Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 7-24-20 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

July 24, 2020 | 3 Av 5780

Candlelighting 8:24 p.m. | Havdalah 9:28 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 30 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Studying Community: ‘Immersed’ in Jewish life

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Tree of Life

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Jewish day schools make plans for reopening By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

Preparing to rebuild Page 2

LOCAL Steelers’ Zach Banner speaks out

 The Dvorin family — (clockwise from top left) David, Sam, Lisa, Zoe and Ian — would be characterized as “immersed” by the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study based on their engagement. Photo by Dmitriy Babichenko

Teaming up against hate

at Brandeis University. Those Jews who fall into the study’s “immersed” category are isa Dvorin’s son, Sam, began wearing highly engaged in all aspects of Jewish life, a kippah full time in January 2017. including family holiday celebrations, ritual practices, personal activities and For the South Hills teen, communal activities. the physical act of wearing the headpiece helps him feel more While the study does not This is the eighth engaged with his Jewish identity define precisely what “engagein a 10-part series, exploring the and serves as a visual represenment” means, it does categorize data of the 2017 tation of his belief system. Pittsburgh’s Jewish community into Greater Pittsburgh “It was in large part because five overarching patterns of Jewish Jewish Community of the growing hate crimes, hate behavior based on responses Study through the rhetoric and anti-Semitism,” to a broad range of questions. people it represents. explained Lisa Dvorin. “He had Those categories are: “immersed”, an epiphany and realized, ‘I’m “connected,” “involved,” “holiday” a minority that no one would and “minimally involved.” realize is a minority,’ so he started wearing it Raimy Rubin, the Federation’s manager of full time. In the South Hills, I can’t remember impact measurement, likes to use these terms seeing anyone wear a kippah outside of a when discussing Jewish engagement because synagogue setting, but he does.” they are “based on behaviors and attitudes” The Dvorins are among the 16% of Jewish rather than beliefs or self-identification. Using Pittsburghers who are “immersed” in Jewish these terms allows the discussion of engagelife, as defined by the 2017 Pittsburgh ment to include “a lot more detail than we had Jewish Community Study, commissioned in the past,” Rubin explained. by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and conducted by researchers Please see Study, page 14

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Page 7

LOCAL ‘The Conflict over the Conflict’

An interview with Ken Stern Page 8

eaders from the area’s three Jewish day schools are gearing up for the start of a new year, but if the past four months have offered any lesson, it’s that the unpredictable should largely be expected. Community Day School is scheduled to begin Aug. 25. The intention, according to Head of School Avi Baran Munro, is to be on campus from day one with a full virtual option for families who elect it. In order to bring students and staff safely back, task forces dedicated to campus reopening, as well as academic continuity, social and emotional well-being and financial and business strategies, have met weekly by video conference since early June. Smaller working groups also have met “on a daily basis as projects demand, largely through online meetings or on campus as needed while maintaining social distancing and wearing face coverings,” said Munro. Members of the task forces and working groups have partnered with medical, governmental and educational experts, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to determine best practices and to help shape Community Day School’s reopening plan. That plan, a 23-page document titled “Kadima” (Hebrew for “forward” or “let’s go”), covers response trees, staff training, hygiene, masks and face coverings, meals, sports, arrival and dismissal as well as other aspects of school life. The plan was shared with parents on July 15. One challenge in developing a comprehensive plan is that “no one knows with certainty what the fall will bring in terms of this pandemic,” noted Munro. “We continue to monitor local conditions carefully and plan for different scenarios.” While the state and CDC guidelines “for K-12 schools have been largely consistent Please see Schools, page 20

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Tisha B’Av 2020

HISTORY

The Marvelous Myselses

Headlines Tree of Life moves forward with plans to rebuild site — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

ree of Life*Or L’Simcha recently took a small but significant step away from the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting that shuttered its Squirrel Hill edifice and toward a brighter, soon-to-be envisioned future. Congregational leadership announced it has hired two consultants to establish a plan for rebuilding the site and the fundraising campaign needed to pay for it. Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, an architectural firm based in the Strip District, has been brought on board to provide “programming services” while Lipton Strategies of Los Angeles will guide the capital campaign to fund rebuilding efforts, said Barb Feige, the congregation’s executive director. “We have a desire to make something new — we’re not erasing anything but we need to look forward,” Feige said. “How do we fit into Pittsburgh’s Jewish community? That’s what this is all about. This is about renewal and remembrance and reflection.” Tree of Life’s president, Carol Gross, said there is an emotional component, too, to the urge to rebuild the site. “This is where I’ve always gone to shul,” said Gross, a Squirrel Hill resident and attorney whose father once served as president of the congregation. “I was raised there. I raised my children there. I’m looking forward to us celebrating simchas again.” “[The building] has just been a part of my life and I want it back,” she added. “And I think a lot of people in our congregation want it back.” At least two organizations — nearby Chatham University and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh — have expressed

p The Tree of Life building days after the attack.

interest in using space in a “broader community asset” at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues in Squirrel Hill, Feige said. The capital campaign also will fund long-standing issues in the building that predated the shooting. “Look, every synagogue needs a new roof,” Feige said. “The center of the building is 80-something years old. The sanctuary is 70 years old and the pavilion is 50 years old. Those issues will be addressed.” Tree of Life was founded in 1864 and moved its Conservative congregation from Oakland to Squirrel Hill in 1953. It merged with Congregation Or L’Simcha in 2010. Chatham University is interested in potentially holding classes and meetings in spaces at the re-envisioned building, as well as using the sanctuary for larger occasions, said David Finegold, the university’s president.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

“We’re really committed to try to make that collaboration work as they pursue rebuilding,” Finegold told the Chronicle. “Having the flexibility” to use Tree of Life space for various programming “would be beneficial for everyone,” Finegold said. He also expressed interest in involving Chatham University, whose campus sits across Wilkins Avenue from the Tree of Life building, in programming related to the impact of the 2018 shooting. “I think we are very interested in collaborating on things that have a broader message of anti-hate, of tolerance,” he said. “We see this as something that can be valuable together.” The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh also expressed strong interest in the site, for everything from exhibits to, potentially, a new

home. The center currently is based in the Squirrel Hill Plaza in Pittsburgh’s East End. “It’s really a process that’s been exciting — we’ve had a series of hopeful conversations,” said Lauren Bairnsfather, the Holocaust Center’s director. “We’ve been talking about ways to have a real Holocaust museum in that space.” Exhibit space in the Tree of Life building would be particularly valuable, Bairnsfather said, because it could sit at the intersection of studying the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and modern forms of bigotry. “All of these things are possible in a rebuilt Tree of Life,” Bairnsfather said. “We can respond to what happened [in 2018] with education, with learning. It will be for the Jewish community and it will be beyond the Jewish community.” Bairnsfather said, however, it is too early in the process to say whether the Holocaust Center would move its entire operation into the Tree of Life building. Tree of Life steering committee co-chairman Jeffrey Letwin — a Squirrel Hill resident and downtown attorney — said talks of transforming the synagogue into a “broader community asset” are still very new. “We have some concept of what the building may ultimately look like — it’s still early in the process,” said Letwin, who has attended services at Tree of Life for some 60 years and became a bar mitzvah there as a young man. “I just think bringing these elements together could make something very special.” Gross said she would like particular attention paid to the stained glass windows in Tree of Life’s Pervin Chapel. “It’s just one of those things I remember looking at and thinking, ‘It’s very peaceful,’” Gross said. “I enjoy seeing the beauty through those stained glass windows.” Please see TOL, page 3

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Headlines TOL: Continued from page 2

No funds donated in the name of the shooting will be used for the rebuilding campaign, unless they were designated to do so, Feige stressed. And talks continue — separate of the consultants — among congregants and victims’ families about a memorial for the 2018 massacre, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. “We’re going to do right by our donors, by the congregation and by the victims’ families,” Feige said. “We will build something that will honor the history of Tree of Life and the role of Tree of Life in the Pittsburgh Jewish community.” The hiring of the two consultants is funded, in part, by grants from the Hillman Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and a third, national foundation that does not publicize its grant awards, Feige said. “The $50,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments is to support the planning processes to help determine the future of the Tree of Life building, and is part of the recovery of the Jewish community and honors those who tragically lost their lives,” a Heinz Endowments spokesperson said in a prepared statement. Feige declined to say how much the grants totaled or how much the two consultants would be paid. Hillman Foundation did not return calls seeking comment. The public phase of fundraising

— COVID-19 dependent — could kick off in 2021, Gross, the congregation’s president, said in a recent letter to the congregation. “We will be building a campaign leadership team over the summer with plans to launch the ‘silent phase’ — initial major donor engagements — in the fall,” Gross said in the letter. The “multimillion dollar local and national fundraising capital campaign” will seek funding for “building renovations, programming and operations, endowment and sustainability, and educational programming and community outreach,” she said. Feige rejected the suggestion that a congregation, like many throughout Pittsburgh and the U.S., whose membership has declined should not invest heavily in a rebuilt site. “We’re not looking to build a crystal palace,” she said. “We’re looking to build a right-sized space for the Tree of Life congregation as it exists today.” Bairnsfather said she is thrilled that Tree of Life and its stakeholders have been processing the tragedy of the shooting and resolutely moving forward. “I’m very excited it’s reached this point, that it’s moving and that [the congregation] is thinking about it,” Bairnsfather said. “You can’t push it. You have to give it room. It’s just really exciting. It says a lot about healing and hope. It’s a really positive thing, to look toward the future.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Dor Hadash to stay at Rodef Shalom — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

ongregation Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations displaced following the Oct. 27, 2018, shooting at the Tree of Life building, will be staying indefinitely in its new home, Rodef Shalom Congregation in Oakland, lay leadership announced recently. “We are nomadic — we’ve never owned a building, we’ve always rented,” said Donna Coufal, the lay-led Reconstructionist congregation’s president. “It’s not because we’re making a statement. But Rodef Shalom has been so good to us.” Dor Hadash moved into the Tree of Life building in Squirrel Hill about 10 years ago, Coufal said. It had been holding services and meetings — before COVID-19 hit — at Rodef Shalom after the shooting closed its former home at the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues. Previous to that, Dor Hadash services were held at two other Squirrel Hill locations — the Yeshiva School for Girls and at Community Day School. The congregation currently is holding all activities and services via Zoom video conferencing due to COVID-19 concerns. “For right now, especially with COVID-19, nobody really knows what space they need,”

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p The Dor Hadash bimah

File photo

Coufal said last week. “But we have a great relationship with [Rodef Shalom] — I’m happy to publicize that.” Rodef Shalom Rabbi Aaron Bisno said he welcomed the announcement — and the new tenant. “I’m delighted,” Bisno said. “It plays into a category I’ll call ‘more better.’ When we do things together, it’s ‘more better.’ This is part of how Pittsburgh’s Jewish community comes together.” The anti-Semitic shooting at the Tree of Life building left 11 congregants from the three congregations housed within the building dead and two seriously wounded. New Light Congregation, which also was housed at the Tree of Life building and lost members in the massacre, announced earlier this year that it would stay at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill, where it has been since the attack. PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Two Weinberg Terrace residents test positive for COVID-19 — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer

wo people living in a single residence at Weinberg Terrace, a personal care community on Bartlett Street, tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend and are now receiving care outside of the facility, according to a July 20 announcement from the Jewish Association on Aging. No other residents were symptomatic as of July 20, according to JAA officials. In response to the positive coronavirus results, the JAA is testing all Weinberg Terrace residents, staff and private duty care staff, performing temperature and symptom checks of each resident every four hours and staff and private duty care staff at the beginning and end of each shift. The common area, the residents’ floor and the residents’ apartment have all been thoroughly cleaned. Additionally, the agency is utilizing air purification equipment and HEPA filters are being changed for added protection throughout the building. The use of face masks and shields remain mandatory for staff as are face masks for residents when care is given. All hand-washing and social distancing protocols continue to be followed. Because of the positive test results, Weinberg Terrace residents are being asked

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to quarantine in their apartment for at least a week. All window visits and other activities have been suspended for the immediate future as the JAA monitors the situation. As of July 20, four JAA employees also have tested positive for the virus and are recovering at home. The agency has been following guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the Allegheny Public Health Department and has received additional guidance from their medical directors and representatives from the Regional Response Health Collaborative. The RRHC includes representatives from UPMC, Allegheny Health Network, The Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Western Pennsylvania Healthcare Association. The JAA’s reach extends to 1,420 community members including 400 residents, 500 staff members and an additional 520 clients who receive the agency’s services. “We share a deep concern for our residents, staff and family throughout JAA,” Deborah Winn-Horvitz, JAA’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We remain committed to our mission and values, to provide support and compassion for those we serve.” The agency was already working with outside sources, including the Squirrel Hill Health Center and CVS to test all employees and residents, according to a JAA spokesperson. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has mandated testing at all long-term

p Weinberg Terrace

care facilities in Pennsylvania, requiring all staff and residents at the Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to have tests completed by Friday, July 24. Testing is required to be completed by the end of August for the remainder of the organization including home health, personal care, assisted living and memory care. All precautionary procedures to keep residents and staff safe continue at all JAA managed facilities. Window visits between residents and family members, however, have been postponed.

