Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 1-31-20 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

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

$1.50

Gun policies vary widely among Pittsburgh congregations

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By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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

WORLD

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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Headlines New initiative to connect Pittsburgh and Israeli businesses — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

al Inbar had never been to Pittsburgh prior to August 2019. Now, not only is the 47-year-old Israeli finding the city to be a home away from home, but he is also poised to help boost the area’s economy in a big way as executive director of the newly launched initiative 412x972. Supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, 412x972 takes its moniker from the telephone area codes of Pittsburgh and Israel. The mission of the initiative is to facilitate relationships between Pittsburgh and Israeli businesses. The Federation had been envisioning an initiative to connect Pittsburgh-area and Israeli businesses for several years, according to Federation president and CEO Jeff Finkelstein, but it took a while to find the right person to take the reins. Inbar was hired as a consultant last August, after the Federation secured funding from a number of foundations to get the project launched. “We want to do this because we think we can help grow the economy in the Pittsburgh region and grow the economy in Israel,” said Finkelstein. “And as a side effect, creating economic ties between corporations and companies in Pittsburgh and Israel is one of the best ways to fight back against the BDS movement.” Although the Federation initially sought someone based in Pittsburgh to lead the initiative, “as we looked, we definitely found the

most qualified person sitting for the initiative rather than the in Israel,” Finkelstein said. “chamber of commerce” model “With all of his experience typically used by other cities in in start-ups and turnaround Israel collaboration initiatives, businesses in Israel, we knew a dialogue was begun and Inbar he was the right guy, despite was soon brought on board. the fact that he had never “It was a great fit and he’s been been to Pittsburgh before he fantastic in this role,” said Rabin. came on his first trip here. He “We’ve basically been connecting is now very connected within him to people in the business Gal Inbar the technology space here p community, the academic Photo provided by Gal Inbar in Pittsburgh.” community, the philanthropic Although the initiative is community, and just exposing under the auspices of the Federation for now, him to Pittsburgh.” it may eventually “spin out into a separate Through his infectious energy and entity,” according to Andy Rabin, chair of the palpable passion, combined with his years of 412x972 steering committee and a former experience in the business world and deep partner at the healthcare software company, connections within the Jewish state, it is not Premier, Inc. Also sitting on the steering surprising that in just five months, Inbar has committee are other prominent Pittsburgh already engaged with 40 companies in Israel business leaders, including Stefani Pashman, and Pittsburgh through 412x972. CEO of the Allegheny Conference of The initiative will be offering two types of Community Development; Ilana Diamond, services, Inbar explained: scouting and busimanaging director of Hardware and ness development. AlphaLab Gear at Innovation Works; and Through it scouting service, 412x972 will David Kalson, chair of the emerging busi- offer Israeli innovation to “middle market ness group at Cohen & Grigsby, P.C. and small companies in Pittsburgh, who Inbar was in Pittsburgh for a two-week stint already have some kind of mechanism to in January, his third in five months. His plan is absorb innovation,” he said. to come here every two months, when he is not “Once they identify the lead that can be working from his home base in Ra’anana, Israel. turned into an opportunity, I start working With a bachelor’s and master’s in indus- with Israeli companies to see if they have the trial engineering, a decade of experience product they are promising, that they are in turning around privately owned, middle ready to deliver it and I start bringing informarket Israeli companies, and creating mation to the Pittsburgh company.” his own collaborative robotics company If the Israeli company does not yet have a — which he recently sold to his partner — U.S. presence, Inbar can help structure a deal Inbar was looking for his next challenge between the parties. when a friend told him about the Pittsburgh In terms of business development, Inbar position. After presenting his ideas to the can help a seller who has “a great technology Federation about creating a for-profit model or a great product to offer” find clients in the

other locale who might have an interest in that technology or product. He has already introduced executives from Carnegie Robotics to people in Israel, including “homeland security entities,” who might be interested in exploring and integrating technology for vision and space perception for robots into their own products. Expanding sales of products to Israel could also help a U.S. company interest investors who see that it “has international sales capacity and has developed global distribution,” Inbar said. “Suddenly, in terms of valuation, once you demonstrate as a start-up that you can do business internationally your valuation goes up a few steps.” One of the reasons 412x972 is developing so quickly, Inbar said, is “the wonderful steering committee they built for this initiative,” which has helped open doors for him in Pittsburgh with local decision-makers. “I’m very well networked in Israel,” he said. “Currently, I can say very confidently to people in Israel if I understand who you are looking to do business with, I can find the person in Pittsburgh you need to meet. This is not less than amazing.” Inbar served in the IDF and is currently on reserve duty with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is the father of two sons, ages 18 and 15. His wife is an engineer working for a global biotech company. “This is very exciting and we feel like we’re creating something new and innovative,” Rabin said. “The response from the business community across the board has been very supportive. All of this is really headed in the right direction.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines JFCS among groups to receive arts grants from Heinz Endowments

— LOCAL —

he Heinz Endowments has announced the first cohort of grant recipients for its new Just Arts program, an initiative that supports artists, organizations and communities who use the arts “to respond to social issues affecting the Pittsburgh region and beyond,” according to a press release. Six projects will receive grants totaling $434,750. Jewish Family and Community Services will receive $30,250 for its project “Something Old, Something New.” Led by artist Blaine Siegel, the project matches five recently arrived refugee families from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with five local Pittsburgh artists or artisans to create artwork for the refugees’ homes. Another project, “Visualizing Inequality,” led by Brian Cohen, a photographer and

member of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, will receive $50,000. That Hazelwood-based project, under the auspices of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, will explore the “structural origins and experiences of inequality in American society, and encourage empathetic engagement” through photography and community storytelling. “Just Arts builds on a rich tradition of truth-telling in the creative community,” said Endowments President Grant Oliphant in a statement. “The projects chosen for this inaugural Just Arts cohort will represent underheard voices, spark discussion, and propose solutions to social justice challenges in our region and beyond. We’re grateful to both the artists and their partner organizations for the energy they bring to tackling these issues, and excited to see their creativity unfurl as these projects come to life.” PJC — Toby Tabachnick

Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation opens new headquarters/gallery in Pittsburgh — LOCAL —

he Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation has announced its new location at the Ice House Studios (100 43rd St., Unit 114, Lawrenceville). Artworks by Pittsburgh-based Jewish artist Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918-2011) will be exhibited. The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation was established in 2000 to support and promote the artwork of Gruber “and to engage Pittsburgh-based and regional artists and initiatives connected to photography, sculpture and painting,” according to a press release. The Foundation’s new headquarters and gallery will be a space to accomplish that mission through “exhibitions, programming and interactions with audiences and art world professionals locally,

nationally and internationally.” On view at the Foundation at its inaugural exhibition, which opened Jan. 24, are nearly a hundred works by Gruber and materials from her studio, covering primarily the 1960s-1980s period of Gruber’s practice. The exhibit includes a range of the artist’s sculptures, abstract expressionist paintings, wearable sculptural accessories and photographs. An outdoor installation of 10 largescale solid steel and aluminum sculptures, which the artist crafted in conjunction with American Forge & Manufacturing Co., McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, is also onsite. The gallery will be accessible by appointment and during periodic open studio dates, with rotating exhibitions and projects. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Philip Chosky Performing Arts Program JCC Richard E. Rauh Senior High Musical 2020 Directed by Jill Machen

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Headlines Peduto speaks about mass shootings at Conference of Mayors

— LOCAL —

ayor William Peduto traveled to Washington, D.C., for the 88th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and joined nine other mayors on Jan. 24 for a panel called “Lessons Learned: Preventing, Preparing for, and Responding to Mass Shootings.” During the one-hour session, Peduto talked about the aftermath of the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life building, and offered listeners a four-part plan should

future mass shootings occur. “You are in charge. No matter what the rank of the people around you, no matter who they represent ... you are in charge,” said Peduto. Secondly, “you are the communicator. You can either profess hate against hate and get nowhere and divide your community, or you can try to find light and start to talk about peace and love and the ways we work together in your own community and start to heal that wound.” Third, “empower individuals and organizations.” For example, if children want to have a candlelight vigil, but the police chief doesn’t believe it’s safe,

“work to make it safe, don’t say no. Allow the community to have its feelings.” Finally, “prioritize. As soon as the incident happens, determine what is most important to you. So with our situation, because it was a hate crime, it immediately was the victims, it was those who were wounded, it was the Jewish community and then it was the community at large. In knowing that order, decisions being made went through that funnel, and it makes it a lot easier when there’s different points of views of knowing what your priorities are.” Even with a plan in place, unforeseen issues will arise, continued Peduto: “Things will come

at you from every single direction every single hour.” Delegating to those capable is critical, he added: “Have good people around you.” Joining Peduto on the panel were Mayors Nan Whaley of Dayton, Ohio; Gavin Buckley of Annapolis, Maryland; Buddy Dyer of Orlando, Florida; Andy Berke of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Steven Fulop of Jersey City, New Jersey; Christine Hunschofsky of Parkland, Florida; Sam Liccardo of San Jose, California; and Dee Margo of El Paso, Texas. Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago moderated. PJC — Adam Reinherz

Controversy-plagued ‘Jewish Nobel’ cuts ties with Netanyahu’s office — WORLD — By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

he Israeli Prime Minister’s Office will no longer be involved with awarding the annual Genesis Prize, nicknamed the “Jewish Nobel,” in order to keep the honor from being seen as political. The prize was founded in 2013 as a partnership of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Genesis Prize Foundation and the Jewish Agency for Israel. But on Monday, the three entities announced that the Prime Minister’s

Office was leaving the partnership. “[D]espite the efforts of the partners to create a non-political award that unites the Jewish people, some have incorrectly interpreted the participation of the Office of the Prime Minister in the Genesis Prize as bringing a political dimension to this important initiative,” their joint statement read. “This is the opposite of what the founders of the Prize intended.” The change comes a month after it was announced that Natan Sharansky, the former Israeli politician and prominent leader of the Soviet Jewry emigration movement, would receive the 2020 prize. In November, Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu was charged in three corruption cases, marking the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been indicted. In 2018, the Genesis Prize Foundation canceled its ceremony in Jerusalem after the winner, Israel-born actress Natalie Portman, said she would not come to Israel for the ceremony. Portman later said that she made the decision because she “did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu.” In 2019, the award was in the news again when Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner and philanthropist, was chosen as the honoree. Just a month after receiving the award, Kraft was charged with soliciting a

prostitute in a case that is ongoing. A member of the prize’s advisory board resigned in protest after it decided to move forward with giving Kraft the award. The Genesis Prize, which is financed through a permanent $100 million endowment, gives $1 million to prominent Jews “for their professional accomplishments, commitment to Jewish values, and contribution to improving the world.” It was founded by a team that included three Russian-Jewish businessmen — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan. Past recipients include former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, violinist Yitzhak Perlman and actor Michael Douglas. PJC

