Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 7-31-20

July 31, 2020 | 10 Av 5780

Candlelighting 8:17 p.m. | Havdalah 9:20 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 32 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Holocaust survivor from Pittsburgh beats COVID-19

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL ‘A Wider Frame’

$1.50

Falk Laboratory School middle schoolers move to Rodef Shalom

Upper St. Clair native launches Jewish newsletter

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

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for the Jewish ghettos of Shanghai, where for 12 years she battled typhoid fever, dysentery and outbreaks of boils.

While in Shanghai, she met her future husband, Willie Berg. After the war, the two moved to Israel, got married and had their first child. The young family emigrated to the U.S. in 1954.

The Bergs had three children in all, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Former snowbirds, they moved to Florida year-round a few years ago and had a place overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Their love story, however, ended tragically this year on March 23 when Willie Berg, Steffi’s husband of nearly 70 years, succumbed to double pneumonia the family suspects was an untested case of COVID-19.

n independent, progressively themed K–8 school is about to become the newest tenant at Congregation Rodef Shalom.

The Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, a 430-student school affiliated for nearly 90 years with the University of Pittsburgh, plans to move grades six through eight this coming academic year to Rodef Shalom to “de-densify” its Oakland campus and make social distancing more realistic, officials said. The school recently signed a 10-month lease for 14 classrooms and three offices at the Reform congregation, which sits near the campuses of both Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University.

But the two institutions have been tied together, at least in spirit, much longer. The Falk family, which founded the school in the 1930s, attended services at and were vocal supporters of Rodef Shalom and contributed to efforts to expand its Fifth Avenue building.

The congregation’s library is named in the family’s honor; a portrait of family matriarch Fanny Edel Falk hangs in the space.

“It’s a nice piece of history and I like that it’s come full circle,” Rodef Shalom Rabbi Aaron Bisno told the Chronicle. “It’s a win-win-win and it’s the right thing to do. I couldn’t be more proud of us being partners with the University of Pittsburgh as we learn about what it means to go about our work under these pandemic conditions.”

About 140 students from the Falk Laboratory School, as well as an assistant school director and several teachers, are slated to be based five days a week at Rodef Shalom, said Jeff Suzik, the school’s director and an associate professor in Pitt’s School of Education. The school year is supposed to

Please see Survivor, page 14

Please see Falk, page 14

LOCAL Resilience and hope

Parkland mom continues to fight Page 6

LOCAL Hello, Darkness  Cindy Berg-Vayonis and Steffi Berg

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

S Buffalo native reflects on lifetime friendship with Art Garfunkel Page 16

teffi Berg is a survivor.

When you ask the Ft. Lauderdale nonagenarian, who raised her family in Pittsburgh, how it felt to beat COVID-19 this month at age 92 after two months in a coma, you’d best expect a matter-of-fact answer.

“I’m a fighter, I think so. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made it,” Steffi said. “Thank God I got over it. But you can’t dwell on the past. I’m getting better.”

The Berg family’s story, though, is not just another COVID-19 chapter with an interesting ending.

Steffi, a fiery redhead with a spunky personality to match, has spent her life facing adversity head-on and coming out standing. A Holocaust survivor, she fled her native Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), during World War II

Photo provided by Cindy Berg-Vayonis

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Hillel JUC adapts

LOCAL

A virtual new pulpit

FOOD

Spanakopita and Greek salad

Headlines Former Pittsburgher provides ‘A Wider Frame’ for news about Jews and Israel — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

F

or years, Eden Cohen, a self-described “news junkie,” was spending hours each day poring over articles relating to Jews and Israel.

Now, the Los Angeles entertainment lawyer who grew up in Upper St. Clair is sharing her passion for Jewish news through her recently launched digital newsletter, A Wider Frame (awiderframe.com).

Twice weekly, the newsletter appears in its subscribers’ inboxes with the latest on everything from the coronavirus crisis in Israel, to Israeli politics, to the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and the world. It is a comprehensive Jewish news aggregator that includes a brief summary of the top stories along with hyperlinks to an assortment of news sources including Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Washington Post, Jewish News Syndicate and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. A recent newsletter even had a link to the United Kingdom’s Mirror on the Jewish wedding plans of David and Victoria Beckham’s son.

Cohen grew up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh attending Temple Emanuel and spent her summers at a Jewish camp in upstate New York. Her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, lived with her family and his life struggles influenced her significantly.

“Unfortunately, as I think is the case with a lot of Holocaust families, I have a very strong connection to the Holocaust because it was part of our house,” Cohen said, speaking by phone from L.A. “My grandfather didn’t talk about it, but we heard about it and my father is very focused on the Holocaust. That definitely shaped me a lot.”

p Drew Brown and Eden Cohen

After earning her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin, Cohen headed to Israel on Birthright. She loved being in the Jewish state so much, she said, she ended up staying for six months while she applied to law school.

In 2009, she headed to California and met her future husband — Drew Brown, guitarist for pop rock band OneRepublic — almost immediately. She graduated from Southwestern Law School a few years later and has been in L.A. ever since.

Though she is now a California girl, her ties to her hometown are deep.

“I still say I’m from Pittsburgh,” said Cohen, 34. “My whole family is in Pittsburgh.”

That family provided Cohen with a strong Jewish foundation, nourishing her thirst to keep informed about all things Jewish and

Photo by Tamara Shayne Kagel

Israel. Now, she is sharing the fruits of her labor through her newsletter, which is free of charge.

She was inspired, in part, by other newsletters, including The Skimm and Morning Brew — which specializes in business news — that were created for “young working people who don’t necessarily have all the time in the world to go through the news,” Cohen said.

She realized she “was personally putting in a lot of work sifting through this material myself because I am a news junkie and I care deeply about the Jewish world and staying engaged with what’s going on and staying current,” she said. “There was a great service I could do by compiling it and giving it to others in a way that’s comprehensive so they don’t have to go through hours daily and also because the alternative really is for them not to comb through it at all.

“This is not something I built for a particular age group because I think every age group could benefit from it,” Cohen stressed. “But I do feel there is a much more obvious lack of understanding and engagement in my generation and younger, and even a little bit older, too. I think the lack of engagement and understanding can be helped with the right resources. My hope is that this resource helps with Jewish engagement and understanding of Jewish world issues.”

In addition to “Jewish news” — which Cohen acknowledges is “a huge umbrella” — she also reports on the countries that surround Israel.

“I think it is very important to understand where Israel is in the world, what’s going on around it and what it’s relationships are like with countries in the Middle East and Africa and Europe, everywhere,” she said. “So, how does Israel play into the global arena?”

Curating her newsletter is time-intensive. She recently brought on board Zachary Freiman, a 2020 graduate of Pomona College, to give her a hand.

“Our priority is to keep American Jewry aware and engaged,” Freiman said in an email. “It’s partly why AWF is a free service.

At a time when we’re all more disconnected than ever, there is nothing more important than doing our best to maintain a healthy awareness of the simchas and troubles facing the Jewish community.”

At its core, A Wider Frame is an “advocacy project,” said Cohen, who is on the Young Leadership Cabinet of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles as well as the Young Leadership Board of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

“It’s in my heart,” she said. “It’s what I love to do.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Jeremy Bleich pitches in to help Pirates through 2020 season — LOCAL —

By Kayla Steinberg | Staff Writer

J

eremy Bleich’s path to his MLB debut wasn’t easy. It took pitching for 14 different teams — a frustrating series of starts and stops — before finally playing his first game in the majors for the Oakland Athletics in 2018, 10 years after he was drafted out of Stanford.

“There’s a lot of failure,” said Bleich, 33.

“There’s a lot of trial and error. And I think when that’s involved, when you are successful, it makes it that much more fulfilling.”

Bleich, who started casually playing baseball at age 5, has since traveled the world for the sport and, after retiring from U.S. baseball in fall 2019, continues his career as a pitcher for Team Israel and as a major league staff assistant for the Pirates.

He had spoken with a handful of teams, but the opportunity with the Pirates seemed optimal even though he lives in Boston.

The Pirates, he said, would allow him to support the team’s major league staff and stay with Team Israel.

“It was a really good opportunity in a really good environment with good people who were leading it,” he said. “It all just kind of fell into place.”

Bleich pitched for Team Israel at the

p PNC Park

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

2017 World Baseball Classic, the 2019 European Baseball Championship and the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier, where Israel won, qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Israel’s baseball team will be one of six to compete at the upcoming Olympics, postponed until 2021.

To be on Team Israel, players need to satisfy certain requirements, depending on the tournament. For the Olympics, Bleich explained, players must be Israeli citizens.

So Bleich and several other American Jews made aliyah, getting dual citizenship to play in the Tokyo Olympics.

But for the World Baseball Classic, just one Jewish grandparent will do — the same as the criterion to be considered Jewish during the Holocaust.

Growing up, Bleich didn’t really ask his grandparents George and Yolanda Bleich about the Holocaust. The two, from Czechoslovakia, had survived Auschwitz.

But as Bleich got older, he had a stronger sense of the gravity of it all. “[It] makes you proud, it makes you realize just how much sacrifice they went through for my dad and my parents and for me,” he said.

Bleich doesn’t waste a minute, packing his

days with responsibilities for the Pirates and for Team Israel.

Bleich pitches in with statistics and informatics, among other tasks, prepping the Pirates for the abridged 60-game season beginning July 23 and 24.

He even took the mound in an intra-squad scrimmage during spring training 2.0, which started the first week of July.

With the coronavirus, baseball looks different. “It’s a scary time,” said Bleich. “Of course there’s fear involved, of course there’s uneasiness.” But the Pirates are frequently tested and wear masks, he said.

Rule changes like adding a designated hitter to the National League and shortening the season to 60 games make this season a whole new ballgame. Bleich thinks there will be more pressure on each game and a greater focus on edging out the opponent to score a close win.

“It’s gonna be more of a race than a marathon,” he said. “It’ll be like a mini expanded playoff race. Pressure’s on, every game counts, one win [and] one loss will matter.”

As the pitcher dreams of Tokyo 2021 and potentially making a permanent move to Pittsburgh or Israel, he’s taking his time in the Steel City day by day, helping the Pirates through a season sure to be unforgettable. PJC Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Federation emergency grant enables Hillel JUC to address orientation challenges — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

he absence of familiar college orientation techniques, such as tabling, Shabbat meals and other in-person activities is requiring Hillel JUC to creatively adapt to COVID-19-related challenges.

Although the Oakland-based organization quickly transitioned from physical host to online storehouse and facilitator for Jewish connection last March, attracting freshmen and other new students on campus this fall will necessitate additional measures, said Dan Marcus, Hillel JUC’s executive director and CEO. Opening the Forbes Avenue building for a first-year welcome bagel brunch, or hosting Shabbat meals with 250 people, is no longer possible, continued Marcus. “We’re going to have to meet the students in multiple and different ways,” and doing so is going to present “all of these increased costs.”

Recognizing the difficulties ahead, Hillel JUC was one of several organizations to approach the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for assistance. In response, the umbrella organization presented Hillel JUC a $25,000 emergency grant for “development

p Last year, Noah Rubin and Dionna Dash were among a group of students who gathered at Hillel JUC to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for Trees, by planting and decorating succulents and enjoying nuts and fruits.

Photo courtesy of Hillel JUC

and implementation of a new orientation strategy to engage Jewish college students in a socially distanced and/or virtual campus

environment,” said Adam Hertzman, Federation’s director of marketing.

Supporting Hillel JUC represents the

Federation’s commitment toward ensuring a Jewish future, continued Hertzman.

Throughout life people often “set habits that are persistent through all of that life stage; so when you have a baby and maybe start lighting Shabbat candles on Friday night, that tends to be a thing all throughout while your kids are at home.” Similarly, attracting Jewish university students “when they first get to campus is critical” because without those measures “the long-term effect would be fewer Jewish students aware of Hillel when they come in, and therefore fewer Jewish students involved in the four or five years that they are in college.”

The potential fallout of unengaged Jewish college students is among larger communal COVID-19-related concerns.

