Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5-22-20

May 22, 2020 | 29 Iyar 5780

Candlelighting 8:19 p.m. | Havdalah 9:25 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 21 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Jewish organizations adjust to region’s shift to yellow

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Loss of a leader

$1.50

Discussing death with children in the age of COVID-19

Doris Rudolph was community stalwart.

Page 2

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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LOCAL

still work remotely and that in-person meetings will not occur for the time being.

Federation CEO and president Jeff Finkelstein “is keeping in mind the principle of pikuach nefesh,” Hertzman said. “There is no reason for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh to be aggressive with regard to reopening things for ourselves, and every reason to be cautious.”

The Federation is not planning any major live programs through 2020, said Meryl Ainsman, Federation’s board chair, but is looking into “alternative ways” to hold some of its annual events, such as its campaign kickoff, Apples and Honey Fall Festival and Mitzvah Day. The Jewish Association on Aging, which was an early adopter of best practices to keep its staff and residents protected from

OVID-19 has put the topic of death and dying “in our collective consciousness in a way that we’ve never seen in our lifetimes,” noted Rabbi Melanie Levav, director of PJ Library New York.

“In the wake of this pandemic, it’s become an issue that’s crossed many more people’s minds and in new ways.”

As of press time, almost 90,000 people had died in the United States due to COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many thousands more have died worldwide.

“This is an opportunity for us as parents to think about how we grapple with death and dying, and how we might talk about it with our kids,” said Levav during a May 6 webinar.

The best way to address the topic, according to Cindy Snyder, clinical director of Pittsburgh’s 10.27 Healing Partnership, “is to let our children lead the conversation, or open up the conversation, but that means we need to be willing to go wherever they’re going to take us.”

Children are naturally curious, and often want to hear additional facts after an initial conversation, explained Lulu Orr, care navigator at Jewish Family and Community Services.

“I think sometimes we try to wrap things up with a bow and say, ‘OK, I’ve given my little talk and I’ve explained what happened and we’re good,’ but children, no matter their age, always want more information,” Orr said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s about death or if it’s about what’s available at the ice cream store. The number one thing is just being honest and truthful, and especially answering their questions and encouraging them to ask questions.”

Numerous factors, such as a child’s age or exposure to COVID-19 concerns, might

Please see Reopening, page 14

Please see Children, page 20

Upsherins

A rite of passage Page 4

LOCAL

 The Jewish Association on Aging remains vigilant during the yellow phase.

Cheers!

Photo courtesy of Jewish Association on Aging

By David Rullo and Adam Reinherz | Staff Writers

A Shaking things up with cocktails Page 16

s Allegheny and other surrounding counties entered the yellow phase on May 15, pursuant to Gov. Tom Wolf ’s plan for a staged reopening of the commonwealth, Jewish organizations cautiously prepared to move forward after being shuttered since mid-March.

Despite the governor’s easing of some restrictions on business operations and social gatherings, most local Jewish institutions and congregations will not be quick to open their doors or to change the procedures under which they have been operating for the last two months.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, for example, will continue “doing everything the way we have been,” said Adam Hertzman, the Federation’s director of marketing, who noted that employees will

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle

LOCAL Lone soldier

HISTORY Lag B’Omers past

TELEVISION Netflix binge

Headlines Community leader, family matriarch, Doris Rudolph dies at 96 — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

L

eonard and Doris Rudolph were taking one of their many trips to Israel in 1971 when a Jewish agency introduced them to someone claiming to be related to Leonard’s mother, an Eliashoff.

The person said the family needed money.

Leonard was reticent. Doris beamed.

“My mother turned to my father and said, ‘Rudy, what’s the difference if they’re related?

They’re here in Israel, they’re Jewish — let’s help them,’” recalled Wendy Rudolph, one of the couple’s three children.

“That is 100 percent emblematic of her — down to calling him Rudy,” said Howard Rieger, who served as president and CEO of the United Jewish Federation (now the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh) from 1981 to 2004, part of the time when Leonard was its chairman. “The first thing I think of when I think of Doris is the tone of her voice. She had a way of looking at something and expressing compassion for others. She was a people person but, when you were with her, you felt like the only person in the room.”

Doris Rudolph, the matriarch of an iconic Jewish Pittsburgh family that boasts three generations of community leaders, died May 6. Dory, as she was known by her friends, was 96.

Born in 1924, a twin and one of five children of David and Sylvia Glosser, Doris Rudolph grew up comfortably in a thriving Jewish community in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that then numbered nearly 2,000.

“I had four lovely sisters — Doris, she was always so pleasant,” said Paul Glosser, the

p Doris Rudolph

Photo courtesy of Rudolph Family

youngest of the five children, whom “Dory” would call her “baby brother” when he was well into his 80s. (He turned 90 this year and lives with his wife, Rita, in Sarasota, Florida.) “‘Are we lucky or what?’” Paul Glosser recalled was his sister’s frequent refrain.

“That was her mainstay.”

Descended from Jewish Russian immigrants, the family in 1906 opened Glosser Brothers, a one-room department store in downtown Johnstown. By the 1980s, it was a chain — affectionately dubbed Gee Bees — that ran 23 stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. Its

original store, which employed several staff members for whom David Glosser served as a sandek, or Jewish “godfather,” is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But the Glossers were always about more than the storefront, people close to the family told the Chronicle.

Johnstown residents sent David Glosser to Washington, D.C., to petition for government relief after the 1936 Johnstown flood, according to Jewish Johnstown historian Barry Rudel. Other members of the family, possibly including Doris Rudolph’s uncle, fought alongside Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in the Jewish Legion in World War I. “From Johnstown’s point of view, the family and the family’s legacy is treasured,” Rudel said.

Doris Rudolph met her future husband at a Pittsburgh Pirates game at Forbes Field in 1947.

“Rudy was able to get my phone number and called me in Johnstown,” Doris Rudolph told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review when her husband died in 2003. “After the third date, I flipped. I knew he was the man for me. We were married a year later.”

The couple had three children — Jim, Bill and Wendy. That generation of the Rudolphs continued to serve Pittsburgh’s Jewish Federation, as well as businesses such as Wendy’s of Greater Pittsburgh, a 60-store organization that once boasted nearly $70 million in annual revenue. They also helped found McKnight Realty Partners, whose properties include downtown Pittsburgh staples like the Heinz 57 Center, the Grant Building and the Oliver Building.

Jim Rudolph lived in Israel for several years after having traveled on a mission there with his parents in 1965.

“This connection to the Jewish community and to Israel really started early — it shaped their lives and our lives,” he said.

“They were a generation that lived through the foundation of Israel and were dedicated to helping it thrive and survive,” said Carol Robinson, a JFCS and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh board member whose father, like Leonard Rudolph, served as a Federation president.

“It’s probably in our DNA,” she added.

Doris Rudolph’s commitment to Israel did not wane in her later years. More recently, she decided she wanted “to donate an ambulance to people in Israel,” her family said.

Magen David Adom accepted the offer.

Doris Rudolph was a warm, giving woman who could be highly sociable — she was often the last person to leave a party, friends said — and her Thanksgivings were epic. She frequently hosted guests, with a characteristic chardonnay in her hand, at the family’s Squirrel Hill home through her husband’s Federation work.

“Every party for my grandfather — it was something,” laughed Mordy Rudolph, Doris Rudolph’s grandson, who heads The Friendship Circle in Pittsburgh.

Doris Rudolph was an early supporter of the organization and her name will be added to the Murray Avenue nonprofit’s rooftop donor wall.

“She always had a kind word to share and always was so positive,” Mordy Rudolph said.

“You don’t think of her as being a strong woman, though she might have been. She was so sweet, so kind.”

Doris Rudolph also “was blessed with being a twin,” said Cathy Droz, one of the three children of Jesse Cohen and Naomi Please see Rudolph, page 15

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Headlines Spirituality from the comfort of your own sofa — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

L

et’s face it: The living room couch is a pretty big draw these days.

But when the Netflix binging is done — or even if you just crave a break from true crime sagas and sitcoms — a new local interfaith offering providing inspiration during these troubling times might just be the ticket.

This week, the Center for Loving Kindness of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, in collaboration with Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, announced an interfaith initiative, Sofa Spirituality, inviting diverse people of faith into learning and dialogue — from the living rooms of its hosts to the living rooms of its viewers.

Interviews with faith leaders from across the country and from around the world will be conducted by Rev. Liddy Barlow, executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, and Rabbi Ron Symons, director of the Center for Loving Kindness. Viewers also will be able to sign up for small group Zoom conversations hosted by Barlow and Symons in an effort to promote “dialogue, curiosity, openness and respect,� according to a press release. “I’m really excited about Sofa Spirituality,� said Barlow. “This project builds on the existing strengths of the interfaith programming and relationships that the Center for Loving Kindness and Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania have developed over the past three years. We help people connect our distinct and fascinating faith traditions to the values that undergird a civil society, and we encourage respectful dialogue among diverse people of faith and good will. We’ll now be able to bring our work to a wider audience, including many who might not have access to interfaith dialogue in their own communities.�

The process of creating Sofa Spirituality “has been humbling, educational and inspirational,� said Symons. “I am humbled

to be in partnership with Rev. Barlow in another way that our shared values bridge the real and perceived differences of our faith traditions.�

Interviews with Rev. B. De Neice Welch from Pittsburgh’s Bidwell Street United Presbyterian Church, Rabbi Jeffrey Sirkman from New York’s Larchmont Temple and Imam Abdullah Antepli from Sanford School at Duke University are already posted on the website, sofaspirituality.org. New interviews are to be posted weekly. “I have already learned so much through the interviews I have conducted with spiritual leaders across the country and the faith spectrum,� Symons said. “I am inspired by the generosity of time, spirit and hope I have witnessed from old and new friends bound together in our spiritual searches. We invite all Pittsburghers to have a seat on the sofa and join in the conversation.�

Sofa Spirituality is an outgrowth of the interfaith work that the Center for Loving Kindness has been engaging in with Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania for the past three years and is funded by The Russell Berrie Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, the Opportunity Fund and individuals throughout the community.

Another interfaith initiative, a May 17 program featuring faith leaders from various traditions, can be viewed on the Christian Associates Facebook page. The half-hour program, “Together in Hope for Healing: Interfaith Prayers Amid COVID-19,� is a brief service of prayer, music and dance, and was co-sponsored by more than two dozen community organizations, including the Center for Loving Kindness and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Participants included Bishop David Zubik of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Rabbi Jamie Gibson of Temple Sinai, Imam Chris Caras of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and Bhante Pemaratana of Pittsburgh Buddhist Center. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

So close and yet so close.

When touch doesn’t follow “normal� rules, when sons and daughters can only picture their moms through plexiglass, everything seems wrong.

Except when it’s for the right reasons.

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Photo provided by the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh.

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MAY 22, 2020 3

Headlines A cut and trim three years in the making — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

I

t’s a Jewish tradition wrapped in symbolism and filled with Kabbalistic meaning and yet many have never heard of the ritual or taken part in its celebration.

In fact, upsherin is the Yiddish word for haircut, according to Rabbi Levi Langer of the Kollel Jewish Learning Center. It is also the name of a tradition popular in various Jewish communities, he explained, where Jewish boys receive their first haircut at the age of 3.

In modern times, the upsherin has been accompanied by parties featuring cakes and other sweet food, toys and games, similar to a birthday party or b’nai mitzvah celebration.

While the word itself is associated with a boy’s first haircut, the tradition has far deeper meanings, according to Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Rabbi Yisroel Altein.

“At age 3, we want to start educating our

children to do mitzvahs: saying blessings, wearing yarmulkes, tzitzit and so on,” he explained. “That is the primary concept of the upsherin, that age 3 is an appropriate time for our children to start recognizing and embracing our traditions.”

Langer, who said he did not celebrate his son’s third birthday by cutting his hair, concurs that education plays an important part in the tradition. Despite not shearing his son’s locks, Langer did take him to Yeshiva Schools and Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh for a bit of learning.

“They were very kind to us,” Langer said.

“There are different ways to do it, but you teach the kid their first Hebrew letters and you recite a few Hebrew words and you let them lick some honey. They get a sense that education is something sweet and positive.”

One of the mitzvahs kept by several haredi Jewish communities is wearing payot, sidelocks extending from the front of a male’s ears to beneath his cheekbone. This tradition can be traced to Leviticus 21:5, where Please see Upsherin, page 15

p Mannis Frankel cuts the hair of his son Tzvi as his wife Dina looks on.

Photos by David Rullo

p Kasriel Naiditch’s hair is cut by his father Dovber.

4 MAY 22, 2020

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Headlines Pittsburgh lone soldier felt the tug of ‘land, people and Torah’ without immediate family in Israel. The soldiers serve in regular army units with Israeli troops.

The Squirrel Hill native’s parents and his three sisters all supported his decision to study in Israel, as well as his choice to make aliyah and join the IDF. “It’s 100% of the values they inculcated within me when I was a child,� Wiesenfeld said. “Our home was very Zionist and pro-Israel. It was hard for them to separate and be so far away and acknowledge that I would be living 6,000 miles away, but they completely supported my decision.�

Although the label “lone soldier� implies a sense of solitude, Wiesenfeld said he is lucky to have friends that accompanied him when he joined the IDF. “I drafted with 10 guys who I spent the last two years with in the yeshiva — some I was even friends with in high school,� he said. “We all live together in a dormitory-style apartment. There’s a whole community of lone soldiers there.�

The building that houses Wiesenfeld and his friends is located at the yeshiva where they attended school. This makes celebrating Shabbat and other holidays easy, allowing them to celebrate with other students.

