January 31, 2020 | 5 Shevat 5780
Candlelighting 5:19 p.m. | Havdalah 6:20 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 5 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL 412x972 unites PIttsburgh, Israel A new initiative connects business communities in both places.
Thinking suburbs: Jewish communities with distinct identities
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Gun policies vary widely among Pittsburgh congregations
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By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
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WORLD Putin skews history
Russian leader politicizes Holocaust.
Volunteers from the South Hills Jewish community prepare items for food pantries on Mitzvah Day, 2017. Photo provided by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
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Chapel? Is it even fair to think of suburban Jewish regions when each is comprised of so many distinct boroughs and townships? iverse, sprawling and growing. While the study didn’t ask individuals According to the 2017 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, commis- and families why they decided to live in the suburbs rather than sioned by the Jewish Squirrel Hill or other Federation of Greater Studying community parts of the city, there is Pittsburgh, 43% of Jewish This is the fifth in a anecdotal evidence that households now call 10-part series, exploring the primary factors were Pittsburgh’s suburban the data of the 2017 good schools and affordcommunities home. That Greater Pittsburgh able housing, according to number represents a 7% Jewish Community Raimy Rubin, the manager increase from Federation’s Study through the of impact measurement last study in 2002. people it represents. for the Federation. Rubin The study counted three is the point person for the distinct suburban regions: community study and has the South Hills, the North Hills (including Fox Chapel) and the “rest been sifting through the survey’s results of region.” The latter category is comprised since it was completed in 2017. South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh Director of the eastern suburban communities and Rob Goodman is quick to emphasize that several other small towns. What does it mean to be a Jew living in the the South Hills dominates the rankings of Pittsburgh suburbs? Does a Jewish family in the best school districts in the Pittsburgh Hampton Township have the same concerns area. He points out that four South Hills as a family in Mt. Lebanon? Are there school districts are featured in the top 10: lessons to be gleaned for the community and Jewish institutions from Monroeville or Fox Please see Study, page 14 By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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Battling for recognition
Dutch resistance hero wants fellow Jewish fighters acknowledged. Page 9
s synagogues and other houses of worship continue to be targeted by violence, many are wrestling with the question of if — and how — they should protect themselves with firearms. For some, there is not a clear answer, as they weigh the disparate views of members who feel unsafe with any gun on the premises against those who feel unsafe without a gun in their own holster. The conversation has taken on some urgency as the number of hate crimes in houses of worship rise. In 2018 — the year three Pittsburgh congregations were attacked in the Tree of Life building — there were 1,550 offenses motivated by religious bias committed in the United States, with about 57.8% of those motivated by anti-Jewish bias according to the FBI. Of those offenses, 15.4% occurred at houses of worship. Since the attack at the Tree of Life building, many local congregations are reexamining their own policies on firearms, with most doing so as part of a larger security evaluation and plan. To help congregations make informed decisions on best practices when it comes to guns, a new 23-page white paper titled “Firearms and the Faithful: Approaches to Armed Security in Jewish Communities,” created by the Secure Community Network, an initiative of The Jewish Federations of North America & the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has been distributed widely to Jewish organizations across the country. The guidelines set forth in the document were developed through consultations with law enforcement officers and security experts. “The main take-away is that if a congregation is going to have individuals who are armed in that congregation, the best case scenario is to have a trained law enforcement Please see Guns, page 20
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