Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 4-24-20

April 24, 2020 | 30 Nisan 5780

Candlelighting 7:51 p.m. | Havdalah 8:54 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 17 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Local veteran remembers liberating Dachau on 75th anniversary

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Chabad to go

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‘Strange’ and ‘powerful’ Yizkor at home presented new opportunities

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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Shabbat delivery

“It was a mess,” Prestia recounted. “People were scattered all over the place. We saw a lot of people on the ground that were dead.”

Those still alive were so malnourished that the American soldiers were given strict orders not to feed anyone.

“We weren’t allowed — the medics told us not to give them any food. They were so undernourished that it would have just killed them. The only two things we were allowed to give them were cigarettes and hard candy.”

Now 97, Prestia had celebrated his birthday just days before entering the camp. He was the lone Pittsburgher on an infantry team that manned a large Browning Automatic Rifle.

“I was the gunner,” he explained. “We had an assistant gunner, Roy Zuber from Petersburg, West Virginia, and we had an ammo carrier, Clarence McKay, who was from Hannibal, Missouri.”

Before entering Dachau, Prestia and his fellow soldiers were not aware that they were marching into a concentration camp.

empering the joy of several Jewish holidays is the traditional Yizkor service, a solemn remembrance of loved ones now deceased. As last week’s Passover festival concluded, Jews in Pittsburgh and elsewhere found themselves saying the memorial prayers mostly alone, as social distancing orders have forced synagogues to cancel gatherings, including services.

For some, it was the first time ever having to say the mournful prayers without the comfort of fellow worshippers in a sanctuary.

The situation presented a “unique challenge,” said Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum, spiritual leader of Chabad of the South Hills.

During an April 14 pre-holiday online gathering, Rosenblum encouraged participants to reframe their perspective on the experience and to avoid certain mental obstacles placed by social distancing.

“This will hopefully be the only year we’re forced to say Yizkor alone at home,” said Rosenblum. “Instead of seeing it as a challenge, see it as unique.”

Yizkor, a service that is typically accompanied by removing a Torah scroll from the ark, is a time of great spirituality, explained Rabbi Shimon Silver of Young Israel of Pittsburgh. There is an idea espoused by the Talmud and the 13th-century rabbi Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav that on the last day of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, the souls of the departed are given reprieve and that the souls descend “and are here with us,” said Silver.

Since the soul is spiritual and enjoys no benefit from consuming festive meals, its place is typically within a synagogue, which is a spiritual domain, but because of this year’s situation, an “unusual” opportunity

Please see Liberator, page 14

Please see Yizkor, page 14

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LOCAL Graduations may go virtual

 Guy Prestia as a soldier in the 45th Infantry Division and today

Day schools look ahead

Photos provided by Patty Partington

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By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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LOCAL Trips to Israel canceled

Birthright may be airborne by summer Page 4

uy Prestia wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

“It was terrible,” recalled Prestia, a resident of Ellwood City. “There were all these flat cars. Before we got to the cars there on the railroad tracks, we saw what looked like logs, like cord wood, just stored down there. When we got closer, we saw that it was human bodies.”

Prestia was already combat-hardened.

The then-23-year-old sergeant had worked his way across the European theater beginning in North Africa, then on to Italy, France and Germany. His unit was part of the 45th Infantry Division marching toward Munich when his commanders received orders to instead “swing down to Dachau and see what was going on down there.”

Germany was just days away from surrendering when Prestia and his unit liberated Dachau on April 29, 1945. Most of the camp’s commanding officers had already abandoned the concentration camp leaving only the guards and prisoners.

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CMU shores up Jewish life

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Local businesses struggle

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Headlines Chabad on Campus continues to connect with students during pandemic

p Shira and Mendy Weinstein assemble Passover foods to distribute Photo provided by Sara Weinstein to students.

— LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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espite COVID-19 forcing synagogues and other religious institutions to close their doors, Chabad House on Campus has continued to engage students living on or near local college campuses.

“Obviously this took everyone by surprise,” explained Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein, who is

the program co-director of Chabad at Pitt along with his wife, Chasi Rothstein. “At first, everyone got very excited about the Zoom stuff. We started offering classes online, some classes attracted more kids than others, but everyone was able to find their place.”

It was only after Rothstein began getting used to the “new normal” of the virtual landscape that more interesting things began to happen, according to the rabbi.

“We started to get phone calls from parents who said that, for whatever reason, their son or daughter was stuck on campus,” he said.

p Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein of Chabad at Pitt distributes Passover-to-Go kits.

Photo provided by Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein

Because of that need, the Rothsteins started “Chabad on the go.”

“The first Shabbat was great,” Rothstein said. “We prepared 20 or 30 Shabbatto-go packages.”

Chasi Rothstein created a schedule that allowed for social distancing as students arrived to pick up their food. The Chabad co-directors were taken by surprise, however, when they posted a sign-up sheet for Passover kits containing grape juice or wine, matzah, a seder plate and food.

“We had about 50 people sign up and we

told everyone we were closing the sheet,” Rothstein said. “Then my phone began to ring,” with both students and parents of students who hadn’t signed up, trying to get on the list.

“In the last day, the list almost doubled in a beautiful college style,” the rabbi continued.

“And then the day of, even more people came.

We ended up with a line down the block.”

The Rothsteins originally thought that the number of students they would interact with Please see Chabad, page 15

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Headlines Graduations at Jewish day schools may go digital — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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omp and circumstance may be going high-res. Despite COVID-19 concerns shuttering schools and suspending in-person gatherings, leaders of the city’s three Jewish day schools are exploring various possibilities regarding upcoming graduations, including the likelihood of hosting the springtime celebrations online.

With Passover now complete, and students and staff at Community Day School, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh returning to digital instruction, administrators at the Jewish day schools have begun sharing plans pertaining to graduations and end-of-year celebrations.

Prior to COVID-19 uprooting daily life, Community Day School’s eighth-graders were scheduled to graduate the morning of May 22.

The early childhood through grade eight institution is still committed to that date, explained Mark Minkus, head of intermediate school and middle school at Community Day School.

To honor the eighth- graders, Community Day School will be having a “celebration of the CDS Class of 2020 that morning,” he said.

“This virtual event will mark this significant milestone, recognize their accomplishments and take a joyous walk down memory lane.”

The digital commemoration is not intended to replace future in-person festivities, according to Minkus. Looking ahead, “we are committed to having a traditional, in-person graduation ceremony once we are able to do so, most likely on a Sunday in the fall,” he said.

Like everyone else, “we are monitoring the current situation,” said Rabbi Sam Weinberg, Hillel Academy’s principal. “Our primary goal is the safety of our students and families, but at the same time we find it imperative to create a meaningful capstone experience for our graduates and their families.”

Administrators and others involved in the planning process have begun examining different options for virtual graduations as they relate to kindergarten, grade eight and high school students. The various events

originally were scheduled to take place nearly six weeks from now. Although the details of the revamped events have not yet been confirmed, “graduation will be a collaborative effort with students and families,” stressed Weinberg. “We are committed to making sure that graduation will be a fun and meaningful experience for everyone.”

By design, graduation will be collaborative, echoed Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Yeshiva Schools’ educational director. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, school leaders assembled a committee of 20 parents to facilitate the transition to digital instruction.

That committee will now, with the help of others, plan the various preschool, grade eight and high school graduations, he said.

Currently, “there is a lot of unknown,” Rosenblum noted. “We know that school until the end of the year will be online,” but details regarding graduation ceremonies are less certain.

Rosenblum would like to have an in-person celebration for graduates when it is safe to do so, but noted that an added wrinkle is the fact that several of the school’s students are from out of town. The parent committee, administrators and families will work toward finding a date that works for everyone, he said.

With details and precautions regarding COVID-19 rapidly changing, there is a difficulty in planning too far ahead. For now, Yeshiva Schools will “celebrate graduation virtually,” and later on, “if the governor and the medical people allow us to do something in one of our buildings, we’ll do that.”

What’s been beneficial during this period, both when it comes to thinking about graduation or how to best operate online instruction during a pandemic, has been collaborating with other schools, said Rosenblum.

The partnerships have reminded him of a guiding principle, he continued: When it comes to graduation, or schooling in general, “we will do the best we can under the circumstances that the Torah would want us to do.” PJC

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p CDS eighth-graders participate in a Kabbalat Shabbat service prior to the pandemic.

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Photo courtesy of Community Day School

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Headlines Birthright, other group trips to Israel, canceled for the coming months — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

M

organ Lipkin has been dreaming about traveling to Israel since she converted to Judaism while getting a master’s degree at West Virginia University in 2014. Her love affair with the country only deepened when she started working in Holocaust education at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“I love Judaism and learning about it, and I really want to go to Yad Vashem,” said Lipkin, 31, a private English tutor living in Fineview.

“To see Tel Aviv, I’m excited. And the Dead Sea. I’m excited for all of it, to take it all in.”

But Lipkin will need to wait for at least a little while. The special Birthright trip for adults over 26 from Pittsburgh has been canceled due to concerns over COVID-19.

Officials working with Birthright confirmed that spring trips have been indefinitely postponed. All the organization’s summer season trips, scheduled to begin in July, however, will continue as planned, as long as Israel lifts its mandatory 14-day quarantine for international travelers.

p Students from University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne University on a 2018 Birthright trip Photo courtesy of Hillel Jewish University Center

“The international impact of this pandemic is unprecedented, but along the way, we’ve taken the highest level of precaution to ensure the safety of our cherished participants and staff,” Noa Bauer, Birthright’s vice president of global marketing, told the Chronicle.

“We continue to closely monitor the situation both in Israel and worldwide, and remain in daily contact with Israel’s government health organizations,” Bauer added.

“We look forward to welcoming our next group of participants to Israel with open arms as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh confirmed that it, too, was aborting plans for travel to Israel.

“Really everything in the near term to Israel is canceled,” said Adam Hertzman, the Federation’s director of marketing.

Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh had 61 young adults — students from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University and Duquesne University — pegged to attend upcoming Birthright trips, according to Dan Marcus, the Oakland-based organization’s executive director and CEO. Outreach to those students has been key, he said.

Following the cancellation of the trips, “what we did immediately is we talked with each student individually to make sure they were getting the right care and support,” Marcus said. “Although this is deeply disturbing, we’re there for them to ensure they do get the chance to go on Birthright.”

About 40 Pittsburgh students were slated this year to participate in Onward Israel, a two-month Tel Aviv-based internship and learning program for Jewish undergraduates and young professionals. They also Please see Birthright, page 15

HOW WE DEBATE While adopting the roles of government officials and environmentalists, our Middle School students hold a town hall meeting to discuss the merits and consequences of proposed energy initiatives to local communities.

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Headlines Local businesses and nonprofits struggle, seek help — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

S

mall businesses and nonprofits in Squirrel Hill and Greenfield — like those around the country — are experiencing a range of complications in the age of COVID-19. Only some of the problems are being remedied by government aid.

As a nonessential business, Little’s Shoes, which employs more than 20 people, was forced to close its doors in March to patrons.

It continues to hobble on with online orders and, in some cases, even delivery.

“We’re trying to scratch and claw,” said owner Justin Sigal. Operating online “is better than nothing. And we’ll be here for the community if we’re open. We’ll be here.”

Little’s was one of the Pennsylvania businesses to receive aid through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, though Sigal declined to indicate the amount of its award. “(PPP) was just a great opportunity,” said Sigal, whose Forbes Avenue business has been owned by his family, longtime members of Rodef Shalom Congregation, for more than 35 years.

Federal aid is helping many. Through April 16, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved more than $342 billion of forgivable loans through the PPP. Before the

p Little’s Shoes on Forbes Avenue is doing what it can to service customers and pay employees during the pandemic.

Photo by Shayna Yogman

fund ran out of money recently, Pennsylvania was the sixth highest state recipient of aid, netting nearly $16 billion, SBA spokeswoman Janet Heyl said.