The dedication of lone soldiers to Israel “cannot be taken for granted,� said Tzvia

— LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

L

one soldier Jacob Wiesenfeld loves both his hometown and his ancestral home. “People who spend time with me know that I jokingly call Pittsburgh my house and Israel my home,� said Wiesenfeld. “I feel deeply passionate about Pittsburgh, but this is my destination.�

The 20-year-old technical assistant in the Northern Command left the Steel City after graduating from Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh to study Judaica and the Talmud for two years in an American program at an Israeli yeshiva.

While in Israel, Wiesenfeld decided to join the Israeli Defense Forces through Hesder, an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service. “A lot of Orthodox men and women decide to take a gap year in Israel to expand their knowledge of Jewish history and texts and grow their Jewish roots into our thousands of years of history,� Wiesenfeld explained. “I came here for one year and stayed for a second. During that second year I decided I wanted to join the army.�

Wiesenfeld is considered a lone soldier, someone who serves in the Israeli military

p Pittsburgh native and Israeli lone soldier Pvt. Jacob Wiesenfeld, technical assistance in the Northern Command.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wiesenfeld

Please see Soldier, page 15

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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 WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh, presents the film “Box for Life� and a post-film discussion with the film’s producer, Uri Borreda.

RSVP to receive a link to the film. The post-film discussion will be offered on Zoom. 3 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/box-for-lifepost-film-discussion-with-film-producer-uri-borreda-rsvp-toreceive-link-to-film

q SUNDAYS, MAY 24, 31; JUNE 7, 14, 21 This six-week, Introduction to Judaism, course will cover an overview of Love and Sex, life cycles from Birth to Death, the Holocaust, Israel and the Jewish mission to heal the world.2 p.m. For more information and to register, visit bethshalompgh.org/ intro-to-judaism.

Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week's Torah portion. All classes meet online. No Hebrew knowledge is needed.

The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/online-parashah. q MONDAYS, MAY 25; JUNE 1, 8, 15, 22 Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud Study. 9:15 a.m.

For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/ mondaytalmud. q TUESDAY, MAY 26 During this time of uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus, the Center for Loving Kindness-JCC Pittsburgh presents a new series, “Comforting Conversations.� Members of the Center for Loving Kindness team talk with members of the community

about topics you and your family may be dealing with right now. There is a new conversation each Tuesday. jccpgh.org/event/comfortingconversations/?cflk=1 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/the-omer-and-ramadan.

The Virtual Support Group for Essential Workers is designed for workers on the front line of the coronavirus crisis — for people who work in health care, retail/grocery stores, government agencies, social service groups and other relevant fields — to connect and share experiences, support each other and get support as well. 8 p.m. An email will

Working with Marks Elder Law when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions keeping more of your money during your lifetime ( Ĺ­ ),Ĺ­3)/,Ĺ­ ( 5 # ,# -ĹˆĹ­ Crafting strategies that allow you to keep more of your assets during your lifetime; Exploring the many payment options for disability and longterm care services; Designing instruments that protect your assets from Medicaid spend-down requirements; Ensuring that your affairs will be handled the way you want if you experience a serious injury or illness; and Administering your estate to ensure proper distribution of your assets while minimizing any taxes owed.

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6 MAY 22, 2020

The JCC with Vitalant (formerly Central Blood Bank) is hosting drives for desperately needed blood donations in our Squirrel Hill and South Hills facilities in controlled and safe environments following CDC and Allegheny County guidelines. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Appointments strongly encouraged. Visit vitalant.org and click on the “Make an Appointment� button and search with group code C189 (Squirrel Hill location) or C438 (South Hills location). q WEDNESDAYS, MAY 27; JUNE 3, 10, 17, 24

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q WEDNESDAYS, MAY 27; JUNE 3, 10; FRIDAYS, MAY, 29; JUNE 5, 12

be sent to you 30 minutes prior to the event with instructions on how to join. To register, visit jfcspgh. org/virtualgroup. q TUESDAYS, MAY 26; JUNE 2, 9, 16 Join the JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness Director Rabbi Ron Symons for Lunch & Learn at 12:15 p.m.

To register, email Rabbi Ron at rsymons@jccpgh. org and he will send you the link to join. For more information, including weekly topics, visit jccpgh. org/event/jccpghvirtual-new-classes/?cflk=0. q TUESDAYS, MAY 26; JUNE 2, 9, 16, 23 Amid this time of physical isolation, it can be difficult to find opportunities to gather with others to reflect on and process loss. The challenges of one loss can be compounded by additional losses of all kinds, making it difficult to find space for relief along the way. Join together in the virtual group Dealing with Loss in Difficult Times to reflect and share challenges and successes as you navigate this journey during this unique time. 3 p.m. To register, visit jfcspgh.org/virtualgroup. q WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful with Rabbi Mark Goodman in this weekly Parashah Discussion: Life & Text. 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/life-text.

Does the pandemic have you yearning for the stability of old traditions? As thrilling as it is to engage in platonic speed-dating on Zoom, have you found yourself longing for some good old-fashioned romance? The kind with a matchmaker? Satisfy your nostalgia by joining Moishe House on a journey to Anatevka as we screen the classic “Fiddler on the Roof.� (Spoiler alert: Not everything was perfect in the old country either!) As with all our virtual events, feel free to invite any friends who might like to participate, even if they don’t live in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 7 p.m. RSVP via Facebook or email for link. facebook.com/events/227315425366031 The Jewish holiday of Shavuot celebrates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Tikkun Leil Shavuot traditionally brings the entire Pittsburgh Jewish community together for all-night Jewish learning. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will host an online version the night before Shavuot so all can participate. 9 p.m. to midnight.

Pre-registration required at jewishpgh.org/tikkun.

Mindfulness and Meditation for Stress Management offers the opportunity to cultivate greater awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Increasing awareness and integrating mindfulness and meditation into one’s routine strengthens one’s ability to act with intention rather than reactively and decrease feelings of being overwhelmed. 11 a.m. An email will be sent 30 minutes prior to the event with instructions on how to join. To register, visit jfcspgh.org/virtualgroup. q THURSDAY, MAY 28 Explore iconic artworks throughout history in Art and Quarantine Stories that relate to our current moment with the JCC’s American Jewish Museum Director Melissa Hiller. 12:15 p.m. Free. To register, email Melissa at mhiller@jccpgh.org and she will send you the link to join. For more information, including topics, visit https://jccpgh.org/event/ jccpghvirtual-new-classes/?cflk=0.

Join Classrooms Without Borders for a weekly book discussion of Hadley Freeman’s “House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family� with Dr. Joshua Andy on Zoom.

Freeman’s book centers on her discovery of her family’s history after the death of her grandmother, Sara Glass. Freeman weaves history and the contemporary rise in anti-Semitism together in a family narrative of the 20th century. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/hadley-freeman Join Rabbis Alex Greenbaum, Amy Greenbaum, Jessica Locketz, Aaron Meyer, Emily Meyer and Cantor Rena Shapiro in study at the first South Hills Tikkun Leil Shavuot. RSVP for the Zoom link for this meaningful inaugural community holiday program.

7 p.m. southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/tikkun q SUNDAY, MAY 31 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division for a game night with host Zach Schwartz from the comfort of your own home. They’ll be playing Jackbox games, so your phone will be your controller. You must register in advance to receive the Zoom link to join and there are only 10 spots available.

7 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/yad-virtual-game-night q MONDAY, JUNE 1 At the next Lion of Judah Lunch & Learn, Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff discusses the extent to which we really believe in pluralism and diversity and whether we really are one people with one mission. Open to all women. 12 p.m. via Zoom. To register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/ lion-lunch-learn.

q WEDNESDAYS, MAY 27; JUNE 3

q THURSDAY, JUNE 11

The Jewish Community Camps of North America Flagpole are community-wide rallies of solidarity and song hosted by Rick Recht, the renowned Jewish musician. JCC Association is launching this series of interactive and music events that also will feature leaders, clergy and JCC camp families sharing inspiring stories from their own communities. 8 p.m.

For more information, including how to stream, visit jccpgh.org/event/jccpghvirtual-special-events/?cflk=0.

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh, presents the film “Shalom Italia� and a post-film discussion with the film’s producer, Tamar Tal Anati. RSVP to receive a link to the film. The post-film discussion will be offered on Zoom. RSVP to receive link.

3 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/shalom-italia-post-filmdiscussion-with-film-producer-tamar-tal-anati PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Digging into the archeology of Lag B’Omer — HISTORY —

By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

I

n an editorial about Lag B’Omer, in 1936, the local American Jewish Outlook made a lovely observation about the suppleness of the Jewish calendar, the way important days accumulate meaning over time. The writer, most likely Dr. Asher Isaacs, explained the scriptural basis of the Omer period between Passover and Shavuot. It was a time of thanksgiving for the freedoms of the Exodus and for the first fruits of the harvest.

“But,” he wrote, “just as through the centuries one city was built on top of another more ancient than itself, so in Jewish history, the various days of the year came to be associated with events coming on the same day or during the same period although many centuries apart.” And so spring was burdened with a suite of tragedies, from the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt in the second century to the first Crusades nearly a millennium later, leading to the spirit of mournfulness still observed during these weeks.

The handwritten text in the bottom corner of this photograph reads, “Second Leg Boamer Outing Jr Class Pitts. Pa YESHIVAH.” The spelling of the holiday likely reflects the dialect of whoever wrote it.

Say “Leg Boamer” aloud, and you can hear a bit of the past.

These are the students and teachers of the Hebrew Religious Academy, a yeshiva in the Hill District founded by Rabbi Eliyahu Wolf Kochin in early 1921. This photograph documents their second annual Lag B’Omer outing, held on Tuesday, May 16, 1922.

The boys started the day outside their yeshiva on Tannehill Street at 9 a.m., according to a notice in the Jewish Criterion.

A local businessman named J. Steinberg gave each boy a flag and a bow and arrow. You can see those flags here. They come at a moment of uncertainty for American Jews, amid the ugly national debates on immigration quotas.

It’s a shame that none of these boys have their bows and arrows. It would have been nice evidence of an old custom intended to recall the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Lag B’Omer. To oversimplify: Tradition says that, during his lifetime, the world never saw a rainbow — a sign of forestalled destruction — since Noah. Hence, the bow and arrow.

GET THE

 Thanks to a Jewish community study conducted in 1923, we know with some certainty that this photograph shows the entire student body of the Hebrew Religious Academy, give or take a few kids.

Image courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives

The boys paraded down Tannehill and zigzagged their way to Forbes Avenue, where a caravan of cars were waiting to take them to Highland Park. The photo shows them on the steps of the Highland Park Zoo, as the Pittsburgh Zoo was then known.

What were their impressions of the East End? There were no synagogues yet in the neighborhood. But certainly the boys must have known that the area was where Jewish families were moving when they could afford to leave the crowded Hill District.

The boys sat through some speeches. Rabbi Kochin spoke on “Torah and Knowledge.”

J. Steinberg spoke on “Good Behavior.” A teacher named Mr. Goldstein spoke on the “Value of Education.” In return the boys got

to eat candy, cake and ice cream. They sang Hebrew songs. And then they had a race — with prizes. It sounds like a pretty great day.

Jewish youth groups rediscovered Lag B’Omer following World War I. The themes of the day complemented the revival of Zionism underway at the time, as evidenced here by the proto-Israeli flag. Throughout the 1920s, Squirrel Hill and East Liberty congregations opened their social halls for programs featuring poems, plays, songs, food and speeches.

The Hebrew Religious Academy outing was different. The children were taken away from their daily environs to spend the day outside, in another neighborhood.

That sense of respite is the heart of Lag

B’Omer. The Talmud tells us that 12,000 pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students died between Passover and Shavuot from an awful respiratory disease known as “askara.” But according to tradition, the plague ended on Lag B’Omer, which is why the mournful restrictions of the Omer period are now lifted on that day.

The corollary to our easing restrictions is obvious. What is easy to overlook, though, is the way our experiences add another step to the hopscotching path of Jewish history. PJC Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at eslidji@ heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406.

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

For home delivery, call 410.902.2308.

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

MAY 22, 2020

7

Headlines Jewish crowdfunding sites meet their moment, raising millions of dollars for coronavirus victims time of economic upheaval.

“I’m not surprised — it has been tried and proven over and over and over again,” said Moshe Hecht, the chief innovation officer at Charidy, another fundraising site. “I am surprised that it’s still working in this environment, where people are holding onto their wallets and seemingly so frugal.”

The fundraising drives take place on a handful of crowdfunding websites that mainly serve Orthodox clients. Campaigns often feature glossy ads, emotionally overwrought copy and dramatic videos, and they are often heavily promoted p A campaign for coronavirus victim Lipa Friedrich on the website Dryveup.com has already raised on Orthodox websites that over $1 million.

Screenshot via JTA closely track coronavirus deaths in the community.

In barely two weeks, 5,000 donors used And a Charidy campaign on behalf of Not infrequently, they manage to raise Kupat Ha’ir to give over $250,000 to support Yochanan Hochauser, a British father of six-figure sums within days.

Donors have chipped in nearly $850,000 via the widow and nine children of Rabbi Chaim 12 who died of the coronavirus in April, the Chesed Fund for Yerachmiel “Rick” Beilis, Aharon Turchin, a 48-year-old yeshiva head has raised more than $830,000 from a 52-year-old father of four from Chicago from Bnei Brak, Israel, who died of the coroPlease see Crowdfunding, page 9 who died of the coronavirus on April 4. navirus in April.

— WORLD —

By Ben Harris | JTA

A

fter the coronavirus killed Lipa Friedrich, a 39-year-old bus driver from Monsey, New York, in March, his wife and 11 children were left without a breadwinner.

But within days of the launch of an online fundraiser to benefit the Orthodox Jewish family, the Friedrich family faced a dramatically different financial picture. The campaign has netted more than $1 million, most within the first 48 hours, and another fundraiser brought in even more.

