Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8-7-20

August 7, 2020 | 17 Av 5780

Candlelighting 8:09 p.m. | Havdalah 9:11 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 33 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Studying Community: Youth groups provide meaningful opportunities for Jewish engagement

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL JAA grapples with pandemic

Majority of day school families eager for in-person instruction

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

B

Countywide surge affects two facilities Page 2

LOCAL Packing their bags

Specialty Luggage closes after 76 years Page 4

LIFESTYLE

 The RSTY (Rodef Shalom Temple Youth Group) crowd gathers for an annual onesies party on Jan. 4, 2020.

Photo courtesy of Marissa Tait

belonged to a synagogue for two years of my life, in first grade and in seventh grade.”

Although her family celebrated Passover rowing up in Southern California, and Chanukah, it wasn’t until a neighbor Beth Schwartz couldn’t imagine invited Beth and her twin sister to a BBYO living in Pittsburgh, let alone leading chapter meeting that Beth a synagogue. But decades increased her Jewish activity. removed from her childhood, This is the ninth in Following that initial get-toSchwartz, a South Hills resia 10-part series, gether, the sisters repeatedly dent and president of Temple exploring the returned to events. “We used Emanuel, is doing both. The data of the 2017 to have BBYO things every fact that she and her family are Greater Pittsburgh weekend, sometimes twice a modeling local Jewish engageJewish Community weekend, ” said Beth. ment is a credit to youth groups, Study through the Like Beth and Matt, the explained Schwartz. people it represents.

S chw ar t z e s’ d au g hte rs , Like her husband, Matt, Rebecca, 19, and Anna, 17, also whom she met in graduate have benefitted from Jewish school at Washington University youth groups. in St. Louis, Beth participated in BBYO, Anna, an incoming senior at Mt. Lebanon a Jewish youth group formerly referred High School, is currently president of to as B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. But NFTY-PAR, a Reform Jewish youth group Matt’s experience as a Jewish youth in the whose region includes Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh area was different from Beth’s.

“Whatever the least involved you can be, Please see Study, page 12 that was my upbringing,” Beth said. “We

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

Biker Jews

G

Mazel Tuffs take the chai road Page 14

$1.50

eth Goldstein is comfortable sending her daughter Hannah this fall to the Early Childhood Center at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, despite whatever challenges COVID-19 may pose to the school.

Goldstein said she came to that conclusion carefully, after seeing the work Hillel did to achieve social distancing and student safety during its summer camp.

“I think it’s a really tough time to be a parent because you’re going to get criticism no matter what you do and the schools are going to get criticism no matter what they do,” said Goldstein, a Squirrel Hill resident and business owner. “But I feel very safe sending my 3-year-old to school.”

Goldstein is not alone. New surveys from Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools indicate the vast majority of parents are resolved to send their children to brick-and-mortar schools this semester.

Both Community Day School and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh reported 70% of parents expressed a preference for live, in-person instruction this school year — and the percentage of parents wanting in-person instruction at Hillel was even higher.

“Most people, like 98%, are interested in live instruction,” Rabbi Sam Weinberg, Hillel’s principal, told the Chronicle. “Only about four families have inquired about virtual learning.”

At Community Day School, 70% are opting for live instruction, while 15% want virtual learning and the remainder are undecided, school officials said. At Yeshiva Schools, 70% want live instruction and only 5% want virtual learning, with the remainder undecided.

Community Day School officials said they feel safe entering the school year in person and on their Squirrel Hill campus.

Please see School, page 13

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Preserving history

LOCAL

Moishe House innovates

FOOD

Leading chefs show what’s cooking

Headlines JAA grapples with COVID-19 outbreak — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

A

fter months of avoiding a critical outbreak of COVID-19 in its facilities, the Jewish Association on Aging is now facing its “most significant outbreak of the virus to date,” according to a statement released by the organization on July 31.

As of Aug. 4, six residents of the Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center who tested positive for COVID-19 have died, as has one resident of Weinberg Terrace, a personal care community. Seven additional residents of Charles Morris – isolated in one unit – and three additional residents of Weinberg Terrace also have tested positive for COVID-19.

Residents of the two impacted communities are being asked to quarantine in their rooms or apartments.

Employees at the two facilities also have been affected by the recent surge of the coronavirus in Allegheny County, with a total of nine staff members from Charles Morris and Weinberg Terrace testing positive as of July 30.

So far, seven of those employees have recovered.

“We are devastated by the tragic loss of these individuals who were an important part of our JAA family and we extend our deepest sympathies to their families,” said JAA’s president and CEO Deborah Winn-Horvitz in a prepared statement.

Until recently, the JAA had not been hit by COVID-19 as hard as many other senior living facilities in the area. In April, one staff member at Charles Morris tested positive for the coronavirus. No other cases among either residents or staff were reported by the JAA until July 20, when it announced that two residents at Weinberg Terrace had tested positive and were receiving treatment at an outside facility.

From the outset, JAA has been “diligently

following the guidelines issued by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), along with guidance from Charles Morris medical directors and representatives from the Regional Response Health Collaborative (RRHC),” according to Winn-Horvitz. “The RRHC, developed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, includes representatives from UPMC, Allegheny Health Network, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, and the Western Pennsylvania Healthcare Association. JAA has instituted and maintained rigorous mitigation and testing protocols. According to the ACHD, the number of long-term care facilities with positive COVID-19 cases has increased nearly 80 percent within the past month.”

“Increases in cases through our region have been strong and, despite months where we had no cases, the surge has now caught up with us at JAA,” said its board chair, Andrew Stewart in a prepared statement. “I speak for the entire board when I say I am amazed by the conviction and dedication of our leadership and staff at JAA as they have fought this virus since its inception. Across our JAA family, the losses this disease has delivered to our community have been heartbreaking. I am so proud of how Debbie and her entire team continue to do everything possible to fight COVID-19.”

As of Aug. 4, 82 nursing homes and personal care facilities in Allegheny County had reported cases of COVID-19, with 908 residents and 281 employees testing positive for the virus, according to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The JAA serves about 400 residents in its facilities and has about 500 staff members.

An additional 520 community members receive its services.

Since July 31, the JAA has retested all residents and staff at its faciities for the third time in three weeks. As of Aug. 4, there were

p A JAA employee gets screened for COVID-19 symptoms.

no new cases in any of the facilities. Ongoing routine testing will continue, according to Winn-Horvitz.

The JAA has increased the level of personal protective equipment and is providing ready access to that equipment to all staff, according to Winn-Horvitz. Other safety precautions include: the continued deployment of air purification, with HEPA filters being changed “more often for added protection throughout the buildings”; temperature and symptom checks of each resident occurring every four hours; and continuing staff screening. The JAA also has “increased the frequency of cleaning with EPA-approved disinfectant in the common areas of the resident floors and rooms along with other high-touch areas.”

Additional pay is in effect for staff working on the impacted units and caring for those who are COVID-19 positive.

“As Pittsburgh experiences a surge in cases, we continue to take every precaution to protect the health of our residents and

Photo provided by the JAA

staff during these challenging times,” said Winn-Horvitz. “From the outset, JAA has diligently adhered to national, state, and local guidelines and has instituted and maintained rigorous mitigation and testing protocols.

We work side-by-side with our professional medical directors. Our nurses retested all residents and staff in Charles Morris, AHAVA, Weinberg Terrace, and Weinberg Village, the third test in three weeks, with ongoing routine testing set to continue.

“This powerful virus is having a devastating and challenging impact on people worldwide, and now, it has hit home for us.

More than ever, we cherish our values and remain focused on our mission. Together, we will be strong and work together against this common enemy, COVID-19,” she added.

No JAA spokespeople were available to the Chronicle for phone interviews. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Holocaust Center shares history and mission at Pitt diversity forum

p Lauren Bairnsfather

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

R

epresentatives of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh were among more than 12,000 educators and students to participate in “Advancing Social Justice: A Call to Action,” a July 28-30 online forum hosted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Screenshots courtesy of Adam Reinherz

During the 75-minute presentation, “Connecting History with the Injustices of Today: Insights from the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh,” Lauren Bairnsfather, Marcel Walker and Jackie Reese described the Holocaust Center’s history as well as its efforts to curb racism, anti-Semitism and other manifestations of hate.

The Holocaust Center was established 40 years ago by survivors and their children, and although the organization’s initial focus was largely related to the Jewish experience,

p Marcel Walker

there has been a push in recent years to focus on both the “long history of anti-Semitism” and the persecution of others, explained Bairnsfather, director of the Holocaust Center: “If we take all of our work back to our understanding of the Holocaust, we understand that hatred for one minority often translates into hatred for many minorities.”

Accordingly, the organization is responding to racism and anti-Black police violence by entering schools, teaching students about advocacy and introducing

educators to new pedagogies.

“We are committed to being anti-racist, and we will do that,” Bairnsfather said.

“And we are committed, just as committed, no more, no less, to fighting anti-Semitism wherever we see it. That is who we are and who we will always be.”

One of the organization’s major educational tools is its “Chutz-Pow!” series, a four-part comic book-style work on local Please see Diversity, page 13

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AUGUST 7, 2020 3

Headlines Specialty Luggage closes after 76 years — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

T

he Pittsburgh of 1944 was a different city than the tech-savvy, medical hub it is today. The steel industry dominated the region, doing its part to support the war effort. Because of the loss of many players to military service, the Pittsburgh Steelers temporarily merged with the Chicago Cardinals to create the 0-10 CardPitt football team. Street cars ferried men and women from downtown to East Liberty. And Specialty Luggage had just opened its doors.

Seventy-six years later, Jeff Izenson is closing the business his grandfather, Morris, and Morris’ two brothers, Sam and Nathan, first opened on Smithfield Street, a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the competition of direct-to-consumer internet shopping.

“They went to New York, they bought equipment, they paid cash because they couldn’t get credit,” Izenson said, recounting his forebears’ launch of Specialty Luggage. “They watched the equipment get onto the train and then they got on the train with the equipment because they couldn’t afford to lose their life savings.”

The business, a mainstay of downtown Pittsburgh, began as a manufacturer for Mine Safety until the ’70s when the company took most of its business overseas. As work

“My grandfather had an uncle here. No one is really sure of his name because he worked in either a mill or a mine and when he went to get paid they told him, ‘We don’t have an Izenson, we only have a Schafer,’ so he changed his name and became Pete Schafer after that.”

Sponsored by the renamed Schafer, the Izenson family patriarch moved to the Hill District at age 15 or 16 and began working.

“This guy always worked,” Izenson said. “He was about 5 feet tall because he was malnourished. He worked jobs during the day, had a casino they operated at night. Then they went to work for a Pittsburgh emergency trunk and bag company, making cases.

In 1944, they decided to start the business.”

The Fox Chapel resident rememp Specialty Luggage, an independent retailer with high end merchandise and expert salespeople, is closing after 76 years.

Photo provided by Jeff Izenson bers his grandfather as a strong man. “They were tough because they got the crap kicked out of for Mine Safety dwindled, Izenson’s father immigrants in the first half of the 20th them. My grandfather had to go into the street, decided to get more into the retail business, century, Specialty Luggage was born of maybe he was 10, to clean up the dead bodies after the Cossacks came to kill the Jews because although the family always had a small store- tenacity and enterprise. front, first on Smithfield Street and later at “My grandfather’s family escaped they thought they wouldn’t kill a child.” various locations on Liberty Avenue.

Russia, or the Ukraine, depending on who JC Opn Beach 7/23/19 1:55 AM Page 1 Like so many businesses begun by Jewish controlled the Boardwalk_Eartique city at the time,” Izenson said.

Please see Luggage, page 13

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Headlines Local man helps preserve history by collecting Nazi artifacts — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

I

t started with a tattoo.

“I knew very little about the Holocaust,” Howard Cohen recalled. “I grew up in Beaver Falls and it was never discussed. It wasn’t even discussed in my history class.

I remember coming home in fourth grade and telling my mother my teacher had a neat tattoo on her arm with a bunch of numbers.”

Cohen remembered his mother pulling him aside and telling him, “‘Now listen, don’t say anything about that. I want you to forget what you saw. Do not mention it to her or anyone else.’ She forbade me to discuss it with anyone.”

Several years later, Cohen was at a drugstore and spied the book “A Pictorial History of the Third Reich.”

“I saw all these people, all these dead people and it mentioned that they were killing Jews. That was my first understanding of it. I remember thinking, ‘My God, these people were all killed.’ I bought the book and still have it,” he said.

Since that first purchase, the Upper St. Clair resident has become something of an anomaly, a Jew who collects Holocaustrelated artifacts.

“I would say the vast majority of people don’t understand why I would want to collect something so morbid,” Cohen offered. “It is part of our history and it can’t be forgotten.”

The 68-year-old understands the importance of not letting these artifacts be lost to history despite not having any immediate family murdered in the Shoah.

“My family came over at the turn of the century,” he said. “My wife’s family, her father was the only survivor. Her mother was American. At our wedding I met her entire family. It was unbelievably small. I had 100 people; her side, I think there were eight and none from her father’s side. It was a shock to me then.”