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Despite the restriction, the JAA’s activity staff has worked to engage residents and keep them active. “This is difficult,” the spokesperson said. “Luckily, we have some spaces that are outdoors, that are not public, courtyards, where people can get out and get some fresh air, but we are keeping everyone’s distance and we’re keeping them in masks. It’s ongoing and it’s an adjustment every day.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Rabbis and Jewish educators frame Tisha B’Av 2020 — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

o day on the Jewish calendar is more ripe for mourning than Tisha B’Av, but during a period in which suffering seems easily recognizable due to a global pandemic and nationwide civic unrest following the killing of George Floyd, rabbis and Jewish educators are seeking to frame this year’s observance within a larger context. Tisha B’Av, which begins the evening of July 29 and continues through July 30, commemorates a score of Jewish tragedies, including the destruction of two holy temples in Jerusalem; the killing of Jews during the Second Century Bar Kokhba revolt and destruction of Betar; the medieval and Renaissance expulsions of Jews from England, France and Spain; the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto; and the AMIA bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994. “Tisha B’Av is a time of heartache as we remember tragedies to befall our people in years past, but there’s also a period of uplift with nechama [comfort] in contemplation and preparation for the High Holidays to come,” said Rabbi Aaron Meyer of Temple Emanuel of South Hills. “I think particularly in this time of isolation and disconnection it is important to allow people to taste the historical downtroddenness, or the full emotions of the season, but also to immediately begin to lift people back up because too often these days we taste that bitterness every single day.” Given current precautions regarding COVID-19, Meyer said that he and other South Hills residents will participate in an online Tisha B’Av service. Danielle Kranjec, senior Jewish educator at Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh, said that she’ll also mark the day through digital connection and mine its ability to provide community and strength. “I think for us as a people to gather together, whether that’s virtually or in person, and look back on the pain that we’ve

shared as a people and that unfortunately continued to happen over the years on Tisha B’Av, from the destruction of the Temple to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, there can be a lot of comfort in looking back and seeing how much we’ve experienced and how much we’ve overcome,” she said. “Something that’s really powerful and valuable for me about Tisha B’Av is that it’s a moment where we can embrace brokenness,” continued Kranjec. “I think our impulse in light of the pandemic, and in light of the kinds of brutality we’re seeing against Black Americans, is to try to fix things. We all want to do something and be active, but Tisha B’Av is a moment of recognizing the brokenness in our history, the pain in our history, the trauma that we’ve experienced as a people, and being able to sit with it and experience it and learn. It can be very valuable to have a moment where you’re not asked to do something, where in fact that’s the opposite of what we’re meant to do.” In helping people understand the day’s context, Rabbi Danny Schiff, Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, is offering a July 30 Zoom seminar hosted by the Federation. “I think that perhaps the framing around Tisha B’Av, vis-a-vis the events that we’re going through with COVID and post the Floyd murder, is that we have to as Jews always think about this in the context of the sweep of Jewish history,” said Schiff. “We know deeply and viscerally what it means to be an outsider, what it means to continue to experience the echoes and the pressures of slavery, and we have a duty, a job, to remember that viscerally and to act accordingly. “That having been said, looking more inwardly from a Jewish perspective, Tisha B’Av is a quintessentially Jewish event, it’s not a universal event. We also need to remember that as much as we are going through a period of difficulty and pain, there have been many centuries where the difficulty and pain have been far deeper, the gloom far heavier and the optimism far harder to find than is true for us today. And therefore, while these are Please see Tisha B’Av, 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 SUNDAYS, JULY 26; AUG. 2, 9, 16, 23

in Israel.” Each talk in the series will be dedicated to one artist and a specific medium. 11 a.m. Educators attending this program are eligible to receive Pennsylvania Act 48 continuing education credits. classroomswithoutborders.org q MONDAY, JULY 27

Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

Learn how to make seasoning salts, vinegars, oils or simple syrups with common kitchen herbs (we can adapt to use whatever you have at home) at Moishe House’s Zoom DIY Herbal Preps. Gather some fresh herbs first if possible. 7 p.m. For more infomration, go to Moishe House’s Facebook page.

q MONDAYS, JULY 27; AUG. 3, 10, 17

q TUESDAYS, JULY 28; AUG. 4

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.

The ethical use of money is one of the most important areas of Jewish conduct. The tradition says that when you die, it is the first question you will be asked: How did you behave monetarily? In “Your Money: What Jewish Ethics Has to Say,” Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will explore the Jewish principles, and the requisite practices, around the appropriate use of money, as understood by Jewish tradition. 10 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh.org

q M ONDAYS, JULY 27; AUG. 3, 10 THURSDAY, JULY 30 Classrooms Without Borders is offering “Becoming Blended: A Practical Course for Remote Pedagogy,” a six-part, fully subsidized teacher training to all classroom educators. The free course is led by Israel’s Ministry of Education and the Kibbutzim College of Education’s Amos Raban. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org

q WEDNESDAY, JULY 29

q MONDAYS, JULY 27; AUG. 3 Classrooms Without Borders presents a weekly discussion with Shirel Horovitz, “Behind the scenes of Israeli art and artists: Five personal points of view on the relation between art and daily reality

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents a series of webinars, “The Middle East Unmasked with Neil Lazarus.” Lazarus is an internationally acclaimed expert in the fields of Middle East politics, public diplomacy and effective communication training. You must register online to receive the Zoom link via email prior to the webinar. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org What does it mean to be a citizen? Classroom

Without Borders’ weekly high school book discussion of “Citizen: An American Lyric” will examine how each of us is a citizen in many different ways. With CWB Resident Teaching Artist Susan Stein. Part prose poem, part journal entry, part photographs, we will consider the way each text we encounter can be both window and mirror. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org Join Classrooms Without Borders for a weekly book discussion on James Whitman’s book “Hitler’s American Model,” facilitated by Dr. Joshua Andy. Whitman’s premise is that American race law provided a blueprint for Nazi Germany. This book club is geared toward educators and open to all. Educators attending this program are eligible to receive Pennsylvania Act 48 continuing education credits. 4 pm. classroomswithoutborders.org Why is Tisha B’Av the saddest day in the Jewish calendar? What are we mourning in the present day? How do we experience and support each other through grief as a Jewish community? Join Moishe House Pittsburgh, Ratzon: Center for Healing and Resistance (ratzonpgh.org) and Rabbi Ron Symons from the JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness for Queer Tisha B’Av to learn about this fast day. While this event is primarily designed by/for Pittsburgh’s queer Jewish community, all are welcome to attend. 6 p.m. For more infomration, go to Moishe House’s Facebook page. q THURSDAY, JULY 30 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the Generation Series featuring Chana Brody. Brody shares her family’s story of Holocaust survival and its impact on their lives afterward. 3 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. Sometimes known as the “Black Fast,” there is no day more laden with sorrow and memory than the Fast of Tisha B’Av. Sign up to participate in “A Seminar for Tisha B’Av” on Zoom with Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff on the significance of the day, its power through the long sweep of Jewish history, and its contemporary meaning for us in 2020. 3 p.m. For more information, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN YOUR OWN HOME We help our clients stay safe at home. We have implemented protocols to mitigate exposure to COVID-19.

Join Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the Jewish Women’s Foundation for a one-hour interactive Zoom session led by acclaimed physician-author Dr. Vivien Brown. Brown will discuss her book, “A Woman’s Guide to Healthy Aging.” 12 p.m. The first 50 women to register will receive a free copy of the book. This is a free event open to all women donors who give to the Pittsburgh Federation’s Community Campaign. 12 p.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the next installment of its Generation Series with Linda Hurwitz. Hurwitz, the former head of the middle school at the Community Day School and former director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, will tell the story of her parents’ Holocaust survival. 3 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. q MONDAY, AUG. 17 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents its ongoing Conversations Series, featuring Betty Cruz, president and CEO of World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. 12 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. q MONDAY, AUG. 24 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the next installment of its Conversations Series. Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh Director Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather will speak with Jason England on the theme “The Power of the Individual.” England is an assistant professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University who has written extensively on race, sports and societal issues. 12 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. q TUESDAY, AUGUST 25

q THURSDAYS, JULY 30; AUG. 6

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q THURSDAY, AUG. 13

Rodef Shalom Congregation presents “The Women’s Torah Commentary: A Social Justice Introduction.” You don’t have to wait any longer to learn what it is and all there is to know about the perspectives presented in this important Women of Reform Judaism text. Sessions presented by Lynn Magid-Lazar, past president of the Women of Reform Judaism; Olivia Tucker; Bill Klingensmith and Rabbi Sharyn Henry. 7 p.m. To register, visit rodefshalom.org. q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 5, 12, 19, 26 Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will explore the current state of Jewish love and marriage and where it all might be headed in “21st Century Love & Marriage in Judaism.” 10 a.m. For more information, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org.

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “FedTalks: Community Strength in a Time of Crisis” featuring Michael G. Masters, National Director & CEO of the Secure Community Network. The annual meeting will include a report of the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s strengths and achievements and is your opportunity to hear how donor support enabled the Jewish Federation to provide immediate expertise and a financial lifeline this year to the organizations that serve Jewish Pittsburgh. Learn how coronavirus contributes to growing concerns about threats to local and worldwide community safety. 5 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “E3: An Unorthodox Conversation.” Grab your mothers, daughters, granddaughters, nieces and mothers-in-law for an engaging discussion, moderated by Dodi Roskies. Zoom link and signature cocktail recipe will be provided upon registration. This is a free event open to all women donors who give to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Campaign. 7:30 p.m. jewishpgh.org PJC

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Headlines Steeler Zach Banner wants to team up to fight hate their back and the team has their back and we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accept that here and we shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accept that at all.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; LOCAL â&#x20AC;&#x201D; By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

ust two days after Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted an anti-Semitic message he attributed to Adolf Hitler on social media, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner came to the defense of the Jewish community. In a series of tweets and videos, which he said he hoped would help educate others who might have misconceptions about Jews, the Steeler spoke out against anti-Semitism. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need to understand that Jewish people deal with the same amount of hate and similar hardships and hard times,â&#x20AC;? Banner said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to preach to the Black and brown community that we need to uplift them and put our arms around them just as much when we talk about Black Lives Matter and talk about elevating ourselves. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do that while stepping on the backs of other people to elevate ourselves.â&#x20AC;? Jackson has since apologized for posting the anti-Semitic comments. Banner spoke with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle by phone last week about his decision to stand up for the Jewish community. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

p Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle, Zach Banner Photo by Katharine Lotze/Gettyimages

What motivated you to speak out against anti-Semitism on social media? Not only do I have friends who are Jewish that I met through my experiences at USC and growing up, but also, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still deep down inside my heart, the tragic situation that happened two years ago at the Tree of Life synagogue. There is still a bad taste in my mouth about it and it brings a lot of emotion, especially when someone says something anti-Semitic. You feel like you have to respond. What did you hope to accomplish? I wanted to let people know that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t right and we shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do that. I really wanted the Jewish community â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not only nationally, but especially here in Pittsburgh â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I really, really wanted them to know that I have

When you were talking about the Tree of Life massacre on video, you got visibly choked up. You were in Pittsburgh when the attack happened. How did it affect you? Any hate crime toward anyone, but especially a minority group like the Jewish community, it just hurts. I felt the pain. A man came into the synagogue and open fired because of their beliefs and because of their background. I know how that feels in terms of pain in my heart â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and especially when you talk about recent tragedies like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s somewhat relative â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but once again I just want the Jewish community to know I have their back. I never want to selfishly say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know what you feel like,â&#x20AC;? but I do want to put my arm around the community. After you posted your messages, did you receive any backlash or criticism? Yeah, I received criticism. The one that really hurts me is I had some criticism from my own, wondering if maybe I am missing the point of the Black Lives Matter movement, if I am muting that or if I am stepping aside from that to take care of this problem. And it shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be that. It shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a â&#x20AC;&#x153;themâ&#x20AC;? problem, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an â&#x20AC;&#x153;usâ&#x20AC;? problem because we were the ones that dragged them in. It was a

Black man that said that, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extremely powerful. And it was one of my colleagues. I need to be able to hold him responsible, and anybody else that is in my position. You mentioned in your video that even you, growing up before you met Jewish people at USC, had heard certain rumors about Jewish people. What sorts of things did you hear? I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know so much about the in-depth stuff. So growing up it was very, very common amongst the Black community to just get white Jewish people mixed up with other European background races, and to just say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another white guy.â&#x20AC;? We really need to have a deep understanding of the history of the Jewish community, and the Holocaust, and sympathize with that. And not only that. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not like that was the last bad thing that has happened. There is a lot of stuff between that and the Tree of Life massacre. We need to educate ourselves on that because if we are able to do that we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say things like that. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk about some of the positive reactions you got from your postings. I read you were invited to some Shabbat dinners. Who invited you? [Laughing] Everybody. I mean millions of Please see Banner, page 15