Heyl, who works downtown, was not able to provide a list of local recipients of SBA aid.

“The banks let us know it would be difficult,” Gene Barr, president of the

Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, told the Chronicle.

“We knew it was going to be bumpy. But the money is getting pushed out.”

Barr stressed there is no one-size-fits-all solution for businesses in the state.

“It really does vary by employer and there’s still a lot of uncertainty out there,” he said.

Barr said he wants to see officials tackle issues like liability, which could trigger lawsuits against state businesses after the stay-at-home orders are lifted. He remained optimistic, though, last week.

“I have confidence in this country,” Barr said. “I have faith in the American people to come back.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh also received an SBA loan to offset its cost of salary and benefits while serving the public during the crisis, said Adam Hertzman, the Federation’s director of marketing. The organization — and its national counterpart, the Jewish Federations of North America — scheduled and led webinars for Jewish groups when it realized SBA funds were first-come, first-serve.

“We urged Jewish organizations to work with our finance team to get their SBA applications in as soon as humanly possible,” Hertzman said.

One of the organizations that took part in Please see Businesses, page 15

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Calendar An abundance of caution.

An abundance of care.

>>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions will also be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon q FRIDAY, APRIL 24 The JCC with Vitalant (formerly Central Blood Bank) is hosting drives for desperately needed blood donations in its Squirrel Hill and South Hills facilities in controlled and safe environments following CDC and Allegheny County guidelines. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Appointments strongly encouraged. Visit vitalant.org and click on the “Make an Appointment” button and search with group code C189 (Squirrel Hill location) or C438 (South Hills location). q SUNDAYS, APRIL 26; MAY 3, 10, 17 Do you find prayer meaningless and opaque, or significant and powerful? Rabbi Danny Schiff’s course Jewish Prayer will explore the challenging nature of prayer. It will delve into the fundamental features of how and why we pray. Schiff, Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, will describe the origins and structure of Jewish services and will engage in a close study of a number of central prayers within the liturgy. This webinar is designed to give fresh insights into Jewish prayer with the goal of opening new doors of understanding. 10:30 a.m. q MONDAY, APRIL 27 In the four-part webinar The Text Puzzle, Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, puts the pieces of the “text puzzle” into one coherent picture so that the place of Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash, Responsa, Kabbalah, as well as many other sources, can be easily understood. Schiff places these texts into an historical context in order to explain their significance to Judaism. 10 a.m. jewishpgh.org/ event/the-text-puzzle/2020-04-06 q TUESDAYS, APRIL 28; MAY 5, 12, 19 The classic Jewish text Pirkei Avot is regularly studied in the weeks between Pesach and Shavuot.

In Pirkei Avot — The Wisdom Verses of the Mishnah, Rabbi Danny Schiff will teach Pirkei Avot utilizing Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz’s book “Pirkei Avot — A Social Justice Commentary.” You will need the book (available online), but no prior knowledge is required. 7 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/pirkei-avot-thewisdom-verses-of-the-mishnahvirtual/2020-04-13 q TUESDAYS, APRIL 28; MAY 5, 12, 19, 26 New Light Congregation Rabbi Jonathan Perlman and Islamic Center of Pittsburgh Imam Chris Caras lead The Omer and Ramadan, a five week virtual class in the discussion of Ramadan, Eid al-Fatr, Hajj, Passover, Shavuout and the Counting of the Omer. Classes conducted via Zoom. Free. 7 p.m. To register and for a complete list of class topics, visit newlightcongregation. org/events/the-omer-and-ramadan. q THURSDAYS, APRIL 30; MAY 7, 14, 21 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Foundation Scholar, Rabbi Danny Schiff, presents The Human Body in Judaism. The seven-session course will explore the reaction of Judaism to the way in which we treat our bodies, ranging from tattooing to cosmetic surgery to hair cutting. 10:30 a.m. jewishpgh.org/event/ the-human-body-in-judaismvirtual/2020-03-26 q THURSDAY, APRIL 30 All women are welcome to join the Lions of Judah for a thought-provoking discussion on the Changing Faces of Judaism, presented by Danielle Kranjec, senior Jewish educator at the Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center. This is a Zoom conference. You will receive a link to participate with your registration email.

Presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/lion-of-judah-learn. q WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 The Jewish holiday of Shavuot celebrates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Tikkun Leil Shavuot traditionally brings the entire Pittsburgh Jewish community together for all-night Jewish learning. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will host an online version the night before Shavuot so all can participate. More information to come. PJC

JFilm festival goes virtual

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ittsburgh’s JFilm canceled its 27th annual festival, scheduled to run April 23-May 3, because of the coronavirus crisis. Instead, this year JFilm will be offering a short Jewish-themed film to movie-lovers through online links each day the festival would have taken place in a theater.

Audience members will receive links to the films via email, along with recorded Q&As with most of the films’ directors and hosted by Kathryn Spitz Cohan, executive director of JFilm.

The scheduled films include several that

In this time of crisis, we at JAA are grateful for our nurses and care providers and for you, the members of our community, who trust us to do our very best with the decisions we make every day.

That’s Aging. Vigilantly.

won the Robinson International Short Film Competition. The Robinson Competition, created in honor of the memory of Sanford N. Robinson, Sr., a noted member of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, is funded by the Sanford N. Robinson, Sr. Memorial Lecture Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

To request links to the films, email info@ filmpittsburgh.org PJC — Toby Tabachnick

Chronicle receives six nominations for Golden Quill awards

A

dam Reinherz, David Rullo and Toby Tabachnick are finalists for this year’s Golden Quill Awards, an annual competition sponsored by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania that recognizes professional excellence in journalism.

Winners will be announced during the annual Golden Quills dinner. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions, the dinner has tentatively been rescheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3, at the Rivers Casino.

Chronicle staff writer, Adam Reinherz, has

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been recognized for “Charleston survivor comforts congregants,” and “Cleaning up, after the unimaginable.” Staff writer David Rullo has been recognized for “Pittsburgh’s first Torah by female scribe commissioned by Temple Sinai,” “Rediscovering the Jews of Amiens,” and “Temple Beth Am shutters its doors, buries prayer books.”

Editor Toby Tabachnick has been recognized for “Neglected Jewish cemetery in White Oak restored by non-Jewish volunteers.” PJC — Toby Tabachnick

3/23/20 11:51 AM

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Headlines CMU receives $5 million grant to expand Jewish studies, student life on campus — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

he Jack Buncher Foundation has awarded Carnegie Mellon University $5 million to expand the university’s efforts to grow Jewish learning and life on campus.

CMU received two separate grants from the foundation. According to Buncher Foundation Grants Manager Karen Emmerich, a $2 million award created the position of Jack Buncher Director of Jewish Student Life. A separate $3 million grant created the Jack Buncher Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies.

The grants ensure “Jewish student life at CMU flourishes in the future through an endowed directorship at CMU-Hillel and sustains new research, scholarship and connections with an endowed professorship at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Science,� according to a press release from the university.

Michal Friedman has been named as the inaugural Jack Buncher Endowed Chair. In addition to teaching and developing Jewish programming for the university, Friedman also will collaborate with Centropa in Europe, an interactive database of Jewish memories and oral histories.

p Alex Zissman (bottom row, seated) has been named the Jack Buncher Director of Jewish Student Life at CMU. Zissman led 25 Jewish CMU undergraduate Hillel student leaders and non-Jewish campus student leaders exploring Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Photo provided by Alex Zissman.

Students from both CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, and the wider Pittsburgh community, will work with the “amazing public history NGO� to create educational experiences and exhibitions, as well as conferences and publications for use by students and educators around the world, according to Friedman. “There are all kinds of opportunities to give a stage to these oral histories, which are very rich,� she said. She cited possible

collaborations between Centropa and “people from entertainment, information sciences and the school of drama� to create innovate experiences in “drama, high tech or digital humanities.�

The professor said she was excited to bring “Jewish history to Carnegie Mellon in a way that is very cutting-edge� and both “publicly and dynamically engaging.�

Alex Zissman, formely the director of

Jewish life at CMU, is now the first Buncher director of Jewish student life. He will continue to work closely with CMU’s student affairs team and serve as a key resource to the university’s hundreds of Jewish students.

Zissman, whose position is part of Hillel-JUC, said that the award provides “additional legitimacy for the importance and significance of Hillel being on the campus.� “It’s a privilege to serve and support CMU’s thriving Jewish community,�

Zissman said. “Working with CMU’s Jewish students, I know how much this gift means to them as it allows us to continue providing resources, services and support to every Jewish student at CMU.�

Hillel-JUC Executive Director and CEO Daniel Marcus said the award provides sustainability and continuity to Jewish campus life at the university. “It provides security, allowing us to grow and expand our engagement with every Jewish student at Carnegie Mellon,� Marcus said. “We have tremendous gratitude for the gift and appreciation of the partnership with Carnegie Mellon for making this happen.�  PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines JAA continues to protect residents from virus while preparing for potential outbreak — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

R

obert Stone, a retired attorney and lifelong Pittsburgher with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, lives at AHAVA Memory Care at the Jewish Association on Aging. His wife, Eleanor, used to Uber from their North Oakland condo to visit with him daily, sometimes for hours at a time.

That was before COVID-19.

Today, the Stones communicate via FaceTime — and Robert’s son wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Overall, we were happy that they [restricted visitation] completely when they did, even if it means we no longer get to see my dad,” said Harlan Stone, who works as an attorney downtown and lives in Squirrel Hill.

“I think we have all put his health considerations first … We feel blessed we have him at AHAVA. I can’t think of another place I’d rather have him right now.”

Senior living facilities and nursing homes have been hit hard by COVID-19. Various news sources reported that coronavirusrelated deaths in long-term care (LTC) facilities doubled last week to about 6,000 in the U.S. In New York, which has seen dramatic spikes in the number of positive cases, some estimate more than 2% of nursing home residents statewide have died from COVID-19.

As of press time, that’s not the case in Pittsburgh.

Though Allegheny County has reported its share of confirmed cases and COVID19-related deaths — including more than 75 positive cases at four Kane assisted living centers — the JAA reported no positive cases of the virus among its roughly 4,000 resident-clients or staff as of April 20.

For staff and leadership at JAA, keeping COVID-19 at bay has been an education.

“We’re working as diligently as we can to stay ahead of this,” JAA CEO Debbie Winn-Horvitz said earlier this week. “Literally, every single day for the past eight weeks … we are implementing something new. I am continually learning from what others are going through.”

Winn-Horvitz said she has been communicating with colleagues at LTC facilities around the nation and taking part in webinars through the national Association of Jewish Aging Services, of which she serves as vice chairperson and JAA is a member.

One Friday, she was speaking with an

p JAA residents are now eating their meals in their rooms, a protocol to keep them protected from COVID-19.

Photo provided by the JAA.

“ When we put out a call for fabric masks, we get hundreds of fabric masks.

I’m humbled by the support we’ve been receiving from this community [and]

”

I think everyone here feels that.

— DEBBIE WINN-HORVITZ, JAA CEO administrator at a Kline Galland facility in the Seattle area, where the first COVID-19 cases in the U.S. were reported earlier this year. That administrator mentioned they were separating where staff members could

congregate to take breaks. By the following Monday, it was a JAA policy, too.

“We’re doing things above and beyond anything that’s coming out of the health department or the CDC,” Winn-Horvitz said.

news JEWS CAN USE.

Each staff member, for example, has their temperature taken and symptoms screened each day when they report to work. All employees — there have been no furloughs or cuts to staff at their buildings — are issued JAA scrubs, which are washed on the premises and never leave the site. Residents have been eating meals on disposable sanitary containers for weeks now.

Winn-Horvitz is optimistic but cautious.

“The reality is there’s no 100 % guarantee you can keep (COVID-19) out of anywhere,” she said. “We have to be prepared. We wouldn’t be serving everyone well if we weren’t prepared.

“We pray we don’t have any cases,” she added, “but chances are someone — a staffer or a resident — will test positive.”