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Calendar bag lunch. 1620 Murray Ave. RSVP by Jan. 31 to Meredith Brown at mbrown@ncjwpgh.org, Judy Cohen at jcohen@jwfpgh.org, or Rachel Gleitman at rgleitman@jfedpgh.org.  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.  FRIDAY, FEB. 14 Temple Sinai 3rd Annual Folk Shabbat. 5:45 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. service. Featuring the music of: Peter, Paul & Mary, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, Cat Stevens … and more! $18 (13+)/$10 (4–12)/Free (0–3). To register for dinner: TempleSinaiPGH. org/events/FolkShabbat Sponsored by Brotherhood.Dinner featuring Dishes from the Torah (Israeli/Mediterranean) >>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.  FRIDAY, JAN. 31 Put on your finest flapper dress and celebrate the decade with a throwback to last century’s 1920s at Moishe House’s Roaring Twenties Shabbat. A vegetarian dinner will be provided. Message a resident for the address. facebook.com/ events/2537242869706899  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.  MONDAY, FEB. 3 Beth El Congregation hosts First Mondays with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum, its monthly lunch program, this month featuring Abby Mendelson. Mendelson will present “Jewish Hollywood: Then and Now.” Mendelson has written 13 nonfiction books and teaches at Point Park and Chatham universities. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the program starts at noon. 1900 Cochran Road. $6. For more information and to register, visit bethelcong.org/events/firstmondays-abbymendelson.  TUESDAY, FEB. 4 Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Women’s Foundation presents Creating a More Equitably Shared Society in Israel Through Education featuring Sarah Kreimer, directory of external relations and resources development at Beit Berl College. 12 p.m. Drinks & dessert provided please bring your own

JANUARY 31, 2020

 THURSDAYS, FEB. 6, MARCH 5, APRIL 2, MAY 7, JUNE 4 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.  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 Celebrate Tu B’Shevat with PJ Library and Repair the World at 10 a.m. Enjoy a birthday party for the trees with fun tree-themed crafts, games and stories; plus the usual birthday party fun. Attendees will also fill bags for Beverly’s Birthdays. The event is free, but you can sponsor a Birthday Bag with a suggested donation of $10. JCC Squirrel Hill. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/yad-tubshevat-2020. Temple Emanuel of South Hills presents Bagel Bites, a monthly brunch and speaker program. This month’s guest speaker 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 noon 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 to Ira Frank at natfabira@juno.com. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming.

 SUNDAY, FEB. 23 New Light Congregation presents Sing a New Light featuring Yale University’s a capella group Magevet. The concert begins at 1 p.m. at the Squirrel Hill JCC. $10 suggested donation. To RSVP, visit eventbrite/e/88441877035.  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  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.  SUNDAY, FEB. 16 Author Julie Orringer discusses her book “The Flight Portfolio” beginning at 10 a.m. as part 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., retired psychiatrist; Gary S. Sorock, Ph.D., RN, retired epidemiologist and psychiatric nurse; Gary S. Sorock, Ph.D., RN, retired epidemiologist and psychiatric nurse. 10 a.m. Light refreshments Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave. RSVP: caringcommittee@rodefshalom.org Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for a tour of Eleventh Hour Brewing, 3711 Charlotte St. 2 p.m. Pay your own way upon arrival. jewishpgh.org/event/young-adultbrewery-club-at-11th-hour-brewing

of faith in free institutions, and discuss America’s role in moving beyond the current crisis of faith. Noon. Omni William Penn Hotel. To register, visit eventbrite.com/e/the-decline-in-global-freedomtickets-89065395997.  WEDNESDAY, FEB. 19 Chabad of the South Hills presents its monthly senior lunch at noon. Enjoy a delicious lunch and the presentation “7 Steps to a Healthier Heart.” Wheelchair accessible. $5 suggested donation. 1701 McFarland Road. chabadsh.com The Squirrel Hill AARP chapter will hold its monthly meeting at 1 p.m. at Rodef Shalom, 4905 5th Ave. The guest speaker will be Michael Dunn, director of social services at Lifespan. Please note, should the Pittsburgh public schools be closed due to weather conditions the AARP meeting will be canceled, check your TV and radio stations before leaving home. For more information, contact Marsha at 412-731-3338.  FRIDAY, FEB. 21 & SATURDAY, FEB. 22 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.  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 Feb. 20, $30 at the door. Registration: 7:45 p.m., trivia: 8:15 p.m. 5915 Beacon St. bethshalompgh.org/events-upcoming  WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26

The original exhibit “For You Were Strangers” at Join Classrooms Without Borders and the Jewish the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh dives into the Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for an Open House  SUNDAYS, FEB. 16, 23; MARCH 8, 15, 22, 29 history of Jewish immigrants in Pittsburgh, noting for the Momentum Women’s Trip to Israel at the upheavals that drove Jewish immigration, 7 p.m. The trip will take place Oct. 19-26. Open to From vaudeville and Yiddish theatre to Broadway changing U.S. policies in the 19th and 20th mothers with at least one child under 18. Held at a and improv, the Jewish people enjoy and kvell at centuries, and the local attitudes and institutions private residence. For more information, email Emily comedy that makes us laugh and enjoy the lighter that were implemented as these immigrants and Richman at ERichman@jfedpgh.org or Chani Altein side of the world. Improv Class at Rodef Shalom refugees came to form the basis of our society at caltein@chabadpgh.com. is your chance to take the stage, have fun with today. Exhibit opening at 11 a.m. 826 Hazelwood friends, and laugh along the way. Sign up for this Ave. Free. To register, visit hcofpgh.org/events. NEW LIGHT CONGREGATION • 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 • info@singanewlight.org • 646.450.71  FRIDAY, FEB. 28 & SATURDAY, FEB. 29 free, light-hearted improv class today for anyone 21 and over. No previous experience necessary. 1 p.m. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Temple Emanuel of South Hills welcomes Rabbi Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave. RSVP: Emily Harris, Young Adult Division’s Fitness Club is kicking off Menachem Creditor for their annual Sajowitz emilyharris.storymaker@gmail.com with a class at Orange Theory, 5841 Penn Ave. The Weekend. Rabbi Creditor will deliver a D’var Torah class is limited to 39 participants. All participants on Friday followed by an after-service dinner  TUESDAY, FEB. 18 must review the Orange Theory Rules and Policies lecture about the uses and abuses of power in the and complete their Client Intake Form prior to the Jewish community. On Saturday he will discuss gun Join the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh for The event. 2:15-4 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/yad-fitnessviolence and the Jewish community and LGBTQ+ Decline in Global Freedom, a luncheon discussion orange-theory issues in the Jewish community. Free. 1250 Bower with Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom Hill Road. For more information and to register, visit House, a non-partisan voice dedicated to promoting templeemanuelpgh.org/event/sef2020. PJC democracy. Abramowitz will describe the current state of democracy, explain why we face an erosion

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Headlines tweeted his condolences to Bryant’s family for the “tragedy,” calling him “one of the greatest basketball players in history.” Foreign Minister Israel Katz also tweeted condolences from Israel “to his family and the NBA family.”

— WORLD — From JTA reports

Amar’e Stoudemire wipes away tears upon hearing of Kobe Bryant’s death

Former NBA standout Amar’e Stoudemire wiped away tears during a game in Israel upon hearing of the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash. Stoudemire was playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Tel Aviv on Sunday when the news broke at the game of the accident in Southern California. “I don’t know what to say, man,” Stoudemire said. “I’m shocked, bro. I don’t know what to say. I don’t even want to believe it.” Stoudemire played against Bryant, an 18-time All-Star who played for the Los Angeles Lakers for his entire 20-year career. His Suns and the Lakers clashed in the 2007-’08 playoffs. Fans at the Tel Aviv arena stood and applauded in tribute to Bryant, the fourthleading scorer in NBA history, when news of his death was announced. Omri Casspi, who also played against Bryant during a decade in the NBA and now is a teammate of Stoudemire’s in Tel Aviv, tweeted simply “speechless.” Fans around the world mourned the death of Bryant, a Pennsylvania native and fivetime world champion who won the Most Valuable Player award in 2008. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Jewish-led group wins 2020 Grammy for best alternative album

The 2020 Grammys were overshadowed by the tragic news of the deaths of Kobe Bryant and eight others — including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna — in a helicopter crash earlier on Sunday. But despite the somber mood, the show went on. The Jewish highlight came when Vampire Weekend, led by Jewish rocker Ezra Koenig, won best alternative album of the year. Koenig explored themes of Jewish identity on the album, “Father of the Bride.” Two of the music videos promoting tracks on the record were pretty Jewy, too — one was set in Jewish New York delis (and featured a Jerry Seinfeld cameo) and another included a Passover seder. The Jewish singer Danielle Haim, of the band Haim, also was heavily featured on an album produced in large part by Ariel Rechtshaid, who has Israeli parents. “Thank you. That’s it. Really. Thank you — and everybody else that’s not with us,” Koenig said in accepting the award. In his customary aggressively casual pattern, he wore sandals with socks. Vampire Weekend’s previous album, “Modern Vampires of the City,” won best alternative album in 2013.

“Thank you so much for the generous gift towards my housing and utilities. I really appreciate you taking the time to hear my story. Thank you for believing in me.” — JAF Grant Recipient

Jewish children’s books receive gold medal awards

A picture book about the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center and a debut graphic novel of a gripping Holocaust story are among the gold medal winners of this year’s Sydney Taylor Book Awards for Jewish children’s books. Leslea Newman, the author of 70 books, including many Jewish titles, was recognized with the body of work award. The top awards handed out by the Association of Jewish Libraries were announced Monday at the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in Philadelphia as part of the latter association’s Youth Media Awards. The Sydney Taylor awards recognize books with “high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.” “The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come,” by Sue Macy and illustrated by Stacy Innerst, won in the picture book category. The biography traces Aaron Lansky’s unlikely path to rescuing Yiddish language books and helping to keep alive Yiddish culture. J. Palacio’s debut graphic novel, “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” took the top honor for middle grade readers. It is based on characters from Palacio’s bestselling “Wonder” series of books that have been made into a film. Newman, whose new picture book, “Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story,” illustrated by Amy June Bates, won this year’s

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An upstate New York woman has been charged with a hate crime for throwing pieces of pork at a local synagogue. Tara Rios, 47, of Hudson, was arraigned in Livingston Town Court on Saturday and charged with first-degree harassment as a hate crime, according to local reports. Rios went to Congregation Anshe Emeth in Greenport on Jan. 19 and threw a package of pork chops on its front steps, CBS 6 Albany reported. She returned to the synagogue at 3 a.m. to photograph her actions, police said. She was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled to return to court on Monday. “These acts caused the membership of Congregation Anshe Emeth to be in reasonable fear of further anti-Semitic acts which could result in physical injury,” according to the criminal complaint filed by state police, Columbia-Greene Media reported. PJC

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Sydney Taylor silver medal and also garnered the recently announced 2019 National Jewish Book Award in children’s literature. Her trailblazing book “Heather Has Two Mommies” remains in print after 30 years. Fourteen honor and notable book winners were named as well on Monday. The winners will receive their awards, which are named for the author of the “All-ofa-Kind Family” series, at the American Library Association’s annual conference in June in Evanston, Illinois.