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Headlines The conflict over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A conversation with Ken Stern â&#x20AC;&#x201D; LOCAL â&#x20AC;&#x201D; By Kayla Steinberg | Staff Writer

tudents are being quarantined from difficult ideas and issues, argues Kenneth Stern in his new book â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/ Palestine Campus Debateâ&#x20AC;? (Hardcover, New Jewish Press, May 2020). The defense attorney and author, 67, has experience with this â&#x20AC;&#x153;conflict over the conflictâ&#x20AC;?: He is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, and he helped draft a working definition of anti-Semitism while serving as the American Jewish p Ken Stern with a copy of the book. Photo by Emily Stern Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-Semitism expert. thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an Israeli occupation only when they Stern knows the challenges involved get to college. in productively discussing the Israeliâ&#x20AC;&#x153;To me, the fundamental thing is you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Palestinian conflict and details them want students to be harassed, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want in his book. them to be intimidated, but I think you do â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the main points of the book is want them to be disturbed by ideas,â&#x20AC;? he said. that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sending kids to college to really The opening chapter of the book, titled wrestle with ideas,â&#x20AC;? he told the Chronicle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thinking about Thinking,â&#x20AC;? explores the â&#x20AC;&#x153;And instead, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a lot of push to the idea that, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh, students shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear things human need for simplicity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People tend to define these moral that make them discomforted.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? He notes the sense of betrayal that universes and try to want to simplify things,â&#x20AC;? many Jews feel when, after years of Jewish explained Stern. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of how weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re as human beings â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it makes us education, they learn for 7/8/19 the first time JC FirerFly 2019_Eartique 11:41 AMthat Page programmed 1

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feel more certain, makes us feel more right, makes us feel part of a team that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing something just. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People gravitate toward one [view] or the other, whereas to understand this conflict, they have to really grapple with both,â&#x20AC;? he added. The way Stern sees it, when pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian advocates unilaterally put forth their case, they minimize the other sideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Real history is the ability to navigate all these views at once,â&#x20AC;? Stern quotes professor Seth Anziska in the book. But the human need for simplicity works against this ambition, he cautioned. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We get put into bubbles where we see the world in a certain way and that people are going to express things in a very narrow way,â&#x20AC;? said Stern. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Yet] usually, things are a lot more complex, and justice isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only one flavor.â&#x20AC;? He remembers feeling upset when Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election. His response: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have to watch a lot more Fox News.â&#x20AC;? His friends thought he was nuts, he said, but he felt it was important to better understand the people who voted for Trump. Stern is not a fan of cancel culture, of stifling certain views or opinions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do not see that as a healthy thing for a

democracy,â&#x20AC;? he said. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not that he wants bigotry to be overlooked â&#x20AC;&#x201D; heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just opposed to the notion of questioning whether somebody should be able to have a platform. For example, while Stern disagrees with some of the principles underlying Students for Justice in Palestine, he thinks SJP groups should be allowed to host an Israeli Apartheid Week on college campuses. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the same with speakers. He considers it worthwhile for organizations to invite BDS proponents, hear them lay out their case and then question them directly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both sides are trying to shut down the other from speaking when they should be avoiding attempts to censor,â&#x20AC;? he said. Stern also thinks â&#x20AC;&#x153;cancelingâ&#x20AC;? people for controversial social media posts can dip into problematic territory. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a disheartening and I think dangerous aspect of it here that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to allow people to make mistakes or to grow,â&#x20AC;? he said. That said, Stern acknowledges that different cases necessitate different responses and that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to distinguish between irredeemable hatred and intellectual exploration. Students should have the ability to do things that are wrong, to try on ideas without Please see Stern, page 14

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Headlines PA branch of Reform Religious Action Center launches along with national push for civic engagement — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

ith just four months to go before the November 2020 elections, Pittsburgher Susan Friedberg Kalson joined nearly 200 fellow Pennsylvanians on a July 15 Zoom call dedicated to bolstering statewide civic engagement. Organized by the Religious Action Center, the political and legislative arm of the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the July 15 digital Susan Friedberg event was an opportuKalson Photo courtesy of nity to simultaneously Susan Friedberg launch RAC-PA and the Kalson RAC-PA civic engagement campaign, said Kalson. Throughout the country, in states such as California, Ohio, Texas and New York, RAC maintains nonpartisan branches dedicated to engaging individuals in an effort to address federal, state and local legislation. By creating a Pennsylvania group, explained

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Kalson, the goal is to empower lay leaders and champion policies relating to the Jewish community. Kalson, a lifelong member of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Oakland, and chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, which is a joint commission of the CCAR and the URJ and its affiliates, and governs the RAC’s policy positions, said the July 15 program offered participants a chance to “hit the ground running,” and noted, “We hope that what will come out of this is a really robust RAC-PA organization with the opportunity to add to that.” Among the immediate goals of RAC-PA is to combat voter suppression, engage high school and college students, mobilize voters, and network, said Bill Madway, an event organizer. The intention is to generate action both within and outside of the Jewish community, while targeting “low-propensity voters,” echoed Logan Zinman Gerber, RAC’s National Campaign Organizer. Apart from establishing RAC-PA, the July 15 online event launched the RAC-PA civic engagement campaign, a statewide effort within the URJ’s 2020 Civic Engagement campaign. The nationwide undertaking seeks to both encourage participation in the election process and enable U.S. citizens, regardless of

p Religious Action Center illustration

political affiliation, to vote without obstacles. This work is “even more urgent because of COVID, and because of this sudden shift to vote by mail,” said Kalson. Across the country, citizens seeking to vote are encountering newfound difficulties,

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Artwork by Rabbi Allie Fischman

such as completing ballots by mail, standing in long lines to reach the booths or accessing polling stations (as some have closed due to fewer poll workers), Kalson explained. Please see Reform, page 15

JULY 24, 2020 9

Headlines The marvelous Myselses — LOCAL — By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

oing through the 1926 volume of the old Jewish Indicator, I found an editorial cartoon with Pittsburgh references, suggesting it had been drawn locally. That’s unusual. Most illustrations in that Yiddish newspaper were syndicated and dealt with national subjects. The illustrator was Sam Mysels. Paging ahead, I found four more. The cartoon to the right is my favorite. I love the languidness of the three snoozing men, and the knotty wood grain on the bench. The cartoon is a harmless act of journalistic puffery. The police officer is labeled “The Indicator.” He’s telling the three men “Enough Sleeping!” The three men are labeled “Chinuch” (Education), “Zionism” and “Kashrut.” The Jewish community is in a stupor, the cartoon is saying, but the noble Indicator shall revive the spirit of Jewish devotion. I thought I was having one of those longdreamed-for moments: the discovery of a hidden talent, heretofore unknown to the world. That lasted as long as a Google search. It turns out Mysels was pretty well-known in his day. In fact, so was his whole family.

p In his early 20s, shortly before leaving Pittsburgh, Sammy Mysels published five cartoons in The Jewish Indicator, a local Yiddish paper. Art courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives

His parents were vaudevillians. Upon settling in Pittsburgh, his mother, Sarah Mysels, became a poet. Her best known work was “Di Mizreh Zayt,” a collection of nearly 200 poems, in Yiddish, mostly about Jewish life. In one called “In Your Daddy’s Shoes,” she tisk-tisks one of her kids for listening to too many records and getting into trouble. The father with the eponymous shoes was Harry Mysels. He sold coin-operated music boxes on Centre Avenue and had a side career

Turning 65?

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performing dramatic readings of Yiddish literature at local Jewish charity dinners. He was a charter member of the Cantor’s Association of Western Pennsylvania. The organization was a last-ditch effort in the 1930s and 1940s to encourage local families to hire cantors to sing at their simchas. The second of eight kids, Sammy Mysels left the Hill District in the 1930s to become a songwriter on Tin Pan Alley. He was a workhorse, publishing more than 350 songs in his lifetime. He wrote lovely ballads like “The Singing Hills” and “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me).” He wrote the hopping “Bim Bam Baby” for Frank Sinatra. He wrote several campaign songs, including the theme for the 1960 Democratic Convention, “Walkin’ Down to Washington.” He also wrote a ton of goofy novelty hits like “Mention My Name in Sheboygan” and “She Made Toothpicks of the Timber of My Heart.” His little brother George went to New York a decade later and also became successful in the music business. Like Sammy, he was multitalented. He drew comics for Pittsburgh newspapers as a tween. He later invented a mix-and-match toy called the Comic Rotor. As a songwriter, George was much less boisterous than Sammy. His biggest hit was the inspirational “One Little Candle.” He rewrote Stephen Foster hymns to make them more religious, and he composed a melody

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July 24, 1920 — Bella Abzug is born

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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.

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

Nathan Lane

for the Gettysburg Address. He later moved to California and wrote “The Voice of the Pigeon,” an appreciation of the ubiquitous bird. Their youngest brother Maurice managed his older brothers’ songwriting careers. His song “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You” was a hit for Elvis in 1956. Maurice stayed in Pittsburgh and became a Justice of the Peace in Forest Hills. He held an annual New Year’s Eve party for all the sauced revelers who were pulled over for driving drunk. The Mysels Brothers were unsentimental about their art, especially Sammy. He once wrote a song in two minutes and left it un-copyrighted. Whoever wanted it could have it, he said. He advised budding songwriters to get day jobs, even if they hit it big. “Any songwriter that’s too proud to sweep floors shouldn’t even be a floor sweeper,” he said. A local columnist once accused Sammy of being crude. Maurice wrote to the editor, explaining that songwriters are often intelligent and idealistic. “However like newspaper columnists, they have to eat, pay rent, support their wives and children. And they realize it’s just good business to cater to the likes and dislikes of the majority of the people.” PJC

Bella Abzug, who in 1970 becomes the first Jewish woman elected to Congress, is born in the Bronx. She gains political experience as a youth by lecturing about Zionism at subway stops to raise money for Jewish settlers.

July 25, 1973 — Gold Medalist Leibovitch is born

Ke re n L e ib ov itch , who wins four gold medals swimming at the Paralympics in 2000 and 2004, is born in Hod Hasharon. She is paralyzed below the waist during IDF training at age 18.

July 26, 1967 — Allon Plan is presented

Yigal Allon presents a proposal for Israel’s retention of the Jordan Valley after the Six-Day War. The Allon Plan calls for settlements and military installations as a buffer against an attack from east of the river.

July 27, 1656 — Spinoza is excommunicated

The Amsterdam Jewish community excommunicates Baruch Spinoza, 23, after he refuses to take money to be silent about his criticism of Judaism. Among other issues, he questions the Torah’s divine nature.

July 28, 1845 — Reform Rabbinical Conference ends

A two-week assembly in Frankfurt-am-Main ends after the 31 Reform rabbis agree to remove prayers calling for a return to Israel, reflecting their view that Judaism is not a nationality.

July 29, 1849 — Max Nordau is born

Max Nordau, who leads the movement for Zionism’s “new Jew,” is born in Pest, Hungary. He drafts the Basel Plan, the blueprint adopted at the First Zionist Congress for a Jewish state in Palestine.

July 30, 1980 — Jerusalem Basic Law enacted

The Knesset passes Basic Law: Jerusalem, giving constitutional authority to the position that a united Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. The U.N. Security Council then urges nations to move embassies out of Jerusalem.

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Israel’s schools will open on time, minister asserts

Israel’s education minister made it clear: Rise in coronavirus cases or not, schools in the country will open on time. “I say here to the citizens of the State of Israel, the school year will open on Sept. 1. Period,” Yoav Gallant said in an interview with Channel 12. “We have a plan, I sat for hours with the finance minister, he was convinced by things, he is cooperating on the matter. I found partners in the local authorities and the teachers’ unions.” Since Israel reopened its economy and schools in late May, COVID-19 cases have been rising steadily. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that the country reopened too quickly. Gallant said the education system is working to ensure that every child will be able to connect to distance learning, though he could not commit to being successful, in part due to the expense of providing equipment and infrastructure to schools and students, and to train teachers. “This is complex work, we are talking about 2.5 million students and teachers,” Gallant said. During the interview, he criticized a graduation party held for over 100 students at the Gymnasia Rehavam high school in Jerusalem, where over 100 students were infected by the coronavirus in May, forcing the student body and staff into isolation. The party violated regulations designed to control the coronavirus in Israel, which include gatherings of up to 10 people indoors and up to 20 outside. Meanwhile, the Knesset coronavirus oversight committee voted to keep restaurants open, despite a government order to keep them closed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Israel’s nurses strike to protest extra load due to pandemic

Nurses in Israel launched a general strike to protest the difficult loads placed on them due to staff shortages in part because of the coronavirus crisis. The strike started in the morning following meetings between the heads of the nurses’ unions and the director-general of the Health Ministry that lasted all night. Nurses worked on a reduced schedule in hospitals, except in emergency rooms and in coronavirus wards and testing centers. “The nursing system is collapsing,” union head Ilana Cohen told the Kan public broadcaster. “Forty coronavirus wards were opened. Where do you think they took the shifts from?” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein acknowledged in interviews that the nursing shortage was not only due to the coronavirus. The Health and Finance ministries announced the evening of the strike that they would enable the hiring of 2,000 more nurses and 400 doctors, Kan reported. The announcement said that 700 administrative officials and other health workers will be hired to help deal with hospitalized coronavirus patients. After the concession, the nurses’ unions called off the strike, and agreed to return to work. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

MLB manager Gabe Kapler kneels during National Anthem

Gabe Kapler, in his first season as San Francisco Giants manager, took a knee during the National Anthem before the start of an exhibition game. Kapler, 44, who is Jewish and a former coach for Team Israel, was joined by several of his players before facing the Oakland Athletics. The Giants won, 6-2. He told the team earlier in the day that he planned to kneel and the Giants organization would support any player that made the same decision, ESPN reported. “I told them that I wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we’ve handled racism in our country,” Kapler told ESPN. “I wanted them to know that they got to make their own decisions, and we would respect and support those decisions. I wanted them to feel safe in speaking up,” Kapler has been a public backer of Black Lives Matter, including posts supportive of the movement on Instagram. He is the first Major League manager to kneel during the National Anthem. He comes to the Giants after managing the Philadelphia Phillies for two seasons. Along with coaching the Israel team competing for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Kapler visited Israel in 2017 and toured with the national team, The Jerusalem Post reported. Kapler has a Star of David tattooed on his right calf and “Never Again” tattooed on his left calf.

