Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8-28-20

August 28, 2020 | 8 Elul 5780

Candlelighting 7:39 p.m. | Havdalah 8:38 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

South Oakland corner dedicated to late Holocaust survivor

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A year in Abu Dhabi

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Hebrew Free Loan launches crowdfunding to help small businesses and day school families

A Squirrel Hill family on life in the UAE Page 3

LOCAL

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

‘Chutz-Pow!’

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changed, vestiges of bygone life remained.

Gene’s Food Market, a South Oakland staple since 1949, located at Kennett Square and Ophelia Street, was sold in 1975, but its former owner, Gene Rosner, a Romanian Jew, and his wife, Irene (née Cichocka), still stopped by the area. Sass remembered seeing Rosner on the streets and his cheerful demeanor. She also remembered that he helped local residents like Mary Rocco.

Born with intellectual disabilities, Rocco spent 28 years in an institution before arriving at a South Oakland group home in 1971. As Rocco navigated her new surroundings, Rosner noticed how she and other former residents of the Polk State School and Hospital in Venango County were treated by local bullies. He took Rocco and the other

n March, when COVID-19 started to roll into Greater Pittsburgh, Josh Snider’s printing business didn’t hit bottom — but it got a little closer than he would have liked.

“I was expecting business to be down 50% because we do a lot of printing for venues and bands,” said Snider, who owns Flower City Printmakers in Bloomfield. “We’ve always done a lot of events-based printing.”

Snider responded by using fewer parttimers in the print shop. And he started delivering food via Uber Eats three or four days a week to make ends meet.

Then, he found the Hebrew Free Loan Association and, after stating his case, received a $5,000 business loan from the group in late April.

“Hebrew Free Loan’s help definitely helped keep us from getting behind,” Snider said.

The organization now is looking to broaden its mission, launching crowdfunding to back its new 412 Business Benefit Notes program and an initiative to support families that send their children to Jewish day schools.

The business initiative provides one- to three-year loans to business owners who make up the business districts Allegheny County residents know and love — and it’s all supported through donations from area residents looking to give back in the time of COVID-19.

To date, about $95,000 of the $100,000 minimum to get the program up and running has been raised, according to Aviva Lubowsky, a spokesperson for HFLA.

Please see Corner, page 14

Please see Crowdfunding, page 14

Comic book artist inspired by real-life heroes Page 5

LOCAL Art therapy  Mayor Bill Peduto with Irene Rosner at the Aug. 18 corner dedication.

Photo by Jeannine Clay

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A Finding calm in the midst of the pandemic Page 17

fter living abroad and returning to Pittsburgh 42 years ago, Millie Sass went searching for a home. Several city possibilities were available, but an Ophelia Street residence in South Oakland caught her eye. Between the house’s street-level front entrance and its picturesque sunset views overlooking the Monongahela River, Sass knew that she and her husband Richard had found the perfect place to plant their roots. The Sasses purchased the property, raised their daughter there and watched a community evolve.

As older neighbors left, absentee landlords acquired available real estate, exacerbating a trend of overcrowded student-filled spaces.

Street parking grew difficult and the implementation of permits did little to help. But although much of the neighborhood had

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Headlines Jewish day schools’ fall semester includes plans to combat COVID-19 — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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ittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools are opening for in-person instruction over the next several days, following recommendations set by the Centers for Disease Control, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, in an effort to minimize transmission of COVID-19 by students and staff.

Community Day School has imposed a face-covering requirement, according to Jennifer Bails, the school’s director of marketing and communications. Other precautions to ward off the coronavirus include maximizing physical distancing, prioritizing hygiene, requiring students and staff to stay home when sick, increasing ventilation and focusing on cleaning and disinfecting.

Even with increased safety protocols, leaders of all three days schools acknowledge the possibility that a student or staff member may contract COVID-19. Each school has developed guidelines and strategies, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to combat further spread.

Following CDC mandates, all three schools will require a student or staff member who tests positive for the coronavirus to isolate at home for at least 10 days from when symptoms first appeared and until they are fever-free without medication.

Any student or staff member exposed to a person who tests positive for the virus also will need to be quarantined, explained Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s principal, Rabbi

before the illness’ onset (or for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to a positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

Before returning to school, students and staff who have tested positive will need to verify with CDS’ school nurse, Hillel’s medical advisory team and Yeshiva School’s head of school that the appropriate criteria have been met.

Even while at home, students in isolation will not necessarily miss classes.

All three schools have developed online learning resources, allowing students to transition from inperson to virtual instruction seamlessly.

Although the possibility of a mass outbreak of the p Hillel Academy, like Community Day School and Yeshiva Schools, has plans in place to protect its community if a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick virus exists, none of the schools are planning to Sam Weinberg. At Hillel, that quarantine will an infected student or staff member will be shut down their campuses unless certain last for 10 days; at CDS and Yeshiva Schools, identified through contact tracing. CDS’ metrics provided by the Pennsylvania it will remain in effect for 14 days from the nurse recently completed the COVID-19 Department of Education are met. The last date of contact. contact tracing course developed by the length of the closure will depend on the Areas in the school occupied by an Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public level of community transmission and infected student or staff member will be Health and will perform this function at number of cases at the school. closed for a minimum of 24 hours and then the school. Hillel Academy has created a School leaders note that they have plans cleaned, sanitized and ventilated, as recom- medical advisory team that will be tasked to keep students as safe as possible and will mended by the Pennsylvania Department of with contact tracing. update their guidelines and procedures Health and the CDC. “Close contact,” according to CDS’ Bails, based on CDC recommendations. PJC The schools will report all positive cases to is defined by the CDC as any individual David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ the Allegheny Department of Health. who is within six feet of the infected person Students and faculty in close contact with for at least 15 minutes beginning two days pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines After a year in Abu Dhabi, Squirrel Hill couple offers personal lens on Israel-UAE deal — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

W

hen the historic Abraham Accord, signaling peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, was announced on Aug. 13, it marked not only the third time an Arab country formalized relations with Israel but the first time it happened in more than 25 years.

As much global attention as the treaty received, two Squirrel Hill residents were hardly surprised by the agreement. During their one-year stay in Abu Dhabi, Robin and Maxim Hammer had heard about dealings between Israel and the UAE and watched as the country publicly embraced an increasingly favorable view of the Jewish state.

Maxim, a UPMC neurologist who accepted a one-year position at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital, recalled that shortly after he, Robin and their three children arrived in the UAE, Israeli Tal Flicker won a gold medal at the October 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam judo tournament, but event organizers refused to raise the Israeli flag or play “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem.

One year later, however, when Israeli Sagi Muki took gold in the tournament, the Israeli

p Maxim Hammer enjoys a Guinness in the UAE.

p The Hammer children stand near the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world.

Photos courtesy of Robin Hammer

flag was raised and “Hatikvah” was played.

“The UAE is a very progressive country that wants to be Western and they’re changing very rapidly,” said Maxim, who pointed to the UAE’s welcoming of the formerly forbidden Apple FaceTime app as further proof of the country’s evolution.

Given the historic nature of the Israel-UAE deal, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, a friend of

the Hammers, invited Robin and Maxim to speak virtually with members of New Light Congregation last week.

The event was less about geopolitics and more of an opportunity for members to hear how the Hammers felt as Jews during their time in the UAE, said Perlman.

Speaking to people at New Light, and in private conversations, has been an

opportunity to dispel certain myths, said Robin after the event: “It’s hard to explain the UAE society in the context of stereotypes we all have about Middle Eastern countries that we get from the news and a lot of films, but I think there are other countries in the region where those stereotypes are more accurate.”

Please see UAE, page 15

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Headlines Jewish candidate for PA statehouse attacked for ‘Beverly Hills politics’ — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

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Jewish statehouse candidate in Pittsburgh’s North Hills is under attack through mailers some say cross the line from politics as usual to noxious nativism and xenophobia.

Emily Skopov is a Marshall Township Democrat running to succeed former Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai in District 28, which includes Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, and Marshall, McCandless and Pine townships. Turzai stepped down from the seat after nearly 20 years earlier this year to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Skopov is facing Rob Mercuri, a Pine Township Republican, in the open race this November.

A number of recent mailers from a Pennsylvania political group are stirring the pot in the hotly contested race. Those mailers repeatedly attacked Skopov’s career as a Hollywood scribe and questioned her “Beverly Hills politics,� which she said is a dog whistle reference to her Jewishness. Skopov, for the record, never lived in Beverly Hills. “I think ‘Beverly Hills’ has always been a dog whistle both for affluent Jewish people

and for wealthy Jews in Hollywood,� said Skopov, who has penned scripts for television and film. “This is a dog whistle call against my family. [District 28] is a great place to live and these attacks are not reflective of the people who live here now.� “It’s really sad that he’s ‘othering’ me,�

Skopov added. “He’s turned me into a foreigner, which I think is really unfair in a country built by folks who came here from somewhere else.�

Mercuri, the Republican candidate, repeatedly declined to comment on the matter, stressing through a spokesperson that the mailers came from a group called Commonwealth Leaders Fund and his campaign had no hand in crafting them.

Matt Brouillette. a Harrisburg businessman associated with the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, called Skopov’s interpretation of the mailers “ridiculous� in a prepared statement to the Chronicle. “But we understand why Emily Skopov would want to avoid talking about her statement that a bipartisan bill safely putting Pennsylvanians back to work was ‘reckless, irresponsible and dangerous,’�

Brouillette said.

The quote is a reference to a headline in a Pennsylvania newspaper in which Skopov criticized Turzai’s 70-word COVID-19

ď ° Mailer distributed in the North Hills

return-to-work measure, she said.

A who’s who of Democratic Party leaders lined up on Skopov’s side last week, as the furor over the mailers unfolded.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, who is Jewish, said the mailers didn’t amount to anti-Semitism but they were a tasteless and tone-deaf attack. “They have nothing else to talk about other than trying to make this person an alien to

Image provided by Emily Skopov for Pennsylvania

her community,� Frankel told the Chronicle. “I think this is a tactic that basically says, ‘We don’t have much substance to talk about here.’ We’ve seen this before. And we’ve seen this used against Jewish candidates before.� “I would love to be surprised by this but this is from the same playbooks our Republican opponents use year after Please see Candidate, page 15

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Headlines Comic book artist Marcel Walker inspired by stories of real-life superheroes first met Baran, a Pittsburgh resident and Holocaust survivor who, as a member of the Jewish partisans, spent two years living

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer in Poland’s forests fighting Nazis and saving Jews during World War II. s an artist, illustrator and writer with In his role with the Holocaust Center, an expertise in graphic novels (i.e., Walker had spent months studying Baran’s comic books), wartime activities, and Marcel Lamont Walker those of Malka, Baran’s understands the value of wife, who as a prisoner in a superhero has nothing the camps was among a to do with beautifully group of women who hid sketched flowing capes, a baby in their barracks. sweeping depictions of In words alone, the Barans’ incomprehensible physstories were extraordinary. ical prowess or dramatic Rendering their unimagnarrations of evil upended. inable tales into images so Walker, a comic book that the drawings would devotee and project coorbe accessible to students dinator and lead artist for and readers of diverse ages the Holocaust Center of and backgrounds was no Pittsburgh’s “Chutz-Pow!” small responsibility. But series, recognizes the Walker cherished the chalimportance of superheroes lenge, and was rewarded because he’s met them. when he finally met Baran Well before shaking several years ago.