In addition to calls and webinars through the Association of Jewish Aging Services, WinnHorvitz said she has been communicating with LTC facilities of other faiths and program styles. She also has been participating in calls with her management team and the advocacy group Leading Age seven days every week.

“There’s so much information coming out,” she said.

The Pittsburgh Jewish community has “been rallying around us,” Winn-Horvitz added. “When we put out a call for fabric masks, we get hundreds of fabric masks. I’m humbled by the support we’ve been receiving from this community. I think everyone here feels that.”

Yetta Speiser doesn’t feel alone at Weinberg Terrace, a JAA personal care community on Bartlett Street, even though she is not allowed to receive visitors in her apartment because of the protective JAA policies in place.

She laughs when reminiscing about a family friend who recently “visited” her from outside her window, complete with a fish sandwich from Eat’n Park around the corner. She can handle stay-at-home orders if it means she and her neighbors are keeping safe.

“We have to eat in our room, which isn’t too pleasant, but it’s for our own good,” Speiser said. “They’re doing as much as they can and thank God nobody has it here.”

But can Speiser see the light at the end of the tunnel, a way out of the new normal?

“I’m 93 and I’ve never lived through anything like this,” she laughed. “And I hope we never have to do it again.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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RE-IMAGINED JFILM FESTIVAL

JFILM AT FILM PITTSBURGH’S FALL FESTIVAL

Film Pittsburgh is delighted to offer our JFilm family a re-imagined, virtual version of the festival, from April 23rd– May 3rd! On each day we’ll share a link via email to an engaging, Jewish-themed short film. We’ve curated a terrific slate of films that will take you on an emotional journey, including several that were winners of our Robinson International Short Film Competition.* We’ll also offer recorded interviews with directors of most of the highlighted films.

We are looking forward to the time that we can gather together again in person. With that in mind, mark your calendars for our 2020 Film Pittsburgh Fall Festival, November 11-22, and look for some of this year’s lost JFilm Festival feature films, which will play as a track throughout.

See you online for now and hopefully in person in the fall!

If you’re not on Film Pittsburgh’s mailing list, email us at info@filmpittsburgh.org or find us on Facebook!

Thanks to our generous supporters! *The Robinson Competition was created in honor of the memory of Sanford N. Robinson, Sr., a noted member of the Pittsburgh Jewish community. It is funded by the Sanford N. Robinson, Sr. Memorial Lecture Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Season Sponsors: Allegheny Regional Asset District, Jack Buncher Foundation, Philip Chosky Educational and Charitable Foundation, The Fine Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Hotel Indigo Pittsburgh - Technology Center, PA Council on the Arts, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Wall-to-Wall Studios JFilm Sponsors: Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh - Jewish Studies Program JFilm Media Sponsors: The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, NEXTpittsburgh, PublicSource, WESA, WYEP

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APRIL 24, 2020 9

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Worldwide population of 14.7 million Jews falls well short of pre-World War II numbers

The worldwide population of Jews stands at 14.7 million, still far short of the pre-World War II numbers, according to a report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The figures, which are similar to the population of world Jewry in 1925, were released ahead of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. The numbers are current to the end of 2018.

World Jewry reached a population of 16.6 million right before the start of World War II in 1939.

Israel’s 6.7 million Jews make up 45% of the world total. Some 5.2 million Jews were born in the country, while about 1 million are natives of either Europe or the Americas, as well as about 293,000 of Africa and 164,000 of Asia.

The United States has the secondlargest Jewish population with 5.7 million, followed by France at about 450,000 and Canada at some 392,000. Next is the United Kingdom (292,000), Argentina (180,000), Russia (165,000), Germany (118,000) and Australia (116,000).

In 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel, the number of Jews in the world was 5.11 million, including 650,000 in

prestate Palestine, according to the report.

Also on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s Ministry of Finance reported that there are about 189,500 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, with some 31,000 over the age of 90 and more than 800 over 100 years old. In the past year, some 15,170 survivors have died.

French-Jewish spy who survived the Holocaust celebrates 100th birthday with (socially distanced) car parade

The 100th birthday of a Holocaust survivor and former French-Jewish spy who went behind Germany enemy lines was feted with an appropriately socially distanced parade of cars.

Marthe Cohn sat in her driveway in Los Angeles wearing a face mask and gloves as cars full of people drove by wishing her well, shouting through rolled-down windows and sun roofs. A banner hanging on the garage door behind her read “Happy 100 Birthday Mrs. Cohn.” Neighbors stood in their driveways holding signs bearing well-wishes, too.

A letter of congratulations from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was read over a bullhorn and Cohn later received a phone call from both Rivlin and the president of Germany, as well as hundreds of emails.

A new documentary, “The Accidental Spy,” tells her story, and Cohn co-wrote a memoir in 2002, “Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany.”

‫לא בחיל ולא בכח‬ ‫כי אם ברוכי‬

Shel Silverstein’s houseboat up for sale

Famed Jewish writer Shel Silverstein is best known for iconic children’s books such as “The Giving Tree” and poetry collections like “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”

Less-known about the famous children’s author? He lived on a houseboat named “Evil Eye” in Sausalito, California, from around 1967 to 1975.

And you can now buy that houseboat.

Silverstein died in 1999 of a heart attack at age 68, and he owned the 1,200-squarefoot houseboat until his death. After he died, artist Larry Moyer — a friend of Silverstein’s — took over as owner, until Moyer’s death in 2016.

The boat is a decommissioned World War II balloon barge that Silverstein converted in 1967. It’s stylish, whimsical and zany — there are two bedrooms, one of which has a hanging bed.

The boat is listed for $783,000.

Silverstein, who was born in a Jewish family in Chicago in 1930, was drafted into the U.S. Army. While serving in Japan and Korea, he drew cartoons (eventually published in his first book, “Take Ten,” in 1955). After leaving the army, he drew illustrations for Playboy magazine. He never “planned to write or draw for kids,” until a friend convinced him to give it a try.

In the years he lived there, the boat served as Silverstein’s workspace. According to his biographer Lisa Rogak, writing in “A Boy Named Shel,” the boat “was a place that

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

Hapoel Haifa, a charter member of the Israel Football Association in 1928, is founded during Passover as the first labor-led soccer club in Mandatory Palestine. Its branches include worker movements and other sports.

April 25, 1975 — Music star Udi Davidi is born

Lee and Lisa Oleinick

10 APRIL 24, 2020

German city approves request to reopen Jewish school shuttered by the Nazis

A Jewish day school in Germany shut down 80 years ago by the Nazis got the go-ahead to reopen.

The City Council of Dortmund approved the request to reopen the school, which was the last Jewish institution in the city before it was closed.

“The fact that the school was the last symbol of Jewish life in this city has now been reopened is a clear sign of the return of our people to a community that the Nazis thought they had destroyed forever,” Rabbi Baruch Babaev of the Straus-Amiel Rabbinical Emissary Program of Ohr Torah Stone said in a statement.

Today there are about 3,000 Jewish residents in Dortmund — similar to the number of Jews who were living there in 1938, according to Babaev. The city of some 600,000, the third largest in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is home to a synagogue, mikvah and cultural center.

The rabbi expects about 100 students to attend the school, which currently goes by the name Jüdische Grundschule, in the fall.

Most currently attend public schools and have been, despite good relations with the general community, the subject of some anti-Semitic attacks, Babaev said. PJC

This week in Israeli history

April 24, 1924 — Hapoel Haifa Soccer Club founded

Not by might and not by power but by My Spirit

made Shel’s imagination run wild.”

Yet, ironically, wrote Rogak, Silverstein became seasick “at the drop of a hat.”

Singer-songwriter Ehud “Udi” Davidi, who raises sheep in the Judean hills when he isn’t making music, is born. Influenced by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, he is known for incorporating religious melodies and lyrics into his music.

April 26, 1972 — Soccer Star Avi Nimni is born

Avi Nimni, an attacking midfielder who is the all-time leading scorer for Maccabi Tel Aviv, is born. He begins playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth program at age 7 and makes his professional debut at 17.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

April 27, 1955 — Uzi unveiled during parade

The Uzi submachine gun makes its public debut as an IDF weapon during a Yom HaAtzmaut parade. The Uzi was first used in the field two months earlier during a paratrooper raid on Egyptian forces in Gaza.

April 28, 2008 — Amos-3 satellite is launched

Israel Aerospace Industries launches the Amos-3 communications satellite, based on IAI’s Affordable Modular Optimized Satellite (AMOS) platform. It reaches orbit 80 minutes after blasting off from Kazakhstan.

April 29, 1976 — Politician Tamar Zandberg is born

Meretz politician Tamar Zandberg is born in Ramat Gan. An urban environmentalist and social democrat known for her advocacy on women’s issues, she is first elected to the Knesset in 2013.

April 30, 2012 — Netanyahu’s father dies

Historian and Revisionist Zionist leader Benzion Netanyahu, the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Entebbe hero Yonatan Netanyahu, dies at home in Jerusalem at age 102. PJC

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Headlines Undying resiliency: ‘The survivors are giving us strength’ — WORLD —

By Deborah Fineblum | JNS

E

ach year, Yom Hashoah brings with it memorial gatherings across the world, candle-lighting ceremonies with elderly survivors and speeches by dignitaries. Across Israel, the children and grandchildren of survivors publicly read the names of those who perished.

But this year, Holocaust Memorial Day was expected to be a quiet event, with the survivors who usually are at its very heart confined to their homes due to COVID-19.

But instead of being intimidated by the ruthless germ, many of the survivors were surprisingly … calm. “These are the frail elderly — people who are at the highest risk — and most of them are alone without their usual visitors, but amazingly they’re not afraid,” observed Simmy Allen, who heads up international media for Yad Vashem’s communications division, prior to the day. “The survivors are giving us strength.”

Take Jehuda Evron, for instance, who lives with his wife and fellow survivor Lea in Queens, New York. “My wife and I survived the Holocaust, and we’ll survive this, too,” he said.

In his Romanian hometown, 30,000 Jews, including many of his family, were killed in

p Visitors tour the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on International Holocaust Day, Jan. 26, 2017.

Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90. via JNS

one day in 1942. “I was only 10 years old, but I remember it all,” said Evron, now 88.

To make sure their descendants understand what happened there, the Evrons took the entire family to Eastern Europe in 2005.

There they saw his hometown and her family’s fur factory that, despite decades of legal battles, they’ve yet to be compensated for.

So when it comes to the current threat, “we sure have faced more difficult times,” said Evron. “We were persecuted and massacred, and yet we survived. So I don’t think we have to be afraid of this virus.”

It’s an attitude that their granddaughter, Adi

Evron, who lives in Tel Aviv, has discerned since as early as she can remember. “I call them every Friday to see how they’re doing emotionally without family, and their optimistic spirit is an inspiration to me,” she said.

“Even though I grew up hearing their stories, I could always tell how much they love life and live every minute to the fullest, and my grandfather knows every joke there is.”

‘I am not afraid’

That courage and will to survive — and to help others in the process — is the theme of this year’s Yad Vashem Yom Hashoah online

exhibit: “Rescue by Jews: One for All.” By featuring many true-life stories, the exhibit demonstrates that “the Jewish rescuers faced frequent hardships and dilemmas, yet they chose to act on behalf of their fellow Jews.” Its message is a strong one: “It is incumbent upon the Jewish people, and the world, to remember and learn from these amazing deeds.”

The stories included the exhibit, said Allen, “disprove once and for all the stereotype that Jews were like sheep led to the slaughter.

There were many, many who risked their own lives again and again to save their fellow Jews.”

Among those whose stories are featured in the exhibit, Fela Trajman is one of the living remnants of Nasza Grupa (“Our Group”), a resistance movement of young people from Poland as clever as they were courageous and determined to save other Jews, risking everything to do so.