French politician under fire for remarks about Jesus’ death

A far-left French politician accused Jews of deicide, or being responsible for the death of Jesus, during a television interview. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the founder of the democratic socialist La France Insoumise, or Unsubmissive France party, and a member of the National Assembly, made the remarks in an interview on French TV. Asked if the French police were supposed to stand back in the face of violent protest, Melenchon responded that they needed to “stay put like Jesus on the cross without reacting.” He added that “I don’t know if Jesus was on a cross, but he was apparently put there by his own people,” he said, meaning Jews, and thus repeating the anti-Semitic canard that the Jews killed Jesus. The Wiesenthal Center director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, said that “the repeated accusation of deicide — throughout the Middle Ages — resulted in pogroms, torture and execution of Jewish communities. Its imagery fueled violence across Europe, culminating in the Nazi Holocaust.” He noted that the accusations were condemned by the papal encyclical Nostra Aetate in 1965, adding, “Apparently, Melenchon didn’t get the memo.” He called on Melenchon to publicly withdraw his discriminatory comments and apologize for the false accusations. The Judeo-Christian Fellowship of France condemned Melenchon’s comments. “This old thesis of the responsibility of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus, rejected for decades by all historians and exegetes, and condemned by all the churches, gave birth, as we know, to deadly anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism whose culmination was the Holocaust,” its statement said. PJC

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JULY 24, 2020 11

Opinion Bari Weiss and The New York Times — EDITORIAL —

n October 2017, Squirrel Hill native Bari Weiss came back to her hometown as a featured speaker at an event sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Just six months earlier, she had left her job as an op-ed and book review editor for The Wall Street Journal and moved to The New York Times as a staff editor for its opinion section. “I’ve gone in the last year from being the most progressive person at The Wall Street Journal, to being the most right-winged person at The New York Times,” she told her audience — more than 300 people — in Rodef Shalom’s Freehof Hall. During a morning Q&A, Rabbi Danny Schiff posed questions to the then 33-year-old journalist on a variety of topics, including her experiences at the WSJ and her enthusiasm for joining the Times. “I’m thrilled to be at The New York Times,” Weiss said then, while still in the honeymoon phase of her employment there. Although she was still writing the same sorts of pieces that she wrote at the WSJ, she was now being viewed as “provocative” and “engaging with people who don’t agree with me.” That was fine with her. That was good journalism. Weiss is far from a knee-jerk conservative. In fact, back in 2017, she told her Pittsburgh audience that she left the WSJ because of the paper’s response to President Donald Trump, whom she described as a “master of chaos.” She was troubled by the paper’s ultimate decision to “be neutral” to Trump, then its move toward a “pro-Trump stance.” Weiss is a true centrist. She is anti-Trump

Weiss is but one recent victim of the prevailing “cancel culture,” a culture prevalent in journalism as well as academia and politics that targets the livelihood and professional reputations of those who dare to deviate from acceptable groupthink. and in favor of repealing the Second Amendment, but she also sticks up for Israel, condemns anti-Semitism wherever it lurks and criticizes the progressive left for its penchant for “cancel culture.” Last week’s news that Weiss had resigned from the Times, and her stated reasons for doing so, spoke to a model of American journalism and a “cancel culture” that is troubling at best and dangerous at its worst. In her resignation letter to the Times, Weiss noted that she was hired to give a platform to writers that would not otherwise appear in that paper, including “centrists, conservatives and others who would not naturally think of the Times as their home. The reason for this effort was clear: The paper’s failure to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 election meant that it didn’t have a firm grasp of the country it covers.” But as things turned out, at least according to Weiss, the Times was not committed to that mission. “My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying

by colleagues who disagree with my views,” Weiss wrote. “They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m ‘writing about the Jews again.’” Weiss does indeed frequently “write about the Jews.” She was raised among the Pittsburgh Jewish community to be proud of her identity and heritage and to support the Jewish state. Last year, in the wake of the anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life building — the site of her own bat mitzvah years before — she wrote a book on anti-Semitism of all streams, including within the progressive left, entitled “How to Fight Anti-Semitism.” Weiss is but one recent victim of the prevailing “cancel culture,” a culture prevalent in journalism as well as academia and politics that targets the livelihood and professional reputations of those who dare to deviate from acceptable groupthink. Other recent victims of “cancel culture” include Andrew Sullivan of New York Magazine and the renowned Harvard psychologist, Steven Pinker. Weiss also was among 153 prominent

and diverse writers and academics who recently signed a letter that was published in Harper’s Magazine, advocating for open debate. “The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away,” read the letter. They were attacked via social media and by some journalists who actually condemned them simply for writing in favor of free speech. It is disturbing to think that it might have been a problem for her colleagues at the Times that Weiss, as a Jew, often writes about Jewish issues. Should the fact that she is Jewish have disqualified her from doing so? We can’t help but wonder if those who complained about her propensity for covering Jewish topics also take issue when writers of other minorities cover issues of particular relevance to those minorities. The Times’ editors, Weiss charged in her letter, select stories to satisfy a progressive narrative for “the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.” History, she wrote, “is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.” We hope that Weiss’ stated reasons for her resignation are not a portent of a continuing denigration of American journalism and the squelching of the free exchange of a diverse array of ideas and perspectives. We also hope that the current environment of “cancel culture” does not create a class of rising young journalists and academics who choose to self-censor rather than expose themselves to vicious online bullying, or worse. As Weiss wrote: “Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery.” PJC

John Lewis: May his memory be a blessing Guest Columnist Mark Pelavin | JTA

he day is one of my most vivid and treasured memories. I was associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and we were in the middle of our flagship public policy conference. One of my responsibilities was to assign Reform Movement leaders to introduce each of our speakers. The power went right to my head, and I began by assigning myself to introduce John Lewis, the congressman from Georgia who was an icon of the civil rights movement. Somehow the many higher-ups who reviewed the list either did not see what I had done or were focused elsewhere. And so I had the opportunity, the privilege, the honor, to stand on the stage that day and tell Rep. Lewis, face to face, exactly why he was my hero. That feeling has only deepened in the decades since. Now, with a little more perspective, and in honor of one of the most remarkable, most American, lives ever lived, I want to suggest four key lessons (among

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hundreds) that we can all learn from John Lewis’ life and work. First, Lewis was never patient. (In fact, in his draft remarks for the 1963 March on Washington, he wrote, “‘Patience’ is a dirty and nasty word.”) He worked closely with more established leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, but he demanded — and earned — a seat at the table; he knew that it was critical that the movement always hear the voice of younger leaders. He was 21 when he became one of the original Freedom Riders, 23 when he was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, and 25 when he led the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. I think we can all ask ourselves what our institutions would be like if we had 23-year-olds in key decision-making roles. How much talent are we missing out on while we wait for it to develop? Second, Lewis did not quit. As I look at Lewis’ life I wonder how often others (including myself) would have walked away from the battle. Would I have continued after being beaten the way Lewis was? Would I have walked away after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and thought I had earned some rest? Would I have given up on public service after losing my first bid for Congress? Would I

have retired when political opponents began to dismantle what I had sacrificed so much for? Would the election of the first AfricanAmerican president have been a signal that the nation had turned a corner? John Lewis never gave up, never stopped working to make this country the place he knew it could be. His voice was powerful to the end. Third, Lewis used his hard-earned moral authority widely. Lewis understood that the struggle for equality needed to include equality for all. He was a strong supporter of LGBT rights, for example, and was always a great friend and ally to the Jewish community. Lewis believed that peace and safety were key elements of Dr. King’s “Beloved Community,” which led him to be a leading opponent of the Iraq war and — as recently as 2016 — to lead a sit-in on the House floor in support of anti-gun violence legislation. He simply refused to take a narrow view of his responsibility. Finally, it’s impossible to talk about John Lewis without talking about his faith. Lewis was a civil rights leader, a legislator, an author, and a mentor to many. But he was always a preacher. The day he and I shared the stage, he gave a version of a speech he must have given thousands of times — about growing up in a two-room “shotgun shack”

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and practicing his preaching with chickens as his audience. It was more than his style or his cadence that marked Lewis as a preacher — he preached, he taught, with his entire life. Perhaps there is someone in our lifetimes who better met our challenge, set out in the Torah, to “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God” than John Lewis, but I have no idea who it would be. Each of us finds strength in different places, but for Lewis that place was in his church and in his faith. That, I’m confident, is no small part of what gave him the confidence and conviction he needed to help us usher in a better time. And how we will miss his leadership. I hope and pray there is a remarkable 23-year old out there today, ready to step forward, and that we will have the wisdom to listen. Or even teenagers preaching to chickens, or perhaps, delivering their b’nai mitzvah talks by Zoom, and getting ready for lives of service. PJC Mark Pelavin, the former director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, is a writer and consultant living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion — LETTERS — In defense of Eva Kor

In “After hunting Nazis for 40 years, Efraim Zuroff remains committed to bringing them to justice” (July 13, 2020), the author writes “… the late Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor … said in the film that she forgave the Nazis and is shown hugging Gröning. ‘This, you’ll excuse me, is a pure PR stunt — 99.9% of the survivors … totally rejected her gesture,’ said Zuroff. ‘They were disgusted by it.’” As one of Eva’s best friends, I find Zuroff ’s claim so incredibly offensive and adamantly declare that it could not be further from the truth. Eva wholeheartedly embraced forgiveness as a way to heal her soul. Yes, she defended her views, talked openly about what it did for her and recommended it to suffering people. She was the most authentic and genuine person I have ever known, consistently and with purpose reminding all that she forgave for herself and it was not a “free pass” for the Nazis. As someone who knew her before and after her journey, the physical and mental changes in her mind, body and spirit was such an incredible thing to bear witness to and be a part of. Her forgiveness allowed people to find personal peace and I marveled at its impact over the years I was blessed to consider Eva my dearest friend. I often told her, “Forgiveness is your thing” without ever judging her due to my own inability to forgive. I react dubiously to the accuracy of Zuroff ’s 99.9% statistic. Although many survivors didn’t agree with Eva’s forgiveness, they were not “disgusted by it.” They were proud to call Eva a friend. In my amazing 13 years with Eva Kor, my privilege was to arrange trips to Auschwitz for those who wanted to learn about the Holocaust and Eva’s story. I have witnessed those of all ages and nationalities as they listened to her with rapt attention and tears as they learned. And, as a teacher, I know lives are changed and saved by that education. Most specifically, the life of a former student who credits Eva’s message with saving her life. I guarantee you that this young woman is certain that Eva’s lifesaving message of forgiveness was no “PR stunt.” A New York Times poll revealed that a large number of youth don’t know about the Holocaust. Zuroff should learn from Eva’s example and educate young people in ways that speak to and inspire them. Regardless how anyone felt about Eva’s forgiveness, her work impacted and inspired thousands. It worked. Despite Zuroff ’s comments, Eva’s message is necessary and more important than ever before. Eva’s forgiveness and the acknowledgement of how it was beneficial for her despite the atrocities of the past have impact on today’s society. I see the impact every day with students who witness Eva’s example and realize they can make the world a better place.

was NOT a PR stunt. She believed sincerely in forgiveness. She never forced her beliefs on anyone and consistently said she forgave in an effort to heal herself rather than to absolve the Nazis. Her public declaration was only for herself and not any other survivor. For this stance, she endured hatred and criticism. Her museum was burned to the ground in 2003. If she were just seeking publicity, would she have endured this? After she experienced the personal benefits of her forgiveness, she did indeed speak about how it changed her life. Her work impacted thousands, inspiring many to forgive their own enemies and ultimately find peace. Beyond that, my mother’s work has educated thousands of young people about the Holocaust. In this age when many millennials are unaware that the Holocaust existed, I feel honored that my mother did everything she could to keep those lessons alive. As Zuroff referred to, in 2015, my mother testified in the trial of Oskar Gröning, a former Nazi guard known as the “Accountant of Auschwitz.” Knowing that Gröning had admitted his guilt, my mother believed his remaining time on earth would be better served doing community service in speaking out against neo-Nazis. After her testimony, Gröning asked to meet my mother. As she entered his room, he was overcome with emotion, fainted and fell. The following day, they again greeted each other. In an effort to avoid another incident, my mother reached out to him, and he hugged her. This photograph of a Nazi and a Holocaust survivor embracing was transmitted around the world. It is my hope that this letter serves to — once and for all — accurately explain my mother. I do not expect everyone to agree with her; she and I disagreed frequently. But, if you do choose to scrutinize my mother, I hope that the facts do not get in the way of a good story. I would also recommend watching the recent documentary “Eva: A-7063,” which is on most PBS stations and Amazon Prime. I hope we can all use lessons of the Holocaust to educate future generations. I believe my mother’s message of forgiveness is more important now than ever. Racism, social injustice, political acrimony, hatred and intolerance are destroying the world in which we live. Alex Kor Carmel, Indiana

Gratitude for the Goldmans

Beth Nairn Riley, Indiana

Adam Reinherz’s wonderful article about the wonderful Pittsburgh institutions, Jimmy and Susie Goldman, made us very happy and proud (“Clear the way for the Goldmans because they’re not slowing down,” July 17). Please remember that Jimmy’s and Susie’s most important accomplishment, other than their children and grandchildren, is the inspiration and motivation that they have given to countless hundreds of people to get in shape and remain in shape for the rest of their lives. I know that we owe Jimmy and Susie a lifetime debt of gratitude and thankfulness. David and Rita Pollock Squirrel Hill

