictions and its omission of non-nuclear mischief.

“If Tehran returns to compliance with the deal, President Biden would re-enter the agreement, using hard-nosed diplomacy

and support from our allies to strengthen and extend it, while more effectively pushing back against Iran’s other destabilizing activities,” his website reads.

Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg in the debate said he would rejoin the Iran deal as a means of keeping Iran from becoming nuclear and, like Sanders, suggested that the agreement would also stem escalating non-nuclear tensions.

“By gutting the Iran nuclear deal — one that, by the way, the Trump administration itself admitted was working, certified that it was preventing progress toward a nuclear Iran — by gutting that, they have made the region more dangerous and set off the chain of events that we are now dealing with as it escalates even closer to the brink of outright war,” he said.

Buttigieg in his signature foreign policy speech in June at Indiana University echoed a familiar claim of Iran deal proponents — the deal freed up the United States to confront Iran on its non-nuclear bad acts.

“This agreement was concluded not to do Iran a favor, but because it is in our national

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

During the debate, Steyer cast the Iran nuclear deal as having stemmed Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its adventurism.

“What worked with President Obama was an alliance of our allies and us putting economic pressure on them for them to give up their military tactic,” he said. “That, to me, is called strategy.”

Elizabeth Warren

Warren, the Boston Globe has noted, has not been eager to address the Iran crisis on the stump, although she will answer questions when asked.

In a September interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, she said she would re-enter the Iran deal, but also hinted that she was unhappy with its sunset provisions.

The Massachusetts senator also called for a robust posture countering Iranian aggression and said leaving the deal made that harder.

“We also need to address serious concerns about Iran’s policies beyond its nuclear program, including its ballistic missile program and support for destabilizing regional proxies,” she said. “The [Iran deal] made addressing these problems easier by taking the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran off the table.”

Mike Bloomberg

In 2015, Bloomberg said he had “deep reservations” about the Iran deal, especially with its sunset provisions, and in an op-ed on Bloomberg News he accused President Obama of playing politics and “smearing critics.”

More recently, unburdened by tough questions during debates, he has not weighed in on whether he would return to the deal.

However, he told The Washington Post last week that he would keep an open line with Iran and install a version of the red phone that Cold War presidents used to keep at bay crises with the Soviet Union. PJC JANUARY 24, 2020 11

Opinion Is Holocaust education the answer?

— EDITORIAL —

A

ccording to a recent report, the majority of anti-Semitic attacks in the New York area — nearly two thirds of them — have been carried out by young people. Within the dark cloud of the distressing increase in such attacks, there are those who see a ray of hope — the possibility of sensitizing a young generation to the evils of hate, thereby possibly influencing views for decades.

Many see Holocaust education as an important part of the answer. On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, a pilot program in New York is bringing public school students from three areas of Brooklyn where haredi Orthodox Jews and people of color live side

by side — Williamsburg, Borough Park and Crown Heights — to the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown Manhattan.

Organizers hope that students from marginalized communities will empathize with prejudice against Jews once they see it, since they already know what it is to be “the other” and understand being targeted simply because of your identity. (See story on p. 10.)

We applaud the initiative and hope that it can help sensitize students to the evils of anti-Semitism much like an entire generation of young people have developed deep acceptance of and commitment to the protection of the rights of the LGBTQ community, and sensitivity to the discrimination, degradation and mistreatment of immigrants and minorities. While we don’t naively believe that one trip to a museum can

change whatever culture is fomenting the hatred, we do see the program as a worthwhile effort and hopefully indicative of a recognition and commitment for broader education regarding anti-Semitism.

Holocaust education is a good first step in explaining how Jews have been mistreated, and how quickly such systematized hatred can lead to calamitous results. And there are collateral programs that emanate from such an approach, like the ADL’s longstanding No Place for Hate campaign, which focuses on bias and bullying as a way to fight the escalation of hate in schools.

Government also has a role to play. The bipartisan Never Again Education Act, which would establish the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund, was introduced in both the House and Senate last year, but has gone nowhere. The Act should be passed.

Holocaust education will not end anti-Semitism. Rabbi Ari Shafran, spokesperson for the Orthodox Agudath Israel of America, believes it doesn’t even aim for the right target. “The greater threat to Jews — and not just Orthodox ones — is less visible and thus even more dangerous than street brutes. It is organized, ideology-driven Jew-hatred,” he said. We agree. And although we believe Holocaust education is helpful, we need much more, as we recognize that simply understanding the history, brutality and perversion of the Holocaust does not inoculate against anti-Semitism.

In the continuing battle against hatred we need to do whatever we can to make a difference. Small steps matter, and they are worthwhile, since they get us that much closer to a world free of prejudice and discrimination. PJC

How the Women’s March made itself irrelevant Guest Columnist Emily Shire

A

s the Women’s March was gearing up for its fourth go on Saturday, the skepticism and disenchantment were palpable. Articles questioning the relevance of the Women’s March in 2020 abounded, comparing the low turnout to the estimated 4 million in 2017. I, too, was strongly skeptical of the Women’s March of 2020 — as a feminist, but also as a Jew and as a Zionist.

There are plenty of reasons why I — and many other feminists — question the relevancy of the 2020 Women’s March that have nothing to do with anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism. For one, there’s less of a need for expressive displays in 2020 and a greater one for concrete, pragmatic action — be it registering voters, volunteering for local and national campaigns or writing amicus briefs for the critical abortion case before the Supreme Court this year. As University of Maryland professor Dana Fisher told The Washington Post, “Nobody needs another pink hat.”

Top Women’s March leadership has also left some questioning how much of a grassroots, big-tent movement it actually was in the first place. There was a protracted battle between national and local chapters about who owned the brand, according to The Daily Beast. In September, the Women’s March announced a new board, replacing three of the four original leaders: Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour (Carmen Perez stayed on).

Over the last three years, I have become acutely aware that the leading voices in modern feminism, as embodied in the Women’s March leadership, were hostile to my presence — as both a Jew and a Jew who

12 JANUARY 24, 2020

believes in our right to self-determination, Zionism. At one point, Sarsour implied that women like me were not welcome in the Women’s March.

In 2018, Tablet magazine and The New York Times reported that the Women’s March leadership made concerted efforts to push out an activist because she was Jewish, as well as promoted Louis Farrakhan’s “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” which Henry Louis Gates Jr. called “the bible of the new anti-Semitism.” The news wasn’t exactly shocking, considering that in the months leading up to those revelations, the Women’s March leaders demonstrated a disturbing practice of defending support for and ties with Farrakhan — a notorious antiSemite, homophobe and sexist.

The Women’s March promised big-tent feminism, a movement that sought the elevation and empowerment of all women and their interests beyond the traditional realms of reproductive justice, equal pay and Title IX. This was a commendable aim — except that Jewish women tended to be the exception to this big tent.

If there is one thing that modern intersectionality gets right (at least in theory), it’s the recognition that our various identities are intertwined and influence our perspective within any movement. I am not merely a feminist, but a Jewish and Zionist one — and the latter two weigh especially heavily on me when I think about the Women’s March.

When it came to matters involving Jews, the Women’s March seemed noticeably slow to respond and mealy-mouthed at best in its apologies. Jewish women who voiced even an iota of qualified support for Israel were met with hostility, but that didn’t only affect Zionists. By effectively forcing Jewish women to prove they didn’t support Israel, all Jewish women got the message that our acceptance was qualified and conditional.

My thinking prior to this year’s march was that if I decided to attend, it would be to defy

the way the Women’s March has attempted to police the bounds of feminism. Even though there is new leadership, and I am hopeful they will do better than their predecessors, I have not forgotten the past.

After the Tree of Life massacre, the Jersey City attack, the Poway shooting, the Monsey slashing and myriad other anti-Semitic incidents, Jewish women have bigger fish to fry than convincing the Bland-Mallory-PerezSarsour acolytes of our worth.

In the past three years, American Jews have experienced unprecedented violence and harassment. Recall that just a handful of months after the Tree of Life massacre, Rep. Ilhan Omar insinuated that American Jews were not loyal to our country. Congress was not only unable to rebuke Omar but failed to condemn anti-Semitism in and of itself.

Some nine months after that, there was the targeted anti-Semitic attack in Jersey City in which the assailants killed three people in a kosher supermarket and a cop beforehand. To add insult to injury, a Jersey City school board member criticized the show of sympathy for the Jewish victims and called Jews “brutes.” While the governor of New Jersey and the Jersey City mayor called on her to resign, she has enough public support to retain her position. That speaks volumes about tolerance for anti-Semitism — and in a town less than 10 miles from the socially, politically liberal New York City.