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Headlines Putin skews Holocaust history at global Auschwitz commemoration event in Jerusalem — WORLD — By Sam Sokol | JTA

ussian President Vladimir Putin’s prime speaking slot at a Holocaust commemoration event was generating controversy even before the longtime leader took the podium. His remarks at the event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army has done little to quell it. Speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, Putin claimed that 40% of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were citizens of the Soviet Union. Historians called the claim absurd. “It’s completely false,” Jan Grabowski, a historian at the University of Ottawa, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview. Jelena Subotic, a professor of political science at Georgia State University and the author of “Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance After Communism,” called Putin’s claim “ridiculous and not based on historical fact,” noting the “consensus” among historians is that about 1 million of the 6 million Jews murdered were from the Soviet Union. In recent months, Putin has engaged in a war over Holocaust complicity with Poland, whose president, Andrzej Duda, declined to attend the Jerusalem event this week because he was denied a speaking slot. Putin has accused Poland of cooperating with Germany in 1938, while Duda has charged Russia with downplaying its own role in invading the Eastern European nation in cooperation with the Nazis the following year. “I think this number could — and maybe should — be seen as part of the ongoing memory war between Poland and Russia,” said Havi Dreifuss, a historian at Tel Aviv University. More than 40 foreign leaders attended the event, which was organized by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Yad Vashem and the Israeli Foreign Ministry in conjunction with European Jewish Congress head Moshe Kantor. Putin’s invitation to speak, and Duda’s lack of one, was seen by some as a sign that Israel was allowing itself to be dragged into the ongoing conflict in Eastern and Central Europe over the legacy of the war. (An Israeli official said Wednesday that Duda was offered “some kind of platform to speak” if he attended.) “This is realpolitik, it has unfortunately nothing to do with morality,” Grabowski said. “The memory of the Holocaust has been used and abused by the Israeli government just as it is by the Polish or Hungarian governments.” Experts say the increasingly vitriolic, and often ahistorical, claims about the past are driven by the politics of the moment. Russia, facing crippling Western sanctions for its aggression against Ukraine and other international misdeeds, is said to be milking

8 JANUARY 31, 2020

p Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 via JTA.org

Speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, Putin claimed that 40% of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were citizens of the Soviet Union. Historians called the claim absurd. the moral capital it has as the liberator of Auschwitz to portray itself as being on the right side of history. Its neighbors, meanwhile, fearing a resurgent Russia and coping with their own newly assertive nationalist movements, are refusing to let Russia burnish its own history unchallenged. Many former communist countries, searching for unifying national identities after decades of communist rule, have also looked to the Holocaust period for legitimizing narratives, in the process often whitewashing their own histories and raising up nationalist figures who often collaborated with the Nazis as they resisted Soviet rule. Putin’s remarks stood in stark contrast to

Germany, whose president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, not only acknowledged the country’s responsibility for Holocaust atrocities in his Yad Vashem speech but detailed the ways Germany is failing to heed the lessons of the past. “I stand before you, grateful for this miracle of reconciliation, and I wish I could say that our remembrance has made us immune to evil,” Steinmeier said. “Yes, we Germans remember. But sometimes it seems as though we understand the past better than the present. The spirits of evil are emerging in a new guise, presenting their anti-Semitic, racist, authoritarian thinking as an answer for the future, a new solution to the problems of our age.

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“I wish I could say that we Germans have learned from history once and for all. But I cannot say that when hatred is spreading.” Addressing the gathered world leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for the Allied war to defeat Nazi Germany, even as he claimed the world had “largely” abandoned the Jews during the Holocaust. Noting that the lesson of Auschwitz was “always to take seriously the threats of those who seek our destruction,” Netanyahu pointed to a current political concern he believes the world is failing to address. “I am concerned that we have yet to see a unified and resolute stance against the most anti-Semitic regime on the planet – a regime that openly seeks to develop nuclear weapons and annihilate the one and only Jewish state,” Netanyahu said, referencing Iran. Netanyahu has railed for years against the efforts by the United States and other leading global powers to strike a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. In 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement signed three years earlier. “Israel salutes President Trump and Vice President Pence for confronting the tyrants of Tehran that subjugate their own people, and threaten the peace and security of the entire world,” Netanyahu said. “They threaten the peace and security of everyone in the Middle East and everyone beyond. I call on all governments to join the vital effort of confronting Iran.” PJC

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Headlines At 97, a Dutch resistance hero wants to give fellow Jewish fighters overdue recognition — WORLD — By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

hortly after her capture by the Nazis in 1944, Dutch resistance fighter Selma van de Perre was transferred from a regular prison to the worst concentration camp in the Netherlands. Van de Perre arrived at the infamous Camp Vught about five months after its commander, Adam Grunewald, had killed 10 women by cramming them and 64 other inmates into an unventilated, 100-squarefeet cell for 14 hours. Along with the rest of the country, she had heard about what is still known here as the “bunker atrocity.” Yet van de Perre was “pretty content” to arrive at the camp, as the 97-year-old survivor recalled recently at a lecture at the National Holocaust Museum of the Netherlands. The museum, which opened in 2017, is part of a group of five Jewish institutions in the Dutch capital known as the Jewish Cultural Quarter. Though van de Perre is Jewish, the resistance had given her a false identity. Passing for Aryan was the only thing that kept her from the gas chamber.

Van de Perre’s remarkable survival story is told in her first book, which is being published this month in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Europe’s liberation from the Nazis. The book also aims to give belated acknowledgment to the largely ignored contributions to the resistance of Dutch Jews, who are widely seen has having been hapless victims of the Nazis rather than vital partners in the fight against them. “In reality, countless Jews worked with non-Jews together in the resistance – much more than we knew during the war,” van de Perre writes in the book. “Often, it was assumed that Jews who escaped deportation immediately went into hiding but that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t in the interest of Jews to be identified as such. This explains to a large degree why so few Jews had been recognized for their actions.” Frail but quick-witted, van de Perre is one of just a handful of Dutch resistance fighters still alive. Though resistance leaders knew she was Jewish, her fellow fighters were never told. After the war, a climate of anti-Semitism also helped further marginalize the Jewish role. That lack of knowledge was evident in June: A right-wing Dutch senator, Toine Beukering, caused a scandal when he said that he could not understand why “the Jews,

p Selma van de Perre signs her book at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Jan. 9, 2020. Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz via JTA.org

such a courageous and combative people, were driven to the gas chambers just like meek little lambs.” Beukering apologized following an outcry by Dutch Jews, but his view is a prevalent one, according to David Barnouw, a former

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researcher at the Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Though there are no concrete numbers about the participation of Jews in organized

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Headlines Resistance: Continued from page 9

resistance activities, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the actual number is higher than what was believed for decades after World War II,â&#x20AC;? Barnouw told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. In fact, one of the Netherlandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bestknown war heroes was Jewish: George Maduro, who was killed at the Dachau concentration camp after the Nazis caught him smuggling downed British pilots back home. In 1952, his parents built the miniature city of Madurodam, one of Hollandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s must-see tourist attractions, in his memory. Last year, a novelist wrote a bestseller based on the previously unknown story of two Jewish sisters who operated a resistance safe house right under the nose of the Nazi occupation. The debate about Jewish resistance in the Netherlands is of enduring significance because the country spawned one of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most formidable anti-Nazi networks. The Netherlands saw the first public act of mass insubordination over the fate of the Jews in the 1941 February Strike. It also has the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second-highest number of people recognized by Israel for having risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. But the Netherlands also had the highest death rate among Jews in Nazi-occupied Western Europe, a figure reached in no small part due to the collaboration of local â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jew hunters,â&#x20AC;? who were paid for each Jew they delivered to the Nazis. In her book, an English

version of which is due to be published in September, van de Perre describes the fear of being recognized by one of them on the street. Van de Perre joined the resistance at the age of 20. Posing as a nurse to avoid deportation, she arranged a safe house for herself, her mother and 15-year-old sister. Her father was sent to a concentration camp, where he was killed. But her mother and sister were safe for a while, allowing her to devote her attention to fighting the Germans. Eventually her mother and sister also were deported and killed. Van de Perre herself was sent from Vught to the Ravensbruck camp in Germany, where she survived until the camp was liberated by the Soviets. Prior to her arrest, van de Perre aided the Nazi fighters by traveling across the Netherlands to distribute resistance newspapers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It only vaguely occurred to me at the time, but a young girl traveling along with a large suitcase was actually a pretty conspicuous figure,â&#x20AC;? she said in her lecture. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure how I made it. It was just a series of close escapes.â&#x20AC;? Being in the resistance â&#x20AC;&#x153;maybe sounds scary and dangerous, and it is, but it also gets mundane,â&#x20AC;? she said. Still, a few missions stood out. On one occasion, van de Perre had to infiltrate the German headquarters in Paris to deliver an envelope to a resistance spy and return some correspondence he would give her. She was told it was vital to the rescue of captured fighters being held in France. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I decided to flirt with the soldiers at the

SAFEGUARDING YOUR PRESENT & FUTURE

p The Madurodam is a miniature park and tourist attraction in The Hague built by the parents of George Maduro, a Jewish war hero in the Netherlands who was killed in the Dachau concentration camp. Photo by Paulo Amorim/VW Pics/Universal Images Group

via Getty Images via JTA.org

entrance, creating the impression I needed to deliver something to a relative, a brother perhaps, but at the same time enjoyed being the center of attention for a few young men,â&#x20AC;? she recalled. After a few minutes, van de Perre felt the soldiers had gotten used to her presence, so she asked them to summon her contact. When he arrived, they exchanged the illegal correspondence â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with the soldiers looking on. Van de Perre gave them a flirtatious wave and said she â&#x20AC;&#x153;got out of there as fast as I could without appearing to run.â&#x20AC;? During another mission, she made out with a German officer and stole documents

This week in Israeli history â&#x20AC;&#x201D; WORLD â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

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10â&#x20AC;&#x192;JANUARY 31, 2020

from him to help the resistance forge Nazi papers they could use to infiltrate bases where their fighters were being kept. Van de Perreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two older brothers survived the war in the United Kingdom, where she moved, too, starting a family and working as a journalist. Asked to articulate a piece of advice for younger listeners, she said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to recommend tolerance. But not necessarily in the political sense. Try to be tolerant of people around you. People in your life. Avoid fights. Fights become conflicts and conflicts become wars. Try to be nice. Love is all that matters in the end.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC

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

Jan. 31, 1922 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Hebrew â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dybbukâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opens in Moscow

The Hebrew version of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds,â&#x20AC;? the story of a young woman who is possessed by a malicious spirit, begins its successful stage run at Moscowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Habimah Theater.

Feb. 1, 1885 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peretz Smolenskin dies

Peretz Smolenskin, a novelist of Russian Jewish life, founder and editor of the influential Hebrew journal HaShachar (The Dawn), and advocate of immigration to Palestine, dies of tuberculosis at 43.

Feb. 2, 1965 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sale of Waqf property approved

The Knesset revises the Absenteesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Property Law to allow the government to take over and use property that is considered abandoned and is held in a waqf, an endowment created under Islamic law.

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Feb. 3, 1980 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Actress Hanna Rovina dies

Hanna Rovina, eulogized as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the high priestess of the Hebrew theater,â&#x20AC;? dies in Raâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;anana at 91. She gave up teaching Hebrew to become an actress in 1918 with the theater company that became Habimah.