On July 4, 2019, while leading one of her annual tours at Auschwitz, my mother, Eva Mozes Kor, passed away in Krakow. Prior to that terrible day, she was able to defend herself when criticized. Unfortunately, since her passing she has been an easy target for anyone who has not agreed with her convictions. An example was put forth in a recent article in the Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh, in which Efraim Zuroff dismisses my mother’s kind gesture toward a former Nazi as “a PR stunt.” As her son, I feel obligated to set the record straight. My mother’s forgiveness of the Nazis

How far have we come (“Non-Orthodox congregations wrestle with the how and when of reopening,” July 3, 2020)? As a youth growing up in an Orthodox household we were expected to walk to shul on Shabbos and holidays. As we moved to the suburbs, it became OK to drive. Now with the advent of this nasty virus, and thanks to Zoom and my fellow Beth El congregants, the services are brought into our homes. This is all very nice but I can’t wait for the time to go back. Bill Schwartz Scott Township

Son of Eva Kor ‘sets the record straight’

Ready to go back to shul

Correction

In “Holocaust narratives survive through voices of the next generation” (July 17, 2020), the article incorrectly stated that Kurt Leuchter traveled to Italy during the Holocaust. He did not. Rather, his father procured a visa from Italy that enabled his family to go from Vienna to Belgium. The Chronicle regrets the error. PJC

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Headlines Study: Continued from page 1

The Dvorin family is affiliated with Temple Emanuel of South Hills, where Lisa teaches kindergarten classes for the Reform congregation’s Torah Center. Until recently, she also organized its monthly Rosh Chodesh gatherings. Lisa and her family — husband David, and children Sam, 17, Zoe, 16, and Ian, 13 — celebrate all of the major Jewish holidays at home and attend Shabbat services on Zoom, while recognizing that, for them, modern life sometimes rubs against tradition and ritual. “Almost without exception, every Friday I make challah, we light candles, do blessings over the kids, the kiddush, motzi. Being Reform and living in the world we live in, oftentimes Saturday is the busy time. As much as we can, though, we are mindful of it. I try not to buy things on Shabbat and if the kids say, ‘Oh, I need that,’ I’ll ask, ‘It’s Shabbat. Can we get it tomorrow?’ “With having teenagers, we have to be looser,” she continued. “If they want to do something with their friends, I always ask, ‘Does it have to be Friday night?’ and if it does we’ll let them do it, we just say, ‘We’ll miss you.’” Engagement extends for the Dvorins beyond their front door and their synagogue. Sam was involved in the local BBYO chapter until earlier this year, when college applications demanded greater attention. Ian is a counselor-in-training at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, where they are members. The family donates to Jewish organizations they feel strongly about, including the Federation, the JCC, Chabad and the hunger relief organization Mazon. Additionally, all three Dvorin children attended Jewish day camp and Sam and Zoe both spent summers at overnight Camp Harlam, run by the Union for Reform Judaism. Despite the pandemic currently keeping Temple Emanuel shuttered, Lisa has worked to maintain a connection with her students at the Torah Center and to keep them engaged. “I sent my students something in the mail every week, whether it was an art project, letter or some stickers,” she said. “Plus, I could tell it was going to be difficult to teach over Zoom, so I made short videos. I did one for Passover that had little puppets for the plagues and then I did a tutorial of how to sing ‘Let My People Go.’”

Comprehensive engagement

Judaism suffuses every aspect of Yikara

Stern: Continued from page 8

fearing the shopping will come back to haunt them, according to Stern. “Faculty — and especially students — need the intellectual space to think ‘outside the box,’ to try out ideas, and to be wrong,” he wrote in the book. “Without a culture that allows for, in fact encourages, intellectual error, progress will be difficult, if not impossible.” The college campus is the perfect place to consider the conflict, according to Stern. “An educational environment is really the ideal one — and this is an ideal issue — to teach those critical thinking skills of how do we know something, how do we 14 JULY 24, 2020

Levari’s life. The Squirrel Hill resident is the grades 5-12 girls assistant principal at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. She belongs to the Orthodox congregations Poale Zedeck and Shaare Torah with her husband, Itamar, and their children — three boys and three girls between 15 months and 15 years old. “We don’t really have much in our lives without Judaism — at least I don’t,” Yikara said. “It’s my line of work and my entire life.” Many of those who are “immersed,” according to the Community Study, share this sense of Judaism’s pervasiveness. Ninety-six percent of those who are “immersed” are synagogue members. One hundred percent of those who fall into this classification attend High Holiday services, 99% fast on Yom Kippur and 66% keep kosher, including the Levaris. While ritual and tradition are essential to her Jewish engagement, Yikara is also engaged culturally to her Judaism. The family matriarch occasionally watches Jewish-themed television shows and reads Jewish-themed books and magazines, although she more often reads religious texts because of her teaching responsibilities at Hillel Academy. Her husband, a doctor, spends much of his free time in the world of Jewish study as well, taking part in educational opportunities offered by the Kollel Jewish Learning Center. Yikara and her husband stay up to date on what is happening in Israel as do 93% of those who are “immersed” according to the Community Study. Itamar was born in Israel, which may account for some of his interest in seeking out Israeli news and current affairs. Yikara also is among the 62% of Jewish Pittsburghers, according to the Community Study, who believe that is important to have a connection to the local Pittsburgh community. She also feels strongly connected to the national and international Jewish world, she said. Because of the pandemic, those connections are now mostly online. “As much as technology and social media can be harmful, it also has kept me connected,” she said. “There are a lot of religious women on social media who have running Instagram stories that I follow and find inspirational, that could just be recipes, takes on kids and thoughts on stuff that’s going on now. The majority of my community is in Pittsburgh, but I definitely stay connected online. Because of my work, I am in touch with other educators. Because of

what is going on, everybody wants to make sure different communities are OK.”

deal with ideas that we might find difficult,” he explained. At the end of “The Conflict over the Conflict,” the author discusses a class taught by Paul Scham at the University of Maryland simulating the Peel Commission of 1936-1937. Students adopted different personas: Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, Zionist Revisionist founder Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini, and others. “They went into it thinking ‘Gee this is great, we’re gonna figure out how this conflict could’ve been settled in the 1930s when Lord Peel was there,’ and they come out of it saying, ‘Gee, now we understand why 80 years later, it hasn’t been settled,’” said Stern. “Which to me is the purpose of

education — to really grapple with [topics].” The book ends with a blueprint for how to navigate the “conflict over the conflict” on campus. “If Jewish organizations want to reduce antisemitism on campus, rather than try to suppress pro-Palestinian speech, they should instead invest in education — teaching about antisemitism, about hatred, and about how to have difficult discussions,” Stern wrote. He advocates for the integration of Israel studies and Palestine studies and for teaching hate in an academic setting, like at the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, which he directs. Stern hopes the book will start better conversations. “I think if we can have saner discussions about this, it’s good for the

Finding a way in

It was the search for greenspace that initially engaged Nadine Lehrer with the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Nadine and her family were living in the city and searching for a community garden where they could volunteer. After being turned away from a few potential sites, they heard Adat Shalom Synagogue had a garden that had been started by students at Chatham University several years ago and was now mostly ignored. The family — Nadine, her husband Mike, and their four children — made the drive to the North Hills synagogue several times a week before finally moving to Gibsonia. The family, who has since moved back to the city, has become more engaged with the synagogue through their time rehabilitating the garden. Nadine was raised in a Conservative household but her husband is not Jewish. Their four children — Eytan, 8, Li’el, 7, Oren, 5 and Noa, 3 — all have Hebrew names, reflecting Nadine’s heritage, but share a surname, Cochran, with their father. The couple has decided to raise their children to be “really rooted in and knowledgeable about Judaism,” Nadine explained. To that end, the family celebrates Jewish holidays at home and goes to Shabbat services when able. “The household is pretty Jewish,” Nadine said. “We do a lot of PJ Library books and CDs.” Prior to working in Adat Shalom’s garden, it was sometimes difficult to observe as many Jewish traditions as they might like, Nadine said, citing time as the primary constraint. “With so many kids, so young, and not living in Squirrel Hill … we found it very hard to get out of the house, so I would say we were not involved in the synagogue community,” she said. Now living in Squirrel Hill, Nadine teaches at Chatham University. Her husband also is a teacher. As with many other Jewish families, Nadine and her husband decided to become more engaged when it was time for their oldest son, Eytan, to begin attending Hebrew school. The family will soon be purchasing a home, moving from the city once again to Shaler Township. The garden at Adat Shalom will keep them connected to the synagogue, said Nadine, who considers being Jewish an

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important part of her identity. Judaism also affects the decisions the couple makes about raising their children. “For us, there’s a really important sense of balance,” she said. “For me, being Jewish was always an important part of my identity. My parents were both immigrants, my grandparents were Holocaust survivors, so there was a really strong cultural Jewish influence that was a little bit religious as well. I think there’s a strong balance between how you feel rooted in a Jewish community and understand people in other parts of the world and other communities.” That Jewish influence extends beyond Hebrew school and working in a synagogue’s garden. “We light Shabbat candles and do all the blessing and brachot and Havdalah and we do long Passover seders with my family and brothers,” she said. “The kids usually have off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so we usually go to services for that and sometimes I’ll pull them out of school for Simchat Torah.” Raising their children in Jewish ethics is also important, she said. “The idea of feeding your pets before yourself, these things come up in our house in this sort of middle ground of Jewishness. We’ve been pretty active in trying to create a Jewish home, but it hasn’t been didactic.” While the coronavirus pandemic has meant in-person community has been more difficult to find, Nadine said her family has taken the opportunity to find ways to be more engaged. “We’ve gone to Zoom services at Adat Shalom more than we had gone to in-person services,” she said, noting that the digital offering helped to overcome obstacles like snack time and distance. The Federation’s Rubin understands that while “immersed” families like the Dvorins, Levaris and Lehrer/Cochrans are highly engaged with their Judaism, there remain 25% of Jewish Pittsburghers who are just “minimally involved” or involved with Judaism primarily on holidays, according to the Community Study. “We have to find on-ramps for the unengaged because they’re not coming to us,” he said. “We have to create opportunities for them that are attractive, that they want to be at and that are meaningful. That is the way to engage them and create really strong relationships.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. campus, it’s good for the Jewish community, it’s good for promoting teaching of Jewish studies,” he said. He concluded the book with this: “I don’t expect that partisans on either side of the Israel/Palestine campus debate will stop trying to arm students to be proxy warriors in this battle, and stoking hatred while they do so. “I hope some, who profess to care about these young people and value our colleges and universities, see the wisdom in another approach: innovating ways to increase knowledge, while protecting and promoting academic freedom and free speech.” PJC Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Tisha B’Av: Continued from page 5

times of suffering and difficulty for us, there is I think considerably more reason for optimism and forward-looking hopefulness than was true for many Jews who observed Tisha B’Av in the past.” Rabbi Yossi Berkowitz, director of Kollel Konnections at the Kollel Jewish Learning Center, is also exploring the past as a means of understanding the present. Leading up to Tisha B’Av, Berkowitz shared several ideas through video messages on WhatsApp. The

Banner: Continued from page 7

people. I really mean that. From all over the world. I’ve gotten invited to Israel, to New York, to up the street in Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh area. It feels amazing to be embraced. I have I don’t know how many incoming loaves of challah bread. People have offered their brisket. And people have even offered their daughters as well — it’s insane. That is the truth. I’ve been tweeted at, people saying, “I would not mind you marrying my daughter.” I was like, “Wow.” It’s hilarious.

Reform: Continued from page 9

“This is a real challenge,” she said, “and we feel very strongly that one of our Jewish values is to encourage and support our own community to engage in the democratic process by voting, and where possible, to work across boundaries to help support other organizations that are involved in that work in other communities.” In years past, “the Jewish community writ

short recordings have been a means of not only furthering education, but fostering connection during a largely isolative period, he said. Whether contemplating the pandemic, or the difficulties experienced within and outside of the Jewish community, Tisha B’Av offers an opportunity to refocus on loss, he said. Lacking a direct connection with the divine presence “is something we should mourn.” The day is a time to pause, noted Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David, and to “mourn the destruction of the Temple, the lives lost and our people’s cohesiveness.” As the culmination of a three-week period

in the Hebrew calendar beginning with the 17 of Tammuz, Tisha B’Av, especially this year, represents another cycle in Jewish life, explained Hillel JUC’s Kranjec. “I think there’s so much value in the ancient wisdom of our ancestors, and the way that our year is structured in terms of our moments of pain and remembrance and our moments of joy,” she said. Given its personal mourning practices, which include fasting, as well as refraining from washing, bathing or wearing leather shoes, or its more public observances, such as reciting the Book of Lamentations or reading elegies that recall horrors experienced within

Jewish history, Tisha B’Av offers various means to appreciate the day. Though she’s sorry she can’t experience the in-person consolation of fellow community members this year, Kranjec said there is value in utilizing the day for personal and collective growth: “I hope that this particular Jewish way of remembering the past, and remembering trauma in an embodied way, can be something that’s productive, healing and helps people with meaning making around what we’re experiencing now.” PJC

I’m assuming you are not taking up any of those offers. But are you going anywhere for Shabbos dinner? Not yet, just cause of quarantine. But after COVID-19, yes.