Cohen and his wife, Luisa, collected antiques. Decades ago, he saw an ad in the back of an antiques magazine selling concentration camp letters. That was the start of his private collection of Holocaust-era artifacts.

“I found it interesting,” Cohen said.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing. I ended up buying 10 letters, primarily to the same family. That was the first thing I got.

Everything evolved from there.”

Cohen’s collection has grown over the last 30 years to include anti-Semitic books used to teach German children, “Jews Unwanted” signs, posters, a passport with a stamped “J,” a striped concentration camp uniform and many more disturbing items from the Holocaust.

“The stuff Howard and I have, it’s not for the faint of heart,” explained Cohen’s friend, Michael Caplan, who also is a private collector of Holocaust-era memorabilia.

“Some of the pieces Howard and I have are pretty evil.”

Caplan got into collecting these items “as a hobby,” he said. “I actually stumbled into

p Assortment of anti-Semitic propaganda for adults and children

Photo by Howard Cohen

p Assortment of “Jews Unwanted” signs in German, Czech, and Dutch

Photo by Howard Cohen

it. After my mother passed away, I started doing the family tree and found out that I had relatives who died at Auschwitz.”

Caplan, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said the real catalyst for his collection was seeing “The Eternal Jew,” a 1940 Nazi propaganda film, on YouTube.

“I couldn’t believe the baloney I just watched,” Caplan said. “After I saw it, I decided to do some research and bought a book that came with an anti-Semitic postcard. From there, it spiraled out of control.”

Caplan ventures that the majority of Holocaust-era private collectors are Jewish.

“Very rarely would you come across a neo-Nazi that could pay what Howard and I pay for some of these pieces,” he said.

It is important that Holocaust items are preserved, explained Lauren Bairnsfather, director of Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Center, whether they are in a private collection or kept at a museum.

“We want artifacts from the Holocaust to be collected by people who appreciate the

p Howard Cohen holding an anti-Semitic German poster, circa 1942

artifacts and will take good care of them, which doesn’t preclude a private collector from having even a large collection of artifacts and documents,” she said.

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is not actively seeking out pieces to add to its collection, Bairnsfather said. In fact, when she is approached with something of historical significance, she refers the owners to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Center’s role, she explained, is not only to display the artifacts it already has on hand, but to educate the public.

Thanks to a local Holocaust survivor, Cohen also has used his collection for educational purposes.

“I was an optometrist for many years,” Cohen said. “A man came in to get his glasses fixed and an optician said, ‘Hey, there’s a man over there with numbers tattooed on his arm.’”

Cohen struck up a conversation with the patient when he came to pick up his glasses.

Photo provided by Howard Cohen

“That started a long relationship. I lectured with him,” he said.

Cohen remembered seeing a story in a local newspaper that quoted a teacher lamenting the fact a Pittsburgh-area high school did not teach the Holocaust and that its senior class president was insisting “it was an embellishment by the Jewish people. That really disturbed me.”

The collector reached out to that teacher, offering his artifacts. The teacher felt, however, it would be more impactful if Cohen personally spoke to her class.

Cohen did come to the school and brought his Holocaust survivor friend, who recounted his story. Although it took some time for the students to get warmed up “by the time the bell rang, and they were to go to another class, nobody wanted to leave,” Cohen said.

Cohen believes the artifacts in his collection should be preserved because of their educational value and their ability to reach into a time many would rather forget.

“When I think of what they stood for and how the people had to live — they had to live as rats,” he said. “They had to go out at night and try and find food. Everyone was against them.”

When asked about the current wave of anti-Semitism, Cohen recalled a refrain of his survivor friend: “ ‘Everyone hates the Jew.’ It’s hard to understand. Uneducated people still think that. If you want to hate the Jew, you’re going to find a reason to do that. You can find a reason to hate people whenever you want.”

For Bairnsfather, preserving artifacts and memories are vital to ensuring the Holocaust is never repeated.

“These are artifacts of what happened and without them it’s harder to show what happened,” she said. “We’re losing survivors every day. Without survivors, we’ve lost witnesses. Thank goodness we’ve recorded their stories. These are the artifacts we need to show this happened. I’m grateful to anyone that keeps them safe.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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AUGUST 7, 2020 5

Calendar >>Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions will also be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q SUNDAYS, AUG. 9, 16, 23, 30; SEPT. 6 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. 10 Classrooms Without Borders is offering “Becoming Blended: A Practical Course for Remote Pedagogy,” a six-part, fully subsidized teacher training to all classroom educators. The free course is led by Israel’s Ministry of Education and the Kibbutzim College of Education’s Amos Raban.

3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for Daf Yomi Pittsburgh Siyyum, a celebration of the completion of Talmud tractate Shabbat for those who have studied Daf Yomi (a daily page of Talmud).

Participants will learn parts of the tractate together, and close with ritual and prayers for the occasion.

8:30 a.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org. q MONDAYS, AUG. 10, 17, 24, 31 Join Temple Sinai for “21st Century Judaism.”

Explore the dynamism and evolving issues in the Jewish community today. 7 p.m. For more information, including topics, and to register, visit templesinaipgh.org.

q MONDAYS, AUG. 10, 17, 24, 31; SEPT. 7 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 TUESDAY, AUG. 11 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “How to Ensure Legal Rights and Compliance Obligations.” Jewish organizations, leaders and activists are invited to this free online training series to learn how to welcome, respect and include people with disabilities from all backgrounds in the important work that they do. 1:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org. q WEDNESDAYS, AUG. 12, 19, 26 Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will explore the current state of Jewish love and marriage and where it all might be headed in “21st Century Love & Marriage in Judaism.” 10 a.m. For more information, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org.

Join Classrooms Without Borders as they discuss the book “How to Be an Antiracist” every Wednesday in August at 4 p.m. on Zoom. RSVP each week to receive the link. This book club is geared toward educators and open to all. Educators attending this program are eligible to receive Pennsylvania Act 48 continuing education credits. For more information visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q THURSDAY, AUG. 13 Join Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the Jewish Women’s Foundation for a one-hour interactive Zoom session led by acclaimed physician-author Dr. Vivien Brown.

Brown will discuss her book, “A Woman’s Guide

to Healthy Aging.” 12 p.m. The first 50 women to register will receive a free copy of the book. This is a free event open to all women donors who give to the Pittsburgh Federation’s Community Campaign.

12 p.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org.

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the next installment of its Generation Series with Linda Hurwitz. Hurwitz, the former head of the middle school at the Community Day School and former director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, will tell the story of her parents’ Holocaust survival. 3 p.m. hcofpgh.org. q SUNDAY, AUG. 16 Join Bend the Arch Jewish Action: Pittsburgh for “Elections and Voting: The Moral Imperative,” a panel discussion about the importance of being involved in the electoral process and why our faith traditions should point us to being more involved electorally. The panel will include Rabbi David Evan Markus, deputy chief counsel in the New York state judiciary, judicial referee in New York supreme court, and rabbi at Temple Beth-El of City Island, New York; Rev. Liddy Barlow, Southwestern Pennsylvania Christian Associates; Imam Chris Caras, Islamic Center of Pittsburgh; Rev. Richard Freeman, Resurrection Baptist Church; and moderator Sara Stock Mayo, spiritual leader and cantorial soloist.

7 p.m. RSVP at pittsburgh.bendthearc.us. q MONDAY, AUG. 17 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents its ongoing Conversations Series, featuring Betty Cruz, president and CEO of World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. 12 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. q FRIDAY, AUG. 21 Like any legal system, Jewish law is dynamic.

It responds to new societal issues as they arise.

In “Jewish Law Today,” Rabbi Danny Schiff will address five 21st century legal debates from the perspective of Jewish legal sources. Explore “Coronavirus in Jewish Law,” the last class in the series, where you can earn CLE ethics credits or social work continuing education units.

8:30 a.m. For more information, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org. q MONDAY, AUG. 24 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the next installment of its Conversations Series. Holocaust Center of Greater Pittsburgh Director Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather will speak with Jason England on the theme “The Power of the Individual.” England is an assistant professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University who has written extensively on race, sports and societal issues. 12 p.m. To register and for more information, visit hcofpgh.org. q TUESDAY, AUG. 25 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “FedTalks: Community Strength in a Time of Crisis” featuring Michael G. Masters, national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network. The annual meeting will include a report of the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s strengths and achievements as well as details on how donor support enabled the Jewish Federation to provide immediate expertise and a financial lifeline this year to the organizations that serve Jewish Pittsburgh. 5 p.m. jewishpgh.org q WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26 Grab your knitting supplies, a puzzle or some laundry that “needs folded” and join Moishe House Pittsburgh to listen to and discuss Episode 1 of the podcast “The Heart.” 7 p.m. Visit Moishe House’s Facebook page for more information, including a link to the podcast. PJC

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The health and safety of our community is the JCC’s top priority. We work closely with long-time partner, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, for continued guidance.

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Headlines Moishe House delivers community despite COVID-19 — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

I

t sounds like a new reality TV show: Take four young adults who don’t know one another, put them in the same house and charge them with creating a minimum of seven events a month that will attract other young Jewish adults. Oh, and for an added twist, have a pandemic force social distancing and the cancellation of in-person activities.

For the last 14 years, Moishe House has recreated this formula across the globe, including at Moishe House Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill — albeit without the pandemic until this year.

“We have over 120 Moishe Houses in over 27 countries around the world,” explained David Press, the senior director of advancement for Moishe House. The nonprofit’s work extends from Pittsburgh to Beijing, Philadelphia to Melbourne.

The residents living at a Moishe House receive a rent subsidy in exchange for creating programming to engage young adults in their 20s, creating vibrant Jewish communities.

Until the pandemic, those programs were in-person and focused on clever, out-ofthe-box events packaged and promoted in a way different from local congregations or other Jewish institutions. A typical month might feature “Cozy Night, Puzzle and Harry Potter Audiobooks,” “Tropical Lunch Shabbat,” “Blanket Fort and Movie Night,” “MoHo Goes to Nerd Night,” as well as more traditional activities, including Shabbat dinners and Havdalahs, often done with a quirky take.

Once COVID-19 required shutdowns and social distancing, Moishe House was forced to stop doing the programming that had been its hallmark.

“On March 17 of this year, we went from having over 1,000 in-person programs every single month to zero,” Press explained. “The moment necessitated Moishe House stepping in and saying, ‘It is currently not safe to program in person.’”

Because of its international reach, Moishe House saw the pandemic sweep first across China, Rome, Berlin and other cities where it had houses. The decision was made to continue to offer rent subsidies but not require its U.S. residents to create programming.

In Pittsburgh, the four Moishe House residents suddenly found themselves with time on their hands.

“For the first half of the pandemic, March through July, it was just me and Moses living here,” offered resident Marisa Cohen, 23.

“Since Moishe House was trying to adapt, there were less event requirements.”

While the idea of being mostly quarantined in a house with other residents who are not family might seem daunting, Moses*, 24, has found comfort in the company.

“I think the living situation has been great,” he said. “It’s been a really nice situation to be

p Moishe House Pittsburgh residents (from left): Marisa Cohen, Kayla Reiman, Diana Baron and Moses.

in because it’s felt like a source of community to me at a time when a lot of people are feeling isolated.”

Despite not being required to host events, Moses and the other residents nonetheless continued to program for their community of young adults in creative ways.

“The Pittsburgh residents have really jumped in, continuing to do a lot of really diverse programming,” according to Moishe House’s Midwest community manager, Shula Ornstein. Before the pandemic, she noted, the house hosted a wide range of programming including Jewish holidays, Jewish learning and social events.

“They’ve continued to do that,” she said.

“They’ve really been on the top of their game with interesting programming.”

The programming offered by Moses, Cohen and the other residents — Diana Baron, 29, and Kayla Reiman, 28 — has been tailored to the new COVID-19 reality, meaning it has moved to virtual, or no-contact settings.

Over the past few months, the residents have created events including “Zoom DIY Herbal Preps,” “Queer Tisha B’Av with Ratzon,” an educational webinar on Jewish Pittsburgh during the Spanish Flu and “Speed Dating but Platonic and on a Zoomlike Platform.”

Realizing that an unintended consequence of the coronavirus crisis has been Zoom fatigue, Moses said the residents also have worked to create events utilizing other tools.

“We’ve done a few events that are through the postal service,” he explained. “We send out materials for a collaborative art project.

People send them back to us and we assemble it all together.”

Another, socially distanced, non-virtual activity planned by the residents was a volunteer cleanup event “where everyone cleaned up their own area and sent pictures.”

“We’ve been trying to find creative ways to use Zoom and virtual tools and the things they provide like accessibility to more people and a broader range of people who are able to attend and include some programming not online,” Moses said.

The residents have been promoting their events through social media and by sending individual messages to past attendees.

Utilizing the virtual space also has broadened the reach of their programming.

“Former community members who have left Pittsburgh or friends who live in other cities or Moishe House residents in other cities, these are all groups who can now attend our events,” Moses said. “We’ve been posting our events in a Facebook group for Moishe House residents across the world — sometimes we get a few of them — and then I’ve been inviting friends of mine who said our events sound interesting but they don’t live in Pittsburgh.”