Within the slew of challenges facing Jewish organizations, there is the difficulty of doing business when in-person activities are no longer possible, but “one of the problems of the pandemic that may not be so obvious to people is the risk of community members withdrawing from Jewish life,” said Hertzman. “Aside from health and safety, that’s the biggest risk.”

When area universities shuttered last spring, Hillel JUC continued providing Please see Hillel, page 15

U

nfortunately, once again a major community crisis, this time the coronavirus pandemic, is underlining the necessity of a local Jewish newspaper and website that keeps you informed about — and in touch with — the Pittsburgh Jewish community.

We’re responding to this crisis with all hands on deck (even if it’s from our homes) to bring you what you need to know and want to know about our community: organizations, events live or virtual, plans canceled or postponed, hardships and help, friends and neighbors.

But even as we deploy more resources we are being hit by the same dire economic forces as are other small non-profits and businesses.

We depend heavily on advertising. If organizations cancel events, they don’t advertise them. When businesses close and their customers lose confidence, they cut advertising. No one knows how long the upset of normalcy will last.

That’s why we need you, our readers and supporters, now more than ever. Please help us continue our mission of bringing you the Pittsburgh Jewish news you rely on and now need more than ever.

Help us tell the story of our community in crisis, and how once again we will show amazing resilience to continue to thrive into the future. Your emergency gift today helps make this possible and helps connect increasingly isolated people in our community, including the elderly and infirm.

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Headlines Temple B’nai Israel virtually welcomes Rabbi Howie Stein — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

R

abbi Howie Stein had not intended for his first Shabbat service at Temple B’nai Israel to be delivered over Zoom in a mostly vacant sanctuary while wearing a mask.

“I’m on the bima, the president is running the computer, but I’m essentially looking at an empty sanctuary,” the newly installed rabbi recounted. “For me, that contact, being able to see people and gauge their reactions when I’m speaking, is really important.”

Stein began his tenure at the Reform congregation in White Oak in June after the synagogue had closed its doors for in-person services because of the coronavirus pandemic. When hired late last year, he expected to be able to meet members of the temple in the traditional fashion — face to face. Instead, he has had to settle for Zoom coffee meetups and virtual interactions before services begin each week, en masse.

“It’s very different and it is challenging, even if you can see someone,” he said. “We have all this modern technology that they didn’t have in 1918 and you can see people and get all the nonverbal cues, but it still feels very different across a screen than in person.”

The rabbi acknowledged that getting to know his congregants will be more difficult due to forced social distancing for the foreseeable future.

“It’s going to be a lot of work to do these things that we would have done much more

intensively and more organically,” he said. “It would have required a lot less planning to get to know people if I were able to circulate at an oneg versus if we are gathering before or after services and it is everybody on screen. I can’t have a conversation with one or two people.”

For Stein, being introduced to his new congregation online is just half of the story. Until the middle of June, the rabbi was still working at his previous congregation, Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek in Lima, Ohio.

“People would have liked to have shook my hand, give me a hug, look me in the eye and say, ‘Thank you.’ We had to do a lot of that over Zoom instead of having the special oneg after services where we could sit and talk. It felt a little bit clipped and abrupt.”

Stein said the emotional experience of leaving one job and beginning another was mitigated by the virtual reality in which he found himself.

“Leaving a position, there’s a sense of mourning, of losing something; starting a new position, there’s lots of hope and a sense of gaining something. Those are both tempered by not being able to mark them with rituals or ceremonies or whatever word you want to use.”

Temple B’nai Israel has had to make other accommodations due to COVID-19 as well, including rescheduling plans to say goodbye to its former rabbi, Paul Tuchman, who was scheduled to move to Arizona shortly after his tenure concluded in White Oak on May 31. Instead, he is still in Pittsburgh hoping for an August or September exit.

The congregation planned to formally bid Tuchman — its rabbi of 11 years — farewell at a luncheon in Monroeville Park on Sunday, July 26, according to congregation president Dick Leffel.

“The luncheon has already been postponed two or three times,” Leffel said. “It was originally supposed to be at Temple, then because of everything going on, we couldn’t do that. I think we’ll have about 35 people in a pavilion that can hold between 150-170 people. We’re spreading out for social distancing and everyone will be wearing masks.”

Leffel said that many members of the congregation feel as if they have gotten to know their new rabbi through the weekly Zoom services he has been leading since June, and have met his wife, Debbie Swartz, as she recites the blessing over the Shabbat candles, also on Zoom.

“They have the cutest little daughter, who often, if they’re Zooming from home, will sing along with him,” added Leffel.

Leffel said the congregation is making the best of the situation.

“We’ve met him on Zoom, which is certainly not as good but is better than nothing,” he said. “We hoped to have a reception but unfortunately that can’t happen.”

Although the situation might not be ideal, Leffel believes that Stein is the right rabbi for the congregation, especially now.

“We’re fortunate because Rabbi Stein’s background is in computer technology and computer science, that’s his undergraduate degree. So, he knows about this stuff, which has been very helpful,” Leffel said.

Some of Stein’s first rabbinic duties have

p Rabbi Howie Stein

Photo by Ryan Haggerty

been to assist members of the congregation who, previous to COVID-19, had little to no experience accessing online services.

“Rabbi Stein has organized a worksheet that we’re distributing about how to get on Zoom and do things,” Leffel explained. “He’s going to conduct a seminar for our members.”

Despite Zoom’s limited camera angles, Stein is not taking advantage of the possibilities for more flexibility in his wardrobe: he has not taken to wearing shorts or jogging pants while dressing more formally from the waist up, like some television anchors who stay seated behind a desk.

“I am wearing slacks, jacket and tie,” he laughed. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Zach Banner joins Bend the Arc panel for ‘Standing in Solidarity’ conversation — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

P

ittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner joined a panel of Jewish and Black community activists for the webinar “Standing in Solidarity,” hosted by Bend the Arc Pittsburgh on Thursday, July 24.

Joining Banner were educator Michelle King, 1Hood Media founder Jasiri X, Repair the World Pittsburgh City Director Julie Mallis, Bend the Arc’s national organizer and training manager, Graie Hagans, and Bend the Arc Pittsburgh member and MLB.com writer Jonathan Mayo.

During the nearly two-hour Zoom conversation broadcast on YouTube, participants discussed a wide range of topics including identity, stereotypes and activism. King facilitated conversation on specific issues such as: who benefits from the lack of solidarity among minority groups; how minority groups involve one another in their struggles; and what new technologies and tools can be used to “get us to liberation.”

Banner began his remarks by saying he was “offering himself to the Jewish community” PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Screenshot of Zach Banner from ‘Standing in Solidarity’ conversation

and referenced both the anti-Semitic comments made by Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and his own experiences with law enforcement as an African American male.

The tackle recalled being in Pittsburgh during the Oct. 27 shooting at the Tree of Life building and expressed empathy with the Jewish community, saying his goal was to use his own platform to counter anti-Semitism.

King, a self-identified “learning instigator and love activist” and former middle school

teacher, noted that “our suffering is not disconnected.”

During the conversation, Banner said he made Jewish friends while in college, spoke of the need for activism by anyone with a platform and his belief that comments such as those made by Jackson were no longer accepted in the NFL. “As a member of the National Football League who wants to continue to dominate and rise on a personal level, and also as a Pittsburgh Steeler, I just want to let you know

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that the change in the locker room is coming.”

Both Banner and Jasiri X, a former member of the Nation of Islam, discussed stereotypes in the Black community about Jews.

“There’s a common misbelief among Black and brown people, I know this from growing up and I’ve heard it and listened to it, that Jewish people are just like any other white race,” Banner recounted. “You can mix them up with the rest of the majority and don’t understand that they’re a minority as well.

For you to have me here, I want to use this opportunity to show that.”

“One of the things that is kind of insidious about how white supremacy works is, it’s like you get assigned a stereotype,” offered Jasiri X. “I remember thinking I didn’t know why Jewish people were so sensitive.”

The activist went on to explain that “we teach our children how to respond when the police pull them over. We inherently know that police officers are practicing anti-Blackness and are going to perceive me as more dangerous and criminal just because of the color of my skin … My stereotypes are I’m dangerous, I’m a thug, I’m a criminal.

“If you see someone’s stereotypes as ‘oh, you have power, you have money’ … it’s like Please see Banner, page 15

JULY 31, 2020 5

Headlines Parkland mom continues fighting after daughter’s murder — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

L

ori Alhadeff has every intention of fighting. Whether it’s with her school board, local officials or statewide representatives, Alhadeff is committed to combating the obstacles and bureaucracies surrounding school safety.

Alhadeff ’s seemingly unending quest began amid personal horror when, nearly 29 months ago, the Parkland, Florida, resident received word of gunfire at her daughter’s school.

“I got a text message saying that shots were fired from inside the high school. Kids were running and jumping the fence. That next second I began the fight of my life: fighting to find Alyssa, and then finding out that she was killed, to then just wanting to make change,” said Alhadeff, 45.

Prior to Feb. 14, 2018, when 17 people were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Alhadeff was a shy and quiet person, she said.

She is different now.

“After the tragedy, I feel like Alyssa lives within my heart and I’ve become her voice,” said Alhadeff. “She was just a leader.”

Whether it was on the soccer field, or within her peer group, Alyssa “brought everybody together and just was very social.”

In that vein, Alhadeff has followed suit by uniting volunteers, donors, educators and legislators. As co-founder and executive director of Make Our Schools Safe, Alhadeff has traveled the country advocating for passage of Alyssa’s Law, a piece of legislation that calls for installing silent panic alarms directly linked to law enforcement.

Less than one year after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Alyssa’s Law was passed in New Jersey. Last month, Alyssa’s Law was passed in Florida.

Moving forward, Alhadeff will try to help get it passed in each of the remaining 48 states.

Working with legislators is “a process, but if I can accomplish one state at a time — and I would like to try to get Alyssa’s Law passed in New York next — I think it would just be amazing,” said Alhadeff, who along with leading a national organization is currently

p Alyssa Alhadeff

6 JULY 31, 2020

p Book cover of “A Mother’s Grace: Healing the World One Woman at a Time” (HCI, August 2020) by Michelle Moore. Lori authored a chapter of the book.

Photos courtesy of Lori Alhadeff

Alhadeff. Articulating that period won’t be a new exercise for Alhadeff, who penned a chapter of “A Mother’s Grace: Healing the World, One Woman at a Time,” a soon-to-be published work recounting 10 women who overcame dire circumstances. And, in April 2019, she traveled to Pittsburgh, alongside fellow Parkland residents, to offer support following the October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life building.

“We were just trying to give different kinds of tips,” said Alhadeff, and “give them a sense of hope and strength.”

The idea was maybe the people in Pittsburgh could “look at us and see the legislation that we got passed and the things that we were able to change, and that even though we live with pain that we can still live.”

For Alhadeff, that message and the need to move forward doesn’t negate reflecting on the past. In fact, advancement requires that reflection, she explained.

During a Feb. 15, 2018, interview with CNN, Alhadeff made

“ After the tragedy, I feel like Alyssa lives within my heart and I’ve become

”

her voice.

— LORI ALHADEFF

a school board member in Broward County, Florida.

Part of what’s fueling Alhadeff ’s drive is the loss of her daughter, but there is also another familial push.

“I go back to my mother. She’s a fighter and I think it’s in me, like it’s innately in me, to want to make change,” said Alhadeff.

“She’s absolutely incredible.

She’s so smart. She was a special education teacher for 30 years.

She’s now retired, but she has also taken on this mission to make school safe.”

The mother-daughter duo is currently writing a book about “what we went through as a family and what we went through in this tragedy,” said

clear that examination prompts action, when yelling, “How do we allow a gunman to get into our children’s school … This is not fair to our family that our children go to school and have to get killed. I just spent the last two hours putting the burial arrangements (together) for my daughter’s funeral who is 14. President Trump please do something.

Do something. Action. We need it now.

These kids need safety now.”

To date, the interview has been watched more than 400,000 times.

Almost 29 months later, Alhadeff recalled that she had no idea then what she would say when she first approached the reporter.

