Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 7-3-20

July 3, 2020 | 11 Tammuz 5780

Candlelighting 8:36 p.m. | Havdalah 9:43 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 27 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Non-Orthodox congregations wrestle with the how and when of reopening

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL ‘Meanings of Oct. 27’

An oral history Page 2

LOCAL Friendship Circle

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Jason Shapiro, at the helm of National Record Mart and the Pittsburgh Pipers, dies at 99

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

F Shabbatot,” explained Kenneth Turkewitz, the congregation’s interim executive director.

“What we’ll do next Saturday, whether we’ll start to do Friday and Saturday, we have to evaluate that.”

Also still up in the air is the resumption of in-person daily minyans at the synagogue.

For the last few months, daily minyans have been offered on Zoom.

“The rabbi and I touched on it briefly and haven’t revisited it yet,” Turkewitz said.

“My personal opinion is, if we do that, we’ll have to continue offering it virtually as well and we’ll fail at getting a minyan for the in-person service, so it almost defeats the purpose. We still wouldn’t bring the Torah out on Mondays and Thursdays if we don’t have a minyan. I don’t think we’re up to that critical mass.”

Several blocks away, Temple Sinai’s leaders have not yet made the decision of when to resume in-person worship services.

The Reform congregation has created a committee, that “is taking a value-based, safe approach and cautiously beginning to look

or Jason Shapiro, a life filled with stories kept coming back to one story.

He was walking one day with his brothers — Howard and Sam, with whom, as understatements go, he was very close — in downtown Pittsburgh. One of them saw a $1 bill on the sidewalk. They bent over to pick it up and, laughing, quipped, “We each just made 33 cents!”

The Chronicle quizzed several Shapiro family members about which brother picked up the dollar bill.

“That depends on whose funeral the story was being told at,” said Gerrie Shapiro, Jason’s daughter.

On Friday, June 19, it was Jason Shapiro’s turn to pick up the dollar bill.

Services were held graveside that afternoon for Shapiro — who helped run the National Record Mart chain, one of Pennsylvania’s most successful Jewish-owned businesses; who co-owned the Pittsburgh Pipers, a championship-winning ABA squad; and who davened and handed out lollipops regularly on Shabbat at the Lubavitch Center. He was a giant of a man who for decades played an integral role as a servant to his community.

He was 99.

Five generations of Shapiros now are buried in the Torath Chaim cemetery near North Park.

The family has an origin story that’s both odd and believable. Morris Caplan, Jason

Please see Reopening, page 13

Please see Shapiro, page 12

 A safety station set up at the entrance to Beth Shalom to help keep members healthy as they return to services Photo by Jim Busis

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Summertime fun Page 3

LOCAL

Photo by freedom007/iStockphoto.com

Reading about racism

Book clubs hone in on injustice Page 7

C

ongregation Beth Shalom welcomed members back to its building for Shabbat services on Saturday, June 27, nearly three months after closing its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order. At New Light Congregation, housed within Beth Shalom’s Squirrel Hill building, congregants returned for their first Shabbat services one day earlier.

Across the Pittsburgh area, non-Orthodox congregations are grappling with the idea of reopening their buildings to members for services and other events. Most local Orthodox congregations opened for services in early June.

In the last week, though, COVID-19 cases have surged in Allegheny County, the sharp increase coming a little more than two weeks after the county moved to the green phase.

Beth Shalom leaders decided to initially reopen their building for Shabbat services as a trial run, beginning June 27.

“We have not yet come to a conclusion about what we will do for subsequent

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Susan Jaffe, en pointe

SPORTS

Cycling trends

ART

The legacy of Milton Glaser

Headlines Webinar with voices of Oct. 27 examines anti-Semitism, racism — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

he Pittsburgh Jewish community had its first opportunity to hear excerpts from “Meanings of Oct. 27,” an oral history of the shooting at the Tree of Life building, during a webinar on Tuesday, June 23.

The project’s creators, Aliza Becker and Noah Schoen, offered selections from the oral history as part of an interactive program on Zoom, “After the Synagogue Shooting: Pittsburghers Reflect on Antisemitism and Racism,” presented by the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.

In the course of their initial interviews for the oral history, Becker and Schoen “learned of another tragedy that happened several months prior, in June 2018,” according to Becker. “A black teenager named Antwon Rose had been killed by a policeman.”

Through the city’s different response to each of these two tragic events, Becker said she and Schoen realized “the story of Oct. 27, 2018, was also a story of racism. When we spoke to people of color, they talked about their experience of racism in Pittsburgh as they reflected on the synagogue shooting.”

The purpose of the webinar, Becker offered, was to “explore how Jewish and non-Jewish Pittsburghers” have been grappling with both anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism and to think about how prejudices impacted the lives of those attending the seminar.

Webinar participants were invited to reflect on questions posed by Becker and Schoen as well as the comments of various speakers who had been interviewed for the oral history. After each set of questions, the webinar paused, giving time for participants to gather their thoughts and respond in an online chat box.

p Participants in the “After the Synagogue Shooting” webinar were asked to reflect on a series of questions.

Screenshot from YouTube recording

The excerpts presented concerned Jewish identity, anti-Semitism and racism.

Quotes used came from a variety of familiar Pittsburgh voices including Keshira haLev Fife, executive director of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute; Leslie Aizenman, director of refugee and immigrant services at Jewish Family and Community Services; hip-hop artist and co-founder of 1Hood Media, Jasiri X; and Cheryl Moore, clinic manager of the University of Pittsburgh’s student health service.

“Oral history presents a tool of deep listening,” Schoen explained. “It was clear to us that after the synagogue shooting, non-Jews reached out to the Jewish community and responded to their needs.” He said some members of the Black community commented that “Pittsburgh doesn’t respond to our needs this way.” The question he asked was: “Why is this happening?”

While Becker and Schoen have begun to present excerpts from their oral history,

they are still interviewing those interested in contributing to the project. To date, 74 people have been interviewed with another 25 people offering to participate, but COVID-19 has made it difficult to do in-person interviews.

Once complete, “The Meanings of Oct. 27” oral history will reside at the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives at the Heinz History Center.

Based on the attendees’ responses in the chat window, Rauh director Eric Lidji said that the webinar proved “even people who have no connection to Pittsburgh” have deep feelings about the way Oct. 27 influenced “their Jewishness, their views on anti-Semitism and their understanding of the relationship between the Jewish community and other communities.”

Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Director Lauren Bairnsfather has served as an advisor to the oral history project. She praised Becker and Schoen for capturing

“diverse responses to the attack on the Tree of Life building.”

“As head of the Holocaust Center, I struggled and still struggle to think of ways to pay back minority communities in Pittsburgh — including minorities within the Jewish community — that still face exclusion and daily threats of violence. The interviews in the ‘Meanings’ archive can provide action items for bringing equity and justice for all to our wonderful city.”

Bairnsfather expressed surprise by “the candor with which participants shared their reactions in the chat during the program. ... Differing responses will help the Holocaust Center develop curriculum to use the ‘Meanings’ archive as a resource for teachers, students, and the greater community,” she said.

While the program originally was intended to be a live event, the pandemic forced Becker and Schoen to take it online.

“Any format that gets people talking to one another is one worth exploring,” said Schoen.

Ultimately, he is anxious “to have these interviews in the hands of people in the Pittsburgh community, who are doing community work on these issues.”

When that happens, the Squirrel Hill native ventured, “these interviews can be a tool for them to hold communal conversations, not just among a bunch of people who descend on a Zoom webinar, but people who are already in community with each other, who are neighbors, who are friends, who are wrestling with these issues.”

“After the Synagogue Shooting: Pittsburghers Reflect on Antisemitism and Racism” is available to view on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=svpaocRJHPI& feature=youtu.be. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Friendship Circle ready for summer with pandemic-friendly programs — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

I

magine an outdoor summer carnival — yes, in the age of COVID-19 — where children awakening from quarantines engage in creative play and colorful activities while those watching from home via Zoom even get to take part in a coin toss.

That’s part of what’s on the agenda for Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, which last week transitioned from its spring to summer programming schedule. The Squirrel Hill-based nonprofit will mix daily virtual programming with in-person events — respecting social distancing, of course — throughout this summer.

The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh was launched in 2006 to create a more inclusive community by engaging youth and adults with diverse abilities in a full range of social activities, thereby creating opportunities to form lasting friendships.

This summer, Friendship Circle’s activities will include its Coffee with Friends on Fridays and a Teen Scene discussion titled “Fear of Zooming Out,” according to Friendship Circle’s program director, Adina Waren.

p Reid Ringold plays Pictionary with The Friendship Circle via Zoom. Photo provided by The Friendship Circle

“We’re recognizing such a need for connection,” Waren said.

In addition to those programs, Friendship Circle will offer Unwind with FC Moms, a parent group, on alternating Thursday evenings and its Friends on the Town virtual meetups.

Then, there’s that carnival. Friendship Circle is working out the logistics to host “safe social distance” in-person programs such as the carnival or drive-in movies. One possible location for the film screenings

could be the parking lot behind its facility on Murray Avenue, though permits and details are still being developed, Waren said.

During the events, members who attend would remain in their own cars and, if staff members handed out activity kits or snacks, they would wear masks and gloves, Waren said. All materials would be individually packaged.

The group has put a lot of attention to detail, knowing it’s tough for everyone in different ways to bounce back from COVID19’s lockdowns, as well as social situations that, it’s safe to say, are pretty unprecedented, said Rivkee Rudolph, director of Friendship Circle.

“The transition back to just being around people, for everyone, is going to be challenging,” Rudolph said. “But we’re going to be extra intentional in how we bring people back together and serve the community.

“Any activity we plan, we plan to accommodate every member of our community,” she added.

For example, Rudolph pointed to the masks Friendship Circle will distribute for programming use. The cloth masks have see-through plastic mouthpieces so people who read lips to communicate can take part in activities and feel comfortable.

“Everyone is welcome and everyone is accommodated,” Rudolph stressed.

While staff seems excited to initiate some in-person work — the group’s office also recently reopened — they say there is a benefit in virtual programming. For one child who uses a wheelchair and a speech-communication device, it was a window into easier and more fluid socialization with their peers, Rudolph said. For others, it strengthened regional bonds and ties between common interests; some, for example, say they want to continue reunions of certain online groups.

“Online, we’ve made all these new friends,” Waren said. “This is an awesome platform,” providing “a very interesting perspective” and generating good feedback.

Importantly, the events and programming will be free to those taking part, thanks to grants, private donations and community support, according to Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, executive director of Friendship Circle.

“It has been a challenging time but we’ve been fortunate,” he said. “We’ve grown as we have … because the community believes in us. PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines Temple Ohav Shalom offers solace through #SummerofHope — LOCAL — David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

fter a spring marred by a pandemic, social distancing, school and business closings, police violence caught on tape and protests throughout the city, Temple Ohav Shalom’s Rabbi Jeremy Weisblatt felt that his congregation could use a summer of hope.

The Reform congregation is welcoming a lineup of guests for its #SummerofHope Speaker Series as a part of its weekly Shabbat service. The series began Friday, May 29, and continues through August. It is available to view on Zoom and on Weisblatt’s Facebook page.

“We’re doing visual tefillah services, and instead of a sermon, every Shabbat is themed with a sense of acknowledging the moment we’re in, asking how do we look forward in active ways and hearing what inspires other leaders, locally and around the country, that helps them move forward and find hope in this moment,” Weisblatt explained.

The idea for the new series came to the rabbi when calling to check in on members of his North Hills congregation.

“I kept hearing, ‘Everyone is OK, but what can I do?’” he recalled. “The common refrain was, ‘Rabbi, what are we looking forward to?’”

Knowing that members were Another session will feature feeling disconnected, Weisblatt Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies began to ponder what he could do Rabbi Leon Morris, who will discuss from his home to bring the commu“what’s going on in Israel and how nity together and “make them feel he’s finding hope,” Weisblatt said. part of something greater and Morris is a Pittsburgh native. inspire them.” He began reaching p “It’s finding these different voices Rabbi Jeremy out to potential speakers, both clergy Weisblatt throughout the country and in Israel Photo by Tracy to inspire us and bring us together and non-clergy alike, believing it

Brien Photography would “help fill that emotional and and learning what’s moving them in spiritual need in the community,” he said. this moment and keeping them moving forward Speakers have included 412 Black Jewish through all that we’re experiencing,” Weisblatt Collaborative board member Josiah Gilliam, said. “It’s a way of getting a multilayered, multiJewish Community Center of Greater voiced message to my community saying there Pittsburgh President Brian Schreiber, and are so many ways you can help, right now.”

Jonathan Stein, rabbi emeritus of Manhattan’s The speaker series serves two purposes, according to Weisblatt. The first is to give hope Temple Shaaray Tefila.