I’m going to take up some of those offers for dates.

was once pain but hopefully now happiness because I spoke up — to please continue to support me and the players on our team that are really trying to make a push with this Black Lives Matter movement. We are meeting as a team, talking about certain legislation issues and things with the police and working it out. Talking about the future of stopping so much crime and so much hate against my community as well. So let’s just team up together and love each other. PJC

Are you OK if I print that? [Laughing] Toby, I am single. Absolutely.

You also mentioned you got a lot of donations from the Jewish community to your foundation, the B3 Foundation, which works to empower children. Over $60,000 in increments of $18. I’m not joking. A few were a couple hundred bucks here and there. I’m just grateful. It’s the amount of people. And don’t cross off the Jewish women, either.

What else do you want to tell the Jewish community of Pittsburgh? Let’s go Steelers! I’m happy you guys see my heart, not only toward you, but toward everybody. And I am more than happy to not only sit down and further this discussion in a certain way with my organization but to also ask for the City of Pittsburgh, the Jewish community to be exact, to use this moment — what

large and the Reform community in particular has always been a population with a very high voter registration and turnout rate, but the changes in how we vote could create obstacles to voting that we don’t even fully understand,” she said. “This is a moment when we as a united Jewish community can ensure everyone’s voice is heard,” agreed Rabbi Eli Freedman, of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia. As a result of the July 15 program, multiple attendees committed to begin working on

civic engagement projects, noted organizers. Between those commitments and the sizable online turnout, there is much to be enthusiastic about, said Kalson, however, with only four months remaining until the November 2020 elections, the nascent group will need additional aid to ensure that every citizen gains access to the polls. In the coming weeks, RAC has scheduled digital sessions dedicated to identifying low-propensity voters within congregations; effectively reaching voters both within and outside of the Jewish community; and

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

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

creating ways to become a congregation with 100% voter turnout. Participation in civic engagement is critical, according to Kalson. “This should matter to everyone. This is nonpartisan. It is not about playing politics,” she said. “It is about exercising our right and our obligation as citizens of this country that we can vote on the issues that we as individuals care about in the way that we see fit.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewichronicle.org.

Jewish Healthcare Foundation gives $2.5 million to JCC for COVID relief

he Jewish Healthcare Foundation has awarded a $2.5 million dollar emergency grant over two years to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh to address needs arising as a result of the pandemic. With the shuttering of all nonessential businesses beginning March 18, “the JCC was faced with unprecedented service and financial challenges and made difficult decisions to furlough some of its staff while it regrouped to meet ongoing community needs,” according to a press release distributed by the JHF. JCC facilities, including its buildings in Squirrel Hill and the South Hills, were closed for more than two months. About 80% of the JCC’s revenue is generated “through membership and program fees from its day care, fitness and wellness centers, summer camps, afterschool programs and senior services, all of which

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were reduced significantly.” It is estimated the shortfall in lost revenue totals $6 million. Throughout the pandemic, the JCC has continued to provide community services, including: conducting blood drives; providing meals for senior citizens; conducting telephone wellness checks through AgeWell; providing on line programming; provided camp and booked family camp retreats; and renewed its 10.27 Healing Partnership work. The JCC staff has worked with the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative “to develop procedures to safely reopen health and fitness activities, child care and day camps, permitting parents (many of whom are essential workers) to feel comfortable returning to work and to give children the social experiences they have foregone,” according to the press release. “We cannot thank the Jewish Healthcare Foundation enough for their commitment

and confidence in us, our mission, our values, our leadership, and determination to ensure that the JCC fulfills its role to the best of its ability during the pandemic,” said Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the JCC in a prepared statement. “COVID-19 created the most sudden and dramatic financial reversal in the JCC’s 125-year history. The response by the Foundation sends not only a deeply needed cash infusion, but the boldest possible expression of support in everything the JCC is and stands for each day.” “Our board is particularly proud to be able to respond to the unprecedented financial needs facing the JCC, an invaluable organization which provides crucial services to both the Jewish and the general community,” said David H. Ehrenwerth, chair of the JHF board of trustees, in a prepared statement. “This funding will enable the JCC to continue to provide essential services to seniors, adults,

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children and preschoolers. These are precisely the types of urgent needs that the Jewish Healthcare Foundation exists to satisfy.” While the JCC continues to follow all governmental guidelines and Centers for Disease Control recommendations, some programming remains closed for now, including “key income-generating overnight camps and afterschool programming,” the press release stated. JHF funds will “enable the JCC to keep a full complement of staff and its programming intact and assure that the organization can continue to respond with creativity and flexibility under the stressors of the pandemic,” according to the press release. This emergency grant is in addition to JHF’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund established in March, which is making communitywide grants on an as-needed basis. PJC —Toby Tabachnick JULY 24, 2020 15

Life & Culture

— BOOKS — By Paul Paolicelli | Special to the Chronicle

ome years ago I stumbled onto the discovery of Ferramonti di Tarsia, the only large-scale concentration camp built and run by Italian Fascists during World War II. Nearly 4,000 Jews, all refugees who had escaped to Italy from Nazi occupied countries, were housed there. I wrote about the camp in a chapter in my second book, “Under the Southern Sun,” and was amazed by the response I got from survivors and children of survivors thanking me for bringing attention to a mostly untold story. Hidden away in the mountains of Calabria, Italy’s “toe,” even Italians of the time were unaware of its existence. The Mussolini government sent many of its undesirables to the remote regions of the south, many in what they referred to as confino libero or free confinement, which meant that they were housed in remote villages and reported to local constables on a regular basis. Carlo Levi’s “Christ Stopped at Eboli” details this system. The establishment of an actual camp was unique and hidden from public view. The Italians had gone along with Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies to secure military aid in Greece and the Balkans but had the common sense to be ashamed of their actions. And while willing to strip perfectly innocent people, most of whom were highly educated, of their civil rights and freedoms, they never turned into the barbarous murderers of their northern allies. And that’s the saving grace of Ferramonti. Dr. David Ropschitz was one of several medical doctors who fled to Italy from Vienna to continue his studies when the anti-Semitic laws went into effect and who was caught up in the web of detainment and

confinement. Yolanda Ropschitz-Bentham, his d a u g h t e r, contacted me after reading my book and told me she was trying to edit a book her father had written about his experiences in the camp. Recently published by Grosvenor House, this posthumous effort is an invaluable insight into that camp. Technically a novel (Ropschitz changed the names of many colleagues and acquaintances), the book is filled with historical detail, much of which escaped many of us in the study of the place. That alone is a major contribution in the telling of this tale. But beyond the chronology and geography lessons, Ropschitz gives us an amazing insight into the psychological, spiritual and social dynamics of people forced into a fearful and degrading experience that lasted

more than four years. He was one of the first internees to arrive at the newly constructed camp. He witnessed its construction and the influx of prisoners from Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland, Greece, Austria and even a group of Chinese that the Italian government apparently thought of as enemy aliens. His keen eye (he went on to become a psychiatrist) into the human behavior, religious attitudes, sexual mores and social intercourse illuminates the effects of the confinement of thousands in an almost Dickensian narrative. This is an amazing work — and one that could not have been written by the millions in the camps to the north since the main issues in the Nazi-run camps were death and survival. Who knows how many novels or in-depth analyses into the human condition might have emerged from those

This is an amazing work — and one that could not have been written by the millions in the camps to the north since the main issues in the Nazi-run camps were death

camps had mass executions not occurred? But they couldn’t have been written since death, not confinement, was the Nazi goal. For the Italians, it was another story and it became Ropschitz’s. “Ferramonti” details the intricate web of relationships between and among the prisoners, the constant hunger, the shabby sanitary conditions, the half-hearted efforts of the Italian guards to maintain a semblance of order, the rumor mills and dimly gathered war news, the despair and optimism of the refugees and the constant confusion and concern over their situation. At one point, a couple from Poland arrives and tells them of the death camps, bringing an entirely new perspective and fear. There were deaths — mostly from natural causes, as well as a suicide and four internees killed by a mistaken strafing from an Allied pilot who mistook the place for a Fascist training camp. Mostly the book tells a story of the day-to-day boredom of the place, the arguments among the inmates, the great divisions between the religious Jews and the assimilated Jews, the easterners’ view of the westerners and vice versa — insights that could only be told by survivors. There were dentists, doctors, artists and philosophers. There were marital infidelities, love affairs, marriages, pregnancies, child rearing, schools, musical recitals and, ultimately, liberation — all a fantastic evaluation of the human condition under exceptional and trying circumstances. “Ferramonti” is an essential contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. It offers insights and elucidation written by a highly educated and observant victim and is ultimately a hopeful reaffirmation of the dignity and determination of the human spirit. PJC Paul Paolicelli is an Oakland-born native Pittsburgher, journalist and author, now retired and living in North Carolina.

and survival.

Photo screenshot

‘Ferramonti: Salvation Behind the Barbed Wire’ peers inside overlooked Italian concentration camp

— BOOKS — Jesse Bernstein | Special to the Chronicle

“The Convert” Stefan Hertmans (translated by David McKay) Pantheon Books hen negotiating, there may come moments where you feel that you need to ask for everything. After all, if that’s what you want, how else are you going to get it? But it can also backfire; by insisting on getting everything, you could very well walk away with nothing. If only, you might wonder, shaking your head, you had just asked for a little less, you might not find yourself empty-handed. Stefan Hertmans, a Flemish Belgian author

16 JULY 24, 2020

who writes in Dutch, asks for everything by calling his book “The Convert” a novel. The author makes frequent interventions into the story, describing his process of research and how he came to be animated by certain characters and subjects, before returning to the story of the convert herself. His book often feels more akin to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a novel, or a novel-in-process, than something that could conceivably work as a novel, full stop. It manages to make an otherwise dramatic story, translated tenderly into English, feel like a heightened History

Channel reenactment. The titular convert is Sarah Hamoutal Todros, a real person of the 11th century. Todros was born Vigdis Adelaïs Gudbrandr, a proper name for a properly wealthy Christian family in Rouen. She runs off with a visiting yeshiva student named David, eventually settling in Moniou, in the south of France. Dangers abound for her in her new faith; her father has sent knights after her, and the First Crusade is imminent. As these stories tend to go, knights of the cross burn down the town’s synagogue, murder her husband and abduct two of their four children. Sarah must take to the road,

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and she does, traveling as far as Cairo before returning to France. To fill in such a story, Hertmans, who lives in modern-day Moniou, must chase down the surviving fragments of Sarah’s life, a journey that takes him all over the world. Hertmans’ interest in his own story is such that a single sentence will span a millennium, an intimate moment describing late 11th-century life interrupted to give you an update on what the locale looks like today. It is the rare occasion that leaves one wishing that a novel had come with a long foreword, so that the author might have worked out everything about his own involvement prior to the text of the story itself. And yet. PJC Jesse Bernstein writes for the Jewish Exponenent, an affiliated publication.

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Courtesy of Pantheon Books

Review: Convert’s Tale

Life & Culture The Jewish Book Council’s annual event goes virtual — and offers a peek into authors’ living rooms — BOOKS — By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

n a normal year, the Jewish Book Council’s annual conference is something of a variety show in which hundreds of authors take to the podium with two minutes each to convey what makes their book special. The event is part of the council’s attempt to connect writers with Jewish communities across the country. In the audience are about 200 representatives from Jewish community centers, synagogues and other Jewish institutions across the country. On the stage are authors trying to win a coveted spot in the upcoming season of book events. “That energy, it’s amazing,” said the council’s executive director, Naomi Firestone-Teeter. Things looked very different this year as the event, like so many others, went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in the conference’s 22-year history, authors couldn’t see the audience’s reactions and attendees couldn’t schmooze with each other over coffee. Instead, participants watched from their living rooms as authors gave their pitches over Zoom during sessions spread over three days last week. “Being able to be among a crowd of book lovers, or people excited about a particular subject, at our conference — the energy that you just feel when we’re all together you can’t fully replicate that experience as much as we try,” Firestone-Teeter said. Some 240 people tuned in to the program, an increase from the number of attendees last year. Nearly 250 authors — both Jewish writers and non-Jewish authors whose books address Jewish themes — participated in eight sessions of author talks, slightly fewer than in 2019 but in line with previous years. One silver lining — at least for the attendees — was getting a peek into their favorite authors’ lives. Novelist Caroline Leavitt spoke about her book “With or Without You,” about a longtime couple running into relationship

p Authors presented their books virtually during the conference. Photo courtesy of Jewish Book Council via JTA

problems, from a living room with a small trampoline on the floor and a blue miniature guitar and several large pieces of artwork hanging on a brick-lined wall. Journalist Caroline Cenziper spoke about “Citizen 865,” a narrative history of a team of Nazi hunters searching for Nazis who fled to the United States, from a sparsely decorated room with a black and white striped couch and a single frame with a photo on a white dresser. And Author Hallie Ephron had several large posters featuring her own book covers — including her latest, “Careful What You Wish For,” a thriller about a woman who works as a professional home declutterer — among a handful of other photographs and drawings hanging on her wall. Another upside, for the council, was that the event didn’t require getting on a plane to participate. “It makes it more accessible to communities and people who maybe wouldn’t have been able to travel to New York City in May, weren’t able to commit the time, the financial resources and otherwise,” Firestone-Teeter said. “So in a way I think by moving to the virtual arena, the program is a more accessible program for more people.” The big question is what happens next.