Anti-Zionism, which was already too welcomed in progressive spaces, has become more vitriolic. Last year, the Ethical Cultural Fieldston School welcomed a professor who compared Israelis with Nazis. Then, when the school invited two rabbis to talk about anti-Semitism, a teacher angrily tweeted about it and apparently flipped off the rabbis.

The teacher has since been fired, but amid significant protest.

Among my classmates, I see people who believe Jewish self-determination goes hand in hand with white supremacy. Today, so

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

often the focus is not on the nuances of a viable two-state solution or even Palestinian rights, but rather on cheekily comparing the one Jewish state to the people who killed 6 million Jews or people like the man who murdered us in Pittsburgh.

I am not sure the Women’s March has contributed to these problems, but I am hard-pressed to say it has helped mitigate them. Under the Bland-Mallory-PerezSarsour leadership, the Women’s March was dismissive and slow to respond to concerns of anti-Semitism (though the new leadership appears more responsive), and some of its individual leaders have explicitly minimized the harm of anti-Semitism.

Additionally, their hostility toward feminists who showed any semblance of support for Israel helped elevate anti-Zionism as socially acceptable.

As Rabbis Ammiel Hirsch and Josh Davidson — the two rabbis who spoke at Fieldston — wrote in The New York Times, “A hateful obsession with Israel too often descends into hatred of Jews, even if it doesn’t start there. Hateful words lead to hateful deeds. This environment produces, teaches, accelerates and normalizes anti-Semitism.”

The Women’s March was nothing short of remarkable in 2017. But to a large degree, it devolved into a battleground where Jewish women were forced to prove their feminist bona fides.

Feminism is so much more than the Women’s March. The less time we waste convincing people that we — Jews, Zionists, anyone who disagrees with the Women’s March leaders — deserve a place at the feminist table, the more work that can actually be done. PJC Emily Shire is a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Slate and JTA .org, where this article first appeared. She is pursuing her J.D. at Yale Law School.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Kollel does football right with Torah and Turf Guest Columnist Marc Rosenberg

O

n a beautiful Saturday morning in November, an amazing thing is happening at Kiddush. A group of men with no prior reason to get to know each other outside a “good Shabbos” are asking deeply personal questions. Why? It is all in the name of strategy. The Pittsburgh Kollel’s now-famous Torah and Turf league starts that Sunday night. One team captain taps one guy on the chest and says, “I hope you are fast. They got this one guy is an absolute speedster and you have to cover him.”

Another team captain starts a group chat with all eight of his new teammates right after Havdalah. Why? He wants to get a practice in to build chemistry. Fun plays called PB&J, crisscross applesauce and Tartan are drawn up on play cards fresh from being drawn in the sand. Each person gets a fun Steelers-themed nickname except for the token Tampa Bay Bucs fan, who just gets to keep his original name.

There is no reason to show up to Schenley Oval. It is late on a Sunday night, the Steelers game is on, and the temperature is well below 40 degrees. Talk about dedication. This year’s Torah and Turf league is just different that way. From approximately 20 guys practically playing backyard football to 40 Jewish men, even Pittsburgh startups are jealous of the growth trajectory. Along with new sponsorships comes new jerseys and flags. Four referees are brought in and rule changes are made. Rabbi Yossi Berkowitz, director of Kollel Konnections, has put in considerable effort to make this league available, affordable and fun.

“There were two main objectives we had for year two. We wanted to build a more

inclusively league to encourage participation across the community. We wanted to provide a structure to build on for years to come,” said Berkowitz. “I think we were successful and the players are excited to be a part of this.”

The games are two 20-minutes halves that leave most people completely exhausted.

Even though the players are fatigued, each game remains very competitive. It is unfortunate that someone has to lose, but by the time the final whistle blows team captains are already making adjustments for next week.

As the players walk back to their cars, they are giving their input on what went right and what went wrong. For a second, an outsider might feel as though they are listening into a true NFL post-game press conference.

With a very fun and interesting five game regular season and a two game playoff, a champion has won. If you swap out the typical barbershop scene in a movie or TV show for a beis midrash, the true trophy becomes much more clear. There is no better feeling then letting your rabbi know that your chavrusa can’t cover you on the flag football field. Or letting them know yourself as you run on the treadmill at the JCC. Two parts of the league make up its namesake. First, there is the weekly derasha, which is always incredibly enlightening. It is a reminder that there are always a few minutes in a day where we can learn a little Torah.

Second, the players in the league become a family. It doesn’t matter where you daven, what you do or where you are religiously. It is a place where an entire Pittsburgh community can truly come together as one. So the question becomes apparent. Are you ready for some football? PJC Marc Rosenberg is a program manager for Smith Micro Software and an almunus of CMU’s Tepper MBA program.

— LETTERS — Rubin made surprising choice It’s hard to believe that Joel Rubin, a man with such a strong Jewish background, especially as participant in the March of the Living in Poland, a Holocaust education experience, could praise Bernie Sanders (“Bernie Sanders picks Pittsburgh native as liaison to the Jewish community,” Jan. 10, 2020). Both of them are not concerned who is for Israel and not for Israel. Rubin admits that American Jews are under siege but claims that Sanders gets it in his kishkes. I think that Sanders has a meshuggeneh kop — crazy head.

Shirley Shratter Pittsburgh We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned.

Mail, fax or email letters to:

Letters to the editor via email:

Website address:

letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Fax 412-521-0154 pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Wearing your natural curls is an act of Jewish resistance Guest Columnists Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield Maital Friedman

F

or centuries, anti-Semites have used tedious racist tropes — be it hooked noses or traditional garb — to label Jews as grotesque, constructing a particular “Jewish” appearance in an attempt to otherize and oppress Jews.

An all-too-personal reminder of this demonization occurred this summer when we received notification that Maital was among a slew of Jewish professionals, mostly women, pictured on a white nationalist, anti-Semitic website mocking how Jews look and calling them ugly.

The website featured many Jewish professionals who do not wear Jewishly identifiable garb but had ethnic features that have been coded as “Jewish.” One trait that many of the women had in common: dark, curly hair.

Historian Yosef Hayyim Yerushalmi traces the history of anti-Semitism linked to the perceived physical appearance of Jews in “Assimilation and Racial Anti-Semitism: The Iberian and the German Models.”

“The more vulgar forms of medieval anti-Semitism did express themselves more than occasionally in sheer physical terms — the notion of a distinct Jewish odor … [or that] Jewish descendants of each of the tribes of ancient Israel are born with physical defects,” he wrote.

In “The Jew’s Body,” the authoritative book on the subject, the American cultural historian Sander Gilman quotes Moses Hess from the late 19th century: “Jewish noses cannot be reformed, nor black, Jewish, curly hair be turned through baptism or combing into smooth hair.” For anti-Semites, hooked noses or curly hair become metonymy for a repellent Jewish demonic character.

These anti-Semitic tropes continue animating contemporary racial anti-Semitism.

This year, for example, a historic Belgian carnival featured a float representing two Orthodox Jews with payot, hooked noses and surrounded by rats and bags of money (the carnival just lost its status on the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list as a result).

These negative stereotypes have impacted our Jewish psyche and spawned a self-consciousness and communal shame about “Jewish looks.” If our intention is to be Jewish and visibly proud of it, we must on the one hand celebrate the many varied Jewish ways of presenting and on the other contest the essentialist notion of Jewish ethnic looks.

It seems outrageous that in this day and age the idea of “Jewish looks” continues to exist — despite overwhelming Jewish diversity — and be demonized. Jews can look as different from each other as any two humans.

Curly hair, like many characteristics, is not a universal Jewish trait, nor particular to Jews,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

nor inherently unattractive. Sadly, our own community has subconsciously internalized some of these harmful tropes. This has resulted in self-criticism and shame, as well as a narrow and exclusionary understanding of what Jews look like.

All Jews should revel in their culture and appearance. As Jewish Ashkenazi women who proudly wear our thick dark curls in their natural glory, we both regularly receive unsolicited advice from peers: “Why don’t you straighten your hair? You would look so different!” (a.k.a. better).

In these comments, we hear a desire for Jewish women to adhere to the white standard of beauty privileged in our society, which mandates sleek straight hair.

When a Jewish women’s organization recently announced its top 12 leaders of the year, we were not surprised to scroll down a page of images of women with straight hair.

This is the preferred “professional look.”

This is common in Jewish spaces, and it’s not just about aesthetics.

“I have to tell my curly-haired friends that this is a safe place to work,” one colleague observed after attending a Shalom Hartman Institute staff event that was filled with women who had not flat ironed their hair into submission.

We appreciated the recent article in Tablet describing the trend in Israel of embracing “natural hair positivity,” i.e., curls. It is a good start for hairstylists to learn how to cut and manage curly hair.