Not only did Trajman, her husband Pinek and their compatriots pull Jews out of hiding and transport them to safer ground, they arranged for falsified papers to allow Jews to pass as gentiles and escape, hid the vulnerable when necessary in trustworthy non-Jewish homes, sabotaged German property, smuggled in weapons and delivered warnings to flee across the few open borders when they got wind of upcoming deportations. Of the original 110, some 60 were murdered, often Please see Survivors, page 20

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APRIL 24, 2020 11

Opinion In it together Guest Columnist Anndee Hochman

M

y roommate is trying to fix the dripping faucet. This is not a coronavirus problem: The tap in the kitchen has been weepy for years, and we’ve all mastered the decisive handle-twist — jam down, then pull quickly to the right — required to stop the drip.

But now that we’re sheltering at home, with an obsessive hand-washing routine and plenty of time to spare, Megan’s got a YouTube instructional video, an Allen wrench and a Rosie-the-Riveter look of determination on her face.

It’s a DIY kind of time, when social distancing calls us to stay twice an arm’s length from everyone but our co-habitants.

That includes the UPS carrier, the cashier at Trader Joe’s and anyone we might, under ordinary circumstances, call to rewire the blitzed dining room sconce, troubleshoot a malfunctioning modem or plumb the kitchen sink.

For us, this isn’t entirely a new normal. We — my partner and I, and our two longtime housemates — are the kind of bunch my college-aged daughter wryly calls “crunchy,” by which she means that we shop at the co-op, still have a landline and brew our own

kombucha in the basement.

As a child, reading the Little House on the Prairie books, it was easy to romanticize pioneer life. I wanted to dip my own candles and sew my own clothes, like Laura and her sisters. Tapping the trees, then making maple candy from the syrup, sounded like so much sticky delight. I envied the Ingalls family’s resourcefulness and grit through punishing winter storms and bouts of scarlet fever.

As an adult, I’ve found a cozy spot somewhere between the 1870s and this surreal century. I don’t cobble my own shoes, but I can sew a pair of pajamas, bake challah from scratch, grow basil in the side yard and — each redolent, profilgate August — whirr it into enough pesto to last all winter.

I don’t aspire to live off the grid. I like the grid.

I rely on it. But as our zone of activity shrinks in response to state and local stay-in-place orders, and as nonessential businesses shutter around us, we’re forced to rethink so many of the tasks we used to casually outsource.

Pharmacy emptied of hand sanitizer? No problem; we’ll mix our own with rubbing alcohol and aloe vera left from last summer’s sunburn! Physical therapist no longer taking appointments? Work that shoulder in the living room with elastic bands and hand weights!

Here’s the irony. Just as we’re separating for the sake of health — literally walking a wide berth around strangers on the sidewalk — we’re understanding the fathomless depth of our interdependence.

Each day, each choice, reminds me: My

friend, who has asthma, considers getting tested for coronavirus after possible exposure to someone who may have the illness. On one hand, she’d like to know if she’s infected, so she can take extra steps to protect her in-laws. At the same time, she knows COVID-19 tests, and the protective gear that health workers need to administer them, are woefully scarce.

Or how about this one: We want to bolster struggling, family-owned restaurants, but we feel wary of take-out that might carry coronavirus — studies show it can live on plastic for up to three days — into our home. Or this: The spray cleaner that promises to kill the virus contains chemicals we’d normally shun as toxic for us and the environment. A grocery delivery service might keep someone employed — but is that really a good thing right now, for their health and for our own?

We’re learning how intimately tied we are, on the most micro scale — my hug or handshake could make you sick — and the global stage. One reason face masks are in such short supply is that China, where most health care safety products are made, quit producing them for two months while workers were under quarantine. If the coronavirus has a sense of humor, it must be laughing its spiky, microbial head in irony.

With governors’ orders to sideline all “nonessential” workers, we’re learning, painfully, whose labor really counts. The guy who preps your food. The woman who, now gloved in blue latex, delivers your mail.

The health care workers — applaud their

altrusim and pray for their well-being — who swab the throats of feverish strangers.

The people who, night after tedious night, restock store shelves emptied of toilet paper.

The most crucial workers are often the most invisible, the least rewarded, the hardest slammed in any crisis. This tiny, mighty germ is showing us that. It’s showing us the true fabric of our safety net, the nodes of privilege and the gaping holes of racism and poverty. It is shouting — could the message possibly be any louder? — that sufficient food, clean water, affordable housing and accessible health care should be rights guaranteed to every human being.

We are not a do-it-yourself species. Even on the mid-19th-century prairie, survival depended on barter, on neighbors, on sharing mistakes, expertise and griefs. We are in debt to one another, more than we can say.

There’s a teaching, in Judaism, that human beings are always connected — bound by circumstance and need, by blood and choice, tethered to ancestors, teachers and people not yet born — and when we light candles at the start of any ritual, their glow illuminates those links.

That’s what coronavirus is showing us, in a devastating flash of light. This time, let’s not look away. PJC Anndee Hochman is the author of “Anatomies: A Novella and Stories” and an essay collection, “Everyday Acts & Small Subversions.” She lives in Philadelphia.

What if Jewish journalism disappears?

Guest Columnist Jonathan D. Sarna

J

ust hours before the first Passover seder, British Jews heard the shocking news that the nation’s leading nationalcirculation Jewish newspapers, The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish News, were being liquidated. When local advertising dried up because of the coronavirus, “voluntary liquidation” became the only alternative.

Though there are now two competing bids to save the papers — one from the papers’ owner, the Kessler Foundation, and the other from an independent group of stakeholders — it is still possible that, for the first time since 1841, Anglo Jewry will be without a weekly Jewish newspaper to tie the community’s Jews together.

For those in London who have received their Jewish newspaper once a week for as long as they can remember, it is as if The New York Times suddenly announced it would cease operations.

The challenge to England’s Jewish newspapers comes on the heels of the announcement that Canada’s most significant Jewish newspaper, The Canadian Jewish News, has shut its doors.

“Already struggling, we are not able to sustain the enterprise in an environment of almost complete economic shut down,”

12 APRIL 24, 2020

the newspaper’s president, Elizabeth Wolfe, wrote in a final letter to readers. “We too have become a victim of COVID-19.”

These closures could hardly have come at a worse time. With Jewish communal life around the world upended, newspapers like the Canadian Jewish News expected to play a role, as Wolfe put it, “to inform, console and distract our readers as we all isolate at home, worried about our families, our friends, our medical caregivers, all those risking their lives to provide essential services, our businesses and livelihood, our community, our country, our world.”

That, of course, is what a responsible Jewish newspaper should do amid a crisis. Now, Jews in Canada and the United Kingdom will be on their own for the remainder of the crisis, without a communal news source to depend upon.

Unless we move quickly, Jews in the U.S. will suffer this same fate and Jewish newspapers across the country will disappear.

With businesses closed, American Jewish

newspapers find themselves without the funds necessary to sustain the journalistic enterprise. Many are struggling.

What does it mean when Jewish journalism dies? Since their establishment in the first half of the 19th century, Jewish newspapers in the U.S. have helped to shape community, tied far-flung Jews together and kept them informed. Newspapers have also preserved the “first draft” of our communal history.

Want to know, for example, how America’s Jews handled past epidemics? There is only one source: the American Jewish press.

Without a reliable press, our community’s past — the records of its achievements and mistakes, its milestones and its missteps — will inevitably disappear. So too will our broad sense of what a Jewish community is.

Absent a responsible Jewish press, the multiplicity of interests, views and commitments that characterize vibrant Jewish communities will find no common outlet. Instead, groups of like-thinking Jews will retreat into their own narrow silos, impervious to all who

Without a reliable press, our community’s past — the records of its achievements and mistakes, its milestones and its missteps — will inevitably disappear. So too will our broad sense of what a Jewish community is.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

disagree with them.

A good Jewish newspaper prevents any of this from happening. It serves an essential function in defining, maintaining, educating and promoting community. It ties organizations and individuals together and keeps members informed about local news, as well as news of broader impact. An effective newspaper seeks to represent all parts of the community, helping to acquaint different neighborhoods, generations, denominations, movements, etc., about one another. When divisive issues arise, the newspaper publishes various responsible points of view. When disasters like the coronavirus strike, the newspaper works to unite the community, providing guidance, sympathy and reflection.

The challenge to the London Jewish Chronicle and the demise of the Canadian Jewish News should serve as a wake-up call for Jewish leaders managing the crisis of COVID-19. In addition to the terrible loss of life, the psychic toll on individuals and families, and the economic hardship befalling those suddenly without work, we also face a basic challenge to Jewish community itself.

If Jewish journalism disappears, can the Jewish community as we know it be sustained? PJC Jonathan D. Sarna is University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, where he directs its Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. This piece originally appeared in The Forward.

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Opinion Now is the time for mindfulness Teens in quarantine Guest Columnist Cindy Snyder

W

ell, here we are at the fourweek mark of the more direct and measurable impacts of the COVID-19 virus. Some people are working from home, others have been furloughed and many are attempting to juggle the additional role of full-time educator with everything else. (Not to mention what happens to the house when everyone is there all the time.)

Some of us are the “essential workers,” the health care professionals, child welfare workers, grocery and other store personnel, truckers, postal workers, food service personnel, etc., who are required to subject themselves to a much higher risk of exposure to the virus, all while worrying about the potential impact of the risk to themselves and their families. One might reasonably think that now is not the time to consider the importance of self-awareness or mindfulness as we just try to survive.

But I would counter that this is the time to

In the moments we are able to do this, our vision clears and we can reasonably see what we have control over and what we do not. This awareness also clears the path for compassion toward self and others.

As humans, we need to feel in control.

We like cause and effect relationships. We feel comforted by being able to understand and predict. These are basic desires necessary to make sense and have some sense of control of and in the world. A lack of control impacts our sense of being capable and the belief that we possess the tools necessary to be successful. We will do whatever we can to resolve this feeling of uncertainty, even if it leads to inaccurate assumptions and selfblame. Our thoughts become riddled with, “I should be,” or “I’m a bad person because I can’t.” I can’t count the number of times in the past week I have needed to intentionally take a moment, stop my brain and ask myself the question: “What do I know and reasonably believe to be true?” as opposed to “I heard, think or was told that… .” In order to stop my brain from the likelihood of inaccurate assumptions that then drive irrational beliefs and behaviors, I must be aware of the process. I must check in with myself and others.

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle would love to hear your voices. What is it like being a teenager in the age of the coronavirus? How are you coping and what do you miss?

Send your thoughts, along with your name, neighborhood and a photo to Toby Tabachnick, editor: ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Building stronger connections during the pandemic

Living during a global pandemic that forces everyone to stay inside and socially isolate is not easy for anyone, whether they are a teen or an adult. I think the biggest thing I have learned from this pandemic is how much I cherish the moments of hanging out with my friends in person. It feels like society always calls our generation the “ones who are always on their phones,” but if anything, I have learned that we are just growing up differently from the previous generation. I know that I will make more of my hangouts with my friends in the future and urge them to stay off Maya their phones and to make the most of the time that we have together. I Leyzarovich hope that this pandemic can make a positive impact on our generation Photo by Dina Leyzarovich by making those in-person interactions more memorable.

With my Jewish identity, I have seen the Jewish community that I am part of with BBYO grow more and more from this situation. BBYO has created an easily accessible platform for teens all over the world to have virtual programs hourly throughout the week. I have enjoyed hosting events on My BBYO as well as attending some of my friends’ events, too, and even some celebrities that host virtual concerts. I feel this pandemic has helped me get closer to the people who really matter to me and build stronger connections with my friends in school and in BBYO. Maya Leyzarovich, ninth grade Shadyside

In these times, we need to be reminded to give ourselves a break, as these

— LETTERS —

are normal feelings in abnormal times. practice new tools of mindfulness as each of us has a new level of uncertainty and threat.

There are threats to our physical, social, emotional and financial well-being. We may feel anger and disappointment toward those we observe choosing to not practice physical distancing or “making up excuses” to go to the store every day. We may be intermittently overwhelmed by the constant activity and chaos in our homes or be panicked about our employment or financial situations. We may just feel out of control. In these times, we need to be reminded to give ourselves a break, as these are normal feelings in abnormal times.

At these points, more than others, self-awareness and compassion are essential.

Simply put, we must each pay attention to our physical, emotional and thinking experience(s) and well-being in the moment, whether the experience is pleasing, uncomfortable or downright painful.

The mere process of self-awareness or mindfulness is the best prevention against being carried away with the stronger, more negative feelings we are experiencing. This process does not make the feelings go away but provides us with important opportunities to make informed decisions regarding how we behave in relation/reaction to them.

Being aware allows us to acknowledge the situation without being consumed by it.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

In the spirit of self-awareness, I would like to put forth a suggestion or task for each of you and those around you. Take a moment and thoughtfully consider what things about your day are totally out of your hands, what things/tasks or activities you can influence, and what you can control. Write them down; have your children and significant others write them down for themselves. Review your lists with each other. Have conversations about each item. Attach language in your conversations that describes how you are feeling about each item on your list.

Take some time at the beginning and end of each day this week and review your list. At the beginning of each new day, make a new list. At first, you may find there are many things that stay the same from day to day.

Over time, as you become more aware, your list for each category will likely expand and diversify. Continue the conversations among yourselves. If you are home alone, reach out via phone or the internet and share your lists with others.

The 10.27 Healing Partnership can provide emotional support and contact through these difficult times. If you or someone you know would like to reach out, call us at 412-697-3534. PJC Cindy Snyder is the clinical director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership.

Torah does not discourage meat-eating In his column in the April 17 edition of the Chronicle (“Did the Torah warn us about COVID-19?”), Jeffrey Spitz Cohan purports to associate the COVID-19 virus with eating meat. He even goes so far as to say that the Torah is in line with his theory, by bringing up biblical sources. Unfortunately, Spitz Cohan’s biblical sources, facts and logic are all so distorted that it renders his opinion untenable.

Spitz Cohan’s assertion that the Torah prohibits or even discourages eating meat is inaccurate. He cites a source that prohibits meat from before the time of Noah. Yet Spitz Cohan fails to mention that the prohibition was lifted in the time of Noah, after the flood (Genesis 9: 3): “Every moving thing that lives shall be yours for food.”

He then brings up the incident of the Jewish nation craving meat, and G-d sending them quail. The sin was not that the Jewish people ate the meat, but that they lusted after it and rejected G-d’s gift of the manna.

At the end of the piece, Spitz Cohan claims that the COVID-19 virus is not a divine punishment. He then contradicts himself by claiming that if one eats meat and dies, he was asking for it.

There are plenty of good reasons to live a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. In this era, when there is no Temple, the Torah does not dissuade one from doing so. But when bogus references and false equivalencies are used to bolster the argument, one will do more damage to his cause than good.

Lenny Plotkin Squirrel Hill

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APRIL 24, 2020 13

Headlines Liberator: Continued from page 1

“We didn’t know what kind of compound it was. We just had orders to go there and see what was going on,” he said. “We didn’t know what was there until we got there. We had heard about other camps. We heard about Auschwitz and Buchenwald, but those were different.”

Like Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald were both liberated 75 years ago. Troops from the Soviet Union entered Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp, on Jan. 27, 1945. The date is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Lauren Bairnsfather, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, said the anniversary was remembered during the center’s annual Yom HaShoah commemoration on Tuesday, April 21. The annual service was changed to a virtual program this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the six candles lit in commemoration of the Holocaust’s six million Jewish victims, Bairnsfather said additional candles were lit remembering concentration camp “liberators, veterans and the Righteous Among the Nations.”

While Prestia isn’t Jewish, many of those involved with liberating the concentration

camps were. Bairnsfather recalled a story her father told her about growing up with an immigrant in McKeesport who served in the Army during World War II and assisted in liberating the concentration camp where his own father was held a prisoner.

Prestia was one of 120 liberators honored at a ceremony at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010.

The infantry soldier still finds it difficult to comprehend the sheer enormity of the Holocaust.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but at the ceremony, they told us in Germany alone there were over 300 camps. Dachau was built first, and it was the biggest camp, but Hitler had them built in every country he took.”

Prestia’s unit only stayed one day before leaving and heading to Munich. In spite of the short stay, the nonagenarian can still recall what he saw.

“We saw a lot. The gas chambers and the coal yards. There was this big building for showers. When people were going to be executed, they took them there to take a shower. Himmler gave one of his soldiers a medal for making some kind of device that would turn off the water and gas would come through. He executed a lot of people that way.

“People got tortured and killed other places, too,” Prestia continued. “They had

coal-fired furnaces and a lot of them were just burnt in that place. It was a terrible, terrible place.”

Prestia recalled capturing many of the guards left behind after the officers running the concentration camp left. Unfortunately, the biggest prize, Heinrich Himmler, evaded capture.

“Himmler took all of the SS troops with him when he escaped,” Prestia said.

“He would never go to trial because right after that he took a cyanide tablet and killed himself.”

Because of a language barrier, Prestia said communication with the Jewish prisoners was difficult.

“The people talked with some of their own nationality and stuck together,” he said. “The Polish people talked with the Polish people, for instance. We could understand some of the things they were saying, though mostly they wanted to get out of that camp.”

Prestia recounted that he was told no one had ever escaped. “There were walls and they had fences with electricity running through them. If they didn’t get electrocuted there were these vicious dogs they kept halfstarved that would chew people to death.

There were towers on the walls with machine guns. If you got outside the camp, there was a moat with water 12 feet wide.”

By the time Prestia and his unit arrived,

Yizkor:

Photo By leah613 / via Istockphoto.com

Continued from page 1

presented itself in that the Jewish people were able to “convert our homes into spiritual places and welcome” the souls into our residential spaces, he said.

Leading up to April 16, the date of the most recent Yizkor service, Silver had considered the significance of the event, as well as its relationship to the holiday of Passover. On April 14, the rabbi emailed congregants several reflections, as well as applicable Passover instructions, after receiving requests for words of “inspiration,” he noted.

The same day, Rabbi Daniel Yolkut sent a similar message to members of Congregation Poale Zedeck along with suggested readings, and mentioned that “Yizkor does not require the presence of a minyan or a sefer Torah, but may be said from your home.”

Rabbi Levi Langer of the Kollel Jewish Learning Center noted that along with reciting Yizkor on specific days, it is traditional to give charity in memory of the deceased, as doing so is connected to the days’ dedicated Torah portion.

During the holidays of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, “they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed but each with his own gift, according to the blessing that the LORD your God has bestowed upon you,” notes Deuteronomy 16:16-17.

Historically, “this scriptural reading made the last day of the three holidays a suitable occasion for soliciting gifts from each member for the support of the congregation,” wrote Solomon B. Freehof, the former rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation and president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the World Union for Progressive 14 APRIL 24, 2020

Judaism, in “Hakzarath Neshamoth.”

Naama Lazar was reminded of that communal charge last week, she said.

After reciting the Yizkor passage, and memorializing her parents, other relatives and fallen members of the Israel Defense Forces, Lazar turned to her husband, praying nearby, and said, “I need to send a check to the shul.”

Although tying the recitation of Yizkor to thoughts of donating money wasn’t unusual, pairing the two at home was a new experience, explained the Squirrel Hill resident.

Nearly 40 years ago, Lazar began reciting Yizkor after the death of her father. Last week marked the first time she wasn’t inside

a synagogue to do so.

Saying the prayers at home “surely brought my relatives back,” she said. “I had more time to think about the people I was saying Yizkor for. There were no distractions. When you’re in shul, you see other people praying. Here, there were no distractions. It was just me.”

Reciting Yizkor in the absence of other synagogue-goers was “definitely a bit strange,” echoed Smadar Parness.

The Congregation Poale Zedeck member, who quietly uttered the prayer while her husband did so elsewhere in their Squirrel Hill living room, noted it was her first time saying Yizkor at home.

“It was strange, but in a way for me I was

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many of the prisoners had already been forced to leave the camp by the commandant and guards. Between 6,000 and 7,000 inmates were taken on a death march, never to return.

Despite the large number of inmates taken from the camp, Prestia and his fellow soldiers still encountered “over 2,000 dead.

We got out over 31,000 people. They were just skin and bones. They were all different nationalities. They were starving.”

The veteran said that Himmler’s intention was to leave no prisoner alive.

“I don’t know how true this is, but we heard from our medics that they had big pots of poisoned soup on their stoves. They were going to feed them all a big bowl of soup.”

Bairnsfather said that often liberators don’t talk of their experiences during the war. “The liberators who did talk and will talk are very special,” she said.

Bairnsfather remembered a quote from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, highlighting the importance of capturing their stories: “Get it all on record now, get the films, get the witnesses, because somewhere down the road of history, some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

more focused,” she said. “There were no distractions. Of course, during Yizkor in shul no one talks, it’s usually a solemn time, but it was easier for me to focus on it here.”

Like Lazar, Parness recited the memorial prayer for her parents, other relatives and fallen members of the Israel Defense Forces.

Parness also credited Yolkut with emailing out a special text dedicated to the memory of those murdered at the Tree of Life building in October 2018. Although Yizkor has a certain personal element whereby the individual calls to mind the memory of those departed, there is a larger responsibility associated with saying the prayer, said Rosenblum.

“The soul has a certain journey,” and the first yahrzeit is a marker along that path. For that reason, the memory of Lori Kaye was important to keep in mind, he said.

Kaye was murdered during an anti-Semitic shooting at the Chabad of Poway in 2019. Last week marked the first yahrzeit of her death.

Mentioning the names of the departed enables the living to celebrate the holiday with the neshamas (souls) of the deceased, said Silver.

Passover has a “particular energy,” and at the holiday’s conclusion people are asked to look back at the past but also toward the future, noted Rosenblum: This year, because of the pandemic, there was a certain disruption of familiarity. People were away from loved ones or regular settings, and although many individuals had to say Yizkor away from a synagogue, the “privacy” that’s shared between the living and the dead wasn’t absent. In fact, by focusing on the experience of saying Yizkor, even when done so at home, and seemingly alone, “it can be very powerful.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Chabad: Continued from page 2

during the COVID-19 crisis would be small, however, they soon found out “there are a lot of people still on campus,” the rabbi said.

Sara Weinstein, who is the co-director of Chabad House on Campus with her husband, Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein, explained that under normal circumstances, Chabad-led programs are often students’ first interactions with structured Judaism. The pair now has to work to find ways to teach and take care of students while social distancing.

“There’s a Russian student from Chatham, he lives in an apartment and couldn’t go back home,” Weinstein said. “He would normally be here for Shabbos dinner every Friday night but since we had to stop, we’ve been sending him food.”

She said her husband went through the seder with the student over Google Hangout, including explaining what a Haggadah was. The student had never had a seder, as his family wasn’t religious. “He said, ‘I’ve learned more about Judaism in Pittsburgh’ because he’s been coming over Shabbos and participating in things,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein pointed out that Chabad typically “wants to be able to gather people together,” so while she was happy to help the student celebrate Passover alone, “it was a little painful for us.”

Ethan Einhorn is a senior speech pathology student close to the Weinsteins.

He decided to stay in Pittsburgh after

Birthright: Continued from page 4

will not be going to the Jewish state due to concerns with COVID-19 and international travel, Marcus said.

“As you can see, we had more than 100 Jewish students scheduled to participate in Birthright and Onward Israel — which is, for us, a huge number of students,” Marcus said.

Another Jewish Federation official confirmed travel between Pittsburgh and its Israeli sister city, Karmiel and the Misgav region, has been grounded.

“We’ve had many, many trips for years going to Karmiel and Misgav,” said Debbie

Businesses: Continued from page 5

the Federation webinars was The Friendship Circle, a Jewish nonprofit based on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill that brings people of diverse abilities together. Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, the organization’s executive director, confirmed Friendship Circle secured PPP funding but would not disclose the amount.

“It’s not social distancing, it’s physical distancing — the ‘social’ is something we’re still providing,” Rudolph said. “We’ve been able to move to a virtual platform and everything’s been well-received.”

Others struggle.

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p Ethan Einhorn, Pitt Class of 2020, makes a drive-by visit to the Weinstein family.

Photo provided by Sara Weinstein

with Chabad, helping the organization distribute Shabbat-to-go bags during the coronavirus crisis.

“My parents are living overseas right now. I’ve been on my own for about a year,” he explained. He said that even before the current situation, “Chabad looked out for people, making sure that we were doing well.

That mission continues now.”

Franklin said he feels particularly close to Chabad and its families, likening his relationship to Pitt’s Rothstein as similar to “a brother. If there is anyone in Pittsburgh I trust, it’s Shmuli.”

Forcing students to stay away has been difficult, Rothstein said. “That has been interesting, to say ‘no’ to people. When they’re like, rabbi, ‘We’re here to pick up our food. Want to rap?’ The answer is ‘no.’ No one comes in the house. Interactions take place over our porch. It’s very awkward, especially with people you’ve spent four years with and are super close to. It’s very sad, actually.”

Weinstein and her husband have been involved with the college community for more than 30 years. She said that during this difficult time, Chabad can “try to be there for strength and comfort” so people know they are not alone. “And to try and have a Jewish perspective, which always includes hope and positivity because we know there’s a reason all of this happened, and that God has a plan.” PJC

visiting New Orleans before he was aware of the impact of the virus. Both he and his roommate experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19 and decided to self-quarantine rather than go home.

He celebrated both Passover and Shabbat utilizing kits provided by Chabad. He views

the Weinsteins as a second family when he is in Pittsburgh.

“I’m really good friends with the whole family. I reached out to them right before Pesach and drove by in my car and just sat and chatted with them,” Einhorn said.

Biology major Franklin* volunteers

Swartz, the Federation’s overseas planning associate. The cancellations, she added, “have been very disappointing, to say the least. But we have to consider everyone’s health and safety.”

Younger travelers also have been impacted.

Community Day School’s annual eighthgrade trip to Israel, for which some students’ families have been raising funds through the Federation since their children were in kindergarten, was canceled, confirmed Jennifer Bails, director of marketing and communications at CDS. “For Community Day School and for both of us personally, the eighth grade Israel trip is an essential element of the CDS experience. It is because of that — and because we

know that your children have been looking forward to this trip for literally years — that it has been so difficult to arrive at this decision,” Head of School Avi Munro and Head of Hebrew and Jewish Studies Tzippy Mazer wrote to families in a joint email. “This is the hardest and very last decision we ever wanted to make during this time of crisis, but we firmly believe it is the right one given the circumstances.”

Munro said that CDS explored rescheduling the trip but it appears that Israel’s policy to quarantine international travelers will continue at least through May. “Summer isn’t practical given family plans, staffing needs and the continued uncertainty of the COVID-19 situation,”

Munro and Mazer wrote. “The very outsidethe-box idea of joining next year’s eighth grade while they are in Israel runs afoul of high school schedules and creates many social challenges … Details about trip refunds and credits will be forthcoming.

We also look forward to providing you with information about Israel trips and programs (perhaps including a Community Day School alumni trip!) through the Pittsburgh Jewish community and will celebrate the participation of the CDS Class of 2020 no matter when they get on that plane in the future.” PJC

Ilene Scoratow, who has owned and operated the Squirrel Hill-based business Another Mother — which provides help with laundry, cleaning and shopping — since 2014, immediately felt the impact of COVID-19 when places like spas and Air B&Bs stopped operating and had no laundry or cleaning needs.

“My commercial business clients all are shuttered — I hope when they lift the bans, they’ll be able to recover,” Scoratow said.

Scoratow typically employs up to six independent contractors, based on seasonal needs. Right now, only one other person is working with her. When Scoratow filed paperwork with the SBA, she heard she might be eligible for $1,000 in aid per employee.

“The SBA told me I should hear something in two weeks and I haven’t heard anything,” Scoratow said. “Now, there’s no money. I am not convinced we’re going to get it.”

Scoratow has seen an increase in shop-forhire requests but that’s a smaller portion of her business than laundry work.

“If people have a need to do their laundry, they should call us,” she said. “We’re happy to serve those customers.”

The stay-at-home order has not resulted in dire business outlooks for everyone, though.

The Pop Cakery, for example, is thriving and owner-operator Nechama Huber has been working some nights until 5 a.m. in her commercial-grade kosher Greenfield kitchen to keep up with orders. She’s bouncing from

shipping customized cookie kits for kids to decorate, to launching a new care package of sweets just in time for Mother’s Day. “I can work at all hours and get things done. In one week, I get two weeks of work done,” Huber said. “I saw more of a need (when stay-at-home orders started) than a need to shut down.”

Her business is booming, she said, especially U.S. Postal Service shipping and local delivery of her homemade and customizable cookie kits.

“That’s very popular right now because people are looking for things to do with their kids,” Huber said. PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. *Franklin asked that his last name not be used in this story

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

APRIL 24, 2020 15

Life & Culture

— BOOKS —

By Hilary Daninhirsch | Special to the Chronicle

M

usic is a central theme in “Exile Music” (Viking, May 2020), a new and welcome addition to World War II Holocaust fiction. A novel laid out in six movements, “Exile Music,”

by Jennifer Steil, tells the story of a Jewish family in Vienna that narrowly escapes the Nazis by obtaining visas to Bolivia, one of the only countries that opened its borders to Jews at the time.

The book, which spans a 25-year time period, is narrated by Orly Zingel and opens when she is about 11. Orly has an idyllic childhood in Vienna. Her father is a violist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and her mother is an opera singer. She spends every waking moment with her best friend, Anneliese, together creating fantasy worlds and stories. She is also doted on by her older brother Willi and her extended family, which includes aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. Orly is too young to understand the restrictions against Jews that are popping up all over the city or the Anschluss that unionized Austria and Germany, and she is completely befuddled when people who used be kind, such as her best friend’s mother, turn spiteful against her and her family.

Several months after they are forced out of their home into a ghetto in Vienna, her parents finally secure the visas they need to escape to Bolivia, though Willi makes his way to Switzerland and hopes to reunite later.

To Orly, La Paz, Bolivia, is the polar opposite of Vienna. “This could not be the same sky. This could not be the same earth. My eyes burned. Never had I seen a sun so stark or felt such force. The sun back home had been a weak and benign presence that had to be coaxed out of the clouds. But the sun of La Paz was all naked aggression,” she reflects.

And worse, Orly’s mother stops singing because, as she explained to her daughter, “Singing comes from a place that no longer exists.”

Her father, however, continues to play his instrument, which miraculously he had been allowed to keep. “He played as if, by drawing

GET THE

his bow across the strings enough times, he could erase history. As if he could lure his wife back to her voice and play his son home.

As if he could erase everything but sound, and we could all live in that.”

Unlike her mother, Orly gradually adjusts to her new surroundings and makes friends

from many different cultures but never gives up hope that one day, her brother will catch up with the family. She also harbors a secret wish that she will someday be reunited with her beloved friend, Anneliese.

The family is astounded to learn that, after the war, some Nazis have also escaped

to Bolivia, but when Orly learns about her mother’s involvement in something nefarious, her whole world shifts again.

While the family is still in Vienna, the author opens each chapter with newsy “headlines” about the state of affairs in Vienna at the time, particularly as it pertained to Jews, providing helpful historical context.

The well-researched novel explores the nuances of Bolivian life, culture, landscape and government as the war rages on overseas, and its stark contrast to the family’s prewar life in Vienna.

It also details the struggles of immigrants in a foreign country, all of whom sustained loss in their home countries, and the precarious balance between maintaining connections with their countrymen, as in the formation of the Austrian club in La Paz, and attempting to integrate into their new worlds.

As Orly puts it, “Most of us grasped for the familiar, cooking Austrian and German food and speaking German. Many never became comfortable with Spanish. Many never considered Bolivia a permanent home, but merely a place to wait out the coming war.”

The writing is lyrical, and in the hands of such a gifted writer, the storyline flows, stopping the reader occasionally with thought-provoking passages that beg to be mulled over. For example, years after bearing witness to terrible tragedies and suffering insurmountable losses, Orly explains her feelings about religion to a friend: “These mountains were all the synagogue I needed.

Even if I believed in God, why would I go inside to worship, when all of creation was outside? These rocks, this red earth, this pale blue sky. Whoever made these, whatever force of nature, inspires in me greater faith than man-made buildings or worlds ever did.”

“Exile Music” also probes the definition of home, family and identity, and the idea of re-creation and re-invention. It also examines how music is a common language that binds people together and, in some instances, is a substitution for prayer.

In a sea of Holocaust literature, “Exile Music” stands out as wholly original and engaging. PJC Hilary Daninhirsch is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

news. THEN GET THE FULL STORY. ❀ In the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

For home delivery, call 410.902.2308.

16 APRIL 24, 2020

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Cover art: screenshot via Amazon

‘Exile Music’ is lyrical tale of a family’s escape from persecution

Life & Culture

Fauda screeshot from Amazon.com/Cake: t:maked/iStockphoto.com

Pandemic binge: The Chronicle staff ’s TV quarantine picks

Comedy, history and wrestling

— TELEVISION —

By Chronicle Staff

D

ays can be long during a quarantine, with most venues for recreation and leisure activities shut down and stay-at-home orders in place anyway. No gyms, no theaters, no museums. While it’s better than the fate of those seven castaways stranded on “Gilligan’s Island” all those decades ago (“no phone, no lights, no motor cars”), life at home — and only at home — nonetheless can be daunting.

But we still have our TVs, and in this golden age of programming, with hundreds of viewing options available thanks to cable and streaming, there is no shortage of entertainment for those spending more time indoors, socially distancing from friends and colleagues.

Here is what the staff of the Chronicle is watching during these coronavirus days and pandemic nights.

The woes of a sports fan

My TV binging centers around the lack of live sports programming. Those who know me know that I have been a consumer of sports programming my entire life. To not be able to tune in to a Penguins game or an NBA playoff game, even a Pirates game, has rendered me into a state of live sports impotency. I find myself viewing reruns of sporting events that I watched live years ago. Even decades ago. I even have sat down to watch a golf major from 2005 to help fill the void ... and I am not a big golf fan!

Lastly, if for no other reason than to point out how dire my “condition” has become, I just recently watched a match between the Bay Area Bombers and the New York Chiefs — of the men’s professional Roller Derby League, from 1966.

— Phil Durler, senior sales associate

Immersed in the familiar

Unfortunately, this crisis has kept me busier than ever managing the Chronicle. While I do watch some TV news because I have to, I find that I have less time to watch TV for recreation.

My one television vice is watching “Jeopardy” each day, which we record and view at some point while zipping through the commercials.

We know that they tape the show far in advance, so we are very curious to see when “Jeopardy” will make reference to the pandemic, and especially when they will practice social distancing, eliminate the live audience, and perhaps stop producing new shows and switch to reruns.

Of course, we play along, smiling whenever there’s a Jewish or Israeli answer that stumps the contestants, all the while knowing that Pittsburgher Abby Schachter’s brother is the show’s editorial producer.

My only other TV indulgence during this pandemic has been watching the four-part series “Unorthodox,” which gives a fascinating insight into the world of the Satmars even if the show is not as good as “Shtisel.”

In the midst of uncertainty I’ve found comfort in familiarity. Unlike others who may have used available time at home to explore new content, I’ve dedicated my watching habits (and by design, the viewing practices of those around me) to storylines already known and movie quotes seared into memory. I could say that I subjected my girls to the X-Men series because there’s merit in discussing Erik Lehnsherr’s post-Holocaust wrestlings with retribution and vengeance, or I could posit that forcing them to observe Marcus Burnett’s teeterings of self-awareness in “Bad Boys II” provides a glimpse of shifting generational struggles with finding professional worth in light of family. Maybe another person would hypothesize that the value in exposing today’s youth to 142 minutes of “The Shawshank Redemption” is in making it clear that with grit it’s possible to crawl through 500 yards of filth “and come out clean on the other end,” but that’s not the reason why I believed it imperative to be watching these movies now. Depending on one’s window, the world outdoors looks gray. To see that which I wanted, I needed to hear the words I already knew: “I hope.”

— Jim Busis, CEO and publisher

— Adam Reinherz, staff writer

I’ll take Potpourri for $400, Alex

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“Curb Your Enthusiasm”: My wife and I watched the last three seasons, so we’re taking this opportunity of forced isolation to catch up on Larry David’s second hit sitcom. It’s been interesting to watch the show progress from a strictly improvised, single camera production with odd camera angles forcing feelings of discomfort, to the rather conventionally filmed program of the last several seasons. Given David’s feelings about society and large gatherings, I don’t know if there’s a show more suited for social distancing and stay-at-home orders.

“The Plot Against America”: Philip Roth’s dystopian work of speculative fiction follows an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh has won the presidency and become an ally of Adolf Hitler. It’s told through the eyes and experiences of one family and, depending on your viewpoint, has many parallels to today’s world.

“Dark Side of the Ring”: No Jewish themes here, no great art. Rather, “Dark Side of the Ring” tells the sad tales of some of professional wrestling’s biggest names. Subjects include the murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and his family, WWF star “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka’s girlfriend’s death and the debacle that was the Brawl to End It All. Heavy on sensationalism, this is cheap tabloid TV at its best.

“Mrs. America”: Three episodes of this nine-part miniseries have been released so far on Hulu/FX. It depicts the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and focuses on conservative Phyllis Schlafly and feminist icon Gloria Steinem.

— David Rullo, staff writer

Then there’s Doron …

I am not one for watching television unless I’m settling in for a full-on sensory engagement. A good FBI/CIA psychological thriller movie will do it for me. I didn’t find binge watching to be satisfying … until “Fauda.”

“Fauda” brings it. Binge watching season 3 of “Fauda” is akin to turning pages in an unputdownable novel in a series. I’m invested in these characters, badass male and female Israelis, determined to defend the people and the land that they love, that I love, at any cost. They are speaking in Arabic or in Hebrew and I am voraciously reading the subtitles as if I am right there, in Israel, with them. I am not particularly paying attention to the military or political flaws presented; I

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am too engrossed in the strong storylines of both the Arabs’ and Israelis’ lives (told by an Israeli writer) and the talented cast capable of making these stories believable. And then there’s Doron. Oh, Doron ...

What pandemic?

—Kelly Schwimer, sales director

Comfort food for the heart

In 2006, I baked a cake called “Triple Chocolate Explosion,” printed in the Kosher

By Design “Entertains” cookbook. It was stunning and delicious. I followed the recipe to a T, and even sourced the kosher glitter the recipe called for. And it took me three days to make it. Three. Days.

After that, I went back to my old standby, Duncan Hines.

The fact that I am not much of a baker has no bearing at all on my fascination with “The Great British Baking Show,” which I binge on Netflix. I am currently on season 6 of the reality competition, which is unlike any other reality competition I have seen on television.

The show pits 13 amateur bakers against each other to be crowned Britain’s best. Each week, the contestants gather under a large tent, replete with ovens, counter space and kitchen tools, set in the beautiful rolling green hills of the British countryside, to compete in a series of challenges. Their culinary creations — often spectacularly creative — are reviewed by two judges and evaluated on taste and presentation. At the end of each episode, one baker is crowned Star Baker, and another is sent home.

Here is what sets “The Great British Baking Show” apart from other reality competitions and why I think it is the perfect show to watch during a pandemic: Everyone is just so darned nice to each other. If one baker is having trouble completing his mille-feuille in the time allowed, another baker will step in to help with the icing. When it is announced at the end of the episode who will be going home, the other bakers envelope her with tearful hugs. And even though there is no flashy prize or generous check presented to the ultimate winner of the competition — rather, the victor is presented with a glass cake plate — the sheer joy of being crowned the best seems to be more than enough.

It’s just a sweet show, in every sense of the word.

— Toby Tabachnick, editor PJC APRIL 24, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

B’nei Mitzvah

Filling the half-full cup

HACKLEY: Hudson Shea Hackley, son of Grant and Dr. Dana Hackley, will have a Zoom bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 9. The Hackley family are members of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills.

Grandparents are Drs. Wesley and Sharon Covitz of Winston Salem, North Carolina, and John David Hackley and Mary Jean Hughes of Sharpsburg, Maryland.

WEISFIELD: Amaya Weisfield will become a bat mitzvah on April 25 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Amaya is a seventh-grader at the Environmental Charter School. She is the daughter of Jodi and Andrew Weisfield and the granddaughter of Holly and Burt Wald and Cynthia and Michael Weisfield.

Amaya’s hobbies include gymnastics, softball, cooking, baking and playing guitar.

Amaya’s bat mitzvah project is volunteering at the Squirrel Hill Library because she loves to organize. Amaya lives in Squirrel Hill with her parents, her brother David, sister Elana and dog Loki.

Birth

WAGNER: David and Rebecca Wagner of Seattle, Washington, are excited to announce the birth of their son, Ari Samuel on March 11. Proud grandparents are Jimmy and Rochelle Wagner of Pittsburgh and Joey and Debbie Keller of Toronto. Great-grandparents are Lee and Marcia Himmel, the late Arnold and Jacklyn Wagner, Joan (late Stanley) Keller, and Lena (late Chaim) Markel. Ari Samuel (Chaim Shmuel) is named in loving memory of his great-grandfathers Arnold Wagner, Stanley Keller and Chaim Markel. PJC

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Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel Parshat Tazria-Metzora Leviticus 12:1–15:33

F

or generations, people have argued about whether the cup is half-full or half-empty. The optimists have carried their happy grin through their presentations, the pessimists have carried their grim wariness through theirs. And the debate rages on.

There is a third side to the argument, namely: What’s the difference? They both agree on the amount of water in the cup. So is this ageless argument simply a matter of perspective? Is there really no effort to fill the universally recognized empty half of the cup with water?

Perhaps that debate could be a lifesaver instead of a futile debate contest.

This week’s parshah discusses tzaraat, the ancient, spiritual skin malady usually meted out by Heaven to a chronic gossiper and slanderer.

For years, society has debated the value of gossip. Half the world loves it and cannot imagine life without it. Entire gossip industries are supported by that half of humanity.

The other half of the world shuns it, decrying it as the worst of the worst societal ills and the fountain of the uncouth.

The unspoken problem is that even if the pious half got their way and the slander society clammed up, all we’d have is a deafening silence. What then? How do we fill the empty half of the cup, that verbal void that deludes people into thinking they need to fill it with something, anything, even words devoid of content or virtue?

To put it in other words: Instead of sending silence to face off against gossip, would we perhaps be better off sending up some sort of constructive speech to compete with the destructive type?

The best way to fight the scourge of mindless gossip is mindful complimenting. The truly ugly thing about those who carelessly throw around hurtful comments about others is that there is always something nice and impressive that could have been said about that same person; why couldn’t they have said that? Why ignore every redeeming factor and choose to focus on the negative? Can’t they find any joy in admiring strengths and virtues?

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of mindless gossip is mindful complimenting. with as they ride out this quarantine lifestyle, we need to have the vision to see the positive power in positive talk. Just like quarantining and hand washing are only half the battle, and diet, exercise and a positive outlook are just as essential to healthy living during this crisis, silence is only half the gossip battle; kind words are just as essential.

The next time you feel the urge to indulge in gossip, don’t just hit mute; change your inner channel and kindly, mindfully and sincerely say something nice about the person you were going to talk about. You won’t just avoid hurting them — you could change their life, for good.

Let’s abandon the argument about how to look at the emptiness in a cup and see what we can do to make sure that every cup is full and brimming over with goodness and kindness. PJC Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel is executive director of The Aleph Institute - North East Region. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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The fact is that verbalizing a person’s weaknesses — even behind his or her back — brings those weaknesses to the fore, even if they were heretofore latent. But the same — and far more so — is true about verbalizing a person’s virtues. Those virtues emerge into the real world, even if they had only been in a state of potential until now.

Gossip damages people, whether they know about it or not. But silence is not the solution. Silence does nothing for anyone.

But speaking well of people fortifies them, with or without their knowledge.

Especially now, as more people than ever have only conversation to occupy themselves

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Obituaries ITKIN: Ivan Itkin passed away on April 5, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a week after celebrating his 84th birthday. Itkin was born on March 29, 1936, in New York City.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from New York University and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh. Before entering politics, Itkin worked as a nuclear scientist, applied mathematician and reactor physicist at the Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1972 and served 13 terms representing the City of Pittsburgh’s eastern neighborhoods of Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Hazelwood and Point Breeze. He rose in leadership to become majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and was appointed speaker pro tempore during the 1987-1988 session. In 1998 Itkin ran for governor as the Democratic nominee. His career went full circle when he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as director of the office of civilian radioactive waste management within the U.S. Department of Energy.

Itkin had the heart of a progressive and the mind of a pragmatist. He cared deeply about his constituents and worked tirelessly to protect the civil rights and economic security of the underserved. He was known for his command of the facts and ability to analyze and communicate complex policy issues, as well as his ethics and loyalty to his caucus and constituents. Itkin is survived by his wife, Joyce (Hudak), sons Marc and Max, and daughter Laurie (Dan). Due to the coronavirus crisis restrictions, no public service is scheduled at this time. A memorial service and celebration of his life will be held when the social distancing rules are relaxed. Memorial donations can be made in his memory to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

RUDOV: Jane Jaffe Rudov, age 62, died on April 13, 2020, at her home in Regent Square, surrounded by her family. Born in Pittsburgh, Jane is the daughter of

Norman and Alice Jaffe of Squirrel Hill. She grew up in Butler, Pa., and attended Butler High School and then Mercersburg Academy, graduating in 1975. She went on to attend and graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University and later received a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University (Thunderbird) in Phoenix, Arizona. Jane’s extensive career spanned many decades and continents, spending early years at Deloitte, and several years at UPMC in marketing and human resources. Later in her career, Jane was the global director of marketing for the Oldham Division of Industrial Scientific Corporation (acquired by Tyco International) where she oversaw the company’s global marketing strategy in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Ultimately, she served as director of marketing and business development at CJL Engineering where she found tremendous support and friendship in the past year. In addition to her parents, Jane is survived by her sister Erica Miller (Stephen), brother David Jaffe (Freada), loving stepchildren, Daniel, Lindsey and Roxanne Rudov, nieces Emily, Jennifer and Alexandra Jaffe, and nephews Harley and Matthew Miller.

Jane’s work afforded her many opportunities to travel the world, which was one of her great passions. She immersed herself in cultures, stories, foods and experiences.

Jane always brought back a piece of the world to share with her friends and family.

She will be remembered for her wonderful sense of humor and the incredible richness that she added to our lives. A private funeral service and interment will be held due to the CDC restrictions on social distancing.

Contributions in memory of Jane can be made to Our Clubhouse (Smallman St.) in Pittsburgh, or a charity of your choice.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PJC

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday April 26: Elias Bloomstein, William Bowytz, Samuel Broffman, Mollie Goisner Dugan, Milton E. Golanty, Anna Goldblum, Celia Greenfield, Eva Korobkin, Reba Lazar, Anna Miller, Sarah Offstein, Rose Orringer, Martha Rosen, Bella Siegal, William H. Whitman, Eva Grossman Willinger Monday April 27: Louis Americus, Isadore Berman, Hyman Caplan, Isadore Abraham Frand, Lea S. Golomb, Ida Greenberg, David L. Gusky, Arthur Samuel Herskovitz, Max Hochhauser, Dora Berman Horwitz, Sam Lurie, Celia Marcus, Sadie Mullen, Lee Calvin Plevin, Dolores K. Rubin, Philip L. Silver, Helen Strauchler, Phillip Tevelin Tuesday April 28: Bella H. Cohen, Sheila Dobrushin, Paul Leipzig, Abe I. Levinson, Saul Mandel, Louis M. Myers, Morris B. Pariser, Wolf Shoag, Joseph M. Swartz, Louis Wolf, George Zeidenstein Wednesday April 29: Max Azen, Gilbert Bernstein, Sonia Firestone, Herman Frankel, Lena Sanes Goldman, Barbara Gross, Solomon Hahn, Shirley Lebovitz, Donald Lester Lee, Harriet Berkowitz Linder, Harold Leo Lippman, Sam Littman, Moss A. Ostwind, Hilda Stern Press, Samuel Raphael, Dr. William Reiner, Carl Rice, Goldie Rosenshine, Scott Samuels, Scott Samuels, Rev. Meyer Schiff, David Shussett, George Teplitz Thursday April 30: Harry Broff, Katie Elpern, Lottie Fleisher, Arthur Goldsmith, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Goldston, Sam Goldston, Yosef Goldston, Beate Gruene, Pearl Katz, William Kliman, Selma Neiman, Imre Neubauer, Jacob Schulman, Sidney Yecies, Rose C. Zapler Friday May 1: Pauline Schlesinger Americus, Louis Berlow, Ida Rose Diamond, Julius Goldberg, Dr. Joseph Irwin Greenberger, Samuel Judd, Rose Markowitz Klein, Jerome J. Levenson, Rose Marks, Melvin Murman, John Rothman, Freda B. Saltsburg, Sol Sieff, Yetta Weinberger, Minnie Gertrude Wolf, Harry Yecies Saturday May 2: Harry Auerbach, Joseph Braun, James A. Eckstein, Lena Fish Freedman, Sidney Friedman, Samuel Laskowitz, Louis P. Rosenberg, Vivian Baltin Rosenthal, Phillip Ruben, Ruth E. Sherman, Morris Zeff

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APRIL 24, 2020 19

Headlines Survivors: Continued from page 11

in the line of duty, and most of the 50 who survived the war, including the Trajmans, made their homes in Israel. Fela is one of only five of the original 110 alive today. “In the ghetto before the deportation, I used to say to anyone who wanted to listen, ‘I will survive and not go to Auschwitz,’� she recalled. When deportation was imminent, she walked through the gate and was picked up by a German officer who hid her for three days and helped her escape to join the underground resistance forces. “I always met good people who helped me,� she said. “After I joined them, I was able to help others escape, too.�

This attitude holds Trajman in good stead today. “I am not afraid now because of my past in the Holocaust and in Israel, too.� Her husband risked his life as a sniper for the Israeli army and was among the unit that conquered Mount Meron during Israel’s War of Independence.

These days, she said, “I’m staying at home alone, and if I have bad thoughts or a bad mood, I laugh and then I feel better. And I believe it will soon be over.�

This approach to new trauma doesn’t surprise Trajman’s daughter, Esti Shevach, who lives not far from her mom outside Tel Aviv. “After all of her losses, it’s that same optimism that I’m sure helped her survive.�

Nor does it surprise Abraham SagiSchwartz, professor emeritus at Haifa University and an expert on Holocaustsurvivor psychology. His study (along with Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Shai Linn and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn) of 60,000 survivors in Israel, titled “Against All Odds: Genocidal Trauma Is Associated with Longer Life-Expectancy of the Survivors,� showed that survivors actually live longer than their peers. The results were surprising “given that most survivors not only suffered psychosocial trauma but also malnutrition, restriction in hygienic and sanitary facilities, and lack of preventive medical and health services, with potentially damaging effects for later health and life.� “So, despite their trauma, despite deprivation, at this stage in their life, they’re managing the corona(virus) situation by saying, ‘We will overcome this, too. We will beat the corona,’� said Sagi-Schwartz. “It’s their amazing power of resiliency.�

That power is alive and well in the world’s oldest working journalist and radio talk-show host. Ninety-six-year-old Walter Bingham was a teen when, just two years before his father and many other family members were murdered (his mother miraculously survived), he fled from his home in Nazi Germany to England through the Kindertransport in the summer of 1939. “We’re not shaking with fear,� he said from his Jerusalem home studio, where he broadcasts for Israel News Talk Radio and other outlets. “We’ve gone through a lot in

our lives, but I’m as fit as can be — the only pills I take are what old men use to ease the waterworks and some vitamins — so if we do what we’re supposed to do and keep away from people, we’ll get through this, too.�

Bingham, who made aliyah from London at 80, added “with everything we’ve survived, this is not reason to be melancholy. We’ve made it through much worse disasters in our lifetimes.�

‘The light at the end of the tunnel’

Despite their extraordinary courage and resilience, many Holocaust survivors find they’ve lost out on health and other services due to the pandemic. The Claims Conference is moving mountains to change that.

The organization, which provides compensation and support for Holocaust victims using German reparations and private donations, has freed up $300 million to help social service agencies meet pressing needs for survivors, including home health care and personal protective gear for survivors and caretakers. They have also established a $4.3 million fund for emergency relief for many of the 400,000 survivors alive today, many of them even more isolated than before. “Right now, when most of them are alone, we’re 100% focused on making sure they are safe and have everything they need,� said Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider.

What amazes him most is the questions he has been getting from the survivors, notably,

“How are you doing with this, Greg? And how’s your family?� “They have such a clear sense that they’ve been through the darkest times and experienced the worst pain, and yet were able to rebuild their lives,� he said. “So they see the light at the end of this tunnel, too.�

But Schneider also noted that the pandemic threat can trigger terrible memories and flashbacks of times when they’ve been isolated, dependent on others, and had to fear scarcity and hoard food. In addition, April is always an emotionally tough time for survivors, he added. “There’s Passover with its Yizkor service and Yom Hashoah bringing back so many memories; these can be emotional bumps in the road even without the pandemic. So this year, when so many of the survivors are all alone without visitors, it’s even harder.�

Still, even with the return of painful memories and even in this day of social distancing, many of them are still reaching out to help others. “One survivor, it was Naftali Furst, called us with an offer last week,� said Yad Vashem’s Allen. “He said, ‘If anyone feels alone or afraid, just have them call me.’ I can talk to them.�

And they’re also clinging to their unwavering hope for the future — a skill that’s held survivors in good stead for 75 years. Over in Queens, for instance, Jehuda Evron is already planning for next Passover. “Then we’ll do two years’ worth of celebration,� he said with a laugh. “We’ll have a lot of catching up to do.�  PJC

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20 APRIL 24, 2020

The Omer and Ramadan Tuesdays, 6:30 P.M., April 28 through May 26

/žĂž ĹšĆŒĹ?Ć? Ä‚ĆŒÄ‚Ć? ŽĨ ƚŚĞ /Ć?ĹŻÄ‚ĹľĹ?Ä? ÄžĹśĆšÄžĆŒ ŽĨ WĹ?ĆŠĆ?Ä?ĆľĆŒĹ?Ĺš ĂŜĚ ZÄ‚Ä?Ä?Ĺ? :ŽŜĂƚŚĂŜ WÄžĆŒĹŻĹľÄ‚Ĺś ŽĨ EÄžÇ >Ĺ?Ĺ?Śƚ ŽŜĹ?ĆŒÄžĹ?Ä‚Ć&#x;ŽŜ Ç Ĺ?ĹŻĹŻ ůĞĂĚ Ä‚ ĎǀĞ Ç ÄžÄžĹŹ Ç€Ĺ?ĆŒĆšĆľÄ‚ĹŻ Ä?ĹŻÄ‚Ć?Ć? Ĺ?Ĺś ƚŚĞ ÄšĹ?Ć?Ä?ĆľĆ?Ć?Ĺ?ŽŜ ŽĨ ZĂžĂĚĂŜ͕ Ĺ?Äš ĂůͲ&Ä‚ĆšĆŒÍ• ,Ä‚ĹŠĹŠÍ• WÄ‚Ć?Ć?Ĺ˝Ç€ÄžĆŒÍ• ^ŚĂǀƾŽƚ ĂŜĚ dŚĞ ŽƾŜĆ&#x;ĹśĹ? ŽĨ ƚŚĞ KĹľÄžĆŒÍ˜ ĹŻÄ‚Ć?Ć?ÄžĆ? Ç Ĺ?ĹŻĹŻ Ä?Äž Ä?ŽŜĚƾÄ?ƚĞĚ Ç Ĺ?ƚŚ Ĺ˝Ĺ˝ĹľÍ˜ ĹŻÄ‚Ć?Ć?ÄžĆ? Ä‚ĆŒÄž Ä¨ĆŒÄžÄžÍ˜ ZÄžĹ?Ĺ?Ć?ĆšĆŒÄ‚Ć&#x;ŽŜ ĆŒÄžĆ‹ĆľĹ?ĆŒÄžÄšÍ—

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But even as we deploy more resources we are being hit by the same ƮǞȲƵ ƵƧȌȁȌǿǞƧ ǏȌȲƧƵȺ ƊȺ ƊȲƵ ȌɈǘƵȲ ȺǿƊǶǶ ȁȌȁٌȯȲȌ˛ɈȺ ƊȁƮ ƦɐȺǞȁƵȺȺƵȺ‫ خ‬ We depend heavily on advertising. If organizations cancel events, they don’t advertise them. When businesses close and their customers lose ƧȌȁ˛ƮƵȁƧƵ‫ ة‬ɈǘƵɯ ƧɐɈ ƊƮɨƵȲɈǞȺǞȁǐ‫ خ‬yȌ ȌȁƵ DzȁȌɩȺ ǘȌɩ ǶȌȁǐ ɈǘƵ ɐȯȺƵɈ ȌǏ

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

APRIL 24, 2020

21

Community No leaven still fun

Learning continues at virtual school

p Programming continued at The Friendship Circle as participants enjoyed a recent matzah-baking demonstration online.

Photo courtesy of The Friendship Circle

Passover in a bag p Community Day School pre-K student Meital Helfand painted leaves she collected as part of an art lesson.

p 150 Seder to-go kits were distributed to community members by Chabad of Squirrel Hill.

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Yisroel Altein

22 APRIL 24, 2020

p Community Day School third-grader Lilly Shevitz connected with classmates and teachers through the CDS@home online learning platform.

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Photos courtesy of Community Day School

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Community What’s happening at Temple Emanuel

Masks distributed at Squirrel Hill JCC

p Cantor David Frommer, of Sherith Israel in San Francisco, joined Temple Emanuel of South Hills for a digital seder on the second night of Passover.

p JCC staff, seniors and community partners were able to stay safe after an anonymous member of the JCC board generously donated a large number of masks.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Springtime at JAA

p ECDC Music Teacher Rebecca Closson prepared for Temple Emanuel’s Friday assembly.

Photos courtesy of Rabbi Aaron Meyer

Machers and Shakers p Jean enjoyed some spring planting at Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Kathryn Fleisher, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, was awarded a 2020 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. As one of 62 recipients in the country, and the 13th in Pitt’s history, Fleisher received $30,000 for graduate study. With the Truman Scholarship, Fleisher will be pursuing a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University, focusing her studies within its Center for Gun Policy and Research. Following the attack at the Tree of Life building in October 2018, Fleisher founded the nonprofit organization Not My Generation, dedicated to gun violence prevention.

Photo courtesy of Kathryn Fleisher

Roi Mezare, associate director, major gifts at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, was awarded the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation.

Such recognition demonstrates that advisors have the ability, knowledge and tools to help clients reach their philanthropic goals, for themselves, their families and their communities. The American College of Financial Services awards the CAP designation, which requires graduate-level courses in philanthropic advising.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

p Staff and residents connected with physicians during a televisit last week.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Association on Aging

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

APRIL 24, 2020 23

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