Usually, the book council helps facilitate around 1,300 events every year as a result of the conference. Synagogues and other local organizations pay travel expenses and put writers up in their communities for the talks. And while the authors aren’t paid, they get the opportunity to sell books in person to audiences that have spent time with them — and may feel pressure to show their apprecia-

tion by buying a copy. Now, those talks will be scheduled virtually, and it remains to be seen how many will happen. The council is working to come up with creative ways to host virtual events, including possibly having authors sign labels that can be put inside book covers and allowing attendees to have short personal conversations with authors in breakout rooms. It might also facilitate joint events for several institutions for popular authors. “The virtual event space is allowing our communities to take risks,” FirestoneTeeter said. “It’s allowing them to actually create many more programs, perhaps than they maybe would’ve in a physical space. Obviously, the costs are different.” Indeed, that is happening at the JCC of Greater Albuquerque, which typically invites between six and eight authors to speak at its annual book festival in the fall and an additional one or two throughout the year. This year, since it won’t have to cover travel expenses, the JCC is thinking about inviting the same number of authors for the book fest, which it is doing virtually, as well as one author a month after. The JCC is also interested in partnering with other Jewish organizations to host joint

events, though that won’t replace hosting events just for the local community. Localonly events are “community-building” and “more intimate” even when virtual, said Phyllis Wolf, the Albuquerque JCC’s director of arts and education. The conference also hosted a panel on how to plan literary events in the time of coronavirus, which included a breakout group on how to plan socially distanced events. Iris Krasnow isn’t worried about selling books. Prior to the book council conference, she spoke at a virtual event with 1,100 attendees and managed to sell 400 copies of her new memoir, “Camp Girls: Fireside Lessons on Friendship, Courage, and Loyalty.” “I’m really optimistic about it,” she said of the prospect of virtual events stemming from this year’s conference. Mary Morris, who spoke about her memoir “All the Way to the Tiger,” said she wasn’t worried about personally losing out on bookings since she had made many connections during her three previous Jewish Book Council events. But she thought that not being able to connect after the two-minute pitches could hurt less established authors who have not developed relationships with the various sites. “It’s a very energizing event when it’s in person,” Morris said. “And one of the things I found about the in-person part is that a lot of times there will be a site that will come up to me and they will ask me questions and then I can tell they get interested in having me come. And a couple times I felt that those conversations afterwards have actually led to me having postings.” Having virtual events isn’t the long term goal for the book council. “For the authors, not being able to necessarily travel and visit some of these communities in person is disappointing and we hope that in the future they will return to that again,” said Firestone-Teeter. “And I think for them getting to really meet their readers in person and sign their books physically and see a book sale and see their book out there in the world, that is something very special.” PJC

‘United Shades of America’ episode includes Tree of Life segment

he massacre at the Tree of Life building was “one of those days in America that make zero sense when you hear about it, but then you remember that days like these have become more common,” said W. Kamau Bell as he introduced a segment on an episode of his CNN show, the “United Shades of America,” Sunday, July 19. The comedian-turned-commentator interviewed Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers on the season six premiere of the program, titled “Where Do We Even Start with White Supremacy.” Myers appeared alongside Wasi Mohamed, the former executive director of the Islamic

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Center of Pittsburgh. “The Muslim community modeled how to behave at a time of trauma in the Jewish community,” Myers said in opening the segment. The Conservative rabbi went on to acknowledge the support from the Islamic Center, including an offer to pay for the funerals of those murdered in the attack, as well as the creation of a GoFundMe page, which raised more than $250,000. “Six months later we returned the love and kindness,” Myers explained, noting that the Pittsburgh Jewish community, through GoFundMe pages created by the Jewish

Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Tree of Life, raised over $650,000 for the Muslim community in Christchurch, New Zealand, after two consecutive mosque attacks on March 15, 2019. “Horror drew us together, but that’s not what unites us,” Myers said. Bell and Myers walked the sidewalk in front of the Tree of Life building. Myers noted that he hadn’t been to the synagogue in about three weeks, explaining: “Sometimes the mood is such that you can be having a great day and something reminds you of the events of Oct. 27, and there are times I just can’t drive by here. I’ll detour. The visual reminder

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sometimes of the façade is too much.” Remembering the 11 people murdered in the building, Myers said “the answer to people dying because they were Jewish is to do even more Jewish.” Summer Lee, Pennsylvania state representative for the 34th District, local Pittsburgh activist Jasiri X and 1Hood Media were also featured on the program. “United Shades of America” follows Bell as he explores communities across America to understand the unique challenges they face. PJC — David Rullo JULY 24, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

Bat Mitzvah

Bringing justice to the world Natalie Heather Keough (Nechama Chaya), daughter of Arin and Ryan Keough, was called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on Saturday, July 18, 2020, by Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David in Monroeville. The service was held in Natalie’s home via Zoom. Natalie is the granddaughter of Patricia Cluss and Jeffrey Herman, Elizabeth and Clifford Keough, and Norman Levine (z”l) and Bonnie Gautier. She will be an eighth-grader at Franklin Regional Middle School; her passions are soccer and her new puppy, Millie. Natalie is an unbelievable young woman, who rose to the challenge of having a bat mitzvah via Zoom with maturity, creativity, and good cheer.

Gotovyy Wedding Photo and Video

Engagement

Leslie and Lester Frischman are thrilled to announce the engagement of their son Max Harris Frischman to Inbar Shuv-Ami. Max is the grandson of the late Pauline and Leo Kroll and the late Rosalyn and Milton Frischman. Inbar is the daughter of Orly and Gadi Shuv-Ami of Netanya, Israel. She is the granddaughter of Nehama Mazor of Netanya and the late Yosef Mazor and Sarah Shuv-Ami of Netanya and the late Aharon Shuv-Ami. Max and Inbar live in Jerusalem. Max earned a degree in Finance from Virginia Tech. He is the director of business development at Eagle Point Funding in Jerusalem. Inbar recently graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance with degrees in dance and education. A 2021 wedding is planned PJC

Treasured Video and Photo Memories? We bring your memories into the digital age

Rabbi Howard Stein Parashat D’varim Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

he book of Deuteronomy is presented as Moses’ last discourse to the Israelites as they are assembled across the Jordan River from the land they are to possess. In large part, it recapitulates the content of earlier books of the Torah, but there are differences. For example, in this opening section, Moses reminds the people how he set chieftains over groups of 1000, and 100, and 50, and 10. However, in the book of Exodus when this first appears, it is Moses’ father-in-law Yitro who impresses the idea on him. Moses also reminds the people that they declined to enter the Land of Israel despite the favorable report of the spies; in the book of Numbers only two of the 12 spies deliver favorable reports. There are other curiosities in the text. After the introduction that summarizes the route they took to arrive at the point from which they will cross the Jordan, Moses begins his discourse. The first thing he says is not some wise teaching or fundamental commandment; rather, Moses relates God’s words, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough.” (Deuteronomy 1:6) Rather than remind the Israelites of the great teachings of Torah (reminders do form much of the content of Deuteronomy), or even of the Revelation at Sinai that bound the people to a national covenant with God, Moses begins by reminding the people that God had sent them on their way. The next section describes the previously mentioned setting of wise leaders above groups of the people. Moses charges those leaders: “Listen [to disputes] among your brethren and judge them righteously … Do not show favor in judgment; hear the small and the great alike. Do not fear any man, for justice belongs to God.” (Deuteronomy 1:16-17) Midrash Sifrei Deuteronomy (16:1) explains that the judges are to be deliberate and consider each case carefully, even if a similar case has already come before the judge. As with other sections of Torah regarding the system of justice we are to establish, the instructions here emphasize impartiality and

thoroughness in all aspects of judgment. We can learn something interesting from the juxtaposition of these two accounts. In Exodus, following our liberation from slavery, we stood at Sinai to receive all of God’s instructions. Here, however, the narrative begins with leaving Sinai. The message is that we cannot remain in the ivory tower of learning and study (crucial though they may be to Jewish life). Rather, we must go forth from the academy to use what we have learned to bring justice to the world. The establishment of the covenant between Israel and God is only the beginning of our journey. That covenant only has meaning when we live up to the obligations it imposes on us.

The establishment of the covenant between Israel and God is only the beginning of our journey. That covenant only has meaning when we live up to the obligations it imposes on us. When we observe injustice, we are obligated to speak up and come to the defense of the one who has been wronged. We must be impartial; it must not matter what the victim’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation are. It must not matter what the victim’s political persuasion is, or whether or not they agree with us. All that matters is that the person has been wronged, and we are obligated to rectify that wrong. Only then will we be able to enter the Promised Land that is a just and peaceful world. Shabbat shalom. PJC Rabbi Howie Stein is the rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel in White Oak. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries BRONTZ: Faye Brontz: Age 89, after a courageous battle with cancer and surrounded by her loving children on Sunday, July 19, 2020. Cherished wife of the late Herman Brontz; beloved mother of Philip Brontz of Pittsburgh and Shelley Weller (Mark) of Cleveland, Ohio; daughter of the late Harry and Sarah Cohen; sister of Sanford Cohen and the late Betty Paul Goodman and Ethel Roth; grandmother to Lindsey (Sandy) Cusmariu and Brian Weller; great grandmother to Norah Rose Cusmariu. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 320 Bilmar Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com FIBUS: Dr. Ronald E. Fibus, on Monday, July 20, 2020. Happily married husband of 56 years to Harriet (Solomon) Fibus. Loving father of Rebecca (Andrew) Gamble, Laura (Stuart) Alpern and Iris (Robert) Uhl. Caring brother of Beverly Turko, Roberta (Mike) Taylor and the late David Fibus. Brother-in-law of Gerald (late Cyma) Dolan and Marcia (Mel) Solomon. Cherished “Zedie” to David (Alexis) Gamble, Adam Indianer, Sarah Gamble, Michael Uhl, Marissa Alpern, Isabelle Uhl, Sylvia Alpern and Daniel Uhl. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Ronald was a school psychologist for Pittsburgh Public Schools for over 35 years. He served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant. He was also an avid sports fan who followed all of the Pittsburgh sports teams. Ronald cared deeply for his family and friends and looked forward to annual family beach vacations. He was a lifelong learner and advocated that passion to others and was actively involved at Congregation Beth Shalom. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217; Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217; or Jewish National Fund, 6425 Living Place, 2nd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

PODOLSKY: Jeanne Lichter Farkas Podolsky, 96, of Sarasota, Florida, formerly of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, peacefully passed away on July 4, 2020, with her children by her side. Jeanne was the beloved wife of the late Harold Farkas and the late Norman Podolsky, and the sister of the late Morris Lichter. Jeanne was raised in Squirrel Hill where, at the age of 16, she graduated valedictorian of her Taylor Allderdice class. She is survived by her loving children Joel (Charlese) Farkas, Mindy Farkas (Michael Adair) and Michael (Leslie) Podolsky; beloved grandchildren, Emily (Robert) Richman, Sara (Nicholas) DiPietro, Abbey (Amanda Burns) Farkas, Sam Adair, Maya Adair, Emma Podolsky, Nathan Podolsky and Lucas Podolsky; and her four great-grandchildren, Addison, Reagan, London Richman and Enzo DiPietro who adored her. She will be remembered by those who loved her for her amazing memory, great stories, quick wit, spunk, her daily NYT crossword puzzles always done in ink and her fabulous white glasses and bucket hats. A private service was held in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contributions can be made in her memory for pandemic relief to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, c/o Emily Richman, director of development, 2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, or the charity of your choice. SKIRBOLL: On Monday, July 13, 2020, Robert Skirboll, 69, passed away peacefully in his home. He is survived by his wife Robin, daughter Julie (Daniel) Nisenson, son Ryan, granddaughter Tabor Nisenson, brother Phillip (Roberta), sisters Jeanne and Jamie, brother-in-law Alan Tabor and sister-in-law Joan (John) Gonella. Rob moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, from Pittsburgh in 1986 for business purposes. He was an entrepreneur and most recently ran his own business in partnership with his wife. Rob was an active member of Beth David Synagogue. He loved golf, music, fishing, travel and spending time with friends and family. Graveside service and interment were held on July 15 at the Hebrew Cemetery in Greensboro. Contributions may be made to Beth David Synagogue, Chabad of Greensboro or Gift of Life Marrow Registry. Arrangements entrusted to Hanes Lineberry Funeral Home. PJC