“We didn’t expect that we would reach such an amount,” said Shlomo Spitzer, who organized the larger campaign for the Friedrich family. “But obviously the vibe was very good. People got very involved.”

Spitzer created the campaign through DryveUp, one of several platforms used by Orthodox Jews to crowdfund for community members in crisis. While the platforms have existed for years, the coronavirus pandemic has made clear how powerful they are for generating massive amounts of donations from a relatively small community even at a

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Headlines Crowdfunding: Continued from page 8

about 7,600 donors.

“You have to attribute it to how people are brought up and their values,” said Yossi Klein, the founder of DryveUp. “Everybody’s cutting back on certain stuff now. No one is splurging. But for essentials, they’re still spending. So if they’re brought up that charity is essential, they still give.”

Dryveup emerged from a marketing firm, Click and Market, that Klein founded a decade ago. The site charges a flat rate to clients in exchange for a range of fundraising services, including graphic design, ad creation, video production and digital marketing materials.

“This tragedy has shaken us to the core,” reads a campaign on behalf of Baila Rivka Mertzbach, a mother of 11 from Monsey who died of the coronavirus. “The children have been left shattered, lost and bereft of their mother’s love and warm care. ‘How will we survive the excruciating pain of living without Mommy?’ her family is weeping.”

The Chesed Fund, another popular crowdfunding site aimed at the Orthodox, charges nothing to raise money on its platform and offers a more stripped-down service, though its campaigns still routinely raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in days. Over $9 million overall has been raised on the site for coronavirus victims.

“I think it all speaks to the power of

“ We didn’t expect that we would reach such an amount. But obviously the vibe

— SHLOMO SPITZER

community,” said Avi Kehat, the site’s founder, who says traffic to the site has quadrupled in the last month. “Entire cities have stepped up to care for specific members who have passed away. And the broader Jewish community as a whole has also stepped up incredibly to assist individuals they have never heard of before.”

In late March, a campaign went live on the Chesed Fund for Nachman Morgan, a longtime teacher at Toras Emes Academy in Los Angeles who had died of COVID-19.

Malkiel Gradon, the campaign’s organizer, said he hasn’t spent a dime promoting it, relying solely on word of mouth. Even so, the campaign is still drawing donations, creeping up past $193,000 last week on the

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

May 22, 1970 — 12 killed in school bus ambush

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists attack an Israeli school bus near the Lebanese border, killing eight children and four adults and wounding more than 20 other Israelis. Israel shells four Lebanese villages in retaliation.

May 23, 1969 — Arab politician Hanin Zoabi born

Hanin Zoabi, a Balad member of the Knesset from 2009 to 2019, is born in Nazareth. She opposes Israel’s existence but is the first Arab woman to win a Knesset seat as part of a predominantly Arab party.

May 24, 1895 — Artist Marcel Janco born

Multimedia artist and architect Marcel Janco, a founder of the Dada movement and a major influence on modern Israeli art, is born in Bucharest, Romania. He makes aliyah in early 1941.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

”

was very good. People got very involved.

May 25, 1991 — Operation Solomon rescues Ethiopian Jews

strength of donations from about 1,450 donors — an average gift of about $133.

“When we set out the campaign, we set up an initial goal of $150,000, thinking that would be a nice dream,” Gradon said. “And we were at $150,000 in the first day pretty much.”

The ability of crowdfunding websites to raise fast cash for victims of tragedies was first demonstrated in the Jewish world in 2015, when Charidy helped raise over $900,000 in just days for the family of Nadiv Kehaty, a 30-year-old father of four who died suddenly of an apparent heart attack.

Like Dryveup, Charidy provides a range of marketing and promotional services and hosts campaigns with slick graphics, sharp

copywriting and in many cases professionally produced videos. One coronavirus campaign, for Hatzolah of Williamsburg, opens with a camera dropped from a drone onto the streets of Brooklyn and then cuts quickly among shots of masked paramedics darting from ambulances as dramatic music swells in the background. The campaign has raised over $2 million.

“We’re extremely hands-on,” Hecht said.

“It’s what sets us apart.”

Charidy makes money by taking a cut of funds raised on the platform, though Hecht says campaigns for individual coronavirus victims rely on a tip model in which donors agree to voluntarily pay a bit more to support the site. To date, the site has raised $3.3 million for individual coronavirus victims and another $30 million for Jewish organizations responding to the coronavirus crisis, according to Hecht.

Though it seems like easy money, organizers say raising substantial sums on crowdfunding sites takes work. The $1 million Friedrich campaign relied on over 200 people who each agreed to raise a portion of the overall target. Spitzer supplied them with graphics and messages to post on Facebook and in WhatsApp groups, and fielded their questions at all hours.

“That’s the reason that a lot of charities don’t succeed. They think online campaigns are like a trick,” Spitzer said. “You put it up and it makes money. It’s not so easy like it looks. You have to work very hard. It’s a 24-hour job.” PJC

Turning 65?

Were These Your Classmates?

Operation Solomon flies more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours using 34 airplanes. About half as many Beta Israel made the journey through Operations Moses and Joshua in 1984 and 1985.

May 26, 1958 — U.N. official, 4 Israelis killed on Mount Scopus

Nathan Lane

Gunfire from the Jordanian side of the Jerusalem demilitarized zone on Mount Scopus kills four Israeli police officers and the Canadian head of the United Nations’ Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission.

May 27, 1973 — Halevi named Tel Aviv’s chief rabbi Chaim-David Halevi, who in 1964 became the youngest member of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Council, is elected the Sephardic chief rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Bill Maher

Jamie Dimon (GE)

Thinking About the Decision You (and Your Classmates) Need to Make About Health Insurance?

Oprah Winfrey

May 28, 1999 — Submarine Dakar found after 3 decades

The Israeli submarine Dakar, which disappeared with 69 sailors in January 1968, is discovered between Crete and Cyprus almost 9,800 feet beneath the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. PJC PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

If You Are Turning 65 You Have a Limited Time to Make a Decision that May Affect the Rest of Your Life.

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Retail Directory: Businesses now open American Window Industries & Premiere Kitchen and Bath 106 Rockwood Ave. 15221 8-4 412-823-2320 Americanwindow@aol.com

We adhere to Covid-19 guidelines.

Ann Greathouse Realtor Howard Hanna Sq Hill

412-913-0885 Agreathouse@howardhanna.com

Apricot Lane

5533 Walnut St. 15232 Mon.-Sat., 12-5; Sun., 12-4 412-932-2092

Must wear a mask; no more than 20 people in the store at one time Arbonne

Squirrel Hill area Shop online 24/7 Julie: 917-861-0989, Kathy: 412-889-9620 Julie.arnheim@gmail.com, Arnheim.arbonne.com

Avalon Exchange

5858 Forbes Ave. 15217 Mon.-Sat., 11-8; Sun., 12-6 412-421-2911

Must wear a mask Bejuled3

412-973-9500

Follow Instagram or Facebook BeJuled3. Call for appointment or to do virtual shopping.

Biketek

Elegant Edge Catering Company P.O. Box 81046, 15217 Office: 412-385-2332, cell: 412-657-9767 Elegantedgecateringcompany.com

Judah Cowen — Follow us on Facebook or Instagram or both

Little’s Shoes

5850 Forbes Ave. 15217 Mon.-Sat., 10-6; Sun., 12-5 (initial hours) 412-521-3530 Curbside pickup/mail-out and home delivery still provided

Eons Fashion Antique

Marvista Kitchen and Bath

Must wear a mask

Moxie Cloth

5850 Ellsworth Ave. 15232 Sun. - Fri., 12-5; Sat., 11-5. 412-361-3368

412-652-9027 By appointment. Showroom opening soon

Open 24 hours/7 days a week

925 Liberty Ave. 15222 412-231-1000, Melissa Reich 412-215-8056

Everyday Noodles

5875 Forbes Ave. 15217 11:30-9. 412-421-6668

Murray Ave. Apothecary

Takeout and delivery only. Check out our online ordering portal. Please pay by credit card.

Four Seasons Dry Cleaners

1716 Murray Ave. 15217 Mon.-Fri., 9-6; Sat., 9-3. 412-420-5075

Must wear a mask Frank and Stein Associates/ Green Light Wireless

Mon.-Fri., 9-5 412-228-3000. greenwifi.com, hello@greenwifi.com

Supporting all new and existing customers onsite according to Federal CDC guidelines.

2004 Murray Ave. 15217. 412-421-4996

Orders by phone with non-contact pickup.

Website ordering with free delivery Murray Ave. Locksmith

New Balance Wexford

All clients and staff are required to wear masks. No more than three people per party.

Private appointment available

Child’s Wardrobe

2200 Murray Ave. 15217 Mon.-Fri., 10-5. 412-422-3033

Must wear a mask; call for appointment Gordon Shoes

108 W. Bridge St., Homestead PA 15120 Mon.-Fri., 11-6; Sat., 11-7; Sun., 12-5 412-464-1007. customerservice@gordonshoes.com

Offering curbside pickup

Must wear a mask; private appointment available

Green Oaks Country Club

Chocolate Moose

We are following all of the state mandated requirements for golf courses.

5830 Forbes Ave. 15217 Mon.-Sat., 10-6; Sun., 12-4; 412-422-2208

Curbside pickup or delivery via Uber Eats Cienne Designs

5886 Ellsworth Ave. Shadyside, PA 15232 412-759-7777 CienneDesignsVintageMarket.com

By appointment only Clothes Minded

4740 Liberty Ave. 15224 Mon.-Sat., 12-8, Sun., 12-5. 412-960-0246

Must wear a mask; no more than 10 people in the store at one time Coldwell Banker

5887 Forbes Ave. 15217; 412-521-2222 Cheryl Gerson: 412-401-4693 Tamara Skirbol: 412-401-1110

Must wear a mask College Quest Offices in Squirrel Hill and Mt. Lebanon 412-521-GRAD (4723) Eva@mycollegequest.com, mycollegequest.com

10 MAY 22, 2020

5741 Third St., Verona PA 15147 Open on a limited basis. 412-793-2000

Howard Hanna

6310 Forbes Ave. 15217 412-421-9121. Sherri Mayer: 412-760-0412

Must wear a mask; appointment requested Invitations Plus

1406 Negley Ave. 15217 412-421-7778. Mon.-Sat., 10-6 Invitationsonshady@gmail.com

Jerry’s Records

2136 Murray Ave. 15217 Tues.-Sat., 10-6; Sun., 12-5. 412-421-4533

Must wear a mask; no more than 10 people in the store at any one time L&M Distributors INC

55 Loockerman Plaza, #147, Dover DE 19903 8-7. 302-659-1595 handwarmersstore@gmail.com, handwarmers.com

Law and Mediation Office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock, Esq.

1320 Shady Ave., Suite 100, rear 15217 7 days/week by appointment or 24/7 by email and VOX 412-421-2232 JLPLAW15217@aol.com, JLPLAW15217@gmail.com

201 S. Highland Ave. 15206. 412-441-1144

Must wear a mask; appointment requested

Squirrel Hill Flower Shop

Must wear a mask; two people per party

635 S. Braddock Ave. 15221. 412-243-2772

Samuel Baron Clothier

Offering curbside pickup

5857 Forbes Ave. 15217 Mon. and Wed.-Sat., 10-5; Tues., 10-7

Glenn Greene’s Stained Glass Studio

206-799-9372 — Serving South Hills

All online orders are available for same-day pickup. Free delivery on orders over $75 in Squirrel Hill and Greenfield

Orr’s Jewelers

Curbside pickup

Rytar Painting

112 West Bridge St., Homestead PA 15120 Mon.-Fri., 11-6; Sat., 11-7; Sun., 12-5 412-464-1002. customerservice@gordonshoes.com

Gaby Et Jules

2115 Murray Ave. 15217 412-421-8807. gamesunl.com

Must wear a mask; call for an appointment.

New Balance Pittsburgh

Offering curbside pickup

Games Unlimited

Rubinoff Realty

Seven Seasons Paper Goods

Must wear a mask; two people per party 6006 Penn Ave. Mon.-Sun., 11-6. 412-661-1966

Must wear a mask; call for an appointment.

2004 Murray Ave. 15217 24/7 service 412-422-2004 and 24/7 support line, Fax 412-422-1002. MurrayAve.locksmith.com

Must wear a mask

Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, local farmer’s markets Always open online chezlapingoods.com, Chezlapingoods@gmail.com

Roberta Weissburg Leathers

Five-person occupancy limit, curbside pickup available, appointments for high-risk customers. Strict CDC guidelines followed. Call for more details.

425 Forbes Ave. 15219 412-301-2277 Sara.scardina@ihg.com

5837 Forbes Ave. 15217 Mon.-Sun., 9-5. 412-682-1966, option 0 (zero)

Chez Lapin

Must wear a mask; appointment requested 5415 Walnut St. 15232 (Shadyside). 412-681-8188

10616 Perry Highway, Wexford PA 15090 Mon.-Fri., 11-6; Sat., 11-7; Sun., 12-5 724-940-2400 customerservice@gordonshoes.com

Kitchen requires advance orders (at least one hour for regular dinner pickup. Priorday or three hours advance for lunch or any other times). Follow us on Facebook.

5608 Wilkins Ave. 15217 412-521-1000, Jill Portland 412-496-5600, Mark Portland 412-480-3110

Mt. Lebanon Shops 300 Mt. Lebanon Blvd. 15234 Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat., 11-4. 412-341-4100

Gaby Et Jules

2028 Murray Ave. 15217. 412-421-3033 Sun.-Thurs. dinner, 5:30-8:30. Email or phone in orders for takeout or delivery. cafeeighteenpittsburgh@gmail.com Cafeeighteen.com

Remax Realty Brokers

EVEN Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown

5842 Forbes Ave.. 15217 Mon.-Sat., 11-7 412-521-6448

Cafe Eighteen (aka Eighteen — the cafe at Pinsker’s)

mask, one person at a time, or curbside pickup.