But we need to go further. We must embrace individuals sporting naturally curly hair or kippot or payot as acceptably groomed and professional — and the full range of Jewish ethnic, racial and denominational diversity as just that, Jewish.

We know it’s a privilege that curly-haired women can straighten their hair to fit in or “pass,” while others cannot change their physical features. Straightening, coloring and updos can also be fun, and women should delight in the many options that we have. But let’s make sure we are doing it because we want to, not because we are subconsciously internalizing derisive tropes about Jews.

Jewish looks have been demonized to justify bullying, shaming, marginalizing or even harming Jews. Within our own communities, these stereotypes have resulted in a self-mocking embarrassment about looking “too Jewish” — while simultaneously resulting in the exclusion of Jews who don’t “look Jewish” enough. We can combat these tropes by resisting our own impulse to correct, erase or otherwise hide the actual or perceived markers of our identity, embracing the full diversity of the Jewish community, and celebrating the unique and diverse beauty of a people long derided. PJC Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield is executive vice president at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Maital Friedman is co-director of the Muslim Leadership Initiative at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. This piece originally appeared on JTA.org.

JANUARY 24, 2020 13

Headlines Point Park: Continued from page 1

claimed that Newman made an insensitive comment about the #MeToo movement, Newman alleges.

Newman was exonerated from those charges, but not before she had endured significant maltreatment from the university, including having her classes cancelled mid-semester, being prohibited from campus and being denied access to her email, she claims.

This may be the first time that anti-Israel activists have used Title IX — a federal law that protects those on campus from sexual harassment — as a pretext to have a faculty member removed, according to Newman’s attorney, James Lieber of Lieber Hammer Huber & Paul.

“It is a very heavy charge in academia,” explained Lieber. “Title IX is very important to stop sexual misconduct and sexual harassment on campus. This is the way, if you really want to go after somebody who has tenure, you can do that. People involved with BDS, they have bullied people on other campuses, they have boycotted them in various ways.

But this is the first time that Title IX has shown up (as a BDS tool) anywhere in the United States.

“This is not a real Title IX charge, it has nothing to do with sexual harassment or anything like that,” Lieber added, noting that the student filed the claim against Newman only after consulting with Ross and Hines.

“Then she filed a formal charge and the university took it, and without notice, removed Channa from her classes and — this was really part of the very serious emotional damage I would say — they announced it to the students by email before they even told Channa. So she came to school and the students were telling her about this and she had no advanced notice.”

Newman contends that she has been targeted by Ross, Hines and their student followers because she has put up some resistance to the anti-Israel rhetoric and activities they promote.

“It was because I opposed the BDS thrust on campus,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to silence the pro-Palestinian impetus there, but I was trying to bring a two-sided perspective.

This was too one-sided, and very offensive to me, obviously. One of my countries was being attacked. I just wanted transparency.”

Ross is an associate professor and coordinator of Point Park’s Social Justice Studies Program. He is a prolific writer on the IsraelPalestinian conflict. His articles include: “No Space for Apartheid: Toward an Academic Boycott of Israel Among Geographers” (2016, The Geographical Review), “One Year Later, Gaza Is Still in Crisis” (2015, Mondoweiss) and “How The New York Times Erases Israel’s Crimes” (2012, The Electronic Intifada). He leads Palestinian advocacy efforts on behalf of the Presbyterian Church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network, and is member of the Organizing Collective of the U.S. Campaign for an Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Ross also sits on the board of trustees for Friends of Sabeel North America, an organization that appears on an Anti-Defamation League list of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in America.

14 JANUARY 24, 2020

p Professor Channa Newman

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

“ They were going beyond this Title IX claim.

And I wasn’t even sure how they got news of that because it’s supposed to be confidential.

They wanted to go beyond that to anything, all my teaching. They said the school was

”

looking into everything about me.

— CHANNA NEWMAN Ross uses “teaching, speaking, social media, writing and taking PPU students on trips including with substantial university support financially and/or with scheduling” to promote a bias against Israel, and is supported in those endeavors by Hines, according to Newman’s complaint.

The complaint further states that in or around 2015, Ross tried to introduce a course titled “Israel: A Settler State” for all first-year Point Park students, although the class never came to fruition.

When Newman asked Ross if he would include views that were more balanced, either through herself or others, he declined, according to her complaint.

Ross maintains that social justice demands standing up for all those who are victimized, including students.

“This lawsuit attempts to use my work in the movement for Palestinian human rights as a basis to attack my support for students who felt victimized by a professor last academic year,” he said in an email to the Chronicle. “Like my solidarity with the Palestinian people, my commitment to ensuring that students have access to education in an environment free of traumatizing harassment is rooted in the belief

that all people — regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability or orientation — should be treated equitably. I stand in solidarity with all struggles for equity and liberation, including the Palestinian freedom struggle, the struggle to combat anti-Semitism and the #MeToo movement.

It is necessary to support these movements if we are to fully achieve social justice in our world today.”

After the Title IX complaint was filed against Newman in Oct. 2018, Lieber said, a search ensued on social media in an effort to find any additional information that could be used against Newman.

“One of the worst things that can happen at a university is when students become mobilized or weaponized,” he said. “When Channa was off the campus and banned from her email, there was a student chat room that was set up with ex-students.

One was Dr. Ross’s principal supporter on campus, and what they were trying to do was to get ‘anything’ on Channa Newman.”

Newman was informed about this chat room by another student.

“They were going beyond this Title IX claim,” Newman said. “And I wasn’t even sure how they got news of that because it’s

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

supposed to be confidential. They wanted to go beyond that to anything, all my teaching.

They said the school was looking into everything about me.”

Point Park denies all allegations of wrongdoing contained in the complaint, “and will vigorously defend itself in the lawsuit,” said Lou Corsaro, Point Park’s managing director of marketing and public relations, in a prepared statement. “Point Park is an inclusive community free of discrimination. As a matter of policy, the university welcomes and supports all faculty members regardless of their race, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, physical ability and political affiliation. Point Park embraces and actively pursues a policy of inclusiveness that reflects the diversity of the community it serves.”

Although Newman was cleared of the Title IX charges, the environment at Point Park remains hostile against her, she said.

“It was fortunate for me that I was vindicated, I was exonerated,” she said. “But it hasn’t really stopped. It would have been difficult to overcome what they did to me with this Title IX if I were treated fairly thereafter. But it just sort of continues. I can’t even recover from that. It was just horrific.”

When she returned to Point Park, she received a notice from the Title IX office that she was being investigated again, according to her complaint.

“She spoke to the Title IX coordinator, and there were students involved but they were not named,” said Lieber. “They didn’t tell her what the charges were, and we don’t know who the students are.”

Newman feels that she must remain “on guard” and she continues to be “shunned,” she said. “My reputation is really damaged. It hurts.”

Newman filed her lawsuit for the sake of “education and deterrence,” explained her attorney. “It’s important to stand up, and Channa has done that.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Stav Shaffir, Israel’s liberal rising star, is now in free fall — WORLD —

By Marcy Oster | JTA

L

ess than a year ago, Stav Shaffir’s meteoric rise in Israeli politics seemed like it was continuing ever upward.

Now the outspoken millennial advocate for liberal Zionism and social justice won’t even be running for office, her future uncertain. Her career appears to be a casualty of a realignment on the Israeli left, doomed by her ideological and personal clashes with the old guard of the Labor Party.

Shaffir, 34, first took center stage in Israel as a leader of the 2011 social justice protest movement. A young and passionate woman with fiery red hair, she galvanized the thousands of young Israelis who pitched tents on Rothschild Boulevard in the center of Tel Aviv, one of 120 tent cities throughout the country. The demonstrators turned to a coalition of twentysomethings, including Shaffir, to lead them in protest against Israel’s escalating cost of living and — most acutely — skyrocketing housing prices. As the movement’s spokeswoman, Shaffir gained a national profile.

Two years later, at 27, Shaffir ran for office with the center-left Labor Party and became

Survivors: Continued from page 3

benefits from different European countries must possess a Certificate of Life. JFCS helps survivors obtain such document through assisting with necessary forms. Among Budd’s tasks is partnering with the Claims Conference, an organization that negotiates each year with the German government on behalf of eligible Holocaust victims.

Judah Samet is one of several Pittsburgh survivors who have benefitted from Budd and the Claims Conference’s efforts.

“Sandy is a wonderful girl,” said Samet.

“We’re friends.”

Education: Continued from page 10

toured Manhattan’s Holocaust museum recently. They viewed artifacts like the shoes of victims or an SS helmet, and heard about how economic uncertainty in Germany led to anti-Semitic discrimination and then genocide.