Weisblatt has reached across the Jewish to community and build a feeling of unity. spectrum to find upcoming speakers. A The second is to learn how to be “personally partial list includes Jewish Federation of active,” and that, the rabbi explained, is what Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jeff changes based on the speaker.

Regardless of the topic or speaker, Finkelstein; leaders of Penn State Hillel who will focus on college students and youth; Weisblatt said that Ohav Shalom members professors from the Hebrew Union College; will be asked to look at their own actions and an author who is both a Jew of color and decide how they can react. member of the LGBTQ+ community; and “For some, it will just be about reading and leaders in the Conservative movement. staying on top of what’s going on,” he said. “For Of particular interest for Weisblatt is Shmuly others it might be that you say, ‘Black lives matter’ Yanklowitz, whom he calls one of the “leading or that it’s important to take care of the LGBTQ+ social justice advocates in our time across the community and be inclusive, but is it just a stateJewish world.” Yanklowitz is an Orthodox ment on Facebook? Are you donating? Are you rabbi, activist and author who The Forward friends with people in these communities? Are named as one of 2016’s most influential Jews. you reaching out as an ally in support? Some of it

is focused on the Jewish community, online and off, in your life right now.

“I would say that is what is great about the series, it has those two layers—it’s hope that unites every speaker and then what allows the speaker’s voice to shine is their personal charge to the community.”

Finding people and communities that his congregation might not otherwise connect to is “part of my job, bridging that gap,” Weisblatt said. “The synagogue can help provide these points of connection; it’s a house of gathering.”

While Weisblatt does not have plans for an #AutumnofWonder or #WinterofJoy, he does view the #SummerofHope Speaker Series as the first step in reimagining services, High Holidays and other community gatherings.

“I said to the board that I don’t think we should look at these things the same way as the things we’ve done in the past,” said Weisblatt.

“I do not think trying to replicate what we have done in the sanctuary is the way forward.

I think we take advantage of a bad situation and find ways to engage and create connection and community. When COVID ends, I think it will allow us to take that back to the building and do things differently and feel OK creating these new traditions and ways of experiencing Jewish life.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Happy 4th of July For thousands of years, Jewish values have instructed us to “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.”

(Leviticus 25:10) In 1866, while standing in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Frederick Douglas asked the Southern Loyalists’ Convention, “...to adopt the principles proclaimed by yourselves, by your revolutionary fathers, and by the old bell in Independence Hall....”

Whether scribed in the Torah, etched in the bell, or emblazoned on our hearts, the principle of liberty has been with us forever.

JCCPGH.org Facebook.com/JCCpittsburgh Instagram @jccpgh Facebook.com/centerforlovingkindnesspgh

May our proclamations in our day lead to change so that every neighbor will enjoy the liberty we treasure so dearly.

Wishing you a meaningful July 4 commemoration.

Instagram @centerforlovingkindnesspgh

4 JULY 3, 2020

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Headlines Pittsburgher en pointe: Susan Jaffe joins Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as artistic director

p Susan Jaffe and Ethan Stiefel in “Giselle” in the late ’90s

— LOCAL —

Photo courtesy of Susan Jaffe

“ My highest calling as a dancer was to purify

By Kayla Steinberg | Staff Writer

B

allet has always held a kind of magic for Susan Jaffe.

“I was very much in the world of fantasy when I was a kid,” Jaffe recalled.

“Ballet was a place where I could exercise that imagination and live in the world of fairies and princesses and beautiful things.”

So, Jaffe leapt into what would become 22 years as a principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre and then into several teaching roles after she retired at age 40.

Now, Jaffe, 58, is onto her next venture — artistic director for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre — a job she describes as a “dream come true.”

The role is hefty: Program five major annual performances, choose the works, cast the performers, oversee the dance school faculty and navigate it all during a global pandemic.

“I am very courageous or stupid, I’m not sure which,” Jaffe said. But, she added, “I also believe very strongly that if you embrace life, life will guide you.”

For Jaffe, the approach is time-tested. She

GET THE

p Susan Jaffe

Photo by Rosalie O’Connor

myself and my technique in such a way that I was readying myself to be a conduit of a

”

much higher energy.

— SUSAN JAFFE was hesitant to teach when she retired from professional dance, thinking she was too self-centered. Despite her qualms, Jaffe took a position at ABT. She loved it.

“It was just literally like Cupid pierced my heart, and I fell madly and deeply in love with teaching,” she said. “I recognized how amazing it was to help a young person strengthen and empower and discover themselves and to become better technically.”

After ABT, Jaffe opened a dance school, returned to ABT for a ballet mistress role and later served as dean of dance at University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

For Jaffe, ballet is a way of connecting with

something bigger. Sure, she has touchpoints with organized religion: The daughter of a Jew and a Southern Baptist, Jaffe has sampled Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism. But Jaffe said that dance and meditation better help her tap into her deepest, most authentic self.

“My highest calling as a dancer was to purify myself and my technique in such a way that I was readying myself to be a conduit of a much higher energy,” she said.

She helps others cultivate the same experience with Effect of Intention, a workshop originally created to help dancers “become a vehicle for a much larger force.” It now targets a broader audience.

But Effect of Intention is just one of Jaffe’s many commitments. As Jaffe wrapped up her UNC role and started onboarding at PBT, she was mired in the frenzy of two jobs, three email accounts and four calendars, all while preparing for her big move to Pittsburgh.

“You have to figure out a whole new world in a very short amount of time,” she said.

Jaffe’s days proceed allegro with back-toback Zoom meetings from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. as she prepares for performances and a virtual summer intensive anticipating more than 200 participants.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre also is working to increase diversity in several ways, like boosting access to ballet for kids in many neighborhoods and making sure diverse groups of people feel welcome, according to Jaffe.

She already has big visions for PBT like meshing classic and new, innovative choreography, and helping others develop a deeper connection with themselves through dance.

“One of my greatest joys is to empower people to be their best selves,” she said. “I feel very lucky and excited to do this job.” PJC Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Calendar >>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions will also be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q SATURDAY, JULY 4 What does it mean to celebrate the independence of a country that continues to be plagued by racism?

Join Moishe House Pittsburgh (outdoors and six feet apart) for a vegetarian barbecue and text study of Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” 6 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/633423677260994. q MONDAYS, JULY 6, 13, 20 Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud Study. 9:15 a.m.

For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org/ mondaytalmud.

q TUESDAYS, JULY 14, 21, 28; AUG. 4 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/your-money-what-jewishethics-has-to-say q WEDNESDAYS, JULY 15, 22, 29 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents a series of webinars, “The Middle East Unmasked with Neil Lazarus.” Lazarus is an internationally acclaimed expert in the fields of Middle East politics, public diplomacy and effective communication training. You must register online to receive the Zoom link via email prior to the webinar.

12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/lazarus-unmasked q SUNDAY, JULY 19

q WEDNESDAY, JULY 8 Watch a movie with Moishe House over Zoom.

7 p.m. Moishe House events are intended for young adults age 22-32. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/550308145643777. q SUNDAYS, JULY 12, 19, 26 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/ online-parashah.

The hottest event of the summer is coming up: Moishe House’s Moses’ birthday party picnic! This is a very exclusive event — only 10 people will be permitted to attend. For pandemic safety reasons, this is a bring-your-own-meal picnic, although some individually wrapped snacks and beverages to supplement your food will be provided. Bring a picnic blanket if you have one to allow for social distancing. 12 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/events/326693568332162. q TUESDAY, JULY 21 During Jewish Residential Service’s free Zoom Webinar, “Managing Self Directed Services and

Using Supports Brokers: A Primer for Intellectual Disability Waiver Families,” you will learn what to expect from a supports broker and how they can help individuals with ID waivers. Two families with selfdirected services will share their experiences. Find out what you need to know and ask the questions that will help you make the most of waiver funding.

4 p.m. In order to be eligible for this service the individual needs to have an ODP ID waiver (Office of Developmental Programs Intellectual Disability). jrspgh.org/event/free-webinar-managing-selfdirected-services-and-using-supports-brokers Hear Dr. Edith Eva Eger, a Holocaust survivor, psychologist and author of the international bestselling book “The Choice.” This Zoom event is sponsored by Chabad of Squirrel Hill, Chabad of the South Hills, Chabad of Monroeville, Chabad of CMU, Chabad of Pitt, Chabad Young Professionals, The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Aleph Institute and Friendship Circle. 7 p.m. chabadpgh.com/choice q WEDNESDAY, JULY 22

q MONDAY, JULY 27 Learn how to make seasoning salts, vinegars, oils or simple syrups with common kitchen herbs (we can adapt to use whatever you have at home) at Moishe House’s Zoom DIY Herbal Preps. Gather some fresh herbs first if possible. 7 p.m. facebook.com/ events/311992599800158 q WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 Why is Tisha B’Av the saddest day in the Jewish calendar? What are we mourning in the present day? How do we experience and support each other through grief as a Jewish community? Join Moishe House Pittsburgh, Ratzon: Center for Healing and Resistance (ratzonpgh.org) and Rabbi Ron Symons from the JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness for “Queer Tisha B’Av” to learn about this fast day. While this event is primarily designed by/for Pittsburgh’s queer Jewish community, all are welcome. 6 p.m. facebook. com/events/578104236476920 q THURSDAY, JULY 30

If you like drawing, painting, journaling, writing, playing instruments, singing, knitting and/or eating with friends, sign up for Moishe House’s Artsy Picnic at Frick Park. Bring the supplies for whatever activity you want to participate in and, if you would like, a meal. Individually wrapped snacks and beverages will be provided.

Bring your own picnic blanket to allow for more comfortable social distancing. 6 p.m. facebook.com/ events/2617877971863231 q SATURDAY, JULY 25 Reflect on the past week and set intentions for the coming one at Moishe House’s Havdalah at Mellon Park beginning at 8:30 p.m. Shabbat ends at 9:28. Attendance will be capped at 10, so RSVP at facebook.com/events/584621282483220.

There is no day more laden with sorrow and memory than the fast of Tisha B’Av. Sign up to participate in “A Seminar for Tisha B’Av” on Zoom with Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff on the significance of the day, its power through the long sweep of Jewish history, and its contemporary meaning for us in 2020. 3 p.m. foundation. jewishpgh.org/event/a-seminar-for-tisha-bav 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. foundation.jewishpgh.org/twenty-firstcentury-love-marriage-in-judaism PJC

Chronicle joins collaborative to save local news

A

s the adage goes, there is strength in numbers.

A collaborative of news organizations from in and around Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Media Partnership, was founded in early 2020 with the goal of supporting and maintaining a vibrant local media landscape.

The survival of local news outlets was threatened even before the coronavirus pandemic worsened the problem of declining advertising revenue. As retail businesses shuttered for months and organizations canceled live events, advertising in local newspapers

plummeted, leading to reductions in staff and cuts in pay at many media outlets. The effects have been felt by both for-profit and nonprofit outlets, and have been harsh.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is part of the Partnership, along with 19 other media outlets, including Trib Total Media, Pittsburgh Business Times, Pittsburgh Courier, Pittsburgh City Paper and Pittsburgh Quarterly.

The diverse group of news organizations “come from different perspectives — and we serve our audiences differently,” according to

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Stories published by news organizations within the partnership are posted on https:// thebigstorypgh.com/. Other resources regarding the coronavirus are available on the website as well, including those on unemployment, housing, education and food.

The Pittsburgh Media Partnership is an initiative of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Funding is provided

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Members of the Partnership have committed to work in tandem on “the big stories — the ones that are of significance to the region and that matter to all of our audiences.”

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Headlines Pittsburgh book clubs confront racism — LOCAL —

By Kayla Steinberg | Staff Writer

Screenshots: Citizen from penguin.co.uk; White Fragility from penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com

A

mid an international push for greater education on race relations, book clubs and discussions have cropped up around the U.S. — including in Pittsburgh — to provide avenues for deep examination of the topic.

Temple Emanuel of South Hills offers one.

While the congregation has long provided opportunities to read and discuss various books, its book club is currently focusing on racism by reading Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.”

“I think that continued learning is an important part and the necessary precursor to any lasting change,” said Rabbi Aaron Meyer, Temple Emanuel’s senior rabbi. “Until more people are willing to recognize and confront issues of racial injustice first in themselves and then in the broader world, it will be hard to move the needle. And Robin DiAngelo’s book is designed to do exactly that.”

Thirty or so families meet over Zoom once or twice a week to discuss two chapters at a time. Before the sessions, Meyer picks three quotes to begin a dialogue. But the conversations transcend the text as congregants incorporate personal experiences and interpretations into the discussion.

Education organization Classrooms Without Borders offers a similar program.

It tripled up on book clubs this summer, adding middle school and high school book clubs to its preexisting schedule of a weekly adult book club.