Please follow our Facebook page: Pinskers Judaica.

5861 Phillips Ave. 15217 970-989-2648. Online orders 24/7 @ sevenseasonspapergoods.com

1718 Murray Ave. 15217 Mon.-Thurs., 9-5; Fri., 9-6; Sat., 9-2; Sun., closed 412-421-3300

Must wear a mask; delivery and pickup available Squirrel Hill Jewelry

1925 Murray Ave. 15217. 412-421-9243 Squirrelhilljewelry@gmail.com

Steel City Garage Doors 2004 Murray Ave., #1 15217 24/7 service: 412-218-3003

Steve Schwartz Associates, Inc.

Paititi Inti

1700 Forbes Ave. 15219 412-765-3400. Mon.-Fri., 7:30-5 Steve@ssapgh.com

Must wear a mask

Switch and Signal Skatepark

1823 Murray Ave. 15217 Mon.-Sat., 11-8; Sun., closed. 412-716-2898

Paris 66

6018 Centre Ave. Thurs.-Sun., 10:30-8. 412-996-9113

Curbside delivery and takeout home delivery via Uber Eats. Special menu for takeout Penn Automotive

243 W. Eighth Ave. (West Homestead) 15120 Mon.-Fri., 7-6; Sat. and Sun., closed 412-461-7500

Must wear a mask Perfectly Planned by Shari

412-901-0082. By appointment Info@perfectlyplannedbyshari.com perfectlyplannedbyshari.com

7518 Dickson St., Swissvale PA 15218 Mon.-Fri., 12-4 (in-person pickup), Sat. and Sun., 12-3 (in-person pickup). 412-871-0023 info@switchandsignalskatepark.com switchandsignalskatepark.com\Facebook (@switchandsignal) and Instagram (switchandsignalskatepark)

The Jim Recht Agency, LLC

2520 Mosside Blvd., Suite 4A, Monroeville PA 15146 Mon.-Fri., 9:30-6 412-349-8257. Jrecht@farmersagent.com

TNT Fashions

6401 Penn Ave. (Village of Eastside) 15206 Mon.-Sat., 10-8; Sun., 12-5. 412-661-9981

Must wear a mask

Perlora Furniture

Wagner Agency Inc.

By appointment only

No visitors allowed until Allegheny and Westmoreland counties turn green. Virtual appointments using MS Teams, email and phone

2220 E. Carson St. 15203; 2837 Smallman St. (in the Strip) Southside: 412-431-2220 Strip: 412-434 7425

Petland/ASAP Rescue

6401 Penn Ave. 15206 Mon.-Sat., 10-5; Sun., 11-5 412-363-7387 Eastsidepets@comcast.net, petlandvillageeastside.com

Now doing curbside pickup and delivery for orders over $50 within a 3-mile radius. Our hours will be expanding in the following weeks.

Pinsker’s Judaica

2028 Murray Ave. 15217 412-421-3033. Sun.-Fri., 1-6 or by appointment Pinskers18@gmail.com

Please call with questions or orders. Phone will forward to cell phones. Entry to store with

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

5020 Centre Ave. 15213 3510 Route 130, Irwin PA 15642 Mon.-Fri., 8:30-4:30; Sat. by appointment Wagner@wagneragency.com

WINNERS FITNESS: In Home Personal Training & Massage Therapy 412-657-9403. thewinnersfitness.com

VegOut Cuisine

810 Fifth Ave. 412-736-7444. Moshe@VegOutCuisine.com

Free delivery with $18 minimum order to Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Shadyside, Point Breeze and Oakland. Delivery to other areas can be arranged for a fee. PJC

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines This Jewish medical student is helping reduce racial disparities in coronavirus testing care, including preventive treatments and HIV testing, to homeless people and undocumented immigrants.

Lee, 28, said Jewish values inspired her to take action when her in-person rotations were canceled due to the pandemic.

“It’s one of the biggest reasons why I am doing this,” she said. “I think living your values and beliefs is very important. It’s something to talk about it, to learn about it, but it’s another thing to actually put beliefs and values into action.”

Jewish communities were among the first hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. But as the pandemic has worsened, it has become clear that African Americans are far overrepresented among cases and deaths across the country. In Philadelphia, African Americans represent 54% of coronavirus deaths despite making up 40% of the population.

Many factors contribute to those disparities, but unequal access to coronavirus testing is likely playing

— NATIONAL —

By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

A

t the beginning of her day, Tal Lee will see as many as hundreds of cars snake around the church parking lot where she is helping to conduct coronavirus tests.

Dressed in two face masks, a face shield and scrubs, Lee works alongside doctors, nurses and medical students like herself to conduct as many as 300 coronavirus swabs a day in predominantly African American neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

They are brought together by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, an initiative founded by a local surgeon to combat the coronavirus pandemic’s high death rate among African Americans.

Signing onto the initiative was a natural choice for Lee, a fourth-year medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine who plans to work as an OB-GYN treating underserved populations.

Before beginning medical school, she spent a year working on a mobile medical van through Avodah, a Jewish social justice fellowship in New York, providing street-side health

p Medical student Tal Lee, left, and nurse Michele Morton are working with the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium to provide free coronavirus testing.

Photo courtesy of Lee via JTA.org

Please see Testing, page 17

‫הליכה עם חבר בחושך‬ ‫עדיפה על הליכה לבד‬ ‫באור‬

‫ב"ה‬

now accepting shabbat and Shavout orders Curbside Pickup and Delivery Dinners available Weekday Dinners include Mediterranean, Chinese, Mexican and Italian Specials Shabbat Specials include Matzo Ball Soup, Kugels, Brisket, Marsala Chicken

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

Check out our website: eedgecatering.com/menu.html for up to date info and menus follow us on facebook: eedgecatering.com/fb Office Ph: 412-385-2332 Cell: 412-657-9767

Lee and Lisa Oleinick PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

MAY 22, 2020 11

Opinion Is the Jewish state asking for trouble by annexing settlements?

Guest Columnist Jonathan S. Tobin

J

ust how far can Israel go to assert its rights over disputed territory without doing genuine harm to its vital interests? That’s a debate that has divided Israelis since June 1967 when in the course of a defensive war it came into possession of the lands of what the Kingdom of Jordan called the West Bank, and Jewish tradition calls Judea and Samaria.

The arguments about whether Israel should have created Jewish communities in both the West Bank and the parts of Jerusalem that were illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967 are now moot. The Jewish state’s enemies don’t recognize the historical, religious and legal arguments that Israel rightly points to as allowing Jews to settle in the heart of its ancient homeland. But the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected such offers, including those that would have given them an independent state provided that they were willing to end their century-long war on Zionism. Had they accepted any one of them over the course of the last 20 years, discussion about the settlements would not even be on the table.

So in the absence of a Palestinian desire to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its borders are drawn, Israel has three choices.

It can repeat Ariel Sharon’s 2005 disastrous experiment in Gaza, where he withdrew

every soldier, settler and settlement, and pull back as an unsympathetic international community demands to the 1967 lines and let the Palestinians create whatever kind of lethal terrorist state they wanted in the West Bank and reap the bloody consequences of such folly.

The second option is to accept the status quo and wait, as Israel has been doing for the last 50 years, for the Palestinians to come to their senses and negotiate an end to the conflict. That’s the policy that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has followed until now as he tried to manage a conflict that cannot be solved, though doing so hasn’t won him applause from his country’s critics.

The third option is for Israel to annex some, most or even all of the settlements by applying Israeli law in the territories as laid out in the Trump administration’s peace plan unveiled earlier this year.

For supporters of the settlements, the need to act now — while the most proIsrael U.S. administration in history is in office — is imperative. If Israel waits, a possible change in power in D.C. next January will end a historical opportunity to put facts on the ground that, like every other achievement in Zionist history, will endure whether the Jewish state’s foes like it or not.

That’s a prospect that is opposed by those who still hold onto the failed “land for peace” formula, in which the overwhelming majority of Israelis no longer believe because of Palestinian rejectionism and terror.

Earlier this month, however, a significant conservative voice has been added to those

urging caution on Israel’s government. In a surprising op-ed published by The New York Times, Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum, has laid out what he considers to be six good reasons for Israel to hold off on extending its law to the areas where settlements exist.

Pipes is an eminent scholar and an important pro-Israel voice, so he cannot be accused of seeking to undermine or harm the Jewish state. But though his arguments should be taken seriously, they aren’t persuasive.

The first point Pipes makes is that annexation may infuriate President Donald Trump if it’s not done in the context of his “Peace to Prosperity” plan, which calls for such a step to be taken only as part of a negotiation in which a Palestinian state would be created. But as David Friedman, America’s ambassador to Israel, has stated in a recent interview in Israel Hayom, Trump is on board with Netanyahu’s plans, so there seems no chance of the presidential tantrum Pipes fears.

Second, Pipes says that a move on the settlements will alienate and weaken the diminishing number of friends Israel has in the Democratic Party and Europe. There is some truth to this since both Democrats and Europeans are infuriated by the idea of Israel acting in such a way as to render even a theoretical two-state solution impossible. It’s also true that Israel should do what it can to strengthen those Democrats and Europeans who remain supporters.

But it’s incorrect that implementing this aspect of the Trump plan will make a

two-state deal impossible. Moreover, the idea that refraining from annexation will alter the anti-Israel drift on the left is a delusion. The Palestinians can have a state, but Trump’s scheme is right to signal to them that it cannot mean a full Israeli retreat to the suicidal 1967 lines. Those who claim to be Israel’s friends need to also acknowledge this truth.

The third argument is that annexation will end the growing cooperation between Israel and Arab states that look to it as a tacit ally against Iran. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt may oppose annexation. But they didn’t like Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights either, and it didn’t stop them from pursuing policies towards Israel that benefited them. The Arab world is no longer interested in enabling Palestinian intransigence, and measures that make it clear to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that the cost of their refusal to negotiate for peace is going up isn’t likely to cause the Arab states to stop dealing with Israel.

Fourth, Pipes claims that annexation will infuriate the Palestinians and destabilize Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza, leading to carnage that will cost Israel dearly. However, the Palestinians have shown little appetite for another self-destructive intifada that would, as in the past, cost them far more than it would Israel. Moreover, the implementation of the Trump plan would, like the U.S. gesture on Jerusalem, not affect Palestinian lives much. And neither the P.A. nor Hamas want to risk losing everything they have to Please see Tobin, page 16

Opening the economies: A moral and health disaster Guest Columnist Carl B. Frankel

I

am outraged, on both moral and scientific grounds, by President Donald Trump’s April 16 guidelines to “Open up America Again,” giving governors the right to, as the president put it, “call your own shots.” The net effect will allow states to freely open their economies and relax social distancing guidelines and put Americans in danger.

This action is blatantly immoral. In making his announcement, and in subsequent interviews, Trump readily acknowledged that the new policy will result in more deaths than would be the case if the former restrictions remained in place. Nevertheless, it is justified, he says, because doing so will bring back business and jobs to the economy – never mind the increase in deaths.

As far back as March 25, the president told a Fox News Town Hall that the “cure” (following CDC guidelines) is worse than the “problem” (coronavirus and its effects), and in a May 5 interview with David Muir of ABC News, the president acknowledged that there could be more deaths as a cost of reopening,

12 MAY 22, 2020

saying: “Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes.” So, who is it that will die so that the economy can reopen again? The Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, provided one anecdotal answer. On March 23 he said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Fox News) that he and “lots of grandparents” would risk their survival to keep the country afloat economically. That earned him a mountain of criticism, so slightly less than a month later he doubled down on Fox News by asserting: “There are more important things than living, and that’s ... saving this country for all of us ... and get this country back up and running.”

According to CDC studies, those most at risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19 disease are persons over the age of 65. Others who are disproportionately affected by the virus are African Americans. According to a CDC study in one major community, 33% of the hospitalized patients were black though they represented only 18% of that community, and blacks died from the virus at more than twice the rate of whites. Then of course, there are the more than 5,000 meatpacking workers who have contracted the virus, according to reports in USA Today and Business Insider.

Did the identity of the lambs play a role in the decision to reopen?

There are also the scientific objections to

the decision to reopen the economies. On the heels of president Trump’s April 16 announcement, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced that certain businesses (gyms, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, barbers, hair and nail salons, massage parlors, theaters and restaurants) could open even before the new guidelines were released and in defiance of the existing guidelines and warnings of many experts, according to CNN Politics. Other states, including Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas, also have opted to relax or eliminate the restrictions on doing business and maintaining social distancing pursuant to the new guidelines, even though their incidence of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, according to a report in the New York Times.

In the absence of more widespread testing and contact tracing, we still have no idea of the extent of incidence or deaths in any state.

Indeed, in his testimony to the U.S. Senate on May 12, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that the number killed by the pandemic in the U.S is probably higher than the official toll, which was then 82,000.

There is no vaccine to prevent the disease and no drug to cure it on the immediate horizon. What all this means is that removal of the restrictions at issue will obviously produce a substantial increase in social

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contacts and with it, the inevitable increase in transmissions of the disease. So, deaths from the disease, which now occur at the rate of nearly 2,000 a day, are forecasted by some experts to reach the astonishing level of 3,000 per day by June 1, according to an internal government document obtained by the New York Times.

As Dr. Fauci warned in his Senate testimony, the risk is that the failure to adhere to the guidelines will trigger an outbreak or surge beyond control. That, in turn, would cost lives and set back any economic recovery.

To be sure, many Americans are suffering severely from the loss of jobs and business income and there is certainly an outcry from some elements for elimination of the rules.

But it is incumbent upon us to find better ways to deal with that problem than the president’s solution of unleashing the virus and forcing some Americans to pay the ultimate price.