Final artwork for the cover partisan fighter Moshe p “I’ve been obsessed with of “CHUTZ-POW! Vol. 3: THE Baran’s hand or speaking YOUNG SURVIVORS” Superman since the age of Artwork by Marcel Lamont Walker 6,” said Walker. “It was like candidly with the late civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, Walker was Superman himself walked into the room.” transfixed by characters whose actualized Walker soon experienced that othergoodness distinguished them from other worldly feeling again. After having written mortal beings. a review of the final installment of “March,” When it came to Superman, it certainly a three-part graphic autobiography of Rep. helped that the Man of Steel was faster Lewis for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, than a speeding bullet, more powerful than Walker, a board member of ToonSeum, a a locomotive and able to leap tall build- comic book museum formerly located on ings at a single bound, but even as a child Liberty Avenue, was invited to help chapWalker knew that Clark Kent in disguise was erone Lewis and the book’s co-creators merely a two-dimensional figure. The Man during a 2016 visit to Pittsburgh. of Tomorrow was a model for what people Prior to the group’s presentation to fellow could become when they chose to use their comic book enthusiasts, Walker questioned powers and abilities for a greater purpose.

Please see Walker, page 15 That’s why Walker was so nervous when he

— LOCAL —

A

Photo: Josh Franzos

JAA Strong.

Go ahead, Diane, flex your muscles.

You and fellow essential workers in healthcare.

Alongside drivers, responders, teachers, contractors, servers.

On the front lines every day.

Take a bow. You deserve it.

Thank you, Superheroes.

Everywhere.

p Left to right: Nate Powell (“March” artist), Marcel Walker, Rep. John Lewis, and Andrew Aydin (“March” writer, and Lewis’ digital director and policy advisor). Taken Oct. 8, 2016, at the August Wilson Center.

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Headlines Cantorial intern sings a new tune at Temple Ohav Shalom — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

S

tefanie Greene comes from a family of highly accomplished musicians, but although she has chosen a slightly different path, she is far from a black sheep.

Her mother and father are both concert pianists who met at the Yale School of Music, her sister plays the violin and viola professionally and her brother is a studio musician recording movie and TV scores in Los Angeles.

Greene was poised to join her family in the world of commercial music before having what she described as a “burning bush moment.”

Greene was living in her hometown of Chicago, working full-time as the director of digital marketing for a health and wellness startup and part-time at Congregation Beth Emet the Free Synagogue in Evanston, Illinois, as a song leader while auditioning for various opera productions.

“I was feeling very happy from the weekend — leading services and working at the synagogue — and God spoke to me,” Greene recalled.

The message she heard: “You’re supposed to be a cantor and it’s how you are going to change the world.”

p Temple Ohav Shalom welcomed Stefanie Greene as its cantorial intern at a Shabbat service July 3. Photo by Stuart Rogers

In 2016, Greene began her transition from the world of professional opera to sacred and religious music. She now is a cantorial intern at Temple Ohav Shalom in Allison Park, having honed her skills along the way in New York and Israel.

The musical journey is as much about finding her own identity as it is about deciding on a career path.

Although she has sung for congregations of various denominations, she grew up in the

Reform movement and considers the North Shore Congregation Israel, a Reform congregation in Glencoe, Illinois, as her “home congregation.”

That congregation also was home to Cantor Richard Cohn, the current director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of the Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion, where Greene now is a student.

In 2013, while mourning the loss of her grandmother and with feet firmly planted in the secular operatic world, a voice teacher’s words inspired Greene to connect her singing to her Judaism.

“I had a voice teacher tell me, ‘Stefanie, you’re not just any American soprano. You’re Stefanie, you’re Jewish. You need to lean into that part of yourself.’ I really dove into that,” she said.

After a trip to Israel in 2016, Greene became involved with the Jewish United Fund Young Adult’s Division and began attending services on a regular basis.

Realizing she had a lot of non-Jewish friends who were opera singers and getting High Holiday gigs, it dawned on her that, as a Jew, she could be seeking those jobs as well, she said.

It was then that Greene found out about the opening at Beth Emet.

The Chicago native reached out to HUC’s Cohn who supported her decision to become

a cantor. “He said, ‘This makes so much sense for your life’ and it just felt right.”

Greene is in her fourth year of cantorial school. She spent the last two years in New York attending HUC. Before that she studied in Israel.

When she connected with Ohav Shalom, the original plan was for Greene to live in New York and fly to Pittsburgh twice a month to work at the temple. As luck would have it, Greene’s boyfriend moved to Pittsburgh for a job opportunity and then, in June of this year, HUC announced it was going virtual. Seeing no reason to stay in New York, Greene, 31, reached out to Ohav Shalom’s Rabbi Jeremy Weisblatt, who felt a move to the Steel City would allow her to do more with the congregation. She calls the move “an awesome opportunity.”

In addition to her cantorial duties, Greene will be assisting with the congregation’s b’nai mitzvah seminars and teaching sixth — and seventh-grade Jewish studies, leading music at the religious school and possibly teaching a few adult education courses.

Greene is the only HUC cantorial intern currently working at any of Pittsburgh’s area Reform synagogues, noted Weisblatt. He sees the position as an important part of Ohav Shalom’s goal of being a “learning and mentoring congregation.”

Please see Cantor, page 15

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You are Invited to an Exclusive Pittsburgh Preview and Panel Discussion of

Thursday | September 3 | 7:00 pm https://ovee.itvs.org/screenings/w0duc Be among the first to preview this documentary produced by WQED for PBS. It shares the story of nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during WWII to the port city of Shanghai. You’ll hear their extraordinary recollections and unique relationship with their adopted city.

This preview will be followed by a panel discussion with Pittsburghers with ties to this poignant story. Rivaling all elements and in tragic contrast to those who could not escape, this is a Holocaust story of life.

Funding for Harbor From The Holocaust was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers, Chosky Educational Foundation, Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Support for the Pittsburgh preview event is provided by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Studies Program.

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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 SUNDAY, AUG. 30 Join Partnership2Gether for a virtual tour of Karmiel/Misgav by tour guide Adi Zarchi of Karmiel.

Learn about the history, culture, narratives and people that have shaped that region in Israel.

12 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfedpgh.org. q SUNDAYS, AUG. 30; SEPT. 6, 13, 20, 27 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAY, AUG. 31 Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for First Mondays with Rabbi Alex. Pianist Tom Roberts will discuss Louis Armstrong and his Jewish influences.

12 p.m. Visit bethelcong.org for more information and to register.

Temple Sinai invites you to “Finding Your Spiritual Home: Lessons from the Most Dynamic Synagogues Today.” Special guest speaker Rabbi Sid Schwartz will discuss dynamic synagogues in this conversation about 21st-century Judaism. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public but registration is required to receive the Zoom link. templesinaipgh.org

q MONDAYS, AUG. 31; SEPT. 7, 14, 21, 28 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. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 2 “Cook Along with Temple Sinai” as guest cook Kate Passarelli presents a delicious menu of some of her favorite Southern U.S. recipes. Free and open to the public but registration is required to receive the Zoom link and ingredient list. 6 p.m. For more information and to register, visit templesinaipgh.org.

Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for “Past, Present and Future, A Virtual Community Gathering Marking 40 Years.” During the gathering, Holocaust Center leaders and educators will reflect on what the center has accomplished, share some initiatives and discuss the direction for the center’s next 40 years.

7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit hcofpgh.org/hc40. q THURSDAY, SEPT. 3 Classrooms Without Borders presents “Operation Wedding” and a post-film discussion with film director Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov. 3 p.m. RSVP to receive a link to the film. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q TUESDAY, SEPT. 8 Leket Israel: A webinar with Joseph Gitler, founder of Leket Israel will focus on what Leket is doing to address food insecurity and food waste during the coronavirus pandemic. Leket is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Campaign, so the webinar

will highlight both the issue of food security and Federation’s impact. 12 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfedpgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for E3: An Unorthodox Conversation. Grab your mothers, daughters, granddaughters, nieces and mothers-in-law for an engaging discussion, moderated by Dodi Roskies. Zoom link and signature cocktail recipe will be provided upon registration.

This is a free event open to all women donors who give to the Pittsburgh Federation’s Community Campaign. 7:30 p.m. Visit jewishpgh.org. q THURSDAY, SEPT. 10 Join Classrooms Without Borders for their Open Minds, Open Hearts Fundraiser. 6:30 p.m.

Free to attend but donations encouraged. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.

Chabad of Squirrel Hill presents the Virtual Mega Challah Event. 7 p.m. $10. For more information and to register, visit chabadpgh.com. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 13 Registration opens soon for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s 10th Annual Apples & Honey Virtual Fall Festival. The festival will include special programming, a live event and plenty of downloadable activities. 10 a.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org.

Join Partnership2Gether and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, in collaboration with Classrooms Without Borders, for the movie “H.I. Jew Positive,” about four Polish Jews who discover their Jewish

identities. A post-film conversation will include director and producer, Ronit Kertsner, Polish Jewish history scholar Natalia Aleksium and Polish Jews who are part of this ongoing process. 1 p.m. Visit jewishpgh.org for more information and to register.

Chabad of the South Hills presents a Pre-Rosh Hashanah Creative Canvas Painting, outdoors and socially distanced in its parking lot. All children aged 3-11 are welcome, $8/child. 3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit chabadsh.com. q MONDAYS, SEPT. 14; OCT. 12; NOV. 9; DEC. 14 Join Classrooms Without Borders in Israel -- virtually.

Monthly tours with guide and scholar, Rabbi Jonty Blackman, via Zoom. 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 Join the Jewish Federation online for This Is Us: 2021 Community Campaign Kickoff and help launch the 2021 Community Campaign.

This first-time virtual event is partnered with The Jewish Federations of North America, featuring Eugene, Sarah and Dan Levy. 1 p.m. Learn more at jewishpgh.org/this-is-us. q THURSDAY, SEPT. 24 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Rodef Shalom Congregation and the Maltz Museum of Jewish heritage present “Eva: A-7063” and a post-film discussion with Michael Berenbaum and film director Ted Green. 3 p.m. Educators attending this program are eligible to receive Pennsylvania Act 48 continuing education credits. RSVP at classroomswithoutborder.org. PJC

Families, Traditions, Connection These are what make the High Holidays so important.

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Headlines Squirrel Hill native offers help to members of LGBTQ+ community experiencing domestic abuse — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

vi Diamond didn’t originally have her sights set on becoming the first LGBTQ+ Outreach Advocate at the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.

The 29-year-old had planned to work with children with special needs and emotional issues. Diamond needed clinical hours, however, to finish her master’s degree, and a friend she met while working at the Friendship Circle suggested the Women’s Center.

After interning for a year at the center, the LGBTQ+ outreach position was created in September 2019. “It really resonated with me,” Diamond said. “It was something that hadn’t existed before. I felt like it was meant to be. I was thrilled when I was offered the position.”

The Women’s Center has been offering support and aid to more than 8,000 individuals per year, including shelter for those fleeing dangerous domestic situations, for more than 45 years.

Diamond said the Women’s Center created the new position because there were not many clients from the LGBTQ+ community seeking help from the center despite a

affirming of my gender? Are they going to use the right pronouns?’ Those might seem really small to someone who’s not in the LGBTQ+ community, but it’s part of the microaggressions that built up over time — someone calling you ‘she’ when you’re supposed to be a ‘he.’ It’s hard to describe to someone that hasn’t been through that.”

In addition to her counseling degree, Diamond is also a board-certified musical therapist and a professional folk singer who can often be found, both physically and virtually, gigging around the city.

She credits Pittsburgh, and specifically Squirrel Hill, as helping to create the empathy she brings to her work.

“I grew up in a very community-oriented space in Squirrel Hill,” she said. “Growing up in that environment made me a much warmer, happier person. I do extend that love for humanity to my work.”

While the LGBTQ+ community Diamond serves may be different than the clients traditionally seen by the Women’s Center, the essence of the work remains the same.