“The idea is really to bring people from diverse backgrounds and frameworks together and be able to have really important conversations that can lead to change in the classroom and in our communities and in our homes,” said Melissa Haviv, the organization’s assistant director.

While Classrooms Without Borders focuses on Holocaust education and anti-Semitism, Haviv notes that “You can’t teach that without caring about everybody else in the world at the same time.”

The high school book club in particular focuses on racism. A dozen or so high schoolers signed up for the weekly discussion of Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen:

An American Lyric,” led by Classrooms Without Borders’ resident teaching artist, Susan Stein.

The Jamaican-born author’s storytelling in “Citizen,” which describes U.S. race relations, breaks convention. “‘Citizen’ is unlike every book I’ve ever read,” she said. “The book sometimes feels like journal entries, sometimes feels like essays, sometimes feels like poetry and sometimes feels like a collage. It’s a lot of different things.

“Right now, at this moment in American history, thinking about who we are as citizens and who we want to be as citizens is an interesting and personal question, and worth thinking about in a moment where our larger community and society is grappling with that.”

Classrooms Without Borders is still accepting applications for its book clubs.

The high school book club will meet every

Wednesday in July at 4 p.m.

Like Temple Emanuel and Classrooms Without Borders, Rodef Shalom Congregation is offering race-related educational events including a discussion of Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” and another on “Just Mercy,” a film adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s book. The latter was hosted by Women of Rodef Shalom.

Andi Kaufman, vice president of programming for Women of Rodef Shalom, considers discussing and standing up to racism a reflection of Jewish values.

“It’s our job to stand up in the front, not to take a back seat,” she said. “That’s what our education, Reform Judaism, means.”

Women of Rodef Shalom plans to host more social justice events in the next couple of months including a conversation about police defunding and two programs on voting.

Temple Emanuel’s book club is considering

news JEWS CAN USE.

titles like “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” and “How to Be an Antiracist” for its next read.

“Jewish tradition was never meant to be lived in an ivory tower,” said Meyer. “We come together as people of shared faith and shared values and look for ways those values can have a meaningful, tangible impact on the world in which we live. So by reading, by learning together and then by acting together, we fulfill our mandate to partner with God to make this world a better place.”

Reading about racism is just a start, according to the rabbi.

“Certainly, study needs to be met with action,” he said. “There’s more learning and reflection to do even as we step beyond the page.” PJC Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

2 Ohio Little Caesars employees fired for making pepperoni-swastika pizza

A Little Caesars restaurant in Brook Park, Ohio, has fired two employees who made a swastika out of pepperoni slices on a couple’s pizza.

Misty and Jason Laska tweeted a picture of their pizza after picking it up over the weekend. “It’s not funny. It’s not funny. Especially with everything going on in the world right now,�

Jason Laska told Cleveland 19 News.

Jason Laska later told Cleveland.com that he had been told the employees made the pizza as a prank and had not intended to give it to customers. “We have zero tolerance for racism and discrimination in any form, and these franchise store employees were immediately terminated,� Little Caesars said in a statement. “We’re deeply disappointed that this happened, as this conduct is completely against our values.�

Swastika spray-painted outside synagogue in Maine

A swastika was spray-painted in white on the sidewalk in front of a synagogue in Bangor, Maine.

Bangor police are investigating the incident. Security camera footage taken

by Congregation Beth Israel captured

clear images of the teenagers who drew the swastika. “I do hope, rather than criminal mischief or vandalism charges, we can rope these kids into some kind of restorative justice,� Beth Israel President Brian Kresge said in a post on the congregation’s Facebook page.

Kresge used black spray-paint to cover the swastika before the start of the synagogue’s services on Friday evening, which are being held outdoors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The synagogue installed security cameras in 2012 after anti-Semitic graffiti was spraypainted on the front of the synagogue building. “For all of us, this isn’t our first rodeo with anti-Semitic graffiti,� Kresge wrote.

The congregation, founded in 1888, is the oldest in Bangor, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Israel sides with women Torah scholars in saying Chief Rabbinate discriminates on accreditation

Responding to a discrimination lawsuit, Israel has advanced the cause of women Torah scholars in their bid for more equitable treatment.

Israel will establish a set of accreditation exams for the scholars that will put them on equal footing with men who have passed the Chief Rabbinate’s qualification exams, which are not open to women.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said in his decision that the Chief Rabbinate’s

Second Opinion Service %PFT ZPVS Ĺ–OBODJBM BEWJTPS IFMQ you pursue XIBU NBUUFST NPTU

refusal to allow women to take its qualification exams is discriminatory and puts women at a professional disadvantage when applying for positions in the public sector, which requires such exams for hiring or determining salary.

The lawsuit was filed a year ago in the Supreme Court by Itim, which helps individuals navigate Israel’s religious bureaucracy; the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women, part of the Faculty of Law of Bar-Ilan University; and Kolech, an Orthodox Jewish feminist organization in Israel.

Mandelblit said in his decision that he has begun the process of installing the new accreditation system. The State Attorney’s Office has requested an extension from the court so the work can proceed.

Several institutions in Israel provide advanced training and study in Jewish law for women, but their programs are not recognized by the state.

Itim’s director, Rabbi Seth Farber, said in a statement that more and more women scholars are taking on halachic leadership roles, which he called “a great blessing to the world of Torah.� “The state’s answer provides an opening for a change in the absurd situation, in which it is precisely the Chief Rabbinate of Israel who is the one to stop the expanding of the Torah world,� he said. “We hope that the rabbinate will take responsibility and help advance the issue.�

Lawmaker Oded Forer of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, chairman of the Committee for the Advancement of Women’s Status and

Gender Equality, said the decision was “an important step towards equalizing the status of women in rabbinic and halakhic law.� “I hope that the members of the government will stand its promise and take care of the female advancement in all sectors and all professions,� his statement said.

Dozens chant about an ancient massacre of Jews at proPalestinian rally in Brussels

Dozens of protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brussels chanted the name of a locale where Muslims massacred Jews in the seventh century.

The Arabic chants about Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, were filmed at a rally in the Belgian capital against Israel’s plan to apply its civilian laws on parts of the West Bank. “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,� at least 100 men chanted, according to the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA. That’s incitement to violence, the LBCA’s president, Joel Rubinfeld, told the Belga news agency. “They’re referencing a historic event in which Jews were exterminated and reduced to slaves,� he said.

LBCA has filed a complaint with police for incitement to violence against those filmed shouting the slogan.

The rally’s organizers, a nonprofit called the Belgo-Palestinian Association, condemned the chanting in a statement.  PJC

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Headlines Should St. Louis take down the statue of its anti-Semitic namesake? Activists say yes.

— WORLD —

By Ben Sales | JTA

O

n top of a hill in front of an art museum in the biggest park in St. Louis stands a statue of an anti-Semite.

The monument to the city’s namesake, the medieval French King Louis IX, depicts the king astride a horse, wearing a crown and a robe and holding a sword in his right hand.

Erected 116 years ago in Forest Park, it is one of the city’s best-known monuments.

Now, a coalition of activists want it taken down because Louis IX persecuted Jews, presided over a notorious mass burning of the Talmud, issued an order of expulsion against his Jewish subjects and led two Crusader armies in unsuccessful offensives in North Africa.

At a time when statues of Confederate leaders and other figures condemned for racist actions are coming down across the country, activists in St. Louis want the Louis IX statue to come down too. A petition launched last week is calling on the city not only to take the statue down, but to change the city’s name.

A group of local Catholics is defending the statue, and a group of far-right protesters are planning to rally for the statue.

because we have to be careful and look at the context of his actions.”

But Talve said that even at the time of Louis IX’s reign in the 13th century there were people who recognized that ordering the expulsion of Jews, burning their sacred texts and leading Crusades was wrong.

“I’m not exactly sure what people are meaning when they say that, when they say you can’t judge what was happening in the Middle Ages by today’s standards, but you know what? Pillaging and looting at any time I think was wrong,” she said. “Asserting that your way is the only way I think is always wrong.”

Jim Hoft, the editor of the far-right website Gateway Pundit and one of the rally organizers, posted a call for “all Catholic and Christian men and their allies” to gather by the statue for a rally on Saturday, July Fourth, to recite the rosary. Kalinowski said her group is not affiliated with the rally.

Lee said he’s bracing himself for possible violence. But no matter what happens, he sees the protest movement as an opportunity to be honest about history.

“I don’t believe anyone should be free of critical historical analysis,” he said. “It’s very problematic if you say that because someone is a saint, they can’t be analyzed through a critical lens.” PJC

that have created the insti“The impossible is tutionalized racism that we becoming possible,” said are trying to unravel today.

Umar Lee, a local activist If we’re not honest about who started the petition and our history we will never also took part in a successful be able to dismantle the drive to remove a nearby systems of oppression that Confederate monument in we are living under.”

2017. Lee is not Jewish but But as in other cities started the petition because where activists have sought of Louis IX’s anti-Semitism. to remove monuments, the “So we’re at this juncture in The Apotheosis of removal effort has sparked a time when we’re reimagining p St. Louis memorializes the backlash. Every night, a group things and also, we’re taking city’s namesake, of several dozen Catholics a hard look at the history,” he who persecuted Jews.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons gathers by the statue to recite said. “Monuments don’t exist via JTA the rosary. One of them, Anna in the past. They exist in the present. It’s not necessary to have a monument Kalinowski, called the statue a “remarkable glorifying the individual in order to recognize work of art.” She emphasized that she reveres history. King Louis IX will be in the history Louis IX as “a man who really wanted to follow God and really wanted to do the right thing.” books no matter what we do in St. Louis.”

The petition calls Louis a “rabid anti- She feels his persecution of the Jews should be Semite” who inspired Nazi Germany, and viewed in historical context. the call for the statue’s removal is drawing “He wanted people to be Catholic because Jewish support. Rabbi Susan Talve, the the Catholic Church believed that when founding rabbi of the city’s Central Reform you’re Catholic that is the way to fully serve Congregation, said taking it down would help God,” she said. “He believed that with his advance racial justice in the United States. whole heart and soul and he wanted that “We’ve been talking about that statue for for the Jewish people. Do we think that the a long time,” she said, adding that removing way he went about that is wrong now? Sure. I the statue would be “a very important part mean, everybody has a right to their opinion of reclaiming history, reclaiming the stories on that, but at the time we can’t be so sure

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

July 3, 1982 — Jewish Theater Conference opens

The First International Conference and Festival of Jewish Theater, a five-day gathering, opens in Tel Aviv even though many Israeli participants have been called up for military duty in the Lebanon War.

July 4, 1976 — Hostages rescued at Entebbe

S ome 200 Is r a el i commandos storm the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, to rescue 106 hostages hijacked on an Air France flight June 27.

All seven terrorists, 20 Ugandan soldiers, three hostages and one Israeli soldier are killed.

July 5, 1950 — Law of Return enacted

The Knesset passes the Law of Return on the Jewish anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl. The law offers an open immigration door to all Jews, formalizing a policy in place since May 1948.

July 6, 1989 — Bus Attack kills 16

Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Abed al-Hadi Ghanem seizes control of the No. 405 bus as it passes a ravine outside Jerusalem and steers it over a cliff. Sixteen people are killed; Ghanem survives.

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Eliezer Siegfried Hoofien, who provided the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine and then the state of Israel with a half-century of financial expertise and leadership, dies at age 76.

July 8, 1958 — Tzipi Livni born

Tzipi Livni, who rises to deputy prime minister and foreign minister, is born in Tel Aviv to two veterans of the Irgun. She is first elected to the Knesset in 1999 with Likud. She leads Kadima in the 2009 election and forms Hatnua in 2012.

July 9, 1967 — Concert celebrates war victory

Leonard Bernstein conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at a concert on Mount Scopus to celebrate the cultural unification of Jerusalem after the June 1967 war. PJC

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JULY 3, 2020 9

Opinion I am the architect of the U.S.-Israel police exchange.

Don’t believe the lies.

Guest Columnist Steven L. Pomerantz

T

he nationwide demonstrations following the horrific killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis have launched a pressing conversation about race and law enforcement in America.

Unfortunately, some are cynically trying to drag Israel into the debate, claiming the Jewish state is responsible for incidents of police brutality in the United States owing to law enforcement exchange programs between our two countries.

As the architect of one of those programs, I can say this claim is not only false, but dangerous.

The argument falsely posits that counterterrorism trips and conferences organized

by American Jewish organizations like the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), where I work, facilitate a “deadly exchange” of worst practices between U.S. and Israeli forces. In recent years, this charge has been promoted by extremist organizations that oppose Israel’s right to exist, and amplified by institutionally anti-Semitic regimes like Iran’s.