Feb. 4, 1997 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Helicopter collision kills 73

Two CH-53 Yasur military helicopters collide in the middle of the night over northern Israel while ferrying troops and munitions to southern Lebanon, killing all 73 military personnel on board.

Feb. 5, 1879 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Engineer Pinhas Rutenberg born

Engineer Pinhas Rutenberg is born in present-day Ukraine. He moves to Palestine in 1919 and builds out the electrical grid, first powered with diesel generators, then with hydroelectric plants of his design.

Feb. 6, 1951 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 9 killed in raid on Arab village

Israeli soldiers launch an overnight raid on the village of Sharafat, the home to about 200 Arabs just south of Jerusalem, in retaliation for a deadly Arab raid into Israel. Nine villagers, including five children, are killed.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC

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JANUARY 31, 2020 11

Opinion The YIVO budget shortfall — EDITORIAL —

strong argument can be made that the center of the Yiddish world is on West 16th Street in New York City. That’s where YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is located. It is one of the jewels of the Jewish world, with some 23 million items. Its library has nearly 400,000 volumes and contains the largest collection of Yiddish-language books, pamphlets and newspapers in the world. Last week, after YIVO laid off its entire library staff to plug a budget shortfall, the institution reminded us that there’s more to a library than its books. YIVO was founded in Vilna, Poland, in 1925, as the Yiddish

Scientific Institute. During World War II, the Nazis plundered YIVO, looking for works to place in their planned “Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question.” Everything else was to be shredded. According to the history on YIVO’s website: “The Jews assigned by the Nazis to sort through the archival and library materials risked their lives to hide rare artifacts. Calling themselves ‘the Paper Brigade,’ they smuggled books and papers to hiding places in the Jewish ghetto and the homes of friendly non-Jews. They concealed documents under floorboards and in walls and buried them in secret underground bunkers.” The end of the Holocaust led to YIVO making a permanent move to New York. Given so much heroism in its history,

and so much risked to build its singular library, the layoffs are deeply troubling, and prompted some 700 scholars, students and former employees to write to the YIVO board, in English and Yiddish, seeking to have the librarians reinstated. “Given YIVO’s commitment to Yiddish Studies scholarship and to the history of Eastern European Jews, it is disheartening that a full-time library staff is not one of YIVO’s main priorities, budgetary concerns notwithstanding.” While YIVO hasn’t made clear exactly why it faced the budget shortfall, it appears that it is suffering not from a lack of funds or a lack of interest in Yiddish but from a trend in philanthropy that limits use of contributed dollars. According to YIVO’s social media

post: “In 2019, YIVO experienced a shortfall of $550,000 in our projected unrestricted operating revenue.” Unrestricted donations allow an institution to spend money as it deems necessary — be it on computers, new furniture or librarians’ salaries. But increasingly, donors direct their money to what they are most passionate about and where it will best reflect their values. Nonprofits encourage such directed giving as a way to increase donor loyalty, and the YIVO librarians may be a casualty of that trend. We hope that YIVO succeeds in raising necessary funds to reinstate its librarians and fund its ongoing operations, as it would be a shame to lose the very valuable, historic YIVO library collection. PJC

Heschel. This position also unfortunately lends to Jewish targeting, scapegoating and, in its most heinous form, systematic extermination. Given this participant-observer status, Jewish existence has never been easy. Jewish otherness is also embodied through public modes of identification. There are many forms this might take, including circumcising sons, putting mezuzahs on doors, donning tzitzes or wearing a yarmulke. Such tangible reminders of our apartness function as more than mere tribal vestiges. They serve a powerful social justice agenda. Consider the lip-service around fighting privilege, particularly from liberal Jewish circles: Is there any better way to battle structural inequality and to show solidarity with marginalized allies (and Jews) who do not have the opportunity to take their “yarmulke off ” than to wear one? There are other ways to embrace Jewish identity. Learn Hebrew, eat kosher foods, study the Torah. Greet in the quintessential Jewish manner. Next time you encounter a landsman,

give them a hearty shalom alecheim and reciprocate with alecheim shalom. Our elders instructed us to not remove ourselves from our community, so attend a Shabbat dinner, join a synagogue, give to Jewish charities, support Israel. Perhaps most importantly, live the ethically mandated lives Jews are commanded to. Don’t only look different — act different. Fight for the oppressed. Give charity. Be righteous in business dealing. Honor your parents. Treat animals kindly. Love your neighbor as yourself. Pursue justice. The list goes on and on (there are 613 commandments, to be precise) and as the prophet Isiah reminds us, such righteous conduct offers an opportunity to be a light unto the nations and likely the greatest antidote to anti-Semitism. As the Jewish sage Hillel once said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?” PJC

The poet reminds us that there have been “logical lunatics,” the “lunatic of one idea/ in a world of ideas who would have all the people/ live, work, suffer and die in that idea/in a world of ideas.” Stevens could not have imagined how vast the world of ideas has become, how social networks bring those worlds into our homes in a torrent of assorted meanings. Our task is to examine them, think about them, and talk about them with our families and our friends before deciding what’s meaningful from all the voices literally at our fingertips, then including them in our own ideas. They may even convince us to discard some of our older thoughts in favor of these newer ones. We have to avoid being tone deaf, to listen and examine their merit before accepting or rejecting them. In our own Jewish community there are many voices, which some of us tend to categorize as coming from the left or the right. Among us there are those who listen closely to AIPAC, shutting our ears and minds to

dissenters; others hear J Street, accepting that “one meaning alone.” Equally selective hearing often applies to news about Israeli politics and our attitudes towards that country’s leadership. We should try harder to hear each other, to really listen and consider the words. To our credit, unlike some Jewish communities, we do hear and respect the varied voices practicing Judaism in ways different from our own. We also listen with gratitude to the other faith communities who have supported us through a terrible time and continue to do so against the rising scourge of anti-Semitism. In many heartening ways we’ve grown past the narrowness of hearing “only ... one meaning alone.” Our continuing focus must be on that same thoughtfulness as we listen to news media, the social networks, and voices filling our daily encounters. PJC

Beyond solidarity marches Guest Columnist Geoffrey Neimark

or secular American Jews, anti-Semitism, until recently, was little more than a historical artifact. Informed primarily by black and white films on the History Channel, textbook images of Leo Frank’s lynching in Georgia and stories of bloody pogroms in the old country, it seemed long ago and far away. In the past two years that has changed dramatically. Our nation has witnessed Jews slaughtered in a Pittsburgh synagogue and stabbed in a rabbi’s home in New York. From Jersey City to Poway, Jews have been deliberately targeted and attacked. Many anti-Semitic incidents, though far more mundane, are no less disturbing — they typically involve religious Jews being assaulted and at times demeaned by their neighbors.

One of the most Jewish cities in the world, New York, has been hit particularly hard in this way. This recurrence of anti-Semitism has generated understandable anxiety and a necessary examination of preparedness within the community. It is also a powerful reminder that no matter how assimilated, Jews remain the other. Moreover, counterintuitively, and at odds with most of progressive Jewish efforts in America, embracing our otherness is a most fitting response. Otherness can be challenging, particularly within a culture guided by e pluribus unum. Nonetheless, Jews are repeatedly reminded to remember our time of bondage in Egypt and that we were “strangers in a strange land.” Such existential apartness is a blessing and a curse. Apartness affords Jews a unique position to perceive social structures and, in particular, inequalities. After all, how a society treats its most marginalized members reveals much about it. Consider the contributions of Lillian Wald, Samuel Gompers and Abraham Joshua

Geoffrey Neimark is a psychiatrist who lives in Philadelphia.

Many meanings, many voices Guest Columnist Anne G. Faigen

To hear only what one hears, one meaning alone — “Esthetique du Mal,” Wallace Stevens

allace Stevens, the poet, died in 1955, but his words could not be more relevant. Too often in our fractured society we seem to lack the ability to hear anyone else’s voice or listen to the variety of meanings in myriad minds. The result is a society of dangerous fault lines waiting to crack open and swallow us: My meaning is valid, yours is fake news; my meaning will make the world a better place for everyone, but that will only happen if we bury yours under a heap of ridicule and scorn. Let’s obliterate those fake meanings so we can create a 12 JANUARY 31, 2020

place that suits only my ideas perfectly. What about those other meanings? Ignore them. Nobody cares. We’ll go along with the loudest voices. So what if silenced with those meanings are empathy, originality, adaptability, the kind of ideas rich in value to fellow humans? There are plenty of ugly meanings, too, that need to be re-examined before their burial — maybe exposing them to bright light and fresh air might clean them up, making them understandable although still unacceptable. We’ve seen far too much evidence of the effects of selective hearing, of listening only to words that agree with or reinforce our own meanings. Instead, we need to consider ways to open both ears and minds to the other ideas that surround us, even when we choose to reject them. And we need to figure out ways to encourage others whose minds remain open to hear the varied voices, carefully consider and weigh them, sift through what they’re saying, and then decide which to include in their own reasoned conclusions.

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Anne G. Faigen is the author of five novels, an instructor at Pitt’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and leads book groups at Temple Sinai and Hadassah. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion No longer agreeing to disagree Guest Columnist Liz Spikol

was a 30-year-old part-time proofreader without a journalism degree when I was offered my first job as an editor at a weekly newspaper. It was 1998, and our paper was one of the largest alternative newsweeklies in the U.S. So the day it was announced I’d been promoted from basically nothing to managing editor, I could feel the sizzle of outrage in every cubicle in the office. One staff writer strode up to me, his cheeks pink with anger: “I’ll be damned if I take my marching orders from someone under 40. This is ridiculous.” It was a little ridiculous, sure. At one point, I had my mother come to my office to create an organizational system for me because I was so overwhelmed. Meet my mommy and her tickler files, and yes, I’m your managing editor. Like most of us, I look back on my younger days and cringe. If hindsight is 20/20, moving into middle age is like seeing your past through an ultrasophisticated NASA telescope. You see what an idiot you were; you see how you’ve changed. But as struck as I am by personal changes, I am almost more jostled by changes to my profession. I look back at journalism before the internet, and I barely recognize it. The initial promise of a sudden profusion of news sources — a democratizing effect; the erasure of national and perceptual boundaries — seems to have fizzled in the last few years. These days, in fact, I see a much lower tolerance for other points of view than I used to, and I am concerned. If I could ascribe this change to one party or politician, that would make things easier. But at least when it comes to reader response, I see it manifested across the board, and it applies to opinion pieces as well as news stories. Whether the piece is about someone on the left or someone on the right, people espousing the opposite side of the argument will not only insist the article is wrong but also tell us that the paper has erred in publishing it at all. That is a change. I went back to old copies of newspapers I keep in my house from the ’90s and early aughts. I looked at the letters pages, the columns. Very often readers disagreed with a columnist, and said so. But I couldn’t find one letter that said the column should not have been published. There was a belief that even if a point of view was different from your own, it was acceptable to see it represented in print.