Prior to arriving at Pine Trails Park, where scores had gathered following the shooting, “I basically spent this 24-hour roller coaster of waiting hours and hours and hours to hear that my daughter was shot and killed, to then seeing my daughter dead, and then having to

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

p Lori Alhadeff

plan the funeral arrangements for her at only 14 years old,” said Alhadeff. When it came time to speak, “I said what I said. And I guess from my heart and soul, and my anger, came out with what I said, and wanting answers. It wasn’t like I had an agenda going into that. It just came out of me.”

As each day passes since Feb. 14, 2018, Alhadeff keeps striving to bolster school safety. Small victories are met by crushing reminders of loss and unanswered matters of faith.

“I question God, like, ‘why Alyssa?’ Like, why did He take Alyssa?” said Alhadeff.

Regular communication with Rabbi Mendy Gutnick, of Chabad of Parkland, has helped, but hasn’t provided absolute clarity, explained Alhadeff: “I don’t think I would say I’m more religious than I was before this happened, but I think that there’s times where I feel Alyssa’s presence and I never really had those experiences before.”

Whether the path ahead provides closure, or calm, Alhadeff isn’t certain. She knows that she has her son’s bar mitzvah to plan; a playground that’s being built, at the Chabad, in Alyssa’s name, which she’s raising money for; and a host of schools and myriad students and staff nationwide who need an advocate for their protection.

Getting all of it done when so much is already gone requires grasping hold of a memory, she explained.

“When I was 10 years old my soccer coach said to me anytime I got knocked down, ‘You got to get right back up,’” said Alhadeff. “I kept that with me my entire life, that when you get knocked down in life you’ve got to get up and you’ve got to keep fighting.”

No one knows where that leads, but the process is worth pursuing, continued Alhadeff: “I don’t think I’ll ever really have closure. I think the pain of losing Alyssa for the rest of my life will always be there. But we have to live and we have to live with purpose, and so that’s what I try to do.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines ‘King Bibi’ filmmaker discusses rise of Netanyahu and ‘media populism’

p Israeli filmmaker Dan Shadur

Screen shots by Adam Reinherz

Shadur, an Israeli filmmaker and writer whose work has appeared on PBS, explored the documentary on July 23 with Classrooms Without Borders scholar Avi Ben-Hur and nearly 320 participants during an almost 90-minute Zoom program. As Ben-Hur provided reference to the State of Israel’s evolution, Shadur explained how Netanyahu’s early understanding of the journalistic landscape gave rise to a decades-long personal performance that’s still underway.

“One of the things that was most interesting for me to deal with in the film is showing what he does in the ’90s,” said Shadur. “In

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

D

ecades before Donald Trump’s ascension to the presidency, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu modeled a path for political leaders to skirt their national media and communicate directly with the public. That Netanyahu could forge such a track — often through American aid — is the premise of Dan Shadur’s 2018 documentary “King Bibi.”

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his first term, Netanyahu [creates] the blueprint for this kind of media populism that he would use 20 years later. When you look at the rally of his first win in 1996, you will see people holding signs against the leftist media — and these are the things you will see at Trump rallies two decades later.”

Another telling point, continued the filmmaker, is that in 1997, while launching Israel’s prime minister website, Netanyahu continued laying familiar groundwork by including a video of himself speaking directly to the Israeli populace.

While peering into the camera’s lens,

Netanyahu says in Hebrew, “You don’t have to rely on interpreters and mediators.

You can ask what you want, go where you want. You can decide what you hear, what you see, and even what you think. I think it’s refreshing. That’s the future to which I’m committed to.”

Removing the media from the role of intermediary, or watchdog, “creates a certain connection with the people, with the viewers, that is visionary,” said Shadur.

“What is interesting about Netanyahu is you Please see Bibi, page 15

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 31, 2020 7

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.

many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud Study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

q SUNDAYS, AUG. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

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

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. q MONDAY, 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 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 MONDAYS, AUG. 3, 10 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 MONDAYS, AUG. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the

q TUESDAY, AUG. 4

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “How to Create & Implement Successful Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives.” Jewish organizations, leaders and activists are invited to this free online training series to learn how to welcome, respect and include people with disabilities from all backgrounds in the important work that they do. 1:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, AUG. 5 Celebrate Tu B’Av, the “Jewish Valentine’s Day,” with Moishe House Pittsburgh as they read a few of their favorite queer Jewish poems about love and discuss what love means in this day and age. 7 p.m. Check the Moishe House Facebook page for more information. 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.

Financial Assistance Available Tell a friend, family member, neighbor, co-worker Offering Financial Assistance to the Jewish Community for immediate and pressing expenses . . .

q THURSDAY, AUG. 6

q MONDAY, AUG. 17

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. 7 p.m. To register, visit rodefshalom.org.

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 TUESDAY, AUG. 11 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “How to Ensure Legal Rights and Compliance Obligations.” Jewish organizations, leaders and activists are invited to this free online training series to learn how to welcome, respect and include people with disabilities from all backgrounds in the important work that they do. 1:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org.

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 THURSDAY, AUG. 13

q TUESDAY, AUG. 25

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.

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “FedTalks: Community Strength in a Time of Crisis” featuring Michael G. Masters, national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network. The annual meeting will include a report of the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s strengths and achievements as well as details on how donor support enabled the Jewish Federation to provide immediate expertise and a financial lifeline this year to the organizations that serve Jewish Pittsburgh. 5 p.m. 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. hcofpgh.org.

q WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26

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

July 31, 1962 — Politician Moshe Feiglin is born

Moshe Feiglin, a security hard-liner, is born in Haifa. He organizes opposition to the Oslo Accords in 1993, is elected to the Knesset with Likud in 2013 and forms the libertarian Zehut (Identity) party in 2015.

The southern development town of Dimona welcomes its first residents, recent arrivals from Morocco, as Israel tries to settle immigrants who have been housed in tent cities.

Aug. 2, 1923 — Shimon Peres is born

Quickly, Confidentially, No Repayment 412.521.3237 • JewishAssistanceFund.org 412.521.3237 • P.O. Box 8197, Pittsburgh, PA 15217

JewishAssistanceFund.org 8 JULY 31, 2020

Grab your knitting supplies, a puzzle or some laundry that “needs folded” and join Moishe House Pittsburgh to listen to and discuss Episode 1 of the podcast “The Heart.” 7 p.m. Visit Moishe House’s Facebook page for more information, including a link to the podcast. PJC

This week in Israeli history

Aug. 1, 1955 — First residents move into Dimona

COVID-19 Income Loss Housing, Medical, Dental Utilities, Transportation

q MONDAY, AUG. 24

Shimon Peres, the only Israeli to serve as prime minister and president, is born in what is now Belarus. Peres makes aliyah in 1934. He is first elected to the Knesset in 1959 and shares the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Aug. 3, 1945 — Report confirms horrible conditions in DP camps

Earl Harrison, sent to Europe by President Harry Truman to check on displacedperson camps, reports that poor treatment is common. Truman then urges the British to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Aug. 4, 1920 — Kaplan writes article leading to Reconstructionism

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, publishes an article in the Menorah Journal that lays the groundwork for Reconstructionist Judaism, which includes Zionism as a key component.

Aug. 5, 1995 — Composer Avidom dies

Composer Menachem Avidom dies at age 87.

A cousin of Gustav Mahler’s and a native of Russia who made aliyah in 1925, Avidom was an innovator in fusing Middle Eastern and European music.

Aug. 6, 1923 — 13th Zionist Congress convenes

Meeting in Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia, the 13th Zionist Congress opens to discuss the British Mandate for Palestine and the work of the Palestine Zionist Executive, the precursor to the Jewish Agency. PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Love, community, mysticism: The intrigue and observance of Tu B’Av — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

u B’Av may not be as well-known as the fast day that immediately proceeds it — Tisha B’Av — but there’s more to this minor holiday than you might think.

Imbued with community, romance and a touch of mysticism, Tu B’Av might just be the holiday needed in these days of COVID-19 anxiety, social unrest and pre-election jitters.

To really understand what has come to be known as the Jewish Valentine’s Day, you must begin several days earlier on the Hebrew calendar, on Tisha B’Av, according to Beth El Congregation’s Rabbi Alex Greenbaum.

“Tisha B’Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar; Tu B’Av is the happiest day of the year,” said Greenbaum, noting that modern Judaism marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem on Tisha B’Av as well as other “bad things” in Jewish history.

According to a midrash, Tisha B’Av is the day that God told the Israelites they would be forced to wander the desert for 40 years and that the adult generation would perish without stepping foot in Israel. On Tisha B’Av night, for the next 40 years, Moses commanded the people to dig their own graves and sleep in them. Every year, a number of Israelites died in those graves. On the 40th year, surprisingly, the remainder of that original adult generation did not die.

Thinking they had erred in their calculation of the date, the Israelites repeated the process five more times until Tu B’Av when they saw a full moon and knew they were correct in their calculations. The Israelites marked the occasion with a celebration.

“The holiday of Tu B’Av, or the 15th day of the month of Av, is one of the greatest holidays mentioned in the Talmud,” explained Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld of Chabad Young Professionals of Pittsburgh. “As a matter of fact, the Talmud says that there is no greater festival for the Jewish people than the 15th of Av and, believe it or not, Yom Kippur.”

Rosenfeld blames the lack of mention in the Torah for the obscurity of the holiday but notes “there is definitely a unique spiritual energy to tap into on the 15th of Av.” During the Second Temple period, that energy was channeled beyond spiritual concerns as well.

“All the young women of marriageable age would dress in white,” Chabad of Squirrel Hill Co-Director Chani Altein explained.

“They would dress in white gowns so the boys wouldn’t be able to recognize who was rich, who was poor, who had more material value, and they would dance in the fields.

The young men would pick a woman and they would get married. It wouldn’t fly today but it became a day for group weddings and a day of romance and love.”

Tu B’Av was also the day members of various Israeli tribes were permitted to marry one another, Altein explained. “This was the day we could mingle and marry the men of any tribe.”

Dropping this ban helped create a sense of community.

While the modern celebration includes romance and community, Altein noted, throughout history there have been mystical events of “God showing he still loved us.”

One of those moments was during the battle of Betar, the last battle of the Bar Kochba rebellion. During the fighting, thousands of Jews were killed by the Romans, who would not allow the Jews to bury their dead. When the Jews finally were able to recover those killed, “their bodies were still fresh and intact, they hadn’t rotted,” Altein said, despite a 15-year gap. The day of the miracle? The 15th of Av. Rosenfeld pointed out that in more

Photo by Eva Blanco/iStockphoto.com

Judaism Basics

recent times, Tu B’Av has become a day of community and celebration.

“It’s really the hope for redemption among the exile. Any time you have light in the darkness it causes the light to shine that much brighter. Tu B’Av is joy among mourning.

Traditionally, it has been celebrated by communities coming together. It’s been associated with young people coming together.”

In Pittsburgh, the young adults at Moishe House are marking the holiday by coming together (virtually) to read queer Jewish love poems and discuss what love means in the modern age.

Moishe House resident Moses* admitted that “no one in the house knew about the holiday more than a month ago.” He said it was while planning a Tisha B’Av event when they came across “this other holiday online.

We were intrigued by it because none of us were aware of it. We thought it was a cool opportunity to share it with our community.”

“Love is a fun topic for people,” he added.

Greenbaum pointed out that for centuries the holiday was observed only by skipping the tachanun prayer in morning services.

“It wasn’t until modern Israel that people started to embrace it. It’s become a Jewish Valentine’s Day, but I don’t know if people are giving flowers to their spouses.”

Raimy Rubin, who lives in Israel, noted that while “Hallmark cards, chocolates and flowers” don’t yet mark the holiday in the

Jewish state, over the last several years “it’s been harder to get a restaurant reserved, especially at the nice restaurants.”

The holiday is a popular day for people to get engaged, added Rubin, manager of impact measurement for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. In fact, he proposed to his wife within a day of the holiday.

Despite COVID-19 forcing social distancing there are ways to celebrate the holiday, according to Rosenfeld.