“It’s just a matter of showing your willingness to listen and be present with other people’s differences and similarities,” she said. PJC

knowledge about LGBTQ+ issues perceived need for its services. and is a member of the Pittsburgh Current data about domestic LGBTQ+ community. abuse in the LGBTQ+ community Diamond’s new role with the is scarce, but the Centers for Disease Women’s Center comes at a time Control’s 2010 National Intimate when traditional gender identiPartner and Sexual Violence Survey fications are being reexamined. found that 44% of lesbian women Those who may need help from and 61% of bisexual women expethe Women’s Center include not rienced rape, physical violence and/ Avi Diamond Photo by only those assigned female at birth or stalking by an intimate partner Nicolette Kalafatis. but also those who are transgender in their lifetime.

Diamond, who recently received her or in the process of gender transition. The master’s degree in clinical mental health shelter is available to house female individcounseling, was tasked with working in the uals, including those that are trans-female.

Diamond’s work includes non-residential community to find people who need help, after the Women’s Center realized it needed services and is available to anyone in the to make itself “a more welcoming spot for the community, no matter their gender.

“If you’re a survivor, we’re going to work LGBTQ community,” according to Diamond.

Identifying those who could benefit from with you,” she said.

In fact, Diamond said that if you are not the resources offered by the Women’s Center has proven particularly difficult during the a woman and need help, reach out because COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent the Women’s Center will provide assistance limitations on social gatherings. Diamond in leaving abusive relationships, utilizing has attended a few Black Lives Matter hotels or other secure spaces if necessary.

Even though abuse occurs in all commuprotests and has spoken at a couple of virtual drag shows, which she feels has been helpful. nities, Diamond said that the LGBTQ+ “I’m trying to become a familiar face in community has its own set of challenges. Even something as simple as where to seek medical the community,” she said.

The Pittsburgh native, who grew up in treatment is fraught with hazards, she said.

“You have to think about, ‘What doctor Squirrel Hill and is the daughter of Rabbi Chuck Diamond, said she has a lot of am I going to go to? Are they going to be

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

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

Aug. 28, 1965 — Physicist Giulio Racah dies

Physicist Giulio Racah, 56, is killed by a leaky gas heater in Florence, Italy. He did groundbreaking work with atomic spectroscopy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he led the physics department and was acting president.

Aug. 29, 1897 — First Zionist Congress opens

Organized by Theodor Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland, and over three days sets the strategies for “establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in the Land of Israel.”

Aug. 30, 1987 — Cabinet Halts Lavi production

The Israeli Cabinet votes 12-11 to cancel Israel Aerospace Industries’ Lavi fighter jet program amid soaring costs, reduced production plans and the end of hopes to sell the airplane on the export market.

Aug. 31, 2004 — Beersheba bus bombings kill 16

Bombs explode on two buses 100 yards apart on Beersheba’s main street, Ranger Boulevard. Hamas claims credit for the attack, which kills 16 Israelis, including a 3-year-old, and injures 100 others.

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Chaim Weizmann, credited with playing a key role in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, is named an honorary technical adviser to the British Admiralty on the supply of acetone for the explosive cordite.

Sept. 2, 1935 — Rabbi Kook’s funeral

An estimated 80,000 mourners, roughly a quarter of Mandatory Palestine’s Jewish population, line the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who died the previous day.

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Sept. 3, 2011 — March of the Million held

More than 450,000 Israelis take to the streets to demand social justice and relief from the high cost of living in the March of the Million, the largest demonstration in Israel’s history. PJC

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AUGUST 28, 2020 9

Headlines This rabbi spent 4 months on a ventilator and endured 4 collapsed lungs from COVID-19. Now he’s recovering. — NATIONAL —

By Penny Schwartz | JTA

A

t a moment when the world could use a dose of hope, along comes Rabbi Yehuda “Yudi� Dukes.

In late March, Dukes was hospitalized in New York with COVID-19, a week after the otherwise healthy 38-year-old rabbi took ill at his Long Island home. Dukes spent a whopping four months on a ventilator, including nine weeks on an artificial lung machine. He endured four collapsed lungs, experienced a stroke and underwent a liver biopsy, among other challenges. He is believed to be among the longest hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the country.

And then he began to improve.

Earlier this summer, Dukes regained consciousness after having been in an induced coma for months. In late June, he began to mouth words. By early August, he was eating food again. And as of last week, he was breathing entirely on his own.

In a hopeful post on Facebook, his wife, Sarah, reported: “The procedure that Yudi had a couple of days ago to help seal the air leak in his lung was successful, thank G-d(!) and today Yudi’s 4th and final chest tube

p Rabbi Yehuda “Yudi� Dukes, the longtime director of JNet, a worldwide Chabad educational program, has been among the longest hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Photo by Itzik Roitman/Merkos302/Courtesy of JNet via JTA

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Throughout the spring and summer, as Dukes endured a roller coaster of advances and regressions in his condition, Sarah, a mental health specialist, posted updates on her husband’s condition to Facebook and Instagram. She charted his medical team’s heroic efforts to save him and encouraged people to pray and perform a mitzvah, a Jewish ritual commandment, on his behalf.

People from as far away as Berlin and Rwanda dusted off their tefillin, lit Shabbat candles or recited Psalms on Dukes’ behalf.

Even Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams took note, declaring July 23 Yudi Dukes Day in Brooklyn and issuing a proclamation that hangs on the wall in the rabbi’s hospital room.

The response has been overwhelming, according to Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’lnyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad Hasidic movement. “He’s a very positive, focused, sincere, no-nonsense kind of guy,� Kotlarsky said. “The conscience of the office — in a good way.�

Dukes is the longtime director of the Jewish Learning Network, or JNet, a worldwide Chabad program that pairs people to study Judaism together. Since regaining consciousness, he has sought to find some spiritual significance in his ordeal. “This has not been done to me,� Dukes told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by phone from the medical intensive care unit at NYU’s Langone hospital. “It’s been done for me.�

Sarah Dukes struck a similar note in an Aug. 11 Facebook post. “Yudi is able to see how everything specifically and the trauma in general is helping him grow in so many ways,� she wrote. “He told me today, ‘Every experience that I have been having, no matter how painful or negative it seems, is there to bring out the best in me and help me grow to be a better person. This trauma has been an opportunity for discovery.’�

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Sarah began posting about Dukes’ condition from the day he was admitted to the hospital on March 30. Initially she posted to seek practical help for her family as well as prayers for her husband. But she soon realized that a community had formed that was providing strength and spiritual sustenance. Inspired by her posts, Dukes’ JNet colleagues launched a campaign, “Do a Mitzvah for Yudi.� “The good deeds they were doing made me feel he was protected and safe,� Sarah told JTA. On May 31, after Dukes experienced a setback and had to have his sedation increased, Sarah posted a video of herself sitting at the piano with her 12-year-old son Baruch playing “Once Again,� a melody they composed for him. “The past couple of days have been a lot harder for me emotionally,� she wrote. “Seeing Yudi have a big setback is scary for me, and also very sad. I know he’s going to be ok in the end, and the nurses have been so reassuring, but I miss him so much. I haven’t been able to speak with him for over 2 months. Hearing my two year old son ask his father why he’s not talking back to him over the phone and that he wants him to sing to him completely broke me inside.�

Music has always been at the center of the Dukes’ relationship — and the couple’s children have picked up the score, writing and singing their own songs. Even as he lay unconscious, Sarah’s original compositions played in his hospital room. Some evenings, a nurse would hold up the phone to Dukes as Sarah played from their home.

As Sarah anticipates her husband’s homecoming, she plans to release a recording of “Triumph,� a song she began composing two years ago when her daughter was treated for a serious medical condition and has now completed. “This is for Yudi,� she told JTA. “This is for our family. This is for everyone because everyone is fighting some sort of battle. But we get up every day, we get out, we do what we have to do. And everyone is triumphant.�  PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Holocaust survivor fulfills dream of receiving a high school diploma

An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland who says that never having a formal education has been “a profound regret” was awarded a high school diploma.

Miriam Schreiber of Hartford, Connecticut, was presented with an honorary diploma on Aug. 16 at an appropriately socially distanced ceremony at the New England Jewish Academy in Hartford, The Washington Post reported. She accepted the diploma in a cap and gown.

Representatives of the senior class had met with Schreiber, a Warsaw native, at the beginning of the school year and heard her life story. The entire class voted to award her the diploma.

The students had planned to give her the diploma at their graduation ceremony, but when the graduation was switched to a virtual ceremony due to the coronavirus, they planned the special ceremony.

“Somehow the right people came together at the right time,” Schreiber said at the ceremony. “As a result, now I am offered an honorary degree to recognize that my life, learning and experiences are worthy of that honor.”

Schreiber is the mother of two sons, four grandchildren and three

great-grandchildren. Her husband died nine years ago.

Schreiber and her family hid in villages and forests in Poland for several months beginning in 1939 when she was 7 years old. She then spent nearly six years in a slave labor camp in Siberia. She watched family members freeze and starve to death, according to the report.

Liberated at 14, Schreiber was sent to a displaced persons camp in Germany.

She married her husband when she was 15 and had her first child the following year. The family immigrated to the United States in 1960.

She has learned six languages and is an avid reader.

“When I finally got the diploma, I kissed it,” Schreiber told the Post. “I just couldn’t believe it was mine.”

Two websites selling Make Israel Palestine Again T-shirts

The same e-commerce website that sold T-shirts last year with “Zyklon B” printed on them is now selling merchandise reading Make Israel Palestine Again.

Australia-based Redbubble is one of two sites selling the shirt along with Etsy.

The Anti-Defamation Commission, an Australian human rights organization, said the T-shirts call for the destruction of Israel and called on the two sites to stop selling them, the Australian Jewish News reported.

“These shirts, plainly and simply, call for the elimination of Israel and its

replacement with a Palestinian state,” Dvir Abramovich, chair of the ADC, told the newspaper. “Any product that explicitly promotes the destruction of a country which is home to nearly 50% of the world’s Jews is antisemitism of the worst kind and is beyond the pale.

“And while people are free to produce such materials, Etsy and Redbubble should not provide a forum for anyone who is employing genocidal language targeting Jews.”

Zyklon B was one of the chemicals — crystalline hydrogen cyanide — that the Nazis used to murder millions in its death camp gas chambers. Also last year, Redbubble was pressured to remove miniskirts printed with the Arabic word for God, “Allah,” following a Twitter storm of criticism. Also last year, following a complaint from staff at the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial in Poland, the site removed miniskirts and handbags printed with images of the death camp.

Etsy also sells a Make Israel Great Again T-shirt. The description of the shirt says it “will let everyone know you love the Embassy moving to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Thank you Mr. President for restoring the capital. Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting for years but Mideast Peace is possible!”

A year ago, a red baseball cap with the phrase Make Israel Palestine Again in the style of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again hat was trending on Etsy.

Doctor who tweeted that she would give Jews the wrong medications loses Ohio medical certificate

The State Medical Board of Ohio permanently revoked the medical training certificate of a doctor who was fired from two residency programs after old anti-Semitic tweets surfaced — including one in which she threatened to give Jews the wrong medications.

Lara Kollab is permanently prohibited from practicing osteopathic medicine or surgery in Ohio, Cleveland.com reported.

She surrendered her certificate prior to its revocation Aug. 12, according to the report, and cannot participate in another medical training program in the state.

Kollab wrote scores of anti-Semitic social media posts between 2011 to 2013 but deleted them after being accepted by the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, which calls itself “the largest private university in the U.S. with Jewish roots.” In an apology after her tweets drew public attention, Kollab said she had written them because she had “difficulty constructively expressing my intense feelings about what I witnessed in my ancestral land,” following visits to Israel and the West Bank.

She was fired from a residency at the Cleveland Clinic after three months there in 2018, and was expelled from a second residency program at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, California, several months later. PJC

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AUGUST 28, 2020 11

Opinion The post office challenge — EDITORIAL —

W

hen President Donald Trump raised concern about mail-in voting for the upcoming November elections and suggested that the U.S. Postal Service could be an instrument for voter fraud, political reactions were quick and intense. In the process, Americans rediscovered their love of the post office.