After all, many of our readers remembered the days when William F. Buckley sparred with Gore Vidal on live TV; surely they could handle divergent opinions in a weekly newspaper. So what’s shifted? I’m not sure. Nowadays, editors get far too many reader responses that ignore the content of a given piece and say, instead, “Why did you write about a Democrat?” or “Why did you write about a Republican?” The outrage is quick when it comes, sometimes based only on a headline, and people on both sides go into combat mode, threatening to shut a publication down for having the temerity to feature someone on the other side.

Perhaps we should put that old saw “Two Jews, three opinions” at the top of our Opinion pages — to remind ourselves of who we are, and to laugh a little at our predicament. I like to ask angry readers if they support a marketplace of ideas. They always say they do. But I don’t know if that’s true. It’s like asking soldiers during wartime if they want peace. Well, sure. Of course. But for the moment, my gun is cocked. As Jews, we should be good at disagreement. Arguing with each other is at the core of our practice. It is both the joy of observance and the irritation at the dinner table. Perhaps we should put that old saw “Two Jews, three opinions” at the top of our Opinion pages — to remind ourselves of who we are, and to laugh a little at our predicament. We have to laugh because it’s gotten quite serious. Some newspapers have ditched opinion sections entirely; others have considered doing so, even after publishing opinions for more than a century. Nixing opinion because it’s hard is simply not something a newspaper should do, least of all a Jewish newspaper. Instead, let’s all take a breath before we react and think about what it means to encounter divergence. If the Jewish press can’t do it, with our rich tradition of debate, who can? PJC Liz Spikol is acting editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

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The tragic death of an 8-year-old Palestinian brought Jerusalem’s Jews and Arabs together Guest Columnist Nicolas Nissim Touboul

n Friday, Jan. 24, in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, 8-year-old Qais Abd Abu Ramileh drowned in a pit filled by last week’s torrential rains. Reading the news after Shabbat, I was saddened to hear about Qais’ death. From when he was reported missing until early Saturday morning, Israeli police officers, firefighters, municipal workers, local Jews and Palestinians worked together to find the boy or recover his body. After local Palestinians broke through the fence of another pit Qais was rumored to have fallen into, “the (Israeli) police shot flares to assist the searchers as the Palestinians shouted encouragement to them.” While there were early rumors that the boy may have been kidnapped by settlers, as Haaretz reported, “this unusual cooperative effort significantly eased the tension in the city.” This, however, was not how the story was told initially to international readers. Israel detractors around the world, from Palestinian Authority official Hanan Ashrawi to British politician George Galloway to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, were already pushing the unfounded claim that Qais was kidnapped and executed by Jewish settlers. I was disgusted by the shameless exploitation of this tragedy. But I was incensed as well that ignorant observers are only capable of seeing life in Jerusalem through the lens of conflict. Far from being a story of Jew vs. Arab, this was a story of hundreds of Jews and Arabs working through the night to search for a lost son of this city. Despite the fact that it was Shabbat, Jewish first responders from as far away as the religious communities of the West Bank’s Gush Etzion area came to aid the search. The socioeconomic reality in Jerusalem is far from being perfect. Underinvestment in public infrastructure in eastern Jerusalem might explain why Qais drowned in a pit in the middle of the city. But framing this case as a result of “The Conflict” is inexact, misleading and harmful. Over the past two years, Israel has opened five community police centers in Arab neighborhoods, including one in Beit Hanina, to have better law enforcement through trust building and by working with community leaders. In this case, as in other neighborhoods, we’ve started to see the fruits of these efforts and a change in the relations between the Arab communities and Israeli security forces. Qais was a student at the Il-Irtikaa (“improve”/“upgrade”) public school. Public

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education in Eastern Jerusalem has historically been lacking, driving families to seek out private schools or institutions in which kids are taught the Palestinian Authority curriculum. Beyond incitement against Israel in its textbooks and end of highschool examination, the P.A. curriculum doesn’t offer modern vocational training and correlates with higher dropout rates. It also makes it a long and expensive journey for students to later attend higher education in Jerusalem.

Far from being a story of Jew vs. Arab, this was a story of hundreds of Jews and Arabs working through the night to search for a lost son of this city. But in the last year and a half, Israel has been implementing a 2 billion shekel (about $578 million) investment program for these Arab neighborhoods, with around half the sum dedicated to public education. In a public school (and all the more in a school such as Il-Irtikaa, which emphasizes language learning), students like Qais were taught Hebrew — the language of his Jewish neighbors — from third grade. I am personally familiar with this community; my organization runs a Hebrew class for Il-Irtikaa’s parent community. I believe the courses we provide give the necessary tools for integration into the Israeli-led Jerusalem economy, fostering shared interests between both populations. But beyond that, Hebrew learning is a unique prism through which to meet the culture of the city’s majority group. The death of any 8-year-old is an absolute tragedy, any parent’s worst nightmare. Instead of using it to further inflame the region and pit Jews against Arabs, the story should be used to highlight the need for more Jewish-Arab cooperation and desperately needed infrastructural improvements and further investment in our neighborhoods. Only when we acknowledge that our strength comes from working together will Jerusalem’s residents build a truly united city. PJC Nicolas Nissim Touboul is projects manager at the Institute for Zionist Strategies. He lives in Jerusalem. JANUARY 31, 2020 13

Headlines Study: Continued from page 1

Geographic Distribution of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Households

43%

Suburbs

(South Hills/ North Hills/ Rest of Region)

57%

Squirrel Hill/ Pittsburgh

p The above chart shows the growing percentage of Jewish residents living in the Pittsburgh suburbs.

Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, South Fayette and Peters Township. These schools are one of the main drivers for young families moving into the South Hills, according to Goodman. He mentioned affordable housing, safe neighborhoods and ease of transportation to and from the city as other amenities transplants find attractive. Three more of the top school districts reside in the North Hills: North Allegheny, Fox Chapel and Hampton Township. Murrysville’s Franklin Regional is included as well, pushing the total to eight of the top 10 Pittsburgh area school districts that call the suburbs home. Fox Chapel’s Adat Shalom Synagogue President Amy Himmel explained that once a family decides to live in the suburbs, “they’ll figure out how to practice Judaism around that.” That practice may mean one has to consider both travel time and geography, according to Allison Park’s Temple Ohav Shalom President Arnie Begler. Begler said for instance that those keeping kosher in the North Hills are able to utilize Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Giant Eagle but most likely also have to travel into Squirrel Hill for items not stocked at those locations. Rabbi Mendy Schapiro of Chabad of Monroeville explained that while there may be an occasion to make the short ride into the city many staples can be found on the shelves of local grocery stores. The availability of those products is welcome, as the rabbi acknowledged in Pittsburgh there is “tunnel syndrome” affecting those unwilling to make the 20-minute ride to Murray Avenue Kosher because of the Squirrel Hill tunnel and fear of confronting traffic. Both Schapiro and Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum of Chabad of the South Hills go into the city each day, transporting their children to the Yeshiva Schools. For those who have decided to raise their families in the suburbs because of the schools, Jewish supplemental education is an important facet considered.

14 JANUARY 31, 2020

Many local synagogues offer robust Hebrew schools preparing students for bar and bat mitzvahs. Once these life cycle events have been reached, the JCC of Pittsburgh has worked to engage the suburban communities through The Second Floor and J Line. J Line offers eighth through 12th graders the opportunity for continuing Jewish education in both Squirrel Hill and the South Hills. The South Hills program is presented in partnership with Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, Temple Emanuel of South Hills and South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh and is taught at the two synagogues. Chris Herman, division director of Jewish life for the JCC, understands that Squirrel Hill is not the center of engagement for suburban Jewish teens. He explained that the organization works to “collaborate and be a resource to strengthen engagement.” That collaboration may mean a program like J Line - South Hills or it could mean helping North Hills teens find a way into the city by picking them up weekly in a bus for classes offered in Squirrel Hill. “Rabbi Jeremy Weisblatt said he wanted to connect their students to J Line in Squirrel Hill,” Herman explained. That doesn’t mean that the rabbi has ceded teen engagement to the city, according to Herman who has worked with the rabbi to secure grants to create opportunities for teens in the North Hills. The combined approach seems to be working for North Hills teens. Begler explained that Temple Ohav Shalom now features a headquarters for BBYO and hosts the largest number of teen participation in the region. Lindsay Migdal, regional director of the BBYO Keystone Mountain Region, said that, in addition to the North Hills location, there are currently two BBYO chapters in the South Hills. The biggest challenge to the suburban program, according to Migdal, is “driving time and making sure we can get teens to the locations.” She said the organization is purposeful in its interactions, designing regional programs outside of the city and ensuring that their annual convention isn’t always held in Squirrel Hill so “the other areas know that they can host something.” Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David Congregation in Monroeville explained that among families with young children, participation at the Reform synagogue’s religious school is almost 100%. Engagement looks slightly different though for teens in the eastern suburbs. “We are NFTY members, so that’s our primary affiliation for kids. They go to J-Serve but they don’t attend J Line.” J-Serve is a one-day event for students in sixth through 12th grade. Travel time is perhaps the largest deterrence to teen engagement in J Line at the Squirrel Hill location. “Our teens attend Temple David but they might live in Irwin or North Huntingdon or Elizabeth, so they have that extra travel time before they even get to Temple David.” That commute and a population growth that hasn’t kept pace with the South Hills and North Hills means that the community and

Federation must work harder when looking at engagement opportunities. Despite the challenges, Symons noted proudly, “Temple David takes great pride in showing up, and when we do show up, we’re highly involved.” She said the synagogue’s partnership with the Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium illustrated her point. Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Director of Marketing Adam Hertzman said that the organization has been aware of the increase of Jewish households in the suburbs for several years and that the study confirmed their beliefs. “As a result, the Jewish Federation has funded several initiatives to try and increase connections to suburban Jewish communities for a long time.” The creation of South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh bolstered that statement, according to Hertzman. He explained that the idea was to bring programming and opportunities taking place in the city to the South Hills. The program worked so well, Hertzman explained, that Federation eventually spun South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh off to the JCC, which is focused largely on programming. Goodman likes to say that he wakes up every day “thinking about how to make life better for Jewish individuals and families living in the South Hills.” The organization accomplishes this through engagement opportunities including holiday programming and speakers, as well as educational opportunities with Federation and JCC agencies and partners. “Whether it’s with Classrooms Without Borders or the JAA or JFCS or the Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh, or the various Federation agencies or different divisions within the JCC, we have made a conscious effort to make it easier for them to come to suburbia and to be welcomed.” Goodman said that over-programming is an issue when creating engagement opportunities for suburban communities. “Everybody has conflicts, and is over-scheduled, not only with themselves but with their kids as well. You have to really be intentional when you program for the suburbs.” Each of the suburban organizations believed that Federation provided a huge assistance, especially when it came to issues like security after the terrorist attack of Oct. 27. Most, however, would like to see more assistance to help with program opportunities, availability to Federation and JCC partner agencies and speakers. Himmel said she thought an organization like the one in the South Hills could help foster that assistance. “I actually think that would be immensely helpful,” she said. “I think that we probably need more of that type of outreach, especially for speakers or opportunities like an adult education program.” Hertzman said another program funded by Federation, PJ Library, has found great success in the suburbs. It provides free Jewish books to children 6 months through 8 years of age. “It’s clearly been a success. Many more people are engaged, there is strong growth in the number of families who are subscribing to PJ Library, and then who are resubscribing