“I would say people can get together with a couple of friends in a safe manner and celebrate your Judaism, have a couple, three or four friends over on your deck, share some drinks, talk about what Judaism means to you,” he said. “Talk about why you are Jewish, why you are proud to be Jewish.

And then when you all leave, don’t just stop there, each of you pick up the phone and call a friend and share your conversation with them so that we can continue spreading that community warmth.”

And, if you decide to make Tu B’Av a night of romance, Altein pointed out that “there’s no social distancing required with your spouse. Make your own little romantic getaway in the backyard, carve some time out for each other.” PJC *Moses’ last name was withheld by request.

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 31, 2020 9

Opinion In times like this, 10% is not enough Guest Columnist Rabbi Danny Schiff

A

cross America, 30 million workers — roughly one in five — are now collecting unemployment benefits.

Were we not struggling with a mammoth health crisis, this crushing loss of jobs would represent a major challenge in its own right.

Involuntary unemployment means painful human suffering. For families that no longer have a regular income, the financial struggle, the fear and the loss of purpose are profoundly difficult.

This week, Israel released new numbers on the implications of pandemic-related job loss there. More than half of Israelis are concerned they won’t be able to cover their monthly expenses, and one-fifth have cut back on the amount of food they consume.

The statistics also reveal widespread anxiety — 42% of those surveyed had symptoms.

A further 21% are experiencing feelings of depression and 19% report they are lonely.

The figures may be a little better in the U.S., but not markedly.

If you still have your job, or you can count on a comfortable income stream, such concerns might seem remote. Your neighbor’s tears don’t make the news. Feelings

of hopelessness don’t usually get shared on social media. Those down the street who can’t pay their bills are suffering through a crisis that is largely in the background. Many scarcely notice.

We should.

Unless you’re a medical professional you can’t do much to improve the condition of those who are actually afflicted with coronavirus. There is, however, a good deal that each of us can do to help those who are without a paycheck. Some can actually provide jobs. Maimonides rated helping an individual to function independently as the highest level of giving, and if you have a job to offer — now is the time.

All of us, though, can contribute tzedakah.

And I mean all of us. Let’s remember this important insight of Jewish tradition: for Jews, the saying “we’re all in this together” is not just a slogan.

Here’s why: Judaism refuses to countenance a two-tier society where some people are the givers and others are the receivers.

Our tradition insists that everybody should be empowered to be a giver, that all of us — including the least well off — should be able to participate in actions that strengthen the community.

The Talmud (Gittin 7b) teaches in the name of Mar Zutra that “even a poor person who is sustained by tzedakah must also give tzedakah.” It’s a truly counterintuitive instruction. I know of no other system

that has a similar requirement. But when it comes to bolstering human dignity and strengthening societal solidarity, it’s an impressive expectation.

Insightfully, Rabbi Bradley Shavit-Artson writes: “Tzedakah is not about giving; Tzedakah is about being. Being a Tzedakahgiver defines who you are as a person and as a Jew. To tell anyone that she or he is too poor to give is, in a way, tantamount to taking away her or his very existence.” In Judaism, everybody merits the standing of being a giver; nobody is left out of the task of building a more just society. Those in need should never hesitate to seek out and accept tzedakah, because it enables them to be contributing participants in shaping the community.

After all, our tradition reasons, we can never know what the future will bring. The day may come when those who now need tzedakah can comfortably do without, while those who are now self-sufficient become disadvantaged. No matter our circumstances, though, we can and should all be givers.

Many might conclude that while this sounds admirable, it is wholly impractical.

How can people without enough to feed their families be expected to set aside funds to participate in the mitzvah of tzedakah?

The Jewish answer is as follows: the onus is on those who have more than enough to provide in a manner such that households that are in financial need not only get enough to live on, but to give on as well. We

need to ensure that there is food on the table, and also that all are tzedakah-enabled.

What will it take to meet that goal? The only answer that will work is this: even more generosity. As is well known, the Jewish mandate for monetary giving sets a base rate of 10% of income for those fortunate enough to have income. That teaching comes from the Torah. Sometimes, though, we forget that this is the minimal fulfillment of Jewish law. The clearly stated range is 10% to 20%, with a preference for selecting a level that is above the lowest rung.

Six months ago, none of us could have foreseen the tough circumstances in which we now find ourselves. Employment rates were good, jobs felt secure and the economy was relatively strong. Now, none of that is true. Ask any communal agency tasked with providing assistance, and they will tell you: their role in supporting the vulnerable has expanded dramatically, and the demand will probably remain elevated for an extended period.

In times like this, Jews know what we are called upon to do: we are asked to provide and receive sustenance and dignity for as long as it takes. And what does that mean?

It means that, in times like this, 10% is not enough. PJC Rabbi Danny Schiff is the Foundation Scholar at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Transgender rights must be protected Guest Columnist Karen Wolk Feinstein

T

he Jewish Healthcare Foundation joins Gov. Wolf in calling out the demeaning jokes and bigotry directed at Dr. Rachel Levine, the secretary of health here in Pennsylvania. Dr. Levine is an accomplished pediatrician and honorable public servant, and she has been a valuable partner of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in working toward the health of all Pennsylvanians. Hate has no place in our community, and the events at the Bloomsburg Fair — the latest in a growing list of transphobic comments and acts — must be recognized as callous acts of intolerance.

During a time of so much unrest over inequity and injustice, in addition to the demands on our statewide leadership to guide Pennsylvania during this pandemic, we must stand together against the recent disparaging acts and any transphobia and anti-transgender sentiments.

Hate and intolerance in any form, even wrapped in humor, are toxic to our society.

As a health foundation, we regard hate and intolerance as diseases that damage people

10 JULY 31, 2020

from within. When adults choose hate over kindness and respect, they present a harmful model for their children and grandchildren.

Kindness and respect for all — for those who are disabled, who look or worship differently, who live different lifestyles or prefer different partners — are essential to everyone’s mental health and well-being.

The ramifications of violating such essential virtues will haunt our society and the individuals who perpetuate this discrimination.

The recent cruel mockeries performed by the Bloomsburg Fair and some of its participants are unacceptable and must be recognized as toxic bigotry toward Dr. Levine and the transgender community. These events serve as a reminder that transphobia remains a powerful threat to the health and safety of transgender Pennsylvanians, and that we must address the ongoing high rates of discrimination and violence against the transgender community.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, most of the 157 transgender or gender-nonconforming people killed since 2013 were Black women and only nine of these cases were investigated as hate crimes.

Too often, anti-transgender violence occurs in areas without substantial nondiscrimination protections and is ignored by society at large. These horrifying statistics clearly illustrate the need for preventative action against

the violation of moral laws that govern a humane society.

The federal administration’s recent decision to roll back protections and access to health care for transgender people allows the continuation of discrimination against transgender people, rather than condemning and protecting against discrimination as leadership should. Transgender Americans currently face barriers to access quality, equitable care, and every healthcare interaction will come with uncertainty, even in emergencies. Under the current policy, transgender patients could even be denied lifesaving care.

This action is out of step with the national movement to respect and protect people who seek to live in their true identity.

Although laws and policies vary from state to state, our country has made hopeful strides towards protecting transgender residents. Most recently, the Supreme Court’s June 15 landmark decision on the 1964 Civil Rights Act granted workplace protections to LGBT employees. Pennsylvania has also made recent progress, with Gov. Wolf ’s 2016 executive orders protecting LGBT state employees and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission’s work to investigate cases of sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination beginning in 2018.

Without policies that secure basic civil rights and access to medical care for our transgender

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colleagues, friends, and neighbors — on top of the continuing public acts of mockery and intolerance like we’ve seen against Dr. Levine — we will continue to be victim to huge setbacks in our country’s progress toward a welcoming and inclusive society. Right now, we’ve seen a new upsurge in this intolerance in the U.S. This is dangerous for all of us who worship differently, who might look, learn, and engage in life differently. It’s a mental health issue; an ethical issue; a safety issue.

To prevent the loss of life, health, and safety due to discrimination, the federal administration must reinstate essential health care protections for transgender residents.

Public officials across the nation must also call out and correct the upsurge of intolerance running through public discourse, and model virtuous behavior and speech that is imbued with respect. We must all recognize how important it is to address bigotry and protect transgender rights as human rights if we are to right our course in building a more equitable society.

We applaud Dr. Levine for taking the high road to focus on the pandemic in the midst of this distraction, but we ask all Americans to call out this toxic mockery and stand with the transgender community. PJC Karen Wolk Feinstein is president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation.

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Opinion Israelis and Palestinians join forces to battle the coronavirus Guest Columnists Avital Leibovich Shay Avshalom Zavdi

T

he Middle East is so often viewed in a negative context. Wars, clashes of cultures, corruption, poverty and international interventions typically capture the headlines. But the coronavirus pandemic, during which essential cooperation is occurring despite longstanding conflicts, allows us to look at this region through a different lens.

More than 1.38 million people across the Middle East have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization, and those numbers may rise. To date, more than 52,000 have been infected and 470 have died in Israel, while in the West Bank and Gaza, a little more than 10,000 have been infected and 76 have died.

One might wonder how this happens, given the high density of the population in the Palestinian areas and the lack of Palestinian investment in quality health care.

The answer is simple: In a time of a global pandemic, disagreements are placed aside and ways for cooperation in the war against the virus are sought.

In Israel — an internationally recognized hub for medical research — more than 70

companies, labs, academic centers and scientific institutes are working tirelessly to find a vaccine, as well as develop methods to track the spread of COVID-19. At the very early stages of the pandemic, Israeli doctors reached out to Palestinian health care workers, offering to share their expertise and provide assistance, and the Palestinians accepted the help. Israeli medical teams contacted their Palestinian colleagues in hospitals around the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The Palestinian health system tends to be less developed than the Israeli system; moreover, it lacks the budget to buy proper equipment to cope with such an unknown “enemy.”

Professor Elhanan Bar-On of the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv traveled to Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, bringing equipment and training medical staff with him. “None of us have time now to deal with peripheral issues — political or otherwise. We’re all in the same boat, and we have to row together, to reach a safe harbor,” Bar-On recently said on KAN TV news.

Israel has long provided medical care to neighboring countries, even those without formal relations. During the nine-year-old Syrian civil war, for instance, Israeli NGOs provided medical equipment and treatment, and the Israeli government operated a field hospital for Syrian patients as part of “Operation Good Neighbor.” Thousands of Syrians, in particular children, were treated in Israeli hospitals and their lives were saved.

An average Palestinian worker in Israel receives a salary and social benefits better than in the Palestinian Territories. With the Israeli salary and benefits, it is estimated that a Palestinian employee can support a family of eight.

Furthermore, a new Israeli law states that employers of Palestinian workers in the Jewish state must pay their medical insurance in case they become infected with COVID-19.

With the peace process stagnated — and both Israelis and Arabs focused on the pandemic — we must look at the broader picture. What really matters? Is it people’s lives or political dialogue? It seems that the medical personnel have offered a solution and got a positive response: We should be able to promote health and cooperate with each other.

Given the proximity of Israelis and Palestinians, if one side gets sick, the other could also quickly become infected. It is in the mutual interests of both populations that individuals and families thrive and live healthily. Hopefully, the current medical cooperation will be expanded to other arenas, including when it comes to talks of peace. PJC Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich is director of the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Jerusalem office. Shay Avshalom Zavdi is director of media relations and ACCESS Israel, AJC’s young-leadership program.

Peter Beinart should have no place at Zionist Conference

— LETTERS — Reform congregations helping to ‘Get Out the Vote’ Thank you for your July 19 article entitled “PA branch of Reform Religious Action Center launches” about the efforts that RAC-PA will initiate. In addition, local Reform synagogues in Pittsburgh are mobilizing volunteers to encourage people to vote. At the RAC-PA launch were 51 attendees from Temple Sinai, Rodef Shalom, Ohav Shalom, Temple Emanuel, Temple David and B’nai Israel. Although not endorsing any candidate or party, our focus includes 100% voting in each of our congregations, reaching out to young voters, reaching out to minorities in and around Pittsburgh, and we are partnering with the Center for Common Ground and the NAACP to reach out to minorities in various states where voter suppression is widespread. We are writing post cards, texting and calling to encourage everyone to register and to vote. In Pennsylvania we are encouraging everyone to utilize mail-in ballots.