Recent events seem to have given this libel new life. The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, for instance, lately declared that the “Israeli military trains U.S. police in racist and repressive policing tactics, which systematically targets Black and Brown bodies.” A petition by academics and students in the University of California system also invoked the police exchanges while claiming that the chokehold “used to murder George Floyd” was “perfected” by Israeli forces.

These accusations are false and, at best, expose a deep misunderstanding of the nature and objectives of police exchanges. More likely, they are motivated by virulent bias.

The truth is, JINSA’s Homeland Security Program was launched in the wake of the Sept. 11th attacks in order to address the well-recognized counterterrorism needs of local law enforcement in the U.S. Since that time, more than 200 U.S. federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement executives have traveled to Israel as part of the program, while thousands of personnel have attended conferences with Israeli experts in the U.S. Despite suggestions to the contrary, there is no field training involved in either the conferences or trips, and no training on holds or arrest mechanics. The exchanges, which are hosted by the Israel National Police, focus on effective counterterrorism techniques.

Participants learn how Israeli law enforcement deters, disrupts and responds to terrorist attacks. They explore the ideology of suicide bombers and other attackers, ways to de-escalate an ongoing incident, and the intelligence-gathering and -sharing process.

Trip participants have discussed efforts to build trust with minority communities, visited hospital trauma units and crime scenes, and spoken with terrorists serving life sentences for murder. One year, JINSA organized a specialized trip for American bomb squad commanders which focused on topics such as post-blast forensics and the materials used in explosive devices.

There is a unique value to learning from Israel’s unfortunately extensive experience in the counterterrorism field. In 2002, the year that JINSA’s first HSP trip took place, hundreds of civilians were killed Please see Pomerantz, page 11

What the Freedom to Marry victory teaches us for the work we must do now Guest Columnist Evan Wolfson

T

he recent 6-3 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County was good news — and we all need good news these days. The historic ruling means that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers will no longer be carved out of protection under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and sends guidance and a moral message across the country and across the law, beyond even its immediate and substantial legal effect.

For one thing, the victory brought urgently needed protection to workers in Pennsylvania, where the state legislature has year after year failed to pass a basic civil rights law to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s time for state lawmakers in Harrisburg to follow the good example of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County and make non-discrimination the law of the commonwealth.

After all, the Supreme Court’s legal logic was straightforward enough to command the votes of even conservative justices such as Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch.

Title VII broadly forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, a “message” that — as Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion — is “simple but momentous.” The question before the Court was whether gay and trans workers should share in the protection.

As the 7th Circuit wrote in an en banc decision of the full court, “It would require

10 JULY 3, 2020

considerable calisthenics to remove the ‘sex’ from ‘sexual orientation.’” In fact, you can’t spell “sexual orientation” without “sex.”

Likewise, when a transgender worker is told, “As a man fit, as a woman fired,” it’s clearly because of sex.

Gorsuch concluded, “The statute’s message for our cases is equally simple and momentous: An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.”

Though the Supreme Court’s legal logic was straightforward, the employment win didn’t just happen by itself or come out of nowhere.

As the successful campaign to win the freedom to marry — which culminated five years ago on June 26, 2015, with victory — showed, litigation may be a necessary element of a strategy for change, but it is not sufficient.

In fact, and instructively for other movements for change, including the welcome surge in support for tackling systemic racism, many things contributed to the win.

Among these were, as dissenting Justice Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged, the decades of activism, visibility and engagement by people like the plaintiffs, who came out and spoke up for themselves, their loved ones and their lives, and by tenacious and strategic fighters such as my colleagues in the LGBT movement, including the ACLU, GLAD, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Freedom for All Americans.

We needed allies and also advocates in government, such as former EEOC commissioner Chai Feldblum, former EEOC chair Jenny Yang and the many former

Obama-Biden administration officials I represented in a friend-of-the-court brief, who laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court’s affirmation that the law should have no gay exception or trans exclusion.

It took political engagement to put into power people like them. Government officials, after all, make policy, and elected officials, from the president on down, choose the officials and judges called to do the right thing. Elections matter.

The LGBT employment victory also required the Civil Rights Act itself, a product of companion and ongoing struggles against racism and sexism. The shared vision of an America without discrimination is the wellspring from which we draw; its champions, advocates, allies and martyrs the heroes on whose shoulders we stand and alongside whom we march.

And with all these, perhaps the most important element in securing yet another win was the journey Americans have taken (and been led on) toward greater understanding, greater empathy and greater openness to gay and transgender people — most dramatically reflected in and shaped by the decades-long campaign to win the freedom to marry. The marriage conversation and the change it produced remain the gift that keeps on giving. That’s how change works, when you keep on building on what you’ve done.

The Supreme Court’s marriage decision, like the subsequent employment decision or the decision affirming at least temporary protection for the young immigrants known as Dreamers, was the culmination of decades of organizing, persuasion, losses and advances that swirled across legislatures, courts, institutions, public discourse and private conversations. No one methodology

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

of change (litigation, legislation, public education, political work, fundraising, protest) alone produced the transformation in hearts, minds and law. That took — and change takes — a movement of many, a central strategy, a focused campaign, and sustained engagement.

The marriage win resonated then and reverberates today as proof that hearts and minds can open, law and politics can change, we can get our system to work again, we can end an injustice — and as instruction in how to do it.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously told advocates, “I agree with what you are urging. Now make me do it.” The success of the LGBT movement, though still far from finished, offers encouragement and elements of success to other urgent causes, from racial justice and equity to women’s equality and empowerment, from climate change to getting our economy to work for everyone, not just the wealthy. It summons us to the crucial work at hand of getting our country back on track and defending the future of American democracy, on the ballot (despite voter suppression) in November’s election.

“Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be … The land that never has been yet, And yet must be,” wrote Langston Hughes. “We, the people, must redeem ... And make America again!”

Our history and this anniversary tell us we — activists, concerned citizens, voters — can get our country back on track.

Only we can. PJC Evan Wolfson founded and led Freedom to Marry, the successful campaign to win marriage for same-sex couples, and now advises and assists diverse causes in the U.S. and globally. He is originally from Squirrel Hill.

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Opinion The great coming together Guest Columnist Rabbi Jamie Gibson

T

his week is the great coming together for the Jewish people. Since the second day of Shavuot, the Diaspora Jewish community has been reading one weekly Torah portion while those in Israel read another. As the Diaspora reaches Chukat (which records the death of Miriam, Moses’ sister) this week, Israeli Jews proceed to Balak (the story of Bil’am’s famous talking she-donkey).

But here in the Diaspora, Chukat and Balak are combined, while in Israel they are reading Balak, alone. This ensures that our people come together this Shabbat and going forward, at least in reading Torah.

In dealing with our widespread Jewish community, our Sages were mindful of respecting differences without fostering divisions that would fester and permanently harm our people.

I think a lot about this as I leave my position as senior rabbi of Temple Sinai after 32 years, and assume the honorary position of emeritus rabbi. Trying to bring people together while respecting their differences has been goal of mine since before entering

Pomerantz: Continued from page 10

by Palestinian terrorists, including senior citizens at a Passover Seder, students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, schoolchildren on buses, and families eating lunch. The victims included Holocaust survivors, young fathers, pregnant mothers, kids and infants.

It is the tragic reality that these heinous attacks have taught Israeli officials lessons that no nation ever wants to learn firsthand. Nearly two decades after 9/11, and following more recent attacks in San

rabbinical school in the 1970s.

In the greater community, I have participated in and led dialogue and discussion groups that have tried to do more than declare that we are all creatures of the Divine worthy of caring and respect.

Whether in the priest-rabbi dialogue, Christian-Jewish dialogue, the original Black-Jewish dialogue or informal discussions with the Muslim community, the goal has been to nurture friendship, respect and trust for the purpose of raising our levels of knowledge and appreciation, despite principled, strong differences.

The single most challenging dialogue effort I participated in was the Jewish Unity Project, originally sponsored by the then United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.

Begun in the late 1990s, this effort, originally chaired by Rabbi Neil Scheindlin of Beth El Congregation, and then by Rabbi Yisroel Miller of Poale Zedeck and myself, brought together Jews from the ends of our religious spectrum. The purpose was to see what of our Jewish identities we could affirm and what issues were so problematic that we had to agree not to try to solve them.

This group of 20 started off very shakily, with people around the table asking difficult questions: What were we going to accomplish? Were we going to commit to a goal, a project, something to do? As if dialogue itself among opposing Jewish views was not

an extraordinary accomplishment!

After the initial mood of mistrust, we got down to business, which was hearing the stories of everyone around the table and asking questions to make sure we understood what each person was sharing. This took a year and a half.

It was only after this sharing that people began to express their concern about differences that were raised. The single most tense moment came about when one person suggested that, just as an ice cream store offers many flavors, so did Judaism.

The room froze in an instant. My Orthodox friends were insulted by the notion that their view of God’s role in the world, in giving Torah, in keeping our people together, in giving meaning to life itself, could be reduced to an ice cream flavor.

I, a Reform rabbi, was the first to object to this reduction of faith to a matter of personal taste. When our traditional friends around the table saw this, their shoulders went down and we were able to dispense with the metaphor as unhelpful.

The issues facing the Pittsburgh Jewish community today are so much larger than the debate over ice cream metaphors. We all wonder: 1) Can our beloved Jewish community continue to proceed with our business as usual? There appears to be too many Jewish organizations and synagogues for our

community to sustain. We could let nature take its course; Jewish organizations have come and gone for hundreds of years on their own. Or, can we bring together people and establish such trust that we can argue about principles — not people — and forge a shared vision?

Such an effort needs to be supported with both dollars and personnel. That money could come from a foundation like Wexner or the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh or another source. This group needs a sense of urgency without succumbing to crisis mode. This group needs to represent us all, as did the Jewish Unity Project so long ago.

It needs to be small enough to share honestly and pull enough weight to point us in a common direction.

2) How inclusive will the Jewish community choose to be? Will we seek to open our tent wide on all four sides, as Abraham and Sarah did, according to our Sages? Or, will we simply look to the sha’ar ya-shuv, the saving remnant of Isaiah, to lead us into the unknown future?

I vote for inclusion. Every one of us, a gift from God, counts. I hope that our plans for the future bear this in mind.

3) What will be our relationship as Pittsburgh-area Jews to the world beyond our Jewish concern? Do Black lives matter

Bernardino, Orlando and New York, these lessons unfortunately remain pertinent to the U.S. law enforcement community. The U.S. intelligence community warned in 2019 that terrorist groups “remain intent on striking the U.S. homeland.” The threat of homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists persists as well.

Importantly, both American and Israeli police agencies operate under similar conditions, with judicial and public oversight and an aggressive free press. There is value in learning how Israel fights terrorism while preserving its democratic institutions and the individual rights of citizens — challenges facing all democratic societies.

Many HSP participants have recognized the program’s great value, with the National Sheriffs’ Association endorsing the exchange in a 2019 resolution. One chief of police, for instance, credited what he learned in Israel with assisting him in deescalating and resolving an armed hostage-taking incident. I have heard many similar testimonies over the years.

Nonetheless, opponents of these exchanges seek to prevent Israeli experts from imparting lessons learned while facing a slew of attacks. Instead, they scapegoat Israel and American Jewish organizations in their obsessive quest to turn American public opinion, especially among political

liberals, against Israel.

If they succeed, the American people will lose a valuable tool in enhancing their safety, all in service of the same objective that animates anti-Israel organizations globally: the Jewish state’s isolation and ultimate destruction.

That desire is rightly rejected by Americans. This pernicious campaign should be rejected as well. PJC

— LETTERS —

Steven L. Pomerantz, former assistant director of the FBI, is director of the Homeland Security Program at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

This piece originally ran in The Forward.

Correction

Support local bookseller for your Zoom background

You don’t have to order from Boston to “spruce up” your Zoom background bookshelf or to get a custom selection of books to read (“This Jewish Boston bookseller wants to help you spruce up your Zoom background,” June 26, 2020). We have here in Pittsburgh — in fact, right in Squirrel Hill — a wonderful Jewish bookseller who is offering curated book selections based on your interests and delivered to your door. It is Amazing Books and Records, owned by Eric Ackland.

You tell Eric what your interests are and he uses his expertise to cull through his amazing inventory and select a customized set of books. I’ve ordered several times and have enjoyed the surprise of seeing the choices he’s made for me based on my idiosyncratic tastes. Several of the books have also made wonderful gifts for family and friends.

When you do this, you have the additional mitzvah of supporting a local small business during these difficult times for our local businesses.

Simone Shapiro Squirrel Hill

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Please see Gibson, page 18

The email address for Chris Benton, executive director of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, was listed incorrectly in the Organization Directory published on June 26, 2020. The correct email address is chris@bethelcong.org. The Chronicle regrets the error.