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to PJ Our Way, which is the PJ Library for older kids.” Hertzman said the success of both PJ Library and South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh illustrate the fact that it’s important to “connect people to Jewish life in ways meaningful to them.” Rosenblum agreed that it was vital to meet people where they are. “We’re trying to make this a place where they can fit their suburban rhythm into what we offer,” he said. “Hopefully, they can treat this as their little corner of Squirrel Hill and for others, they can incorporate whatever fits for them.” The rabbi believes that the suburbs may point a way to the future of Jewish living, no matter where one lives. “Our approach, certainly for millennials and the younger generations, should be to explain how we’re going to add Jewish value and spiritual value to their lives. We’re not going to get them with a guilt trip. We have to realize there’s a new reality and adjust to that.” Begler believes opportunities still exist for growth in the suburbs. He said there are approximately 800 unaffiliated families in the North Hills. Those families will need a reason to engage with the suburban institutions. Rubin thinks that the information found in the survey may point the way to learn how to engage suburban Jews not already immersed in Jewish life. “I think understanding demographics is a big reason for the study. In the South Hills, for instance, I was surprised at how few households have minor children, it’s only 6%. In the North Hills, we saw intermarriage rates are a little bit higher than in the South Hills and certainly than that in Squirrel Hill. “We also have a lower percentage of parents in the North Hills, who are sending their kids to formal Jewish education, whether we’re talking about certainly day schools, but even part-time schools in the synagogues or overnight camps or youth groups, any sort of Jewish education. It points to the fact that this is a nuanced endeavor, and that you can’t just describe the suburbs with a label and say, ‘Oh, these are those type of people.’” Goodman agreed that you can’t simply create a program for one region and think it will find success in other regions. “I think it takes phone calls. I think it takes a lot of time. You have to work with the suburban leaders to initiate that point of contact and let them know you’re there. You have to ask the questions, ‘What can we do for you? How can we help?’” Himmel believes that one thing all the suburban communities have in common is that they work hard to be warm and welcoming because “there just aren’t as many opportunities to build Jewish community in the suburbs.” Temple Emanuel of South Hills Executive Director Leslie Hoffman echoed Himmel’s comments and said that the suburbs offer Jewish families “strong Jewish institutions, good schools, the ability to worship as they choose and the opportunity to make lifelong Jewish friends.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture Members of Israel’s biggest indie band, Lola Marsh, talk failing romance, genre-bending music — MUSIC — By Gabe Friedman | JTA

il Landau and Yael Cohen, the two core members of Lola Marsh, don’t seem to care much about any of it — the pressure of being Israel’s biggest indie band, the baggage that comes with being labeled as Israeli occupiers in some of the places they perform, even the stress of collaborating together as ex-boyfriend and girlfriend. Calling on separate phone lines from Tel Aviv, they sound genuinely relaxed, as if they just put down a thoughtful book after hours of reading. Gil calls his bandmate Yaeli, a small but cute sign of affection. “We prefer to deal with the fun stuff,” Gil says. “If someone asks us about the not fun stuff, we just try to lead the conversation to the fun stuff.” Despite the stories that swirl around them, the pair have certainly had their share of fun since they met at a party over six years ago. Yael had worked as a waitress, Gil as a guitar teacher. Each had played in several different groups — Yael dabbled in a girl band and a cover band, Gil played in a psychedelic rock outfit — but nothing really got them anywhere. They instantly hit it off, personally and musically, and agreed to be serious about the Lola Marsh project from the start, meeting to write and rehearse almost every day. Taking inspiration from everything from old Western movie soundtracks to modern indie rock, they crafted an original style that blends folk rock, pop and sweeping orchestral sounds. Yael’s voice is often compared to the smooth, sultry tone of Lana Del Rey. The duo quickly signed with an indie record label, then the giant Universal music group, releasing an EP and then an album, “Remember Roses,” in 2017. They’ve since played big festivals around the world, cultivating a diverse global following and piling up several million Spotify streams. Their second album, “Someday Tomorrow Maybe,” was released on Friday. Among other topics, the album deals with moving on from hard times — including from each other. After starting the band, Gil and Yael started to date, but it didn’t last. Miraculously, they emerged from their relationship as even better friends, and Gil thinks their songwriting process got more comfortable as well. This time around, the two gathered every day for three months to sit in a room of instruments and experiment. It was a stark contrast to the way the first album was pieced together, from old ideas and songs written between busy bouts of touring. Inevitably, strong feelings poured into the lyrics. “Both of us I think overcame our breakup much before we started to write the next album, it was really just the inspiration:

p Gil Landau and Yael Cohen of Lola Marsh perform on stage at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Nov. 7, 2017.

Photo by Dimitri Hakke/Redferns/Getty Images via JTA.org

p Gil Landau, left, and Yael Cohen make up Lola Marsh.

‘We’ve been through it together.’ ‘Yeah you remember?’ ‘Yeah, let’s write about it,’” Gil said. “It was like friends who were under something together and could share their mutual feelings together.” “Of course it was difficult… but how do you say it — we won. It’s a success [for] both of us,” Yael said. “As musicians we have the chance to share our feelings inside the songs, so it’s kind of like a medicine sometimes… some way to get closure.” The product of their efforts is like nothing

Photo by Michael Topyol via JTA.org

else in Israel — or the U.S. and Europe for that matter. At times, the band sounds like it was plucked from several decades ago, probably because Yael and Gil both love old-fashioned crooners (Yael cites Israeli singer Eviatar Banai and France Gall as inspirations). They also have a fondness for old spaghetti Western soundtracks. Gil balances that out by stating his fondness for contemporary acts like Sufjan Stevens, Childish Gambino and Tame Impala. Yael says the music scene in Tel Aviv

produces all those genres and more. But as she says they are viewed as indie in Israel because they sing in English, Gil stops her. “I don’t like to use these words, whether it’s mainstream or pop or indie … I think we have our sound and we have our inspirations, some of them are from Israel, some of them from outside Israel, and we just try to do what we like to hear,” he says. The fact that they’re Israeli — a rarity in the international indie scene — also doesn’t matter much to them. “We don’t say, ‘Hey, we’re from here and you’re from there,’ and ‘We believe in this and that.’ … We really try to make it that we and the audience will come to the show, close our eyes and just feel something else for an hour and a half,” Gil says. “Not, ‘OK, I’m in Berlin, I’m in New York, I’m in Paris.’ No. You’re just in a show.” Yael says they haven’t experienced any harassment in places they’ve performed in Europe that are hotbeds of anti-Israel sentiment. “We always say we like to play in front of people, not in front of countries,” she adds. But there are some instances where the pair get to talk about their country in a positive way with fans, usually when they’re asked about what life is like in Tel Aviv, Gil says. He also fondly recalls a time when they met an Iranian band backstage at a festival and the two groups had a cordial conversation. But normally, he tries not to think about what others might be thinking about his identity. “I deal with the next show on tour,” he says. PJC

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Life & Culture Jeff Goldblum, Terry Gross and Marc Maron get emotional tracing their Jewish heritage on ‘Finding Your Roots’ — TELEVISION — By Gabe Friedman | JTA

he latest episode of PBS’ celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” was a lesson in Jewish history. Titled “Beyond the Pale” — a reference to the Pale of Settlement, the region of what was then Imperial Russia where many Ashkenazi Jews have roots — the episode explored the family trees of actor Jeff Goldblum, NPR host Terry Gross and comedian Marc Maron. As host Henry Louis Gates Jr. explained, each of them has “deep Jewish roots,” but they all knew next to nothing about their ancestors. Here’s a quick breakdown of their individual Jewish histories.

Jeff Goldblum

On Goldblum’s mother’s side, his great-grandfather Abraham Temeles left his hometown of Zloczow, a town in the Austrio-Hungarian empire, in the early 1900s because of the rampant anti-Semitism. Historians on Gates’ team believe that like many Jewish migrants at the time, he likely traveled 1,000 miles across Europe by train to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, where he boarded a ship for Halifax, Novia Scotia. The trip wasn’t easy. Temeles, who was 50 at the time, likely stayed in steerage for several days during the journey. He traveled on the SS Vulturno, which sunk two years later, killing over 100 Jewish migrants. “It’s just a random piece of luck that I’m here at all I guess,” said Goldblum, who grew up in Pittsburgh. On his father’s side, great-great-grandfather Zelik Povartzik left his hometown of Starobin, Russia, in 1911, just a year before it was overcome by anti-Semitic violence. In 1941, when the Nazis invaded Russia, they killed most of the remaining Jews in Starobin, wiping a large chunk of Goldblum’s family out of the historical record. The only descendant Gates’ team could track down was a second cousin once removed who died fighting for the Soviet army against the Nazis. “It’s moving, it’s very moving,” Goldblum said as he held back tears at the end of the episode.

Terry Gross

All Terry Gross knew about her grandparents’ Jewish history was that they hailed from what they called the “old country.” When she and her parents once visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., her father teared up seeing part of a fence from a Jewish cemetery in Tarnow, Poland.

p Jeff Goldblum on an episode of “Finding Your Roots.”

As Gates’ researcher discovered, both of her paternal grandparents were born there in the 1880s and immigrated to the U.S. in early 1900s. Each had family that chose to stay, despite the rising anti-Semitism around them. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Tarnow’s Jewish population of about 25,000 quickly found itself cloistered in a ghetto. In 1942, Nazis began slaughtering them — a firsthand account said that the Nazis knocked children’s heads against cobblestones and bayoneted adults, killing 7,000 people in days. Most of Gross’ relatives from Tarnow disappeared from the record at that point — except for one survivor named Nathan Zeller, who only lived a few more years until his death at the

Screenshot from PBS via JTA.org

Flossenburg concentration camp in Bavaria. “It’s made everything I know about the Holocaust very specific and concrete,” she said. “I always ask myself if it was time to flee, would I know, would I have the courage to leave?”

Marc Maron

Maron spent most of his segment expressing shock at the details revealed about his family, such as the fact that his maternal grandmother spent 13 days in steerage on a ship to migrate to the United States before World War I. “I don’t know how they did it … just the idea that you’re gonna leave your country,

“ It’s made everything I know about the Holocaust very specific and concrete. I always ask myself if it was time to flee, would I know, would I have the courage

”

to leave?

— TERRY GROSS

you’re gonna pack up, everybody’s gonna go … and get on a boat? Are you kidding?” he said at one point. “A boat? I can’t be on a boat for an hour without getting sick.” Maron’s maternal great-great-grandfather worked in a petroleum factory in Drohobycz, in what was then part of the newly formed republic of Poland. In 1914, at the outset of World War I, Russia invaded the Galicia region of which Drohobycz was a part of. Russian soldiers beat, raped and killed many of its Jews. Gates traced Maron’s father’s side back to a great-great-grandfather named Morris Mostowitz, who owned a chain of grocery stores in the Charleston area in the late 19th century. Mostowitz had moved there with a wave of other Jews looking to fill needs for merchants and tradesmen in the wake of the Civil War. But Morris was no saint — he was involved in at least a dozen crimes, including horse theft and illegal liquor sales, and wound up getting sued by his son Barney over a loan he never paid back. Maron comically found some similarities between himself and Morris, before ending his segment on a self-reflective note. “It does resonate, the fact that no matter how religious you are or what makes you a Jew in your particular life, the fact that you are defined on some level in a very real way by the reality of anti-Semitism … there’s something about that awareness that is still and currently tremendously important,” he said. PJC

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Life & Culture Prized Marc Chagall painting stolen in the ’90s resurfaces at Israeli auction — ART — By Karen Chernick | JTA

“W

here’s the Chagall?” asked a visitor to Tel Aviv’s Gordon Gallery on a January morning in 1996, hoping to glimpse one of the prize lots being auctioned days later by the gallery. The painting, titled “Jacob’s Ladder,” was prominently on display, but still a gallery employee walked the prospective buyer over. When they arrived at the work’s designated spot on the wall, all that remained was a bent nail. The Chagall was gone. For nearly two decades, the painting remained missing. Recently it was on public view for the first time in 24 years, again as part of a pre-auction exhibition, this time at the Tiroche Auction House in Herzliya. The small, biblically themed canvas that was offered for sale as Lot 99 was notably installed in a glass case in Tiroche’s showroom north of Tel Aviv, one of hundreds of works that are part of the auction house’s Israeli and International Art Sale. The painting by the famed Jewish modernist Marc Chagall is roughly the size of a standard sheet of office paper. When it was stolen in ’96, Gordon Gallery owner Shaya Yariv speculated that it may have been smuggled out under someone’s raincoat. “I think the painting is eating oysters in Paris or Moscow by now,” Yariv told the media at the time. (The current gallery owner, Amon Yariv, said the incident was the only theft ever at the Gordon, which in 1975 held the first art auction in Israel.) It’s unclear whether “Jacob’s Ladder” ever made it to France or Russia, but it was ultimately found in Jerusalem in 2015. When an elderly woman died in the city that year, she bequeathed the painting — never hung, and always stored in her vault — to her nephew. “Nobody knew anything about this painting, even close family members,” said Amitai Hazan Tiroche, a third-generation auctioneer at the family-run auction house. “When (the nephew) came to claim it — on the one hand, it was a dream scenario because he inherited something that could be very valuable.” The nephew approached a local art dealer who informed him that the work was likely a Chagall but he would need confirmation from Comité Marc Chagall, the organization founded by the Russian-French artist’s heirs to determine the authenticity of art attributed to Chagall. When the nephew

p Bidding on “Jacob’s Ladder,” a Chagall oil on canvas, started at $110,000.

approached the group, it immediately recognized the work as stolen and contacted the authorities. Migdal Insurance, which paid the 1996 claim on the stolen Chagall, demanded custody of the painting and a court case ensued. A Tel Aviv court ruled in 2015 that the painting be transferred to Migdal following a precedent set by a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court decision. The High Court returned two stolen paintings bought in good faith at a Tel Aviv flea market to the U.S. government, which had paid an insurance claim on them after they disappeared in transit from New York to Tel Aviv. “There aren’t a lot of cases like this,” Tiroche said. “It’s definitely one of the few cases in the Israeli art world.” Migdal offered the work for sale in the auction to recoup the money it paid to the painting’s previous owner. The company’s

Photo courtesy of Tiroche Auction House/via JTA

desire to close the case likely explains the relatively modest projection for the painting of $130,000 to $180,000, nearly identical to what Gordon estimated as its worth 24 years ago. The estimate doesn’t reflect the increase in value of Chagall works over the past two decades. Though sale prices vary according to the period of an artist’s career, subject matter and ownership history, among other variables, Chagall’s “Les Amoureux” sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2017 for $28.45 million — a record for the artist. “If we were to follow absolute values, then Chagall’s prices have almost doubled over the past 20 years,” Tiroche said. “We want the opening price here to be relatively attractive to buyers in Israel and overseas because if the estimate is too high, people may decide not to bid. And also the insurance company wants to finish the saga of the money they paid out over 20 years ago.”

The opening bid at the auction was set at $110,000. Interested bidders had to figure out the provenance of “Jacob’s Ladder” for themselves. Though the general practice is to publicize the full provenance of art offered for sale, in part to prevent stolen works from circulating on the open market, the Tiroche catalog did not contain such information for the Chagall — information Tiroche described as “gossip-oriented” and unsuitable for inclusion in the catalog. Besides, Tiroche said, everyone knows the story anyway. His principal concern was just ensuring the painting was safe while in his hands. “The painting isn’t big, but now it’s also in a heavy, big frame,” Tiroche said. “This place is secured. Touch wood, in 27 years we haven’t had a single incident of theft or anything like that. Everything should be OK.” PJC

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Celebrations

Torah

Birth

The question of the ninth plague

Dr. Jonah and Robin Klein of Merion Station are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Eliana Aviva, born on Nov. 26, 2019. Eliana Aviva is the granddaughter of Jessica Rudner of Wynnewood and Steven Rudner of Ardmore as well as Rabbi Cheryl and Mark Klein of Pittsburgh. Eliana Aviva is named in loving memory of her maternal cousin, Elaine Caplan and her paternal great-grand-aunt, Aleen Braslawsce. Franki and Aaron Zimmerman of Stamford, Connecticut, are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Ella Jean, on Dec. 21, 2019. Ella’s proud grandparents are Dr. Stuart Silverman of Squirrel Hill, Nan Silverman of Mars, Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray and Dr. Scott Gray of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and Ron Zimmerman of New Rochelle, New York. Great-grandparents are Allene and the late Warren Gittlen of Harrisburg and Audrey and Ralph Silverman of Oakland. Ella is named after her paternal great-grandmother, Elaine Zimmerman, and her maternal great-great-grandmother, Jean Semins.

Photo by VPG Photography.

Wedding

Randi and Ellis Weinstein are thrilled to announce the engagement of their son, Jared Robert, to Ellie Roether Salky, daughter of Molly and Kenny Salky of St. Louis, Missouri. Jared’s grandparents are Leslie Spiegel and the late Arthur Spiegel and the late Elaine and Robert Weinstein. Ellie’s grandparents are Lee and Burney Salky, Pat and George Roether and Virginia Byrum. The bride and groom-to-be met in Chicago after both graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2012. Jared majored in sports marketing and management and works in the healthcare industry in medical sales. Ellie majored in education and is a kindergarten teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. An August 2020 wedding is planned in St. Louis. PJC

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Rabbi Barbara AB Symons Parshat Bo | Exodus 10:1 - 13:16

hy darkness? The ninth of 10 plagues that God used to bring the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and to demonstrate God’s power always struck me as an odd plague; a plague different from all of the others. So it was bashert that in listening to a podcast called “99 Percent Invisible,” described as “a tiny radio show about design,

Now I better understand why the ninth plague has upped the show of God’s power more than a notch.

architecture and the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world,” that I heard about darkness. The podcast episode was called “Their Dark Materials” and described a pigment named Vantablack created accidentally in a lab through a technological process. It is made up of carbon nanotubes. This black is described on the podcast as “a pigment that reaches a level of darkness that is so intense that it is kind of upsetting. … It’s like looking at a hole cut out of the universe … it’s so black that if you stare at it you are looking at your own death.” Now I better understand why the ninth plague has upped the show of God’s power more than a notch. Now I begin to envision,

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that is encompassing and makes one feel as though one is looking at one’s own death. It is about a plague. More than any of the other nine plagues, we too at times experience darkness. We know what it is when the walls encompass us, when multiple systems and forces surround us and encage us and we cannot move forward. And we know what redemption is: It is aligning with other voices and breaking free into the light. PJC Rabbi Barbara AB Symons is the spiritual leader of Temple David in Monroeville. This column is a service of ther Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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so to speak, the depth of darkness in which the Egyptians dwelt for three days. A day or two after hearing that podcast, I saw the movie “Just Mercy” (which I highly recommend). It is about prisoners — mostly black prisoners — on death row in 1980s Alabama who were wrongly accused. It is about the many systems in place that allowed them not only to be falsely accused and convicted but to keep them behind bars or to take their lives through execution in order to allow the white community to feel (falsely) safe. It is about a different type of darkness created by the white community; a darkness

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Obituaries GRUBER: Stanley X. Gruber, a longtime resident of Pittsburgh, passed away on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, at 101 years old. He was the beloved son of the late Samuel and Eva (Aberman) Gruber and was the brother of the late Irving Gruber (Aaronel) and the late Saundra Grobstein (Charles). He is survived by his sister, Adeline Tabor (Harry), and his nephews and nieces: Jon Gruber, Jamie DeRoy, Terry Gruber, Judy Smizik, Mark Tabor, Debbie Haber, Robert Grobstein and Ellen Clancy and their families. Stanley had a special relationship for many years with Jean Aarons, who passed away last summer. Mr. Gruber was a property manager for Union Real Estate for 75 years. He will be sadly missed by his friends and family who loved him dearly. Graveside services and interment were held at West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions can be made to JAA, Rodef Shalom Temple, Animal Rescue League or a charity of your choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com HAMOVITZ: Dennis H. Hamovitz, unexpectedly on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. Beloved son of Inge Hamovitz and the late Neil Hamovitz; brother of Susan Hardesty, Judith Hamovitz and Arnold (Christine) Hamovitz; uncle of Jenn (Jimmy) Gales, Alexis Hardesty, Jameson and Mollie Gilbert; longtime friend to Karen Stein. Dennis loved to make people laugh. Dennis operated his own plumbing business. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Cneseth Israel Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Tree of Life/ Or L’Simcha Congregation, 5898 Wilkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. schugar.com HURWITZ: Helen Ruth Hurwitz, on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020; loving daughter of the late Maurice and Mary Gilbert; devoted sister of the late Stanley and Mel Gilbert; beloved wife of the late Jack Hurwitz; adored mother of Lane (Steven) Glisson and Barbara Grant; adored grandmother of Reilly and Alex Grant and Fiona Glisson; beloved second wife of the late Sidney Brenner; beloved stepmother of Judi (Richard) Brenner Wieder, Cindy (Keith) Miller, and Ellen (Bruce) Mottel and their children; mourned by relatives and friends. Services

held at Temple David. Interment at Temple Sinai Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Natural Resources Defense Council: nrdc.org/ support-nrdc. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MAKOROFF: Stanley G. Makoroff, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. Beloved husband of the late Susan K. Makoroff; loving father of Barbara (David) Kalla, Kathi (Jeffrey Grass) Makoroff and the late Steven Makoroff. He will forever be Poppa to Rebecca (Corey) Bruce, Joshua (Armon Dadgar) Kalla, Daniel Grass and Alexander Grass. Stan was a loyal and kindest friend to so many and was passionate about the practice of law throughout his career. He loved his family most of all. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Tree of Life Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to JDRF, Southwest Ohio Chapter, 8050 Hosbrook Road #314, Cincinnati, OH 45236. schugar.com ROM: Howard Rom, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. Dearly beloved husband of Bette Rom; loving father of Kenneth (Beth) Rom and Cindy (Roger) Glickert; brother-in-law of Sheila and Howard Pearlman; grandfather of Maxwell Rom, Charles Rom, Caroline Glickert and Emma Glickert. He is also survived by nieces, nephews and cousins. Services and interment private. A celebration of Howard’s life will be held this spring. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com SIEGEL: Franklin Z. Siegel, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Beloved husband of 65 years to Arlene Siegel. Cherished father of Kathy (Mark) Rosenberg and Lee Siegel. Brother of June Feldman. Papa of Julia, Erica and Zakary Rosenberg. Uncle of Avram Feldman. Franklin spent his career as a principal for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Homewood Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, 5001 Baum Blvd., #635, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 or a charity of donor’s choice. schugar.com PJC

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Headlines Guns: Continued from page 1

officer as your armed person within the congregation, whether they are on-duty or off-duty,” explained Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. “The reason we are advocating for current or former law enforcement officers is that those are the individuals who have received the highest level of training,” Brokos stressed. “There is a large distinction between being able to carry a weapon and being able to shoot a weapon for target practice, versus actively engaging a firearm in a tactical situation. And law enforcement are the only individuals who have had that extensive training.” In the event of an active shooter, law enforcement is “trained to make split-second live-saving decisions whether to engage a target, and without this training there is the possibility of a friendly fire situation or a civilian or innocent bystander being harmed.” If a congregant is to be armed, Brokos said, “they should either be a current or former law enforcement officer who has had significant training in the use of firearms.” Those with military training would “absolutely be a second choice.” On most Shabbat mornings, about a halfdozen congregants are carrying concealed weapons at Chabad of the South Hills, approximately 25% of the typical number of adults worshipping there. While most of them have not had law enforcement training, three formerly served in the military and one is a firearms instructor. After the shooting at the Tree of Life building, a security committee was formed at Chabad of the South Hills, explained Cliff Zlotnik, a member of that security committee. “At the first meeting, we all took our conceal carry permits and made copies and left them in the rabbi’s office,” Zlotnik said. In the event there could be a delayed police response to an active shooter, “we thought it

— not to say it won’t change — would be good for people to we have no policy.” be carrying in the synagogue.” If there are congreMt. Lebanon Police are gants who come armed to aware that members of Congregation Poale Zedeck, Chabad are armed, according its president, Louis Felder, to Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum, doesn’t “know anything director of Chabad of about it,” he said. “Nor the South Hills. does the rabbi.” Zlotnik believes that While the Orthodox having congregants congregation has “no official with concealed weapons policy” on guns, it does have provides robust security a “paid armed security guard” protection in thwarting an  Cover of the “Firearms every Shabbat. active shooter due to the and the Faithful” study Photo courtesy of Secure “If people do have guns “element of surprise.” Community Network then, the party line is I don’t Such was the case at a Texas know anything about it,” said church in December 2019, when two members of the church’s security Felder. “And I will tell you, I really don’t team shot and killed an intruder who had know anything about it. I’m told by our secuopened fire on the congregation, murdering rity committee that we are not supposed to have any official policy.” two members and severely injuring another. Temple Ohav Shalom, a Reform congrega“What I’m saddest about is it is going to take the taking out of an intruder to wake tion in Allison Park, takes a different approach. “We do not permit firearms on the prempeople up,” said Zlotnik. At Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, ises,” said the congregation’s president, the Conservative congregation’s position on Arnie Begler, but he noted that “it is an members bringing guns to shul is “don’t ask, interesting topic.” “We have several members who have don’t tell,” according to the congregation’s concealed weapon permits, and certainly after president, Warren Sufrin. “We had a member who since moved out of last Oct. 27, everybody had a lot of different town, who we were aware was carrying,” said ideas about what we should do,” he said. Sufrin. “We did speak with him, and asked him The challenge in allowing congregants to to obtain active shooter certification because we bring concealed weapons to services is that do feel that if someone does carry we don’t want “we are not really sure of their training or their them carrying without relevant experience.” expertise and you really don’t want anything Beth El’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” position is to go wrong in that situation,” he said. “something that we struggled with,” Sufrin The congregation, which consists of explained. “There are definitely gun supporters about 150 families, has “always been very at Beth El who believe it is their right to carry concerned with security,” noted Begler. “Like arms. There are those who believe we should all temples on the High Holidays, we have be a completely gun-free zone. We have looked always had off-duty McCandless policeman, — and we continue to look — at a variety of and certainly after Oct. 27 we had a heightoptions as far as how to proceed, but there are ened off-duty police presence at the temple. legal questions on both sides. If you allow guns, Then we made the decision in January of last and somebody is hurt because you allowed year that from a cost point of view, it was not a gun, you potentially could have a legal in our budget to continue to do that. And problem. And likewise, if you disallow guns also, as a congregation I think we wanted to and somebody is hurt because you disallowed get back to some sense of normalcy.” guns, you also have an issue. As of right now At Shadyside’s Rodef Shalom

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Congregation, which currently also houses Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha and Dor Hadash — two of the three congregations attacked in the Oct. 27 shooting — no one other than trained security personnel is permitted to bring a weapon onto the premises, according to Karen Brean, Rodef Shalom’s president. The congregation is currently in the midst of adopting a formal policy on the issue, which will go to the executive committee for approval next month. The congregation has contracted with a security company and is protected by armed, trained and licensed security personnel on site and at off-site Rodef Shalom functions at all times, said Brean. “There was not a lot of controversy,” she said. During a meeting about security following the attack at the Tree of Life building, “there were some people who were vocal about wanting to train people in the congregation, but that didn’t gain purchase. It was definitely a minority.” Likewise, Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill employs full-time, trained security personnel and prohibits others from bringing weapons onto the premises. “Our policy is there are no weapons in the building, period,” said Steve Albert, head of Beth Shalom’s security committee, noting that policy had been in place “prior to Oct. 27” because the building houses two schools. If someone brings a weapon to Beth Shalom, “they have to leave the building,” Albert said. In addition to having an armed security guard on the premises, Beth Shalom “puts our trust in our secure perimeter,” he added. “All doors are locked all the time, and we have other security procedures in place.” Brokos stressed that it is up to each individual synagogue to make its own decision about allowing congregants to bring concealed weapons to synagogue. “But our guidance would be that those who are armed have the necessary training,” she said, which would need to be “ongoing.” PJC

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

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Real Estate FOR SALE

FOR SALE

FOR SALE SHADYSIDE CONDOMINIUM • $739,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVENUE Spacious two bedroom and den beautiful unit. Spectacular built-ins throughout and wonderful in-unit laundry. Pristine and inviting, 24/7 security, guest suite. Most sought after building. SHADYSIDE CONDOMINIUM • $1,250,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVENUE Updated 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath condo top floor unit that is 4,500 Square Feet. This is 1.5 units combined. Enjoy skylights, with loads of natural light, views of the city, 3 car parking, eat-in kitchen with high end appliances. Additional den and sitting area is equipped with a wet bar. See with Andrea Ehrenreich 412-327-7665/Mark and Jill Portland See below

Shady Side/Oakland Area

MURDOCH FARMS • $925,000 • REDUCED!

Looking for the unusual? Must see this 2bdrm/2bathrm apt. Relax & enjoy the beautiful setting with a private patio. High ceilings, large living room and dining room, newer kitchen, laundry and lots of closet space. To view this enticing unit, please call Tamara Skirbol @412-401-1110 Cheryl Gerson | REALTOR® Coldwell Banker Squirrel Hill

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 Gfrom dining room lead to a fabulous DIN patio and two car garage. Bonus ofPEaNgreat 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

Cell Phone: 412-401-4693 Cheryl.Gerson@PittsburghMoves.com 5887 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15217

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.

FOR SALE

DOWNTOWN • $995,000 Gateway Towers. Primo Sensational double unit-over 3,000 square feet. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. View of all three rivers. New windows installed in unit approximately $70,000. 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. 200 412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK

FOR SALE

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

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

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

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

JANUARY 31, 2020 21

Community We want clean air

Pittsburgh Hadassah

p Pittsburgh residents convened at the Squirrel Hill JCC on Jan. 16 to discuss plans for educating community groups about the region’s air pollution. From left: Susan Safyan, Eric Safyan, Adam Rothschild and Howard Rieger, convener of East End Neighbors Concerned About Pollution. Photo by Beverly Siegel

p Greater Pittsburgh Hadassah members (from left) Zandra Goldberg, Lynda Heyman, Rochelle Parker, Barb Scheinberg and Judy Palkovitz (not pictured) attended Hadassah’s National Business meeting in Orlando. Photo courtesy of Rochelle Parker

MLK Day at Community Day School For the fifth consecutive year, CDS students and faculty spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day together with the broader Pittsburgh community in learning, service and reflection.

p First graders Diana Vines and Eugene Levin-Decanini

Photos courtesy of CDS

p Emmy Award-winning film director, photographer and composer Emmai Alaquiva challenged listeners to think about the meaning of social justice and build bridges across African American and Jewish communities.

Fun times at the JCC

p Agewell at the JCC in partnership with Venture Outdoors hosted Therapy Dog Walk. The event was funded by Jewish Healthcare Foundation.

22 JANUARY 31, 2020

Early Childhood Development Center students bake challah every Friday. Photos courtesy of

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

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Community Rocking out with Community Day School More than 400 people attended the CDS Rock n’ Roll annual party on Jan. 25, 2020, at Nova Place on the North Side in celebration of Pittsburgh’s co-ed, independent Jewish day school. Honorees included Dr. E. Joseph Charny (Community Leadership Award), Duquesne University School psychology professor Kara McGoey (Volunteer of the Year) and CDS Head of Hebrew and Jewish Studies Tzippy Mazer (Lifetime Achievement Award). The event featured a silent auction to raise funds for the CDS Class of 2020 Israel trip, as well as a

luxury raffle with concert, gift card and fine spirits baskets. Food by Creative Kosher Catering included vendor stations with tacos, nachos and sliders, and for dessert, guests enjoyed Bella Christie and Lil Z’s Fry Daddy station with donuts and other delicious treats. Libations included Southern Tier Rock Band and He’brew Beer, and party-goers could buy “concert tees” in the merch booth. A Gene Simmons look-alike made a special guest appearance, and the high school rock band HOA performed to kick off the night before DJ Sosa heated up the dance party. Guests came dressed in their concert finest.

p Hank and Elise Abromson, Marc Mazer and Tzippy and Rich Mazer

p Dan and Eva Gelman, Gene Simmons impersonator Dave Douglas, Karin Greenberg and Ed Mistler, and Beth and Micah Jacobs

p Cathy Fitzgerald and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Debra Frankel and state Rep. Dan Frankel

p Holly Eidinger, Rachel Cravotta, Dave Douglas, Debbie Moltz and Katie Rutherford

p Honorees Dr. E. Joseph Charny, Kara McGoey and Tzippy Mazer

p Gabriella Naveh, Annelise Hammer, Noa Pinkston and Nealey Barak, CDS young alumni, sell raffle tickets. Photos by Joe Appel Photography

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JANUARY 31, 2020 23

KOSHER MEATS

Empire Fresh Kosher Bone-In Split Chicken Breasts

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

99 lb.

Price effective Thursday, January 30 through Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

Available at 24 JANUARY 31, 2020

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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