Everyone who wants to help, please contact one of these congregations as we are looking for others in our synagogues to assist to Get Out the Vote.

Frank Schwarz Squirrel Hill

Community organizations ‘saving summer’

There are heroes in our midst, and they deserve recognition. For my family, the leadership and staff of Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Camp Gan Izzy, J&R Day Camp and Emma Kaufmann Camp are saving summer. With tremendous hard work, creative adaptations, and hours upon hours in masks in the heat of the outdoors, they offer fun for our kids, a return to social interactions, and an ability for my spouse and me to work. For other families, the leadership and staff of Beth Shalom’s Early Learning Center and the JCC’s ECDC have done the same for them. The careful decisions of the leadership team at Community Day School have allowed me to sleep at night knowing that my kids will, God willing, be able to pass through the doors of school next month. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has supported all these institutions and tangibly facilitated these opportunities. Thank you to the many employees in our community’s organizations who are working so hard to make this all possible. We are lucky and privileged to benefit from your dedication.

Aviva Lubowsky Squirrel Hill

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Sadly, not all Palestinian officials favor this medical cooperation. “The settlements are incubators for the virus. There is no reason to go and work in Israel,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Ibrahim Milham said on April 14.

This attempt to connect the pandemic with politics, however, has failed.

One of the fundamental values in Judaism is preserving life. The combination of this value with the acknowledgement of the importance of regional cooperation when it comes to health has led to significant on-theground activities.

Every week, Israel sends medical equipment into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

From July 12-18 alone, Israel transferred 163 tons of medical supplies there. It also facilitated the delivery of equipment from Turkey and the UAE to Gaza and the West Bank with the first-ever official UAE airplane landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport on June 9, all in the name of health. This groundbreaking delivery was accomplished even though Hamas fired rockets into Israel before and after the UAE donation for the Palestinians arrived.

Palestinian and Israeli lives are intertwined. Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 150,000 Palestinians worked in Israel daily. As the disease spread, the number of workers permitted to enter Israel was reduced by 50 percent, but no doubt will rise when the situation stabilizes.

The latest Jewish Chronicle op-ed by David Breakstone of the World Zionist Organization (July 17) tries to make the case that Peter Beinart, a strongly anti-Israel American Jewish voice, deserves a seat at the table at the upcoming Zionist Congress. I disagree.

Peter Beinart’s name is familiar to me. He is a former editor at the New Republic at a time when Marty Peretz was the publisher. Peretz almost always defended the Israelis. I cannot remember a single time that Beinart did. That alone should disqualify him from a seat at the table. Beinart has never risked his standing with strong anti-Israel, pro-Democrat press that supplies him with a more than comfortable living.

I reject that the fact that, according to Breakstone, Beinart began warning us 10 years ago that Israel was losing the support of American Jews gives him any standing. It is precisely because of Beinart and others like him that such support has all but disappeared.

Where was Beinart during the numerous times Israel made very generous offers of statehood, only to be rebuffed, often murderously? Did he applaud Ehud Barak’s offer of statehood to Yasser Arafat which led to the intifada that claimed over 1,000 Jewish lives? Did he applaud Ariel Sharon’s decision to unilaterally leave Gaza?

What exactly has Beinart done, then, to afford him a lofty role that might have a lasting influence on the future of the Zionist endeavor? From my point of view, he has done nothing. In fact I think he has done even worse. He has caused irreparable harm. He is culpable of creating the animus of American Jews toward Israel that he has “warned” us of.

He harbors those anti-Israel attitudes as well. Further, he does not suffer any consequences because of his views.

What exactly Beinart proposes is unclear to me. Israel’s experience in Gaza is a case in point. Sharon declared that if unilateral departure worked in Gaza, then it would be safe to unilaterally depart Judea and Samaria as well. “Gaza First” was the mantra. We all know how that turned out. Should the Israelis repeat that mistake in the West Bank and risk many Jewish lives if not their existence? That decision is for them to make, not prominent American Jews like Beinart whose lives are not (yet) at risk. And, if things go sideways here as they have in Europe, these same comfortable American Jews will seek refuge in Israel and be welcomed with open arms.

So, yes. According to Breakstone, “the Zionist dream is in trouble.” Tell me something I do not know. When was it ever not in trouble? What to do with that fact is something I would leave to the Israelis, left and right leaning, those Jews who have skin in the game. If that involves finally realizing that most American Jews would prefer keeping their lofty positions in the media, academia and the Democratic party rather than defending Israel’s vulnerability, I side with the Israelis.

Robert Ennis Pittsburgh

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Headlines Survivor: Continued from page 1

The couple had plots picked in a Jewish cemetery in Pittsburgh but, due to COVID-19, they chose to bury Willie in Florida, where two of the couple’s daughters live.

The family could not stand side by side at the burial and they had no time to sit shiva.

Within a week of Willie’s death, Steffi was hospitalized with COVID-19.

“I didn’t really have too much time to grieve — I got sick four days after he passed,” Steffi said. “He was sick, too, in and out of the hospital. So, when I sit here and don’t see him, I think, ‘Oh, he’s in the hospital.’ But then I think about it more and realize he’s not coming back.”

Pittsburgher Cindy Berg-Vayonis, the youngest of Steffi and Willie’s three daughters, sounded to hospital staff, at first, like she was in denial.

“Palliative care doctors would call me and I’d say, ‘My mother is going to pull through this.’ For some reason, I knew my mother was going to live,” said Cindy, a mother of three who lives in Fox Chapel and attends Adat Shalom. “I told the palliative care doctors, ‘Do not call me. My mother is going to make it.’ They probably thought I was wacko. I don’t know what it was that told me she’d be okay.”

Steffi got great care at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, and the doctors and nursing staff there were incredibly understanding and sympathetic to their situation, family members said. After Steffi fell into a coma, Cindy would speak and sing to her via a laptop in Steffi’s room. Once Judy Wolfson, Steffi and Willie’s middle daughter, contracted COVID-19, too, the staff let her visit her mother in the COVID-19 unit.

Judy recovered without too much fanfare — which led Florida doctors to pose the question: would she consider donating plasma to save some COVID-19 patients stuck on ventilators?

Judy donated a pint of blood. Shortly thereafter, the family suggested using plasma

p Steffi and Wille Berg

Photo provided by Cindy Berg-Vayonis

on Steffi, even though she was not on a ventilator. The hospital staff agreed and, again, Judy donated a pint of blood. (She donated a third pint for more COVID-19 patients, too.)

One Sunday night, Steffi received her daughter’s plasma. By Thursday morning, she was out of the coma.

“Those nine weeks were awful,” said Ilana Braun, the eldest Berg daughter, who was born when her parents still lived in Israel.

“You’d go to sleep and everything was better but when you woke up, you were back in it.

She made it, though. It is a miracle.”

Miracles, though, have not been the

only way the Berg family has survived and thrived. Hard work and tenacity have played a big role as well.

As a young man, Willie, who became the family breadwinner, fled war-torn Germany to seek refuge in Shanghai, like his future wife. In China, he reportedly took up competitive boxing.

“Half the things I’ve heard, I couldn’t believe,” Cindy said.

While living in Israel, Willie served in the army. After arriving in the U.S. in 1954 with a wife and young daughter, he and his family moved to Pittsburgh, where distant relatives

Falk: Continued from page 1

begin Aug. 25, with administrators starting earlier in August.

“We really want to be able to serve our community well,” Suzik said, “and provide opportunities if they are achievable, if they are safe.”

Matthew Falcone, a preservationist who serves as senior vice president of Rodef Shalom’s board of trustees, said there are other links between Falk Laboratory School and his congregation, beyond the Falk family links.

“Philosophically, we’re very aligned,” Falcone said. “Ours is progressive in a religious nature. They are in an educational nature. We speak a similar language.”

Conversations between the two organizations started during COVID-19-inspired deep cleaning at Rodef Shalom, which, oddly enough, turned up more information about the Falk family, Falcone said. Congregation staff found a plaque during a clean-up that marked a Rodef Shalom gymnasium and recreational space whose construction the Falks had funded. The space was replaced by classrooms 14 JULY 31, 2020

p Falk Laboratory School

after a Young Men’s Hebrew Association built gymnasium space in nearby Oakland.

“We were kind of going through the talks with Falk School and all this Falk stuff started popping up,” Falcone said. “It’s funny how coincidences overlap.”

Falk Laboratory School, based near the VA

Photo provided by Kelly Maddox

Hospital on a hilltop in Oakland, is deemed “progressive” because it was formed during the Progressive Era, when U.S. classrooms were adapting to increasingly industrial, increasingly urban and increasingly immigrant-saturated environments, Suzik said. At one time, there were hundreds of progressive

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lived. They settled in Highland Park and, later, Squirrel Hill.

In Pittsburgh, Willie got work cleaning toilets, pursued — and received — an electrical engineering degree in the evening at Carnegie Tech, and eventually became an executive with the companies Owens-Illinois and Contraves Goerz Corporation. He also founded his own vending business.

“His life philosophy and goals were honest and simple — work hard and love your family,” his obituary in the Chronicle read earlier this year.

“It was basically a rags to riches story,” Ilana said.

Steffi came of age in a time when strong women often took important roles in the household but not in the workplace, her daughters said.

“My mom was always at home — she took care of things,” Cindy said. “She’s so smart, an amazing cook, and [gives] the best advice.

She was sharp with stocks, too — she learned all of that on her own.”

The three daughters say their emotions about the last few months, to put it mildly, are a little complicated.

“After my father died, my mother had COVID-19 and was in a coma,” Cindy said.

“I couldn’t cry … and now I’m so happy I have a mother. The happiness is almost trumping the sadness of [losing] my father. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“We weren’t even able to sit shiva,” Ilana added. “It seems like another time.

Nothing seems real. It doesn’t even feel like it happened.”

Steffi, as always, remains matter-of-fact about the whirlwind set of circumstances that turned the Berg family upside down in 2020.

“I’m in my home, I have help, I’m OK — I have my girls, my son-in-law, I’m satisfied,” Steffi said. “It was tough. Now, I’m on solid ground.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh. laboratory schools in the U.S.; today, the Falk school is one of only a few dozen.

The school also is noted for its teaching models. Every teacher is shadowed by an apprentice or associate studying to become a teacher, Suzik said.

Students of the Falk Laboratory School, whose families pay tuition for them to attend, come from 42 ZIP codes in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Washington counties, Suzik said. While some ZIP codes only boast one pupil, 15217 — the area that includes Squirrel Hill — accounts for about one-third of the school’s enrollment. A large number of students’ parents also work at the University of Pittsburgh or other East End institutions.

“They are a mix — racially, ethnically, socioeconomically,” Suzik said. “The school welcomes all who apply. It’s open to anybody.”

The school had one big lingering problem as it faced the 2020-’21 school year, Suzik said.

“We are a full, robust community,” Suzik said. “What we needed to do was de-densify … and Rodef Shalom has been so kind and helpful with this.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Hillel: Continued from page 4

digital connections for students to gather, celebrate and learn through its Hillel@Home platform. Those efforts proved successful, but as students begin the process of returning to campus, establishing new relationships will be especially challenging, explained Marcus.

Last week the University of Pittsburgh announced that, apart from a phased

Banner: Continued from page 5

‘that sounds great to me.’ You don’t realize until you’re in community how damaging those things can be.”

Hagans opined that those who are perceived to be white decide who is safe in America.

“That becomes part of the trickiness

Bibi: Continued from page 7

can feel that he understood this earlier than, not just everyone in Israel, but earlier than a lot of people around the world. And right wing politicians around the world today, I think a lot of them admire him, and I think a lot of them see him as a great leader who paves the way for these kinds of politics.”

Deliberately, throughout the 87-minute documentary, viewers see and hear almost exclusively from Netanyahu.

