February 21, 2020 | 26 Shevat 5780
Candlelighting 5:44 p.m. | Havdalah 6:44 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 8 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Rabbis Against Gun Violence leader comes to Temple Emanuel
Culturally Jewish: Proud of heritage, but not religious
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Grappling with Wexner
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By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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LOCAL Pittsburgh’s immigration story
Mavra Stark, Lori Levin, Susan Forrest, members of the Pittsburgh Secular Jewish Community, celebrating Chanukah. The group observes the cultural aspects of some Jewish holidays. Photo provided by Susan Forrest
of exactly what a “cultural Jew” is, according to Matthew Boxer, one of the researchers here is a lot about Judaism that who conducted the Pittsburgh study. But appeals to Lewis Braham. it is a way by which some people who But the God thing, not so much. continue to identify as Jewish, though not Braham, 49, admires Judaism’s commit- connecting with many of the religious ment to activism, its encouragement of precepts, self-define. intellectual curiosity and its emphasis on the Eighty-two percent of Jewish adults importance of community. in Pittsburgh (about Although he belongs 35,100 individuals) to a Reform congregation Studying community identify as Jewish by in Pittsburgh, he attends religion, which is a This is the sixth in a services infrequently. He higher proportion 10-part series, exploring than that of the overall has trouble believing in the data of the 2017 Jewish population in a “just and loving deity” Greater Pittsburgh Jewish the United States as when there is suffering in Community Study through reported by the Pew the world, he said. the people it represents. Research Center (about Braham, a financial 78%). The remaining writer who moved to 18% of Jewish adults Pittsburgh from New York here instead identify as “Jews of no reliin 2009, considers himself to be a “cultural gion” or “Jews of multiple religions.” A little Jew” rather than a “Jew by religion,” and more than half of these individuals identify is among about 4,300 other Jewish adults in Pittsburgh who describe themselves as having no religion, but nonetheless still that way, according to the 2017 Greater consider themselves Jewish for “ethnic or Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, cultural reasons.” Braham was raised as culturally Jewish, he commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and conducted by said, and has always identified that way. researchers at Brandeis University. There seems to be no conclusive definition Please see Study page 9
By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
The Holocaust Center brings a layered history to life. Page 4
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Sanders and Bloomberg vie for a historic nomination. Page 8
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uthor, national thought leader and activist Rabbi Menachem Creditor will visit Temple Emanuel of South Hills Feb. 28 and 29. Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York, will serve as scholar-in-residence and address topics ranging from uses and abuses of power in the Jewish community, to gun violence and LGBTQ concerns. Prior to his arrival in the Steel City, Creditor shared thoughts on his work and expressed an eagerness to enjoy “a textured experience of the community.” “The goal of my visit is to provoke thinking that isn’t reactive,” he said. “The Jewish community in Pittsburgh resembles the Jewish community around the world, which is to say, we are bigger than any one moment of our history. That being said, there are sometimes things that occur in a local community that begin to redefine it.” Creditor developed such ideas in his recently published book “Loud, Proud, and Jewish.” There is a value in “seeing ourselves as rooted in a long beautiful history, and with a sense of purpose in the world that guides us when we have hard moments,” he said. Being able to come to Pittsburgh, which has been at the center of recent Jewish thought and conversation, and share ideas on sensitive matters is humbling, continued Creditor: Apart from appreciating the “strength and resilience of the community,” there is much to say regarding the events of October 2018, and how it redefined the American Jewish experience of the gun violence epidemic. “But that doesn’t make it an only Jewish experience. My work with Rabbis Against Gun Violence has really Please see Rabbis, page 19
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