The U.S. Postal Service — which was founded as a way to knit the country together — has been facing very real problems for years, which have largely been ignored. We hope the newfound scrutiny and popular support for the Postal Service helps focus Congress on solutions that have been needed for a long time.

The Postal Service has warned a number of states that delivery issues need to be taken into account as schedules for mail-in voting are being developed. Given reports of 84,000 New York City ballots that were mistakenly disqualified in the state primary, there are legitimate concerns about proper planning for voting in November. But a state’s need to consider scheduling concerns is not a reason to abandon mail-in voting. Adjustments to schedules are made all the time, and states should work with the Postal Service to assure timely service.

We hope the newfound scrutiny and popular support for the Postal Service helps focus Congress on solutions that have been needed for a long time.

Chronic underfunding has plagued our mail service for years, and that needs to be addressed

by Congress. In 2006, Congress passed a law requiring the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. By almost all accounts, that pre-funding requirement is the major financial burden that hamstrings agency flexibility and largely accounts for the Postal Service’s recent string of annual losses.

Without it, the push to cut services would ease.

So would the calls for privatization.

The Postal Service’s mandate is to provide uniform mail service to Americans

everywhere. As such, the Postal Service serves as part of a nation-building enterprise, where policy cannot be driven solely by traditional commercial considerations.

That doesn’t mean that the Postal Service can’t succeed in its current structure — but it does mean that Congress needs to exercise care and responsibility to adjust requirements and to provide necessary funding in order for the enterprise to succeed.

It’s not just mail-in voting that is dependent upon a reliable Postal Service. The Postal Service handles about 4 million prescription drug shipments each day, according to the

National Association of Letter Carriers. That number has increased during the coronavirus crisis, and a delay in receiving medications can put the health of countless Americans at risk.

Many small businesses are reliant upon the Postal Service for the transmission of essential documents and packages. And print media — including the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle — is dependent upon the Postal Service for delivery of its products. If the USPS ceases to function properly, there is no other practical and cost-effective alternative for print media outlets to get their newspapers and magazines into their readers’ homes. A threat to the survival of the USPS constitutes a threat to print journalism.

In February, the House passed the USPS Fairness Act, which would repeal the crushing pre-funding requirement for future retirement health benefits, but the Senate has not taken up the measure. We urge it to do so. The Senate should also consider the $25 billion aid package for the USPS that the House passed last weekend. Common-sense reform and funding for the USPS should be a bipartisan effort.

As for November mail-in voting, we urge our readers to request ballots now, and to vote early. That will help assure that all votes are counted. PJC

Iran and the Israel-UAE deal Guest Columnist Dr. Doron Itzchakov

T

he condemnations in the Iranian media of the nascent Israel-United Arab Emirates peace agreement are hardly surprising. The regime’s leadership is covering its embarrassment and apprehension with a stream of defamation and threats. Iranian Parliament Speaker Muhammad Bakr Qalibaf called the agreement “despicable and a betrayal of human and Islamic values,” while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned UAE leaders “not to open their gates” to Israel. (An interesting exception to this pattern was the statement of former Iranian MP Ali Motahari, who tweeted, “Apart from the betrayal of UAE rulers, the blame was also on us for scaring the Arabs and pushing them into Israeli arms.”)

Israel’s rapprochement with the Gulf state is raising concerns in Tehran for a number of reasons. First, the regime fears that an alliance comprising Israel, the Gulf states and other countries, supported by Washington and Riyadh, would be a serious roadblock in the path of Iran’s goal of regional hegemony. A multinational system of that kind would strengthen its constituent members not only on the security level but also on the economic, commercial and cultural levels

12 AUGUST 28, 2020

The expression “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is as valid today as it ever was, despite attempts to throw that realpolitik model into the so-called dustbin of history.

— a worrisome prospect for Tehran.

The prospect of such an alliance is particularly troubling to the regime at a time when its regional status is declining. Recent events in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have negatively affected Tehran’s ability to promote its “axis of resistance” in the region. Its status in Iraq has been weakening since the October 2019 uprisings, a pattern that gathered new momentum after the killing of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. The deep crisis now engulfing Lebanon and the Hague’s conviction of a Hezbollah member for the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri do not contribute to Iran’s prestige. On top of all this, air strikes in Syria are severely hampering the regime’s attempts to turn the country into a front line against Israel.

Another element of the Israel-UAE deal that is causing discomfort for the Islamist regime is the problem of how to control discourse on the subject among the Iranian general public.

The leadership is finding it difficult to explain

the emerging ties between Israel and Muslim countries to its citizens. It is defaulting to the traditional pattern of labeling those states traitors to Islamic values and the Palestinian cause. Both Iran and Turkey are leaning on the Palestinian issue as a propaganda tool to advance their status in the Muslim world.

This message is not getting the traction it once did among ordinary Iranians. The educated social stratum in Iran does not buy the argument that normalization with Israel is a betrayal by definition. Compounding this problem, more and more Iranians are expressing the view that the regime’s investment of resources in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza comes at their expense.

In an indicator of this trend, the slogan “Not for Gaza, not for Lebanon, I’ll sacrifice my life only for Iran” is heard more and more at Iranian protests and online.

The regime has been working since its inception in 1979 to inculcate an adversarial framework in the minds of the Iranian people,

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but it may have overplayed that hand. A large proportion of Iranian society has come to realize that that framework, promoted at the direction of the Supreme Leader, is intended first and foremost to ensure the survival of the Islamist regime — and the regime’s interest does not coincide with the people’s interest.

From the mullahs’ point of view, the Israel-UAE agreement is a painful blow because it sends a message that Muslim countries not only do not view Israel as an enemy that must be destroyed, but view it as a potential partner for mutual prosperity and security. The Iranian people, unlike their leadership, do not believe Egypt, Jordan and now the UAE are traitors to Islam.

The foreign policy of the Iranian leadership is designed to strengthen extremists at the expense of the welfare and prosperity of the country’s own citizens. The regime has no intention of altering this policy and will continue to threaten other countries in the Persian Gulf that might be considering a similar rapprochement with Jerusalem. It is possible that Iran will now concentrate its efforts on harassing oil tankers anchored in UAE ports.

Ever since its establishment, the Islamic regime has worked tirelessly to spread its revolutionary ideology throughout the Muslim world. This has caused tensions with countries across the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Iraq (during the reign of Saddam Hussein). This rivalry was one of the key factors leading to the Please see Itzchakov, page 20

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Running a Jewish day school just got a lot more expensive — and parents shouldn’t be the only ones paying the price Guest Columnist Rabbi Moshe Hauer

T

he coronavirus pandemic has made it even more difficult to expect parents alone to bear the huge costs of educating their children.

During the past few months, online instruction has become our new normal. This critical innovation has salvaged our children’s education, but it’s inferior to in-person instruction

and requires a higher level of parental involvement. It creates significant stress and challenges for working parents, single parents and parents of multiple school-aged children.

For private schools, including Jewish day schools like those associated with the Orthodox Union, these issues are entwined with challenging economic realities. Some parents, heavily burdened by high tuition in the best of times, are suffering the economic consequences of the pandemic and are concerned about the inevitable weaknesses of the virtual school experience. They may balk at paying the same yeshiva tuition rates for a year of remote learning.

But we need to remember that the schools themselves are in a bind, too. They must invest in the things that will make physical reopening possible: new air filtration systems, increased cleaning costs, personal protective equipment, Plexiglas partitions and other infrastructure changes, as well as more staff to teach smaller classes. They also must be prepared for the real possibility of switching to remote schooling at a moment’s notice — a challenge in other ways.

To weather these challenges, and for the longer term, we must produce more than educational tweaks and expanded scholarship pools. All of us who care about our

schools and our families need to create a paradigm shift in education funding.

When you’re paying day school tuition or supporting an individual institution, you’re not just paying for the costs of teacher salaries and the building itself — you’re investing in the future of our communities.

So we need to think communally instead of transactionally.

We used to do this more. As Yossi Prager wrote for Jewish Action in 2005, American Orthodoxy’s vast day school system was built and nurtured by countless individuals who understood — in Please see Hauer, page 20

Reflecting on the lessons of Hurricane Katrina Guest Columnist Bryan Schwartzman

New Orleans offered a nightmarish glimpse of what happens when the government

N

ature strikes out at humanity. Lack of imagination and planning makes the impact worse. Government at all levels appears inept, helpless. Black and brown people are disproportionately affected. Police exacerbate the disorder. Innocents are killed.

Fifteen years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the great American city of New Orleans. In December of that year, after the floodwaters had subsided, I went to the city on assignment for the Jewish Exponent. Signs of devastation were omnipresent. City blocks leveled. Cars overturned. Miles of dark city streets with traffic lights out. Advertisements for mold removal dotting the roads. The bars on Bourbon Street were practically empty, though mournful music still filled the air.

The failure of the levees and slow government response left 1,500 dead in Louisiana along with more than $1 billion in damage.

And the policies of recovery forever altered the character of The Big Easy. According to a 2019 report by the Data Center, in 2000, African Americans comprised 67% of the city’s population. Today it’s 59%. By nearly all accounts, reinvestment centered in the business district and wealthier, whiter

breaks down. To honor the visions of our forebears and the dreams of our children, we can and must do better. neighborhoods like Uptown.

At the time of my reporting, members of New Orleans’ Jewish community were slowly returning to the mess to rebuild their homes and their lives. In late 2005, an estimated 3,500 Jews, out of about 9,000 pre-hurricane, had returned. Services had resumed in some synagogues. Just outside the city in Metairie, the Kosher Cajun Deli, which lost 20,000 pounds of meat in the flooding, had reopened and become a hub for the returned.

Everyone I spoke with was living with trauma, uncertainty and some level of discomfort.

The upside of this kind of swoop-in disaster journalism is it gives more people the chance to share their stories and, hopefully, experience some healing in the telling. The downside is that there’s no way a short-term

— LETTERS — Former resident recalls accidents at Shady Avenue intersection

People have been injured at the corner of Shady Avenue that was written about by Justin Vellucci (“Squirrel Hill intersection a growing concern to residents,” Aug. 21).

A very long time ago I lived at 2227 Shady Avenue. It was not unusual to hear the sounds of a crash. I also met a woman who was hit by a school bus in that vicinity before I moved to that address.

Rabbi Patti Haskell Asheville, North Carolina PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

visitor can possibly master the nuances and history of a place as complicated as New Orleans. I wish I’d had more presence of mind to ask questions about relations between Jews and Blacks, about the future of the city, about what those with at least a measure of power and influence were doing to help those with nothing.

The most consequential thing that happened to me in NOLA took place just a few hours after arriving. It wasn’t mentioned in any of my reporting.

From the airport, photographer Jordan Cassway and I immediately drove to Lakewood, the white, upper-middle-class section of New Orleans near Lake Pontchartrain that was flooded by the breach of the 17th Street Canal Levee. The damage to the neighborhood was

so severe that virtually no one lived there at the time. We met up with the president of Congregation Beth Israel, an Orthodox synagogue. He showed us around the ruined sanctuary. This is how I described it: “The carpet, or what was left of it, was hidden somewhere beneath the pine-cone sprinkled mud. Piles of prayerbooks and Talmud volumes, warped and corroded, lay on the ground. The arks were disconcertingly empty; 10 feet of water had filled the synagogue and decomposed the Torah scrolls beyond the possibility of restoration. Dampness pervaded … the lingering unpleasant smell hinted that months after the floodwaters had subsided, it still might not be a good idea to poke through debris in the 35-year-old building.”

He also brought us to the section of the levee that failed behind several ruined private homes. Heading back to the street, we were startled by a police car. Two officers hopped out, yelling at us, demanding to see what we’d looted. I couldn’t imagine these homes contained anything worth taking.