Given “the nature of Netanyahu’s performance, I wanted to give him the stage,” said Shadur. And, because any discussion surrounding the prime minister is “so volatile and polarizing, I was looking for a way, not to avoid it, but to tell a story in a different way than we’re used to perceiving it in the news where some people hate him and some people adore him.”

Although Netanyahu commands most of the film’s screen time, audio of Lilyan Wilder, a communications consultant who prominently worked with Netanyahu and others, is included.

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reopening beginning on Aug. 11 and continuing throughout the month, all students at its Oakland campus, including those living off campus, will be required to complete a 14-day shelter-in-place period before attending in-person classes.

The Federation’s grant arrived at an important time, as the funds ensure “we can welcome first-year students, whatever the configuration, to our campuses in a creative and innovative way, and that even in these different and more challenging scenarios,

we can still make sure that every Jewish freshman has a chance to connect to their identity and community,” said Marcus.

The $25,000 grant to Hillel JUC represents a portion of “a little more than $1.1 million dollars that has gone to pandemic relief,” said Hertzman, who added that the Community Campaign, a Jewish Federation emergency relief fund, other foundations and private donors, were among the variety of sources tapped for funding.

For months, the pandemic has required

Hillel JUC to pivot and reimagine what programming best meets each student’s needs.

With school ready to begin again, there is a renewed charge of identifying students and providing opportunities for Jewish engagement, said Marcus: “The funds and resources from the Federation enables us to be thoughtful and creative.” PJC

of why do we see Black folks relying on anti-Semitic mythology? In the structure of white supremacy, the way you gain power is by identifying yourself above other people. Why do we see white Ashkenazi Jews in the United States responding in deeply anti-Black ways? Because it becomes deeply embedded in the fabric and stories of ourselves that our way to safety and security and longevity is by investing further and further in white supremacy.”

Hagans said that anti-Semitic remarks had been tweeted by a bevy of celebrities including Nick Cannon and Ice Cube. He noted that both Madonna and Chelsea Handler retweeted remarks by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who frequents in anti-Semitic tropes. Rather than focus on those remarks, Banner said he wanted to “make them look dumb real quick and move on because there are other things that need to happen.”

Banner acknowledged that he needed to

“challenge himself to step into the role” of an activist. “We’re going to have more views on the Super Bowl this year than you will with this YouTube video, so it’s up to us with that kind of platform.”

The webinar can be viewed on Bend the Arc Jewish Action Pittsburgh’s YouTube channel. PJC

Before her death in 2009, Wilder instructed scores of students and possessed a client list that “reads like a who’s who of American broadcast news,” reported The New York Times.

Among Wilder’s noteworthy pupils were Oprah Winfrey and Katherine Graham, the late Washington Post publisher who presided over the paper’s coverage of the Watergate scandal, reported Forbes.

The connection between Wilder and Netanyahu was very strong, said Shadur, and it was important for viewers to understand her methodologies.

“Don’t talk down, don’t talk up. Talk to them from your heart,” says Wilder during an audio recording in the film. “Of course you’re not here to act, but using your own experience and your own sense of reality while you’re speaking connects you to your subject and your audience as nothing else can. Acknowledge and believe that you are a person of intelligence and authority. Believe you have something of value to say. The time to start saying it is now.”

While traveling in the States and promoting his 2013 film, “Before the Revolution,” Shadur first noticed

Netanyahu’s interactions with the American media. “I thought there’s something strange going on, and that I should learn more about the subject,” he said. There seemed to be a disparity in that Netanyahu engaged with American journalists more so than he was presently doing in Israel, and as “someone who grew up in the 90s, there were so many memorable moments of him in the media.

I was intrigued by the idea of bringing all these performances together.”

Shadur, a self-described “leftist filmmaker,” didn’t intend the documentary to be an assault on political ideologies. Instead, it was an opportunity to better understand a cinematically intriguing character, how Israel has changed since Netanyahu first appeared on the international stage and the connection between media and politics.

Both within Netanyahu and the State of Israel, there is evolution that occurred during the past 40 years, and capturing that rise, without making a six-hour film, was part of the challenge, noted the documentarian.

Given the space that a documentary provides, “you can’t really tell it all,” said Shadur, adding “you want to make a film that is not only a book or lecture, you want

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

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

to make a film that is entertaining, that is dramatic. For me, it’s important to create a narrative that is as tense and dramatic as possible. We’re here not only to tell a story or to educate, we’re here to entertain.”

Given responses to the film, Shadur is proud of the work he created.

On the right, people “attacked me for not portraying how great Netanyahu is, and said that I’m showing him as a master of the media and kind of an empty tool,” and on the left, “I got as much passionate response saying that the film is not radical enough, that the film doesn’t show him as what he is, as the devil that is bringing Israel down.”

“I guess when you’re upsetting people on both sides, you feel you’ve done something right,” he said.

The purpose of welcoming Shadur and showing “King Bibi” to nearly 320 people was “to facilitate discussion and make people think,” said Tsipy Gur, founder and executive director of Classrooms Without Borders. As an organization, “we’re not political. We’re bringing it in for the conversation.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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JULY 31, 2020 15

Life & Culture ‘Hello Darkness, My Old Friend’ recounts friendship between author and Art Garfunkel — MUSIC —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

S

andy Greenberg recalls walking along Amsterdam Avenue in New York City with his best friend Arthur back in 1959. The pair had just completed a humanities class at Columbia University. During the trek his friend stopped to point out something that caught his eye. “‘Sanford, I’d like to show you this patch of grass and I’d like you to really look at it,’” Greenberg recalled his friend saying. “At first, I was stunned, then he was pointing out how the light illuminated the beauty and complexities of its colors. I was absolutely mesmerized. No one I had known would take time out to admire a measly patch of grass.”

Greenberg’s best friend and college roommate would soon be better known to the rest of the world as Art Garfunkel, one half of the pop-folk duo Simon & Garfunkel. His recollection of that moment shared between the two is ironic since less than two years later, Greenberg would be blind.

“I was pitching in a baseball game right before my junior year,” Greenberg, a Buffalo, New York native, told the Chronicle.

“Suddenly, in the seventh inning my eyes became very cloudy, very steamy and I was having a hard time concentrating on the batter. I knew there was something very bad going on. I stumbled to the sideline and dropped to the ground.”

Greenberg went to see an ophthalmologist who diagnosed him with allergic conjunctivitis. After two treatments, one he labeled as “ineffective” and a second of topical steroids, his condition became worse. A different doctor told the American history major that he was actually suffering from glaucoma and, due to the previous treatments, would soon be blind.

In his memoir, “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend” (Simon & Schuster, June, 2020), Greenberg credits Garfunkel with lifting him from the pits of despair and helping him to begin navigating life as a blind man at just 20 years old.

“He changed all of his habits to help me out,” Greenberg said of Garfunkel. “He would take me out in the city, walk me to class, help me fix my tape recorder. Most importantly, he would read to me regularly. He’d walk into the room and say, ‘Sanford, Darkness is going to read to you from “The Iliad” today,’ or ‘Sanford, Darkness is going to read to you today.’ I suppose he meant that, for me, his voice was emerging from the darkness. Because he called himself ‘Darkness,’ I decided that should be the title of my book.”

Greenberg eventually graduated from Columbia and earned a doctorate from the department of government at Harvard University. He married his high school girlfriend, Sue, and along the way he owned various businesses, became an inventor, chairman of the board of governors of the John Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute, served on the Mac Science board

16 JULY 31, 2020

p Sanford Greenberg and Art Garfunkel

Photo provided by Sanford Greenberg

“ I was absolutely mesmerized.

No one I had known would take time out

”

to admire a measly patch of grass.

— SANDY GREENBERG

which operates overseas as the National Science Foundation, was the chairman of the Rural Health Care Corporation, which brought telemedicine to rural parts of the country, became a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and worked in the White House under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

His father, Albert, moved to the United States in 1939 to escape the Holocaust and became a tailor but died when Greenberg was just 5. His mother remarried and raised three children with her second husband, Carl.

The family seemed predisposed to unusual and unlikely eye crises. Carl was hit in the eye by a disgruntled employee and required a prosthetic. Greenberg’s grandmother, Pauline, also lost an eye from a broken spring in a cradle while babysitting at the age of 8 in her native Poland.

Greenberg is a member of the Conservative Adas Israel Congregation in Washington,

D.C. He considers himself both religious and very spiritual. “‘The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious,’” said Greenberg, quoting Albert Einstein. “‘It is the fundamental questions which stand at the cradle between true art and science. Whoever does not know it can no longer wonder, can no longer marvel. He’s as good as dead and his eyes are dim.’ He was talking about God and religiosity. For me, being religious means you must wonder at the blessings all around us.

We must model God’s creation, otherwise we miss the magic of daily living.”

Memories of davening with Garfunkel at the window in their college dorm room ignite that wonder for Greenberg.

“Anyone hearing his voice singing the prayers, they would be in simple awe,” Greenberg recalled. “Throughout life I have been blessed with music, music that came

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

from the sweetest singer in the universe.”

He recalled Garfunkel’s voice as “displaying deep and warm love I could actually feel.”

After graduation, when the singer decided to leave architecture school and follow his dreams to create music, Greenberg had the opportunity to pay back his friend.

“One day, after we graduated and I had gone onto Oxford, I got a call from Arthur, who said he was dropping out of architecture school, which I was opposed to, but that was his decision. He said, ‘I want to go into the music business with my friend Paul. But I need $400.’ Before he finished, I told him, he would have it. Sue and I had $404 in our checking account and I sent it.” The two had made a pact back in their dorm room that if either ever needed help, “the other would come to his aid regardless of circumstance.”

Though Greenberg has a deep and abiding love and friendship with Garfunkel, there is one partner that has provided the cornerstone to his life.

“I have to talk about the centrality of my then girlfriend, now wife, Sue. I dedicated the book to her and I said, ‘For Sue, the one who has always been there.’ She has. When I went blind, I was convinced that she would leave me. She stayed with me through the ugliest part of my life. She was valorous and, in my mind, the hero of the book, certainly the center of gravity for my life. You can read it, she’s on every page in the book.”

In 2012, the Greenbergs created the End Blindness by 2020 prize. On Dec. 14, it will award $3 million to the individual or team of researchers that does the most to end blindness across the globe. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture A Mediterranean dairy-based feast — FOOD —

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

W

hen many people think of Jewish food, they think of heavy recipes — and trust me, there is a place for those delicious kugels and dumplings.

But I love cooking lighter, Mediterraneanbased recipes. Jews always have lived throughout the Mediterranean coastline, in Israel, Syria, Turkey and North Africa, as well as throughout coastal Southern Europe.

I both appreciate and crave the fresh herbs, spices, salads and meals that emphasize vegetarian/fish courses as well as grilled meats.

Here is my mother’s recipe for spanakopita, also known as spinach pie. This actually doesn’t take much more prep time than chopping vegetables and preparing shish kebab, and it makes a great dairy-based meal.

A lot of great cooks are intimidated by phyllo pastry, but don’t be. Phyllo is very forgiving. If it tears, you brush it with butter and move on to the next layer. Once cooked, the mistakes can’t even be seen.

You can make this in a rectangular casserole, enjoy it hot or cold, and it goes so well with a simple Greek salad with easy homemade dressing. Leftovers make a fantastic side dish to serve with fish. You will have a restaurant-quality meal, but to be honest, I think that home cooking is even more enjoyable for both you and your loved ones.

This may not be a 15-minute recipe, but the results are well worth it. Prep time is about 35 minutes.

Spanakopita

This makes a large 9-by-13 tray of 6 large squares or 12 smaller triangles.

Ingredients 1 ¼ sticks of butter 1 large onion 1 bunch of scallions 1 pound of feta cheese 1 pound of cottage cheese 6 eggs 4 10-ounce packages of frozen spinach ¼ cup of rice, cooked ( I freeze leftover cooked rice to use in recipes like this) ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 bunch of fresh dill fresh or dried mint black pepper

Defrost spinach overnight in your refrigerator. An hour before cooking, place defrosted spinach into a colander and let drain. You will need to press it down in a

p Greek salad

p Spanakopita

colander/mesh strainer until the water is completely drained. If the spinach is too watery, the filling will not set.