My Jewish heritage taught me that nothing is more precious than life and it is morally and otherwise unacceptable to shorten the lives of some in order to make others more economically secure or socially comfortable. PJC Carl B. Frankel is a retired attorney and former general counsel for the United Steelworkers of America. He lives in Point Breeze.

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Opinion A lesson of Oct. 27, 2018: Stand against hate with compassion and inclusion Guest Columnist Cindy Snyder

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ince 2000, Pittsburgh has topped a list of most livable cities six times. I, along with many others, believe this is due to the friendly nature of our various neighborhoods, our embracing of diversity and the rich academic, corporate and cultural life in the region.

On Oct. 27, 2018, however, Pittsburgh also joined the list of cities whose residents believed “this could never happen here.”

It was on that day that 11 individuals were killed in an act of unthinkable anti-Semitic violence, the worst in American history. We were shaken to our core, and communities across the country and abroad were watching

and sending their love and support.

One might reasonably wonder why I am making direct reference to the events of Oct. 27, 2018, and other crimes of hate now.

The answer is twofold.

First, so much more than a hateful act happened on that day. The outpouring of support, kindness and love was overwhelming. Individuals, agencies and organizations came together and worked together. We individually and collectively longed to support the family members, those present and injured, present and uninjured, members of the three congregations, first responders, the Squirrel Hill community and the city of Pittsburgh. We stood together in support of the diversity and friendliness that makes us a most livable city. We stood against those people and beliefs that attempt to tear us apart. That day we became activists and involved community members in ways not seen in recent history in our city.

Second, in this time of pandemic, hate appears to be increasing. We see daily reminders in the media of people engaging in anti-Asian American, anti-Semitic, antimask wearing and anti-physical distancing acts. On Oct. 27, 2018, and since, we have stood against hate with kindness, compassion and inclusion. We are called to do the same now.

During this time of COVID-19, we are once again given an opportunity to remind ourselves and others what we do have control of. We are called to action in a different way.

We control whether we participate in large gatherings. We have control over practicing physical distancing. We control whether we wear masks, whether to protect ourselves and others. We control whether we make an effort to stay reasonably and accurately informed and we control whether we will be good stewards of what is available to us and how we choose to take care of each other.

We are called and have a choice about being people of reason and thought, as well as kindness and compassion. The events of Oct. 27, 2018, taught us that as a city we know how to do this.

People’s angst, anxiety and anger are understandable. This community is well-acquainted with these feelings. We are also familiar with life-supporting and -affirming responses.

Now — similar to how we felt on Oct. 27, 2018 — we don’t know what will happen next, when we can reestablish a “new normal,” who we will see again and when. Let us individually and collectively show and continue to learn and demonstrate for others what it looks like to find and be a voice of kindness and reason, to speak in a timely manner in the face of hate and violence, and to model for the world what true compassion looks like. PJC Cindy Snyder is the clinical director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership.

We must support our performing arts Guest Columnist Howard Elson

Photo by Becky Thurner.tif

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hat are we missing the most during these challenging times?

For many, it’s the security of a job, a paycheck, a livelihood. The ability to pay for the necessities of life — food, clothing, a roof over our heads. Those always come first — they have to come first.

But there are also emotional needs that we’re missing. A hug. A touch. A personal connection. Surely, once we’re fed, clothed and housed, these must also be addressed.

That is why live performance — theater, music and dance — are so important. It is also why, when this pandemic is over and we are back to some semblance of whatever will then be “normal,” live performance must be there to keep us emotionally, spiritually and humanly connected and healthy.

Movies are great. Television is great.

Recorded music, dance on YouTube, are great. But they cannot take the place of the shared experience of live performance. Of

artists expressing themselves, and audience members, individually and collectively, understanding, appreciating and feeling the same emotions in real time, with real people, live. Laughing, crying, feeling. This is as important for the artist as it is for the audience.

When I played Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof ” for two runs with the Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh and one with Pittsburgh Musical Theater, I was so gratified when audience members told us how moved they were by our performances. But, our little secret as actors is that we, too, are moved, energized and inspired by the audience as well as by the connections and bonds we build with our fellow performers.

During this pandemic, some of us have substituted performing live with performing in front of our cell phones at home. My friend Paul plays bass while his wife, Chris, sings TV theme songs. It’s great, but it’s not the same as their live performances, which are hysterical. I dress “up” in my bathrobe and pajamas and tell old borscht belt jokes in a Yiddish accent. But, it’s not the same.

My wife, Robin, a CPA, and I almost always celebrate the end of tax season with a trip to New York City to see shows on and off Broadway. This year we planned to drive to New York on April 16 to see “Caroline, or

— LETTERS — Point Park president is correct: BDS is anti-Semitic Point Park University President Paul Hennigan is correct to condemn BDS as anti-Semitic (“Anti-Semitism in all its forms, including BDS, has no place in Point Park,” April 10).

Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of BDS, has said that he supports “euthanasia” for Zionism. A student of history, Barghouti knows full well that the Nazi T4 Euthanasia Program was the foundation of the Final Solution of the Jews as enacted in the Wannsee Protocol in January 1942. Barghouti’s use of the word “euthanasia” leaves no doubt he co-founded BDS to continue the anti-Semitic eliminationist mission formalized by Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann at the Wannsee Conference.

Continuing the eliminationist foundation of BDS, California State University political scientist and BDS advocate As’ad Abukalil states: “Justice and freedom for the Palestinians PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Change,” a wonderful musical written by Tony Kushner (of “Angels in America” fame). It’s the semi-autobiographical story of Kushner growing up Jewish in the Deep South during the infancy of the civil rights movement and the relationship of his white, Jewish, middle-class family with the black “help.” More specifically, it’s about the young boy’s relationship, love and adulation for his family’s maid, Caroline. I played Grandpa Gellman in a run of this show in Dublin, Ohio, for Ohio University’s professional theater troupe, Tantrum Productions, so I was also interested in seeing how much better I was than whoever they got to play “my part” on Broadway. I’m kidding … I think.

We were also going to see the revival of “West Side Story,” perhaps the ultimate story of love destroyed by ignorance and prejudice. And we were going to see the revival of “Company,” featuring Patti LuPone and starring the great Katrina Lenk, Stephen Sondheim’s exquisite musical about — what else? — relationships.

Of course, it didn’t happen. But I cannot wait until it does. And it will, because it must.

Performing arts groups, like almost everyone else, are struggling. Large and small, from the downtown performance palaces of Heinz Hall and Benedum Center, the large companies like the Pittsburgh Symphony

Orchestra and The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, CLO and the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the brave, innovative and inspiring smaller groups, like Bricolage, Quantum, Pittsburgh Playwrights, Barebones, Front Porch and others, to the smallest community theaters in McKeesport, Trafford, Carnegie, South Park and elsewhere. Shows are canceled, theaters are shuttered, jazz clubs are closed, music is silenced, dance immobilized. We cannot allow live performance to shrivel and die.

Please support your favorite performing arts goup so that when this is over they will be there to provide the live, life-size, lifeaffirming human connections we all crave and need. Even if we’re sitting every other seat, every other row, masked en masse, we need live performance and the groups and companies that provide the joy, the sorrow, the laughter, the tears, the emotions, so that, once again, we feel we’re connected, we’re alive. PJC Dr. Howard Elson has been a professional actor and singer longer than he’s been a pediatric dentist. He put himself through dental school singing in Catskill Mountain resorts and the only kosher nightclub in New York City, and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity and The American Dental Association. He lives in Pittsburgh.

are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel.”

For Jewish Voice for Peace to criticize Hennigan’s statement is ironic. Cary Nelson, Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the author of “Israel Denial,” the most comprehensive study of BDS to date. Professor Nelson writes: “Founded in 1996, JVP established itself as the major Jewish organization aiding and abetting the eliminationist agenda for Israel.”

Notwithstanding the “social justice” verbiage that Hennigan’s op-ed has generated (“ProBDS groups protest Point Park president’s Chronicle op-ed” May 15), such verbiage cannot obfuscate the fact that BDS was founded and exists solely to eliminate tiny Israel, the world’s only Jewish country, and its Jewish population. Nothing could be more anti-Semitic … and genocidal.

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Richard Sherman Margate, Florida MAY 22, 2020 13

Headlines Reopening: Continued from page 1

the coronavirus, will stay “red for as long as it takes,” said Debbie Winn-Horvitz, president and CEO of the JAA. “While we can only control what happens on our campus, and within our walls, we certainly feel as though we have a responsibility to continue to educate our staff, so that when they leave the campus they’re still taking all the protocols and precautions with them, not only to continue to keep our residents and our clients safe, but also to keep their families safe.”

Because of the nature of eldercare, and its inherent risks, the JAA took guidance from national organizations early on and has been able to remain safe, with only one employee testing positive for COVID-19, and no residents infected as of press time. As a result, “the JAA has built up a wealth of information that will be valuable for the rest of Jewish Pittsburgh and beyond,” said Hertzman.

For the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, “the biggest change with going to yellow is how it affects childcare,” said Cathy Samuels, the JCC’s senior director of marketing and communication.

Based on guidance from the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services), the goal is to reopen childcare in both Squirrel Hill and the South Hills on June 1, said Samuels, who added that the JCC continues working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local governments in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to determine the status of summer camp, gym usage and other activities.

Squirrel Hill congregations have taken a mixed approach to the status shift.

At Temple Sinai, a reopening committee has been formed to “create a road map and policy recommendations,” noted Tami Prine, the congregation’s marketing and communications director. The synagogue building will continue to be closed to all in-person gatherings at least until June 8, “while offering services, classes and meetings with clergy online and via teleconferencing,” according to a May 14 email to members.

Likewise, Congregation Rodef Shalom is continuing its current protocol, and congregational leadership has “not yet determined a timeline to reinstate gatherings or in-person services,” said Stephanie Rex, Rodef Shalom’s director of communications and marketing.

The congregation will continue with its weekly livestreamed services and virtual events. Changes in plans will be announced once leadership makes those determinations.

Congregation Beth Shalom’s building will remain closed for the time being and is continuing to hold services via Zoom, said Anthony Colaizzi, Beth Shalom’s communications and design manager.

Relying on recommendations from the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America, as well as the congregation’s medical response team, Congregation Poale

p JAA staff signs in.

Photo courtesy of Jewish Association on Aging

Zedeck also remains closed.

Based on the “supreme halachic value of saving lives,” the Squirrel Hill-based congregation “has endorsed the approach of waiting for at least two weeks before opening after it is legally permitted,” Poale Zedeck leaders wrote in a May 15 email to members.

“To that end, on June 1st (the medical response team) will be evaluating the data that emerges and advising us whether the time has come then to unroll a staged plan toward opening minyanim,” wrote the congregation’s president Louis Felder and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Daniel Yolkut. “The shul will certainly not reopen before that point, and therefore we continue to advocate tefillah be-yechidus, individual prayer, including over Shavuos.”

Another Orthodox congregation in Squirrel Hill, Shaare Torah Congregation, has taken a different approach. On Friday, May 15, the congregation began the process of reopening, “in strictest compliance with the Orders and Guidance of the Governor’s Office, the PA Department of Health, the Allegheny County Health Department and the advice and recommendations of the Shaare Torah Communicable Disease Prevention Committee,” according to a May 14 email to the congregation from its president, Jonathon Young.

“The leadership of Shaare Torah believes that it is appropriate to begin holding services, that it is in the best interest of our members and our shul community and that by following the guidelines of the state and local authorities and our Communicable Disease Prevention Committee, we can take the first small steps of a long journey to

resuming daily services, classes, kiddushes and simchas,” Young wrote. “In making its recommendations, the Committee took into consideration the size of the main sanctuary, where all services will be held for the foreseeable future, the composition of our membership and the requirements for maintaining proper hygiene, social distancing, etc.”

The minyans will be limited, according to another email sent to Shaare Torah members from Rabbi Daniel Wasserman.

“We decided that for now we will only have one minyan for each tefillah (Shacharit, Mincha, Ma’ariv ) per day,” Wasserman wrote.

“As I indicated, the reopening of the shul is an evolving situation and we are monitoring and evaluating it as we go forward.”

The number of participants attending any service at Shaare Torah will be limited to 15, and those wishing to attend, “must register” with Wasserman “for each minyan,” according to Young’s email. “Priority will be given to Shaare Torah members.”

Seats will be spaced at least 20 feet apart, and all participants are required to “wash or sanitize their hands prior to entering the sanctuary, wear masks and follow no-touch procedures for Torah reading,” Young wrote.

Those exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, or not feeling well, will not be allowed to participate. Anyone who has been “diagnosed with COVID-19 will not be able to attend services until cleared, in writing, by his/her physician.”

Suburban congregations were uniformly cautious in response to the move into the yellow phase, with no congregation opening its building on May 15.

The “yellow phase is designed to alleviate economic pressures on businesses and has very little impact on synagogues,” Temple Emanuel of South Hills explained in a statement to the congregation. “Schools and gatherings over 25 people remain prohibited and while Temple’s staff and leadership continues to monitor the latest information available, we must stay the course in the virtual space.”

The Reform synagogue’s Early Childhood Learning Center has not yet set a date to reopen. “We are in very active dialogue,” ECDC Director Iris Harlan said, “and are weighing multiple complex factors.”

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills echoed Temple Emanuel’s message in an email to its members. It also will continue to host virtual services and educational opportunities until it reopens its doors.

Likewise, at Ahavath Achim (The Carnegie Shul), “we felt the better part of valor was to hold off resuming services,” said its president Larry Block. The Conservative synagogue has made no plans on when to reopen, but Block pointed out that “a number of us have taken a look at some approaches that we could take, if and when conditions allow for small groups to assemble again.”

All of the local Chabad centers are following the advice of Regional Director Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, according to Rabbi Mendy Schapiro, director of Chabad of Monroeville. There will be a “little bit of a delay from the state phases. In other words, if the state’s in the yellow phase we will probably open a little bit after that in order to be confident in the health and well-being of the community.”