Both Cohen and Moses acknowledged that although it can be more challenging to create community without the ability to create in-person events they have been

Photo by Marissa Walter

pleased with the programs they have hosted.

The pair point to a decidedly old-school event as one of their favorites during the pandemic, the “Create A New MoHo Resident.”

“We were searching for new residents early in the pandemic,” Moses said. “We decided to do a create a resident event by mail.”

Cohen felt the event represented “our community really well. Each person took a different body part. Different people even took the left and right eye. And, we got to support USPS.” Moses has found the experience of living in Moishe House Pittsburgh valuable, despite the pandemic causing the residents to rethink events and find community in nontraditional ways.

“I think living here has really deepened my knowledge of Judaism and my love of Judaism and my excitement about being part of a Jewish community and a leader in the Jewish community,” he said.

Cohen agreed: “For me, it’s shown the importance of and value of bringing people together and I feel like I’ll bring that with me, wherever I end up. Making sure people feel comfortable is definitely something I’ve found value in.” PJC *Moses’ last name has been withheld upon request.

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

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

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AUGUST 7, 2020 7

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Nick Cannon reviews Bari Weiss’ book

Nick Cannon and Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss exploded into the news within a day of each other this month. So perhaps it is only fitting that the entertainer, who found himself in hot water after making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast, ended the month by reviewing the former New York Times writer’s 2019 book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism.”

Cannon apologized after his remarks came to light and promised to educate himself about Judaism and anti-Semitism.

In addition to meeting with a rabbi whose focus is on combatting anti-Semitism, he also committed to reading Weiss’ book.

Last week, he posted his review on Instagram, calling the book “an insightful and powerful read.” In his post, he said he had learned about Weiss because she had retweeted a story that criticized him. He wrote: “In this insightful read, the words that stood out to me were ‘Anti-Semitism is fueled by the malicious but often feeds on the ignorance of the well-intentioned.’

Asking myself, is she talking about me?

Knowing that my intentions have never been hateful but recently I had fallen into the same category that the author despises and writes about like Henry Ford, Charles Coughlin, and more recently the abhorrent American

Terrorist ... who on Oct. 27, 2018 murdered 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life [building] in the author’s home neighborhood in Pittsburgh, which ultimately inspired her to write this book. …

“In her solutions to fighting Anti-Semitism she suggests building community, loving your neighbor and praising those who do the right thing, along with not ‘worshiping the group over the dignity of the individual in fear of worshiping another false deity.’ … So TOGETHER let’s bring Light into this world and get rid of what is known as its oldest hatred.”

Some of Cannon’s followers criticized him after his earlier apology, in a situation that Cannon said had saddened him. While some commenters criticized his book review, many Instagram users, including some who have made a point of using the platform to educate other Jews about racism, responded by thanking him and even contended with his critics.

Berlin rally against COVID rules features anti-Semitic displays

A rally supported by neo-Nazi groups drew more than 20,000 protesters in Berlin to demand an end to coronavirus restrictions.

The rally was called a “Day of Freedom,” an apparent reference to a 1935 documentary by Leni Riefenstahl. Some attendees displayed anti-Semitic slogans, while others compared Germany’s rules meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus to Nazi regulations.

“In retrospect, this demonstration has confirmed many of our fears,” Sigmount Koenigsberg, commissioner against

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair.

Be hopeful, be optimistic.

Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.

Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

anti-Semitism for the Jewish Community of Berlin, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“The Shoah was repeatedly relativized and anti-Semitic conspiracy myths were part of the standard repertoire.”

Berlin police broke up the demonstration a few hours after it started. More than 100 people were arrested, and some 45 police officers were injured. The Berlin police are pursuing charges against the organizers for failing to wear face masks and maintain distancing, and they are investigating the use of symbols of organizations considered unconstitutional in Germany — including those of the Nazi party.

The Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) tweeted images of demonstrators with anti-Semitic propaganda.

One carried a sign with a yellow star that read “not vaccinated”; Munich outlawed the use of the yellow star at similar demonstrations in June.

Another wore a shirt that said “FCK ZION” on the front and “read the Protocols” on the back.

One of the speakers referred to “high finance” — frequent coded language for Jews — being behind the coronavirus pandemic.

Germany’s death toll in the pandemic is currently at about 9,000. The number of reported cases has increased after dipping in May; the country’s main health research institution, the Robert Koch health institute, recently reported about 1,000 new infections per day.

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

Aug. 7, 1970 — Cease-Fire ends War of Attrition

A cease-fire is signed to end the War of Attrition, which featured Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal, EgyptianIsraeli aerial battles and commando raids by both sides.

Aug. 8, 1924 — Film pioneer Van Leer Is born

8 AUGUST 7, 2020

President Donald Trump will attend a private fundraiser at the New Jersey home of a close friend who died of the coronavirus in April.

Stanley Chera was a longtime leader in New York’s tight-knit Syrian Jewish community. Reports said Trump at one point had advised Chera and his wife, Frieda, to leave their New York City home for Deal to avoid the virus.

Donations for the fundraiser range from $250,000 to meet Trump at a roundtable, have a photo op and attend a reception with the president to $5,600 to attend the reception.

The Chera family hosted a Trump fundraiser when he was running for president in 2016. Chera, a New York City real estate mogul, was an early and generous backer of Trump’s presidential campaign, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Trump said in a White House briefing in March that Chera brought the dangers of COVID-19 home to him.

“When you send a friend to the hospital, and you call up to find out how is he doing — it happened to me, where he goes to the hospital, he says goodbye,” Trump said during a White House briefing, referring to Chera. “He’s sort of a tough guy. A little older, a little heavier than he’d like to be, frankly. And you call up the next day: ‘How’s he doing?’ And he’s in a coma? This is not the flu.” PJC

This week in Israeli history

~ Rep. John Lewis | 1940 - 2020

Lee and Lisa Oleinick

Trump to attend NJ fundraiser at home of friend who died of coronavirus

Aug. 10, 1920 — Ottoman Treaty includes Balfour language

World War I’s victorious nations and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Sevres to break up the empire. The treaty incorporates the Balfour Declaration’s call for a Jewish national home in Palestine.

Aug. 11, 1929 — Jewish Agency globalizes representation

Fulfilling the League of Nations’ Articles of Mandate, the 16th Zionist Congress votes 231-4 to ratify the creation of a broadly representative Jewish Agency for Palestine reflecting the views of all world Jewry, including non-Zionists.

Aug. 12, 1944 — Berl Katznelson dies

Lia Van Leer is born in Beltsy, Romania (now Moldova). She and husband Wim Van Leer create the Israel Film Archive in 1960, and she launches the Jerusalem Film Festival in 1984.

Labor Zionist leader Berl Katznelson dies of a hemorrhage at age 57. He developed the concept of the moshav and created a program for labor unity that served as the basis for the Mapai party.

Aug. 9, 1982 — Terrorists attack Jewish deli in Paris

Aug. 13, 1995 — Aharon Barak named head of High Court

Two Palestinians from the Abu Nidal Organization attack a Jewish deli in Paris, Chez Jo Goldenberg, with grenades and machine guns. They kill six and wound 22 others.

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Aharon Barak, a Supreme Court justice since 1978, is appointed the court’s president, a position he holds until 2006.

He expands the court’s power to review government actions and protect civil liberties. PJC

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Headlines A bipartisan protest movement is rocking Israel and growing by the week. Here’s why.

— WORLD —

By Sam Sokol | JTA

N

oam Ofer might have been an unlikely candidate to join Israel’s burgeoning protest movement. At 76, he is older than most of the people who have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. He also doesn’t share the political views of many of the protesters.

But Ofer was there anyway on July 28 marching outside the Tel Aviv home of Israel’s internal security minister in charge of law enforcement, Amir Ohana, who was caught on tape pressuring a senior police official to ban demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“He’s trying to illegally shut down protests,” Ofer said. “I came because the minister said that we’re all on the left. I’m on the right. He said we are anarchists, but the only ones creating anarchy are the ones around Netanyahu.”

Ofer’s perspective reflects the deep and bipartisan frustration that many Israelis are feeling about the country’s leadership nearly Please see Protest, page 22

p Noam Ofer, 76, at the Black Flag protest, July 28, 2020.

Photo by Sam Sokol via JTA

SPONSORED CONTENT

ELDER LAW AND ESTATE PLANNING FOR LGBTQs This is one in a series of articles about Elder Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq. Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney with offices in Squirrel Hill and Monroeville.

Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com.

While some elder law and estate planning tricks and traps are absolutely the same for everyone, LGBTQ spouses and partners face some unique legal challenges. Those legal needs can be met with the right advance knowledge and preparation. Some of these issues are personal - involving marriage, medical care and children; while others are more financial in nature concerning money and assets.

For example, everyone should: • •

• • • •

Make a Financial Power of Attorney to authorize someone you choose to control your financial affairs if you become incapable.

Have a Health Care Power Of Attorney and Living Will (also called a Health Care Proxy or Advanced Directive) to specify who will make medical care decisions for you if necessary (including who gets to visit you, or not); Plan for their children’s custody and wellbeing if parents are deceased.

Carefully arrange ownership and beneficiary designations on assets.

Prepare a Will and/or Trust to say who will inherit from you, and who will have the authority to administer your estate; and Attend to tax planning for best bottom-line results after a death or other life event, when appropriate.

Here are some special twists and turns for LGBTQ people to be aware of.

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The Obergefell vs Hodges case and Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage everywhere in the US in 2005 changed everything. Now same-sex couples can enjoy the same legal benefits and protections – and negatives – of legal marriage under state laws that were previously available only to hetero couples.

These can include the statutory right to make healthcare decisions for an ill spouse; the right to tax-advantaged spousal rollover of IRAs and retirement plans; the right to spousal healthcare benefits; guaranteed spousal beneficiary rights in certain pension plans and accounts; avoiding or postponing death taxes when inheriting from a deceased spouse under “marital deduction” provisions; Federal Estate Tax portability of unused exemption amounts; citizenship opportunities for non-citizen same-sex spouses; etc.

For unmarried LGBTQ couples, the legal risks are more acute. Here are some tips, in summary form, for both married and unmarried people.

If planning to marry, make sure to unwind or unravel prior legal relationships like civil unions or domestic partnerships beforehand.

When it comes to children, adoption by both same-sex parents provides the strongest protections if the listed legal or natural parent dies. (If planning to marry and to adopt, check the timing, as adoption before marriage can result in a tax credit that might otherwise be lost.)

Update any old legal planning documents to use correct terms like spouse, husband or wife, when prior wills, POA’s etc. may have used partner, friend, or other references. Also, in addition to naming the people who you want, you can also disqualify or exclude people you

don’t want to be in charge or make decisions for you, in such documents.

Important: be sure to execute Healthcare Powers of Attorney and Living Wills naming one another. Without them, a same-sex partner might literally be kept out of a hospital room by hostile family or others, let along be excluded from making healthcare decisions for each other.

Similarly, clear funeral instructions in a Will or even a separate Funeral Directive can prevent having carefully made plans for these most personal and emotional moments hijacked by outsiders.

Carefully check and update ownership or title, and beneficiary designations, on all assets and financial arrangements, including insurance, retirement accounts, investments, and ordinary bank accounts and real estate holdings, to carry out your intent. Such beneficiary plans and arrangements ordinarily

supersede whatever you’ve written in your will. (In another example, for retirement plan governed by Federal ERISA law, a longseparated but still married spouse may have the right to inherit your pension account, even if you tried to name a new beneficiary.)

Finally, change former ownership arrangements as joint owners with right of survivorship, to ownership as spouses instead (“tenancy by the entireties”).

The bottom line is to get help and take action to protect you and your spouse sooner rather than later. Never wait till it’s too late, to protect as much as you can.

At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you and your family.

helping you plan for what matters the most

www.marks-law.com

412-421-8944 4231 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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

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

Michael H. Marks, Esq. Linda L. Carroll, Esq. michael@marks-law.com member, national academy of elder law attorneys

linda@marks-law.com

AUGUST 7, 2020 9

Opinion DNC affirms support for Israel — EDITORIAL —

T

here were many items on the table when the Democratic National Committee’s platform committee held a virtual meeting last week to consider proposed changes to a draft version of the platform, including Medicare for All and the legalization of marijuana, which were both voted down as additions.

Most significantly for the Jewish community, however, were the proposed platform changes regarding Israel. Leading up to the platform discussion, a number of groups, both Jewish and Palestinian American, had lobbied the DNC to make key changes to the platform that would have toughened its stance toward Israel. Most of those changes went unaddressed, with the party choosing instead to use the platform to project firm and unyielding support for the Jewish state.

“Democrats believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States. Our commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding is ironclad,” the draft platform now reads. “Democrats recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian.

That’s why we will work to help bring to an end a conflict that has brought so much pain to so many. We support a negotiated two-state solution that ensures Israel’s

“ Our commitment to Israel’s security,

its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum

”

of Understanding is ironclad.