Nearly two-thirds of the anti-Semitic incidents in New York are committed by young people, according to Mitchell Silber, UJA-Federation of New York’s top security official. The goal of the field trip was to give Jyrell and his classmates a deeper understanding of the Holocaust in the hopes that education will help prevent anti-Semitism in Brooklyn and elsewhere.

It was the pilot of a program that will bring public school students from three heavily PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

as she screamed, “The public doesn’t know what you’re doing!”

“At the beginning I thought my job was to legislate,” Shaffir told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for a 2014 profile. “When I entered the system, I understood until we change the mechanism, nothing will change.”

She also gained international attention, and liberal pro-Israel leaders in the United States held her up as an example of a more progressive future for the Jewish state. She has been a perennial presence at the annual conference of J Street, the liberal Israel lobby, and in 2016, she spoke p Stav Shaffir speaks to reporters ahead of elections at the American Federation of in Tel Aviv on Sept. 14, 2019.

Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Getty Images via JTA.org Teachers convention.

Shaffir was to the left of Labor’s older leaders. Last year, the youngest-ever female member of Israel’s with party voters set to elect their leader, she parliament, the Knesset. She gained noto- ran against Amir Peretz, 67, who last led the riety for asking detailed, persistent questions party in 2007. Shaffir split the progressive at Finance Committee meetings, repeatedly vote with another candidate who also led holding up transfers of money between the 2011 street protests, and Peretz won. departments because they weren’t approved Peretz subsequently merged Labor with a by a full Knesset vote. At one point, video new centrist party. caught her being dragged out by a guard Shaffir resigned from Labor, and ahead

of national elections in September joined the Democratic Union, a new alliance that was anchored by Meretz, a staunchly left-wing party.

But with Israel holding yet another election in March, Meretz has merged with Labor. Shaffir said she had long dreamed of a united Israeli left, but this latest merger has left her in the cold. The combined party’s leaders offered Shaffir a spot so far down on the election list that she likely would not have won a seat in Knesset.

Haaretz reported that Shaffir burned bridges when she quit the Labor Party, making some members eager to settle scores with her. She has been confrontational, according to Haaretz, and made “problematic demands” of Meretz last year.

On Wednesday, Shaffir announced that she would not run in the March election in order not to fragment Israel’s left. So after seven years in office, she will not be returning to Knesset — at least for the time being.

Her news conference was held symbolically on the heavily trafficked boulevard where she pitched her tent less than a decade ago.

“I won’t run in this election, but I will stay in the race for our country,” Shaffir said, vowing to take her fight “to the streets, to the cities, to the neighborhoods, in order to build our tomorrow and come back stronger.” PJC

Samet said with Budd’s help he’s been able to maintain his independence in his Oakland residence.

“In fiscal year 2019, JFCS served 33 survivors,” said Small. “Since 1998, JFCS has served about 145 survivors specifically helped by the Claims Conference.”

“We will help anyone,” said Budd.

“And if you know of someone who may qualify for any services, or you’re not sure, please reach out.”

What’s available to Pittsburgh’s survivors stands out from resources other cities can offer, explained Small: “In a lot of cities, there are large swaths of survivors who are really not getting what they need. But in Allegheny County, because of the Area Agency on

Aging and the funding that the Area Agency on Aging gets from the lottery money, we have robust services for older adults.”

Between 2017 and 2018, the Pennsylvania Lottery contributed more than $336 million to the state’s 52 Area Agencies on Aging.

Serving residents within the state’s 67 counties, the Area Agencies on Aging provide home-delivered meals, legal assistance, health insurance counseling and other services.

Allegheny County, with its sizable older population, benefits greatly, explained Small: “A lot of people who are lower income, which are a lot of survivors, especially in the Russian community, are able to receive the services that they would need to remain in their home and remain in the community.”

Despite all the help, more could be done to help the community, she continued.

“We’re losing survivors at a much more rapid rate now than we ever have before,” said Small.

“We lost at least eight survivors from the Holocaust Center’s community in 2019,” said Bairnsfather.

The number is sobering, said Small: “It just reinforces how important it is to continue to tell their stories, to continue to help the survivors that are still with us, to make sure we don’t forget, and it never happens again.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Orthodox neighborhoods to the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown Manhattan. Eighth and 10th graders from Williamsburg, Borough Park and Crown Heights will take the tours, and the museum will offer free admission to any New York City public school student and three family members.

Teachers have been given resources on how to teach about hate. The museum also will provide professional development to teachers.

“What you’re going to learn today is critically important to who we are,” New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said at a news conference announcing the initiative, adding that he first understood the impact of the Holocaust after appearing in a grade school play about Anne Frank.

“We expect you to lead the way in creative, thoughtful and productive dialogue about

the value of living in a diverse and accepting city,” he said.

Carranza was not aware of empirical data showing that Holocaust education leads to a reduction in hate crimes. But he did say that the museum shows students how hateful words and symbols can escalate. He said one of the motivators of the current string of attacks is ignorance of anti-Semitism’s lethal history.

“The first step is just understanding that symbols have meanings,” he said. “Don’t use these kinds of symbols if you don’t know what they mean. When you use a swastika, it has a very specific meaning, it stands for something.”

Deborah Lauter, who heads the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, turned to the students, who were mostly people of color, and asked if they have ever been slurred by an epithet. A few

raised their hands.

“They know what it’s like to be the other,” she said. “They know what it’s like to experience pain and be targeted because of your identity.”

Some of the students were guided on their tour by Abraham Foxman, the former longtime director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Foxman, who was hidden as a child during the Holocaust, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the visit should be seen as a first step toward understanding hate, not as a cure-all for juvenile anti-Semitism.

“It’s a virus that can be infected very quickly,” he said. “Unlearning is a much longer process. Education is a patient, long-term process.

“Can one visit undo it? No. But we hope that the personal experience of confronting what hate can do will impact students to say, ‘It matters to me as well.’” PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 15

Life & Culture Winter dinner, Mediterranean-style — FOOD — Keri White | Contributing Writer

Mediterranean Lamb Serves 10

The olives in this dish add tremendous flavor. I used Spanish-style pitted olives filled with pimentos.

1 large lamb shoulder, about 5 pounds (if smaller, use 2) 1 large onion, chopped 2 tablespoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons ground black pepper ¼ cup chopped garlic 5 stalks rosemary 1 pint pimento-stuffed olives with about ¼ cup juice

Photo by Keri White

A

s winter entrenches in earnest, I am constantly devising ways to stay warm and lift my mood. One way is through hosting — having (select) people around is happy-making for me, and it usually involves cooking, which warms my kitchen.

This dinner came together as a result of a semi-impromptu gathering of friends. I say semi-impromptu because the lamb takes about five hours to cook, so it does require a bit of notice.

But after the holiday season, there tends to be a social lull, so that’s a great time to throw a party. Maybe not the first week, but by mid-January, people are looking for activity.

We planned this the night before, and ended up with a dinner for 10.

The lamb is a low-stress preparation; once you throw everything in the pan and cover it, you essentially ignore it for five or six hours and you really can’t overcook it. It is somewhere between a braise and a roast; it’s not super-liquidy, but it’s plenty moist and falling apart when served.

The couscous is a snap and can be tweaked to your preference. I liked the color combo and the Middle Eastern flavors that I put together here; the dill and chives complemented the pomegranates beautifully, but you can use whatever ingredients you like — or serve the couscous plain.

I had a trusted friend bring the veggies — a garlicky version of green beans almondine — and it was a bit of lily gilding because the lamb was plenty rich. A simple green salad or some steamed greens would have probably married better, but no complaints.

For dessert, we had assorted cookies and chocolates, but fresh fruit or sorbet would have punctuated this repast well.

1 lemon cut in quarters 1½ cups red wine 1½ cups water

Colorful Israeli Couscous Serves 8

Heat your oven to 300 degrees. In a large roasting pan, place the chopped onions.

Place the lamb on top.

Coat the lamb with salt, pepper and garlic.

Top it with rosemary, olives with juice and lemon wedges. Some of these may roll down into the bottom of pan; this is fine.

Pour the wine and water over the lamb.

Cover it tightly with foil and roast it in the oven for 5 hours. Check the lamb about midway through cooking to ensure that there is sufficient liquid in the pan. You are not looking for a lot of liquid, but you don’t want it to be dried out. There should be about a minimum of an inch depth.

The lamb is done when it is falling off the bone and easily pulls apart with a fork. Pull it apart and serve it with some of the cooking liquid and the olives.

I used toum, that glorious Lebanese condiment, to keep the couscous from sticking together, but if that is not readily available, you can use olive oil, mayonnaise, broth or make your own toum by pureeing garlic, oil, salt and lemon.