Accordingly, for now, Chabad of the South Hills remains closed.

“I think all of us are sort of feeling around in the dark,” said Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum, its director. While he is in no rush to be the first to open, he has begun working on the logistics of offering services, measuring floor space to ensure 25 people can attend services with the recommended space between parishioners.

Other suburban congregations, including Temple David and Parkway Jewish Center in Monroeville, Adat Shalom in Cheswick and Temple Ohav Shalom in Allison Park, are keeping their doors closed for now.

“There are just so many factors to consider in this decision,” said Shawn Brokos, the Federation’s director of community security. “I think the most important point is just because guidelines are telling us we can resume operations, that doesn’t mean that that’s the best decision for all of our organizations.”

No matter the approach or what the guidelines might say, all of the organizations contacted by the Chronicle agree that the next big challenge will be the High Holidays.

As the Carnegie Shul’s Block noted: “We used to experience fear and trembling because of being judged — now we feel it because of this virus.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 14 MAY 22, 2020

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Headlines Rudolph: Continued from page 2

Cohen, Doris Rudolph’s twin sister.

“They both had a wonderful gift, which was always to be optimistic — and their joy and happiness fed off each other,” Droz said.

They also were inseparable. Paul Glosser fondly remembered them fishing together.

Other family members confirmed that Doris actually was invited on her twin sister’s honeymoon.

“Both Lenny and Jessie realized when they were marrying one, they were marrying both,” laughed Droz’s sister, Rochel Shlomo.

“They thought they were the luckiest people in the world,” Shlomo added. “They were raised that you give to community, you give to family.

That’s what they did that made them special.”

And Doris Rudolph certainly gave to her community, volunteering and leading

Upsherin: Continued from page 4

it is stated: “They shall not create a bald spot on their head and the corner of their beards they shall not shave ... .” When a boy’s hair is cut during the upsherin, according to Altein, the payot are left intact.

“That’s how you do that mitzvah,” he said.

“It’s very practical.”

While many of Judaism’s rituals, traditions and practices can be traced back to the Torah or the Talmud with pages and pages of commentary and interpretation, the upsherin is a relatively new observance.

It became popular in the 17th century and was primarily celebrated at a family’s home with little or no fanfare. At that time, it is believed the ritual was part of Kabbalistic observance.

“ They thought they were the luckiest people in the world. They were raised that you give to community, you give to family. That’s what

”

they did that made them special.

— ROCHEL SHLOMO

campaign efforts for the United Jewish Federation’s Women’s Division, ORT and Ladies Hospital Aid Society. She also shared the philanthropic zeal of her husband, whom longtime friend Arthur Fidel once described

as “a man who never found a charity that he didn’t like.”

“Both Doris and Leonard were role models to us,” said Woody Ostrow, a businessman and former Federation president

Although it isn’t a literal translation, Altein noted, there is a verse in Deuteronomy that some Jewish sages understood to mean “a person is compared to a tree in a field and there is a mitzvah to not eat any fruit for the first three years from a tree. Kabbalisticly, we associate that with the same thing as a child’s hair, allowing it to grow for the first three years.

“Whenever you have a tradition like this, a lot of the attention goes to the hair,” Altein added. “But, it’s really about education.“ One of the more interesting aspects of the upsherin is its observance during Lag B’Omer, during the counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot. Rather than individual celebrations, the tradition is shared throughout communities with festive parties and celebrations moving from one home to another.

Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of counting

the Omer. This 49-day cycle is traditionally observed as a time of semi-mourning when Jewish customs forbid, among other things, listening to music, having parties, and shaving or cutting one’s hair. Those restrictions are lifted on Lag B’Omer.

Among the weddings, barbecues and concerts associated with the holiday is the first haircut for boys whose third birthdays fell during the first 32 days of the Omer.

“Imagine that you couldn’t have birthdays for a month and a half,” Altein explained. “All of a sudden you have all those kids coming together to have a party, so it becomes a celebration.”

Of course, in the new world of social distancing and self-isolation, even marking the milestone of a first haircut has to be altered due to COVID-19 concerns.

Earlier this month, a post on the Facebook group Jewish Pittsburgh promoted “The

Soldier: Continued from page 5

Wexler, executive director of the Friends of the Israel Defense Force’s Pennsylvania and South New Jersey chapter, which provides educational, cultural, recreational and social services programs and facilities to lone soldiers.

“They leave everything behind, they leave their family, their friends, their schooling, sometimes they don’t go to college, they give it all up to join the IDF and protect the state of Israel,” Wexler said.

The FIDF supports soldiers like Wiesenfeld, connecting them with Israeli families, offering vouchers for Shabbat meals and holidays and providing trips home to see their families once a year at no cost. It also provides housing and laundry facilities, among other services and amenities.

Wexler’s branch of FIDF has been open for a decade and currently assists 47 soldiers serving in Israel. The chapter also offers encouragement and backing to parents of lone soldiers and hosts an annual program to honor the nearly 150 mothers and fathers.

Wiesenfeld’s mother, Ronit, a speech 15 MAY 22, 2020

“ I think every Jew has some sort of connection to the land of Israel

”

and the State of Israel. I felt that tug.

— PVT. JACOB WIESENFELD

therapist, admitted that the distance can be difficult.

“Obviously, it’s hard as parents to have a child that far away, but we’re very proud of him and we support and love him,” she said.

She believes that, like his father — Harold Wiesenfeld, who is a physician — her son has a drive to help others.

“He’s always been very, very thoughtful and considerate and caring about other people’s feelings and situations,” she said. “He

has also always felt a strong commitment to Israel and Israel’s well-being. I think that’s a big part of what pushed him to do this.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wiesenfeld was unable to visit his family as he planned earlier this year. It is a “weird time” to serve in the IDF, he said, noting there are new rules to follow to prevent the virus from spreading.

“There are many restrictions,” Wiesenfeld explained. “We have to wear masks and

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whose father, like Leonard, also led the Federation. “She provided leadership that set a standard and required us to meet it. I was honored to know her.”

Doris Rudolph is survived by her brother, sister-in-law and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, among others. She was buried May 7 at Homewood Cemetery in Squirrel Hill, next to her husband and across from her twin sister.

Many said it was sad the community could not come out in person, due to COVID-19, to pay their respects to the longtime Squirrel Hill community member.

“You think of Doris Rudolph and you don’t want to think of the services,” said Rieger. “I could just imagine the people who would have come out for Doris. I guess the tribute has to be in our hearts.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Mane Event” for Lag B’Omer, and invited community members to “drive by our houses … say l’chaim with us and our families on our special day.” A note reassured anxious potential celebrants: “All socially distant. Of course!”

Most importantly, noted Langer, the upsherin tradition speaks to both the practical and spiritual natures of those that observe the tradition.

“The haircut part is not rational, it’s based on an idea that goes back to a Kabbalistic school,” he said. “The other part is rational. Your son is getting older and you want to give him his first taste of Jewish education and make it sweet. That’s the straightforward idea, which is not necessarily Kabbalistic.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

there are rules about how many people can congregate in an area and reminders about hand hygiene. The army really does not want people mingling and contracting the virus.

We stay on base for longer periods of time.”

Wiesenfeld cites his family and “familiar faces” when asked what he misses most about Pittsburgh.

“It’s so warm and tight-knit,” he said of his hometown community. “More than the shops or movie theaters, I really miss walking down the street or in synagogue and seeing my friends and people I grew up with.”

As for his passion for Israel, the Tzahal soldier appreciates “the sense of brotherhood that is here,” he said. “I don’t think you get that anywhere else on earth. Especially since I’m a proud Jew and this is literally the land of proud Jews. This is the Jewish state.”

That pride is what first drew Wiesenfeld to Israel.

“I think every Jew has some sort of connection to the land of Israel and the State of Israel.

I felt that tug. It’s part of the whole picture, the land, the people and the Torah.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture Abbey Farkas helps make quarantine hours happier

Photo courtesy of Abbey Farkas

— MIXOLOGY —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

S

ince the pandemic began and imposed uncharacteristic isolation on so many, Abbey Farkas, of Swissvale, has enabled fellow Jewish young adults to taste the goodness of being at home through digitally offered mixology lessons, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

“By working within a really basic framework, you can do just about anything, as long as you have some basic things hanging around,” explained Farkas.

Farkas films lessons from home, and while participants may note that the bar at Farkas’ house is better stocked than most, the point of the class isn’t to exhibit exotic liquors.

Rather, the reoccurring Zoom meetings afford a greater appreciation of the odds and ends found inside a refrigerator.

“People can just plug in what they have

Tobin: Continued from page 12

gain nothing in return.

Fifth, Pipes says annexation will alienate the Israeli left, causing it to abandon Zionism and the country. The problem with this argument is that the Israeli left has been largely destroyed as a political force by Palestinian intransigence with few who believe in the idea that there is a viable partner for peace.

The overwhelming majority of Israelis have rejected more concessions to the Palestinians until they are ready to make peace. The huge majority in the new Knesset in favor 16 MAY 22, 2020

p Abbey Farkas teaches a mixology lesson.

Photo by Amanda Burns

available to them,” said Farkas, 31. “If you don’t have lemon juice, maybe you have lime and that will go well with these specific liquors. Maybe you don’t have lemon or lime juice, and you only have a grapefruit because that’s what’s left from the last time you went to the store — well, we can work with that.”

Farkas, a Penn State University graduate, first mixed drinks in college, but “the real starting point for all of this was when I moved to D.C.” Six years in the nation’s capital introduced Farkas to other mixologists, including a housemate who specialized in a Wisconsin-style Old-Fashioned. While other aficionados traditionally paired liquor, bitters and sugar in the cocktail, Farkas’ housemate substituted brandy for whiskey and added in “bitters, sugar, lemon lime juice and a lot of muddled fruit.”

Farkas was intrigued by the concept of customizing cocktails, and began collecting various spirits.

“When I moved in with my now-wife, she

can attest to the fact that I bought a lot of different bottles of things to try,” Farkas said.

In order to “bring some order” to the overflowing supply, Farkas began reading up on the subject, starting with Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s “The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique.” With its instructions on choosing fruit, juicers and sugar, the book “does away with most of the pretension” found in similar reads, “which is nice,” said Farkas.

The other book that Farkas enjoyed early on and still recommends is “Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails” by David Kaplan and Nick Fauchald.

“That’s more of a book for people who have access to the more obscure ingredients,” but it still does a “really good job of laying out what the basics are for being able to have an equation for a drink and plugging in what you have available to you.”

During Farkas’ next class, scheduled for May 21 at 5 p.m., registrants will learn how to make a strawberry balsamic vinegar shrub.

It’s a noteworthy departure from whiskey sours and daiquiris, explained Farkas: “We pay a lot of attention to the drinks that we make when they’re alcoholic. And I think it’s also important to pay attention to what you’re putting into the drinks that you make that are not alcoholic.” A fun drink “doesn’t have to have alcohol in it, and it also doesn’t have to be a smoothie.”

Farkas would love for newcomers to join the class, or more importantly, to craft their own at-home adventures.

“There’s a lot of fancy cocktail bars out there, and they’re really wonderful to go to, and I can’t wait to patronize them again, but people shouldn’t be afraid of making something at home from fresh or bottled juice,” said Farkas. “Don’t be afraid to try things.

You know the worst thing that happens is you don’t like the thing that you made and you try again.” PJC

of annexation would have been unimaginable 20 years ago. Most Israelis remember the fatal consequences of Oslo and the Gaza withdrawal, and have drawn appropriate conclusions.

Sixth, Pipes puts forth that extending sovereignty over the settlements will create more Arab citizens of Israel, thereby causing more demographic issues for the Jewish state. But the joint Israeli-American committees drawing up the maps for annexation are minimizing this problem. While one can argue that the borders they draw will be unmanageable, the plan will not create the problem he’s worried about.

The best argument for annexation is that

it actually fits in with the clever theory of the conflict that Pipes and the MEF has championed in recent years. Anything that signals to the Palestinians that it’s time for them to give up their fantasies of destroying the Jewish state and acknowledging its “victory” is a good idea.

Rather than a “self-indulgence that will bolster the Palestinian cause,” the move on the settlements will make it clear to the Palestinians that time is not on their side. Extending Israeli law into the settlements with the support of the United States tells Palestinians that their dreams of a return to the 1967 lines, like their fantasies about destroying Israel altogether, is never going to happen.

Just as the warnings about Trump’s Jerusalem

move burning down the Middle East were false, so, too, are predictions of post-annexation doom.

Friends of Israel need to reject Pipes’s advice about joining with ill-intentioned Obamaadministration alumni and BDS supporters to try to deter Israel from acting to assert its rights.

Instead, they should do as the Trump administration appears to be doing — listening to the Israeli people and their elected representatives, and supporting their decisions. PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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

Jonathan S. Tobin is the editor-in-chief of JNS — Jewish News Syndicate. He is also a contributing writer for National Review and a columnist for the New York Post, Haaretz and other publications.

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Life & Culture This Israeli cop comedy on Netflix is the perfect pandemic pick-me-up

of petty criminals. Unsurprisingly, they don’t really respect his penchant for the law.

Konfino lives with his girlfriend and her son until he finds her cheating on him with a woman. So he winds up back in his childhood home.

Konfino’s mother is played by Liora Rivlin, who is known as one of the leads in “Krovim Krovim,” Israel’s first sitcom from the 1980s.

She is absolutely spectacular as both a loving mom and sexually empowered woman.

Then there’s Konfino’s father, played by Moshe Ivgy, an Israeli acting legend, whose

reputation has been tarnished by accusations of sexual harassment from several women; he was also convicted earlier this year of indecent assault. So it might seem ironic that he’s featured in a show that challenges and dismantles toxic ideas about masculinity and sex, but it’s clear that particular agenda is important to show creators.