It happened so fast, I can’t remember if their guns were drawn. Even from a distance, the officers appeared on edge, as if they hadn’t slept in weeks. I felt that if I made the wrong move, said the wrong thing, it would all go badly. I didn’t know if badly meant spending a few hours in jail, getting beaten, or worse, but I felt an overwhelming sense Please see Schwartzman, page 20

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AUGUST 28, 2020 13

Headlines Corner: Continued from page 1

neighborhood newcomers under his wing by helping them establish checking or savings accounts, working with them on paying bills or providing regular transportation.

Rosner keenly understood life’s imbalances and that even one person could tip the scales for another.

More than 20 years prior, after he and his loved ones were imprisoned during the German occupation in World War II, Rosner saw his family’s fate determined upon exiting a railcar. By the time American forces liberated him during the infamous death march from the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, Rosner, then age 19, had already escaped extermination so many times that he was an expert in fragility.

“He used to tell everyone, ‘I’m living on borrowed time,’” said Candi Shapiro, Rosner’s daughter.

His own experiences inspired him to use his South Oakland market and neighborhood presence to support others. Local residents have long recalled Rosner’s efforts, but renewed recognition came recently when, after his death on Feb. 10, 2020, Sass read Rosner’s obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She learned about his stunted childhood and his losses suffered in the Holocaust. She discovered that in addition to building a business through a tireless work ethic, he had recently celebrated 70 years of marriage to Irene, and that he died in the same Greenfield home that he and his wife shared since 1952.

“I only knew him as a shopkeeper,” said Sass.

When she reached out to Rosner’s family to tell them how much he mattered to South Oakland and the neighborhood now called Oakcliffe, she knew that sending condolences wasn’t enough. Sass and her late husband Richard had long been involved with the Oakcliffe Community Organization, and during a discussion with

p Vintage photo of Gene Rosner and wife Irene working at Gene’s Food Market in the early 1970s.

Photo courtesy of Justin Shapiro

the group’s members, the idea of a corner dedication was proposed.

“Here was something we could do to honor a great man and make ourselves feel good about a great neighborhood,” said Sass.

Hersh Merenstein, local government and

community coordinator at Mayor William Peduto’s office, agreed to help Sass and the Oakcliffe Community Organization and dedicated hours to ensuring an optimal ceremony.

On Tuesday evening, Aug. 18, local

Crowdfunding: Continued from page 1

“You’re hearing correctly: Persons will lend to Hebrew Free Loan for HFL to lend to small businesses,” said Richard Feder, immediate past president of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition. “After the small business loans are paid back, those persons will be repaid their contribution to the program, minus a small amount to cover loan losses which have historically been low at 1%, but will likely be higher due to the COVID economy.”

Organizers hope those who contributed to 412 Business Benefit Notes will essentially get back their money after the period of small business loans is over.

Cherie Maharam and her husband Stanley donated $1,000 to the cause.

“I see the restaurants that were closed — when they’re open, they’re only allowed to be partially opened,” said Maharam, a bookkeeper for a small engineering firm, who lives in Squirrel Hill. “There are all these little stores in this neighborhood and they 14 AUGUST 28, 2020

p Josh Snider and his son Shark

were closed for a long time. That’s hard, to keep a business going.”

“I think it’s great to have an opportunity [to give], rather than just sitting there and

Photo provided by Josh Snider

saying, ‘That’s too bad,’” she added.

Funding for the initiative to back day school families who traditionally have not needed loans or assistance is soon to get

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residents, city officials and Rosner’s relatives gathered outside the building once home to Gene’s Food Market to share memories, take photos and admire a new sign reading “Gene Rosner Corner.”

“Stories like Gene Rosner’s are what makes Pittsburgh and its neighborhoods so special,” said Peduto after the event. “He made this corner, this community and our city a better place for all who had the pleasure of knowing him.”

Between the mayor’s comments that evening and the number of unfamiliar faces, there was a certain irony.

For so long these stories were privately relegated to family discussions, said Rosner’s grandson Justin Shapiro: “He obviously doesn’t have a Wikipedia page.”

The ceremony did not just remind Rosner’s descendants of their patriarch’s nature — they already knew about that — but offered perspective on the sizable impact he made outside their familiar circle and showed that his efforts still mattered.

Recognition is important, as Holocaust survivors, like Rosner, vastly contributed to the city’s betterment, explained Lauren Bairnsfather, Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s director.

The more one learns about him — that he and his wife survived the horrors of the Holocaust, that they adopted their daughter, that he utilized his business and neighborhood presence for community gain — the more it made sense to celebrate Rosner in this fashion, explained Sass.

The effort to keep Rosner’s memory alive is not yet finished. Lest Oakcliffe inhabitants move away or forget the reason for the sign denoting “Gene Rosner Corner,” Sass is raising money for a plaque, to be mounted nearby, that recounts the late grocer’s life and communal contributions.

“He loved this neighborhood,” said Sass. “He added things to it we didn’t even know.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

underway. HFLA hopes to raise $100,000 for that initiative, as well, officials said.

Judi Kanal has six children who graduated from Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh — and five grandchildren now attending the Squirrel Hill-based day school. She’s concerned, yes, for those who traditionally need help but also for those who might never think to ask for it.

“What about the people who make a fine living normally?” Kanal asked. “Suddenly, COVID-19 hits and they’re off work for three, four months. When everything starts reopening, how do they make up for lost income?”

Kanal also is concerned, by extension, about the long-term financial stability of places like Hillel Academy, Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh and Community Day School, she said.

“We don’t want the day schools to find themselves in financial peril because people can’t pay their tuitions,” she said.

“Hopefully, we’re successful and we can help people.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines UAE: Continued from page 3

In both professional and personal circles in Abu Dhabi, the Hammers found that they were well-received and easily accepted as Jews.

“There were a couple of instances when I mentioned to people that I was Jewish and no one blinked, no one was surprised. It didn’t matter,” said Maxim.

“It’s a pretty tolerant society, especially for Westerners,” said Robin. “What I try to tell everyone is that a lot of our fears were really in our own mind.”

Prior to accepting the position at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital, the Hammers traveled to the UAE for an

Candidate: Continued from page 4

year — these nativist, racist dog whistles,” said Dena Gleason, executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee. “It’s as old as time at this point, when it comes to politics. [For Brouillette] to say, ‘It’s ridiculous,’ that’s disingenuous at best.”

Skopov and others suggested the Republicans were scared because of ground the Democratic Party has gained in District 28 over the past decade. In 2010, the Democrat pulled only 22% of the district vote against Turzai. In 2018, Skopov challenged

Walker: Continued from page 5

Lewis about the often overshadowed realities of the civil rights movement: As dramatic as the sit-ins and marches were, what happened during the interim? What does the downtime of a revolution look like?

Planning and partnering between lawmakers and activists doesn’t necessarily generate the most thrilling narratives, but the details gave the artist insight. By staring at the icon, who stood 5 feet, 5 inches tall and expressed visible exhaustion from hours traveling to promote the work, Walker reaffirmed his conception of superheroes.

“In your head you build up these mythic proportions, but these are human beings,” he said.

That they are visibly relatable, or even enjoy similar activities, only increases the awe.

Lewis explained that as a teenager he read “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story,” a 16-page comic book showcasing the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi. Inspired by their actions and the value of nonviolence, Lewis joined the civil rights movement, became one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington,

interview. They decided they couldn’t pass up an opportunity to live in an Arab country, but they still felt uncertain about some things, explained Robin.

There were restrictions, like not displaying non-Muslim religious items, that caused concern, said Maxim.

“We were careful about not bringing any Jewish items to the country, but we could have, in retrospect,” he said.

Their children, who were in fifth, eighth and 11th grades at the time, had positive experiences and were culturally enriched through participating in athletics, like gymnastics or ice hockey, regional excursions and visits to local museums.

A particularly resonant moment for the family occurred at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, when Robin and her son encountered

Hebrew writing in the museum. While touring a room of sacred texts from Islam, Christian and Jewish traditions, the Hammers noticed passages from the Torah.

“We couldn’t believe it when we saw it there,” Robin said. “We weren’t expecting there to be any kind of representation of Judaism.”

Seeing Hebrew text in a UAE museum was just one of several pleasant surprises.

“They have a different attitude toward work than we do in the U.S.,” said Maxim, explaining that in the U.S., there is a push to work hard and advance, but in the UAE there was more of a commitment to achieving a work-life balance. Every day the clinic closed for lunch, and because of that, people socialized and didn’t feel as though they were supposed to be grinding away nonstop.

Getting to know colleagues, who came

from all over the world, and discussing personal and professional issues with them, was eye-opening.

“What I discovered is kind of the obvious: Arabs in the Gulf are the same as anyone anywhere else,” Maxim said. “They have the same anxieties, the same worries. People are people no matter where you go.”

Educationally, politically and socially, the UAE is a guiding regional force, said Robin.

“Whereas other countries are not leaders and not progressive, I think the UAE — and this is my opinion — seeks to really lead the Middle East into the future while still maintaining who they are and their own history and culture.” PJC

Turzai and won 46%. Some 67% of county residents supported Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf ’s reelection campaign that same year.

The county committees for both the Republicans and Democrats did not return calls and emails seeking comment. The office of House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, the house’s top-ranking Republican, declined to comment.

A community relations official with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, however, sprang to Skopov’s defense.

“When we see a mailer that talks about ‘Beverly Hills values,’ it’s upsetting many in our community and many outside of it with old anti-Semitic tropes like ‘Jews control Hollywood,’” said Josh Sayles, director of the

Federation’s Community Relations Council.

“We really wish whoever had sent those flyers was more careful of the language they chose.

For many in our community, that may have crossed the line.”

Skopov did not grow up in District 28, instead moving there from El Segundo, California, about 10 years ago to raise her children. She did not mince words about her opponent’s alleged lack of distance from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund. “[Rob Mercuri] is trying to portray himself as someone honorable while letting someone else do his dirty work — the people of this district deserve better,” Skopov said.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill, also said the

mailers are counterproductive to the region’s efforts to bring to southwestern Pennsylvania people of all different backgrounds and stripes.

“This plays into that Trump narrative of building a wall, of keeping people out,” Fitzgerald told the Chronicle. “We want to be as welcoming as we can and send a signal that people are welcome here. We need more Emily Skopovs in our region.”

Skopov, for her part, was defiant in the face of the attack last week.

“I think the Commonwealth Leaders Fund is a bunch of bullies,” she said. “And they picked the wrong person to bully.” PJC

and communities simiadvocated voting rights, larly use comics to led 600 people across the foster social change.

Edmund Pettus Bridge Walker’s work has beneon “Bloody Sunday” in fited not just “Chutz-Pow!” 1965, and then went on but the Holocaust Center to a remarkable political of Pittsburgh generally, career serving Georgia’s explained its director, 5th congressional Lauren Bairnsfather: district for 17 terms.

“Marcel Walker’s superWalker understands power is empathy. He how comic books can be is able to see the world catalysts. He also believes through others’ eyes.” that a collection of microAnd the socially histories can represent conscious artist both larger truths, so when embodies and underdiscussing “Chutz-Pow!” stands the “Spider-Man” with listeners of all races, trope that says, “With great ages and religions, Walker, p Previously unseen rough power comes great respona Black non-Jewish man, draft of the cover for “CHUTZoften references a quote POW! Vol. 1: THE UPSTANDERS” sibility.” But as for the days early logo treatment) ahead, will nonprofits and attributed to James Joyce: (with anArtwork

by Marcel Lamont Walker “In the particular is other groups follow the contained the universal.”

Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s model? Will As “Chutz-Pow!” has grown over the readers implore educators to increase usage course of its four volumes, so has the of penciled, inked and lettered panels? Will opportunity to broaden the project’s reach, Walker lead the charge? highlighting women, children and members As comic book readers already know, “to of the LGBTQ community who were perse- be continued … ” PJC cuted during the Holocaust. Such specificity has made the project better, and Walker Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ would like to see even more organizations pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Cantor: Continued from page 6

“She’s really being integrated all across the congregation, which is important to a successful internship while allowing us to learn the latest things happening at the college,” the rabbi said. “We’re very lucky she has the talent and experience to work in all those different ways.”

The cantorial intern, who was living in Israel at the time of the Unite the Right rally in 2017, hopes to be part of the healing process for Jewish communities in the face of the rise of anti-Semitism and hate around the globe.

“As an opera singer, I was doing a lot of auditioning and I was feeling so burnt out,” she said. “You walk in and say, ‘Hello, my name is Stefanie and I’m going to sing an aria,’ and you leave. They don’t know anything about you. You go to the opera and it’s beautiful, but I have so much more of myself to give and share with people. I know that the world needs healing right now and I want to use my music to help the world heal and bring Jewish communities together.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

AUGUST 28, 2020 15

Life & Culture WQED documentary sheds light on the Jews of Shanghai

p Chinese employees of Erwin Louis Eisfelder, circa 1940

Photos courtesy of Horst Eisfelder

p Horst Eisfelder at a Chinese Temple Garden in Sinza Road circa 1942

— TELEVISION —

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

I

n the mid-1930s, as Jews in Germany and Austria were becoming painfully aware of the deadly threat posed by the Nazis, thousands of them sought refuge in a city 5,000 miles away and about which they knew little: Shanghai.

The vast majority of those Jews had no clue what life would be like once they arrived in the Chinese port city, but they did know they could easily get a visa there and that Shanghai did not require entry papers, making it a promising safe haven when so many other locales around the world were turning them away.

The story of the Jews of Shanghai is told poignantly by survivors through first-person accounts in “Harbor from the Holocaust,” a one-hour documentary produced by WQED and premiering on PBS Sept. 8 at 10 p.m.

A virtual Pittsburgh preview and panel discussion will be presented on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 7 p.m. The panel will include Pittsburghers with ties to the story.

Through conversations with historians and survivors, as well as excerpts from diaries, letters and memoirs of Shanghai’s Jews read by a narrator, the viewer is drawn into a story of courage, despair, creativity and resilience.

The survivors featured in the film were all children when their families left Europe and headed to Shanghai. Many, like Helga Silberberg from Berlin, recalled “a regular childhood,” growing up in middle or upper middle class families, their fathers successful businessmen.

Everything changed on the night of Nov. 9, 1938 — Kristallnacht — when their futures, should they remain in Europe, became horrifically clear. Some of the survivors recalled their parents going from consulate to consulate, desperately trying to obtain visas to escape, and failing because so many countries refused to accept Jews.

The film pays tribute to the man responsible for granting visas to thousands of Jews from 1938-1940, Ho Feng Shan, China’s consul general in Vienna, who disobeyed the instructions of his superiors in doing so. He died in 1997, but “Harbor from the Holocaust” features interviews with his daughter, Manli

16 AUGUST 28, 2020

p Religious Jews huddle on a street in Shanghai

Ho, and her touching relationships with some of the Jews that her father saved.

“My father said he just couldn’t stand by,” she says in the film.

His son, the late Monto Ho, was a prominent Pittsburgh physician and his granddaughter still lives in Pittsburgh.

The fear of the unknown and the courage

of those Jews heading off to what they heard was an “exotic” city with little other information is captured in the film. Boarding the ships to take them to refuge was like “sailing into a black hole,” one diarist wrote.

“You didn’t know what in God’s name awaits you there.”

Shanghai ultimately became home to three

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

groups of Jews: Baghdadi Jews who came to Shanghai in the late 19th century, many who became wealthy global financiers; Russian Jews who fled the Bolshevik Revolution in the 1920s and 1930s; and then the thousands of European Jews who arrived during the early years of Nazi rule.

The film, which includes interviews of former U.S. secretary of the treasury, Michael Blumenthal, and prominent constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe — both who escaped the Holocaust with their families to Shanghai — explores the difficult conditions these Jews endured under the years of Japanese occupation and the Chinese civil war that followed.

Thousands were crammed into a one square mile of the Hongkew district in what became known as the Shanghai Ghetto.

Even as they became immersed in the unfamiliar culture of the Chinese, and despite the obstacles, the Shanghai Jews managed to recreate a thriving microcosm of the Jewish lives they left behind in Europe. There was a synagogue, a Hebrew school, and a Jewish school — complete with “no nonsense” principal, Lucie Hartwich, who insisted that the students learn English. Alumni of the school recalled a rich extracurricular life, including dance and theater.

The memories of that time, said one survivor, are of “doing normal things under abnormal circumstances.”

Almost all 18,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai survived the Holocaust. After World War II, most left China and immigrated to the United States, Australia, Canada and Israel.

“This is a Holocaust story of life — not easy, not without loss and hardship — but perhaps one that is largely unknown but for the people who can still share their view of survival,” said Darryl Ford Williams, the film’s executive producer. “There is a contemporary context that is undeniable in reflecting on this narrative of people who found a way to live when country after country around the world closed their borders and turned their backs on those in need.”

The Sept. 3 preview event is supported by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Studies Program. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture Art therapists help community cope with pandemic stress — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

F

or art therapist Angelica Miskanin, the act of putting acrylic paint, pen, highlighter or, yes, even crayon to a blank page is more about the journey than the destination.

“We really focus more on the mindfulness aspect of art making,” said Miskanin, a licensed professional counselor who came to Jewish Family and Community Services in 2019 to help the community process feelings surrounding the Oct. 27, 2018, Squirrel Hill synagogue shooting. “Art therapy serves as another language that doesn’t rely on words.

Scribbles on the page? Or art that tells a story? Either one is there to provide help.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation, Miskanin and fellow JFCS art therapist Kelly Moore have been offering regularly scheduled sessions for staff at Jewish agencies, as well as community members, to decompress and reflect.

The two therapists’ next “art-based support group” was scheduled for 5 p.m., Aug. 27, via the teleconferencing program Zoom.

“No previous art making experience is required, just an open mind!” reads the event’s promotional flyer.

Moore said there’s special meaning to hosting groups for organizations such as the Jewish Association on Aging and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

“We are all people that give to our

p Samples of art created during a session for staff at Jewish agencies. Above: “Taking your anxiety on vacation” by Angelica Miskanin

community — this is an hour to give back to ourselves,” said Moore, who joined the JFCS staff in May. “This was a space to come together to not talk about work [and] to be more lighthearted about the art we’re doing.”

Marlene Layton, a community-building administrative specialist with Pittsburgh’s Jewish Federation, has taken part in four or five of Miskanin’s and Moore’s sessions this summer — and she loves them.

“I thought it was helpful; it was therapeutic,” said Layton, a native Pittsburgher who lives in Forest Hills.

on what they might want to draw.

“What would it look like if your anxiety went on vacation?” Moore once asked. Another time, they asked participants to paint the colors of their stress. Once, they drew their breathing, getting them in time with every inhale and exhale — à la meditation.

Art therapy isn’t just about the serenity of watercolors. When a person feels stress, p A detail from “The Lighthouse” by Kelly Moore the adrenaline in their body rises, and so does Layton remembers one session where cortisol, a naturally occurring steroid hormone the therapists taught coping skills by asking that regulates processes such as metabolism participants to draw things based on their and the immune response, said Miskanin. senses — five things they could see, three Miskanin and Moore said they feel lucky to things they could smell, and so on. be providing this service to the community.

“I think it’s very good to do during the “That moment of getting into that day,” Layton said. “I’d like to do it every day space? I was fortunate and honored to — it calms you.” be in that space with those community The therapists sometimes use art to help members,” Moore said. participants process feelings about COVID“It’s great to be a messenger,” said Miskanin.

19, the uneasy state of national politics, and For more information, go to jfcspgh.org/ the social unrest that has hit many cities virtualgroup. PJC around the U.S., among other things. Moore Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer stressed, though, that only sometimes do she and Miskanin prompt the participants living in Pittsburgh.

Kosher food truck at CMU reopens Pittsburgh’s Race for the Cure goes remote this year

P

p Eager eaters wait in line at CMU’s kosher food truck last year.

A

fter being shuttered for months, Elegant Edge Catering has reopened Tahini, a kosher Mediterranean food truck at Carnegie Mellon University’s Legacy Plaza. It is typically open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday.

The Vaad-certified menu features shawarma, vegan eggplant “shawarma” and

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Photo by Adam Reinherz

falafel pita sandwiches, couscous and hummus bowls, and freshly prepared sides and salads including bourekas, tabbouleh, Israeli salad, grape leaves, chickpea salad and zaatar pita fries. Offerings include a wide variety of plant-based and vegan options. PJC — Toby Tabachnick

ittsburgh’s 28th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will take place remotely from Sept. 13-26 this year, replacing the usual Mother’s Day fanfare at Schenley Park typically packed with 15,000 runners and walkers.

This year, at least 2,000 people are signed up for the virtual race so far, according to Meg Dluhos, development director for Susan G. Komen Greater Pennsylvania, who spoke to the Tribune-Review.

The virtual race can be run or walked indoors on a treadmill or outdoors on a neighborhood trail; it’s up to the participant.

The important thing, the organization says, is that the mission to end breast cancer and raise awareness has not changed.

Three Jewish women — Eileen Lane, Laurie Moser and Pat Siger — co-founded the Pittsburgh Race for the Cure in 1992.

Moser is a breast cancer survivor.

One in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer. But for women of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, the number is much higher.

Ashkenazi Jewish women disproportionately have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic

mutation compared with the general population, with 1 in 40 Ashkenazi women carrying a BRCA mutation. Those with the mutation have an estimated risk of around 70% for developing breast cancer by age 80, according to the CDC and the National Cancer Institute.

Seventy-five percent of funds raised by Susan G. Komen Greater Pennsylvania are returned to the community in the form of breast cancer education, screening and treatment, according to the organization.

The other 25% supports research programs across the U.S. So far, the Pittsburgh race has raised over $53,000 toward its $100,000 goal.

Sign-ups are open, and mail-in entry forms must be postmarked by Sept. 4.

Those who do not want to register for the race can still make a donation to the cause via the website.

The virtual Pittsburgh ceremony will kick off at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, and participants can race remotely from then until Sept. 26.

To register, go to info-komen.org. PJC — Kayla Steinberg

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AUGUST 28, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

B’nei mitzvah

By precept and example Hannah Adelson is the daughter of Rabbi Seth and Judith Adelson, sister of Zev Adelson and Oryah Meidan, granddaughter of Leonard and Patricia Adelson, and the late Ervin and Anna Marie Hoenig. Hannah is a rising eighth-grader at Community Day School, where she relishes participating in the annual spring musical. She does ballet, tap and contemporary dance at Bodiography Center for Movement, and plays violin at the Pittsburgh Music Academy. In the summer she loves going to Camp Ramah in Canada.

Her favorite pastime is reading and cuddling up with her pet cat, Shira. Hannah will become a bat mitzvah at Beth Shalom on Saturday, Aug. 29.

Andrew Roth, son of Dana and Jeffrey Roth and brother of Alaina Roth, became a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Temple Ohav Shalom in Allison Park. Andrew is the grandson of Stephen and Sandra Roth and Daniel (and the late Dora) Marin of Pittsburgh. Andrew enjoys all Pittsburgh sports and spending time with his family and friends. PJC

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Rabbi Fred V. Davidow Parshat Ki Teitzei Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

T

he Torah is loaded with commandments: 613 according to a traditional reckoning. The Torah portion for this Sabbath, Ki Teitzei, contains 72 commandments, the largest number in any Torah portion. However, I will focus on only one — the mitzvah to return lost property.

Before getting to the mitzvah itself, I want to lead up to a rabbinic principle of interpreting Torah. Psychologist Erich Fromm wrote, “If a woman told us that she loved

They answered, “Of course not.”