— DEMOCRATIC PARTY DRAFT PLATFORM future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.”

The platform also explicitly opposes annexation and settlement expansion, affirms Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, “an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths,” and promises that “Democrats will restore U.S.-Palestinian diplomatic ties and critical assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, consistent with U.S. law.”

The platform also notes its opposition to BDS “while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.”

The platform committee rejected the use of the word “occupation” in its Israel plank

and declined to support conditions on U.S. aid to Israel should Israel move forward with annexation.

For years now, but especially since 2016, Republicans have pushed messaging suggesting that Democrats are anti-Israel and beholden to what they characterize as a far-left pro-Palestinian progressive agenda. And, to be sure, there are factions within the Democratic party that indeed do appear to be anti-Israel, their rhetoric often reflecting antipathy for the Jewish state. Media favorite and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and about a dozen other Democratic lawmakers, signed a letter in June, addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling for conditioning aid to Israel if it moved forward with plans

to annex parts of the West Bank, charging that annexation would “lay the groundwork for Israel becoming an apartheid state,” according to media reports. Rep. Ilhan Omar from Minnesota has made many defamatory statements about Israel, including some that many Jews believe crossed the line into anti-Semitism, including accusing AIPAC of paying American politicians to be pro-Israel.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, while seeking the presidential nomination last fall, named Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist and outspoken critic of Israel, as a surrogate for his campaign.

But we are encouraged by the position taken here by the platform committee, which we believe reflects not only the party’s historic and unyielding support of Israel, but the centrist position of its nominee, Joe Biden. Biden has been consistent in his point of view — backing a two state solution, showing discomfort with policies that make achievement of a two state solution more difficult, and demonstrating concern for the well-being and welfare of the Palestinian people, even if their leaders work against them.

This is the position of the Democratic Party that we are familiar with, and one which reflects the bipartisan support for the welfare, security and long-term existence of the State of Israel that is so crucial to the continuation of the close bond with the U.S. PJC

Build me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in Minecraft Guest Columnist Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman

I

press my palm against the cold, blue iron door and enter the sanctuary. Gliding over the lush red carpet, I reach for my prayer book on the bookshelf. As I stride toward my usual seat in the fourth row, a cow wanders past me.

A cow?

Such is reality when your only way to experience the inside of your home synagogue is by building it on Minecraft.

After four months of quarantine — of praying alone in a corner of the dining room that faces the alley behind my house — I needed to go someplace else. Of course, we can’t go someplace else. Praying in an indoor communal space with a minyan of other people is a no-no. In a religion that teaches us to “choose life,” we must also choose to be by ourselves or in small groups a lot until an effective vaccine is discovered. That doesn’t make the experience any easier.

But I missed everything about my Saturday mornings at Congregation Beth Shalom. The deep blues of the light as it refracts through the stained glass windows.

The oddly pleasing aesthetic of the highbacked, seldom used chairs on the bimah.

10 AUGUST 7, 2020

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa once said, “You find God wherever you let God in.” And after a little bit of work, now I can find God with the help of Minecraft.

Everything about the space is calming and peaceful for me. So, living without that spiritual space since February has been lousy.

Enter: Minecraft.

Minecraft, for the uninitiated, is a video game. Since its 2011 release, it has become the most popular video game of all time, having sold 200 million copies on over a dozen different digital platforms. The gameplay is pretty simple in that there isn’t really any one specific objective. You start in a forest with absolutely nothing, and through mining and crafting, you make items that allow you to build houses for defense from bad guys and weapons and such. The goal is to survive, and maybe find some cool stuff to build things with.

Ultimately, the gameplay of Minecraft allows the user to create nearly anything that can be imagined. Minecrafters have built

re-creations of famous landmarks, whole cities, aircraft carriers. You can watch reenactments of famous battles or scenes from your favorite movies in Minecraft. The entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth from the “Lord of the Rings” series has been painstakingly built in Minecraft, to the very last detail.

My 9-year-old son has been playing Minecraft for a few years. With quarantine suddenly limiting the number of options for things to do, I thought I’d give the game a whirl. I was stunned by how much I enjoyed the building — the calm and methodical process of planning where to put a staircase or trying to make a facade look just right. I built houses, then graduated to castles and bridges. Then I built a village. But of course, a good village needs a synagogue. And what better a model for a synagogue than Beth

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Shalom in Pittsburgh. It took around 30 hours of mining, crafting and building.

I’m satisfied with the finished product, which can be viewed on YouTube (https:// youtu.be/23egrJVv8mo). I cut the actual building down to a smaller scale — I didn’t need all five floors, or a gym, or an early childhood center. My Minecraft Beth Shalom is just four rooms: the ballroom, the sanctuary, the coat room and the lobby. I took a few liberties in the building process — replacing the giant granite Spock hands of the Cohen over the Torah ark with two giant blue fires, removing the balcony, eliminating dozens of rooms that are useful in the real world, but less so digitally. I probably fell off the roof a dozen times during the building process. And in my quests across the Minecraft world to get the necessary items — crates full of sandstone for the building; Warped Nether Wood for the doors; soul torches; pink granite — I probably died 10 times.

It’s not quite an actual replacement for praying in the real thing, but it feels a little more comforting to know that I can flip on my PlayStation and “go” to Beth Shalom.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa once said, “You find God wherever you let God in.” And after a little bit of work, now I can find God with the help of Minecraft. PJC Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman is rabbi at Brith Sholom Jewish Center in Erie, Pennsylvania. He lives in Pittsburgh.

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Opinion Let’s put an end to school-shaming Guest Columnist Melissas Henriquez

I

’m dubbing “school shaming” the new Mommy War of 2020.

If you’ve been on social media even once in the past few weeks, you know all about the contentious back-to-school debate that is raging. It’s one of the many truisms of the internet: No matter what parents do, it will never be good enough for some people.

As coronavirus cases continue to rise across the country, school districts are offering varying plans for the fall. Some are planning for in-person instruction; some will be online-only; others are aiming for a hybrid of both.

At this point, parents have a gazillion questions and precious few answers. Our lack of understanding of the novel coronavirus — combined with heightened emotions and a notable absence of leadership at every level — has seeded an all-out hate-fest among parents. That’s particularly true among moms, who are, more often than not, tasked with overseeing their children’s education.

But we’re making it even worse by shaming one another, online and offline, for whichever decision they make. Some examples I’ve seen floating about in the comments sections of social media: If you plan to send your kids to school, you must “hate teachers” and “not care about their/your children’s safety/health/well-being.” But if you plan to keep your kids at home, you’re a “sheep” and “living in fear” or “you must have the luxury of not needing to work.”

Of course, none of these things are true — parents are all just trying to get through this crazy time and are doing what we need to do in order to survive.

There are countless articles and no clear answers. There are logical and rational and

science-based articles saying it’s better to send kids back than not because the benefits outweigh the risks, and logical and rational and science-based articles saying it would be a catastrophe to send kids back and that the risks outweigh the benefits. “It’s a no-win scenario,” as my dad likes to say.

Every parent is struggling to do what’s right. But now that COVID-19 has become so politicized, parents of all political stripes are simply throwing barbs at one another instead of supporting those who may not be able to make the same decisions.

As in so many other arenas, those with money to spare have additional options in this difficult scenario, including hiring private teachers or forming exclusive “pandemic pods.” Some are looking at Jewish day schools or secular private schools as new alternatives.

Some are choosing to homeschool.

But for those kids planning to stay within the public school system, like mine, there really are no good options.

Here in Texas, our school year is slated to start Aug. 19. After a summer of worrying and wondering, we got word that our district is offering two options for elementary-aged kids: in-person or virtual learning. Parents have to submit their decision this week — and if our local mom groups on Facebook are any indication, any decision is going to be the “wrong” one. Talk about Jewish guilt!

My husband and I both work full-time, and our kids are going into fourth and first grade. Juggling work and remote learning was a real challenge for us. The arrangement was semi-functional but not sustainable, and not something either of us would prefer to repeat for another school year.

I’m anxious when I think about how the choice to send our kids back to school as “guinea pigs” or “part of some social experiment” will be judged. As sick as it made me to read these phrases online, I know they aren’t necessarily untrue — so much is unknown about this virus. But also, I feel helpless, because I see no other option. I love

In the end, after considering the new safety protocols and changes that would be in place at our kids’ school, we decided that we’ll be sending our kids back to school.

Sadly, instead of seeing parents support each other, the hate being lobbed back and forth among parents seems to be so much harsher than the mommy wars of the past.

So what is a concerned parent to do besides throw their hands up and cry?

Don’t read any comments section if you don’t want your blood to boil, for one. They are a minefield of anger and frustration — all of which is understandable but can be hard to handle.

Be patient with yourself and the rollercoaster of emotions you may be feeling from one day to the next. None of us have lived during a pandemic before. Be kind to others, and ask questions with empathy.

You don’t know what internal battle they’re facing; don’t shame other parents or go all passive-aggressive on them. Avoid judging others — just because you wouldn’t make the same decision doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Everyone has different circumstances and different reasons for the choices they make.

We are desperate for answers, desperate for a “right decision” — but honestly, there isn’t one. There’s only what works for your family right now. That might change in the weeks and months ahead. But until we have a vaccine, this is our new normal, and may be for years to come.

School will look different for everyone this fall. But what we need right now, more than ever, is empathy. My wish is for parents to put down the boxing gloves and agree to be a part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem. It’s going to take a village. PJC Melissa Henriquez, a New Jersey native, is a frequent contributor at Kveller.com. This article is part of a collaboration between the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Kveller about pandemic parenting and school reopenings. It first appeared at JTA.org.

Reader says ‘thanks’

— LETTERS — Kudos to Pittsburgh institutions from a former Buffalonian Four years ago I went from being a lifelong Buffalonian to a Pittsburgher. The move was challenging considering the contrast in cities. I had to learn how to drive in and around hills, tunnels and bridges, which was a new experience since my former city had none of the above.

Add to that my confusion of why, after driving a fair distance including twists and turns, I still ended up on Beechwood Boulevard.

Another challenge was moving to a new city and knowing only three people. My daughter (one of the three) suggested I join the JCC. Great suggestion. I joined the Yidddish club, yoga class, current events program and saw movies and had lunch with new friends in the J Cafe.

When COVID-19 arrived, AgeWell offered a variety of interactive group classes using the computer. They call it “videoconference technology,” I call it magic. The JCC was a big part of my transition and I am forever grateful.

I went on to find a perfect place to live and met and became friendly with a group of lovely women who live in my building. Add book club, card club and birthday club to my list.

Buffalo’s slogan is “City of Good Neighbors.” Pittsburgh has them beat. Buffalo may be friendly, but Pittsburgh is friendlier. I don’t want to give myself a kenahora, but my leap to Pittsburgh has been great.

Phyllis Balsom Squirrel Hill

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

my job and I am an equal contributor to our family income.

Adding insult to injury, I’ve seen posts and articles galore about how parents like me who are “choosing” to send their kids back are “killing teachers.” I’ve read about teachers fearfully drafting wills, or considering retiring early, or leaving the field because they’re being asked to sacrifice themselves in ways they never dreamed of. It’s all devastating.

In our community, we are fortunate that teachers have the choice to apply for a virtual position or remain in the classroom; no one is being “forced” to go back. From what I am hearing, the overwhelming majority of the teachers and staff are eager and ready to go back to school with all the new precautions in place — which gives me some comfort.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t worry about the inherent risks they face teaching in the age of coronavirus, whether they choose to be there or not.

The shaming comments break my heart.

I hate to think that parents who work and need our kids to learn from actual educators are at the root of their collective anxiety … but that very well may be the case, and that’s an enormous burden to bear.

Schools cannot promise us they are safe, no matter how many precautions they take. In many states, including my own, the number of cases is rising. Will the safety precautions be enough for teachers and students? Will my first-grader realistically be able to keep a mask on his face? (He better!) What if school has to shut because someone contracts the virus?

While distance learning may be what a family needs to do for a variety of reasons, it simply did not work for many families, including ours — not to mention that it’s a mixed bag in terms of results. Many students across the country simply don’t have access to the internet. If we have to continue on this path, I worry: Will my kids and others fall behind? Will I have to quit my job in order to help teach them? How will our kids socialize? What if what if what if?

As Jeff Izenson’s sister, I wanted to thank you for the lovely article you wrote about the closing of Specialty Luggage (published online July 30, and on pg. 4 of this week’s print issue).

David Rullo did a beautiful job weaving together the history of my family and the business they worked hard to create.

It was very moving to read the story.

Thank you for taking the time and energy to do such a wonderful job.

Mindy Rosenberg San Francisco, California

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AUGUST 7, 2020 11

Headlines Study: Continued from page 1

Southern New Jersey, parts of West Virginia and Binghamton, New York.

Rebecca was also active with NFTY before entering college.

Anna has taken on considerable leadership roles within the youth group, a commitment her mother traces to Camp Harlam, a Reform Jewish summer camp in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania.