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JULY 3, 2020 11

Headlines Shapiro: Continued from page 1

Shapiro’s grandfather, took the surname of a recently deceased man in his village to avoid being conscripted into the Russian army in the 19th century, thereby becoming Morris Shapiro, according to Heinz History Center’s Rauh Jewish Archives.

One of Morris’ children, Hyman, emigrated to Canada in the 1890s, worked on the Lower East Side of New York City, then traveled west with family to Pittsburgh.

Hyman Shapiro and his brother Nathan had auspicious beginnings, opening a leaf tobacco wholesale business in the Hill District. Sam, the firstborn child of Hyman Shapiro and Sarah Shapiro, née Safier, was born in 1914, with Howard following in 1917 and Jason in 1920.

The Shapiro brothers opened Jitterbug Record Mart in downtown Pittsburgh in 1937, originally selling used 78 RPM records from jukeboxes.

“They were in the record business when it was considered a second-class business,” said Gerrie Shapiro, Jason’s daughter. “Then, it exploded. They got into it at the right time and they got out of it at the right time.”

The Shapiros rebranded as National Record Mart and grew the chain — doing everything from selling LPs to selling concert tickets — to more than 75 retail stores before selling the business in 1986. The number of stores ultimately peaked at about 130 locations, then closed in 2002.

The downtown headquarters of National Record Mart was a hub of activity — with a signature Shapiro flair.

“They were funny. They had one desk and one chair behind it and they’d take turns sitting in it,” Gerrie Shapiro laughed. “People that worked for them, to nobody was it Mr. Shapiro. If a kid was going to the prom, my dad would loan him the Lincoln. Everybody loved coming to work, everybody was family.

That’s a testament to the three brothers.”

Jason Shapiro’s life in entertainment didn’t end, however, with the turntable.

In the 1960s, he partnered with Lenny Litman and Gabe Rubin to run the Penn Theater downtown, which stood where Heinz Hall is today. The trio used profits from a successful run of “Hello Dolly!” starring Carol Channing to finance much of the $30,000 entrance fee to run a team with the American Basketball Association. By Feb. 2, 1967, Litman, Rubin and Jason Shapiro were running the Pittsburgh Pipers. “[Rubin] was always interested in basketball and I was doing some promotions with the Philadelphia 76ers in Pittsburgh at the time,” Jason Shapiro told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2003, when Rubin died.

“A guy called us about this new league, the ABA, and Gabe got interested. He said, ‘I could get involved in that by saving money not betting anymore on basketball games.’”

The pair was credited with bringing star Connie Hawkins to Pittsburgh for the ABA’s debut in 1967. In that year, they played in the original Civic Arena and took home the championship title, beating the New Orleans Buccaneers four games to three, with Hawkins, who later went on to star in

p Gabe Rubin (left) and Jason Shapiro (right) were early owners of the American Basketball Association Pittsburgh Pipers in 1967 and signed its star Connie Hawkins (center).

Photo courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives.

p Jason Shapiro on his 99th birthday, putting on tefillin with Rabbi Zalmy Kudan

Photo provide by Gerrie Shapiro

the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, winning Finals MVP honors.

“Gabe and Jason, they drafted Hawkins and brought him here — he was a huge sensation,” said Harlan Stone, a downtown attorney and Squirrel Hill resident who is Rubin’s grand-nephew. “I remember going to games, getting my ball autographed, the kind of things that get a 13-year-old kid excited.”

Stone remembered Jason Shapiro as a kind of star.

“They knew the entertainment and they mixed comfortably with them,” he said.

“Fast-talking? Yes. Colorful? Absolutely.

And I think Gabe and Jason were birds of a feather, to an extent.”

O

n Shabbat, the man behind National Record Mart and the Pittsburgh Pipers was just another individual davening among the Orthodox. But Shapiro was not really frum and often drove to shul in Squirrel Hill, making sure to park a couple blocks away so he could be respectful of

those walking to services.

Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, executive director of Friendship Circle and the grandson of the late Doris Rudolph — who Shapiro knew when they both attended Penn State University — remembers Rabbi Sholom Posner seeing Shapiro walk into shul one Saturday.

“Jason, it’s so nice to see you here,” Rabbi Posner said to him. Feeling sheepish, Jason Shapiro admitted he drove to shul that day.

“Jason,” the rabbi responded, “did I ask you how you got here?” All that mattered was that he was there.

Rudolph and others remembered Jason Shapiro handing out handfuls of lollipops to children congregating in the synagogue.

“He was a character — he was always so sweet and friendly,” Rudolph said. “He was this icon from the old days of Pittsburgh but he never came off that way. He came off as a sweet, humble fellow.”

“There are plenty of people, plenty of grown men in Pittsburgh who are probably grandfathers now, who have memories of my father giving them lollipops,” Gerrie Shapiro laughed.

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld came to serve Chabad in Pittsburgh in 1978. He learned about the Shapiro brothers — specifically Jason, who became a Yeshiva Schools board member — quickly from Rabbi Posner, who also was close with Jason’s father, Hyman.

“It’s the rare kind of thing you find, three brothers working together like that,” Rosenfeld told the Chronicle. “Jason was the closest thing you can think of to having an angel in this world, interested in helping in every way.”

Rosenfeld remembers a man in the community falling on hard times and turning to Jason Shapiro for counsel, who encouraged the man to apply for a loan through the Hebrew Free Loan Association.

When the man didn’t qualify, Jason Shapiro was at the man’s home with a personal check for $5,000 within hours.

“That was his way of operating,” Rosenfeld said, “always thinking about everybody.”

“His greatest accomplishment was that he made people feel great about what they were doing,” Rosenfeld added. “At the end, he was retiring but he was always learning, always asking questions, always willing to learn more and more. He was probably somebody that loved everybody and everybody loved him.”

Today, the Shapiro family is memorialized with several rooms, including the Lubavitch Center sanctuary, named in its honor. One of their descendants’ hand-made quilts hangs proudly on the wall.

Jason Shapiro was with his brother Howard’s family the night Howard died. In the years that followed, Louise Silk, one of Howard’s two children, said he became a new dad to her.

“My father was Howard, for sure, but they were kind of one person, in a way,” said Silk, an artist who lives in South Side. “They seemed like three people to everybody else.

But, to us, they were one person.”

“I was fortunate,” said Robert Shapiro, Howard’s son. “It was really like having three fathers.”

Silk remembers driving in a station wagon with the Shapiro brothers to National Record Mart downtown.

“They’d talk in a language I didn’t understand,” Silk laughed. “I’d sit in the car and I didn’t understand a word they said.”

“The three of them were full, loving, overflowing with chesed — that’s just what the family was,” she added. “There was a whole generation of those kind of families and the brothers fit right in there. It doesn’t exist like that today.”

Today, Robert Shapiro is the elder statesman. An attorney living near Miami Beach, Florida, he has 25 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Jason Shapiro “was a terrific guy,” Robert Shapiro said, simply.

“I don’t know what else I can say,” he added. “He was a huge role model for me.

Every day there’s part of me that’s simply channeling him.”

Keshira haLev Fife, the granddaughter of Jason Shapiro’s cousin, helps document the family history, placing the Shapiros near the center of the Torath Chaim community in East Liberty as it grew in the mid-20th century.

“He was such a sweet man. I don’t remember seeing him not laughing, smiling, asking how everyone was,” said Fife, who lives in Regent Square. “He always had a smile on his face. And his smile … was playful. Even when I visited him last, his face lit up. It didn’t take much to make him smile and his smile was so genuine.”

She said Jason Shapiro was one of a kind, for many reasons.

“There’s something so existential about knowing histories. And Jason — as the last person of that generation — was a link to that living memory,” Fife said. “And he was a manifestation of their dreams. They were successful, they had loving families and they were generous to their community.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 12 JULY 3, 2020

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Life & Culture ‘Building’ Jerusalem: Tower of David exhibit features cultural icons

p Tower of David Museum

— WORLD —

By Simone Masha | JNS

M

useums are in crisis all over the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the loss of visitor revenue, many smaller museums are being forced to close, and larger ones are postponing reopenings because restrictions on the numbers of visitors make it economically unfeasible. In Jerusalem, the majority of museums are still closed, although the Tower of David Museum — one of Israel’s leading cultural institutions — has just now reopened

Reopening: Continued from page 1

at how to have small groups come back,” according to Drew Barkley, the congregation’s executive director.

That might mean not hosting a Shabbat service but perhaps welcoming a family to hang a yahrzeit plaque while observing guidelines concerning face masks and social distancing. The congregation is also contemplating moving services from its smaller and more intimate sanctuary to its larger sanctuary and continuing to livestream its services for those not comfortable with coming into the building.

Joshua Lederer and William Taxay are chairing Sinai’s reopening committee. In a statement echoed by many congregations throughout the city, Taxay said the committee decided early on that “this is not something we are going to be a leader on. We have to take care of our congregants but at the same time, we want to keep people safe.”

The congregation has circled “mid-July” as a tentative date to begin testing the waters with some sort of “physical interaction at their facility,” according to Lederer.

Taxay summed up the committee’s thinking by explaining that the building itself is not required to carry out the Temple’s mission.

“If we can use the building safely, then PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Photo courtesy of tod.org.il via JNS

its doors after being closed for three months in the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nestled in the magnificent citadel at the entrance to the Old City, the museum has always appealed to tourists. Currently, it is featuring a new exhibition, running until April 2021, called “Banai: A Musical Journey From Persia to Jerusalem.”

Eilat Lieber, director of the Tower of David Museum, says this exhibit was two years in the planning, and that it focuses for the first time on modern-day Israel — on the wellknown Banai family and their influence on the musical makeup of a complicated, rich and ancient city.

Lieber notes that “the melodies of

Jerusalem are holy as well as secular, ancient as well as trend-setting, and in this exhibition, they accompany the journey of the Banai family through more than a century of tradition, history and development. Their family name means ‘builder,’ and we see how they built the heart of Israeli culture.”

For those unfamiliar with the name Banai, this talented multigenerational family is as synonymous with Israeli culture as the Kennedy dynasty is to American politics.

The reopening of the museum was not

easy. “We are opening our doors, but with only a little over 10% of our staff,” acknowledges Lieber. “We’ve had to make some very hard decisions and an immediate switch in our thinking.”

Included among these changes were revised visiting hours to better accommodate a local population and increasing the number of outdoor activities to encourage social distancing. However, staff at the

we will,” he said. “If we can’t, we’re going to go about our mission and take care of our members, our staff and our clergy.”

Rodef Shalom Congregation, a Reform congregation in Shadyside, won’t be “announcing any dates until sometime next month,” according to Jonathan Rosenson, the congregation’s reopening committee’s chair.

Rosenson said that the hope is to begin opening in some fashion for certain types of activities but “a lot of that is going to be based on feedback we receive from the congregation.”

Rosenson explained that decision of when to reopen will affect not just religious services but a preschool, combined religious school, spiritual activities, as well as the three other congregations housed within the building: Bet Tikva, Congregation Dor Hadash and Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation. All three congregations have representatives on the 18-person reopening committee, as does the Joint Jewish Education Program, the early childhood center, congregants and rabbis and board members from Rodef Shalom.

Temple Emanuel of the South Hills also has formed a task force to consider all of the issues surrounding reopening.

“We know that whenever we are back to having some measure of in-person services, we will continue to stream,” explained Executive Director Leslie Hoffman. “We know that a portion of our community won’t

be comfortable coming back immediately.

We are going to be hybrid forever. This is a shift and includes continuing to offer virtual content such as Torah study moving forward.”

Accordingly, the Reform congregation in Mt. Lebanon is keeping the safety of its members at the forefront of the decision-making process.

The congregation did reopen its Early Childhood Development Center to a very small “morning only summer session” approximately one-fifth of its normal size, Hoffman said, noting that “that is very different than opening for services.”

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, a Conservative congregation in Scott Township, created a reopening task force “about a month ago,” said newly installed president Susie Seletz. Rather than planning to meet in person, the congregation is continuing to offer a full array of virtual offerings in an effort to keep its congregants healthy. The task force is meeting weekly and has “split up into various subcommittees to address short range potential opportunities, long-term plans, logistical concerns that will have to be addressed before we return to the building, and High Holidays.”

Temple Ohav Shalom President Ken Eisner said the North Hills Reform congregation is operating under “one of the overriding principles of Judaism, pikuach nefesh, which means saving a life. That takes priority over

everything, even some of the laws that are in the Torah.”

Judaism is uniquely qualified for challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, Eisner said, because “so much of the religion is based on the home, whether it’s Shabbos dinners, or Chanukah or Passover or davening at home.”

The congregation is opening two four-day preschool camps beginning July 20 and 27, Eisner explained and said that on July 30 the Temple will hold a drive-in service which “is just like it sounds. The rabbi will probably be standing on a pickup truck and we’ll give FM receivers as well as a Shabbos bag with challah and grape juice in our parking lot.”