Simeon said to them, “Go and return it.”

They replied, “Master, there is a teaching that one may gain no profit from that which is stolen from a heathen, but there is general agreement that if you find something that belonged to a heathen, you may keep it.”

Simeon countered, “Do you think I am some rapacious barbarian? Return it!”

When the pearl was restored to the Arab, he declared, “Blessed is the God of Jews!”

The second story is about Rabbi Samuel bar Sosrati. When he went to Rome, the empress had lost her most expensive piece of jewelry and he found it. She had it proclaimed throughout the city: “He who

There is nothing more powerful to stimulate the performance of a Jewish value than to see it carried out. flowers and we saw that she forgot to water them, we would not believe in her ‘love’ for flowers. Love is the active concern for the life and growth of [those whom] we love.”

In other words, love must be demonstrated.

Likewise, if we say we cherish a value but don’t do anything to demonstrate that value, the value is a dead letter.

This was the approach of the sages in interpreting “Love your neighbor as yourself ” (Lev. 19:18). They said that something concrete, something specific, must be done in order to make the love real. One way to fulfill the mitzvah is to consider the property of another as precious to you as if it were your own (Abraham Chill, “The Mitzvot: the Commandments and Their Rationale”).

Returning lost property to its rightful owner is thus a fulfillment of the mitzvah to love your neighbor as yourself.

There is nothing more powerful to stimulate the performance of a Jewish value than to see it carried out. Thus the sages held up their peers as moral exemplars and tell stories about how they fulfilled mitzvot. In the Reform prayer book “Gates of Prayer,” the idea of modeling mitzvot is expressed in the statement “O God, help us ... to fashion [our children’s] souls by precept and example so that they might ever love the good and turn from evil, revere Your teaching and bring honor to [our] people.”

The mitzvah of returning lost property (hashavat aveidah) is extolled in two aggadot in the Jerusalem Talmud.

The first story deals with the return of a lost jewel. The 1st-century BCE sage Simeon ben Shetach was a flax trader. Wanting to ease his labor, his students bought a donkey from an Arab. On their way back to Simeon’s home they found a pearl entangled in its neck. When they came back to Simeon, they announced that he would not have to work so much any longer. The sale of the gem would provide Simeon with a good income.

Simeon asked his students, “Did its former owner know about the pearl?”

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returns it within 30 days will receive a large reward; if after 30 days, he will have his head cut off.”

Rabbi Samuel did not return the piece of jewelry within 30 days, but on the 31st day.

The empress asked him, “Were you not in the city?”

Rabbi Samuel said, “Yes, I was here.”

“Did you not hear the proclamation?”

“Yes, I heard it.”

“Then why did you not return it within 30 days?”

“So that you should not say I did it because of fear of you. I did it because of fear of Heaven.”

At that the empress said to him, “Blessed be the God of Israel.”

Rabbi Max Kadushin, who taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, believed that these two stories could very well be apocryphal. However, the value of the stories is not attenuated because their purpose was to promulgate the concept of kiddush hashem, sanctifying God’s name. This concept means that when a Jew performs a righteous act toward a gentile, he/she upholds the honor and reputation of God and the Jewish people.

William James, a pioneer in psychology at Harvard, taught another way to view stories of doubtful authenticity: “The ultimate test for us of what a truth means is the conduct it dictates or inspires.”

When we apply James’ test to the stories of Shimon ben Shetach and Samuel bar Sosrati, they become true for us when they inspire us to conduct our lives by the criterion of kiddush hashem. By precept and example, we thus revere God’s teaching and bring honor to our people. PJC Rabbi Fred V. Davidow is retired but teaches in various venues in Philadelphia. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia provided this commentary for the Jewish Exponent, a Chronicle-affiliated publication. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own.

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Obituaries GOLDSTEIN: On Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, Morton Bernard Goldstein, loving husband of Iris and father of Rachel and Alison, passed away at the age of 78 in the comfort of his home in Plano, Texas. Born at 2 pounds, 7 ounces on Nov. 2, 1941, to Ethel and Chauncey Goldstein, Mort fought his way into the world. He suffered severe hearing loss being born extremely premature and lived his whole life in the deaf world. He met his wife, Iris Hoffman, when he was in fourth grade at Frick Elementary School in Pittsburgh, where they both grew up and lived until 2003. He graduated from Gallaudet University, the world’s only deaf university, in 1966. He dedicated 35 years to the U.S. Postal Service both day and night, using his miraculous talent for remembering numbers and addresses, ensuring families stayed in touch with their loved ones. Mort loved his children and grandchildren dearly, never missing any of their events and teaching online sign language classes to his grandchildren overseas. Mort read the newspaper every day of his life and enjoyed puzzles, crosswords and traveling. He and Iris loved camping and took their pop-up Apache trailer all over the U.S. with Mort navigating the way. Mort’s greatest joy was spending time with his family. He is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Iris (Hoffman), daughters Rachel (Earl) Bloom and Alison (Richard Lewis). He will also be dearly missed by his grandchildren Ryan, Evan, Justin, Oliver and Isabelle, by his sister Fay Gold and by his sister-in-law Inez. Mort was preceded in death by his brother David Goldstein. Graveside services are private in recognition of the pandemic. Those who so desire may make memorial donations in memory of Mort to the Deaf Action Center of Dallas, 3110 Cedar Plaza Lane, Dallas, TX 75235 or Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002. Thank you to the staff of Yellow Rose Hospice for making Mort comfortable during his last days with us.

KALINSKY: Katherine “Kathy” Oswold Kalinsky, on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Norton L. Kalinsky; adoring daughter of the late Louis and Ruth Fivars Oswold. Loving mother of Marjorie Reiss of New York City, Steven Marc (Michele) Kalinsky of Pittsburgh and Robert H. (Lori) Kalinsky of Naperville, Illinois. Sister-in-law of Jay (Susan) Kalinsky and George (Diane) Kalinsky. Grandmother of Charles Reiss, Jack Reiss, Andrew Kalinsky, Amy Kalinsky and Brian O’Leary. Katherine was predeceased by Grace Fivars, Donald (surviving wife Ethel) Fivars, Lorraine Fivars, Evelyn Werksman, Myron Oswold, Jacob Oswold, Florence Oswold Brachfeld and Lillian (Oswold) Friedman. Katherine is survived by many nieces, nephews and cousins. Born on Aug. 26, 1936, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Kathy graduated from Penn State University and was a former elementary school teacher. She was a longtime resident of Mt. Lebanon and a member of Temple Emanuel of South Hills.

Graveside services and interment were held at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery/Temple Emanuel Section. In lieu of flowers, Kathy wanted to encourage everyone to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Contributions in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 22478, Oklahoma PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

City, OK 73123. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family-owned and operated. schugar.com KRASIK: Elaine Belle Krasik, on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, after a brave and valiant fight against significant medical challenges.

Elaine loved life and life loved her back. At the same time, she strongly believed that life could only be lived the “right” way with a commitment to integrity, honesty and fairness to all. She was always interested in learning new things and expanding her world.

Her enthusiasm and commitment to organizations and causes always guaranteed that whatever she undertook would be completed successfully and on time. Once committed, she devoted all her energies to whatever the cause. Her leadership was an inspiration to others. Elaine had a lifelong commitment to Judaism, both its religious practices and its charitable activities. She loved attending religious services and did not permit her less than stellar singing voice to impede her participation. Her family and friends were a central part of her life. Nothing was more important.

To her, loyalty was a paramount virtue, and she showed that loyalty to family members and friends in countless situations. She also valued tradition, and she saw one of her major goals in life as conveying traditions and the reasons for those traditions to younger generations. Elaine is survived by Carl, her husband of 54 years; her sons Curt (and his girlfriend, Stefanie Lacy) and Scott (and his wife, Laurie); Joelle Keats, mother of Elaine’s grandchildren, Connor, Carly and Michaela; her grandchildren Cooper and Skylar; her brother Norman (and his wife, Sylvia); and nieces and cousins to whom she was devoted. Elaine graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, received a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Yale and in the late 1960s taught French to middle school students in Lexington, Massachusetts.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, she was a fulltime volunteer and devoted countless hours to many Jewish and nonsectarian organizations in the Pittsburgh area. In 1984, she entered law school at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated in 1987. For five years, she worked for the law firm that is now K&L Gates LLP doing primarily corporate and transactional work. In 1992, she joined the law department at Highmark and worked there until her retirement in 2011. In retirement, she did more volunteer work and was particularly proud of her work enabling hospital patients to vote in the 2018 election. Elaine received a number of awards for her volunteer work, most recently the Natalie Novick Woman of Philanthropy Award. Graveside services and shiva are private in recognition of the pandemic.

A year from now, a public memorial service will be held to give her family and friends the opportunity to celebrate her remarkable life, her always optimistic spirit and her seemingly endless energy reserves. The family suggests that contributions to honor Elaine’s memory be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, 2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219; National Council of Jewish Women, 1620 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217; or Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 152I7. Arrangements entrusted to the Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PJC

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AUGUST 28, 2020 19

Headlines Itzchakov: Continued from page 12

formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981. The GCC’s official goal was to strengthen and stabilize the Gulf principalities by tightening their security and economic ties. They were brought together largely by their collective fear of revolutionary Iran.

According to media reports, Bahrain is likely to be one of the next Gulf States to advance its ties with Israel. There too, Iran’s subversion of Bahrain served as a catalyst for the Khalifa family to establish ties with Israel.

Bahrain’s demographic structure is 70

percent Shi’ite, which rendered it, in the eyes of the Iranian regime, fertile ground for the advancement of its revolutionary worldview. As early as December 1981 the “Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain” tried and failed to overthrow the ruling monarchy and establish an Iran-backed theocratic regime, and in 1996 the Bahrain authorities uncovered another attempt by Tehran to overthrow the regime and replace it with a theocracy according to the Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) model.

Iran accompanied these subversive activities with “soft power” measures and support for opposition organizations, and it trained militants in the emirate.

The Iranian revolutionary model has been a threatening and destabilizing factor in the Middle East for decades. The greater Iran’s hostility toward the countries in the region, the greater the likelihood that they will eventually come together in some way to oppose it.

The formation of alliances among countries experiencing a common threat is not a new phenomenon in the Middle East. This was true six decades ago, when the Iranian monarchy felt threatened by the spread of Arab nationalism led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, and it is true today. The expression “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is as valid today as it ever was, despite attempts to throw that realpolitik model into the

Hauer: Continued from page 13

the Talmudic tradition of Joshua ben Gamla — that thriving Jewish day schools are a communal imperative. The funding model for these institutions was dependent more on communal support and far less on tuition dollars.

The sacrifices and commitment of these builders and funders are reminiscent of the magnificent Talmudic story of the man who planted a carob tree that would not bear fruit for 70 years, by which time he would be long gone. Nevertheless, he happily invested in planting for future generations, who because of his efforts would find their world filled with beautiful fruit trees.

While funding our schools and yeshivas remains a core communal responsibility in practice, many of these institutions have come to depend increasingly on tuition payments. So instead of being community-supported institutions, many schools rely on the current parent body for funding.

The current system of financing Jewish education is relatively recent, and subsidizing tuition for those who struggle to afford it was viewed as a communal obligation into

Schwartzman: Continued from page 13

of danger. Our press passes didn’t persuade them at all. Thankfully, the synagogue president was a lawyer who convinced them not to haul us off to jail for trespassing, promising that we’d appear in court.

It took me many years to realize that if my

All of us in the community-at-large, whether or not we have school-aged children, must come together to support both schools and parents by shouldering more of the financial burdens of keeping our schools open. the 20th century. In his Hatakanot BeYisrael, Rabbi Yisrael Schepansky notes the varied ways in which communities levied taxes to support tuition for those unable to pay: Some communities assessed based on means, others imposed a head tax and at least one community levied a kind of “sales tax” on shechita, or kosher slaughter.