In the push and pull between appearing authoritative and manly, or loving and gracious, Danny choses the latter, over and over again.

“Hashoter Hatov” was originally

conceived as a “Reno 911”-inspired show, but it turned out to be its own creature, one that is a mix of moving and funny, that brings a heartfelt vulnerability to a profession normally thought of as macho.

The show was conceived by Erez Aviram, a former journalist and veteran writer for “Eretz Nehederet” (Israel’s “Saturday Night Live” equivalent) who has years of an almost anthropological study of the comedic fabric of Israeli society. That in turn makes the show deeply and accurately Israeli.

The show’s brand of humor is heartfelt and infectious. You can feel its spirit in the opening number, which has the troupe of cops do a silly dance across a hallway. It’s deceptively simple, but it’s one of my favorite openings to a show — the cast keeps straight faces and brings out the personality of their characters to a joyfully imperfect musical number.

Like many serialized police shows, “Hashoter Hatov” digs into the personal lives of its characters, and shows how those intersect with their professional ones — but there’s nothing glamorous about the daily lives of these broke cops, in a country that also, well, is not exactly into rules and regulations.

Still, the show has a vision of justice, in which friendship and love triumph over being a stickler about the rules.

So if you’re looking to be moved, to laugh and to be distracted from the raging pandemic — “Hashoter Hatov” is your next binge. PJC

the consortium after hearing officials talk about the high death rates among people of color without taking action.

“I got tired of watching it,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “so I called local officials, I called the state and said, ‘What are we doing in our hard-hit communities? I want to help.’ I got crickets. Because there was nothing happening.”

Lee helps patients fill out paperwork, talks to them about their symptoms and helps prepare the nasal swabs before a doctor or nurse conducts the test.

The team works eight-hour days — rain or shine — wearing multiple layers of protective gear. Lee initially worried about potentially contracting the virus from her patients.

“This person standing in front of me could have coronavirus,” she remembers thinking. “It is nerve-wracking, I’m not going to say it’s not.”

But Lee says patients’ relief at being able to get tested more than makes up for the worry. She recently helped test a mother and her four daughters, several of whom had preexisting health conditions that put them

at greater risk of contracting and sustaining complications from the coronavirus.

“Just seeing how happy the mom was to just know the status of her children, it’s very nice to be able to give that to someone,” Lee said.

In addition to volunteering with the initiative once or twice a week, Lee has also been helping with a local multifaith initiative to deliver food to local people in need.

“This is my time,” she remembers thinking when she heard about the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. “This is what I’m wanting to do and it’s presenting itself.” PJC

— TELEVISION —

By Lior Zaltzman | JTA

I

sraeli TV is all the rage right now. You’ve probably heard of “Shtisel,” the sensation about a haredi Orthodox family in Jerusalem that swept the world since it premiered on Netflix in 2019, or maybe you know “The Beauty and the Baker,” an enchanting Israeli comedic telenovela (streamable on Amazon Prime for all you romance lovers), which just got an exciting stateside adaptation by ABC. But one less hailed Israeli show that you definitely should be watching is called “Hashoter Hatov” — Hebrew for “The Good Cop.” This Israeli police comedy is a delight that turns the toxic masculinity associated with police work — especially in a macho country like Israel — on its head. It’s so great that it got an American adaptation with Josh Groban and Tony Danza at its helm. But the American show couldn’t fully capture the lightness and magic of its Israeli counterpart and fizzled after one season.

“Hashoter Hatov” stars comedy veteran Yuval Semo (known for being a member of Israeli comedy troupe The Prozac Trio and a cast member of the Israeli ensemble show “Eretz Nehederet”) as Danny Konfino, a gruff and successful cop who comes from a family

Testing: Continued from page 11

a role. So Dr. Ala Stanford decided to take things into her own hands and has raised more than $150,000 online to cover the cost of testing, personal protective equipment and educational materials provided by the consortium. Many who come for the free testing do not have health insurance or access to a primary care provider.

Stanford said she was inspired to found

p The cast of “Hashoter Hatov”

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Celebrations

Torah

Births

Counting everyone is holy work CHIEL: With great joy, Toby and Gene Tabachnick of Mt. Lebanon announce the birth of their grandson, Caleb Samuel (Nitzan Shmuel) Chiel. Caleb, born in Pittsburgh on May 3, 2020 (9 Iyyar), is the son of Zoe and Harry Chiel of New York City. Paternal grandparents are Judy and Jonathan Chiel of Newton, Massachusetts. Caleb is the greatgrandson of the late Gladys and Norman Tabachnick of Pittsburgh and the late Zelda, Lillian and Isadore Rosen of Indianapolis, and Janet and the late Rabbi Samuel Chiel of Boston and Lela and Dr. Norman Jacoby of Los Angeles.

SCHMIDT: Vanessa and Dan Schmidt are very happy to announce the birth of their son, Jacob Behrend Schmidt, born April 8, 2020. He is the great-grandson of Jean Schmidt, Mia Forscher and William Behrend. His grandparents are Lois and Dan Schmidt of North Huntingdon and Stefanie and Bernie Behrend of Pittsburgh. Jacob is most proud to be Claire’s new baby brother.

B’not Mitzvah KROKOSKY: Juliet Krokosky will become a bat mitzvah on May 23 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Juliet attends Shady Side Academy Middle School where she enjoys many things, especially drama and singing.

Juliet loves all things musically related, including dancing, singing and acting.

Recreationally, Juliet enjoys many outdoor activities like softball, hiking and biking.

Juliet’s bat mitzvah project included raising money for Pet Helper’s dog rescue, which relies entirely on volunteers and donations to save unwanted pets.

SHEAR: Aliza Michal Shear, daughter of Shoshanna and Adam Shear, will be called to the Torah to celebrate her becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, May 23, Parshat Bamidbar, at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Aliza is the granddaughter of Sharon (z”l) and Benjamin Liptzin of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and Natalie and Henry Lewis of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her older siblings are Daniella and Sammy Shear. Aliza is in seventh grade at Winchester Thurston School. She loves musical theater and all of its components (acting, dance and singing), as well as playing basketball. In the summer, she attends Emma Kaufmann Camp.

Rabbi Sharyn Henry Parshat Bamidbar | Numbers: 1:1 - 4:20

T

he fourth book in the Torah, Bamidbar, chronicles Israel’s odyssey from the Sinai desert to the banks of the Jordan River, just steps away from its destination, Eretz Yisrael. But before we get to the events of that 40-year hike, God tells Moses to take a census, to count the people.

This counting is the source of the book’s title in English, Numbers.

It makes sense to begin the trek by counting the people, but didn’t we just conduct a census? God commanded a census prior to the building of the Mishkan in Shemot 30, and we read that it was completed eight chapters later (Shemot 38:26). And this census was completed just a month before the one commanded at the beginning of Bamidbar. Why so much counting?

I remember my son’s annoyance when, in New York with eighth-graders, I insisted upon counting the students before they entered the crowded subway and once we reached our destination. He thought I was being too parental. I thought I was taking my responsibility as a chaperone seriously — each “number” equaled the precious child of parents who had entrusted me to return their child to them.

Rashi tells us that God ordered this census as a gesture of love: Because they (the children of Israel) are dear to Him, God counts them often. He counted them when they were about to leave Egypt. He counted them after the Golden Calf to establish how many were left. And now that He was about to cause His presence to rest on them (with the inauguration of the sanctuary), He counted them again (Rashi to Bamidbar 1:1).

Another hint at the rationale of the counting can be found in the instructions God gives for the counting. Moses is told “S’u et rosh (lift up the head) of every (male) member of the community … listing their names … ” Bamidbar 1:2.

The instruction to “lift up the head” of every member of the group is a call to learn what makes each individual unique, to learn

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Rabbi Sharyn Henry is rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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their names, the members of their family.

The instruction to “lift up the head” of every individual Israelite is to come to understand to whom this person matters, and what their needs are.

It is a holy task to count in this way.

I could end here; it is a holy task to count in this way, with the message that people are not statistics, and that every person counts.

But I can’t end here; I have an itch that needs to be scratched. It is holy work to count each individual — to lift up their heads — which is why it is hard not to fret about the fact that women and children were not counted.

Of course, the Torah tells us that the census was (at least in part) to establish the size and strength of an army for future disputes and conquests. Yet even this very practical and reasonable explanation leaves out the important benefits of being counted. Not counting women and children means not knowing their names and faces and circumstances; not counting women and children means that they themselves were not known.

Our nation’s 2020 census is a way for our government to know us — each one of us.

The U.S. census provides essential information our leaders need in order to know how we should be represented and where to put resources like roads and schools and hospitals. Any hope we had for a fair and complete census has been threatened by COVID-19, but, ironically and fortunately, it is so easy to participate. You don’t need to leave your home — every person living in the U.S. can respond to the census online at My2020Census.gov; by phone, toll-free, at 844-330-2020; or by mail.

I imagine it’s a bit of a stretch to understand how completing a census can be holy work, but the results of the census — the opportunity to be seen and recognized, to have our needs met — are in fact holy.

Have you completed your census form?

Do you have five minutes to spare? Go get yourself counted! PJC

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Obituaries BURSTEIN: Gladys Estelle Braunstein Burstein passed away in her sleep at 4:15 a.m. on Friday, May 15. After a fall in which she broke her arm, her two month process of dying was dominated by the continual amazing surprises that characterized how she lived. Her exit process exuded the playful joy she had and broadcast to others. She will be greatly missed. She is succeeded by her sister Harriet Shapiro; children, Carole Burstein, Ellen Bauch and John Burstein; grandchildren, Chelsea Bauch, Michael Orenstein, Elizabeth Bauch Gibson, Sean Gibson, Eli Burstein, Judah Burstein, Ezra Burstein; and great-grandson Miles Orenstein. Her life and passing would be greatly honored by donations to Rodef Shalom Family Center (formerly Temple Nursery School), 4905 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, which she co-founded with Hope Leyton and Claire Arnheim in 1953. Services and interment private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com DAVIDSON: Barry Mitchell Davidson, age 67, a 23-year resident of Las Vegas and formerly of Pittsburgh, passed away Monday, May 11, 2020. Barry was born in Pittsburgh to the late Joseph and the late Leah Davidson. Barry is survived by his wife of 40 years, Donna Davidson; daughter Shana (Michael) Paige; and sister-in-law Adrienne (Larry) Savitz. He is predeceased by his parents and brother Edward Davidson. A graveside service was held on May 14, 2020, at Bunker’s Memory Gardens Cemetery, Las Vegas. Contributions may be directed to Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas.

ROSEN: Eileen M. Rosen, age 86, passed away early on May 10, 2020. She grew up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and she was a bookkeeper at Bernstein-Rosenberg & Co. for a number of years. She moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, after marrying Sherman Rosen (also deceased). There, she co-ran a catering business that operated in New Castle and then Daytona Beach, Florida, which she retired to. She was beyond her time in so many aspects. Her catering career was inspired by her interest in gourmet cooking during the Julia Child era, yet she enjoyed foods from many styles and nationalities. She was a foodie before it was a term, deconstructing complex flavors and textures in gourmet restaurants to comfort and fast food. She embraced the home computer revolution of the 1980s, participating in local C64 clubs in both New Castle and Daytona Beach, which inspired her daughter to become an engineer. In addition to many hobbies, she actively volunteered for Hadassah, the Jewish Federation and the local Jewish War Veterans chapters. She was the older, nurturing sister to her surviving brother, Barron Gulak (Vonne), of Northville, New York, and surviving sister, Helen Mazur, of Streamwood, Illinois. She is also survived by her children, Scott Rosen (Edlyn) and Gail Rosen-Caseiro (Diamantino), six PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Funeral service will be held at Tifereth Israel Cemetery. For more information, please contact eileenmemorial2020@gmail.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the R. Cunningham Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., 2429 Wilmington Road, New Castle, where online condolences may be offered to the family by visiting cunninghamfh.com.

RUDOLPH: Born in J o h n s t o w n , Pennsylvania, in 1924, Doris Glosser was one of five children born to Sylvia and David Glosser. The Jewish community was small and her family started Glosser Brothers Department Store, one of the mainstays of the town. She and her twin sister Naomi were preternaturally joyful, exuding twice the charm wherever they went. When she met Leonard Rudolph at a Pirates game, a true love story began. They married in 1948 and Pittsburgh became her home until her passing. She was involved in the UJF Women’s Division, ORT, Ladies Hospital Aid Society, but no matter where she was involved, she added her unique blend of elegance and fun.

Dory knew how to tackle serious causes as well; in the 1980s, she took a trip to Russia with her husband to meet refuseniks. She and Leonard also led countless missions to Israel.

More recently, when asked what she wanted for her birthday, Dory replied, “I’d like to donate an ambulance to people in Israel,” which is exactly what she and Leonard did for Magen David Edom. Dory loved her glass of chardonnay but, even more so, a good party — her Thanksgivings were the stuff of legends — and she threw many memorable ones for Leonard (“Rudy,” as she called him), until his passing in 2003. Dory was a devoted sister to her predeceased twin Naomi Cohen, her sisters Ruth Quittner and Betty Black and her loving surviving brother, Paul (Rita) Glosser. Dory was a loving mother to Jimmy (Louisa), Billy (Lieba) and Wendy (Graeme Bush). She was an adoring grandmother to Mordy (Rivkee) Rudolph, Elkie (Nachman) Abend, Ali (Ben) Kander, Emmy Bush, Izzy (Devorah) Rudolph, Jesse Rudolph, Jenny Bush, Leah (Levi) Dubrawsky, Sara (Benyomin) Deren, Sam Bush, Mushkie Rudolph, Mendy Rudolph, Andie Bush, Rivky (Mendy) Rosen and Sholom Rudolph.