Members will also receive a survey meant to measure, “are people comfortable coming to the synagogue if there are 50 or 100 people? Are you comfortable if only the rabbi and cantorial intern can sing or if you’re required to wear a face mask or would you be more comfortable just Zooming the service from home?”

Once Conservative and Reform congregations begin to get a handle on reopening the next challenge awaits: what to do about the High Holidays.

“With somewhat of a pun intended, we’ll have to get the temperature of where people stand,” said Eisner. PJC

p Banai family on the rooftop of 13 Agas Street, Jerusalem, 1949.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Photographic Archives via JNS

Please see Tower, page 22

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

JULY 3, 2020 13

Life & Culture Families embrace cycling after months of quarantine — SPORTS —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

S

unny days and shuttered summer camps have sent many parents in search of outdoor family activities. Whether it’s neighborhood walks, bird watching or exploring the region’s many trails, people are heading outside after months of indoor quarantine.

“We definitely bought more bikes during COVID,” said Elli Kanal, of Squirrel Hill.

Prior to the pandemic, neither Elli nor his wife Ilana worked from home, but when COVID-19 closures began, the family of seven was thrust into a now familiar scenario: The parents were working from home while their children attended virtual school.

As much as the Kanal family saw each other throughout the day, Elli and Ilana were looking for ways to spend time together as a family outdoors. Cycling promised an option for bonding and exercise, so the parents, who already owned a rack and several bicycles, purchased some new two-wheelers and set out for adventure with their children.

The Kanals soon discovered that not only was cycling a good way to spend time together outdoors, but there also was the unexpected benefit of promoting independence, explained Ilana.

As opposed to the parents choosing a destination, and then venturing out as a group, such as to the Ghost Town Trail in Indiana County, the Kanals’ older children became actively involved in the selection process. The kids now research prospective routes by talking to friends or reading reviews online, said Ilana.

Elli encourages other parents to invite input from their children about rides, but said the heavy lifting, or carrying, probably still requires an adult: “Anytime we go anywhere, we pack food. That’s how you keep your kids happy, isn’t it?”

Alan Orlansky, a self-described “all around bicycle person,” has noticed an increased number of families riding together recently.

Orlansky, who has been in the bike business for 30 years as a mechanic, store owner and avid cyclist, is excited by the surge in cycling, but cautioned riders about the perils of some local routes.

“On weekends, the river trails, from Costco to Station Square, the Jail Trail, the North Shore Trail, the main ones within a couple of miles of the Point, are too crowded in my opinion and somewhat dangerous,” said the Squirrel Hill resident. Parents who are looking for a casual, enjoyable and safe

p Joshua Friedman racing in Palmer, Massachusetts

ride, might consider “driving to Boston, PA, or somewhere farther out ... even going to the Pump House at the Waterfront and heading south is better than heading toward the city.”

When trails become overpopulated, it’s not only difficult to socially distance, but there is an increased likelihood of accidents, explained Orlansky.

Cycling is a great way for families to get out and do something together, but “the main thing to consider is safety,” he said, adding that parents should make sure everyone is wearing a helmet and that the bicycles have been recently inspected.

It’s also important to remember that “with COVID-19, a lot of water fountains aren’t operating because the parks are closed, so take water with,” he said. “It’s harder to get provisions when you’re out, not everything is opened up.”

Joshua Friedman, an elite amateur cyclist, echoed Orlansky’s concerns for safety.

When families head out for rides everyone should “be aware of the rules of the road,” said Friedman, a Squirrel Hill resident and father of three. “Make sure everybody is keeping their eyes up and paying attention.

Your bike goes where your eyes are going,

so wherever you’re looking you’re going to ride there.”

Friedman encouraged people to “ride defensively,” but also said that “not everything has to be so serious.” Families should “have fun and make an enjoyable thing out of it. Bring a lot of snacks, and stop and take pictures.”

Friedman, a USA Cycling Level 1 coach and Category 1 cyclist, has competed internationally throughout the years, but offered several suggestions for parents seeking local options: “Two great places to start are the oval on Washington Boulevard, and when you graduate that, the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) trail.”

“Highland Park is nice. It has a big hill in it, but so does everything else in Pittsburgh,” he added.

Friedman’s children are 11, 9 and 7, and as much as his family has enjoyed cycling together in the past, he’s even more excited about the future.

On June 23, the City of Pittsburgh announced a 10-year plan to add 120 miles of new trails, bicycle lanes and neighborhood improvements, all while making cycling safer and enabling residents of all

Photo courtesy of Joshua Friedman

ages and abilities to access grocery stores, parks, schools and places of employment, by bicycle and “other small mobility modes.”

“Any way we can increase other modes of travel besides cars is better for everyone, even the drivers if they don’t want to admit it,” said Friedman. “Cycling reduces congestion, reduces pollution and increases public health.”

There is a lot of room for optimism, continued Friedman: “The bicycle is the machine of freedom. Think of all the stories of people going to explore new things, whether it’s in their neighborhood or the other side of the world.”

Even so, there’s also value in looking not too far down the road, noted Orlansky.

With so many individuals seeking space outdoors, there are times when the trails are being simultaneously used by cyclists, hikers and bird watchers.

People should realize that these paths are being shared, and everyone needs to be safe, he said. “That way you can have fun, and come back tomorrow and do it again.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines 9 powerful Jewish designs by Milton Glaser, the iconic graphic artist who died this week

By Gabe Friedman|JTA

“The Plot Against America,” and other Philip Roth book covers

p Milton Glaser in his New York studio in 2014.

Photo by Neville Elder/

a black silhouette were inspired by Islamic art. The image became an icon of ’60s style and imagery.

Corbis via Getty Images via JTA

M

ilton Glaser, the godfather of modern graphic design who passed away on his 91st birthday on June 26, didn’t talk about his Jewish identity very often.

But when he did, he made clear that his New York Jewish upbringing defined his artistic sensibility.

Born to Hungarian immigrant parents, the lifelong New Yorker grew up in the Bronx, surrounded mostly by “Jews from Eastern Europe, [who] were very left-wing — Marxists, Trotskyites,” he told Hadassah Magazine in 2009. “[P]art of my ideas come more from my Jewish background than my American background,” he said in that interview, adding that a sense of “never quite feeling at home in any culture” shaped his aesthetic.

That turned out to be a positive: Glaser would go on to challenge almost every orthodoxy of modern design, changing the “vocabulary of American visual culture,” as his New York Times obituary put it.

“At a certain point we were accepted, and once that happens, everything becomes less interesting,” he said in a 1989 interview, referring to his group of early design firm collaborators.

Here are some of the Jewish images from Glaser’s legendary career.

Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits

In 1967, Glaser made a poster for an album of greatest hits by Bob Dylan, one of the other most influential Jewish artists of the 20th century.

The colorful waves that make up Dylan’s hair against

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G l a s e r designed many book covers over the years, including at least the four that are listed on his website for the late Jewish novelist Philip Roth: “Exit Ghost” (2007), “Nemesis” (2010), “The Humbling” (2009) and “The Plot Against America” (2004) — the last of which imagines an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh becomes president, establishes friendly relations with the Nazis and allows anti-Semitism to fester throughout the country.

A Gentile’s Guide to Jewish Food

up spontaneously to see the former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who was visiting the city. The parade’s branding was revamped in 2011, and Glaser contributed the red, white and blue logo.

Fairway

Old Jews Telling Jokes

Glaser also lent his logo design talents to this website, a virtual archive of sorts of exactly what it sounds like: videos of old Jews telling Jewish jokes. In the words of creator Sam Hoffman: “Every joke teller had to be at least 60 years old and ‘Jewish.’ The age thing I would be strict about, the Jewish thing would be in spirit. If nothing else, we would make portraits of people who had lived at least six decades and that would be something to see.”

Fairway Market, the New York supermarket beloved by local Jews for its many kosher and Jewish-inspired offerings, enlisted Glaser’s help in designing all sorts of food containers. The company was likely keen on duplicating the success of Glaser’s logo for the Grand Union supermarket chain, which became an influential design totem.

Works at the Israel Museum

I ♥ NY

Glaser and Clay Felker founded New York Magazine — that same one that is still alive and well — in 1968. For around seven years, Glaser wrote a column titled “Underground Gourmet,” which profiled restaurant gems that wouldn’t break anyone’s budget. This was one of the many covers he designed for the magazine, and likely the most Jewish.

Celebrate Israel Parade

The parade, which packs New York City’s Fifth Avenue every summer, is one of the largest annual showings of Jewish pride in the world. It began in 1965, when thousands of people lined

Perhaps his most well-known design is I♥NY, the logo has become a defining image for the world’s No. 2 Jewish capital. Originally designed for a 1977 tourism campaign by the city, it has since been an international staple on everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs to bumper stickers. “I’m flabbergasted by what happened to this little, simple nothing of an idea,” Glaser said in 2011.

The storied Israel Museum in Jerusalem houses at least three Glaser works, according to its website, in its permanent collection. Among them is a famous ad for Olivetti typewriters, which drops one of the machines into a 15th-century painting by Piero di Cosimo. PJC

“Angels in America”

Glaser’s design of a crouched man with colorful angel wings graced the Playbill for Jewish playwright Tony Kushner’s iconic play “Angels in America,” a complex Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the AIDS crisis.

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JULY 3, 2020 15

Images by MiltonGlaser.com via JTA except New York Magazine via Pixels.com via JTA; Olivetti via The Israel Museum via JTA; I♥NY t-shirt by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images via JTA

— ART —

Life & Culture For elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union, COVID-19 lockdown loneliness is debilitating — LIFESTYLE —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

T

amara Boronina, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor living in Ukraine, can barely afford her small Odessa apartment on her monthly pension of $65.

She is a widow whose only daughter died in 1999. Unable to visit the local Jewish community center that has been her social lifeline, Boronina now eagerly awaits the weekly visit by her caseworker from the JDC, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

“The worst loss this virus and quarantine has brought for me is isolation,” Boronina said of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I am a very sociable person and communication is even more important for me than material assistance.”

The former Soviet Union has about half a million Jews, most of them living in Russia and Ukraine. Many thousands of them are elderly and have decided to pass up the opportunity to immigrate to Israel or the United States because they feel too old to readjust to a new country.

The JDC, a 106-year-old Jewish international aid agency, was born in 1914 to assist exactly those types of Jews who found themselves mired in difficult circumstances at the start of World War I. It helped Jews flee Nazi Germany beginning in 1933. Some 80,000 German Jews escaped Europe altogether with the help of the JDC, whose work now with victims of Nazi persecution is funded in part by the Claims Conference, a body that represents world Jewry in Holocaust restitution negotiations.

Later, when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the JDC was the only reliable source of aid for many who were plunged into extreme poverty. It also has helped thousands of non-Jews survive in the wake of natural disasters, such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

So the agency has plenty of experience with providing food and medicine in war zones, earthquakes and the like. The trickier part, JDC officials said, has been relieving the loneliness and isolation that the crisis has meant for the elderly Jews in that part of the world, who are feeling the loss of cultural and social frameworks.

Before COVID-19, the JDC had offered them things such as yoga, gymnastics, pottery, language and painting classes, and the benefit of socialization, through a network of dozens of Jewish community centers and day centers.

“They’re confined to four walls, some in dilapidated homes. For some, the will to live is slipping away,” said Michal Frank, the executive director of JDC in the former Soviet Union.

“Before the virus, they could either go to the Jewish community center or, if they were homebound, receive home visits from the JDC caseworker. For some, the virus has either complicated that or made it impossible. We’ll be dealing with the effect this is

16 JULY 3, 2020

p A JDC employee, right, delivers an aid package to a Jewish woman in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 2020.

Photos courtesy of the JDC via JTA.org

p An elderly woman wearing a face mask sits at a bus stop in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ovsyannikova Yulia/ Ukrinform/Barcroft Media via Getty Images via JTA.org

having on their mental condition for a long time after this is over.”

In response, the organization has set up COVID-19 hotlines manned by trained volunteers, one of the only programs of its kind for the region’s elderly Jewish population.

There are six call centers, including ones in the Ukrainian cities of Odessa and Dnipro, as well as in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova. Working off a list of elderly

clients who get regular aid from JDC, volunteers and staff chat for about half an hour with each person they call and make sure they have what they need.

Across the former Soviet Union, additional Jewish communities and groups also have launched emergency services to help vulnerable populations through the coronavirus. Organizations affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which constitutes a major force for post-Soviet

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Jewry, have been churning out thousands of meals and providing protective gear to at-risk elderly Jews for weeks in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

One Chabad project for young volunteers, EnerJew, also attempts to address the isolation issue. Its members have been assigned elderly community members to check up on regularly by phone and sometimes on their doorsteps, under social distancing limitations.