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, in his Aruch Hashulchan (Yoreh Deah 245:9-10), wrote that fathers who are able to hire teachers for their children and grandchildren are obliged to do so, and if a parent of means nonetheless wishes to

enroll his child in the community yeshiva, he is obliged to contribute “much money” in order to benefit the poorer children of the community.

The conclusion is inescapable: In the Jewish worldview, Jewish education is not a consumer good but a communal obligation.

We must explore the causes of the shift away from this philosophy and what can be done to reverse it for the longer term. But today, with virtual schooling a likely piece of this year’s plan, we must also mobilize to minimize any immediate and lasting damage to our children, families and institutions.

skin were a different color, I surely wouldn’t have walked away from that encounter unscathed. Fifteen years later, I believe the answer to the inequity of that fact lies not in abolishing the police. As one deeply concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism, I believe added police presence around Jewish institutions is sadly necessary. Instead, and I know this is easier said than done, we must make sure that police departments work for everybody

and for all communities, that law and order is administered in an equitable and just fashion.

I recognize that many have lost faith that this is still possible since calls for serious police reform date back at least to the 1968 Kerner Commission report. But we must try.

If we cease working for that, if we abandon the idea that people and communities are inherently connected, if we give up on cities as economic, cultural and social engines, then

so-called dustbin of history.

Revolutionary ideology relies on the demonization of the adversary as a means of justifying its values. The survival of a revolutionary regime depends on its ability to sustain such thinking in the minds of its citizens. The Israel-UAE deal makes it much harder for the Iranian regime to justify an imperialist foreign policy that comes at the expense of the Iranian people. PJC Dr. Doron Itzchakov is a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University. This piece was reprinted from JNS.org and was first published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

All of us in the community-at-large, whether or not we have school-aged children, must come together to support both schools and parents by shouldering more of the financial burdens of keeping our schools open. We must organize as communities and galvanize support that assists the schools while bringing real and immediate relief to parents.

At the same time, parents should also recognize the challenges all schools face and realize that even if they may not benefit as much from the school this year, they must do their part to ensure the school will be equipped to educate children in the future.

And schools should acknowledge the stresses and challenges faced by their parent body, recognizing that in a framework of virtual school — where students are getting less — parents may be less ready to pay the usual fare.

This year, we all need to think beyond what we will be getting for our dollars. We need to keep planting and caring for the carob trees so that they will be there for us, for our children and grandchildren, and for our broader communal future. PJC Rabbi Moshe Hauer is the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union. This piece first appeared at JTA.org.

we’re living in a dystopia. New Orleans offered a nightmarish glimpse of what happens when the government breaks down. To honor the visions of our forebears and the dreams of our children, we can and must do better. PJC Bryan Schwartzman, who lives in Upper Dublin, was a reporter for the Jewish Exponent, where this piece first appeared, from 2003 to 2014.

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AUGUST 28, 2020 21

Life & Culture New COVID-19 cases in Orthodox communities elicit concern as school year and High Holidays near — RELIGION —

By Shira Hanau | JTA

O

ver the past couple of weeks, the reports have come fast and furious.

One overnight sports camp for boys in Pennsylvania had an outbreak of COVID-19, sending eight boys back to their home communities on Long Island and several more to Baltimore, where others had contracted the virus after attending weddings or coming into contact with those who did.

Bungalow colonies in the Catskill Mountains saw an outbreak among families, many of whom were summering there away from their homes in Brooklyn.

And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that 16 new cases were found in the Brooklyn Chasidic neighborhood of Borough Park, with some traced back to a large wedding there.

As the summer comes to a close and families prepare for a new school year and the High Holidays, government officials and leaders in the Orthodox community are monitoring new cases in Orthodox communities across the New York City area and down the East Coast. They say the cases, though small in number at the moment, could spiral out of control, derailing plans to reopen schools with in-person instruction and hold in-person services for the holidays.

Left unchecked, the increasing cases also have the potential to turn next month’s gatherings in schools and synagogues into superspreader events, reversing the progress made over the past few months.

“It has the potential to be a perfect storm,” said Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt, the chief of infectious diseases and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island and an assistant rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere, a large Orthodox synagogue in Long Island’s Nassau County. “The question everyone has to ask themselves is: Is not wearing a mask that critical that they’re willing to risk everything?”

Glatt said the New York City and Nassau County health departments have been in touch with him about a slight uptick in cases in several communities in the New York City area, including some related to wedding celebrations.

He cautioned that a further rise could jeopardize schools, which are set to reopen in person for the first time since March, and in-person High Holiday services, which Orthodox Jews cannot replace with virtual services.

“The Department of Health has the right, the jurisdiction, to say we’re closing down schools, we’re closing down minyanim if there’s a big enough uptick,” Glatt said.

Doctors in Orthodox communities have pointed to a number of sources for the new cases. Vacationers are coming into contact with people from other communities and therefore risking exposure. Overnight camps, which were not allowed to open this year in New York state but were allowed in other states, including Pennsylvania, have seen some outbreaks as well, with the infected campers or staff members sometimes being sent back to 22 AUGUST 28, 2020

their home communities to quarantine.

And while the pandemic seemed to put an end to the large weddings typical of Orthodox communities — guest lists of 400 people or more are not uncommon — the smaller outdoor weddings that have replaced them are still bringing together guests from different places, sometimes in large numbers, while mask wearing and social distancing are inconsistent. In some communities large weddings, whether indoors or outdoors, have resumed.

That has been the case especially in some Chasidic neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where life largely returned to normal as early as May and June as many in these communities, including some doctors, believed they had achieved a level of herd immunity — meaning a large enough percentage of the community had acquired immunity after recovering from the virus to significantly slow the transmission of disease.

As early as June and July, local health clinics serving Brooklyn’s Chasidic communities performing antibody tests for the coronavirus were seeing a much higher percentage of positive antibody tests there than in the city overall.

Recent data from the city seemed to support the claim that some Chasidic neighborhoods had higher levels of immunity than other parts of the city. According to those figures, 46.8% of people in one zip code in Borough Park, the Brooklyn neighborhood with the largest Chasidic population, tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. The only other neighborhood with a higher rate of positive antibody test results was Corona, Queens, one of the hardest-hit parts of the city. Across Brooklyn as a whole, 27.9% of people tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, the second-highest rate among the five boroughs.

But even some level of herd immunity does not mean that there can be no cases.

“Herd immunity is a relative concept,” said Dr. Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist who worked with the World Health Organization for over 10 years on AIDS programs in Africa.

While a large percentage of people having immunity to a virus can help reduce transmission in a group, he said, it does not bring the risk to zero for anyone who has not contracted COVID-19.

“You’re still at risk of being around anyone who’s still infectious, that has not changed for you,” Slutkin said. “So if you’re at a gathering and there’s someone who is infectious, nothing has changed for you.”

De Blasio, speaking of the new cases confirmed in Borough Park, called it “an early warning sign.”

“Some of these 16 cases are linked to a recent wedding, a large wedding, in fact, in the community,” he said. “We are working quickly to galvanize community leaders.”

In response to a question about whether the new cases threaten the idea that there could be herd immunity in parts of New York City, de Blasio dismissed the theory.

“I don’t think we have any evidence of herd immunity anywhere in New York City,” he said.

On a blog used to disseminate information

p Orthodox men stand next to a social distancing sign in Williamsburg on July 16, 2020.

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images via JTA

about local coronavirus numbers, doctors in Crown Heights, who as early as May were pointing to the results of a survey they disseminated showing that approximately 70% of the local Orthodox community had been infected with COVID, said they’ve seen cases “gradually increasing.”

They also noted the new case of someone who had not traveled, been in contact with any travelers or attended a large celebration, leading the doctors to surmise that the person became ill through “community spread” — meaning the virus is still spreading in Crown Heights despite the large numbers of people there who had recovered from the virus.

To what degree immunity to the virus can be relied upon remains unclear. While the CDC advised this week that there have been no confirmed cases of reinfection among those who initially contracted the disease in the previous three months, much remains unknown about immunity resulting from previous infection.

But among the new cases in Crown Heights, the local doctors said, were two cases of “presumed reinfection.”

“Both had antibodies but upon recent retesting had ‘lost’ their antibodies, and now, after being exposed to Covid, these people became sick again and tested positive,” the doctors, part of the Gedaliah Society, a group of medical professionals in the Chabad community of Crown Heights, wrote in a blog post. “These two new cases are so clear in their course as to take reinfection from a probable phenomenon to a reality (albeit difficult to prove as we don’t have initial viral samples to compare).”

In a letter to the Nassau County Orthodox community, Glatt said there are cases of possible reinfection being assessed, but they appear to be rare.

“It still remains very reassuring, that with upwards of 20 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, there are very few proven reinfection cases,” Glatt wrote. “This is critically important for herd immunity, and partially explains why certain communities have very few new COVID-19 cases despite not adhering to masking guidelines.”

Rabbinical councils in several communities have put out community notices asking people to act with caution as the communities prepare for the reopening of local schools.

The Vaad HaRabonim of Cleveland, an

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Orthodox rabbinical group, sent a notice last week asking anyone returning from camps where campers or staff tested positive for coronavirus to quarantine for 14 days.

The Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, which was the first such group to shut down its large Modern Orthodox communities in Northern New Jersey back in March, sent a letter to the community Tuesday warning of the dangers of unchecked celebrations.

“While such an event, first and foremost, constitutes a threat to the health of those in attendance, the risk to the institutional health of our community created by such an event should not be minimized,” the group wrote.

“Indeed, even one such event could easily result in the full closure of an entire yeshiva, or multiple yeshivot across our community.”

And the Vaad Harabanim of Baltimore sent a letter to the community last week asking people to act with greater caution at weddings.

“While in the shuls this vigilance is still evident, one area where laxity has sometimes set in is at weddings,” the Vaad wrote. “This is not only a threat to our continued health, but it Chas v’Shalom could set us back in our quest to be able to open the schools.”

Dr. Avi Rosenberg, an assistant professor of pathology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who has become a go-to resource for Orthodox camps, synagogues and schools in Baltimore and across the country, said weddings were his biggest concern. (Rosenberg is involved in a study on the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID patients that has recruited a large number of Orthodox plasma donors.)

“We have people who are clearly running unmitigated simchas,” said Rosenberg, using the Hebrew word for celebration.

He said he learned of approximately 25 new cases of COVID in the Orthodox community in Baltimore last week, most of which were connected to weddings in Brooklyn or Lakewood, New Jersey, home to large Orthodox communities. Weekly cases had remained in the single digits from May until last week, he said.

“People really need to understand that this upsurge in simcha-related community spread is what’s putting the success of school reopenings at risk,” Rosenberg said.

“If it continues at the rate it’s currently going in, I don’t know how we’re going to open schools safely.” PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community Sounds like Elul

What’s cooking at Temple Sinai Temple Sinai members have spent the summer participating in an ongoing digital cooking series. Led by resident chefs and bakers, the series has featured an array of tasty dishes.

t Signaling the start of the Hebrew month of Elul, and 29 days from Rosh Hashanah, Congregation Beth Shalom’s Rabbi Seth Adelson sounds the shofar, which has been fitted with a special shofar mask (sock) for safety.

Photo by Jim Busis

Scenes from the Jewish Association on Aging

p Annie Weidman makes Khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread).

p Eva delivers Mollie’s Meals.

p Barbara Allen makes Grand Duke’s chicken and peanuts.

p Mary Z celebrates her 94th birthday at Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Photos courtesy of the Jewish Association on Aging

p Deborah Freedman gets ready to bake biscotti.

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Photos courtesy of Tami Prine

p Graduates visit Grandma as window visits resume.

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Photo by Linda Scahill

AUGUST 28, 2020 23

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