The herb selection is cook’s choice, and you can tweak it to your preference with other ingredients as well, depending on the rest of your menu. Toasted walnuts? Feta cheese? Cooked chicken? Chickpeas? The sky’s the limit.

1 tablespoon oil 3 cups Israeli couscous 1 onion, chopped A few pinches of salt, generous grinding of fresh pepper 4½ cups broth ½ cup toum (or mayonnaise, salad dressing, olive oil, broth, etc.)

½ cup chopped fresh dill ½ cup chopped fresh chives ½ cup pomegranate seeds

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onions until fragrant. Add the salt, pepper and couscous, and allow it to coat.

Add the broth and bring it to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Taste the couscous. If it is still hard in the middle, add some more broth and cook it until it is soft in the middle.

Remove the couscous from the heat, add the toum, stir to coat and add ⅓ cup each of dill, chives and pomegranate. Save the remaining herbs and seeds as garnish.

When ready to serve, sprinkle the remaining herbs and pomegranates on top of the couscous. PJC Keri White is a food writer for the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, where this article first appeared.

Every Friday in the

news JEWS CAN USE. 16 JANUARY 24, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

and all the time online @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

For home delivery, call 410.902.2308.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Life & Culture This 28-year-old makes a living visiting every country in the world — TRAVEL —

By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

I

n 2012, Drew Goldberg spent part of his junior year of college studying abroad in Prague. It was only his second time leaving the United States — the other time was for Birthright, the free Israel trip for Jewish young adults.

The trip to the Czech capital was lifechanging. Goldberg spent the next five months balancing his studies with traveling, managing to visit more than 20 countries.

After that he was hooked.

Now he’s closing in on a goal inspired by the Prague trip — visiting each of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations.

In just a few months, the 28-year-old will have done it.

He’s managed the feat by making traveling his job.

Goldberg, who goes by the name Drew Binsky online, posts daily videos of his travel adventures and earns $5,000 to $30,000 each month through ad revenue and sponsorships.

His videos include everything from learning what it’s like to live in North Korea, discussing race in South Africa and talking to Syrians who fled their homes due to war. Goldberg has 4 million followers on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. He also holds two Guinness World Records — for visiting the most UNESCO heritage sites in 24 hours (12) and for fastest time to pack a suitcase (35.59 seconds).

“I haven’t stayed in one place longer than two weeks in eight years,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a video interview from Manila, where he shares an apartment with his Philippines-born girlfriend Deanna.

This spring, Goldberg will embark on the last leg of his eight-year trip, traveling to the five countries he has yet to visit: Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Jamaica and Palau.

He will bring along a film crew and hopes to make a documentary of the visit.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “I’ve been working with this goal for eight years.”

Goldberg grew up in a Jewish family in Scottsdale, Arizona. He attended Temple Chai, a Reform congregation, where he had his bar mitzvah.

After graduating with an economics degree from the University of WisconsinMadison, Goldberg took a job teaching English in South Korea. He created a travel

p Drew Goldberg, seen here in Kerala, India, makes a living traveling the world and posting about it on social media.

Photo courtesy of Drew Goldberg via JTA.org

“ I feel more connected with the religion from a global perspective because I’ve really gone in the houses of Jews

”

around the world.

— DREW GOLDBERG blog to document his experience traveling throughout Asia over the next 18 months.

Goldberg makes a point of visiting Jewish communities in the countries he visits, and he says traveling has helped him connect with his Jewish identity. He has visited Jewish communities in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

“I feel more connected with the religion from a global perspective because I’ve really gone in the houses of Jews around the world,” he said.

Though he says he has been well-received

as a Jewish person, it helps that he publishes under the name Binsky, his childhood nickname, which is less obviously Jewish than Goldberg.

“I think it’s not the worst thing in the world to have an alter ego, especially when I’m traveling to countries like Syria and Libya and stuff,” he said. “It’s not the best to rep Goldberg.”

Goldberg says he enjoys teaching people about Judaism in areas of the world where there are few Jews.

“In general I think I’m in a very good position to promote Judaism to Muslims and to people who aren’t familiar with the religion,” he said.

Goldberg generally feels safe while traveling and says he wasn’t worried visiting North Korea since he was on an organized tour. Still, there have been some scary moments, such as falling asleep to the sound of bombs raining down just miles from his hotel in Libya, and missing a car explosion by only an hour in Yemen. On a recent trip to Syria, he had to lie about having visited Israel to enter the country.

“I had to hide all my videos about Israel on my website,” he said.

Goldberg says he won’t stop traveling once he has hit his goal, but will shift his focus to longer-form content and post less frequently. He also hopes to get a travel show like Anthony Bourdain, the late food travel personality who Goldberg considers an idol.

“It’s so cool to be able to take people along with me and inspire them and teach them about the world,” he said. “And I get more satisfaction out of doing that than experiencing it myself.” PJC

STORIES COME TO life HERE. Connect with Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

In your mailbox or all the time online at pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 5915 Beacon Street, 5th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

Finding meaning amid strife

Robin and Mark Exler announce the engagement of their son, Andrew Todd Exler, to Kari Rae Semel, daughter of Jessica and Alan Semel of Cleveland, Ohio. Andrew’s grandparents are Harry and Irene Exler and the late Gloria and Norman Wedner. Kari’s grandparents are Nancy and Lawrence Bell and the late Eileen and Sam Semel. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in business from Ohio University and a certificate of accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the founder and chief strategist of Andrew Exler Consulting, which provides social media marketing and related services to its clients.

Kari has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from DePaul University and is currently a candidate for a master’s degree in social work at the University of Pittsburgh. A spring 2021 wedding in Cleveland is planned.

Leslye and Michael Markovitz of Carmel, Indiana, announce the engagement of their son, Eric Samuel, to Paige Noel Massey, daughter of Roy and Andrea Massey of Southport, Indiana. The groom is the grandson of Jack and the late Marilyn Rubin of Squirrel Hill and the late Harold and Ida Markovitz also of Squirrel Hill. The brideto-be is the granddaughter of Fred and Janet Eicks of Okeechobee, Florida, and Lois and the late Roy Massey of Brownsville, Kentucky.

Eric received bachelor’s degrees from the University of Kentucky and Bellarmine University. He is a registered nurse on the pediatric oncology unit at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Paige received her undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University and her master’s degree from the University of the Cumberlands. She is a teacher in the Jeffersonville, Kentucky school system. A 2021 wedding is planned in Louisville.

Rhonda Horvitz and Teddi and David Horvitz of Squirrel Hill are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Sarah Horvitz, to Mark Pattis, son of Ellen Olshansky and Richard Pattis of Irvine, California. Sarah’s grandparents are the late Marilyn and Herbert Weisman and the late Esther and Robert Horvitz, all of Pittsburgh.

Mark’s grandparents are the late Lillian and Jack Olshansky of San Francisco, California, and Muriel Pattis and the late Myrna and David Pattis of Chicago, Illinois. Sarah graduated from The Pennsylvania State University and received her dual master’s degree in social work from The University of Southern California and Jewish nonprofit management from the Zelikow School of Hebrew Union College-JIR in Los Angeles, California. Sarah is the campaign associate at Jewish Federation and Family Services, Orange County, California. Mark graduated from Indiana University and will pursue a master’s degree in organizational leadership and innovation at the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management of Hebrew Union College-JIR in Los Angeles, California. Mark is the fitness director at the Merage Jewish Community Center in Irvine, California, and formerly worked at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh. PJC

Rabbi Daniel Yolkut Parshat Va’eira | Exodus 6:2-9:35

“M

izmor Shir le-Yom ha-Shabbat,” the Song for the Shabbat (Psalm 92), is perhaps one of the most familiar Psalms, repeated three times in the Shabbat liturgy. Notwithstanding its declared purpose in the opening line, the actual contents apparently have nothing to do with the classic themes of Shabbat at all but instead focus on the idea of eventual Divine reward for the righteous and reckoning for the wicked.

Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky, the 20th-century Rosh Yeshiva and Torah commentator, wove together a number of ancient Midrashic themes to propose a surprising and beautiful resolution to this question.

There is an ancient tradition that the Jews in Egypt used to gather on Shabbat when they had been exempted from work. (Interestingly, Cecil B. DeMille references this tradition in his classic film “The Ten Commandments,” where he puts the following words in the mouth of a young Ramses: “He gives them the priests’ grain and one day in seven to rest. They call it ‘The Day of Moses.’”) The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 5:18) teaches that on those Shabbat days, the Jews would study scrolls that they possessed that strengthened them to survive another week of bondage.