EnerJew activists have delivered more than 2,500 packages to needy Jews in the former Soviet Union, along with doorway chats and follow-up telephone calls, according to the project’s director, Konstantin Shulman.

Russia and Ukraine have recorded about 8,200 deaths and 1,000 deaths, respectively, from COVID-19, placing them low on the table of world fatalities per million inhabitants. Those two countries have about 500,000 Jews, but fewer than 100 of them have died from the virus.

So far, JDC has recorded 17 coronavirus-related deaths among its elderly subjects in the former Soviet Union. One JDC employee has died from the disease, and several other JDC staff have been infected but survived, a JDC spokesperson said.

JDC’s Jewish community centers and day centers are closed to the public, but many of them still feature activities, conducted under social distancing limitations, that are broadcast live on the internet. (It’s not clear at this point how many people over 70 are able to enjoy these broadcasts, Frank said.) In Ukraine, a JDC initiative called the Leadership Alumni Programs is also planning to hand out tablet computers to dozens of elderly clients.

Nadya Gassilina, 80, who also lives in Odessa, is another recipient of JDC aid.

Caseworkers leave supplies for her on her doorstep, so she doesn’t need to leave her home amid the pandemic.

“The quarantine has changed our life dramatically,” Gassilina said. “Our day center was a window to the outside world for me.”

Phone calls and home visits help, Gassilina and Boronina said. But they are counting the days until they can return to socialize.

In some Jewish communities, volunteers in JDC frameworks, supported by the Genesis Philanthropy group, came up with their own projects to help alleviate loneliness. In Gomel, Belarus, for example, the JDC volunteer center began a series of Facebook posts for the elderly with manuals on how to get online services, like home-delivered grocery shopping.

A Zoom instructional video showed elderly viewers how to order online medications to be delivered to a nearby pharmacy in Gomel.

From there, JDC volunteers picked up the order and delivered it to the older adult’s address while maintaining social distancing.

The workarounds generally help, according to Svetlana Ignatyeva, a 74-year-old from Odessa. But they’re no substitute for being a part of the “bigger family” she found at her local day center.

“How can just a taste be enough when you are used to a big meal?” she asked. PJC

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JULY 3, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

Birth

Desperately seeking catharsis

DANENBERG: Rachel and David Danenberg are delighted to announce the birth of their beautiful daughter, Liora Madeline, on May 23, 2020, a sister to Gabriella Sarah. Mazel tov to proud grandparents Judy and Bob Danenberg of Pittsburgh and Stephanie and Arnold Bancroft of London, England, and great-grandmother Trudi Danenberg of Pittsburgh. Liora Madeline is named in loving memory of her maternal greatgrandmother, Marion Bancroft, may she bring light to the world. PJC

JRS joins others to offer free training series online

J

ewish Residential Services is joining more than 40 Jewish organizations nationwide to present a seven-part Jewish Disability Access & Inclusion training series. Offered free of charge, the series began June 23 and runs through Aug. 11.

“This training will provide the skills and information organizations around the country need to fully welcome people from all backgrounds, including people with disabilities,” said Nancy Gale, executive director of Jewish Residential Services, in a statement.

July 2020 marks 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law.

“Over the years, with great intentions, the push for diversity, equity, access and inclusion in Jewish organizations has led to

improvements in access and inclusion for people with disabilities. However, there is still a long way to go,” added Gale.

Those interested in the free online series can watch live and ask questions via Zoom.

Each webinar will include ASL interpreters and live captioning. Participants are encouraged to register at respectability.org/ jewish-events. Additional accommodations required to participate may be requested by emailing JoshuaS@RespectAbility.org.

Following completion of the series, a recorded version, including slides and transcripts, will be available on respectability.org/ jewish-events. PJC

Rabbi Seth Adelson Parshat Chukat-Balak Numbers 19:1-25:9

P

urity and purification were of utmost importance to our ancient Israelite ancestors, and for good reason. Theirs was a world of many dangers: marauding wildlife, uncontrollable diseases, bloodthirsty enemies, lawless bandits, the merciless forces of nature, and so forth.

Purity was an ideal that they held out before themselves, that through various rituals they could achieve a pure state, in which God would favor them and lessen the danger.

Not much has changed. With COVID-19 potentially lurking in every corner, police brutality on display for all to see, racial injustice revealed in all its ugliness, anti-Semitism gathering steam, and governmental dysfunction of cataclysmic proportions, it is easy to feel like we are floundering in chaotic currents of human failure.

I could use a good cleanse right now.

And so it almost makes sense to read the passage in Parshat Chukat about the parah adumah, the notoriously elusive “red heifer” used in preparing a magic potion that would cleanse anybody of tum’at met, ritual impurity that came from exposure to a corpse.

Almost, because to contemporary ears this passage is inscrutable. And not only contemporary: a midrash (Bemidbar Rabbah 19:3) has the wise King Solomon declaring, “I have labored to understand the word of God and have understood it all, except for the ritual of the parah adumah.”

Nonetheless, one does see the appeal in achieving purity through curious rituals. I want all of this to be over. I want resolution.

I want purity. And I want to be able to sit on my porch on a summer evening, survey the world, and think, “All is right once again.”

I want catharsis.

One of the greatest challenges that we see right now is that none of these things have a simple, sweet resolution. The virus is not going to magically disappear. The problematic political actors are not simply going to pick up their toys and go home. The system that reinforces racial injustice at many levels in American society is not going to fix itself. The Jew haters are not going to crawl back into their holes. The internet will not suddenly only speak the polite truth. The Earth’s atmosphere is not going to stop its steady warming. There is no magic potion.

There is no parah adumah.

There is only us. And we are going to have to work together to solve these problems. But the good news is that we have solved many such challenges before, and we have the ability to do so again. But it will require that we listen to one another and to the words of professionals, that we act from a place of respect for each other rather than “winning.”

Perhaps what this passage teaches us is that the details and complexity of the parah adumah ritual, and indeed the impossibility of finding the right cow for the job, suggest that the easy way out does not exist; that although absolute purity is unattainable, we should nonetheless push ourselves to find it.

“Lo alekha hammelakhah ligmor, velo attah ben horin lehibbatel mimmena,” says Pirkei Avot — it is not up to you to finish the task, but neither can you let it go. We may not find either a red heifer or that much-needed catharsis, but if we do not even seek to unite to solve big problems, then nothing will be solved. It is through cooperation and commitment that we may ultimately achieve purity. PJC Rabbi Seth Adelson is senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

— Adam Reinherz

The Original Gibson: Continued from page 11

to us? Do poverty, discrimination and inequality matter to us? Does the phenomenal financial success of many in our Jewish community require a response to address inequality of opportunity and resources faced by countless people who have been held down for generations?

Some of these endeavors will require not only our clearest ethical vision but also our willingness to look beyond our personal or our community’s needs and wants.

If we want a seat at the table of justice, we had better be prepared to acknowledge our position and use it to benefit others because it promotes the well-being of all. It will be terribly difficult to hear what others have to say about us and not walk away, rather than stand up for ourselves. But claiming our place in the community discussion is necessary if 18 JULY 3, 2020

we are to promote understanding and move toward the better world we all desire.

Who will lead these efforts? Who will help establish trust? Who has vision? Who will bring us together? One thing I know for certain — the manner in which we engage on our momentous challenges, the way we treat each other, will be as crucial to the result as any particular idea or resource.

As I leave my position as senior rabbi of Temple Sinai, I pray and hope that we might have a great coming together, even as the two great families of the Jewish world come together this Shabbat.

I have been honored and privileged to serve this incredible, unique Jewish community and wish only blessings on everyone who works in, or is associated, with it. PJC Rabbi Jamie Gisbon served Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh as its senior rabbi for 32 years.

He recently retired and now holds the title of emeritus rabbi.

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Obituaries HEPNER: A woman of integrity, humility, wisdom, beauty and love and who was exceptional, vibrant, generous and gracious in every way, Jane E. Hepner passed away on June 25, peacefully at home with her beloved husband, Leonard D. Silk. Jane was 64 years old. She is also survived by her brothers Allen Hepner (Micheline Gauthier), Michael Lincoff (Debra) and Mark Lincoff; stepdaughters Isadora Silk, Eli Silk (Annie) and Sarah Silk; grandchildren Maya Silk and Hailey Silk; and nieces and nephews Madeliene Hepner, Gabrielle Jerusalem (Yissachar), Aaron Lincoff (Ariella) and Jacob Lincoff (Michal). Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to the Magee Foundation or the Humane Society. May her memory be a blessing to her family and to all who knew her. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MILLER: Bernard “Bernie” Miller, died peacefully on Sunday, June 28, 2020. Beloved husband of 60 years to Ravenna (Palkovitz) Miller. Son of the late David and Katie Miller. Brother of Ethel (Sol) Jarmell. Loving father of Aimee (Marty Gass) Miller and Jeff Miller. Proud grandpa of Jordan Harper and Julian Alexander Gass who brought him much joy in his later years. Also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews and great-great-nieces and nephews.

Mr. Miller graduated from Peabody High School, then Tufts University as a mechanical engineer. He served two tours of duty as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War. He earned his master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University while working for Westinghouse Electric Corporation where he designed and patented the portable X-ray machine used in hospitals. He served as a liaison to the CMU robotics program. In addition, he had many interests including antique cars and music ranging from classical to the Beatles. He was also a collector of many things and an avid reader. Even after losing his sight, he continued to enjoy books on tape. Bernie will be most remembered for his devotion to family, his generosity, his gentle disposition, kind heart, dry humor and corny “dad” jokes. The family wishes to say a special thanks to UPMC Heritage Place for taking such good care of him during his last months.

Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to the Bernard & Ravenna Palkovitz Miller Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, 2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 or any charity of choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com POCHAPIN: Martin Arthur Pochapin died on Thursday, June 25, 2020, at the age of 94.

Affectionately known by many as “Marty,” he was born and raised in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, but traveled near and far. He was friendly, talkative, and known by name everywhere he went. He was a World War II veteran who served under General George S. Patton, an advertising salesman, a patron of the arts, an PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

avid baseball fan, and a connoisseur of dining who never went a day in his life without eating something sweet. He lived a long and healthy life and was most proud of his family: wife Marsha Pochapin (deceased), father and mother Dr. Irwin M. and Bessie Finkelpearl Pochapin (deceased), brother Dr. Sherman W. Pochapin (deceased), his surviving children, Pamela and Emil M. Quatchak (daughter and son-in-law), Robi Pochapin, Carol Darwish and Miriam Pochapin (son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter), Kevin and Deanna DiGioia Pochapin and Pablo and Antonia Linzoain (son, daughter-in-law and step-grandchildren), Allison Pochapin (daughter), and his cousins, nieces and nephews. Services were held at West View Cemetery. The family extends a special thank you to the administrators, doctors, nurses and entire staff of Canterbury Place and Family Hospice for loving him and caring for him so well in his final years and days. Contributions suggested to: UPMC Canterbury Place Interfaith Pastoral Care Program, Medical and Health Sciences Foundation, UPMC Senior Services, 3600 Forbes at Meyran, Suite 8074, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; or the Support the Met Broadcasts Campaign, The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023 whose Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts Martin listened to faithfully since childhood. Professional services by D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd., Lawrenceville.

ROSENZWEIG: Sidney Rosenzweig, age 93, died peacefully of natural causes at home on June 25 surrounded by Sema, his wife of 64 years, and his loving family. Father of Joy Rennert, Michael (Peggy) Rosenzweig and Michele (Breck) Smith. Proud grandfather of Mollie, Emily, Amy, Kate, Eric and Rachel, and uncle to numerous nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his parents, Miriam and Israel, and siblings Lollie, Nettie and Harvey. Sid was past president of Parkway Jewish Center synagogue. He graduated Fifth Avenue High School, and after serving in World War II as an Army intelligence officer, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in business administration. Before retiring, Sid was a lifelong manufacturer’s representative who engendered the complete trust and friendship of his customers all around Western Pennsylvania.

Sid adored the sunshine and he and Sema retired to West Palm Beach, Florida, where Sid loved to golf and spend time with family.