She was also a wonderful great-grandmother to many great-grandchildren. She was fortunate to be loved and cared for by her nieces Cathy Droz and Rochel Shlomo in recent years, as well as by Simona Piper Julien, Joyce Smith, Sharon Nunley and Tony and Peggy Abruzese. Arrangements were entrusted to the Gesher HaChaim Jewish Burial Society.

Contributions in Dory’s memory may be made to The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh (1922 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217), Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh — for COVID-19 relief (2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219) or the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (1 Linden St., Duquesne, PA 15110). May her memory be a blessing to her family and to all who knew her.

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday May 24: Ruth W. Braude, Allan Calman, Lillian L. Halpern, Jennie R. Jacobson, Herman Lee Krouse, David Louff, Louis Mandell, Frances Simon, Dolores M. Stein, Dora Stein Monday May 25: Bessie Averbach, Saul Caplan, Helen Unger Casar, Frances Fink, Louis Aaron Gernstat, Milton M. Goldstone, Sidney Harris, Mollie Greenberg Kalson, Esther Leipzig, Ben H. Liepack, Saul Linder, Adele Lundy, Kathryn Friedlander Miller, Dora Weiss Nach, Pearl R. Regenstein, Benjamin Saunders, Bessie Srulson, Saul Waxler Tuesday May 26: Fay Caplan, Lee Chajson, Myra Freeman, Robert Glasser, Tillie Helfant, Maurice Kramer, Elaine A. Lefkowitz, Sam Moldovan, Jacob S. Rush, Dora Fineberg Smith, Morris B. Weiss, Lilyan Wiesenthal Wednesday May 27: Ida Borovetz, Rose C. Cody, Samuel William Corn, Louis L. Edelman, David Eisenberg, Bessie Finkelstein, Eva Gold, Marsha Goldman, Lena Herr, Rose Gordon Labowitz, Sylvia A. Livingston, Frank L. Mandell, Julius Nydes, Hyman Roth, Milton M. Ruttenberg, Harry Siegman, Leonard Silverblatt, Harry F. Skirboll, Manuel Solomon, Yetta Spodek, Yetta Spodek, Hedwig Stern, Jerome Supowitz, Abraham Swadow Thursday May 28: Sylvan Arnold Alpern, Dr. Abraham L Barbrow, Nathan Friedlander, Ben B. Goldberg, Israel Haltman, David Hartstein, Moses L. Hurwick, Saul S. Hurwick, Adolph Katz, Sara Lisker, Minnie Mervis, Samuel A. Meyer, Abraham I. Miller, Morris Podolsky, Irene Scherb, Helen G. Solomon, Mollie R. Whiteman Friday May 29: William Barron, Gustave J. Bloch, Dr. Samuel R. Cohen, Helen Danovitz Berenfield, John Jacob Elling, David Glasser, Sam Gold, Rebecca Kaufman, Rebecca Kaufman, Jeannette Klein, Sylvia Rita Lipkind Podolsky, Edna F. Sachs, Bella Schlosser, William Schlosser, Samuel Serbin, Erma A. Weinthal Saturday May 30: Rosa Lee Minzenberg Berry, Alfred Bornstein, Louis Cohen, Leah Hansell Freedman, Howell J. Friedlander, David Gould, Rashel Katkisky, Hannah Miller, Hannah Miller, Robert Moldovan, Dora Schultz, Nathan Shapiro, Daniel Shussett, Paul Stein, Dora Sussman, William F. Weiss

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MAY 22, 2020 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

SANES: Ruth Sanes, 87 of Niskayuna, New York passed away peacefully on May 14, 2020 at her home. Born in Pittsburgh, she was the daughter of Joseph and Anna Hamovitz. She was married for 40 years to Melvin B. Sanes until his passing in 1997.

Ruth was the youngest of seven children and was predeceased by Harry Hamovitz, Michael Hamovitz, Albert Hamovitz, Mollie Gordon, Herbert Hamovitz, her twin Neil Hamovitz and her infant son Eric Irwin Sanes. Ruth was a long time employee at Dechants, Fuglein, and Johnson, retiring in 2003. She was a past president and active member of Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady New York and a lifetime member of Hadassah. She enjoyed playing mah jongg with her friends and cards with her family. Ruth was an avid fan of the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

She was a collector of anything elephants.

Ruth is survived by her son Howard Pitler (Gloria), her daughter Karyn Picker (Bob), grandchildren Amanda Hembree (Ben), David Pitler (Sarah), Amy Schwartz (Will), Elliott Picker and four great-grandsons.

Ruth will be buried next to her husband in Pittsburgh. Contributions can be made to Congregation Gates of Heaven 652 Ashmore

Children: Continued from page 1

influence the conversation.

“If there’s a personal connection, it kind of ups the ante in terms of your need to discuss it,” Snyder said.

Describing the current pandemic to a child is difficult, explained Deborah Rotenstein, a pediatric endocrinologist at Allegheny Health Network, because “none of this makes sense.”

Rotenstein authored an e-book, titled “Because of the Coronavirus,” in an effort to broach the topic of the pandemic and its restrictions with her 3-year-old Israeli granddaughter after the child wondered why her Pittsburgh-based grandmother wouldn’t be visiting in the near future.

“I just think it’s hard for adults to talk to children, so this was my solution,” said Rotenstein.

The text details, in an age-appropriate manner, why much of the world appears upended, but avoids the subject of death.

“My initial foray into this was to try to explain what’s going on,” Rotenstein said.

“I left death out because I was afraid that it would be much too frightening, and maybe that was cowardly.”

The topic is a difficult one to discuss with children, Snyder acknowledged.

“I think it’s OK to not know what to say and to be kind with yourself about that,” she said. “There’s no perfect answer here.

We’re all trying to figure it out as we go along because none of us have lived through anything like this.”

Although COVID-19 is new to many families’ lexicons, discussing death requires 20 MAY 22, 2020

Avenue Schenectady, NY 12309 or a charity of one’s choice. To leave a condolence message for the family, please visit levinememorialchapel.com.

SILVERSTEIN: Jack I. Silverstein, age 73, of Monroeville died Wednesday, May 13, 2020.

Beloved and devoted son of the late Pearl and Moses Silverstein, who were Holocaust survivors, Jack was born in Feldafing, Germany, a displaced persons camp following the end of WW II. He was preceded in death by a sister, 8-year-old Leah Lerman who perished in the Kovno Concentration Camp. Growing up in Utica, New York, he and his parents were among the last immigrants to arrive via Ellis Island. Loving and devoted husband of Donna Levenson Wolfson; loving step-father of Lynne (Wolfson) and Shmulik Gazit of Tel Mond, Israel; adored and cherished Zayde of Yael Chaya Gazit and Asaf David Gazit of Tel Mond, Israel; beloved father of Craig (Alyssa) Silverstein of Bethesda, Maryland and Scott (Michelle Poirier) Silverstein of Clarksville, Maryland; beloved grandfather of Nora, Evan, Emma and Sidney Silverstein.

Also survived by his devoted sister-in-law and brother-in-law Joyce (Levenson) and Joop Offerman, his loving niece and nephew Anna Louis (Wease) Offerman and Andy Offerman and beloved cousins Belinda (Robert Clark) Suntop, Maureen (Michael) Wynn, Cheryl Suntop Furstoss, and Moty and

Masha Zilberstein of Holon, Israel and Ronit and Rammy Gedalyahu of Ramat Gan, Israel.

After receiving a life-saving kidney/pancreas transplant in 2002, Jack made it his mission to promote organ donation. He was co-founder, along with the late Stephanie Page and the late Robb Wilson, of the Western PA Kidney Support Groups; he was an active volunteer with the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) and Team Alleghenies Transplant. He volunteered in the transplant centers of Montefiore Hospital of UPMC and Allegheny General Hospital. He served as an Independent Consumer Advocate Manager on the board of managers with the Fresenius Seamless Care of Erie Valley. Jack was recognized by the National Kidney Foundation at the 2010 Transplant Games in Madison, Wisconsin with the “Making Lives Better” award and in 2019 in Pittsburgh with the “Small Hands, Big Heart” award. He was the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Allegheny County Medical Society’s Benjamin Rush Community Organization award. The family wants to express its extreme love and gratitude to Don and Lynette Fitzwater and their daughters Kelsey Weed and Haley Seeley whose selfless gift of love of donating their son and brother Jordan’s organs gave Jack an additional 17 3/4 years of life. Jack continues to enhance the lives of others by being a tissue, bone, skin and cornea donor. The family wants to thank Jack’s

phenomenal and compassionate caregivers, Laura Meyers, Sherry Musco, David Muir and Rachel Mound of Interim Hospice and his caring and compassionate transplant team of doctors and nurses, Ron Shapiro, Ngoc Thai, David Levenson, Janice Glidewell and Shelly Lyons. Because of COVID-19, services and interment private. Contributions in Jack’s memory may be made to Team Alleghenies c/o CORE, 204 Sigma Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15238 or the Western PA Kidney Support Groups, 1009 Harvard Road, Monroeville, PA 15146. But the greatest honor that can be accorded to Jack is to register as an organ donor. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com WEINER: Rachel Weiner: On Thursday, May 14, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Alvin Weiner. Beloved mother of Roberta Weiner (Michael Bassett) and Benjamin (Mindi) Weiner. Grandmother of Sarah (Marcus) Taylor, Philip Bassett, and Elizabeth Weiner.

Rachel Weiner volunteered for many years at Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville and Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60611. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PJC

back and pay it forward.”

The key for parents is “to take the lead from your child,” said Snyder. If a child doesn’t wish to discuss the current situation, “I think we need to respect that, and I think we need to say, ‘I’m going to check back in with you about this because I think it may be something that you’ll be ready to talk about in a little bit of time.’ And when some time passes, it’s important to say, ‘I’m wondering what you’re thinking about’ or ‘What are your friends p Illustrations from Dr. Deborah Rotenstein’s e-book “Because of the Coronavirus.” talking about?’ or ‘Do you Illustrations by Rose Lauer know any of your friends who have lost somebody during this tools that are not pandemic-specific, such on the situation, but a parent can tell a child time or to COVID?’” as listening to questions and modeling that everyone is “working really hard to Parents need to “keep the conversations behavior, explained Orr. make sure that as few people as possible get going and to know that kids go in and out,” When someone dies and a child sees “that sick and that’s why we’re asking you to wear said Orr. So while a child may cry after you’re crying openly, then they’re going to a mask,” or reminding a child that “some hearing a COVID-related story and then be know it’s OK to cry. If they see that you’re people will succumb to the disease but most “out in the yard, playing ball with neighbors, talking a lot about that person, then they’re people don’t,” said Snyder. “Putting their fears laughing, that’s completely normal. It doesn’t going to feel that they can talk about that into some sort of perspective is important.” mean that those emotions weren’t really there. person. If you make an environment that is For teenagers and older children in Kids are much more resilient than we as adults very hushed, and don’t say anything in front of Pittsburgh, it can be helpful to remember are. We tend to get all absorbed in our grief, the kids, and they’re only hearing whispering, the support the community received after and it’s very hard for us to go from crying for and that person’s name is not mentioned, then Oct. 27, 2018, explained Orr — the “huge half an hour to having a dance party in the they’re going to feel like they can’t talk about outpouring of letters and drawings and living room, but that’s very normal for chilthat person” or discuss the situation, said Orr. paintings and posters that were sent from dren. And you need to continue whatever “By and large, if we listen, children are all over the world.” For children who were normalcy you can and just love them.” pretty good at letting us know what they’re “touched by that,” there’s value in helping Like so much of parenting, discussing wondering about — maybe not so much in them “reach out in some way.” death with children isn’t going to be a the teenage years, but certainly up until that Whether it’s sending a letter or drawing to one-time neatly managed affair, explained point,” said Snyder. “I’m always a big propo- a synagogue in New York City or to a school, Snyder: “It’s about knocking on the door and nent of being honest and transparent with if children “feel a need to reach out, as people waiting for them to open it.” PJC kids and telling them as much as you can reached out to us, do it. There’s no harm in Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ that’s honest and accurate.” that,” Orr said. “It’s actually embracing a kid’s The conversations may vary depending wonderful innate sense of wanting to give pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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MAY 22, 2020 21

Community Repairing the World one project at a time

Taking care of business

p Repair the World Pittsburgh Fellow Ilana Drucker helps at the East End Cooperative Ministry food pantry.

t p Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh staff cleaned exercise equipment and painted the facilities for the eventual reopening.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

p Food waiting to be sorted inside the pantry

Macher and shaker Dale Lazar won second place in #FALAFILM contest to mark Israel’s 72nd anniversary sponsored by World Zionist Organization’s Department of Diaspora Affairs.

p Lazar’s winning photo captures a group of kindergarten religious school students at a consecration ceremony on Simchat Torah at Temple Sinai.

Photo by Dale Lazar

22 MAY 22, 2020

p Repair the World Fellows collected face masks.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos courtesy of Jason Edelstein

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Community The cars go driving one by one

Residential learning at Community Day School

p Vehicles parade down Beacon Street in Squirrel Hill during a Lag B’Omer celebration.

Photo by Jim Busis p During quarantine, Community Day School math teacher Leslie Frischman has been providing sidewalk chalk challenges to keep her neighborhood upbeat and engaged.

Color War at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

u Kindergarten student Tatum Baron marked Lag B’Omer by building a safe at-home bonfire.

Photos courtesy of Community Day School

Zumba on Zoom

p Students and families participated in a one-day color war on Lag B’Omer.

The stay-at-home activity pitted Team Blue (Five Books of Moses) against Team White (The Talmud).

Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

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p Jen Goldston was one of more than 200 Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh members to participate in an online Zumba dance party. The May 13 event welcomed teachers and members from JCCs across North America.

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Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

MAY 22, 2020 23

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