Kaminetsky suggests, based on a comment of Rashi (Bava Batra 14b) who ascribes the composition of Psalm 92 to Moshe himself, that the “Psalm for the Shabbat Day” is therefore not a Psalm about Shabbat, but rather one of those texts that Jews in Egypt would delve into on Shabbat during the years of slavery. Imagine, then, the power of these lines from the Psalm to Jews struggling to believe against an existence that seemed permeated with injustice: “When the wicked spring up as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they may be destroyed forever. But Thou, Hashem, art on high forevermore. For, lo, Thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, Thine enemies shall perish: All the workers of iniquity shall be Hashem. ...

Mine eye also hath gazed on them that lie in wait for me, mine ears have heard my desire of the evil-doers that rise up against me.”

Kaminetsky posits that another one of these texts was the Book of Job, which one

opinion the Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) also ascribes to Moshe. Job is the classic biblical work that wrestles with a world that feels fundamentally unfair, and concludes that it is fundamentally impossible for mortals to grasp the algorithms by which Hashem runs His universe. Kaminetsky speculates that before the dramatic events of the Exodus, Moshe composed these works that grappled with the existential theological questions critical for living a life of faith in a world seemingly governed by moral chaos.

There is something profoundly moving about contemplating the clandestine gathering of our ancestors in Egypt, poring over these texts to cultivate a life of faith in the most challenging of circumstances.

Job and Psalm 92 bear complementary messages. Job affirms the validity of our experiences and questions, the vertigo that has accompanied so much of Jewish history.

At the same time, Psalm 92 reinforces the idea that there will be an ultimate reckoning, that there is a plan, albeit inscrutable, and that eventually God’s world will culminate in a revelation of His justice that will bring clarity to the arc of history.

There is something profoundly moving about contemplating the clandestine gathering of our ancestors in Egypt, poring over these texts to cultivate a life of faith in the most challenging of circumstances. Throughout the generations, the pattern of using Shabbat as an island in time to find the lessons in Torah that would help us contend with the trials of life has been a hallmark of the Jewish experience. In a moment when American Jews find ourselves contending with a resurgence of anti-Semitism, we owe it to ourselves to use the tools of Shabbat and Torah to help us find timeless meaning at the very time that we encounter the greatest anxiety and confusion. PJC Rabbi Daniel Yolkut is the spiritual leader of Congregation Poale Zedeck. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

ROAD RUNNER PLUMBING P I T T S B U R G H , PA

(412) 292-5830 (412) 421-1538

Call Mike

Service Repair Expert H.P. 3342 18 JANUARY 24, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Mini Excavator Available

INSURED

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Obituaries ARONSON: Barbara Aronson, 81, passed away Jan. 7, 2020. Daughter to the late Irving and Shirley Forman of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Barbara was the beloved wife of the late Monroe Aronson and survived by three daughters, Francine, Sherry and Rhonda; sons-in-law, Jeffrey Dinovitzer, Larry Milstein and Gerard Rose. Devoted grandmother to Max, Jake and Ally Milstein, Marli, Julia and Jordan Dinovitzer, and Sammy and Marcus Rose. Barbara retired to Fort Lee after 35 years of teaching at Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill.

Graveside services and interment were held at Ahavath Achim Cemetery, Kennedy Twp. Contributions can be made to Yeshiva University, YU Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 21773, New York, NY 10087-1773.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SCHRAG: Ruth (Stern) Schrag, 94, of Monessen, passed away peacefully at Monongahela Valley Hospital on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. She was born on March 26, 1925, in Monessen, the daughter of the late Samuel and Hilda (Markey) Stern, and by her stepmother Edythe (Crowe) Stern. Ruth was a remarkable woman throughout her life. Ruth graduated from Monessen High School, and in the summer before her senior year, she attended a specialized program at Northwestern University designed for speech students. Upon graduation, she enrolled in Northwestern University and received her degree in speech therapy.

She attained her master’s equivalency in English literature from California University of Pennsylvania. Ruth provided speech therapy in the parochial schools of Monessen prior to teaching English for 30 years at Charleroi High School. She loved her work and took great pride in the many students she taught and also led the debate team and tutoring club. Ruth often received calls and visits from former students who enjoyed her as a teacher and mentor. At the age of 70, she taught writing in the Lifelong Learning Program at Carnegie Mellon University. She and her colleagues published several journals of short stories and poetry. In addition to her profession, Ruth was active in a variety of organizations including Jr. Women’s Club, Friends of the Monessen Public Library, B’nai B’rith Women, Temple Beth Am Sisterhood, several reading groups, and Easter Seals. She also took tai chi classes. Ruth was a great debater and wrote many funny and moving poems and short stories. She was a genuine friend and visited those who were unable to get out or were ill. She opened her home to a number of nieces and nephews who enjoyed spending time with her. Ruth was fiercely

independent and was still driving, living in the family home and lovingly nurturing her children, grandchildren, great-grandchild and extended family. She truly will be missed by all who knew and loved her. Ruth was a loving mother to Susan (Barbara Warr) Schrag, Loren (John) Vivio, Jonathan Schrag, a treasured grandmother to Jason (Ashley) Schrag, Benjamin (Lesa) Vivio, Daniel (Nerina) Vivio, Patrick, Stephanie and Heather Schrag, and a loving great-grandmother to Lia Schrag. She is also survived by two brothers, Leonard (Joanie Ostrow) Stern and Daniel (Eileen) Stern, with whom she maintained a close and loving relationship. She was adored by many nieces and nephews, as well as their partners. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband Robert E. Schrag, a sister Margie (Leo/Albie) Ash-Weiner, a sister-in-law Mary-jo Stern, and her father and mother-in-law, Emil and Helen Schragenheim. Family and friends gathered at Dalfonso-Billick Funeral Home Inc. & Cremation Services, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, followed by a memorial service with Rabbi Sara Perman. At the request of the family, interment was private in Beth Am Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Monessen Public Library, 326 Donner Ave., Monessen, PA 15062. Condolences accepted for the family at dalfonso-billick.com.

TRIPP: Irving Tripp, 92, of Edison, New Jersey, and Boynton Beach, Florida, passed away on Jan. 9, 2020, at home surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, of 65 years with whom he traveled the world; his daughter, Karen (Jack) Friedman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; his son, Steven (Ellen) Tripp, of Westfield; his grandchildren, Hillary Friedman and Max (Maggie) Friedman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Tovah (Will) Rafelson and Charlie Tripp; and his great-grandchildren, Michael and Samara. Irving was predeceased by his parents, Benjamin and Anna Tripp, and his sisters, Trudy Tripp and Martha Whitman.

A veteran of the Korean War, president of Charles Smith Real Estate Agency, chair of JFK Medical Center in Edison, chairman of the Draft Board Middlesex County, president of Middlesex County MLS, chair of the Highland Park branch of Edison Bank, and original board member of the JCC of Edison; Irv loved opera, Broadway musicals and all music. The family received mourners in Westfield, New Jersey, on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. Funeral services were officiated

by Rabbi Bennett Miller at Flynn and Son Funeral Home, Fords, New Jersey, and interment in Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge, New Jersey. Contributions in Irv’s memory may be made to a charity of your choice. PJC

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

In memory of...

Jerry and Susan Bostocky .........................................Simon Bostocky Luisa & Howard Cohen and Family ............................Samuel Wise Luisa & Howard Cohen and Family ................................Ida C. Wise Luisa & Howard Cohen and Family ...................................Jack Wise Susan Cohen ................................................................Blanche Schwartz Lois Crone ..........................................................................David Silverblatt Frank & Barbara DeLuce ...................................................Albert Shaer Sylvia & Norman Elias ..................................................... Gertrude Elias Sylvia & Norman Elias ..........................................................Joseph Elias Sylvia & Norman Elias .......................................................... Samuel Brill Shirley Estner ...........................................................................Helen Citron Sherman J. Farbstein ..................................................Julia P. Farbstein Sharon & Morry Feldman ................................................Marian Weiss Rhoda & Jay Gefsky ...........................................................Mollie Barnett Gerald Gold ............................................................................Jacob Gordon Susan Goldman...........................................................Isadore Pachtman Fred & Gail Greene ......................................................David Silverstein Fred & Gail Greene ..........................................................Bessie Perman Fred & Gail Greene ....................................... William Randall Greene Mary Jatlow ................................................................................Celia Glantz

obituaries@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

THE DEADLINE FOR PUBLICATION IS NOON MONDAY.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

In memory of...