Sid and Sema returned to Pittsburgh and have resided in Oakland for the past three years. Sid loved the Steelers, Pitt, watching the stock market shows, going to shul, but most of all, his wife and family. Services and interment private. Contributions to honor Sidney’s life may be made to the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Veterans Services Student Resource Fund, online at http:// pi.tt/pittsupportovs. A Zoom shiva was held Sunday, June 28. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

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Harvey & Esther Nathanson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mishelevich

Joel Berg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Regina Goldberg

Joyce Offerman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Levenson

Marc M. Bilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dr. Milton Bilder

Joyce Offerman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max Levenson

Cheryl and Garry Bloch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerda Bloch

Jo Anne Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Kaiser

Cheryl and Garry Bloch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Bloch

Jerry Roth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Roth

Sherry Cartiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sidney Posner

Jerry Roth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhea Roth

Frank & Barbara DeLuce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fay Doltis Shaer

Herbert Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Shapiro

Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Goldston

Ethel Sisselsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sidney Sissel

Joan G. Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genevieve Israel

Myron & Eileen Snider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mildred E. Snider

Yetta Joshowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Isadore Joshowitz

Sharon Snider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mildred E. Snider

Jan & Ed Korenman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Kuperstock

Robin Snyder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barney Snyder

Dr. Herbert Kramer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martin M. Kramer

Yetta Speiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Regina Goldberg

Allan & Vivian Levine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Zelda Wein

Yetta Speiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harriet Lee Siskind

Howie & Shelley Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry Miller

Iris Amper Walker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Herbert Walker

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday July 5: Mildred Caplan, Harry A. Jaskol, Leah Liberman, Morris M. Markowitz, Bessie Miller, Rose C. Myers, Minnie Shapiro, Paul Sigesmund, Cyril Simon, Bernard Stern Monday July 6: Jennie Baker, Ben Foster, Saul J. Glick, Regina Goldberg, Rebecca Kaiserman, David Kaplan, Sarah Leebove, Henry Maengen, Louis Perr, Louis Roth, Harry P. Schutte, Elmer M. Sigman Tuesday July 7: Anna Barnett, Dorothy F. Caninzun, Sam Choder, Howard Roy Erenstein, Barnet Goldstein, Joseph Greenberger, Ruth Kuperstock, Hyman Martin, Bernard J. Miller, Cecile Oring, Simon A. Oskie, Sidney Posner, Daniel Pretter, David Serrins, Mildred E. Snider, Irwin M. Solow, Joseph Weinberger Wednesday July 8: Harry Finesod, Freda Leff, Milton G. Lehman, Pvt. Ruben Lipkind, Rose Marcovsky, Marcus Benjamin Nadler, Harriet Lee Siskind, Meyer Spiro Thursday July 9: Leonard Bernstein, Minnie Bonder, Meyer Charapp, Rose Levy Ginsburg, Genevieve Harriet Israel, Ethel Kwall, Bessie Breman Osgood, Myer W. Singer, Anna Sarah Stern, Samuel Trachtenberg Friday July 10: Pearl I. Berdyck, Hinde Leah Davidson, J. Philip Esman, Adolph Hepps, Samuel Hilsenrath, Zetta Levy, Dora Marcus, Lawrence I. Miller, Fanny Novak, Irving Rosenberg, Bessie Finkelstein Simon, Sidney Stern, Irene Taylor, Herbert Walker Saturday July 11: Leon Becker, Eli Bonder, Rose Esther Bonn, Albert Davis, Leo Finegold, Harry (Hershel) Fisher, Alice Foreman, Edwin Goldberg, Oscar Grumet, Samuel Halle, Samuel Hoffman, Leonard Joel Kirsch, Anna Kirshenbaum, John Kramer, Dora Levin, Dora Lipkind, Max S. Malt, Benjamin Riesberg, Lottie Stein Rosenthal, Nettie Rothstein, Mildred Stern, Burton Hill Talenfeld, Dorothy Zelda Wein

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PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 3, 2020 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

SANTMAN: Rochelle C. Santman, 84, of Squirrel Hill, died on June 26, 2020. Loving aunt of Marjie (Marc) Schermer, Stuart (Adele Friedman) Kisilinsky and Steven Santman; great-aunt of Ayla Schermer; sister-in-law of Sally Santman; daughter of the late Harry and Jennie Santman; sister of the late Molly (Benny) Kisilinsky and Sidney Santman. She also leaves behind her feline buddy, Summer, as well as extended family and friends, particularly those whom she loved at The Haven at North Hills. Rochelle had a long and devoted career in food service at The Children’s Institute in Squirrel Hill.

She deeply loved all the children she served there and they responded in kind. Rochelle also cared immensely about animals. She especially enjoyed when folks would bring various animals to visit at The Haven at North Hills. A passionate fan of our Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins, she always donned her sports gear at game time, with her team paraphernalia close at hand. Some special moments in Rochelle’s life include the time that she was in the presence of Sidney

Crosby; the day she met Willie Stargell; and the experience of being photographed with singer Ella Fitzgerald. A graveside service was held at Machzikei Hadas Cemetery, located at 904 Geyer Road in Reserve Township near Millvale. Contributions to honor Rochelle’s life may be made to Achieva, 711 Bingham St., Pittsburgh, PA 15203 or to The Children’s Institute, 1405 Shady Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Professional services by D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory Ltd. SHAPIRO: On Saturday, June 20, 2020, Jason Harold Shapiro passed away peacefully at his home in Montecito, California. B eloved husband of the late Hope L. Shapiro, may her memory be a blessing.

He met Hope on a blind date at Penn State University and eloped before he deployed to the South Pacific in 1945. This was the beginning of a lifetime of love, devotion and companionship. Beloved father of Frank Shapiro, Robbie Elconin (Donni ), Gerrie Shapiro. Proud grandfather of Micah Elconin, Travis Elconin, Jesse Elconin, Benjamin Shapiro (Kristina), Ruth Shapiro (Daniel) and great-grandfather to Amaya Shapiro. Jason was adored by his nieces and nephews: Robert Shapiro (Roberta),

Louise Silk (Steve), Barbara Macaluso (Lenny), Michael Shapiro (Joan), Claire Kaplan (Ronald), and numerous grandand great-grandnieces and nephews. Jason was born in Pittsburgh on Feb. 15, 1921.

He was the youngest son of Hyman and Sarah Shapiro. Jason and brothers Sam and Howard were and will always be fondly referred to as “The Shapiro Boys.” Their bond was legendary. His brothers preceded him in death in 1998. The Shapiro brothers left an undeniable stamp on the Pittsburgh music, radio, sports and philanthropic landscape. National Record Mart was the first retail record chain in the United States.

Generations of record buyers and concert ticket purchasers made their way through the doors of NRM. He was and is still adored by all the people and families that worked there.

From the Beatles to Frank Sinatra, Jason, Sam and Howard partnered with Pat Dicesare bringing many concert events to Pittsburgh.

In the mid-1960s Jason was instrumental in bringing the Wilt Chamberlain era of NBA basketball to Pittsburgh. This led him and his brothers to join with Gabe Rubin becoming a founding team owner in the American Basketball Association. Jason fulfilled his dream with the Pittsburgh Pipers, winning the championship in the inaugural 1967’68 season. He always said it was the most expensive fun he ever had! Jason’s greatest

joys were family, friends and philanthropy.

His main focus was Jewish education. It was always about the children, the “kinderlach.” He had a lifelong commitment to the Yeshiva Schools and Lubavitch Center. Each Shabbos, Jason was the “lollipop man.” There are countless grown men in the community cherishing the memory of celebrating the sweetness of Shabbos with a “lolly” from Mr. Shapiro. Jason supported Hillel Academy day school, the Jewish Association on Aging, Hebrew Free Loan, Jewish Family and Community Services, United Jewish Federation, Jewish National Fund, Kollel, Aleph Institute and many more. He was beyond generous but never sought attention.

Jason loved his winter Acapulco vacations with his beloved wife, Hope, and summer vacations in Beach Haven, New Jersey, with the Sapper family. Jason’s relationship with his lifelong best friend, Martin Sapper, was unique beyond explanation. Jason Shapiro was a true tzadik. Contributions may be made to: Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, Chabad of Santa Barbara (6045 Stow Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93117) or The Friendship Center of Santa Barbara (89 Eucalyptus Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93108).

Graveside services and interment private.

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

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JULY 3, 2020 21

Life & Culture Tower: Continued from page 13

Tower of David Museum also had to rethink how it can continue to engage visitors from abroad who are unable to travel.

Accordingly, the museum is offering Zoom conversations with the curator of the exhibition, while other experts will focus on Israeli culture and music.

‘This Is Our Song’

The Banai family is seen as a phenomenon in Israel.

The saga goes back to 1881, when Rachamim Bana came to the Holy Land from Shiraz, Persia, and settled outside the walls of the Old City. His son, Eliyahu Yaakov Bana, his grandchildren and then his great-grandchildren created a legacy of talent that accompanied the growth of the city and the country. Every Israeli has its own Banai — sometimes, even more than one. Their very names — Ya’acov, Yossi, Chaim, Gavri, Yuval, Orna, Meir, Ehud, Eviatar, Uri — evoke every period of Jerusalem’s modern history, ever since the city developed from a backwater of the Ottoman Empire into the capital of the State of Israel.

“The soundtrack of my childhood was the radio comedy skits of the HaGashash HaHiver trio with Gavriel Banai, and the routines of Yossi Banai and Rivka Michaeli interspersed between Hebrew songs and classical music,” said Tal Kobo, curator of the exhibition. These skits, first composed in the early 1960s, became the iconic components of popular Israeli culture. The idioms and expressions they created have long been integrated into modern spoken Hebrew.

In the 1980s and early ’90s, the rock group Mashina took center stage. Founded by Yuval Banai, the group symbolized everything that was atypical, rebellious and exciting at the time, with a pinch of international flavor. In the same era, his cousin, Ehud Banai, offered another facet of Israeli identity, crystallized in the album “Ehud Banai and the Refugees.”

And all the while, the radio continued to play Israeli classics: Yossi Banai singing the French chansons of Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens.

By the late 1990s, it was Orna Banai who had the entire country laughing with her character “Limor” in the satirical television show “Only in Israel.” The late Meir Banai developed his own soulful musical style then, while Eviatar Banai can now often be heard at any nearby Zappa Music Club. When Yossi Banai wrote, “I’m making a bridge out of memories,” he was referring to his own. But the Banai family’s creative efforts form a bridge to the collective memory of Israeli culture.

Their personal family story mirrors the development of Jerusalem and Israel, and the exhibit shows the coalescing of the community and Hebrew culture in the land of Israel. It is the story of one family’s cultural and physical journey — how they settled outside the Old City of Jerusalem, later moving to huts on the land that is today “Yemin Moshe,” out into the new area of Nachlaot adjacent to the Machane

p Eviatar, Yitzhak and Gavri Banai

Photo by Ricky Rachman via JNS

p Yossi Banai

Photo by Nino Hananiah Herman via JNS

Yehuda open-air market, and then out further afield. And throughout this time, their artistic contributions in theater, song and satire reflect each pivotal point in Israel’s history.

“People think of me as a prince in Israel, but my grandfather sold vegetables in the Machane Yehuda market,” singer Yuval Banai remarked in an February 2019 interview with Sagi Ben-Nun in Walla!

Actor Uri Banai remains quite conscious of the singularity of the Banai success story across the generations. “It is interesting how a traditional family like this — where the father is a vegetable seller, the mother a housewife with seven kids — a hardscrabble religious family, helped found the Machane Yehuda market and became the topic of some of Israel’s best trivia questions. Every

crossword puzzle includes at least one of us,” he said to Adi Greenberger in a Sept. 19 article on Ynet.

“This Is Our Song,” a line from a popular song by Ehud Banai, is also the Hebrew name of the exhibition,” said Kobo. “It serves as a metaphor of how the historical story of the Banai family and the Banai opus became a common soundtrack of Israeli culture.” PJC

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 22 JULY 3, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community Parade of traffic

Speaking to the House

Temple Sinai organized a “drive-bye” hour-long parade and send-off for Rabbi Jamie and Barbara Gibson in honor of Rabbi Gibson’s 32 years of spiritual leadership. About 100 cars decorated with homemade signs, balloons and streamers passed by. Joining the celebration was Mayor Bill Peduto, who read a proclamation honoring Rabbi Gibson.

p Rabbi Sam Weinberg, of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, addressed the Pennsylvania House Education Committee’s informational meeting on reopening schools on June 17.

Screenshot by Adam Reinherz

Hooray, it’s summer!

p Laura Fehl’s heartfelt signs celebrating Rabbi Gibson’s retirement

To the delight of parents, staff and campers, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s James & Rachel Levinson Day Camp opened on June 22. t Swimtime fun

p Mayor Bill Peduto, left, reads a proclamation.

Photos by Dale Lazar

u Arts and crafts Photos courtesy of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

People in your neighborhood

Sounds good

p Commander Daniel Herrmann of Pittsburgh Police Zone 4 and Rabbi Ron Symons of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Loving Kindness participated in a June 19 gathering to support Black lives in Hazelwood. Photo by Jim Busis

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Rodef Shalom Congregation hosted “Music and Culture at Home” on June 4. The program included a presentation by pianist Tiana Faigen.

Screenshot by Adam Reinherz

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JULY 3, 2020 23

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