Chop onion and the green part of the scallions, and sauté in 1 stick of butter, over medium heat, until onion is translucent. Add the scallions to the onion/butter mixture in the last few minutes. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, beat 6 eggs. Add cottage cheese, 1 pound of broken feta cheese, cooked rice, 1 teaspoon of pepper, ½ teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 bunch of chopped dill (remove larger stems) and mint. You can use 1 tablespoon of fresh mint or 2 tablespoons of dried mint, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Hand mix until combined with a spatula.

The trick to working with phyllo is to thaw it first in the refrigerator overnight and then to keep a damp towel covering it as much as possible. Unroll it onto a large cutting board, then cover with the towel. Remove a piece or two, and quickly re-cover to keep the pastry from drying out.

I recommend using a rubber/silicone brush for the next part. Melt ¼ cup of butter over low heat, then brush the bottom and sides of your casserole pan. Add 2 pieces of phyllo at a time, brush with butter, and repeat. The pastry should be covered with a thin layer of butter, but not saturated. Use half of the package in this manner before adding the filling. It is OK if the phyllo comes up the sides of the pan. It is also OK if you need to fold in half and stagger the layers in order to fit your dish.

Gently add the spinach filling, pat down, and repeat the phyllo/butter process with the remaining half package of pastry. If you find that you need more butter, just melt a little more. I often brush 1 tablespoon of milk on the top layer to help create a lovely golden color.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for one hour, at 350 degrees.

Trust your nose, your gut and get to know your oven. Ovens are finicky. I personally don’t have a gourmet oven, so a recipe may say one hour, but sometimes it really needs an extra 15 minutes. If the top color is a nice, medium golden brown, and your kitchen smells divine, you will know it is done.

Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

While the spanakopita is cooking, wash and prep your salad vegetables.

Greek Salad Ingredients romaine lettuce, 2 heads ¼ red onion, sliced thin 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved English cucumber, sliced ⅓ cup good quality black olives, like kalamata olive oil, cold pressed, good quality red wine vinegar fresh lemon juice fresh garlic or Dorot frozen garlic cubes honey or sweetener (I often use monk fruit) Dijon mustard dried oregano salt and pepper

Photos by Jessica Grann

If you’re like me, you know a little extra feta cheese never hurt anyone.

Canned vegetarian grape leaves can make a really nice addition to this salad if you are serving it on a platter. Placing them around the edge of the platter makes a lovely presentation.

Dressing 1 cup of olive oil ½ cup vinegar juice of half a lemon 2 cloves of crushed garlic, or two cubes Dorot frozen garlic 2 tablespoons of honey or sweetener of your choice 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon of dried oregano salt and pepper to taste, typically in a 2:1 ratio

Whisk together ingredients, drizzle over vegetables and top with olives. It is really important to trust your senses. If you like less garlic and more honey, then go for it. Meals should be satisfying and suit your taste.

I very rarely cook from a recipe more than once, and I often make notes so that I remember what worked best for my family.

It’s important that you create meals that make you happy, so have fun, especially if you’re trying something new. Enjoy and eat in good health! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

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JULY 31, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

Bar mitzvah

Forging a loving relationship with G-d Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld Parashat Vaetchanan Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

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Parker Jake Haberman, son of Eric and Marcia Haberman, was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on July 25, 2020, by friend and Kohenet Kehsira haLev Fife. Parker embraced the challenge of having a virtual bar mitzvah and chanted from the Torah to friends and family from across the country. Parker is from Fox Chapel and will be an eighth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School this fall. For his bar mitzvah project, Parker volunteered with the Mighty Pens Sled Hockey team and assisted physically disabled youth during an ice hockey tournament. He also coordinated a scrimmage against the Mighty Pens and Parker’s SCIR Team. Parker’s passions are ice hockey, attending sporting events and spending quality time with his friends. PJC

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hema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Eched.

This verse is perhaps the most often quoted verse in the entire Torah. The prayer of Shema that we read in this week’s portion is the prayer the Jews have clung to since the giving of the Torah. In it, we affirm our belief that G-d is one. We affirm our belief that only He is the true existence of all beings.

Immediately thereafter we continue with the verse: “You shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might.” What is this obsession with love? Can’t we believe in him without loving him? Can’t we follow in his ways, recognize his existence without absolutely loving Him? Why is it so important to G-d that we love Him too?

Our sages taught us that G-d created this world in order to have a dwelling place for Himself. Upon creation, he left some imperfections. He placed us here, with the intention that we would perfect it. Through his commandments, He gave us instructions on how to do so. Through following His instructions, we will perfect the world, ushering an era when G-d Himself will dwell amongst us in this physical world.

Why then did G-d not create this perfect dwelling place Himself? Did he really need us to come to pick up where he left off? Couldn’t He have done it better than any one of us?

Before G-d created this world there was one thing he did not have. G-d did not have a relationship. When we proclaim the oneness of G-d in the Shema, we are saying there is nothing aside from him. Before creation, that was true on a very literal level. There was nobody for G-d to forge a relationship with.

But G-d wanted to have a relationship. He wanted to interact with free-thinking beings that make their own choices. So G-d created us.

But how can a creation like us relate to G-d? In order to facilitate that, G-d gave us a way to relate to him: Follow My commandments in perfecting this world. This will create a relationship between the Creator and His creations — like the student who follows

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By sharing with us His commandments, He gave us an insight on how to have that relationship.

He wanted a relationship. By sharing with us His commandments, He gave us an insight on how to have that relationship. He told us what He desires. When we have true love, we will do just that, thus fulfilling the purpose of our creation, having a relationship with Him. As we go about our lives and get caught up in the daily grind, we often lose sight of why we were created in the first place. We put our relationship with the world around us first and with G-d second. How ironic. The very thing that was created to help us forge our relationship with G-d ends up getting in the way.

When we say the Shema prayer daily, it is an opportunity to pause and reflect. It reminds us why we are here in this world. To love G-d. Let’s not deprive our Creator of the only thing we can give Him. PJC Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld is rabbi of the Lubavitch Center and executive director of Chabad of Western Pennsylvania. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

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the instructions of his brilliant teacher. By doing so, he enters the world of his teacher.

And that is where love comes in. True love is love that leads to actions. The most treasured friendships, love between husband and wife, or parent and child, all compel us to act in a way that our loved one desires. When there is true love, you begin to do what your loved one desires even without being asked!

This is what G-d desired from us.

Recognition is nice, but He wanted more.

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With the increasing costs of long-term care, having the help of a legal professional when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions that can result in keeping more of your money.

We help families understand the strategies, the benefits, and risks involved with elder law, disability and estate planning.

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Obituaries AMPER: Norman Amper, peacefully on Saturday, July 25, 2020. Beloved husband of Esther Amper.

Loving father of Stacey and Steven Edelstein, Lauren and Michael Salgaller, Brad Amper and significant others Susan Amper and Rachel Leff. Brother of Alan and Jacqueline Amper and Iris and late Herbert Walker. “Apa” to Errin Edelstein and fiancé Doron Tamari, Sydney Edelstein, Dena Lazar, Amy and Tory Carlsen, Jeff Amper, Heather Amper and Grant Salgaller.

Great-grandfather of Cole Carlsen. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH Gift Fund for COVID-19 Research, Budget and Financial Management Branch, 5601 Fishers Lane, Room 5E48, Rockville, MD 20892-9809.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com CAPLAN: Marion Lindner Caplan, on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

Daughter of the late Pauline Hoffman Geilman and David Rudick. Wife of the late Leon Caplan and Saul Lindner. Mother of Barbara (Peppy) Lindner and Norman Lindner. Bubbie of Brian (Meghan) Lindner of North Hills, Scott (Leiha) Lindner of Mars, Pennsylvania, and Justin Lindner of Kissimmee, Florida. Greatgrandmother of Maximus, MacKenzie, Beckett and Hadley. Special friend to Twink Caplan. Sister of the late Sidney and Miriam Geilman, Harold and Ruth Geilman and Milton Geilman. Sister-in-law of Sylvia Geilman of Hollywood, Florida.

Also survived by nieces, nephews, greatnieces and great-nephews. In her younger years, Marion was active in Temple Sinai Sisterhood and many Jewish organizations in Pittsburgh and Florida. Services and interment private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com DAVIS: Charles Davis, on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, after a brief illness. Devoted husband

of Pauline Zubin Davis, to whom he was married for 50 years. Son of the late William and Esther Davis of Pittsburgh, brother of Alan Davis (Carrie) and the late Murray Davis.

Beloved father of sons Eric J. Davis (Suzanne) of Columbus, Ohio, and Joshua Davis (Rema) of New York City. Adoring grandfather of Benjamin Davis and Simon Davis. Cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grand-nephews. Also, a fabulous cousin. Charles was a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School class of 1956. He would go on to the University of Pittsburgh where he graduated in 1960 and served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Intelligence Unit during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. After being honorably discharged he was hired by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation where he would spend over a half-century as their manager of government contracts for the nuclear fuel division, ethics director and contracts consultant. In 1991 he was awarded the Westinghouse Order of Merit, its highest honor. In retirement Charles was an avid swimmer, reader, canine companion, traveler and writer of strongly worded letters. He treated his family like friends and his friends like family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ronald McDonald House of Pittsburgh: rmhcpgh-mgtn.org/donate.

Graveside services were held in Homewood Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to the Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

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

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Dr. Stanley Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Herbert Cohen Ruth K. Goldman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mildred Golanty Krauss Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sam Goldston Lynne Gottesman, Debra and Phillip Ritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fred Gottesman Lynne Gottesman, Debra and Phillip Ritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther Gottesman Lynne Gottesman, Debra and Phillip Ritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lena Wesoky Lynne Gottesman, Debra and Phillip Ritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Wesoky Lynne Gottesman, Debra and Phillip Ritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norman Wesoky Edith Z. Kramer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harry N. Zeligman Edith Z. Kramer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Zeligman Jeffrey L. Kwall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Isadore Louis Sigal Nathaniel S. Pirchesky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther Caplan Michael and Ellen Roteman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hyman Ginsberg William Snyder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Snider Barbara E. Vogel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florence Bertenthal

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday August 2: Bess Baker, Samuel Finkelstein, Meyer I. Grinberg, Esther F. Horelick, Irwin Ike “Kitman”, Blanche Labovitz, Dorothy Levine, Emil Mendlow, Jean Ostfield, Merle M. Pearlman, Dr. Herman Pink, Hermina Schwartz, Harriet Taper, Benjamin H. Tauberg, Stuart D. Weinbaum, Lillian Wells Monday August 3: Morris Chetlin, Ida Daly, Miriam Friedlander, Bruce Robert Gordon, Max Harris, Sylvia G. Levine, Morris Linder, Ida Match, Jacob Mazer, Pearl C. Numer, Charles Olinsky, Goldie Faleder Recht, William Myer Rose, Simon Jacob Rosenthal, Reuben C. Solomon, Leonard Stein, Tsivia Topaz Sussman, Ray Weiner Wesosky, Florine K Wolk, Benjamin I. Young, Harry & Ruth Zeligman, Harry N. Zeligman Tuesday August 4: Sam Baker, Harry Davidson, George Freeman, Paul Allen Friedlander, Ruthe Glick, Sophia Mintz Latkin, Benjamin D. Lazar, Tillye Shaffer Malyn, Mary Perilman, Reva Rebecca Reznick, Katie Share, Ethel K. Stept, Morton A. Zacks Wednesday August 5: Anna R. Brill, Sam Friedman, Mitzi Davis Marcus, Belrose Marcus, Samuel Morris, Samuel Natterson, Phillip Nesvisky, Jacob Pearl, Nathan Rosen, Mayme S. Roth, Earl Schugar, S. Milton Schwartz, Becie Sokoler Thursday August 6: Esther Bennett, Dr. Simon Berenfield, J. Richard Bergad, Frances Cartiff, Bertha Feldman, Solomon Kramer, Abraham Leibowitz, Rose Lipser, Benjamin Plotkin, Samuel Sidney Sakol Friday August 7: Jacob Friedman, Gilbert Murray Gerber, Helen Goldberg, Diana D. Gordon, Robert Green, Anna Greenberg, Morris H. Hirschfield, Herman Jacobs, Rae Labovitz, Morris Lebovitz, Robert Shapiro, Ruth Zeligman Saturday August 8: Sarah Bales, Adam Chotiner, Abraham Endich, Anna Friedman, Anna Friedman, Rose H. Green, Eva Greenberg, Rebecca Gusky, Annetta Marks Horwitz, Marvin Klein, Isadore Mandelblatt, Tzivia Marbach, Milton Morris, Anna R. Rosenbloom, Freda Barnett Safier, Cecilia Selkovits, Eleanor Ruth Simon, Louis A. Skeegan, Harry Winsberg, Esther M. Wyner, Harry Zerelstein

EDELSTEIN: Ruth Betty (Linder) Edelstein, on Monday, July 27, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Albert Edelstein. Loving mother of Aaron and Ellen Edelstein. Sister of the late Sylvia Mason and Robert Linder. Loving “Boby” to Jill Davidson, Kelly Edelstein and the late Kim Edelstein. Great-grandmother of Jake and Aly Davidson. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to Weinberg Village at the JAA, 300 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

D’Alessandro Funeral Home and Crematory Ltd. “Always A Higher Standard”

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JULY 31, 2020 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

LIEBER: Mar vin S. Lieber, on Thursday, July 16, 2020. Beloved husband of Penina Kessler Lieber, Esq., who he was married to for 56 years and with whom he practiced law for 27 years.