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday January 26: Blanche Stein Banov, Matilda Barnett, Irene Bloom, Florence Ravick Fishkin, Goldie Friedman, Herman Friedman, Harry B. Harris, Jennie Hoffman, Albert Lebovitz, James Leff, Mathilda Lindner, Ilene Grossman Mattock, Bernard Peris, Leah Rosenfeld, Beatrice Rita Weil Ruben, Esther Sadowsky, Anna L. Saville, Max Schlessinger, Gertrude Shakespeare, William Solomon, Morton Stein, Mary Sulkes Wolk Monday January 27: Sylvia S. Berger, Frances Levenson Carey, Ruth H. Cohen, Fanny Eisenfeld, Harry T. Feinberg, Nochim Gelman, Philip Goldblum, Samuel E. Klein, Samuel Levine, Estelle E. Martin, Jacob Alex Miller, Harold J. Pasekoff, Dr. George Raffel, Anna Shapiro, Sophie Shapiro, Anna Sigesmund, Chaim Silberblatt, Yetta Singer, Henry Solomon, Elder H. Stein, Albert J. Supowitz, Rose Tabor, Louis Tenenouser, John D. Whiteman, Goldie H. Zacks Tuesday January 28: Isabelle Pitler Backer, Mollie Beck, Samuel Darling, Sidney H. Green, Florence Hiedovitz, Paul Ibe, Max M. Jacobson, Fannie Klein, Rose Klein, Regina Kossman, Geraldine Lerner, Blanche L. Schwartz, Bernice Semins, Russell Tanur Wednesday January 29: Samuel Baem, Harry N. Bailiss, George J. Fairman, Joseph Gray, Dr. John J. Horwtiz, Sara R. Jacobson, Sam Kaufman, Max Kweller, Fannie Kwalwasser Lazar, Morris Levy, Harry Meyer, Mary Myers, Lt. Louis Newman, Harry Pretter, Mollie Samuel, Florence Stone, Pauline Strauss, Jennie Walk, Victoria Zimmer Thursday January 30: Gertrude Berenfield, Nathan Bilder, Paul Carpe, Joel David Cohen, Lillian Cook, Minnie Farber, Morris Fleshman, Samuel J Frankel, Paul Freedman, Jennie Glick, Sanford K. Greenberg, Lipa Haimovitz, Edward Hertz, Anna Harr Krause, Harry Lautman, Madylene Platt, Dorothy Rosenthal, Dr.Eugene J. Schachter, Gertrude Silberman, Jacob W. Simon, Alvin Weinberger, Esther Pakler Weiss Friday January 31: Irving E. Cohen, Nettie Galanty, Phillip Harris, Edith Lazear, Rheba Markley, E.Harry Mazervo, Oscar Robbins, Rebecca Rosenfeld, Gertrude Schugar, Pauline Silberblatt, Abraham Ulanoff Saturday February 1: Rebecca Broudy, Rubin Davidson, Leonard A Fleegler, Raymond Goldstein, Jacob Graff, William Randall Greene, Anna Grossman, Sarah Haimovitz, Tina Kaminsky, Anna Kart, Rose Klein, Betty Kuperstock, Anne Bilder Mallinger, Joseph Cliff Ruben, Ida Seminofsky, Jack C. Siegel, Al W. Wolf, Rose Blattner Zionts

PITTSBU RGH NEWEST ’S FUNERA L HOME

• Serving the Pittsburgh Jewish Community with Traditional Jewish funerals • Specially Developed Taharah Room with Mikva facilities for Chevra Kadisha • Accommodations for Shomer • Guaranteed advanced funeral planning LOCALLY OWNED and OPERATED

DEBORAH S. PRISE Licensed Jewish Funeral Director

1650 GREENTREE ROAD • PITTSBURGH, PA 15220 412.563.2800 • FAX 412.563.5347

SERVING Scott Twp., Greentree, Carnegie, Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park

Please consider the Jewish Burial Grove at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park.  Sanctified for Jewish Burial by Rabbi Stephen E. Steindel.

 Time payment plans available.

 Woodland natural burial among our trees.

 Tents and chairs provided for graveside services at no extra cost.

 Located in Verona PA — 13-miles from downtown Pittsburgh.  No burial vaults used.

SEND OBITUARY NOTICES AND REQUESTS FOR MORE INFORMATION TO

A gift from ...

Richard A. Katzive................................................................. Jules Katzive Richard A. Katzive.............................................................. Lillian Katzive Jan & Ed Korenman ....................................................Betty Kuperstock Michael Levin .....................................................Gertrude Shakespeare Amy B. McCoy ......................................................................Malcolm Levy Jean Metzger .....................................................................Ernest Metzger Jean Metzger ..........................................................................Erna Metzger Stanton Moldovan, M.D. ...............................................Leah Moldovan Stanton Moldovan, M.D. ......................................... William Moldovan Ann Notovitz ......................................................................... Mollie Samuel Norman & Judy Orr ........................................................... William D. Orr Rachel Richman .............................................................Hyman Richman Norman S. Rosenfeld ......................................................Max Rosenfeld Ms. Schmeck .......................................................................Charles Bardin Herbert Shapiro .....................................................................Clara Deutch Nancy Smith ........................................................................... Robert Smith Nancy Smith .............................................................................. Irvin Tapper Richard Toker....................................................Eleanor Goldberg Toker Harold C. Weiss .....................................................................Marian Weiss

 Only biodegradable coffins or shrouds allowed.

 No extra fees for Sunday burials.

 We work with all funeral homes.  We honor all Jewish burial practices.

 Currently adding 112 additional grave sites.

Call 412-265-4606 for tour appointments or other information or email Laura@PennForestCemetery.com.

All prices on our website: www.PennForestCemetery.com/pricing.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020 19

Headlines Wolf: Continued from page 1

highlighting trade, security and culture, the group decided, were the three aspects of Israel that would provide the fullest picture of the country that could be represented in three days. They whittled the list of sites and activities down and worked with Pennsylvania government officials to figure out which would be logistically feasible. On the other side, Wolf and his wife got tips for the vacation portion of their trip, getting a tour guide recommendation from PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro, according to Schatz.

The point of such a trip, Butler said, was to impart to the governor the depth of the connection between Pennsylvania and Israel.

“Israel is an important economic partner for Pennsylvania, and meeting with civic, industry and business leaders could help bolster ties between our countries,” Wolf said in a statement. “This trip was also an opportunity to refelct on our existing connections and identify potential new ventures and partnerships that will benefit Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

On Jan. 13, the governor joined up with the Jewish Pennsylvanian team. They spent the morning at Yad Vashem before heading to Mt. Herzl, where the group performed a small ceremony at the grave of Michael Levin, a lone soldier from Philadelphia who was killed during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Later, they traveled to plant a tree at the memorial for the 11 victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, after which Wolf spent the day in government meetings. That evening, all reconvened for a meal with Pennsylvanian lone soldiers, and were joined by chef Michael Solomonov’s father, Mordechai. Michael Solomonov, who owns several restaurants in

Cookbooks: Continued from page 5

from the South Hills were often a continuation of traditions started in Squirrel Hill for a family that moved away from the city.

A North Hills cookbook, however, tells a different story. The archive received a cookbook from the North Hills Community Center before it changed its name to Temple Ohav Shalom.

“One of the things that’s really cool about it is that the North Hills was made up of people who had moved to Pittsburgh. You see that in the cookbook’s introduction where they say that the members of the community were from all over the place and the cookbook was a way for them to get to know each other and share their family traditions,” Lidji said. “There’s very traditional Jewish cooking but there’s also some Sicilian recipes, some Southern recipes.

That’s very different than what you might see in a Hadassah cookbook.”

Lidji will expand the reach of the project by

p The governor with students at Yad B’Yad

Photo by Robin Schatz

“ Gov. Wolf’s visit to Israel brings Pennsylvania’s strong relationship with Israel

”

full circle.

— AMB. DANI DAYAN, CONSUL GENERAL OF ISRAEL Philadelphia, grew up in Pittsburgh.

The following day was largely comprised of private meetings with business and government officials, but the governor and his wife also found time to visit one campus of Yad B’Yad, a network of Israeli schools supported by both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Federations, that seeks to build ties between

Arab and Jewish children; both Arabic and Hebrew are taught, alongside English, and close to 2,000 students are enrolled.

The next day, everyone came together for a Digital Health Summit at Sheba Medical Center, with representatives from the Israel Innovation Authority. That evening, a reception was held in downtown Tel Aviv,

“ One of the things that’s really cool about it is that the North Hills was made up of people who had moved to Pittsburgh. You see that in the cookbook’s introduction where they say that the members of the community were from all over the place and the cookbook was a way for them to get to know each other and share their family

”

traditions.

— ERIC LIDJI

attended by Ambassador Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel.

“Gov. Wolf ’s visit to Israel brings Pennsylvania’s strong relationship with Israel full circle,” Dayan said in a statement.