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday July 26: Rose Cramer, Bessie Rini Glass, Dr. Abraham D. Goldblum, Sophia Goldstein, Morris L. Kaufman, Helen S. Luptak, Gertrude Mitchel, Alvin J. Moldovan, Benjamin Olender, Eli Racusin, Harry Rapoport, Rae Rosenthal, Rose Smith, Philip Wekselman Monday July 27: Harry Adler, Mollie R. Bennett, Marvin B. Bernstein, Hannah Bromberg, Ida Cantor, Robert Congress, Dorothy Crutch, Sophia Freedman, Helen Handelsman, Dora Kaufman, Sarah Kleinerman, Gizella Krause, David Levine, Anna G. Rosenthal, John Schwartz, Irene Weitzman Tuesday July 28: Lt. Richard Stanley Ackerman, Jack Neville Berkman, Ben Cowen, Albert Edelstein, James J. Gluck, Rebecca Goisner, Charles J. Goldberg, Leonard Klevan, Samuel Maysels, Jacob Melnick, Rose Paul, Ethel R. Perer, Bernard A. Price, Molly Schwartz, Leah Shapiro, Max L. Siegle Wednesday July 29: Lillian Brody, Sarah Cohen, Pauline Davis, Nathan Fishman, Lawrence M. Grossman, Anne Levine, Ethel Linder, Ida Mandel, Maurice L. Moritz, Bernard Murstein, Judith Ashinsky Rosen, Martha Schwortz, Jacob Sheffler, Jack Sherman, Sidney Siegman, Harold Leighton Winkler Thursday July 30: Lillian Brody, Sarah Cohen, Pauline Davis, Nathan Fishman, Lawrence M. Grossman, Anne Levine, Ethel Linder, Ida Mandel, Maurice L. Moritz, Bernard Murstein, Judith Ashinsky Rosen, Martha Schwortz, Jacob Sheffler, Jack Sherman, Sidney Siegman, Harold Leighton Winkler Friday July 31: Harry Blumenthal, Israel I. Brody, Meyer Coon, Sarah Fish Hassel, Esther Klee, Isaac Latterman, Ruth Mazefsky, Joseph Ostrow, Morris Rubin, Isaac Schor, Malcolm Slifkin, Sadye Steinman Saturday August 1: Robert Chamovitz, Julius Field, Anna Rose Frieman, Nathan Gilles, Esther Glick, Sarah Geller Goisner, Saul Greenberg, Leonard Herbert Hochhauser, Mildred Golanty Krauss, Herman Labowitz, Minnie Landay, Benjamin Lazier, Sarah Sattler, Harry Silverstein, Clemens Simon, Dr. Morris Benjamin Weber, Hymen J. Wedner

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Headlines Schools: Continued from page 1

since we began this planning process, what keeps changing is the risk of COVID-19 transmission in our community,” she added. As of July 20, there have been 6,435 confirmed cases and 208 deaths related to COVID-19 in Allegheny County, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. Given the numbers, and the current situation, “the easiest decision to make would be to say we are not opening and committing to virtual school, but we don’t want to do that,” said Rabbi Sam Weinberg, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s principal. “We want to do our best to reopen and stay as safe as possible.” Weinberg cited a recent statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics and national educators on the value of returning to school. “We recognize that children learn best when physically present in the classroom. But children get much more than academics at school. They also learn social and emotional skills at school, get healthy meals and exercise, mental health support and other services that cannot be easily replicated online,” noted The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, in the July 10 statement. As beneficial as in-person learning is, however, “we must pursue re-opening in a way that is safe for all students, teachers and staff,” continued the groups. “We should leave it to health experts

 Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, left, and Rabbi Chezky Rosenfeld, right, meet with a tent supplier to discuss the possibilities of outdoor instruction. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum

to tell us when the time is best to open up school buildings, and listen to educators and administrators to shape how we do it.” At Hillel Academy, a reopening task force, consisting of administrators, members of the school’s executive board and medical professionals, has met twice a week since June, said Weinberg, and while discussions concerned the school’s Aug. 31 start date, there also were more immediate matters to address. “We’ve been running day care all summer,” said Weinberg. Between the 50 children in day care and the nearly 90 children in Hillel Academy’s camp, “we have almost 140 kids in our care.” Having that number of students spread out between three local buildings — two buildings on Hillel Academy’s campus, and in Congregation Poale Zedeck — has introduced children, families and staff to the concept of “podding” and provided a “soft

opening of sorts” for the fall, he explained. By podding students, the goal is to limit contact between groups as much as possible and thereby restrict possible transmission in the event that someone is found to be COVID-positive, according to Weinberg. Hillel Academy is also in the process of building four new outdoor learning spaces. Complete with chairs, desks and tables, the new venues will provide sun shade while also allowing “for the most outdoor learning and outdoor time as possible,” Weinberg said. Community Day School and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh are also considering using outdoor spaces as venues for learning. But there are a number of logistical matters to determine, such as the relocation of materials and books, and actually setting up the space, said Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, head of school for Yeshiva Schools. In addition to possibly utilizing tents outside Yeshiva’s Girls School on Denniston Street, “we’ve visited alternative sites” that offer indoor areas as well, said Rosenblum. Yeshiva Schools is scheduled to begin on Aug. 27. The school is currently finalizing a reopening plan it intends to share with parents by the beginning of August, according to Rosenblum. The document, which was started approximately four weeks ago with the help of a task force consisting of administrators and medical and legal experts, identifies 30 areas of school life, and raises a host of questions, such as “What changes might need to be made to the arrival and dismissal procedures?” and “Are there any reasons to shorten the daily schedule?”

In working through the numerous issues surrounding the start of school, Rosenblum and the task force have relied on a group of 15 parents to “serve as a sounding board,” and will host, in the upcoming week, digital get-togethers for faculty and the parent body so that everyone can be on board with potential plans, said the head of school. While Yeshiva, like Community Day School and Hillel Academy, would prefer to begin the year with in-person instruction, its 10-page plan lays out three scenarios for the start of school: school begins in-person and then moves online; school begins online then transitions to in-person; and finally, school exists solely online. “Our goal is to have three plans where we can seamlessly move from one to another based on the guidelines of the government, the health department and the CDC,” said Rosenblum, but as simple as it sounds to move between options, the current situation is anything but basic. “What we’re being asked to do is make decisions without a lot of information and to be able to shift from one to another,” he said. The situation calls on everyone to make a decision based on “whatever information you have at a given moment.” At Yeshiva, Rosenblum said, “we’re trying to empower our administrators and staff to use the best information you have at a given time, and to think about the most important things, which are safety and health,” and all the while, “keep spirits up.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Agencies grapple with food security in the Jewish state, as they also cultivate new solutions — WORLD — By Eliana Rudee | JNS

n early July, Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi maintained on Israel’s Channel 12 news that those who claim to have reached the point of starvation because of economic struggles during the coronavirus outbreak are speaking “nonsense.” Israel, like most countries around the world, has experienced economic hardships, with a growing number of citizens reporting being hungry and unable to afford food. However, organizations on the frontlines of food insecurity in Israel did not discredit Hanegbi’s statement as out of hand, even though he faced intense criticisms for being “out of touch” and “thoughtless,” undermining the growing distress of many households in Israel. And some viewed it as an opportunity for the truth to come out about hunger in Israel. “Hanegbi unintentionally did us a favor when he raised the issue,” Gidi Kroch, CEO of national food bank Leket Israel, told JNS. “A lot of people are dealing with this,” so to raise the issue of food insecurity “is a blessing for us, though perhaps not in the way we wanted it to happen.” Since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, said Kroch, Leket Israel has distributed 60% more fruit and vegetables, and 50% more hot meals than the period before, due to increased demand. More than 31 local authorities turned to Leket to distribute food to those in need, compared to only five local authorities in the period prior to the emergency regulations, he reported. “In the days before corona[virus], we used to receive donations of surplus cooked meals from hotels, corporate cafeterias and [Israel Defense Forces] army bases, as well as donations of surplus fruit and vegetables from farmers, all of which we would distribute through the hundreds of nonprofit organizations we work with, reaching 175,000-plus people in need,” explained Kroch. “Unfortunately, it must be said that due to the pandemic, this number of needy

p Produce not taken by residents will be given to a collective of women who prepare hot food and preserves to be sold. Courtesy photo via JNS

22 JULY 24, 2020

p Volunteers with ReForest design and build food areas in urban public environments and farmland around Israel. Courtesy photo via JNS p Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Leket Israel has distributed 60% more fruit and vegetables, and 50% more hot meals than before, due to increased demand. Courtesy photo via JNS

recipients seems small and very distant from today’s reality, which is much more complex.” He noted that “in mid-March, with the onset of the emergency regulations, we stopped receiving donations of surplus cooked food due to the forced closure of the hotels and businesses with which we collaborate.” Distributing more than 700,000 hot meals — 12,000 per day at the peak, whereas before the pandemic it was closer to 8,000 — directly to the homes of those in need from mid-March until the end of April, he reported a “transformation in the people requesting food.” Now, he said, many send their children to soup kitchens. “Sadly, many of those we supported were never on our radar beforehand. They are completely normative people who worked hard and earned a living until they were thrown into an unprecedented economic hardship.” While Israelis have always struggled with food insecurity due to the high cost of living compared to other OECD countries, the impact of the coronavirus and subsequent furloughs, lost jobs and decreased incomes are causing an increasingly negative impact.

‘Food forests in urban public environments’

Daniella Seltzer started the grassroots organization JLM Food Rescuers two years ago to raise awareness about food waste through workshops, lectures, community meals and gatherings. In the face of coronavirus, her team has also begun to “rescue” food from the Givat Shaul food market — five tons of food every week — that would otherwise be thrown out, distributing it in food baskets. As Israel is now witnessing a resurgence of the virus, Seltzer told JNS that even after being rehired by companies that had previously furloughed workers, many Israelis (and food producers themselves) remain in a vulnerable situation. But her ideology goes beyond giving people food to rethinking food systems and developing a “community-engaged model which empowers communities to create their own networks of food rescue and redistribution based on produce from the wholesale

market and neighborhood businesses and institutions that discard food.” “Ideally,” she continued, “markets will become a thriving hub for people to meet. The markets will be sustainable, and will become a vibrant and important gathering place, providing opportunities for neighbors to meet, share information and celebrate (for example, clothing swaps, Do-It-Yourself workshops, repairs, etc.). “Many organizations in Israel working around food rescue and welfare maintain the giver-receiver relationship, which retains dependency. We suggest a paradigm shift from this linear economy to a networkbased, participatory model in which every partner who wishes to receive a produce basket plays a role in it,” she explained. Produce that isn’t taken by residents “will be given to a collective of women who will gather in a community kitchen to prepare hot foods, ferments and preserves that will be sold. The profit will go to the women and to supporting the project such that it remains sustainable in the long run,” said Seltzer. “But what we need most is to stop depending on corporations and big agribusiness for our food. The pandemic has made it clear why, baring many of the current food system’s fault lines,” including greenhouse gases and not being “truly dedicated to the needs of the people and community.” “I believe that the hidden costs of the conventional food system are slowly beginning to resonate in the public domain,” Seltzer said. “Food security has been getting a lot of public attention during this period, and I hope that it will continue because it is a problem not only in times of crisis.”

Rationing food and household items

A 20-year-old national service volunteer, who shared her story on the condition of anonymity, told JNS that she makes just NIS 800 ($232) per month at her job, plus NIS 500 ($145) from the Ministry of Absorption. To make ends meet, she was working as a babysitter and cleaner every day after her national service job, but has been out of such employment since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

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On her modest income, she said, and without receiving support from her family in the United States, she has gone into thousands of shekels of credit card debt in order to purchase food, and is forgoing essentials like deodorant and sanitary items. She noted that she received food aid for Passover and during the lockdown from the Jerusalem Municipality, but “feels bad for asking for help when I know there are others in worse situations. “I just keep telling myself that I’ll pay off my debt next year when I get a job, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find a job in the current economy,” she said, adding, “the minister is so wrong. I have to ration what food I’m buying because I don’t want my debt to become too much. There are so many people struggling to buy food and basic amenities.” Israeli nonprofits that provide hot meals soup kitchen style, gift cards for groceries and pre-packed food packages include Leket, Colel Chabad, Meir Panim, Tachlit, Yad Eliezer, Ezer M’Tzion and Yad Ezra v’Shulamit. These organizations “give the government a buffer to get that going,” said Kroch, though he is yet to see an official government plan to reduce food insecurity. Lyor Rabinowiz co-founded Israeli food security organization ReForest, which designs and builds food forests in urban public environments and farmland around Israel for communities to enjoy. Mimicking natural forests with a range of fruit trees, medicinal shrubs, vegetables, perennial plants, it creates ecosystems that are attentive to soil building and health, as well as water retention and animal health. Combining ecological restoration and food production, Rabinowiz said, is “how our ancestors used to farm” and is becoming more popular in Israel, especially in the context of Israeli water technology. With 17 projects under its belt since the organization launched in early 2020, ReForest has worked with Israeli cities, kibbutzim, moshavim and farmers who have reached out to transform their farms and public spaces into abundant landscapes for the entire community to enjoy. From design to implementation, planting, maintenance and education, this, said Rabinowiz, not only helps mitigate the impacts of climate change by storing carbon in the soil and taking care of the water cycle, but it increases food security in Israel. PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community Shavuah tov

Camp Kindness Day More than 300 children at The Jewish Community Center day camps in the South Hills, Squirrel Hill and Monroeville participated in National Camp Kindness Day on July 14 by designing personal thank you notes and stickers for frontline workers at Pittsburgh area Giant Eagle stores.

p Rabbis Aaron and Emily Meyer, and daughter Evelyn, celebrated havdalah on July 18 and wished all a good week. Screenshot by Adam Reinherz

Summer is for reading p Demonstrating kindness at J&R

p Making kindness permanent

p A Giant Eagle team member holds one of several handwritten notes and drawings made by children. Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

With public library access limited, Community Day School librarian Emily Cappello has been fulfilling student requests for books through contactless pick-up and return every two weeks at school.

p Elihu and Ezra Braasch

Thumbs up for green thumbs

p Peppers and cucumbers were among crops recently picked at Temple Sinai’s vegetable garden. Photo courtesy of Rachel Kudrick

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p Meital and Nitzan Helfand

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Photos courtesy of Community Day School

JULY 24, 2020 23

KOSHER MEATS

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

Empire Kosher Chicken or Turkey Franks 16 oz. pkg.

79 ea.

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Price effective Thursday, July 23 through Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Available at 24 JULY 24, 2020

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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