Beloved father of Jessica Lieber Smolar, assistant U.S. attorney; son-in-law Kenneth N. Smolar, president PCN Network; daughter Michele E Lieber, president Blueprint DC, Washington, D.C.; and son Rob Lieber (Jeanie Lieber), screenwriter, New York. Grandfather of Zachary Smolar, Alexander Smolar, Oscar Lieber and Ruby Lieber. Mr. Lieber was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1958 and received the Distinguished Alumni award in 2013. He practiced corporate tax law for over 50 years. At the start of his career, he was a partner at Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel.

He then served as chairman of Klett Lieber Rooney & Schorling. He later opened the Pittsburgh office of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel and served as a member of Eckert Seamans. He was a former president of the PA Bar Association, PA Bar Institute and PA Bar Foundation. He was also a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to the founding CLE board and served as a member of ACTEC (American College of Trust and Estate Counsel). Mr. Lieber was on the board of trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC and the Pittsburgh Symphony. He was on the board of directors and executive committee for the Pittsburgh Opera, board of directors for the United Way of Allegheny County and board of directors for United Jewish Federation. He also was a former president of the School of Advanced Jewish Studies and Westmoreland Country Club.

He was predeceased by his brother Jerome Lieber. Services and interment were private.

Contributions may be made to University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 3900 Forbes

Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MILLER: Morton I. Miller, on Sunday, July 26, 2020. Beloved husband of Maxine (Enelow) Miller. Beloved father of Karen (Ira) Schwartz and Leslie (Neil) Shutzberg.

Brother of the late Sylvia (late Donald) Robinson.

Grandfather of Candice (Eric) Bronack, Brooke (Matt) Kolibas, Glenna Shutzberg and Martin Shutzberg. Great-grandfather of Holden and Charlie Bronack. Also survived by nieces and one nephew. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Association on Aging, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SYDNEY: Sonya Shulman Sydney, age 92, of Squirrel Hill, passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, July 25, 2020. Born

on Sept. 16, 1927, to the late Max Shulman and Ella (Wanetick) Markowitz and preceded in death by her daughter, Rhonda Blank, she is survived by her sons, Dr. Hilliard Blank (Kathleen Walsh) and Reid Blank (Lisa Toji-Blank); grandchildren Dr. Samantha Blank, Alexander Blank and Lillian Blank; and half-sister, Carol Calco-Friedrich. Sonya lived more than 20 years in Santa Monica, California, where she excelled as an executive assistant to the late Lloyd Cotsen, philanthropist and president of Neutrogena Corporation, among other business executives, before returning to her native Pittsburgh home. Sonya loved movies, the symphony and books. An avid reader (and lover of chocolate), she shared her appreciation of many authors with friends and family often writing book reviews in a newsletter she edited for residents of The New Riverview, where she lived her remaining years. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com PJC

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JULY 31, 2020

21

Life & Culture There are 49 Jews left on the British island of Jersey.

The pandemic has pushed their one synagogue to the brink.

— CULTURE —

By Jacob Judah | JTA

J

ersey is one of Britain’s most unusual places — an autonomous island closer to France than to mainland England, a tax haven for London’s superrich and the last remnant of the English crown’s Norman domains.

But Jersey is also home to a rare non-urban British Jewish community with a unique history forged in the face of the Nazi occupation during World War II — the only German occupation of any U.K. territory.

These days, though, the community, with a formal membership of only 49 and an average age of over 70, has had to negotiate the coronavirus crisis as its membership continues to shrink.

In May, Jersey’s Jewish Congregation, which operates in a small converted Methodist schoolhouse on the southwest corner of the craggy island, for three weeks held the unlikely title of the only legally operating Shabbat service in Britain. Synagogues were shut down across Britain in mid-March, and the reopening process began only five months later. But Jersey contained the virus so well that it was allowed to open houses of worship — with limits on how many could attend at a time — earlier than the rest of the country.

The community held its first full service since March — with a minyan of 12 men — in mid-May, as the congregation’s more vulnerable members emerged from self-isolation. Face masks and gloves were ordered beforehand, chairs were placed yards apart and prayer books, once touched, were quarantined for a week after use.

No London-accented melodies filled the hall of the building, built in the 1970s — singing was strictly prohibited.

“If this is the new normal, then it didn’t feel very normal,” said one attendee of the Shabbat service who did not want to be named.

An ‘honest’ community comes to terms with its decline

During the pandemic, the community’s isolation has been brought into focus. A few more observant members live on the roads surrounding the synagogue in the town of St. Brelade, but most live a drive away on the small island.

The Channel Islands have been inaccessible from the mainland since March, when the islands went into strict lockdown. Unable to travel, the island’s kosher food stocks — especially of meat — and links to the wider British Jewish community were severed.

In normal times, many community members traveled back and forth regularly, either to visit family members or attend synagogue or to pick up holiday supplies.

Only a few congregation members keep fully kosher at home, and most will eat non-kosher when out, but they still import kosher food and subscribe to some of the basics of Jewish observance.

22 JULY 31, 2020

p Union Jack and Jersey flags hang in Liberation Square, a World War II memorial, in St. Helier, the capital of Jersey, in 2008.

Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images via JTA

Malcolm Weisman, a non-ordained rabbi called a reverend by British Jews, leads High Holiday services and the occasional Shabbat service. Weisman has ventured to remote Jewish communities like the one in Jersey for decades. A Jewish Telegraphic Agency article from 1976 reported that he visited as many as 50 a year.

“There is a saying in Yiddish — ‘it is hard to be a Jew’ — but it isn’t hard to be a Jew,” said Stephen Regal, the congregation’s president. “You just have to arrange your life to be one. That is how we operate here on Jersey, and that’s how we’ve got on with it the past few weeks.”

He added: “If you have no alternative, you make do with what you’ve got.”

Jersey’s problems are not unique. Since the 1970s — Jersey’s heyday — dozens of small, regional Jewish communities across the U.K. have vanished as Jews concentrated in London and Manchester.

Anita Regal, who moved to Jersey at age 16 in 1960 (and is Stephen Regal’s sisterin-law), has seen the Jersey community’s rise and gradual decline.

“Lots and lots of people came to live here in the 1960s,” she said over a crackly phone line.

Middle-class Jews came to the Channel Islands during the 1960s and 70s to service the booming trade as an offshore tax haven.

They were a pragmatic, honest and streetsmart bunch — several were accountants and lawyers and other types of everyday professionals. Estimates place the peak Jewish population between 80 and 120. A little less than 100,000 people live on the island overall.

“People have died, and people have left.

There isn’t much replacement — my own children have left,” said Anita Regal, who was Jersey’s first female lawyer. “It is amazing that we are still going to be honest … we stagger on as best we can.”

Stephen Regal says it’s hard for him to envision the community surviving.

“I am an optimist by nature, but I am also a pragmatist,” Stephen said. “And I see the community struggling going forward to maintain numbers and the skill sets that we need to remain viable as a community.

“There are very few of us over here that can read Hebrew fluently for example,” he added. “When I go, and when some of the others do, who will replace us?”

A much darker time

The Channel Islands are better known among British Jews for another painful period.

Germany’s occupation of the islands from 1940 to May 1945 is often referred to as a “footnote” in the British history of World War II. But the tiny Jewish population that remained on the islands when the Germans arrived, estimated at around 30, were subjected to a string of anti-Semitic laws imposed by occupying forces and administered by British civil servants.

In Alderney, a smaller, even more remote islet a few miles from Jersey, a stone bearing inscriptions in English, French, Hebrew and Russian hints at this history. Labor camps were set up there, and thousands of slave laborers, including hundreds of French Jews, were forced to work — many to death — building Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, which was designed to make an invasion of Europe all but impossible. Steel skeletons and concrete remains of bunkers and gun emplacements dot the islands’ coasts.

On Holocaust Memorial Day, the island remembers the 22 non-Jewish resistance fighters who were deported from the island and murdered during the occupation. The group includes those arrested for covertly spreading news gathered from illegal BBC-tuned radios, and a clergyman deported after speaking out against the Germans from his pulpit.

A debate over memory

During the war, three Jewish women arrived on the neighboring island of Guernsey as

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

p A German Luftwaffe officer, left, speaks with a British policeman in St. Helier, the capital of Jersey, during the German occupation of the Channel Islands.

Photo by PA Images via Getty Images via JTA

refugees from Austria and Germany, but were deported to France in April 1942. From there, they were sent to Auschwitz.

Jersey has been quicker at reckoning with its wartime past than Guernsey, which celebrated its first Holocaust Memorial Day in 2015.

Its small plaque to the three Jewish women murdered in the Holocaust was erected in 2001 and has been repeatedly vandalized. A small lighthouse memorial stands on Jersey for the three Guernsey deportees.

After the war, rather than seeking to punish those who facilitated the German occupation, as postwar collaboration trials did across Europe, the British government quietly let the matter slip. Honors were bestowed on the islands’ rulers as a token of gratitude for their “protection” of the islands’ populations.

“During the occupation, the bailiff of Guernsey was a man called Victor Carey,” explained Gilly Carr, a historian at Cambridge University. “And the Carey family are recognized as an important family that have often held positions of authority on the island.”

The Carey family is still influential on the island. Victor Carey’s grandson, De Vic Carey, served as Guernsey’s bailiff — or the chief justice of the local court and ceremonial head of the island — between 1999 and 2005. “[Guernsians] have been much slower” in coming to terms with their past, Anita Regal said.

Martha Bernstein, the secretary of Jersey’s Jewish Congregation, who also runs Jewish education programs in Jersey’s schools, says that while the historical debate has been had in Jersey, there is still a way to go.

“The extent of collaboration on the Channel Islands, I feel, is still something that is not talked about,” she said. “When people try and push at the Pandora’s box, and lift the lid a little, people become edgy.” PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community To Murray Avenue and beyond

Summer fun continues Campers at James & Rachel Levinson Day Camp continued a summer filled with outdoor fun.

p The Friendship Circle hosted its first drive-in movie on July 21. Fifty-two attendees parked behind the Murray Avenue building and watched a classic film about friendship, “Toy Story.”

Photo courtesy of The Friendship Circle

Hippo hungry for smiles

p Eyes on the target

p Henrietta Hippo, a friend of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, greeted more than 200 people during the AgeWell lunch distribution last week. Henrietta will continue to make cameos at the Darlington entrance of the Squirrel Hill JCC.

p All the way up

p A careful balance

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Outdoor learning is cool (and warm)

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh students and staff tested an outdoor classroom during a recent mock lesson.

Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Climbing the wall

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photos courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

JULY 31, 2020 23

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