“Our shared values have paved the way for economic, technological, environmental and humanitarian cooperation. In the aftermath of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue massacre, this visit reminds us that such cooperation will always overcome hatred.”

Sayles and Finkelstein also had the opportunity to address the Jewish community’s security needs with the governor, according to Sayles, and to “thank him for the legislation that has already passed” and “to really let him know that we are so grateful for that work, and we think we can always use a little bit more.”

The following morning, everyone headed for the airport for the long journey home.

“They saw what a vibrant country Israel is,” Schatz said, “with all of its warts — and there are warts there — but they saw the strong bonds between Pennsylvania and Israel, and they had a wonderful time.”

While governors from many states head to Israel for trade missions, they don’t always take along leaders from their Jewish communities, noted Sayles.

“I think it speaks a lot to who he is as a person and to the quality of his administration, that they would be thoughtful enough to reach out to the major Jewish communities in the state and say, ‘We are we are going to the lone Jewish state in the world, and we recognize how strong your connections are there. And please come be a part of this mission,’” Sayles said. “Not every administration would do that, and we’re really grateful.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. sharing a recipe from one of the cookbooks in each of the Rauh’s bimonthly newsletter.

“These documents give you some sense of the life that was lived; it’s a way to preserve the measure of our lived life,” Lidji said of the project. “It gives people the opportunity to return to the roots of their own community, the roots of their own identity and experience.”

The Rauh will collect cookbooks throughout 2020. Anyone can donate — they simply have to reach out to the archive, which will confirm they don’t already have a copy.

For Lidji, it’s the human dimension that gives historical collections meaning.

“When you see a Hadassah cookbook that had the pages coated in case you spilled on them or you see someone took the time to explain a certain aspect of kosher law, or another collection with little quotes from the Torah, you get a much greater appreciation for what life must have been like in these times.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 20 JANUARY 24, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Real Estate FOR SALE

FOR SALE

FOR SALE SHADYSIDE CONDOMINIUM • $739,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVENUE

Spacious two bedroom and den beautiful unit. Spectacular builtins throughout and wonderful in-unit laundry. Pristine and inviting, 24/7 security, guest suite. Most sought after building.

Peters Township: $745,000 • 102 Lariat Dr. Gorgeous 5 bedroom/3.5 bath home with 2 home offices, gym and all the updates you desire. Located on a quiet cul de sac moments from 19 for an easy commute!

Upper St Clair: $705,000 • 1481 Dominion Ct. 5 bedroom/4.5 bath home located in The Dominion. Enjoy this beautifully updated home, plus the convenience of the private swim and tennis club. Minutes to 19, 79 and the T station!

Upper St. Clair: $330,000 4 bedrooms/2.5 baths, updated with finished game room, first floor laundry and a home office. Hitting the market soon!

Upper St. Clair: $1,700,000 Completely custom to be built home on 1.3 acres for the most discerning buyer.

Stop living in someone else’s dream home and create your own private oasis!

Julie Welter REALTOR, SRES, Multi-Million Dollar Producer, President’s Circle Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services 1630 Washington Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15241

O: C: E: F: W:

412-833-5405 412-692-1589 Julie.welter@pittsburghmoves.com www.facebook.com/juliewelterrealestate juliewelter.cbintouch.com

BUYING OR SELLING?

FOR RENT 5125 Fifth Ave.

2 & 3 Bedrooms Corner of Fifth and Wilkins Spacious 1500-2250 square feet

”Finest in Shadyside”

412-661-4456

Contact me today to discuss all of your real estate needs!

www.kaminrealty.kamin.com

MURDOCH FARMS • $925,000 • REDUCED!

Exciting grand stone 7 bedroom, 3.5 bath home with all the amenities. Formal living spaces with hardwood floors. Leaded and stained glass throughout, gourmet kitchen, glass doors from dining room lead to a fabulous patio and two car garage. Bonus of a great third floor that could be used for teenager or nanny suites. Close to universities, hospitals and Schenley Park. In Colfax and Allderdice School District.

SQUIRREL HILL • $950,000

Wonderful 8 bedroom, 4.5 bath home with many amenities.

Expansive new back porch with fabulous view and desired privacy. Enjoy a gourmet kitchen, formal living and dining rooms.

Magnificent woodwork and leaded glass. Truly a home for one who likes character and charm as well as the amenities of today.

SQUIRREL HILL • $1,275,000

For the most discriminating buyer. 6 year young home. With a finished lower level not including the 3 car attached garage 7000+ square feet. 6 bedrooms,4.5 baths. Enjoy a kitchen great room, family room, exercise room. his and hers offices as well as walk in closets. Wonderful yard. 2 retractable awnings Too much to list.

Must see.

DOWNTOWN • $1,150,000

Gateway Towers. Primo Sensational double unit-over 3,000 square feet. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. View of all three rivers. The best unobstructed space and views in Pittsburgh. This is a full service building and PET FRIENDLY. JILL and MARK PORTLAND RE/MAX REALTY BROKERS 412.521.1000 EXT. 200

FIND IT IN THE BUSINESS SERVICES

412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK

Business & Professional Directory AUTOS WANTED 7 2 4 - 2 8 7-7 7 7 1 B U Y I N G VEHICLE$ DENNY OFF$TEIN AUTO $ALE$ CAR$ SUV$ TRUCK$ VAN$

CEMETERY PLOTS Rae Solomon, 412-279-2225 Two plots in Beth El Cemetery

GARDEN & HOME MAINTENANCE

Spruce up your yard/house on a onetime or regular basis. Reliable, references.

Call Scottie 412-310-3769.

AUTOS WANTED Lovely H o u s e k e e p e r, 412-354-1007

ORGANIZE YOUR HOME & OFFICE

Are you drowning in paperwork, but don’t have the time or skill to tackle it? Is your home full of clutter and stuff that creates disharmony? I help overwhelmed families, people in transition, and busy professionals. I can make your home more livable and your office more efficient. CONTACT JODY at 412-759-0778 or allegheny organizing@gmail.com.

AUTOS WANTED

HOUSECLEANING POSITION WANTED Great references available upon request!!

Many years of experience!!

Dedicated & hardworking!!

Please contact Maurine at 412-915-3778 or Catvinklein@gmail.com

THE BEST OF THE h IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX ONCE A WEEK.

Sign up on the right hand side of our homepage. pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 2020

21

Community Magical friendships all winter long

CDS and JAA get together Community Day School seventh graders visited the Jewish Association on Aging to paint and deepen friendships with residents through the JAA’s intergenerational Better Together program.

p Winter Camp at The Friendship Circle centered on a fairy tale theme. With nods to Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, members and friends jumped together at Altimate Air Trampoline Park, enjoyed a visit from Wild World of Animals, tumbled at Gymsport and enjoyed an afternoon tea party, per Alice in Wonderland, as well as a trip to Zone 28.

p Alexander Velazquez and Ezra Rothschild join Anna Handleman in a painting exercise

p Lillian Krescanko and Shayna Valinsky are stars p Friends having fun

u Friendship warms the heart Photos courtesy of The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

22 JANUARY 24, 2020

p Jean Held captures Ben Pinkston’s attention

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos courtesy of Community Day School

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community To Israel with love

What’s happening at Hillel Academy

p The latest participants in Pittsburgh’s Honeymoon Israel program left Pittsburgh International Airport on Jan. 16 for a 10-day journey to Israel. Honeymoon Israel Pittsburgh, supported locally by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, provides immersive trips to Israel for cohorts of couples that have at least one Jewish partner and are early in their committed relationship.

p Middle School and High School boys participated in “Journey Through the Stars,” a program put on by the shlichim and Bnot Sherut, and learned about important people in Israeli culture ranging from sports stars to inventors to rabbis.

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Lunch and Learn

p Leah Herman, right, led a women’s Lunch and Learn at Chabad of Squirrel Hill.

Photo by Kelly Schwimer

p Yehudis Kanal and Kayla Weinberg prepare for the upcoming Pittsburgh Regional Science Fair competition.

Macher and Shaker Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss received the National Jewish Book Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice in Memory of Myra H. Kraft for “How to Fight Anti-Semitism.”

p Yehuda Leibowitz created a miniature sukkah out of building materials.

Photo by Sam Bloom

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos by Rebecca Huff

JANUARY 24, 2020 23

KOSHER MEATS

• All-natural, corn-fed beef — steaks, roasts, ground beef and more • Variety of deli meats and franks • All-natural poultry — whole chickens, breasts, wings and more Available at select Giant Eagle stores.

Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

Alle Kosher 80% Lean Fresh Ground Beef

6

99 lb.

Price effective Thursday, January 23 through Wednesday, January 29, 2020.

Available at 24 JANUARY 24, 2020

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG