Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5-1-20 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

May 1, 2020 | 7 Iyar 5780

Candlelighting 7:58 p.m. | Havdalah 9:02 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 18 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A midwife in Israel during COVID-19 Pittsburgh native shares insights

EKC alum aiming to distribute 100,000 face masks during pandemic

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$1.50

Former state representative, consumer advocate, Ivan Itkin dies at 84 By David Rullo | Staff Writer

LOCAL

cellphone case that can hold a student’s ID and dorm or apartment key — which he and his business partner, Jacob Halbert, created. In early April, the Keyper’s Chinese producer offered Gershanok and Halbert the opportunity to buy disposable face masks in bulk from a supplier. “This was before the mandate that everyone had to wear a mask,” Gershanok explained. Gershanok and Halbert met over a decade ago while attending the Jewish Community Center’s Emma Kaufmann Camp, and the two “shared the same bunk our entire childhood,” Gershanok said. The entrepreneur reached out to family friend and former hockey coach William Goodman, president and co-founder of

van Itkin, a Pennsylvania state legislator representing much of Pittsburgh’s East End, and who served in former President Bill Clinton’s administration, died April 5 of heart failure. He was 84. Itkin was a civil servant who had “the heart of a progressive and the mind of a pragmatist,” according to his daughter Laurie Itkin. The future nuclear scientist and politician was born in New York City on March 29, 1936, to working-class parents. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from New York University. Itkin moved to Pittsburgh in 1957. He received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh while employed at the Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory as a nuclear scientist, applied mathematician and reactor physicist. In 1962 Itkin married Judith Weiss. The pair had two children, Laurie and Marc. Itkin’s daughter said her father was a “consumer advocate” who discovered his passion when he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1972. The Rodef Shalom member represented the 23rd District, which included Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Hazelwood and Point Breeze. During this same period Itkin and his wife divorced. In 1975, he married Joyce Hudak. The couple had one son, Max. Laurie recalled her father as someone passionate about “fighting against discrimination.” The legislator was able to help pass a bill in 1974 prohibiting discrimination against the disabled. He was also responsible for laws that established energy efficiency standards

Please see Masks, page 14

Please see Itkin, page 14

Warsaw Ghetto revisited

Filmmaker unites communities Page 3

LOCAL Dirty O

 Ezra Gershanok delivers face masks to Jordan Golin of JFCS. Photo provided by Ezra Gershanok

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Pittsburghers say good-bye to an institution Page 4

ike most college students, Ezra Gershanok, a junior at Penn State University, is home because of the pandemic. With lots of extra time on his hands, and fueled by an enterprising spirit, the Mt. Lebanon native is aiming to make a difference on the front line of the COVID-19 response. Gershanok, along with three friends, has created the COVID Response Network, a nonprofit with the herculean goal of raising funds to purchase and distribute 100,000 disposable face masks before June 1. The idea came to Gershanok, an economics major, while speaking with a business connection he had in China through another project, the Keyper — a

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Pittsburgh book festival

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MUSIC

A song to heal

Headlines Israeli midwife with Pittsburgh roots sees ‘loneliness,’ ‘quiet strength’ during pandemic births — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

hen she held the baby in her arms, layers of personal protective equipment separated Gila Zarbiv from the newborn. As Zarbiv passed the tiny baby into the mother’s waiting arms, both women wept. But it was the mother’s uncontrollable shaking and primal wails that stayed with Zarbiv, explained the Pittsburghborn Israeli midwife. In the sea of COVID-19 related stories, delivering a stillborn in the midst of a global pandemic is a small but “significant” piece of a much larger tale, as “this is something that might not necessarily be thought of, but there’s really a lot of isolation. There’s a lot of loneliness,” said Zarbiv. “People are mourning alone and dying alone and birthing alone. How do we help people get through that loneliness? That’s what this is about. How do we stay together while being so far apart?” Birth’s complexity has long consumed the midwife’s thoughts. After growing up in Squirrel Hill and attending Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, Zarbiv (née Kanal) moved to Israel in 2007, shortly following graduation from Yeshiva University. Her decision to emigrate was influenced by reading Ruth Gruber’s “Raquela, a Woman of Israel” as a child. She decided that like the book’s protagonist, Raquela Prywes, she too would further the Jewish state by aiding the births of children there. After arriving in Israel, Zarbiv enrolled at the Henrietta Szold Hadassah-Hebrew

the pandemic, she explained. In former days, when Zarbiv and her husband, an oncologist, returned home from the hospital, the kids would “run into our arms like some sort of Disney movie, and there would be hugging and kissing.” Now, the parents find themselves almost madly directing their children away from the door. Clothes are discarded in the hallway, bleach is sprayed nearly everywhere and showers are feverishly taken. “We scrub ourselves till we’re raw, and then we hug them,” said Zarbiv. The pre-pandemic normalcy of family life has vanished, and for the kids “it’s very hard that Ima and Abba are not in the same house at the same time,” she continued. “Whenever he’s working I’m home, and whenever I’m home he’s working. That’s hard for them because it wasn’t always like that.” Prior to COVID-19 upending p Gila Zarbiv in full protective gear Photos courtesy of Gila Zarbiv so much familiarity, Zarbiv’s shifts at Hadassah’s Ein Kerem University School of Nursing, and during hospital often overlapped with her first week met her future husband, a her children’s schooling. That’s now changed. medical student, in the lobby of Hadassah She’s still going in thrice weekly for 10-hour hospital. The two “locked eyes” and were scheduled periods, but the nature of the married later that year. work has altered greatly. The couple now share four children, ages “Technically everything is different,” 10, 8, 6 and 4, and reside in Katamon, a she said. Jerusalem neighborhood, but, like work, At the onset of the pandemic, protoparenting has presented new obstacles during cols needed to be written and a specialized

ward established. “We had to determine how the midwives are going to deliver these women in a way that is safe, but also feasible.” Doing so “isn’t easy, it’s complicated.” Creating a safe p Gila Zarbiv environment with limited viral exposure produces a potentially isolating space, and with midwives in Israel serving largely as they do in Europe, as the primary medical professional during low-risk pregnancies, it’s not uncommon for an otherwise healthy mother and midwife to be together but divorced from other personnel for hours, explained Zarbiv. “Of course there’s always people who are available to help, but generally it’s just you and her,” she said. Based on current design, when a COVIDpositive mother, or one suspected of the virus, arrives for care, she is taken to a designated room with a single bed. Typically one midwife works inside the area and another outside the door. Given Zarbiv’s age, 35, and the fact that she’s the head midwife for infectious disease prevention, the former Pittsburgher often handles the interior slot: “I wouldn’t want a midwife who’s in her 60s to be there. I kind of feel a sense of responsibility that people who are at less risk should take that role.” Gowned in ample personal protective equipment, the medical professionals discuss patient care in an approved fashion. Please see Midwife, page 15

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Headlines New footage of Warsaw Ghetto subject of community Zoom event — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

eventy-seven years after Jewish dissidents mounted a historic rebellion in Poland, Jews and non-Jews, tethered by common interests and internet links, marked the Warsaw Ghetto uprising through conversation and education. An April 22 Zoom program, supported by Classrooms Without Borders, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, enabled participants to hear from Canadian-born filmmaker Eric Bednarski and Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich. Bednarski, whose documentary “Warsaw: A City Divided” was available for at-home viewing one week prior to the event, discussed the film’s genesis as well as current life in Warsaw. “About 15 years ago I unearthed unique and hitherto unknown 8 millimeter amateur found footage from 1941 that was shot in the Warsaw Ghetto soon after its creation by the Nazis,” said Bednarski. “When I took the footage to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center and memorial in Jerusalem, scholars there described it as the missing link in the visual history of the Warsaw Ghetto.”

p Lecture with Jacqueline Murekatete, Rwandan genocide survivor

For Bednarski, a Warsaw resident, the city had long been of interest. The area had served as his father’s and grandparents’ home, and as a child, Bednarski’s father

Screenshot courtesy of Classrooms without Borders

recounted haunting tales of Warsaw and its inhabitants during World War II. What became especially intriguing to the cinephile was that for years there had been

rumors within Bednarski’s family that a distant relative had recorded images of the Please see Classrooms, page 15

Seventy-one years after Israel fought for its independence, Magen David Adom is helping the country battle a different enemy. The coronavirus pandemic is indeed a war. Even if Israel can keep mortality rates for those infected to 1 percent, it will still mean the death of more than 30,000 people — more than all of Israel’s wars combined. Magen David Adom has been on the front lines against the coronavirus, but the ﬁght has taken an extraordinary toll on MDA’s resources. We need your support to keep saving lives. Observe Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s independence day, by keeping the people of Israel strong. Give today to our Coronavirus Emergency Campaign at afmda.org/corona-campaign

afmda.org/corona-campaign

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MAY 1, 2020 3

Headlines Saying goodbye to The O, a Pittsburgh institution — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

avid Brown, then a middle school student at Frick International Studies Academy in Oakland, used to go with friends down the block to The O to gorge himself on unearthly portions of french fries. When it came time for Brown to become a bar mitzvah and celebrate with his friends, he had very particular ideas about a venue. “The O was at the top of my list,” said Brown, now a Woodland Hills High School teacher who lives in Squirrel Hill. “When it got closer, (my parents) kind of said, ‘Nope, won’t be happening.’” The O, more formally known as Essie’s Original Hot Dog Shop, closed abruptly in late April after nearly 60 years in business. For Brown, as with many Jewish Pittsburghers who spoke with the Chronicle, it was a tragic loss of an iconic Steel City establishment. “It’s super sad,” Brown said. “The O closed and I won’t even get one last hot dog and fries.” The Original Hot Dog Shop — The O; to others The Dirty O — was founded two generations ago by Pittsburghers Syd and Moe Simon on Forbes Avenue. Its location was no accident. The brothers JC Opn S Sound Bar_Eartique 5/14/19 12:29 opened the business in the shadows of theAM

p The O, more formally known as Essie’s Original Hot Dog Shop, closed abruptly in late April after nearly 60 years in business. Photo by Jim Busis

Pittsburgh Pirates’ Forbes Field in Oakland, just as the team was rallying to win the 1960 World Series. Originally coined House of Beef and Page 1 & Burgers, the eatery sat for decades Franks

at the corner of Forbes and South Bouquet, in the heart of the University of Pittsburgh’s campus. In more recent years, as chain restaurants and boutique businesses started to pepper Forbes and Fifth avenues near the

school, The O became even more of an icon of earlier era. The brothers’ logic in opening in 1960 Please see The O, page 15

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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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JFilm Advertisers: Adat Shalom, Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, Cognitive Dynamic Therapy Associates, Community Day School, Development Corporation for Israel (Israel Bonds), Filer Chiropractic Center, Five Points Artisan Bakeshop, Fort Pitt Capital, Heritage Seubert Financial - Wells Fargo Advisors, Jacob Evans Kitchen and Bath, Jewish Assistance Fund, Jewish Association on Aging, Jewish Family and Children’s Services Caregiver Connection, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Campaign, Kimicata Brothers, LabNaturals (Murray Avenue Apothecary), Lange Financial, Littles of Pittsburgh, Marcus & Shapira LLP, Merrill Lynch Brown Hurray, Murray Avenue Kosher, NLG Consulting, Pittsburgh Oral Surgery, Pollock Begg, Rodef Shalom Congregation, Shadyside Inn All Suites Hotel, St Edmunds Academy, Temple Sinai, Wagner Agency, Walnut Capital, Whitehouse Salon, Winchester Thurston School A program of Film Pittsburgh

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MAY 1, 2020 5

Headlines Pittsburgh literary festival to be booked for 2021, thanks to local bibliophile — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

Pittsburgh bibliophile is cooking up a grand plan — a city book festival that is part communion for local readers and part spark to further ignite the region’s literary scene. Marshall Cohen collects signed first editions of books and has been consumed by reading for years. He grew up in Shadyside, attended Peabody High School, then moved with his family to California, only to return to Shadyside in his retirement. Cohen has attended book festivals around the country and rarely misses the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, a free, public festival and the largest of its kind in the U.S., annually drawing up to 150,000 attendees. (This year, the spring festival was postponed until autumn, due to concerns about COVID-19 and social distancing.) Recently, Cohen, who retired in 2015 from a career in public affairs and advocacy, started thinking, “Why not Pittsburgh?” “I’m a reader,” Cohen said proudly. “I don’t publish. I don’t bookbind. I read. And Pittsburgh didn’t have that type of event and that’s something that’s missing here, something Pittsburgh should have. So we

said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’” The Greater Pittsburgh Book Festival is scheduled to take place in spring 2021. Its organizers are eyeing foundation, corporate and individual support for the free, all-ages event, whose budget for a wide range of programming is $250,000. A location has not been finalized but the group already has administrative backing from the organization New Sun Rising and boasts a contact list of some 400 volunteers, Cohen said. “I’ve spent my life talking to people about ideas,” said Cohen. “One person would connect me with others — a door would open and a person would say, ‘Here, talk to these six people. And here are their emails.’” An early supporter of the festival was Pittsburgh Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, who heard Cohen give a presentation on the seed of his idea at a public meeting. “It makes so much sense for Pittsburgh that I’m surprised it hasn’t been attempted before,” said Strassburger, whose Council district includes Shadyside. “Between our vibrant local bookstore landscape, our wonderful libraries and our local writer talent, Pittsburgh is ripe for this sort of celebration of books.” Cohen and his idea also have been lauded by Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

“ I’m a reader. I don’t publish. I don’t bookbind. I read. And Pittsburgh didn’t have that type of event and that’s something that’s missing here, something

”

Pittsburgh should have.

— MARSHALL COHEN

p Marshall Cohen Photo provided by Marshall Cohen

“The Mayor’s Office sees a tremendous opportunity to connect our great academic institutions, small bookstores, avid readers and engaged residents around the strong literary community in Pittsburgh,” Dan Gilman, Peduto’s chief of staff, told the Chronicle. “Successful festivals in other cities would not just be replicated, but enhanced to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s unique strengths.” Cohen also has a fan in Seth Glick. Glick, who lives in Squirrel Hill and is a volunteer and member at Congregation Beth Shalom, started an author series at Rodef Shalom in 2018, which has since migrated to his shul. Cohen and Glick spoke after a February event featuring author Julie Orringer, who has Pittsburgh roots. (Beth Shalom Rabbi Seth Adelson, coincidentally, lives in the house where Orringer’s father lived, Glick said.) Orringer’s presentation was sponsored by the Jewish Book Council and Classic Lines bookstore. The series was presented by Derekh, a Beth Shalom initiative dedicated to enriching lives through community, lifelong Jewish learning and spiritual growth. Glick is quick to heap praise on his peers, and spoke highly of other local groups promoting authors and books, including Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, Bridge Series

and the Hemingway Series. “I think there are already a ton of great series in this town,” Glick said. “But I think what the festival could really do is concentrate it.” When asked who his dream choice would be for a marquee speaker, Cohen cites authors John Edgar Wideman, David McCullough and Michael Chabon. Glick didn’t skip a beat. “Zadie Smith — she’d be my number one choice; it’d be incredible if she came,” he said. “But, to me, I think a festival is more about the depth of the roster, rather than a single all-star.” Sharon Bruni from Mt. Lebanon Public Library agreed and said the festival would have a ripple effect in strengthening Pittsburgh’s literary clout among publishers and event programmers. “It develops for us a notion of community for this reading culture we’re all trying to develop,” said Bruni, the library’s associate director for public services. “I really do think it’s a perfect time to bring that energy here for our city.” Cohen has been highly democratic about developing the idea for the festival. In addition to enlisting civic support, he launched a survey online to gauge interest and collect ideas. “We want others to give us ideas,” he said. “We want to expose it to more people.” He recently launched a website for the festival on which he is gathering contact information for those interested in helping or attending. Once stay-at-home orders are lifted, he’s also excited to look into foundation, media and corporate sponsorships. “Money needs to go other places now — I understand that totally,” Cohen said. “But there’s going to be a reemergence. When that reemergence starts to crystallize … we’ll be there to connect book publishers and authors with readers.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Jewish organizations receive PPP loans to help weather coronavirus crisis

t least 18 local Jewish organizations were approved for Small Business Association loans through its Paycheck Protection Program. The loans are intended to help small businesses and nonprofits keep their workforces intact during the pandemic. The SBA will forgive the loans “if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities,” according to the SBA website. The local Jewish organizations whose loan applications have been approved include the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and all eight of its primary beneficiary organizations: the Jewish Association on Aging, the Jewish Community Center of Greater

6 MAY 1, 2020

Pittsburgh, Jewish Family and Community Services, Jewish Residential Services, HillelJewish University Center, Community Day School, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh. Responses to a Federation survey indicated that nine other local Jewish organizations received SBA loans, including the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. Pittsburgh’s Federation has been working with its umbrella organization, the Jewish Federations of North America, to provide information and guidance regarding the loan program to congregations and other organizations, according to Adam Hertzman, director of marketing for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

“I do think this will be a game changer for some organizations that were under financial stress caused by the COVID-19 crisis,” Hertzman said. While “all of our beneficiary organizations are well-managed financially, so no organization was at risk of going under but for the SBA loan,” Hertzman said, changes in operations due to the pandemic have caused economic strain on many of them. Organizations that have not yet applied for a loan may still be able to do so, as Congress passed a $484 billion deal last week to replenish the PPP program, which ran out of funds the prior week. Information regarding applying for an SBA loan can be found on Jewishtogether.org,

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Hertzman said. Additionally, leaders of Jewish organizations can contact either the Federation’s Milo Averbach or Jenny Kaplan at 412-681-8000 for information about the loan program. Nationally, among the 1,020 organizations that JFNA received financial data from, PPP loans were approved for 575, totaling $312 million. The median loan amount was $250,000. As of April 24, an additional 445 organizations were waiting to hear from lenders about whether their applications would be approved. JFNA estimates that Jewish organizations may receive as much as $500 million from the PPP. PJC — Toby Tabachnick PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Calendar >>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, MAY 1

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division, Chabad Young Professionals, OneTable and Repair the World for some pre-Shabbat spiritual prep and get ready to unwind and unplug for Shabbat. Register to receive the Zoom link to join. Free. 7:10 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/ young-adult-spiritual-shabbat-social q SUNDAY, MAY 3

The Aleph Institute’s Annual Symposium aims to bring together representatives from all sectors of the criminal justice system and community leaders to discuss systematic issues and recommend changes related to the carceral system. Open to the public. 6-7:30 p.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org/event/annual-symposium-2. q SUNDAYS, 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. jewishpgh.org/ event/jewish-prayer-2020-04-05/2020-05-03 q SUNDAY, MAY 3-TUESDAY, MAY 5

The Aleph Institute will provide training for the volunteers and chaplains who serve Jewish inmates, their families and those in the process of re-entry to society at its annual Jewish Chaplains Conference. For more information and to register, visit alephne.org/templates/ articlecco_cdo/aid/3611972/jewish/ChaplainsConference-Registration.htm. q TUESDAYS, 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, Shavuot 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/theomer-and-ramadan. q TUESDAYS, 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-the-wisdom-verses-of-themishnahvirtual/2020-04-13 q THURSDAYS, 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-bodyin-judaismvirtual/2020-03-26 q SATURDAY, MAY 9

Gather with Kesher Pittsburgh and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for Havdallah in Pajamas. Say farewell to Shabbat in song and connection while dressed in comfy PJs. 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/ havdallah-in-pajamas. q WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

Join fellow Ben Gurion Society members for an evening of stimulating conversation led by the Jewish Federation’s Foundation Scholar, Rabbi Danny Schiff and Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh CEO Jeff Finkelstein. You must RSVP in advance to receive the Zoom link and submit questions in advance. Free. 8 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/bgs-schiff 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 allnight 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

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MAY 1, 2020 7

Headlines With white supremacists driven online by the pandemic, anti-Semitism trackers watch for new threats — WORLD — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

or the folks who monitor anti-Semitism, a pandemic-induced nightmare nearly became real this month. A Massachusetts man was arrested for trying to set off a firebomb near the entrance of a Jewish home for the elderly. He got the idea, federal authorities said, from the internet. The incendiary device was planted near Ruth’s House in suburban Springfield, in western Massachusetts, on April 2. That was a day before the date designated as “Jew killing day” on a thread on white supremacist social media allegedly read by the suspect. The preferred target, the thread said, was a “Jew nursing home.” Jewish security insiders have been fretting since January about the possible dangers of a pandemic. Chief among them: that spiking online activity during quarantine would bring more people in contact with the toxic brew of racism, anti-Semitism and the glorification of violence that occupies the dark corners of the web. Jewish officials who track anti-Semitism are concerned that “a more captive audience, more people spending time online, the ability for these messages to resonate with certain people” could increase, said Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. Amy Spitalnick, who directs Integrity First for America, a group that litigates against white supremacists, said a cohort of extremists with time on their hands posed the risk of increased and more sophisticated attacks. “All of these people are staying at home online and have all the time in the world to take part in these attacks and spread their hate and plan,” Spitalnick said. Michael Masters, who directs the Secure Community Network, the security arm of national Jewish groups, said the April 15 revelation of the arrest made concrete the worries his group had been relaying to its constituents since January, when SCN started considering the pandemic in its bulletins. “This incident goes exactly to our shortand long-term concerns: the increased anti-Semitism, fomenting hatred and incitement to violence in online forums and on platforms that motivates, encourages or supports individuals to potentially take action against our community,” he said. “This is not conceptual.” While the volume of anti-Semitic expression has increased online, and in at least two cases has spurred white supremacists to action, Masters said that other manifestations of anti-Semitism, like vandalism and graffiti, have not increased since the pandemic. Here are some of the ways that the pandemic has changed, and potentially amplified, the threat of violent white supremacists.

Big, vulnerable targets

Ten days before the attempted attack on Ruth’s House, Timothy Wilson was shot dead 8 MAY 1, 2020

p A FBI officer arrives at the scene of an active shooting in Jersey City, N.J., Dec. 10, 2019.

by FBI agents serving him with a warrant. The pandemic presented the known white supremacist, who blamed Jews for the coronavirus, with an opportunity. Most gathering places, including synagogues, have been closed because of the pandemic. But Wilson, the FBI said, was planning a truck bomb attack on a large hospital in the Kansas City area, in part because of the mass casualties the pandemic would guarantee. Wilson, who had contemplated attacking a synagogue among other targets, “decided to accelerate his plan to use a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in an attempt to cause severe harm and mass casualties,” according to the FBI’s alert. Segal said the same logic applied to the chatter allegedly heeded by the Massachusetts suspect, advising attacks on Jewish homes for the elderly. Senior homes have made news as coronavirus hot spots. “It’s doubling down,” he said. “Who are the most susceptible, the most threatened by this pandemic? It’s older people.”

The conspiracy contagion

Ancient theories of Jewish responsibility for plagues are resurfacing and gaining wider exposure, Masters said. “Starting in mid-January, we were identifying on our duty desk a lot of historic anti-Semitic tropes related to viruses and disease, bubonic plague and post-bubonic plague,” he said. The tropes “from the Middle Ages were resurrected related to

the coronavirus, and it broke down to ‘the Jews are spreading it, the Jews are responsible for it and intending to spread it for monetary gain.’” Accusations that Jews are profiting from the pandemic have been circulating for months on social media favored by white supremacists, like Telegram and Gab, and then breaking through to mainstream platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Rick Wiles, a Christian pastor who runs a far-right news site, TruNews, said last month that the pandemic was simultaneously spread by Jews and God’s means of punishing them. Accusations that Jews spread contagion date to the centuries before Christ and flourished throughout the Black Plague in the 14th century. The preeminent targets of bias attacks during the pandemic have been Asians. Early on, an array of Jewish groups condemned the phenomenon.

Weaponizing the virus

There has been chatter on white supremacist social media suggesting attacks on Jewish and other sites using the virus by licking doorknobs or violating social distances to spread disease. “Go to synagogues, travel to Israel, wear a kippah and cough on people” were some of the scenarios that Masters said he has seen. Masters said the threats to weaponize the virus itself seemed to be more trash talk than actual planning. Nonetheless, he said, they were emblematic of how the association of

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Photo by Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

the virus with Jews was metastasizing among white supremacists. “What we assess in our conversations with law enforcement (is that) rather than being indicators of what people were going to do, it’s a troubling narrative arc from white supremacists,” he said.

Uninvited guests

Another facet of the pandemic landscape is Zoom bombing, malicious intrusions of the online gatherings that have replaced in-person ones for now. White supremacists have interrupted online Jewish get-togethers, Torah study sessions and classes with Nazi slogans and obscenities. Just this week, a Holocaust memorial event organized by Israel’s embassy in Berlin ended after virtual intruders began displaying images of Hitler and shouting anti-Semitic slogans. National and local Jewish organizations and synagogues have held webinars instructing constituents and congregants on how to set up barriers to the intruders. The ADL has consulted with Zoom, which has added protections. Masters said the phenomenon was as much a manifestation of white supremacism as it was malign mischief-making. “It’s what they say about idle hands being the devil’s workshop, people will exploit weaknesses where they can — those who are trolling, and those who have a desire to scare Please see Trackers, page 11

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Peaceandtolerance.org/ten Peaceandtolerance.org/ten

TIME HAS COME TO FIGHT BACK TIME HAS COME TO FIGHT BACK Years of neglect and misguided policies by mainstream Jewish leaders Years of neglect and misguided policies by mainstream Jewish leaders have failed to stem the shocking surge of Jew-hatred in America. have failed to stem the shocking surge of Jew-hatred in America.

Every Jewish now now Every institution Jewish institution needs security. Jews have needs security. Jews been have been murdered in Pittsburgh, San Diego, murdered in Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Jersey City, beaten on and Jersey City, beaten on the the of Brooklyn, harassed in streets ofstreets Brooklyn, harassed in the universities, defamed by The the universities, The New Yorkdefamed Times and by CNN, and now New York Times and CNN, and now maligned in the U.S. Congress. maligned in U.S. aCongress. Wethe propose “Ten-Point Initiative” to counter the assaults, We propose a “Ten-Point as atostarting point re-examine Initiative” counter thetoassaults, failed communal policies. as a starting point to re-examine failed communal policies.

4. EDUCATE ANDPUBLIC PUBLIC 4. EDUCATETHE THECOMMUNITY COMMUNITY AND ABOUT THE SOURCESOFOF JEWABOUT THENATURE NATURE AND AND SOURCES JEWHATRED.Jew-hatred Jew-hatred is HATRED. isbeing beingdistorted distorted

including those and and liars liars including those who usewho use double standards and hypocrisy. double standards and hypocrisy.

AND COUNTER THE THREAT politicalor orideological ideological purposes 8. EXPOSE AND COUNTER THEOFTHREAT OF forfor political purposes 8. EXPOSE IMPORTING JEW-HATING IMMIGRANTS. by attempts to universalize it to the IMPORTING JEW-HATING IMMIGRANTS. by attempts to universalize it to the Vetting immigrants about their meaningless abstraction of “hate” in Vetting immigrants about meaningless abstraction of “hate” concerning Jews must be a their general. Jew-hatred has always been in beliefs beliefs concerning Jews must be a general. Jew-hatred has of always been priority. Political correctness and aimed at the elimination Judaism priority. Political correctness and aimed at the elimination of Judaism false historical analogies must not (forced conversion), of Jews (the Final blind us. analogies must not Solution), or of the Jewish State (antifalse to historical (forced conversion), of Jews (the Final continue Zionism). Jew-hatred is promoted continue to blind us. Solution), or of the Jewish State (anti9. RESTRUCTURE JEWISH EDUCATION by lies and demonization, propelled Zionism). Jew-hatred is promoted (AND MAKE IT AFFORDABLE). Increase by class warfare and now by identity 9. RESTRUCTURE JEWISH EDUCATION by politics. lies andLaunch demonization, propelled emphasis on Jewish pride, Jewish PR campaigns to (AND Torah MAKE tradition, IT AFFORDABLE). by promote class warfare and now identity For electronic copies and to identity, and the Increase our narrative. Jewsby need to emphasis on Jewishofpride, politics. Launchclass. PR campaigns to centrality and importance JewishJewish be a protected join a discussion, go to: For electronic copies and to Peoplehood (Israel); inoculate ourand the identity, Torah tradition, promote our narrative. Jews need to www.peaceandtolerance.org/ten 5. UPDATE THE ZIONIST NARRATIVE. young people, who are being hijacked centrality and importance of Jewish be a protected class. join a discussion, go to: Include and emphasize the oppression by utopian cults and simplistic Peoplehood (Israel); inoculate our www.peaceandtolerance.org/ten and expulsion of 800,000 Mizrahi solutions to the human condition. 5. UPDATE THE ZIONIST NARRATIVE. young people, who are being hijacked TEN POINT Jews from Arab countries, and the Include emphasize oppression 10. BUILD by utopian simplistic INITIATIVE ALLIANCEScults BASEDand ON MUTUAL relatedand history of Islamicthe Jew-hatred. andWeexpulsion 800,000 Mizrahi solutions to theRECIPROCITY. human condition. INTERESTS AND HONEST cannot let of Arab oil money and Jewish support has not been Marxist ideology dominate our high TEN POINT Jews from Arab countries, and the 1.INITIATIVE DECLARE A STATE OF URGENCY. Publicly related reciprocated. Reach out alienated, schoolhistory and university Middle East 10. BUILD ALLIANCEStoBASED ON MUTUAL of Islamic Jew-hatred. declare that the community is under neglected working-class Americans curriculum. INTERESTS AND HONEST RECIPROCITY. We cannot let Arab oil money and assault and will no longer tolerate of all races; build alliances with other Jewish support has not been Marxist ideology dominate ourItshigh victims 6. RETHINK HOLOCAUST EDUCATION. demonization of Jews. of the Progressive-Islamist 1. DECLARE A STATE OF URGENCY. Publicly reciprocated. Reach out to alienated, school and university Middle East impact has become less effective alliance including conservatives, 2. INCREASE PHYSICAL SECURITY. Change curriculum. by being universalized. Focus Christians, and especially diasporaAmericans declare that the community is under neglected working-class the risk/reward ratio for those who more on the accomplishments of Christian communities from Egypt,with other assault and will no longer tolerate of all races; build alliances would assault us: increase police European Jewish civilization and the Lebanon, Nigeria, and Sudan. 6. RETHINK HOLOCAUST EDUCATION. Its demonization of Jews. victims of the Progressive-Islamist presence, neighborhood security importance of a Jewish state. impact has become less effective alliance including conservatives, patrols, facilitate legal gun ownership, The Jewish community has 2. INCREASE SECURITY. being universalized. Christians, EXPOSE AND DECONSTRUCTFocus SOCIAL andPHYSICAL hold public officialsChange accountable by 7. enormous talents,and andespecially significant diaspora the risk/reward ratio for those who more on the of Christian communities from Egypt, THEORIES ANDaccomplishments RHETORICAL METHODS THAT for inaction. resources which have often RESULT INJewish THE DEMONIZATION OF JEWS. used to benefit America would assault us: increase police European civilization and the beenLebanon, Nigeria, and Sudan. REPRIORITIZE JEWISH COMMUNAL The post-modern view of the truth, and the world. We now need to presence,3.neighborhood security importance of a Jewish state. RESOURCES. Sanctity of life is the moral relativism, intersectionality, direct the and inventiveness patrols, facilitate legal gun ownership, Theenergy Jewish community has highest Jewish value: allocate more and a “diversity” that excludes Jews of the community to fight the 7. EXPOSE AND DECONSTRUCT SOCIAL and holdfor public officials accountable enormous talents, and significant defense of the Jewish community have been weaponized against the epidemic of hate that is plaguing AND RHETORICAL METHODS THAT our resources for inaction. and less for “social justice” projects. THEORIES community. We have to fight the lies community.which have often RESULT IN THE DEMONIZATION OF JEWS. been used to benefit America 3. REPRIORITIZE JEWISH COMMUNAL The post-modern view of the truth, and the world. We now need to HELP US PLACE THIS AD IN JEWISH MEDIA: PLEASE MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO PEACEANDTOLERANCE.ORG RESOURCES. Sanctity of life is the moral relativism, intersectionality, direct the energy and inventiveness highest Jewish value: allocate more and a “diversity” that excludes Jews of the community to fight the for defense of the Jewish community have been weaponized against the epidemic of hate that is plaguing and less for “social justice” projects. community. We have to fight the lies our community.

HELP US PLACE THIS AD IN JEWISH MEDIA: PLEASE MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO PEACEANDTOLERANCE.ORG

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

MAY 1, 2020 9

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

London’s Jewish Chronicle saved from extinction

The Jewish Chronicle of London, the world’s longest running Jewish publication, has been saved from liquidation and transferred to new owners. A consortium from the Jewish community and beyond has reached an agreement with the paper’s former owners, the Kessler Foundation, to take over The Chronicle “with the ultimate goal of establishing a charitable trust to ensure its long term stability,” editor-in-chief Stephen Pollard wrote in a statement. Pollard’s statement is the latest twist in a story that began earlier this month when the Kessler foundation revealed their plans to dissolve the Chronicle due to the economic crisis prompted by the coronavirus. Leo Noe, the owner of the Jewish News, a competing publication that was supposed to merge with the Chronicle before the crisis hit, also announced that he planned to liquidate his paper. Both papers were rescued by the consortium led by Robbie Gibb, the BBC’s former head of political programming and a former adviser to former prime minister Theresa May. Other members include BBC journalist John Ware; broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti;

Rabbi Jonathan Hughes; John Woodcook, a spokesman for former prime minister Gordon Brown; and former Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross, the Press Gazette reported. The new owners have promised not to interfere with the Chronicle’s editorial independence. “For the first time in many years we have backers who are committed to investing in journalism and to making the JC and thejc.com even better and more essential reads,” Pollard wrote.

Jewish groups launch $10 million interest-free loan fund to help communities struggling with coronavirus

Three Jewish groups have teamed to launch a $10 million fund to provide no-interest loans to Jewish communities around the world that are struggling due to the coronavirus crisis. Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal) started the COVID-19 Loan Fund for Communities in Crisis after Jewish communities and communal organizations in several countries sought assistance to ensure their survival. The communities and organizations — including in Italy, Spain, South Africa and countries in South America — were financially stable before the onslaught of the pandemic but are now unable to finance

;‫ ישברו‬,‫כל אליך‬-‫עיני‬ ‫להם‬-‫ואתה נותן‬ ‫אכלם בעתו‬-‫את‬

The eyes of all wait for Thee, and Thou givest them their food in due season

Lee and Lisa Oleinick 10 MAY 1, 2020

basic communal services, according to the Jewish Agency. Essential welfare services are in danger of being closed, the group said in a statement. The fund will provide immediate working capital loans to communities in danger outside of North America. In its initial phase, the fund will provide loans of up to $350,000 to each community or organization to help them continue functioning throughout the coronavirus crisis. The loans will be provided for up to four years. The fund also will include an advisory committee comprised of financial experts from across Europe and South America, along with professionals from the various communities to help assess needs and design the appropriate response. “We are dealing with an unprecedented crisis that is impacting every aspect of life, including the Jewish world,” Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive Isaac Herzog said in a statement. Herzog added that “the Jewish people are responsible for one another, now more than ever. And we welcome the support of all those that believe in Klal Yisrael.”

Minnesota high school students mock Jews being sent to Auschwitz in TikTok video

Two Minnesota high school students were criticized for sharing a video titled “Me and the boys on the way to camp,” which photoshops them dancing in a Nazi boxcar and happily skipping into Auschwitz, on the

video social media platform TikTok. The video contains humorous music whose lyrics include “Tell everybody I’m on my way.” In response, the two boys shown in the video — posted by a high school student from Nicollet High School in Nicollet, Minnesota — were assigned a research paper titled “Hitler’s Final Solution at Auschwitz.” The incident was first reported by TC Jewfolk. Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement that he is “ increasingly concerned about a grave empathy deficit, which enables students and others to weaponize their knowledge about the Holocaust to insult the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and further traumatize Jews at a time when we are experiencing a demonstrative increase in anti-Semitism.” Hunegs praised Nicollet Public Schools Superintendent Denny Morrow for the “seriousness” with which he has approached the incident. Morrow wrote to the students: “Your recent decision to post a video on TikTok depicting the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II as a playful excursion has crossed several lines of decorum.” He called it “an affront to our school and community to portray that one could be educated here, and then, choose to demonstrate such a callous disregard for the plight of others.” TikTok reportedly boasts around 800 million users worldwide. PJC

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

May 1, 1987 — Tennis player Pe’er born

May 4, 1994 — Autonomy agreement signed

Israeli and PLO officials sign an autonomy agreement for the Gaza Strip and the Jericho area during a ceremony in Cairo. Part of the Oslo process, the pact establishes the Palestinian Authority three weeks later.

Shahar Pe’er, Israel’s highest-ranking tennis player, male or female, of all time, is born in Jerusalem. A two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and five-time winner on the WTA tour, she peaks at No. 11 in the world rankings in 2011.

May 5, 1985 — Reagan visits Bitburg, Bergen-Belsen

May 2, 1921 — Writer Brenner slain

On a 26-day U.S. visit to promote the Development Corporation of Israel (Israel Bonds), Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion arrives in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a two-day tour of Tennessee Valley Authority dams and other facilities.

Writer Yosef Haim Brenner, a pioneer of modern Hebrew literature and a founder of the Histadrut labor federation, is among six people killed on the second day of violence between Arabs and Jews in and around Jaffa.

May 3, 1882 — Russia institutes May Laws

Russian Czar Alexander III continues tightening restrictions on his empire’s Jews by enacting the May Laws, part of an antiJewish crackdown after the assassination of Alexander II in March 1881.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

President Ronald Reagan visits the BergenBelsen concentration camp, then addresses German-American reconciliation at the military cemetery in Bitburg, where more than 2,000 Nazi SS soldiers are buried.

May 6, 1951 — Ben-Gurion visits TVA

May 7, 1983 — Abu Musa revolts against Arafat

Abu Musa leads four other senior Palestine Liberation Organization officers in declaring a revolt in Lebanon against Chairman Yasser Arafat, who is based in Tunisia while Palestinian forces battle Israel in Lebanon. PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Trackers:

everyone is vulnerable and socially isolated.” Continued from page 8

the community,” he said. Masters said that Jewish Americans may also be more susceptible to the fears stoked by expressions of anti-Semitism because the pandemic is keeping people in isolation. “Incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism and graffiti have been no more pernicious than normal,” he said. “We see that sort of harassment and anti-Semitism regularly. But it is psychologically impactive to the community because the community is closed and

The pandemic may go but the sickness remains

Jewish Americans already were facing “the most complex and dynamic threat environment we’ve ever seen facing the Jewish community in our nation’s history,” Masters said, describing the wave of violent attacks on Jewish community targets in the year or so before the pandemic hit, including two deadly assaults on synagogues. The social upheaval that undergirded those attacks will manifest at exponentially greater levels as we get out of the pandemic, he said,

with massive increases in unemployment creating more alienation and people who may look for scapegoats for their misfortune. At the same time, Jewish institutions will be cutting back expenses, possibly in security. “As we reconstitute services and open the doors to congregants, JCC members and students get back on campuses, with that increase in online hate speech as an excuse to spread anti-Semitism and hatred, there is a real concern that the individuals susceptible to that message will see our community get back to work, and they will pick up that call to violence and take action,” Masters said. Spitalnick, whose group is suing the

organizers of the deadly 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, noted that they were able to exploit online platforms to spread their message of hate ahead of the march. She said more must be done to prevent the current moment from magnifying those opportunities. “Our Charlottesville case shows social media enabled and allowed some of the violence to happen,” Spitalnick said. “There needs to be an approach that brings in the private sector instead of playing whack-amole in which we take them off from one site and they go to another.” PJC

Ever wonder how they do it? how our care providers give endlessly, tirelessly, lovingly? so do we. we say it’s remarkable. they say it’s their job. like carol and her work partners, grocery employees, delivery drivers, first responders, volunteers, health care workers. Superheroes, all.

Thank you. jaapgh.org

JAA320_PJC_Heroes-FINAL.indd 1

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4/27/20 12:38 PM

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MAY 1, 2020 11

Opinion Remembering the rampage of April 28, 2000 Editor’s Desk Toby Tabachnick

moved to Mt. Lebanon with my husband and children in 1993. We came from Los Angeles, which is pretty much the opposite of Mt. Lebanon. Although I still miss the reliably perfect sunny days of Southern California, they were trumped by the appeal of suburban Pittsburgh’s wholesomeness, its award-winning schools, its large yards and its midwestern sensibility. And I did not take those attributes for granted. As sappy as it sounds, I often found myself thinking how fortunate my family was to live there. I clearly remember thinking that very thought, 20 years ago, on April 28, 2000, as I drove on Cochran Road headed toward home on my way back from the bank. I recall it was a particularly beautiful day, that the grass was vibrant green and that the tulips and rhododendrons had already begun to bloom. I imagine now that the air must have smelled like spring, and I have confirmed with Google that the sun was indeed shining that day and that it was a delightful 66 degrees. But I also recall that as I approached the intersection of Scrubgrass and Elm Spring Road, 600 feet from my house — my 2-year old strapped into his car seat behind me and singing — I saw a wholly incongruous scene: a harried SWAT team had assembled and was directing traffic away from Elm Spring, which had been cordoned off by the bright yellow police tape I recognized from television crime shows.

Mayhem. At 1:30 p.m. that day, Richard Baumhammers, a racist, anti-Semitic immigration attorney, who also happened to be my neighbor, knocked on the front door of the 63-year-old Jewish woman who had lived next door to his family for decades. When she opened the door to let him in, he shot her and left her for dead. Anita Gordon was a congregant at the same synagogue I attended with my family, Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. After murdering Anita — and setting her house on fire, by the way — Baumhammers got into his Jeep Cherokee and drove to Beth El, where he fired shots into the doors and painted red swastikas on the bricks along with the word “Jew.” Then he drove to Congregation Ahavath Achim, a couple miles away, and did the same. His rampage included shooting two men at an Indian grocery not far from my home, then killing two more people at a Chinese restaurant. He was still on the run when I encountered the SWAT team, then finally made my way home and turned on the television to hear what was going on, around 2 p.m. I had three children in the neighborhood elementary school around the corner. My oldest son had just turned 10 and was in fourth grade. My daughters were in third grade and kindergarten. Now, my children were on lockdown, their classrooms barricaded. Except my toddler, who was home with me only because nursery school was on break for Passover. If it had not been a vacation week, he, and about 40 other children, would have been at Beth El when Baumhammers

opened fire on the building. My oldest son told me later how scared they all were, huddled beneath their desks in that fourth-grade classroom, how they didn’t know what was happening, only that it was something terrible and dangerous. At around 3:15, the police had finally caught up with Baumhammers and arrested him. By then, he had shot and killed another victim, a black karate student at a studio in Beaver County. He is currently on death row at Greene State Correctional Institute in Franklin Township, Pennsylvania, having exhausted his appeals. For weeks — maybe months — after the Baumhammers rampage, it made me nervous to walk to shul in Mt. on Saturday mornings with my family, feeling vulnerable and identifiable as Jews, my husband and son donning kippot. I knew it was important to wear our identities proudly, but I also couldn’t help looking in the windows of passing cars, scanning the faces of the drivers and passengers for signs of hate, or worse. Mt. Lebanon had, for me, morphed from an enclave of beauty and old-fashioned American goodness into an ominous, Gothic hamlet. While I previously marveled at the golden sunlit afternoons, now I just seemed to notice the shadows. Logic and common sense eventually prevailed: Baumhammers was a one-off. It wasn’t as if the world had turned against us. I slowly regained some sense of confidence. But the smug conviction of being safe as a Jew in Pittsburgh — the belief that “it couldn’t happen here” — was gone for good. Baumhammers stole that from me 20 years ago. And he stole it from at least one of my children.

On the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, I was in bed with a bad cold and a high fever. It was Shabbat, and my husband also stayed home from shul in case I needed anything. I was sleeping, on and off. At 10:50 a.m., my telephone rang. When I picked up the receiver, I heard the voice of my son, now a 28-year-old man living in Chicago. “Mom,” he said. And immediately, I could tell by his tenor that something was very wrong. “There was a shooting at Tree of Life,” he told me, his voice shaking. Then, realizing that it was unusual that we were at home and not at our own synagogue, he said, “Dad needs to go warn the others. They are just sitting there, like sitting ducks.” Of course, everything changed for Jewish Pittsburgh on that day. But I eventually realized that for some of us, things had changed two decades earlier. On Oct. 27, 2018, when my son called to tell us to warn others that an anti-Semitic killer might be on his way, he was recalling hiding under his desk in his fourth-grade classroom. He was remembering the news reports he must have heard later about Baumhammers’ murderous rampage, driving from one location to another, killing people because they were different from him. As the years passed, I had mostly stopped thinking about Baumhammers the man, despite the fact that he had forever altered my sense of security. Life goes on, and all that. But on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, I knew for sure that he had forever changed life for my son. And that is something completely different. PJC

Déjà vu for the Pittsburgh Jewish community, 100 years later Guest Columnist Martha L. Berg

hen I hear that nothing like the coronavirus epidemic has ever happened before, I wonder that our collective historical memory is so short. Just over 100 years ago, in 1918, the world experienced a pandemic influenza epidemic that killed more than 50 million people. No place was spared, and in Pittsburgh, the combination of heavily polluted air, crowded housing conditions, and the city government’s reluctance to adhere to statewide quarantine measures led to a death rate per capita that was higher than in any other American city. World War I was going on at the same time, with 2 million U.S. soldiers in Europe by the summer of 1918, and news of the flu epidemic was tacitly downplayed by politicians and journalists nationally as well as 12 MAY 1, 2020

in the local Jewish newspaper. Reading the Jewish Criterion for September-December 1918, the main issues I see covered are the war effort (including an editorial headlined “Keeping the Hun on the Run”), anti-Semitism and Zionism. Homefront coverage included a major push for the 4th Liberty Bond Campaign to raise funds for the war. Despite underreporting, the advance of the flu was relentless. On Oct. 4, the state health department banned large assemblies, and synagogues and Jewish organizations suspended services and meetings. City Councilman Enoch Rauh, a member of Rodef Shalom, argued that the public schools should be closed, and later in the month they were. The visiting nurses of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement served residents of the Hill District, providing home visits and beds in their building for 1,047 cases of influenza and pneumonia, an increase of 560% from their regular nursing load. Doctors and nurses at Montefiore Hospital worked around the clock during the epidemic and the Gusky Home took in newly orphaned children. The Concordia Club became a convalescent

hospital for flu victims among the soldiers who had been training at Camp Pitt. Some Rodef Shalom Sisterhood members offered to do shopping for the recovering soldiers, and others made up “comfort kits” for the men. The Jewish Welfare Board of Pittsburgh sent crates of oranges and grapefruits, and Sisterhood, Hebrew Ladies’ Hospital Aid, and the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh chapter, sent homemade jellies, pies, cakes and eggnog. Even when public meetings were banned, enthusiasm for the war effort did not wane, and the Rodef Shalom Sisterhood, which had been given a quota of raising $250,000 for the Liberty Loan Bond campaign, went “over the top” and brought in the astounding amount of over $2 million. By mid-October, subtler signs of the flu epidemic’s effects on the Jewish community began to show up in obituaries of young adults between the ages of 16 and 40; some give pneumonia as the cause of death or state that the person died suddenly or after a brief illness. Many of these young people left very young surviving children. Most funerals

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were held at home or at the graveside. One very unusual obituary, for a young woman buried at West View Cemetery, expressed the anguish many families must have been feeling: “In these days, when death is stalking throughout the land and taking his toll from among all classes and ages, one is apt to become hardened to the visit of the Grim Reaper, but, despite this, our hearts were stirred and moved to their utmost depths when we learned of the passing away of so sweet and lovely a friend as Nannie Jacobs.” As restrictions were lifted and the epidemic began to slow down in November (though it wasn’t over in Pittsburgh until the following May), an article in the Criterion ended with a thought that might be expressed today: “Nor is the work completed; for many weeks after the epidemic has spent itself there will be work of rehabilitation, of reconstruction, to be done, to repair, in a measure, the havoc wrought.” PJC Martha L. Berg is the archivist at Rodef Shalom Congregation. This column originally appeared on the website of Rodef Shalom Congregation. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Yom Ha’atzmaut: How is this year different from every other year? Guest Columnist Stacie Stufflebeam

am a proud mother of five amazing sons. Four of those sons have served or are serving in the IDF as “lone soldiers,” a term used to signify an IDF soldier whose parents do not live in Israel. Three have finished their active duty and serve as reservists, while our youngest son is currently training to become an IDF commander. This connects me to Israel in a special way, a proud way and a scary way. The IDF differs in many ways from the U.S. Armed Services. In Israel, army bases are not places where soldiers live during their service. Instead, the soldiers move from base to base depending on whether they are in training, on a course or deployed. And even then, they go home regularly for Shabbat. But now, just as we are “sheltering in place,” they are too, confined to base for far longer than usual, fighting a different kind of war. Though the soldiers are trained to fight, this is a uniquely Jewish army, one with an incredible amount of compassion and for some now a very different kind of mission. I feel pride as I watch videos of soldiers standing at attention in front of the homes of Holocaust survivors, honoring them. My pride expands as I see them deployed to deliver food to the elderly and to Muslims observing Ramadan. This personifies the Israel I love and the reason to celebrate its existence. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, follows so closely on the heels of Yom HaShoah and then Yom HaZikaron. In fact, I don’t believe that we can really fully celebrate the formation of an independent Jewish state without first acknowledging the great sacrifices that were made in order for it to exist. First, by the 6 million Jews whose lives were extinguished in the Holocaust, and then by the brave young men and women who fought to keep our homeland safe. Here in the U.S., Independence Day and Memorial Day are rarely celebrated or commemorated in a way that attaches the true meaning of these holidays. The same cannot be said for Israel.

So, as we celebrate Israel’s 72nd birthday we continue to ask, as we did on Pesach: “How is this year different from all other years?” Every Yom HaZikaron, IDF soldiers are assigned to visit the graves of fallen comrades no matter how long ago they fell. This is because Israel does not want any fallen warrior unattended or unacknowledged, even if there is no family to visit. The soldiers assigned to visit their fallen comrades do so with such pride and respect, but with travel restrictions in place this year, this special and unique duty has been taken away from them. As a lone soldier parent, I’m connected to a worldwide community of other lone soldier parents. We serve as a support system for each other and I’m grateful to have them to turn to. Through this community I have met some of the most incredibly strong people, parents whose sons have fallen protecting Israel. These parents always travel to Israel for Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut, finding comfort in the support of their children’s comrades and the people of Israel and then in the celebration of the continuation of the Jewish homeland their precious children fought to protect. Though these things could not happen this year I know that the connection — soldier to soldier to parent to Israel — will not disappear. As Yom HaZikaron ebbs away and Yom Ha’atzmaut begins, the connection and dichotomy of these events side by side is striking but purposeful: One cannot be fully celebrated until the other is fully honored and commemorated. But this year Yom Ha’atzmaut could not be celebrated with barbecues and bonfires, parties or concerts. This year, the entire world is locked down and all of our celebrations have become private. The question is, can we truly celebrate on our own? The answer is a resounding yes. This year, freedom and independence took on a new, more significant meaning to all of us. And while I celebrate not only the creation but the endurance of the State of Israel, I continue to pine for a time when we can all once again travel to Israel to celebrate together, and I can once again be reunited with my sons, my defenders of Israel. PJC Stacie Stufflebeam is the executive director of the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Foundation. She lives in Pittsburgh.

Teens in quarantine

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.

Managing boredom

I am coping fine but I’m very bored. I have lots of schoolwork and I try to get as much physical activity as I can. I miss going to the JCC and playing basketball or just hanging out with my friends. I try to stay healthy to make something useful out of each day. But I barely leave the house and the only reason I might is that my mom forces me to go shopping or just walk outside aimlessly. Ivry Sasson, grade 9 Squirrel Hill

— LETTERS — The Torah does permit meat-eating The April 14 edition of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle included a column by Jeffrey Spitz Cohan (“Did the Torah warn us about COVID-19?”) in which Mr. Cohan asserts that the Torah tells us that animal consumption leads to deadly plagues. As proof, Cohan cites the virus that infected and killed many Israelites who complained about their steady diet of manna and who ate the quail that God provided instead of the manna. This is a vast oversimplification. This plague occurred not because the Israelites ate animal meat, but because they complained and railed against the manna that was a gift from God. Cohan also cites the book of Genesis, 1:29, and claims that the verse forbids the eating of animals, that we are to eat “plants and only plants.” But the verse actually says, “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb, which is upon the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; it will be yours for food,’” and says nothing about consumption of animals. But the Torah does make it abundantly clear that people can consume animals in Leviticus 11 (Vayikra), which we read just a few short weeks ago. It is Vayikra that contains the laws of kashrut, laws that tell us what animals we are allowed to eat and what animals are forbidden to us. Somehow Cohan conveniently left Vayikra out of his discussion of Torah. If Cohan wants to be a vegetarian, that is fine with me. But to argue that the Torah does not allow us to consume animals for food and that the coronavirus is “something we were warned would happen if humanity continues to confine, kill and consume animals” is not at all consistent with the Torah and the laws of kashrut. Mike Roteman Pittsburgh We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or email letters to:

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letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Fax 412-521-0154 pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Photo courtesy of Andrew Silow-Carrol

COVID-19 might just kick us into the Jewish future Guest Columnist Andrew Silow-Carrol

efore 70 CE, Jerusalem was the physical and spiritual center of the Jewish commonwealth. After the Romans

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destroyed the Temple, Judaism emerged as something different: a religion and people without a temple, sacrifices or even a state. What happened between Before and After? The destruction of the Temple is marked on the ninth of Av; the late scholar Jacob Neusner once wrote that he was interested in what happened on “the ‘next day,’ the 10th of Av in Yavne.” Transitions are a hard story to tell, but our

sages gave it their best shot. They embodied the drama in the story of one man, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. The Talmud and other sources tell us Rabbi Yochanan lived in Jerusalem during the Roman siege. In the best-known story about him, Yochanan realizes that resistance to the Romans is futile; he defies the Jewish rebels and leaves the city to negotiate with the Roman general Vespasian. Vespasian grants Yochanan his one request:

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“Give me Yavne and its sages.” Yochanan goes on to establish a place of study there, well to the west of fallen Jerusalem. In a fitting piece of symbolism, Yochanan is said to have escaped Jerusalem in a coffin; it is a resurrection story, after all, with Yavne symbolizing a new form of Judaism that transforms animal sacrifices into oaths of Please see Future, page 20

MAY 1, 2020 13

Headlines Masks: Continued from page 1

NFP Structured Settlements and chair of the board at the JCC. Gershanok is friends with Goodman’s son, Isaac, whom he also met at EKC. Goodman got the ball rolling by purchasing 10,000 masks for the Jewish community. “We wouldn’t be here without his help and support,” said Gershanok. Then Gershanok decided to see if other organizations in the wider Pittsburgh community might also have a need for the masks. “I put up a post on Facebook and someone from the Children’s Home reached out to us saying they needed 2,000 masks,” Gershanok said. “We set up a fundraiser and within two days raised $1,500.” After the initial Facebook post, Gershanok and Halbert created the COVID Response Network with Brendan Bernicker, a Penn State graduate studying law at Yale University, and Upper St. Clair native Rayna Recht, a sophomore at Tulane University who also attended EKC. Bernicker helped to create the nonprofit as a 501(c)(3) and Recht assists with marketing and promoting its fundraisers. The organization so far has donated masks to several organizations, including Jewish Family and Community Services,

“ We’re trying to focus on the communities that are most at risk for contracting or spreading the virus and are least served.

”

That’s led us to more jails and prisons.

— EZRA GERSHANOK Community Food Bank, Jubilee Soup Kitchen, the Allegheny County Jail and the Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, Recht said. Community Kitchen Pittsburgh is a culinary school that trains individuals facing barriers to employment, according to executive director and founder Jennifer Flanagan. That includes people who are or have been incarcerated, addicts and homeless individuals. The COVID-19 crisis forced the school to close and it is now focused on providing meals to those in needs. “We just did a count and so far, have provided 31,000 emergency meals,” Flanagan said. The COVID Response Network’s delivery of masks to Community Kitchen Pittsburgh was “perfect timing,” Flanagan stated. “They actually gave them to us before the governor

Itkin: Continued from page 1

on commercial properties and allowed doctors to prescribe generic medications. “As a consumer advocate, he was concerned about the interest rates that credit cards could charge,” his daughter said. “He also worked to ensure that the new airport couldn’t gouge consumers. And, he always cared about making sure that low income people had access to education and health care.” His former legislative assistant, Cindie Watkins, said that in 1995 Itkin introduced House Resolution 43 to study the feasibility of opening schools “like the Milton Hershey School” for the underprivileged using school district funds. “The Department of Education wasn’t too happy about that,” Watkins said. The two had a working relationship from 1989, when Watkins started as his administrative assistant until 1998. She said that the focus Itkin demonstrated in his work did not always extend to other situations. She recounted a time when she entered their office smelling something “horrible.” She made her way into the kitchen and found Itkin reheating coffee in the microwave inside of a melting Styrofoam cup. After explaining that material could not go into the microwave, she said with a laugh, “You’re a nuclear scientist and I have to tell you about microwaves.”

p Ivan Itkin Photo courtesy of PA House Democratic Caucus

Dan Frankel, who currently serves as the representative to the Pennsylvania House for the 23rd District, recalled Itkin as “a bright, thoughtful legislator who fought for progressive causes and legislation but also knew how to compromise. Unlike many politicians, Ivan had a modest and unassuming style which enhanced his capacity to get things done.” Itkin’s son Max said his father was “always working. He was dedicated to his job in the state legislature. As a kid, I remember he always had a big pile of materials to read and information available. He would have

requested everyone wear them all the time. My staff was coming in and it was a little nerve-wracking to come in without that type of personal protection. It was really nice and made everyone feel a lot more comfortable.” The COVID Response Network also distributed masks to homeless shelters in New York, a Jewish nursing home in Harrisburg and organizations in Philadelphia and Tampa, Florida. “We’re trying to focus on the communities that are most at risk for contracting or spreading the virus and are least served,” Gershanok explained. “That’s led us to more jails and prisons.” The company recently met with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and will soon distribute 8,000 masks legal pads out and was always taking notes. I remember him like that and admire his hard work and preparedness.” Despite that dedication to work, Max said his father also found time for him and his mother. “He would come home from work and we’d have dinner together and spend some family time. He was very proud of my competitive running in both high school and college. He enjoyed watching me run.” In 1998 Itkin ran against incumbent Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as the Democratic nominee. He lost the race but earned the respect of his opponent. “Michele and I were sad to learn that Ivan Itkin has passed,” said Ridge in a prepared statement. “After holding a series of positions in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Ivan eventually became my opponent when I sought reelection … He ran a tough but fair campaign and was always a gentleman. I consider it a privilege to have run against him.” His career came full circle when, in 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed the nuclear scientist turned politician as the director of the office of civilian radioactive waste management within the U.S. Department of Energy. Itkin “considered that the capstone of his career,” said his daughter. “He was very excited to work with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on Yuka Mountain and it gave him an opportunity to work with Sen. Harry Reid, who was the majority leader of the U.S. Senate at the time.”

to jails and prisons across the state. They also are looking into supplying prisons in Alabama with masks. “They have a 180% occupancy rate,” Gershanok noted. “The next outbreak will most likely be in Southern prisons. That was the trend in China and the same thing in New York at Rikers Island.” The four young adults running the COVID Response Network are not just working to find organizations in need of the masks, raising money and placing orders; they also serve as mask delivery drivers. “Jacob has been delivering masks in Florida and Brandon has done a lot,” Gershanok said. “Yesterday, he drove from New Haven to New York to Philadelphia and back to New Haven. He’s delivering masks to that entire part of the East Coast.” While the entrepreneur is happy that he has been able to help, he feels that the need for him to do so points to something larger. “It’s great that we’re able to do something important for places like the Children’s Home and jails, but government agencies are basically relying on 20-year-olds to get them essential equipment,” Gershanok said. “It’s great but it also highlights how unprepared we were and how desperate the situation really is.” The nonprofit has distributed 38,000 masks as of press time. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Former President Bill Clinton remembered Itkin as someone who “brought invaluable scientific knowledge and experience to his service in government, both in his 26 years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and at the Department of Energy during my presidency,” Clinton said in written statement to the Chronicle. “I’ll always be grateful for his work to ensure that the important decisions concerning America’s nuclear waste were fact-based and rooted in the protection of health, safety and the environment.” What Itkin “enjoyed doing wasn’t that traditional,” said his son, Max, “which made it hard to find a Father’s Day card but we loved him for who he was. Those were the qualities that made him unique and special.” Although Itkin had a career spent in the upper echelons of state and national government, his daughter said that it was something else that made the 84-year-old proud in his later years. “He would walk every day and get my stepmother her 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. He was really proud that he was in his early 80s and walking to the grocery store every day carrying back two bags.” His legacy, Laurie said, “was his work. He was consumed by it. Being a legislator gave him such a sense of purpose. It was important to him that he was able to positively affect the life of others.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 14 MAY 1, 2020

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Headlines Midwife: Continued from page 2

“If I need fluids, the midwife outside gives me fluids,” said Zarbiv. If the mother “starts to become unstable, or the fetus is becoming unstable, then you ask the midwife outside to call for help.” The process can require considerable physical exertion. “It’s very stressful as a midwife because you actually have to run,” she explained. “If we get a call from an ambulance and they say, ‘I have a woman who’s pushing,’ you have

Classrooms: Continued from page 3

ghetto during the war. Shortly after film school, Bednarski confirmed the material’s existence and that it had been recorded by Alfons Ziolkowski, and contacted the latter’s descendants. Bednarski, who isn’t Jewish, was given access to the footage. “You can imagine what this discovery was like for a young filmmaker,” he said. Little is known regarding Ziolkowski’s intentions or the circumstances surrounding the material, but Bednarski appreciates Ziolkowski’s approach. “The material he produced differs in significant ways from the well-known footage later produced by Nazi German propaganda film crews in 1942. We are shown different locations. We discover the ghetto in a much earlier phase of its existence. We are not seeing it through the eyes of the occupiers and the perpetrators,” said Bednarski. Ziolkowski, Bednarski continued, “is an outsider but also a part of Warsaw and I think he has got a sympathetic approach.” He goes to “specific places and wants to show what is happening,” and the footage serves as “a kind of documentary.” Even in the reaction of those filmed, their awareness differs from that of subjects depicted in the “Nazi propaganda film footage many of us have seen over the years. People in Ziolkowski’s 8 millimeter footage appear a little more at ease, I think, probably because it’s just him, and apparently the story goes, he shot much of the footage using kind

The O: Continued from page 4

was simple, according to the company’s website, which still does not reflect the closing: “Where would a better place be than outside of a ballpark to open a hot dog and burger stand?” The business later expanded, opening locations in Monroeville; Falls Church, Virginia; nearby Carnegie Mellon University; Plum Borough; and on East Carson Street on the South Side, according to media reports. Terry Campasano and Bruce Simon — Syd’s children — have run The O since the mid-2000s. As of press time, neither of them could be reached for comment. The O was both a neighborhood spot and PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

to go. Run, run, run, and it takes minutes to get dressed. Then you have to go inside and it’s challenging. It’s definitely challenging.” Birth under normal circumstances generates significant emotion, but during this period of the coronavirus crisis it is almost impossible to comprehend all of the factors at play, explained Zarbiv. For example, several hours after a quarantined patient was transported by Magen David Adom to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, she delivered a healthy boy. After testing revealed that the mother was COVID-positive, she was transferred to a new unit while the baby was isolated,

according to hospital representatives. Throughout the period, staff ensured that the mother and child could be together as best as possible by facilitating “frequent photos and phone calls.” Zarbiv has worked with multiple COVIDpositive or COVID-suspected mothers in recent weeks who’ve undergone similarly trying situations. These women have demonstrated unmistakable strength and almost incomprehensible resolve, she explained. “I think that these women are heroes. They are incredibly courageous. They’re facing these periods of isolation and separation

with tremendous autonomy and grace and dignity, and they don’t dissolve in a panic. Yeah, there’s a lot of crying. We cry a lot. I’m crying right now.” In general, however, “there’s just this dignity and quiet calm, and I really admire that,” Zarbiv said. “I think that’s an attribute to women: the ability to do things with quiet, with poise, with dignity. It amazes me. What they’re able to do is magical. Women are magical, I think. That’s really the bottom line.” PJC

of a hidden camera technique and would take it out occasionally so he wasn’t there with a big film crew.” Following Bednarski’s presentation, Schudrich posed several questions to the filmmaker, including inquiries as to current life in Warsaw. “It is a very painful place to live, but also a very amazing place to live,” said Bednarski. “When I first came here, I have to say it was overwhelming especially because I was immersed in this subject, and then you have an additional layer of the communist system — especially the early years, the Stalinist years were very brutal — so there’s so much pain and suffering in Warsaw. But there’s also an amazing city of incredible people, dynamism, energy, wonderful young people, so it’s a city with many faces.” Because of its history, and the reality that there remain residents directly tied to its dark moments, “I think people who live in Warsaw somehow learn to deal with what happened here. I think remembering is very important here. And life goes on in a way in Warsaw, but we can’t forget and we’ll never forget, I hope, what happened here.” Warsaw’s ties to Pittsburgh grew last year following the former’s inclusion in the Federation’s Partnership2Gether program, which originally linked just Pittsburgh and Karmiel and Misgav in Israel. “Adding Warsaw to our partnership will enable us to truly put global Jewish peoplehood into practice,” said Jan Levinson, chair of the Warsaw Connection, in a 2019 statement. “Having another Diaspora community that is outside of the United States can put a mirror up in front of our faces, both here

in Pittsburgh and in Karmiel/Misgav, and help strengthen our Jewish identities and strengthen our relationships with each other.” Reflecting on the past year, and the growing relationship between the communities, Debbie Swartz, Federation’s overseas planning associate, said, “We’re very excited to be holding this Zoom today, and it’s one of many that we hope that we will continue to hold to educate all of our partners within the partnership about our respective locations. We have a lot of learning to do about each other’s narratives, and this is the start of that process.” Although the April 22 program represented an initial collaboration between Federation’s Partnership2Gether and Classrooms Without Borders, the latter has held multiple online events in recent weeks, said Daniel Pearlman, CWB’s program manager. An April 21 webinar with educator Rachel Korazim covered the Holocaust in modern Israeli literature. An April 6 Zoom program introduced attendees to Rwandan genocide survivor and human rights activist Jacqueline Murekatete. And on March 31, Classrooms Without Borders welcomed academician David Hirsh for an online lecture titled “Anti-Semitism, Populism and Politics Today: Learning from the British Experience.” “Classrooms Without Borders has had, for the past five weeks, at least one to three programs a week on Zoom, and most of those programs have had over 100 people in attendance,” said Pearlman. With schools, synagogues and institutions shuttered due to COVID-19, “it’s important

to provide educational resources at this time,” said CWB founder and executive director Tsipy Gur. “We have a responsibility to keep supporting our educators. That’s the main thing,” but beyond providing “professional development through hands-on classes and support, there are students who are joining us through Zoom,” and as a result, “we’re tailoring Zoom specific lectures to different groups.” Whether it’s cultivating a weekly book discussion or finding opportunities for community members to view important films and enjoy follow-up discussions, like the April 22 event with Bednarski and Schudrich, or the April 30 program with Israeli filmmaker Udi Nir (whose 2019 documentary “Golda” includes rare archival footage of the late Israeli prime minister), Classrooms Without Borders is continuing to “bring Israel to the forefront,” said Gur, who credited the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh with supporting the charge. “Our vision is to be a strong and vibrant connected Jewish community with Israel at our heart,” said Vicki Holthaus, Partnership2Gether’s co-chair. Peering across the screen and seeing people from Warsaw, Pittsburgh and Israel united in learning, “I feel like the silver lining for this is that we may not have had the opportunity to do this if we had not had this unfortunate thing happening now, but with that we’re able to introduce our partnership together.” PJC

a spot for neighbors. And it continued its mission of serving Pittsburgh to the very end — donating 600, 50-pound boxes of fresh potatoes to the organization Blessing House. Rich Garland, who has run Blessing House as its executive director since 2017, said the potatoes were donated to Light of Life on the North Side, Bridge City Church in Braddock and Union Mission in Latrobe. “A sad #foodrescue today,” the group 412 Food Rescue posted on social media April 21 along with a photo of boxed potatoes. “These are the last of The O’s potatoes. #RIPTheO We will make sure these find a good home.” Garland said he worships in Penn Hills alongside The O co-owner Bruce Simon, who, Garland said, “has asked for distance right now.” “(Simon) said, ‘I really want to give the

food to the people who need it,’” Garland said. Brett Solomon, a Jewish attorney who lives in Fox Chapel, has fond memories of The O beginning even before his time at Taylor Allderdice High School or in law school at Pitt. “I remember going there with my dad,” Solomon said. “I think that’s how I learned to eat my hot dogs with onions, mustard and pickles, because that’s the way he ate them.” Solomon also remembered a few latenight visits. The shop was open on weekend evenings until 2 a.m. “I have eaten, with friends, extra-large fries,” he laughed. “The portions — it was ridiculous. It was easily 10 or 15 potatoes.” Among many honors, the shop’s monstrous fry portions and hot dogs, which had a wet snap when you bit into them, had starred on

The Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and the PBS special “A Hot Dog Program.” The restaurant was put up for sale in 2005 for $885,000, according to The Pitt News. The sale, however, never materialized. The O’s current owners stayed behind the scenes as media outlets reported on the shop’s closure, with several posting photos of the shop’s gutted interiors or commenting on social media under the hashtag “RIPTheO.” Solomon, among many others, was sad to see The O’s story, which started more than half a century ago, end this way. “It was an institution,” he said. “It’s really sad that a place that’s been open for 60 years is closing after one weird month.” PJC

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Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh. MAY 1, 2020 15

Life & Culture Pittsburgh musician’s new song to remind others ‘the world will heal in time’ — MUSIC — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

andemic-generated sadness may provide lyrical material, but it’s not necessarily paying a songwriter’s bills. For Joel Lindsey, a British-born Pittsburghbased professional musician, there are almost two simultaneous tracks playing. Quarantined at home with his wife, Amy, and their 2-year-old son, Levi, Lindsey, in just 10 days, composed, recorded and filmed “The World Will Heal in Time,” a reflective, doleful number pairing lines like “This is the saddest spring the world has ever known” with “I can’t find a smile and watch the tulips grow.” Unfortunately, at the same time his creativity is thriving, nearly all of Lindsey’s professional gigs have dried up due to cancellations and reschedulings. The situation is “difficult,” but “I don’t want to feel sorry for myself,” he said. “I know that I’m not alone. We’re all in the same boat, whether you’re a musician or an artist or anything like that. So many people are suffering right now.” As someone who makes his living from music, his earnings are derived in two ways, he explained: “A lot of my bread and butter was playing in bars, restaurants, casinos, country clubs, all those kinds of things, and all of that’s completely gone.” There’s also Joel Lindsey Entertainment, a “multifaceted company” he and his wife founded that provides various services, including lighting, videography, a wedding officiant (Amy), a DJ, emcee, singer and/or guitar player (Joel) for private events. “We normally do around 50 to 60 weddings a year,” he said, but apart from the “two or three” in January and February 2020, there’s been nothing. “Every single day I’m dealing with another postponement or cancellation,” he said. “It’s pretty stressful. I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to do next.” Even so, Lindsey is optimistic about the future. “Things are gonna get better, maybe not tomorrow, but we’ve all got to keep hope that the world is going to heal in time and is going to bounce back,” he said. Such sentiment is evident in Lindsey’s newest single. “The darkness stole our light and left us feeling numb/ The best thing that we can do is dream of the life to come/ ’cause the world will heal in time,” he sings. Several factors led to Lindsey’s recent composition. For one, he’s at home these days, spending time on the phone largely with brides, handling cancellations and reschedulings, and not out performing private events. And secondly, a few weeks ago he saw his son plucking mint in the family’s yard. That observation immediately gave rise to the line “This is the saddest spring,” because

16 MAY 1, 2020

p Joel Lindsey

p Amy, Levi and Joel Lindsey at home on the North Side.

“for most people it’s an invigorating time. There’s something refreshing about seeing everything come back to life, seeing all the things in your backyard growing again — not

Photos by Amy Lindsey

just the pretty stuff, but the grass, and the weeds and the bushes and the leaves on the trees.” Yet all of the growth has been “juxtaposed with this awful thing that’s happening

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in the world right now.” Noticing his son carefully tear mint leaves from a flourishing bush that the family planted one year earlier reminded Lindsey of the present state of childhood and parenting. “These are the loneliest days the children have ever known. You can’t explain to them that we all have to be alone,” he sings. “At that moment, just watching my son pulling up mint,” the idea for the song continued to sprout, and within a week and a half, Lindsey had composed the lyrics, recorded the song and with his wife, Amy, filmed a music video, he said. Such rapidity is “completely unheard of for me.” With its message that nature will take its course and restore life in a future season, Lindsey, a former Southeast London denizen and current Congregation Beth Shalom member, hopes that his creative efforts are encouraging. “I think people can share this song and realize that they’re not alone but we’re all experiencing the same feelings and emotions,” he said. He stressed it’s not about furthering sadness. “I didn’t want to exploit the situation and write something just to ride on people’s emotions. I wanted to give people something positive. And while the song may have a somber vibe, this is a somber time. When the chorus hits, hopefully you’ll realize that my aim is to shed some hope and bring people up rather than bring them down.” As he longingly notes, “The world will heal in time.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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MAY 1, 2020 17

Headlines

Torah

Local rabbis, congregations targeted in phishing scam

Yom Kippur, COVID-19 and hope

broad phishing scam aimed at Pittsburgh’s Jewish community hit the email inboxes of scores of synagogue members late last week and over the weekend. The emails, which purported to come from Pittsburgh-area rabbis — including the rabbis of Temple Sinai, Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, Poale Zedeck, Temple Emanuel of South Hills and Beth El Congregation of the South Hills — all came from spoofed accounts, according to Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. The message in the emails begins: “Shalom Aleichem … I need an assistance from you?” Brokos is working with law enforcement in an effort to determine the individual or group behind the scam. These types of email phishing scams are “very hard to trace,” Brokos said, and often lead to criminals in Africa or Eastern Europe who are “happy to get even one, two, three or four people to respond. They email you, then

ask you to send money or gift cards, and they cast a wide net.” Anyone receiving a suspicious email purportedly coming from a rabbi should be on the lookout for verbiage that indicates that English is not the first language of the sender. Because most rabbis’ email accounts end in “.org,” people also should be on the lookout for emails purportedly from their rabbis that are from gmail accounts. Anyone unsure if an email legitimately came from a rabbi should close out the suspicious email and contact the rabbi at his or her known email address to inquire, said Brokos. She also warned the community to not respond to the suspicious emails and to report them to the FBI’s cyber fraud website, IC3.gov. “The more people who report it, the better chance we have of tracing it,” she said. Any questions can be directed to Brokos at sbrokos@jfedpgh.org. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

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Rabbi Paul Tuchman Parshat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1-20:27

he opening of this week’s double Torah portion, Leviticus 16, presents us with the ancient rituals for Yom Kippur. We will read this chapter again toward the end of September, on Yom Kippur itself. Let’s think about the contemporary observance of Yom Kippur. We abstain from solid food and liquids, we wear white shrouds suitable for burial, we confess our sins in many

Rabbi Eliezer said, “Repent one day before your death” (Pirkei Avot 2). The obvious question has already occurred to you, and so has the answer: Since we do not know the day of our death, we must repent our sins every day, not just on Yom Kippur or the preceding nine or 39 days. This is a classic instance of deciding whether the glass is half empty or half full. If the glass is half empty, we make ourselves miserable (afflict our souls) because of our sins. If it is half full, we get a fresh start in life every day. None but the most pious who happens to be super secure financially and to have no other commitments will be able to faithfully

How can we remain hopeful and find courage and strength? Can the experience of Yom Kippur guide us in this crisis?

different ways using an extensive liturgy. And as we did on Rosh Hashanah, we recite Un’taneh tokef, part of which tells that our fates are sealed on Yom Kippur, “who will live and who will die.” We recite the Yizkor service in memory of our beloved dead. No nutrition, confession, clothing for death — Yom Kippur has been compared to a near-death experience. No wonder that the goal is to feel reborn, restored to the possibility of a better life. Parshat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim comes to us this year in the midst of another kind of near-death experience. COVID-19 is sickening many daily, and all too many are dying from it. Do you, like me, check the statistics every day, to learn how many have been diagnosed or died in our county, state, country and around the world? I know that I may be infected unawares, and that my body’s response may range from being asymptomatic through all the gradations of illness to death itself. What is my fate? What is yours? What effect will you have on me, or I on you? All of this is very scary. It’s depressing. It’s conducive to loneliness, even if you are sheltering with others. How can we remain hopeful and find courage and strength? Can the experience of Yom Kippur guide us in this crisis?

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follow Rabbi Eliezer’s dictum. So let’s look at the glass as half full. I know this is a cliché, but I think it’s useful here: Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Try thinking of it as Rabbi Eliezer with a smile. You are surely aware that many, many people are finding creative ways to be compassionate, kind and nurturing during this pandemic. And you are aware that many more are doing their utmost to keep us safe, healthy and adequately fed. They are strong and courageous. They give us hope. They inspire us to follow their example. Like Yom Kippur, in a grim season they point us toward brighter days. Near death, but far from dead, and looking forward to living fully again: that is our situation. God has given us strength and skill; it is for us to offer thanks and praise by using them to shape a life better than what we lived before COVID-19. Hazak v’amatz/be strong and courageous! Shabbat shalom! PJC Rabbi Paul Tuchman is the rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel in White Oak. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries DAVIS: Jerome S. Davis: On April 23 in Weston, Florida, Jerome S. Davis passed away in his sleep at his home with his devoted caretaker Latoya Graham by his side. Jerry Davis lived a very full life and was just seven weeks from his 100th birthday. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 71 years, Shirlee Stevenson Davis, who passed away in 2014. Both Jerry and Shirlee were preceded in death by their oldest son, Alan Jay Davis. Jerry is survived by his three sons, Mark, Richard, and Howard, and their wives, Marie, Linda and Jean, respectively, and by Alan’s wife Melissa. The entire Davis family now includes Jerry and Shirlee’s longtime caregiver and companion, Latoya, her husband, Banko, and daughter, Taila. Thanks also to caregivers Maxine, Rhonda and Verane who were by Jerry’s side for years as well. Jerry had a big smile, and often greeted those he hadn’t seen or talked to with a very friendly “How ya doin’” — something that was noted in his high school yearbook and which he kept up well into his 90s. Jerry and Shirlee loved nothing more than being with their four boys and their growing families. Jerry was Grandpa to 19 grandchildren from across the country: Meagan and Jimmy Kantor, Adam and Hali Davis, Shannon and Brad Wurthman, Rachel and Nazim Arda, Lisa and Rory Falconer, Sarah and Jonathan Michaels, Emily Davis, Brad Davis, Joel and Laila Davis, Brian and Alaina Davis and Alec Davis, and great-grandchildren: James Alan Kantor, Owen Jay Wurthman, Eliana and Eren Arda, Rowan and Reese Falconer, Lillian Michaels, and Isaac and Amaiya Davis. Jerry and his three sisters grew up in Oakland. Sylvia of Pittsburgh, Ruth of Port Chester, New York, and Ethel of Long Island, New York, all preceded him in death as did their husbands. He was also preceded in death by 14 sisters and brothers-in-law of Shirlee’s Stevenson family, all of Pittsburgh. Jerry was uncle to more than 25 nieces and nephews who send their love from around the world. Since the mid 1940s until 1985, Jerry was a CPA for clients, friends and family members across the entire Pittsburgh area. He was also the CPA for NBA Hall

of Famer Connie Hawkins and MLB Hall of Famer Willie Stargell. His firm became Davis, Davis & Associates when son Howard joined the firm in the 1980s, and now has grown with Howard’s son, Joel, and other accountants. Jerry attended Schenley High School and the University of Pittsburgh, the first in his family to graduate from college. He was a very hard worker throughout his 40-plus years as an accountant. Jerry and Shirlee and their four sons lived in Squirrel Hill and Churchill. Jerry and Shirlee were snowbirds — Pittsburgh in the summer, Bonaventure/Weston the rest of the year, until they moved full time to Weston in the early 2000s. After retirement Jerry had four passions: his family, his Jewish faith, golfing with friends in Pittsburgh and Florida, and watching his favorite sports teams. They were devoted congregants of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh where they were also married in 1943, and later at B’Nai Aviv in Weston where Jerry and Shirlee unfailingly attended services every Friday night and Saturday morning. Jerry was an avid sports fan of the Steelers, Pirates and Miami Heat. He walked to Pirates games at Forbes Field as a young boy, and decades later attended the 1960 World Series final seventh game and saw Bill Mazeroski’s series-winning home run. Jerry was a longtime Steelers ticket holder and saw the famous Franco Harris “Immaculate Reception” as well as a Steelers Super Bowl win among other big victories with Shirlee and his sons. Services and interment private. Donations may be made to the Alan Jay Davis Memorial Trust, 2740 Smallman St., Suite 310, Pittsburgh PA 15222. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com SCHWARTZ: Morris S. Schwartz: On Thursday, April 23, 2020. Beloved husband of the late Patricia (Milligan) Schwartz. Beloved father of Claire Schwartz, Diana Schwartz and Mark Schwartz. Brother of Ruth Davis. Also survived by two grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Services and interment private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. Please see Obituaries, page 20

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

Marion Anderson ........................................ William Feivelson

Jo Anne Persons........................................ Wolf Morris Kaiser

Ronna and Harry Back .............................. Morris B. Pariser

Marcia Rosenthal...............................................Louis Rubinoff

Joel Berg ..................................................................Ben Goldberg

Andrea and Martin Sattler ....................................Leo Sattler

Marvin and Salessa Berk ....................................Molly Reich

Karen K. Shapiro ...............................................Frances Simon

Dean Hansell............................................................. Jewel Weiss

Patricia Green Shapiro .......................Martha Stern Green

Marsha Lieb ................................................Elaine A. Lefkowitz

Jerry & Ina Silver ............Judith Gutkowska Mendelsohn

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday May 3: Stanley Friedlander, Isadore Gerber, Ida Ginsburg, Penina Reva Goldberg, John J. Klein, Sam Klein, Samuel Mermelstein, Hymen Oawster, Marcus Schwartz, Fay L. Sidler, Rita W. Silverman, Milton Snyder, Esther Supowitz Monday May 4: Isaac Adler, Paul Beerman, Fred Gluck, Michael N. Lutsky, Rose Mannison, Max Neustein, Fannie Rapoport, Morris Rosenberg, Dr. Herman A. Saron, Albert Schwartz, Florence Simon, George Simon, Philip Sugerman, Jay Weinthal, Norman Leonard Weissman Tuesday May 5: Hilda Parker Cohen, Pearle G. Conn, William Feivelson, Max Geltner, Lena Gescheidt, Samuel Goldblum, M.D., Grace Lebovitz, Samuel H. Miller, Elva Hendel Perrin, Mary Evelovitz Rom, Andrea Sue Ruben Serber, Florence Specter, Morris Stern, Cecelia Tepper, Louis E. Walk, Bernard Weiss, Maurice Wilner Wednesday May 6: Jeanne Gettleman Cooper, Isadore Cousin, Louis Diamond, Regina Friedman, Bennie M. Granowitz, Sam Greenberger, Isadore Gutkind, Solis Horwitz, Hyman Kramer, Anna Finestone Levit, Samuel Monheim, Louise Plotkin, Leonard J. Singer, Jewel Weiss, Jewel Weiss, Jewel Weiss Thursday May 7: Larry Abelson, Rosella Lillian Barovsky, Rita Marcus Faberman, Paul M. Fierst, Fannie Glick, Sarah Viola Heller, Saul I. Heller, Anne Marks, Samuel Mendlow, Ruth Nusin, Harry Sandson, Dr. Joseph R. Simon, Rosalee Bachman Sunstein, Benjamin Weinberg Friday May 8: Joseph Harry Berger, Jacob Brody, Greta Glasser, Lewis E. Hainick, Frances Shiner Miller, Nathan Neiman, Abraham Pincus, James Henry Podolny, Rachel Racusin, Bella Ratowsky, Philip Rogers, Manuel Wilner Saturday May 9: Anna Blitz, Ruth Pearlman Browarsky, Ruth Coltin, Jacob Gould, Martha Stern Green, Samuel C. Levy, Isadore Irwin Schaffer, Ruth Solomon, Shirley Solomon, Louis Wilder

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

SUCOV: Eugene William (Yehuda Zev) Sucov, passed away of natural causes in the early morning of April 9, first day of Pesach, in the Neve Horim Nursing Home, Jerusalem, Israel. He was 97 years old and had struggled with dementia for more than four years. Gene was the beloved husband of Ellen Benswanger Sucov, devoted father of Joshua (Ora) Sucov, Henry (Takako) Sucov and Andrew (Heather) Sucov and loving grandfather of Edan, Yuval, Asaf, Keenan, Hannah, Evan, Nora and Aaron. He is also survived by his dear brother

Future: Continued from page 13

repentance and acts of loving kindness and a Temple-centered system into a portable faith of study, prayer and mitzvot. Of course, the Yochanan story stands in for a long period of evolution, experimentation and anxiety that ended up with rabbinic Judaism as we know it today. Right now, it feels like we are in the middle of another such period, forced on us by a public health and economic crisis beyond our control and imagining. The closest thing to it was the 2008 recession, when fundraising collapsed, and synagogues and institutions lost members and laid off employees. Experts predicted that the dire consequences of the Great Recession would provide “opportunities for further experimentation in creating new forms of Jewish expression and also accelerate their disengagement from traditional infrastructures,” as Steve Windmueller, professor in Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, put it in a paper at the time. I am not sure his predictions panned out: The economy proved resilient, as did the old ways of doing things in Jewish life. The 2008 crisis only accelerated one major trend in Jewish life: a consolidation of Jewish

Joel (Donna) Sucov, sister Selma Abrams, nieces Jamie, Hollis and Jennifer and nephew Adam and his stepchildren Lynn Benswanger of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and Shimon (Jim) Benswanger of Telz-Stone, Israel and eight Israeli step-grandchildren. Gene was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1922 and moved with his family to Brooklyn. His brother Henry was born in 1924 and was killed in 1945 while serving with the U.S. forces in Europe. Gene attended Alexander Hamilton High School and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1943 with a degree in electrical engineering. After college, he worked in various jobs as an electrical technician and became active in the Masada section of the Zionist Organization of America, eventually becoming part of the national ZOA leadership and the national president

of Masada. He married Millie Itzkowitz in 1949. They lived in Israel from 1951-’53, where he worked as an electrical engineer at the Weizmann Institute. Gene and Millie returned to the U.S. and Gene was accepted to the Ph.D. program in physics at New York University, receiving his degree in 1958. He and Millie moved to Pittsburgh when he was offered a job as a physicist with Pittsburgh Plate Glass. In the 1960s he switched to a job with Westinghouse. During this time, he became involved with local politics and was the founding organizer and president of the 14th Ward Democratic Club, which he led until 1969. A notable accomplishment during his early years at Westinghouse was his invention of the copper halide laser, which was patented in 1972. He and Millie separated in 1974 and divorced in 1979. He worked

with several divisions at Westinghouse, from lasers to lighting to fusion power to inertial propulsion, being promoted up several levels along the way, ultimately to manager. He became active in Dor Hadash Reconstructionist Congregation, serving as its president 1977-1979. In 1982, he married Ellen Benswanger. He retired from Westinghouse in 1988 shortly before his 66th birthday. In retirement, he and Ellen lived alternatingly in Pittsburgh and Jerusalem for several years, then Providence and Jerusalem for four years, before moving permanently to Jerusalem in 2013. Contributions in his memory may be made to The Jewish National Fund in Israel, the Aleph Society in New York or Dor Hadash Congregation in Pittsburgh, or to a charity of your choice. PJC

communal power among “mega-donors.” There is already an emerging literature on what the post-COVID-19 Jewish world will and should look like. Yehuda Kurtzer of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America has called for “collective mobilization” organized around “a coherent and clearly prioritized set of commitments.” Jewish educator Larisa Klebe is urging the Jewish nonprofit world to address the inequities in a field where 70% of workers are women — undervalued and underpaid — and where “the majority of the highest-paying, highest-ranking jobs are still held by men.” Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and chief executive of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, says the coronavirus crisis is showing the need and possibility for “a robust Jewish movement confronting the climate crisis with spiritual audacity and bold political action.” On April 23, Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz, research fellow at the Hartman Institute, will give an online lecture on how the crisis “is highlighting race and class disparities in education systems, and the questions these disparities raise for Jews.” Windmueller is again predicting “profound changes in the Jewish world,” writing that we will see “a fundamental economic restructuring of the communal enterprise, just as we will experience the reshaping of our larger social networks, our systems of practice, and our focus on a

different political environment.” One reason I think such predictions may actually come true this time is that the changes are already happening. Take “systems of practice.” Last week I spoke with Rabbi Mark Biller, of Temple Gates of Prayer in Flushing. In one eight-day period earlier this month, he performed funerals for three congregants who died of complications from Covid-19. Even in that brief period, new rituals based on social distancing — performing a funeral remotely, sitting shiva on a Zoom conference call — went from unthinkable to the new normal. He took inspiration from other rabbis who were adjusting Jewish legal requirements as fast as the conditions were changing. But for all the dislocation, Rabbi Biller says he was “amazed watching the upside.” Writing on Facebook about his “virtual” experience with mourners, he described the satisfaction in “connecting them to each other, the giving of a ritual scaffolding for the human needs of mourning, crying, appreciating, remembering.” Like rabbis and Jewish communal professionals everywhere, Biller has moved nearly all of his synagogue’s functions online, and invented new ones. Major philanthropies have assured their grantees that they will relax some of their old rules about getting and spending money. Most of the changes are temporary, but it’s also possible that new

processes, rituals and forms of engagement will survive long after the virus is defeated. A dozen years ago Windmueller wrote of a different era in American Jewish reinvention: The Great Depression. “The American rabbinate saw a unique opportunity to galvanize Jews to engage in volunteer service in both the Jewish and larger American frameworks; to employ for the first time radio broadcasts and newspaper advertisements in reaching out and encouraging Jewish learning and synagogue involvement; and to speak out on public policy and social justice issues,” he wrote. “Similarly, fund-raising by Jewish charities in the 1920s achieved extraordinary results….” I suspect the economic damage, personal trauma and technological shifts of this bizarre moment in history will also make it impossible for Jewish institutions — the ones that survive — to go back to business as usual. And a dozen years from now, we will look back at the coronavirus crisis as an inflection point. There is no one remedy to the crisis we are seeing within Jewish life. But Yochanan ben Zakkai understood that healing is impossible unless we dare to imagine new forms, new leadership and new territory beyond our current walls. PJC Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor in chief of The NY Jewish Week where this column first appeard.

JAA employee tests positive for COVID-19

n employee at the Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center tested positive for COVID-19 and is now isolating at home, according to Debbie Winn-Horvitz, president and CEO of the Jewish Association on Aging. This is the first positive case of COVID-19 reported by the JAA within any of its facilities. Winn-Horvitz notified all JAA families in an April 26 letter to “reassure everyone that we are prepared, fully operational, and have recommended protocols in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.” All residents and other employees who were potentially in contact with the person who tested positive for the virus were notified. Three employees who had been contact

20 MAY 1, 2020

with the individual were in the process of being tested for the virus as of press time, although they were all asymptomatic, according to Winn-Horvitz. As of press time, no residents at Charles Morris were displaying symptoms of COVID-19. Pursuant to both JAA and Allegheny County Health Department protocols, “employees testing positive for the virus will not return to work until they have the appropriate medical clearance. We continue to take all of the added precautions we have put into effect throughout the organization to protect all of our residents and other team members,” the letter to families stated. “We continue to assess all residents

twice per day for any symptoms including fever, cough, shortness of breath, lethargy, gastrointestinal disturbances, etc.,” the letter continued. “Staff has been trained and is using proper personal protective equipment (PPE) to care for residents. Our housekeeping staff has been vigilant about cleaning high touch areas.” Although nursing homes have been particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, up until last week JAA facilities had not seen any cases in any of its facilities. It had taken proactive measures, such as requiring all staff to wear masks, and introducing rigorous hand-washing and social distancing protocols in an attempt to avoid the virus. “This is what we have been preparing

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for,” Winn-Horvitz told the Chronicle. “We were clearly hoping that no one would test positive but we have been preparing for the inevitable. We are certainly hoping to mitigate this and keep the impact minimal.” The board of JAA “has been regularly updated, increasingly involved, and completely supportive of the staff throughout this crisis,” said Andrew Stewart, chairman of the JAA’s board. “Debbie and her team continue to be proactive and aggressive in their approach to combating the coronavirus. Our entire community should be proud of the care our JAA residents have been receiving.” PJC — Toby Tabachnick PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

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MAY 1, 2020

Community JFCS stays busy

p JFCS Refugee Case Worker, Abby Jo Krobot, safely performs a distanced home visit, while using her car as a mobile office.

p The JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry staff continues working to ensure the community has food. From left: Kathleen Carr, Arielle Kroser, Stacie Dow and JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry Director, Matthew Bolton. Photos courtesy of Jewish Family and Community Services

Pitching in stitch by stitch I chi you

p Franklin Park resident and professional medical device representative Kate Lederman sews masks for donation to the Jewish Association on Aging.

p Pow! Take that, coronavirus.

Photos courtesy of Lynette Lederman

Big birthday for Gertie Supowitz Squirrel Hill staple and conversationalist par excellence Gertrude Weinberg Supowitz turned 100 on April 25. Beloved by many, Supowitz is often seen walking briskly on Murray Avenue where she is recognized by countless friends and family.

p Yafa Negrete and daughter Liora practice virtual yoga.

p Gertie at 22

22â&#x20AC;&#x192;MAY 1, 2020

Photo by Eduardo Schnadower

p Gertie at 99 Photos courtesy of Marty Supowitz

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Community Yom HaShoah goes digital The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh marked Yom HaShoah 2020 with an online commemoration. The April 21 gathering welcomed nearly 1,000 digital attendees.

p Holocaust Center Director Lauren Bairnsfather marked 75 years since Liberation and recalled the passing of Isaiah Kuperstein, the center’s first director.

p Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers chanted a memorial prayer.

p Rabbi Jeremy Markiz recited the Mourner’s Kaddish.

p Nancy Zionts sang “Zog Nit Keyn Mol” (the Partisans’ song).

Screenshots by Adam Reinherz

Fashionably safe

p JAA care staff get fit tested for N95 respirators.

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p Costumed heroes distributed more than 330 meals outside the Squirrel Hill JCC. Photo courtesy of Jewish Association on Aging

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Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

MAY 1, 2020 23

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