“Anna found a love of Judaism at camp,” said Beth. “I’m not sure how Jewish she would feel if not for NFTY and camp.”

Initially, youth group attendance enabled Anna to see her camp friends at weekend retreats, but as the years progressed Anna gained valuable programming and leadership training through NFTY, noted her mother.

“Kids are given a lot of encouragement to take on leadership positions,” said Beth.

“The mentoring they get from regional staff has been impressive to see. The staff has been supportive of them and understanding of the pressures they face as teens in this crazy world, and has given them the help and guidance they need, but also drives them to be successful.”

Jonah Rosenberg, 16, an incoming sophomore at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and MEM/KAD (Membership and Kadima) vice president of Congregation Beth Shalom’s USY chapter, expounded on the lessons gleaned from participating in the Conservative Jewish youth group.

“Being on the board, I’ve gotten so much leadership experience from USY in general. It’s made me prouder to be Jewish,” said Rosenberg.

Whether it’s designing programs for younger kids or recruiting and retaining new members, serving on the board has enabled a sense of accomplishment as well as afforded social connection.

“It’s fun to be on the board with all of your friends. It’s fun to see the programs get done and get done well,” said Rosenberg. Being a part of USY in this capacity, and going to conventions where “you meet so many people you wouldn’t have met is cool,” he continued, which leads to Judaism taking on greater meaning.

“It makes it seem like there’s more than shul,” he added.

Finding engagement

Both Rosenberg’s and the Schwartzes’ experiences align with findings in the 2017 Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study.

Commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and conducted by researchers at Brandeis University, the 2017 study indicates that “from a numbers perspective, youth groups are one of the pillars of informal Jewish education,” said Raimy Rubin, Federation’s manager of impact measurement.

According to the Community Study, of households with age-eligible children, 22% included a child who participated in a youth group.

“When it comes to Jewish education outside of the classroom, there are

“ Anna found a love of Judaism at camp.

I’m not sure how Jewish she would feel

”

if not for NFTY and camp.

— BETH SCHWARTZ

only so many ways we know to engage Jewish kids’ attention and deliver Jewish content,” said Rubin.

Rabbi Chaim Strassman, director of Pittsburgh’s NCSY chapter, has been involved in the Orthodox Jewish youth group for eight years. Between running a summer trip for the national organization and facilitating local programming, Strassman has seen the benefit of youth group affiliation.

“Youth groups are probably at the forefront, and if not at the forefront then one of the most important components in forming a Jewish identity,” said Strassman. Teens receive considerable tutelage from school and home, but youth groups are “a space for you to exercise that and try it yourself.”

By not having something “put on you,” but by having the ability to “opt into that decision-making,” youth groups grant an “individuality that is more formative.”

Youth groups deliver a sense of self, an awareness of others and a stability that resonates with teens, explained Yael Eads, director of informal Jewish life at Rodef Shalom Congregation.

“Kids have friends that they don’t always feel safe with, and I think that youth groups have that safe space where you feel like you belong and you can trust the people you’re with,” said Eads.

During her six years working with young people at Rodef Shalom, Eads has learned how meaningful youth groups are to them.

“Kids go to soccer or baseball because they want to, but they don’t always feel like they fit. When it comes to youth groups, kids don’t speak like that. They feel like they belong, they feel like they can be themselves, they feel like they have their safety net with them,” she said.

Pathways for community

Youth groups are avenues for finding or creating desired communities, echoed Linda Joshowitz, volunteer shlicha/director of Pittsburgh Bnei Akiva.

Joshowitz began working with the religious Zionist group more than a decade ago, after her oldest daughter, Jill, and other neighborhood residents, sought to experience the joys of summer camp throughout the year.

“Camp Stone was their happy place and they really wanted to re-create that for themselves,” said Joshowitz. Given the Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, summer camp’s

commitment to “Am Yisrael, b’Eretz Yisrael, Al Pi Torat Yisrael [The Jewish people, in the Land of Israel, living according to the Torah], it was just a safe space for them.”

Bnei Akiva had previously existed in Pittsburgh, but efforts to reestablish the youth group in 2005 led to a conclusion that “there was no re-creating Camp Stone,” said Joshowitz. “It’s just not re-creatable in a youth group setting where for parents school comes first and youth group comes last.” Even so, it was possible to simulate aspects of summer camp, such as informal Jewish education about “Zionism, the state of Israel, its history and the important people who made Israel what it is,” by designing regular programs and enabling teens to work together through leadership positions and to attend Shabbatons.

Joshowitz’s five children, who range from 21 to 30 years old, all participated in Bnei Akiva, but as much as she enjoyed seeing their involvement, observing the youth group’s effects on others has enriched her life, she said.

“These kids are the most stand-up leaders with integrity and commitment and passion,” said Joshowitz. “They are just kind and have beautiful middot [qualities].”

Whether it’s through a synagogue, religious school, community center or elsewhere, Pittsburgh provides its teens with an array of Jewish options, explained Marissa Tait, Beth Shalom’s director of youth programs.

“From talking to colleagues in different cities, we have a lot more opportunities.

The Jewish content and the vastness of it is bigger than most other places,” she said.

This is “amazing to me because growing up it was NFTY or synagogue youth group, that’s it. We didn’t always have programs that met the needs of the actual youth.”

Filling a void and impacting family

Marcie Weinstein, of Squirrel Hill, said that for her two children youth groups fill a void and “ensures that they are having a Jewish life outside of Sunday school.”

“Sometimes when you live in Squirrel Hill you forget that you have to make an effort to do Jewish things because it seems like everyone is Jewish,” said Weinstein. Whether it’s when shopkeepers and passersby say, “Happy Chanukah” during the winter season, or other aspects of Squirrel Hill, “sometimes

it just feels like we live in a bubble.”

Weinstein has previously volunteered with her children’s youth groups at Rodef Shalom. Doing so has been important for her family, she explained: It’s a reminder that “just because a lot of people around you are Jewish, you still have to make an effort to live a Jewish life.”

Because of his daughters’ participation in USY, Adam Kolko’s Shabbat has taken on increased liveliness in recent months.

“We’ve certainly upped our Friday night ruach [spirit] game,” said Kolko, a Point Breeze resident and Beth Shalom member.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Kolko family closes out its Friday night dinners with approximately 45 minutes of zemirot (Jewish hymns).

The medley of youth group and summer camp tunes “has brought us together. We actually Zoom it with my 92-year-old mother in Rochester,” said Kolko. “It’s pure joy. I like to sing a lot. I like to sing with my family. And to see them get into it like the way they do there’s nothing better.”

Although COVID-19 has transformed their family Shabbat experience, it hasn’t fully altered the Kolkos’ engagement with youth groups.

The incoming senior and sophomore at Pittsburgh Allderdice spend about 10 hours per month on USY digital meetings and activities, and have remained “very resilient in dealing with things,” said their father.

What comes next

Given the almost total reliance on digital connections and cessation of in-person gatherings, it’s difficult to foresee what youth group engagement will resemble in the fall, but local leaders are committed to ensuring that youth groups continue providing the benefits they afforded prior to “COVID-19” becoming common parlance.

“A lot of it will follow the leads of the different religious schools, but safety is number one — not just physical, but emotional and mental,” said Tait.

Regardless of makeup, youth groups will meet their constituents’ needs, explained Strassman. “It’s more difficult to get together but the heart of what we’re doing is relationship building: building relationships with teens and challenging them to grow and form a Jewish identity,” he said.

That commitment bodes well for a Jewish future, as youth groups offer the prospect of not only introducing Jewish kids to one another but to other Jewish experiences like summer camp or Israel travel, explained the Federation’s Rubin. They’re a chance for Jewish kids to establish primary social networks even before they get on a plane.

“I think a lot of the groundwork is set as children, in the middle school and high school age years,” said Rubin. “There is such a strong correlation between your social group and Jewish identity. When kids form certain bonds and friendships, there is a very good likelihood they will have a positive Jewish identity as adults.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org 12 AUGUST 7, 2020

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Headlines School: Continued from page 1

“Using COVID capacity planning tools made available to schools, we realized early on how blessed we are to have two large buildings, seven acres of land and the low student-teacher ratio necessary to have all of our students on campus and still be well within state and CDC guidance — that is to give children the classroom spaces they need to learn effectively while maintaining physical distancing,” said Jennifer Bails, director of marketing and communications for CDS. “We are also offering a virtual learning option flexibly to every student throughout the year for health reasons or if families decide they are simply more comfortable with an online learning environment.”

Some families with children enrolled at Yeshiva Schools told school officials the virtual programming implemented last spring wasn’t sustainable as many parents need to work, said Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, dean of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

“I think some parents feel the virtual option, though it was OK, was not a long-term plan,” Rosenfeld said. “I think they believe we have set up a plan to the best of our ability.”

Hillel officials also said that parents have been comforted by measures administrators

Diversity: Continued from page 3

upstanders, international heroes, young people and women.

Sharing these narratives has afforded a unique opportunity to teach history and also has enabled personal discussions about race, explained Marcel Walker, the lead artist and project coordinator of “Chutz-Pow!” “I have been asked very directly, what it is like as a Black person to work on ‘Chutz-Pow!,’” said Walker. “I am not Jewish. I have always said that I am from a culture that is adjacent to the Jewish culture, and my expanded role with ‘Chutz-Pow!’ has allowed me to see all the areas of intersection, but also the areas of difference, and where there are parallels. But my role has also allowed me to connect with audiences in ways that I hadn’t necessarily foreseen.”

Walker recalled one experience teaching

Luggage: Continued from page 4

Soon after his bar mitzvah, Izenson’s father began taking him to work.

“I was bar mitzvahed in April and that summer began working in the factory,” said Izenson, now 58. “It was my job to bend the angles for the cases we made.”

After college, Izenson began working as a salesman. “I was 22 or 23 and had a blast. I didn’t have any other responsibilities. All I had to do was come in and enjoy people and sell them what they wanted or needed.”

At its high point, Specialty Luggage had four locations. Last year, Izenson closed

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“ I think it’s a really tough time to be a parent because you’re going to get criticism

no matter what you do and the schools are going to get criticism no matter

”

what they do.

— BETH GOLDSTEIN

p The Berelowitz children, fully engaged in their virtual classrooms at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh last spring. Hillel is planning for in-person instruction and a virtual option this semester. Photo courtesy of

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

have taken in the COVID-19 era, such as shutting down cafeteria operations and making sure each student packs their own lunch or setting up alternate entrances and exits. They admit, however, that circumstances on the ground still can change between now and the first day of school.

“For a lot of people, it’s still early,” Weinberg said. “A lot of people are going to see how things are [with COVID-19 cases] in the city and county.”

The pandemic doesn’t seem to be driving many families away from the Jewish day schools. Community Day School has few concerns with retention from the 2019-’20

academic year, according to school officials.

“As in recent years, our retention rate has been incredibly strong, with only a few families opting to send their children to different schools in the Pittsburgh area and several moving back home to Israel,” Bails said.

“With our current plans to open full-time for in-person instruction and the success of our widely praised spring online learning program, we have had many inquiries from public school families who are now interested in CDS.” Officials from the other two day schools echoed that sentiment.

Last week, the Pittsburgh Public School Board voted in favor of online-only classes

during the first nine weeks of school, beginning Aug. 26.

Leaders of Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools agree the situation remains highly fluid — and there’s no telling what decisions they might be pressed to make between now and the start of school. “‘How to Handle a Global Pandemic’ was not a class I took in principal school,” laughed Weinberg, from Hillel Academy.

“This is all total craziness that no one is prepared for.” PJC

Black students about the project and the “powerful feeling” that connection provided.

“These students are young and Black, and I wanted them to know that somebody like me could be so invested in another culture and in bringing these stories to light and showing these intersections and parallels,” Walker said.

“I also always try whenever possible to make myself available to groups that are not Black,” he added, “because I think it’s just as important for as many groups as possible to see who is working on these stories and who is making these stories important to them.”

It is also critical for the Holocaust Center to note that while similarities exist between the Black and Jewish communities, there is a danger in “drawing false parallels,” said Reese, the organization’s marketing and education associate.

Both communities have faced centuries of discrimination and experienced generational trauma, but “we cannot draw

false equivalences,” continued Reese. “It’s tempting to make connections, and in order to inspire critical thinking we should.

However, we can’t oversimplify and we can’t compare pain. This is a really big principle for us, not comparing pain of groups.”

While both camps have experienced considerable hurt, moving forward there must be a renewed commitment to eradicating intercommunal aggression and other barriers for progress.

“What anti-Semitism looks like needs to be taught so that those who would theoretically be allies can recognize when they are allowing it to creep into their rhetoric,” said Reese. “Likewise, Jews need to not be complacent or allowed to use anti-Semitism as a pass for doing the work to take an anti-racist stance. We can’t allow our fear of the persecution being turned on us to keep us from fighting for what is right.”

Along with representatives from the

Holocaust Center, the forum welcomed other notable speakers, including Ibram X. Kendi, author of the 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist,” and was an opportunity to draw a global audience while initiating a year of engagement, explained university leaders in a series of statements.

“This forum will give us the opportunity to examine the tools that we can use to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable community,” said Kathy Humphrey, senior vice chancellor for engagement and secretary of Pitt’s board of trustees.

Ann E. Cudd, Pitt’s provost and senior vice chancellor, offered similar hopes, and noted, “A focus on engagement is ideal for a university setting because here we learn and teach about communities, while coming together to create new ones.” PJC

the downtown location where they still produced a few small items for Mine Safety.

He is now preparing to close the remaining store at the Waterworks Mall.

“We’ve succumbed to COVID-19,” Izenson acknowledged. “No one is traveling.”

He cites the ability of shoppers to buy luggage online as further complicating an already troubled financial picture.

“Could we have survived if not for the pandemic? Sure, but we’re down to doing 10 or 15% of the business we were doing. That’s not sustainable. Amazon is certainly one of the issues; that created an uphill challenge for us. The other is that every vendor we carry sells directly to the consumer.”

He credits his employees and their

knowledge of the upscale brands his store carried with the success of Specialty Luggage for over three quarters of a century.

“My dad taught me to hire good people, give them direction and let them go. We’ve had great people who knew the business.

The truth is, if the business was dependent on my personality it would have been gone a long time ago,” Izenson said.

“It’s a real tragedy, almost as bad as the closing of the Original Hot Dog Shop,” lamented longtime customer Robert Stock.

“When I was in college, I used to buy from the parents. When I finished, I went on to San Diego and even during all those years, I was always calling asking them to send me a steamer bag or briefcase or something.

They’re just extraordinary, the whole gang.”

Stock, who lives in Squirrel Hill, believes people staying close to home has contributed to the store’s closure.

“People just aren’t traveling,” he said. “I spent a lot of my life traveling all over the world. That’s the main factor. Plus, shopping online is eating up a lot of companies.”

As for his own future, Izenson is remaining pragmatic, saying he owns some apartments and may get further into the real estate market.

“The automobile industry killed the buggy whip makers and I think this might be the death knell of the independent luggage stores.” PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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

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

AUGUST 7, 2020 13

Life & Culture Life is a chai-way for these Jewish bikers

p Mazel Tuffs hit the road

Photo courtesty of Wendy Levenson

p Loaded up and ready to roll

— LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

T

odd Levenson lives to ride.

The Squirrel Hill resident rides his motorcycle every day to and from his day job as a used car sales manager. He rides in the spring and the fall. On Sundays, at least before COVID-19 hit, he’d take two- to three-hour rides with biker friends.

“I feel uncomfortable in a car,” Levenson said. “I just love the feel of a bike — it’s the power, the smell of the engine. You don’t get that in a car.”

About a decade ago, Levenson saw an ad in the newspaper from a group called the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance that sought Jewish motorcyclists to ride en masse to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. About a dozen Pittsburghers responded to the ad, he said. And the band of Jewish riders known as the Mazel Tuffs was born.

Wendy Levenson, Todd’s daughter, gets interesting responses when people hear about the club she, her father and her sister Miriam help lead.

“Most people are shocked for two reasons — I’m a girl and I’m Jewish. And that’s not what you associate with bikers,” said Wendy Levenson, of Shadyside. “It kind of brings a new activity to your Jewish traditions and your Jewish rituals.”

There are Jewish elements to the club, part of a JMA network of 42 local chapters in countries as far flung as the United Kingdom, Israel and Australia. (Many have tongue-in-cheek names like Chai Riders or Hillel’s Angels.)

Every time the Mazel Tuffs ride, they collect $5 per ride as tzedakah for an annual “Ride 2 Remember,” where JMA riders travel to and meet up at Holocaust museums or memorials around the country. COVID-19 cancelled the gathering this year but several riders are already primed for 2021’s

14 AUGUST 7, 2020

p Miriam and Wendy Levenson

Photo courtesy of Wendy Levenson

p From left: Club members Sam Frank, Todd Levine, Bill Braslawsce, Liz Pelesky, Miriam Levenson, Sally Levenson, Todd Levenson and Wendy Levenson

Photos courtesy of Sally Levenson

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo courtesy of Sally Levenson

destination: San Diego.

Many members of the Mazel Tuffs had similar things to say about the existential experience of riding a motorcycle and caring more about the journey than the destination.

“You feel the wind — sometimes it’s called wind therapy — and you feel the movement of the bike,” said Dave Rosenblatt, the international motorcyclists alliance’s vice president. “You can smell everything. And you feel connected to the road in a way you don’t in a car. You feel connected to the environment and to the weather, too.”

Bill Braslawsce, a Beaver County attorney, has been riding a motorcycle for about 20 years. When he was a kid, growing up in East Liverpool, Ohio, the mode of transportation was dirt bikes. Today, it’s a Harley Davidson.

Braslawsce is one of the few Jews in Beaver County and skips between local congregations around the region to worship. Mazel Tuffs, for him, is a Jewish outlet and a kind of extended family.

“We get together, not only to ride,” he said. “We get together at family functions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, things like that.

It’s just a group of good friends. Most of the time, at least in years past, we ride.”

“We ride everywhere,” Todd Levenson laughed. “This year’s a huge exception.”

In “typical” years, the Mazel Tuffs will pick a spot a few hours removed from Pittsburgh — Punxatawny, maybe, or south into West Virginia — and they’ll simply take to the back roads to see the sights.

“We ride, we eat,” laughed Braslawsce. “We ride, we eat some more.”

But something that bonds the group of roughly a dozen riders is the feeling of the ride.

“When you’re on the road, you’re not looking at your phone,” Wendy Levenson said. “It kind of clears your mind. It’s truly hours of your own thoughts. You’re really able to experience something larger.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Life & Culture They wanted to convert to Judaism, but the mikvahs were closed. So instead they went to Jewish summer camp.

— RELIGION —

By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

O

n a typical summer day, hundreds of kids can be found around the lake at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires splashing around in the water, taking swimming lessons, paddle boarding and playing on giant inflatables.

“The opposite of calm” is how the camp’s director, Rabbi Ethan Linden, describes it.

But with the camp closed this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, the lake found a different purpose earlier this month: as a ritual bath. Fifteen Jews by choice immersed themselves there to finalize their conversions.

Clad in a mask, Linden looked on from the dock along with a lifeguard, another staff member and two rabbis who traveled from Manhattan and New Jersey as the candidates waded into the water. One by one they immersed themselves fully, emerging officially as Jews.

“The outdoor aspect of it was the most magical part because it was so open and so free, and so beautiful out there,” said Alexa Rae Ibarra, a 29-year-old yoga instructor.

She had traveled to the Berkshires with her longtime boyfriend from the Hamptons, where the couple have been spending time during the pandemic.

When Ibarra started studying for her conversion in September, she had assumed that she would be immersing at an indoor mikvah in New York City, where she usually lives, at its completion in June. After the conversion, she had plans to travel to Israel “to have the full experience.”

But as the coronavirus started spreading widely in New York in the spring, Ibarra realized things wouldn’t happen as she had planned.

Like many other converts, she found herself thrust into uncertainty as some mikvahs closed, while others did not allow more than one person to come along to appointments, as is necessary for conversions.

“When things didn’t go to plan, I just remember being really, really sad and unsure of what would happen,” said Ibarra, who studied Judaism through the Center for Conversion to Judaism at Town & Village Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Manhattan.

Some students studying through the center had finished courses as early as April but were unable to finalize their conversions due to the pandemic. Rabbi Laurence Sebert,

p Alexa Rae Ibarra immersed in the lake at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires to complete her conversion to Judaism.

Photo courtesy of Alexa Rae Ibarra via JTA

who leads Town & Village Synagogue, was struggling to find a solution one day while talking on Zoom with Rabbi Joel Shaiman, the conversion center’s program coordinator.

Looking at his screen, Sebert could see the ocean in the background behind Shaiman’s Jersey Shore home. That sparked a realization: Instead of using a traditional mikvah, they could use a natural body of water, which can be used as a ritual bath according to Jewish law.

The rabbis initially considered going to the Jersey Shore, but after realizing it would be hard to find a private spot, they thought of Ramah. Both have connections to the upstate New York camp, which is affiliated with the Conservative movement. They reached out to

Linden, the camp director, who was on board.

“The idea was, we have this beautiful natural mikvah at camp, this beautiful lake, and obviously like most nonprofit Jewish summer camps this summer, we are not open this summer and I said to them we should use the lake at camp,” Linden said.

In fact, the lake is used as a mikvah by staff members during the summer who observe the laws of ritual purity, which mandate that a woman needs to immerse after menstruation in order to resume sexual relations.

Lake Ellis at Camp Ramah turned out to be just what the rabbis wanted. The converts immersed after meeting shoreside with a beit din, a rabbinical court that was made up of Shaiman, Sebert and camp staff members.

“ The outdoor aspect of it was the most magical part because it was so open

”

and so free, and so beautiful out there.

— ALEXA RAE IBARRA

“It was the perfect setting for this transformational moment for all of these people,” Sebert said. “They had been waiting, many of them for several months at least, and didn’t think that it was going to happen anytime soon.”

A few adjustments were made. Converts usually immerse naked and a sheet is used for modesty, or rabbis stand behind a partition. Since it was harder to maintain privacy in an open lake, however, they instead wore loose clothing. Attendance at a mikvah is limited typically to the rabbis and the convert, but since there was more space at the lake, the Jews by choice got to bring along a few family members or friends. Two even brought their dogs.

Ibarra said being able to bring her boyfriend, Justin, made it even more special.

“I remember him being behind me and thinking, ‘Nobody, not anyone, will understand or experience what we both have experienced today.’ It was such a moment for both of us,” she said.

In fact, it was such a positive experience that the rabbis are considering bringing up another group of converts to the Berkshires at the end of August.

“In some ways it was getting back to the ‘ikar,’ the essence, of how we do this,” Shaiman said. “A mikvah in the city is really a second-best alternative. … Back to nature is kind of the way it was originally done.” PJC

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AUGUST 7, 2020 15

Life & Culture The new foodie normal: Instead of travel and tours, one-on-one chef video lessons — FOOD —

By Karen Chernick | JTA

T

he reservations were rolling in, and Inbal Baum was preparing for her busiest summer yet of food tours through Israel’s famed open-air food markets.

Her decade-old tour company and its team of over 20 guides were ready to lead thousands of international guests to markets in places like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where they would try curated samples of foods ranging from hummus and bourekas to lachoch bread and ma’amoul cookies.

That was before the coronavirus pandemic.

First, the arrivals of tourists slowed.

Then restaurants closed. Then, finally, so did the markets.

Baum’s company, called Delicious Israel, was out of work. And yet, she noticed that people seemed more interested in food than usual — they just weren’t flying anywhere to try new dishes. Instead, they were cooking, baking and pickling in their home kitchens nonstop.

So Baum thought of another avenue to reach her foodie clientele while simultaneously supporting other food industry professionals who, like herself, found themselves floundering overnight: In late May she launched Delicious Experiences, a website that connects home cooks with leading chefs and culinary experts (mostly U.S.-based, some international) for one-on-one private workshops via video chat.

The platform offers tailored classes in cooking, baking, mixology, cake decorating and food photography. Many of the instructors are Jewish, and many of the courses are Jewish-themed.

When Baum compiled a wish list of culinary celebrities and started reaching out to potential instructors, she was surprised by how many of them said yes.

“Really insanely great chefs were very open

p Inbal Baum’s business brought tourists to Israeli markets for a decade.

Photo courtesy of Delicious Experiences via JTA

to doing this,” she said. “A lot of these chefs see their own futures in some kind of online format, and so this is a perfect way to give them a platform to start off that process.”

Instructors include Michelin Star restaurateur and sommelier Etheliya Hananova, James Beard Award-winner Nate Appleman, and a range of Israeli chefs, including Nir Mesika, Roy Ner, and spice maven Lior Lev Sercarz.

Kevin Fink, a Texas-based chef on the platform, says that classes are “always something that I get asked to do, and traditionally, we just don’t have time.” In the age of COVID-19, reaching clients online is more feasible for some chefs.

Beyond the time factor, these types of live private experiences were never a high priority in the food industry.

“It’s actually something that’s super uncommon in the food world. Well, was uncommon,” adds New York-based Jake Cohen, another chef on the platform and author of the upcoming cookbook “Jew-ish: A Cookbook: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch.” “It’s something that’s changed drastically. Almost overnight we saw this complete shift in how people reacted

p Shoppers are back at Israeli outdoor markets, such as this one in Tzfat, pictured July 15, 2020, but Delicious Experiences lives on.

Photo by David Cohen/Flash90 via JTA

p Delicious Experiences connects customers with chefs for one-on-one video lessons.

Photo by Pronina Marina/iStockPhoto.com

to food and what they were craving.”

Shiry Yosef, an entrepreneur in Tel Aviv who loves drinking cocktails at bars and restaurants but had never made one at home, tried a craft mixology class on Delicious Experiences with Singapore-based bartender Joseph Haywood.

They decided to focus on gin and whisky.

“It’s not a substitute for travel or for dining out,” Yosef said. Still, she added, “I actually loved that I was in my own kitchen with my own ingredients. It made it feel like something that I will repeat at home.”

When Baum tried the cocktail class herself, she also felt it was an advantage being in her own kitchen — despite the fact that she doesn’t have any cocktail-making tools.

“We don’t have a shaker,” she said. “He’s like, ‘Do you have a water bottle?’ And right behind me was my daughter’s sippy cup, and the chef was like, ‘That’s perfect! You can even strain it.’”

Baum argues that doing these workshops at home, in the same kitchen clients use daily, makes them much more likely to recreate the dishes later. She claims, as someone who regularly takes cooking classes overseas when she travels, that the dishes are always tricky to reproduce at home since you never have the same tools or ingredients.

“But all of a sudden, when you do it in your kitchen, you learn that you don’t need a rolling pin — you can actually just use a wine bottle or a paper towel thing,” she said.

“Or, in Israel we don’t have half-and-half — it doesn’t matter. It’s something that a recipe’s not going to tell you. When there’s a chef on the other side they’ll tell you what to mix, part cream, part whatever.”

Israel’s markets have opened back up again, despite a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country — but what people want has changed, Baum says. Going out to restaurants doesn’t seem to hold quite the same appeal.

“Now you can still go out and you can still order in. But none of us really want to as much anymore,” Baum said. “The kinds of experiences that we might have done before are maybe a little less exciting or appealing right now. But we still want do things.”

Cohen sees being a foodie as meaning something different now.

“This new world has created an environment in which, if anyone prioritized good food in their life [before], that means that now they have to prioritize learning how to cook at home,” he said. PJC

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Celebrations

Torah

Bat mitzvah

Empathy and human dignity

Shirley Grossman (wife of the late Lawrence Grossman) will celebrate her 90th birthday and her bat mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 8, at 10 a.m. at her home and on Zoom with her family and friends due to COVID-19, instead of at Congregation B’nai Abraham in Butler, Pennsylvania. Shirley, being blessed with her health and vitality, wanted to celebrate her bat mitzvah by wearing the bar mitzvah tallis of her late husband, Lawrence, to celebrate her special birthday. She enjoys her job as shul secretary and house chairperson for Congregation B’nai Abraham. She also enjoys knitting, crocheting, cooking, golf and spending time with her family and friends. Shirley is the mother of Helene (Howard) Goldstein and the late Ilene Grossman (William) Mattock and her puppy, Shayna. She also is thankful for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Wes and Amber Goldstein, Ian and Hayden and Melanie and Joe Trivilino and Adeline. PJC

Rabbi Jeremy Markiz Parshat Ekev Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25

I

n this week’s parashah, Ekev, we are given the instruction, “circumcise your hearts,” Deuteronomy 10:16. This strange phrase borrows the language of brit milah to teach us something valuable. Placing the verse in context, we are told that God is supreme who shows no favor, takes no bribe, upholds the needs of the orphan, the widow and the stranger, and that God will provide food and clothing.

This litany of values is clearly not just a description of God but also of the task before us: “You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19).

This section of text, when we pare down the specifics, makes clear two central values: Have empathy and act in ways that create human dignity.

The second value is creating human dignity, which is the response to our empathy work. God is telling us: When someone is hungry, we must feed them; when they are naked, we clothe them; and when they ask for help, we can come to meet that need. In no uncertain terms, human dignity is baked into our entire tradition, from the laws of tzedakah, resolving conflict, and modesty.

God “shows no favor” should make us reflect on our human systems. We know that our society has prioritized white and wealthy lives over the needs of people of color and the poor. By working toward a system that creates equity, we honor human dignity.

God “takes no bribes” should heighten our attention toward corruption. We know that Rep. John Lewis, z”l, fought for voter rights in our country. We can honor his legacy by fighting against voter suppression in all of its forms. By strengthening our system against corruption, we honor human dignity.

God “upholds orphans and widows” along with the most vulnerable among us. As our

We know that our society has prioritized white and wealthy lives over the needs of people of color and the poor. By working toward a system that creates equity, we honor human dignity.

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Let’s start with empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.

God is centralizing our capacity to open our hearts. We do this by listening and hearing what others say, by taking seriously their concerns, by imagining ourselves living their lives. How rarely do we actually do this? How rarely do we really imagine the challenges facing other people? How rarely do we truly try to see beyond our own needs?

As we’ve seen in the last few months following George Floyd’s murder, our society is beginning to reflect on our system. For our Black siblings and neighbors, including Black Jews, we must be doing the work to listen and learn. That is part of the empathy work that God is requiring of us. The Black communities around the country are speaking loudly and clearly. Are we listening?

As the world is struggling through the coronavirus pandemic, we can hear how families are truly struggling. The lack of adequate child care systems, the extreme difficulty of working while juggling family requirements and the pressure on children to survive without enough social interactions.

Are we really hearing what those families are saying? Are we assuming their needs?

society faces mass evictions and homelessness and the disparity of food access, we are reminded to be like God. Those with resources can help those who are without survive without suffering. By making sure that every single person can live in a home and eat nutritious food, we honor human dignity.

God “befriends the stranger” invokes our own story of escaping Egypt. Like our own history of immigration, we can empathize with those who are fleeing violence or climate change. We know that immigrants and asylum seekers are suffering at our borders exacerbated by the pandemic. By welcoming and assisting immigrants, we honor human dignity.

This Torah portion speaks very clearly of our need to empathize and centralize human dignity in our hearts. It is easy to become callous and protective at the cost of others. Now more than ever, God reminds us that an open, circumcised heart is the way forward. PJC Rabbi Jeremy Markiz is the director of Derekh and Youth Tefillah at Congregation Beth Shalom. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

Estate Notice Sharon Martin, Deceased of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania No. 02-20-1068 Marc D. Barna, Executor; 1054 7th Street, West Elizabeth, PA 15088 or to Bruce S. Gelman, Esquire, Gelman & Reisman, Law & Finance Bldg., 429 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1701, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

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Obituaries ALPERN: Ferne Alpern (Silberman), passed away on July 28, 2020, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She resided most of her life in White Oak, Pennsylvania, until living in Pittsburgh for a number of years. She was preceded in death by her parents, Emil and Jenny Silberman, and her brother Dr. Alfred Silberman. Ferne is survived by her son Mark and wife Linda Alpern; grandmother to Alexa Alpern and Brett Alpern, sister of the late Gladys Wintner, sister-in-law to the late Harold Wintner, aunt to Jack, Morton and Nancy Wintner. Donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

FISHER: Ralph Morton Fisher, 96, of Pittsburgh, passed away at 2:12 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, in Pittsburgh. Ralph was born in Pittsburgh to Millard and Cecilia (Hecht) Fisher on Aug. 31, 1923. After graduating Taylor Allderdice High School, he went on to earn a business bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He worked in sales for Levenson Steel and spent 40 years selling products and services. After retiring, Ralph became a Realtor and spent part of the next 20 years working for Arnheim & Neely Realty.

Ralph is survived by his four children, Jeffrey Fisher, Pittsburgh, Michael Fisher, Greenville, South Carolina, Debra Fisher Sufrin (Michael Sufrin), Boca Raton, Florida, and Melissa Fisher, Pittsburgh; his four grandchildren, Brandon Fisher and Gabrielle Fisher, Joshua (Keila) Sufrin, and Zackary (Nina) Sufrin; one great-grandchild, Jacob Sufrin; and nephew Douglas Myers (Gayle Howard Myers). He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara (Bobbie Swartz), parents and sister, Betty Fisher (Geoffrey) Myers. Ralph was a second lieutenant in the Army and served during WWII. His claim to fame was that he stopped the artillery from shooting down an unmarked plane. The passenger in that plane was Winston Churchill, on his way to the famous Yalta meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. Also, while stationed in France, Ralph was assigned to be the mayor of a French village for few months, as he knew at least six French words when no one else in his platoon did. Ralph was loved by his family and many friends. He will be remembered as one who loved to play tennis and make people laugh.

Ralph enjoyed traveling. He was always there to lend a hand, compassionate toward others, and passionate about life. Memorial donations may be made to Weinberg Village, 300 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the Weinberg Village family. Services and interment were private.

Arrangements entrusted to the new Elmer L. Herman Funeral Home.

GALANTY: Sanford “Sonny” Galanty, dedicated husband, father, grandfather, business owner and community servant (and golfer) passed away on Monday, July 27, at home in O’Hara Township at the age of 91. Sonny was born Sept. 30, 1928, in Pittsburgh, to Harry and Bertha Glass Galanty. When Sonny was 1, the family moved from Indiana to Sharpsburg, where Harry Galanty opened a confectionary that became Galanty’s Hardware a few years later.

Sonny and his older sister Ruthe grew up near the store and attended Sharpsburg’s elementary and middle school. When Sonny was in PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

10th grade the family moved again, to Mellon Street in Pittsburgh’s East End, where he attended Peabody High School. After graduating he attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a degree in business and serving in the ROTC but every day after classes he took the streetcar to Sharpsburg to work until 9 p.m. with his parents in the hardware store, which he would eventually come to own.

Fun-loving and active, Sonny enjoyed skiing in Europe and was a talented table tennis player. He began golfing when he was 17 and played regularly until his 90th birthday, teaching the game to others and, after retirement, enjoying twice-a-week rounds with a standing group of special friends. One of his greatest achievements was shooting a score of 82 on his 84th birthday. Sonny’s greatest achievement in life, however, was his family.

He met his wife Jan (Swab) on a blind date when he was 31 and she was 20. They married three years later and had a love affair as best friends and partners, an amazing team that met life’s challenges with strength and mutual support at every turn — even building two houses from scratch. Sonny and Jan, who recently celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary, lived first in Stanton Heights, where they began a family with late son Harry (Liz Belanger) and daughter Jill Gallagher (Bill).

Sonny loved his family with every ounce of his being, working day and night at Galanty’s Hardware to send them to the best schools and provide them with every opportunity possible including special vacations, a tradition that continued as the family grew to include grandchildren Samantha Belanger and Liam and Taryn Gallagher. Sonny’s pride in and love for his grandchildren was especially evident via the white sweatshirts with their pictures on the front that were his attire of choice. Each year he received a new shirt with new pictures, allowing him to keep Samantha, Liam and Taryn as well as stepgrandson Ben Belanger close to his heart and to watch them grow into accomplished young adults. Sonny was grounded in his Jewish faith throughout his life, as a lifelong member of B’nai Israel Synagogue in East Liberty and continuing when it merged and became Adat Shalom Synagogue in Fox Chapel. Sonny loved his studies in Judaism, attending weekly Shabbat services at Adat Shalom where he was loved by the clergy, staff and other congregants and donating both financially and with his time to synagogue activities. He helped to sponsor others’ studies and became a dedicated supporter of Israel. Sonny’s 90th birthday was, appropriately, celebrated with a special Shabbat at Adat Shalom, attended by an overflow crowd of family and friends.

Sonny’s generosity was reflected in the rest of his life as well. He was an active member of the Sharpsburg Rotary, volunteering at the annual Guyasuta Days festival each year — where, most recently, he helped to make and package funnel cakes. He also conducted bingo every Tuesday night for many years for residents of the Veterans Administration hospital. Services and interment were private.

Donations in memory of Sonny Galanty can be made to Adat Shalom, the Sharpsburg Rotary Club, the Alzheimer’s Association or any animal welfare charity. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elaine Belovitch Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renee Weinstock Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anne Harris Marvin R. Berk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel W. Berk Joel Broida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julius S. Broida Amalia Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rita Hertz Edward M. Goldston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rebecca Goldstein Toby Perilman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florence Perilman Toby Perilman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harry Louik Toby Perilman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esther Bennett Charlotte and Evan Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethel Kwall Keith H. Rosenstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Martin J. Rosenstock Andrea J. Sattler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Sattler Irwin & Annette Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fannie Shapiro Jules Spokane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eli Spokane Richard S. Stuart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rebecca Supowitz

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday August 9: Sadye Bowytz, Julius S. Broida, Bernard S. Davis, Irwin Sowie Fein, Lester A. Hamburg, Lois Hepps, Herman Hollander, Bessie Perr Miller, Esther Patkin, Theodore Somach, Gilbert Stein, Edward Stern, Rebecca Supowitz, Bella Weiner, Renee Weinstock Monday August 10: Sara J. Ansell, Earl Barmen, Esther Caplan, Harriet L. Cohen, Rebecca Lebenson, George Lisker, Paul A. Love, Joseph Siegman, Cora M. Strauss, David P. Zelenski Tuesday August 11: Liza Canter, Elizabeth Cohen, Leonard Ehrenreich, Esther Streng Finegold, Dr. Morris H. Glick, Bertha Klein, Harry Lipser, Harry H. Marcus, Rhea Mark, Sophie Masloff, Gussie Sacks, Morris Schwartz, Herbert Sternlight, Rose Zweig Wednesday August 12: Meyer David Elovitz, Fanny Kramer, Mary Lang, Hazel Pinsker Lemelman, Albert P. Levine, Zelman Lee Moritz, Tillie K. Morris, Irene I. Posner, Mollie Rothman, Samuel Selkovits, Gabe Shapiro, Melvin Tobias, Eva Ulanoff, Rabbi Hugo Unger, Sarah Wesely Thursday August 13: Sarah Aronson, Irwin George Berman, Nathan Corn, Milton David Daniels, Abraham Herman, Ida Garber Hytovitz, William Kaplan, Samuel S. Lewinter, Leon Loibman, Morris Middleman, Hazel Rose Newman, Samuel Simon, Harry Suttin, Leah Wekselman, Samuels Zionts Friday August 14: Eda Yitta Katron Ash, Etta Borof, Etta Borof, Charlotte Charapp, Lois Pearlman Diamond, Dora Fargotstein, David Finkel, Ronald Friedken, Arthur Friedman, Faye Glasser, Libbie Glasser, Rebecca Goldstein, John J. Gruene, Charles Laufe, Albert H. Levenson, Kenneth Phillip Levenson, Pauline Loibman, Anne P. Morris, Mary Plung, Harry Serbin, Clara Ida Shapiro, Harvey Edward Thorpe Saturday August 15: Samuel Danzinger, Abraham Gernstat, Samuel Green, Elliott Hansell, Jennie Herron, Richard Lebby, Dina Schiff, Tzulel Seiavitch, Hymen Weiss, Gussie Wright

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Please see Obituaries, page 20

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AUGUST 7, 2020 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

HERSHKOVITZ: Esther Hershkovitz, on Sunday, July 26, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Nat Hershkovitz; loving mother of Lawrence (Sandi) Gerson; sister of the late Albert and Morris Fogel; grandmother of Shawna Gerson, Danielle (Aubrey DeVito) Gerson-DeVito, Abigail and Michael Rhoads.

Esther was the rental manager of the Bigelow Apartments and the cashier and hostess at Rhoda’s Restaurant. Graveside services and interment were private. Contributions may be made to Ursuline Services, 2717 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com MALLET: Gertrude Mallet, 93, died on Aug. 2. Beloved wife of the late Mervin Mallet; beloved mother of Iris Harlan (Christoph) and the late Patricia Mallet. Beloved grandmother of Aaron Harlan (Lilian) and Isaac Harlan; great-grandmother of Leonardo Lee Harlan. Beloved aunt of Stephen Rosen and Wendy Levine. Dearest friend of so many.

Known as “Gert” or “Go Go Gertie” to those who knew her best, Gert had an exceptional zest for life. Born in Pittsburgh in 1927 to Peter and Lena Rosen, she developed a love for theatre and music at a young age. She had an eye for beauty and fashion and carved a career as an interior designer. Throughout their 60 years of marriage, Gert and Merv were known to see every show in town, whether Michael Jordan, Walt Harper or Buddy Greco and never missed a Steelers game. Likewise devoted to their grandsons, they never missed

Aaron’s Little League games or Isaac’s jazz concerts. Their strong love enabled them to endure the loss in 1982 of their cherished Patti.

Their enjoyment of one another’s company and devotion served as inspiration to many. Until the end of April 2020, when she sustained an injury from a fall, Gert continued to pursue many interests. At Concordia of the South Hills where she lived for the past three years, she organized trips to museums and casinos and broke into the men’s poker club. As said by her nephew Steve, “she was the one we could always depend on for generosity, love and joy.” Services and interment private. According to Gert’s wishes, the family is requesting that donations in her memory be made to the Patricia Mallet Memorial Scholarship Fund of Pace University, One Pace Plaza, New York NY 10038 or the Lottman Family Fund of Temple Emanuel Early Childhood Development Center, 1250 Bower Hill Road, Pittsburgh PA 15243. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com ROBERTS: Ellen Edith Roberts, 95 of Pittsburgh, passed away peacefully on July 28, 2020. Ellen was born in Pittsburgh on June 25, 1925. She graduated from Allderdice High School.

Ellen was married to Robert Roberts on Feb. 6, 1944, and they were married 75 years. Ellen worked in sales for J. C. Penny, while Robert was serving during World War II. After the war she worked in the law offices of her uncles, Ben and Harry Rosen. Her greatest joy, though, was the raising of her children. Ellen is survived by her children, son Joel (Marsha) Roberts, daughter Rhonda George; granddaughter Samantha (Jonathan) Major, granddaughter Jaime Roberts; and great-grandchildren Noah, Leah, and Micah Major, Raya and Tabitha Stern. Ellen was preceded in death

by her husband Robert, parents Charles and Eva Weiss, and sister Myrna Hart. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to Alzheimers Foundation. The family of Ellen Roberts wishes to thank Dr. Rubin of UPMC, and caregivers Linda, Doris, Mona and Lyhem.

Services and interment private. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com WEINSTEIN: Boris (known as Beasey) Weinstein, on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, at the age of 88.

Beloved son of the late Solomon and Lena Weinstein and brother to Thelma Gold Landay of Pittsburgh. Loving father to Marci Weinstein Wiseman and Carl Weinstein, and daughter-in-law Sarah Weinstein and son-in-law Bruce Wiseman. Adoring grandfather to Jillian Wiseman and Cole Weinstein, and step-grandchildren: Nathan, Todd Jr., Sydney, Blake, Brenda, Lucas and Cole Kunkel.

And stepfather to Todd, Drew and Joel Kunkel.

He is survived by his devoted life partner of the last nine years, Evelyn Favish. Boris was an entrepreneur, marketing and public relations executive and community activist. He graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School, University of Pittsburgh and attended graduate school at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. He served in the U.S. Army before starting his career in the sports and news departments of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and KDKA-TV. Boris then became a principal of MARC & Co., where for 27 years, as head of media and communications, he helped grow MARC into a leading regional advertising agency. In 1986 he formed The Carson Group, a boutique public relations firm, that focused on many corporate, pro-social endeavors. He went on to serve as marketing consultant to

Pizza Hut, Inc. and as vice president at President Riverboat Casinos. Boris created the National Young Reader’s Day and is credited with making the Book It! reading incentive program into a national success. He was part of the marketing team that developed the McDonald’s Big Mac and created Pittsburgh’s original public New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Liberty Center.

Boris conceived of and was the driving force behind the Art Rooney statue at Three Rivers Stadium, later moved to Heinz Field. He was the recipient of 10 Golden Quill Awards for his innovative work in media and public relations. In retirement, Boris focused his talents on making the city he loved even better. He created Citizens Against Litter, an anti-litter initiative that started locally in Shadyside, and turned it into a community-wide movement.

“Mr. Litterman” organized Redd Up events across Greater Pittsburgh that mobilized over 25,000 volunteers annually in more than 100 local communities to make Pittsburgh beautiful. He worked with multiple mayors and served on the Clean Pittsburgh Commission.

For his efforts, Boris was awarded the Jefferson Community Champions Award and Keep America Beautiful’s highest honor, the Iron Eyes Cody Award. A Pittsburgher to the core, Boris was an uber fan of all Pittsburgh sports teams and one of the city’s biggest cheerleaders.

He loved dancing, as well as walking the city’s neighborhoods seeing friends and acquaintances. Boris was married for 33 years to Sandra Cohen Weinstein. He remarried in 1994 to Brenda Kunkel Weinstein and survived her death in 2004. Services and interment private.

Donations may be made to the Hillman Cancer Center, HillmanResearch.UPMC.edu/Giving, and the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, jccpgh. org. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PJC

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AUGUST 7, 2020 21

Headlines Protest: Continued from page 9

six months since Israel recorded its first coronavirus case. Thousands of Israelis have been staging loud protests for weeks, mostly outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, but also in Tel Aviv and other spots across the country. Some commentators have called it the country’s largest grassroots movement since 2011, when hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested the cost of living.

After drawing international praise for how he efficiently imposed a strict and effective lockdown, Netanyahu acknowledged earlier this month to reopening Israel too soon. Cases have risen sharply, restrictions have been reimposed and unemployment is near its all-time high. Stimulus checks from the government have fallen short of their promised amount.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s trial on three corruption charges has been delayed for a second time — after Ohana, in his previous stint as justice minister, shut down courts amid the pandemic in March, effectively postponing legal proceedings against the prime minister.

The demonstrations have reenergized those who have been calling out Netanyahu in recent years over his legal problems and what they perceive as his goal to weaken democratic institutions like the judiciary.

The result is a movement made up of Israelis across the political spectrum, whose numbers seem to be growing every week.

Police were bracing for large rallies with the end of the Tisha B’Av observance.

As the protests have widened in focus, demonstrators have faced harsh crackdowns by police, who have drawn criticism for using water cannons and tear gas.

Many at the most recent protest, which was organized by the anti-Netanyahu Black Flag movement, said they were incensed

by Ohana’s statement to Doron Yadid, the commander of the Jerusalem police district — a recording of which was leaked in the media — that he didn’t “understand why we don’t ban” anti-Netanyahu protests.

“I want to challenge the ruling of the court,” Ohana said, referring to a recent ruling allowing

p Israelis protest outside the home of Israel’s security minister Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv, July 28, 2020.

the protests to go ahead, generating widespread anger and prompting President Reuven Rivlin to issue a public statement declaring that the right to protest “must not be harmed.”

Ohana is “trying to cancel protests and circumvent the law,” complained Maor, a 25-year-old law student from the coastal city of Ashdod who said he had attended a number of demonstrations outside the prime minister’s residence and had been “subject to police violence” for engaging in civil disobedience.

“It was brutal, they used a water cannon against me,” he said, describing how he was shot with a high pressure water jet while participating in a sit-in. “I bruised my ankle.

I couldn’t work for two days.”

Another protester, Eliana Barbel, showed off a large bruise on the back of her leg as she described her experience at a protest last week that ended in violent clashes with police.

“I was arrested on Thursday. I was hit and arrested and spent the night in jail for protesting,” Barbel said. “When I was arrested, the cops were very violent. I

was sitting on the ground and three riot policemen picked me up and took me.

“They want to scare us, but this will only bring more people out,” she added, holding up a sign decrying violence against Arabs, haredi Orthodox, Ethiopians and leftists, and promising to continue to protest even “if I’m arrested 10 times.”

Echoing a theme that has emerged in recent American Black Lives Matter protests that have faced police crackdowns, Efrat Safran, a 57-year-old dual American-Israeli citizen from Ramat Hasharon, carried a sign bearing the slogan “Mothers Against Police Violence.”

Safran said she was ready to protect younger protesters from the police with her own body.

“We’re trying to save democracy,” she said.

While the crowd protesting near Ohana’s apartment was overwhelmingly secular, Pinchas, 30, a haredi attorney from Bnei Brak, a largely haredi city, said he decided to come out because “government corruption is dangerous to all of us, including the haredim.”

The July 28 protest was marked by tense

Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90 via JTA

but not violent exchanges with police. (Five protesters reportedly were hospitalized after being attacked, the Black Flag movement said, by individuals not associated with the police.) After several hours, the protesters drifted away from the zone marked out for them by law enforcement and began marching down a nearby road, stopping traffic and eventually running into a line of policemen backed up by mounted officers.

Large groups of protesters eventually began making their way back, trying to circumvent the police and reach Ohana’s apartment building, leading to several clashes during which officers shoved several people, leading to renewed chants of “no to violence.”

As police and protesters faced off, the mounted officers repeatedly rode up to the edge of the crowd trying to force its members back.

Most of the marchers began to walk through the city, snarling traffic as they made their way through a series of Tel Aviv landmarks, including the square in front of the Habima Theater and the popular Dizengoff Center shopping mall. PJC

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Community NCJW Back 2 School Backpacking Day

Chabad House hosts timely conversation

NCJW Pittsburgh volunteers helped pack more than 1,000 backpacks for distribution to 27 community agencies tasked with helping children prepare for the upcoming school year.

Backpacks contained hygiene kits, winter hats, gloves and new school supplies.

Chabad House on Campus hosted a Zoom chat on July 22 titled, “Listen, Learn, Lead” with University of Pittsburgh administrators Kathy Humphrey, senior vice chancellor for engagement and secretary of the board of trustees, and Kenyon Bonner, vice provost and dean of students. The digital dialogue focused on racism and its effect on campus.

p Shannon Tait Mesko, left, and Marissa Tait

p Kathy Humphrey, second from left, and Kenyon Bonner, fourth from left, joined Chabad House on Campus co-directors Rabbi Shmuel, second from right, and Sara Weinstein, right, on a pre-pandemic trip to Israel. Photo courtesy of Chabad House on Campus

Memories of spring

t Community Day School student Hannah Carlson displays the kindergarten diploma she received at the end of last school year.

Photo courtesy of Community Day School

Sedan-tary fun p NCJW Pittsburgh vice president Andrea Glickman, right, and her daughter packed 140 backpacks for delivery to the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh.

Photos courtesy of NCJW Pittsburgh

Fifty families joined the Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh for a drive-by carnival in Schenley Park on July 28. The physically distanced event featured live performers and games, including a juggler, magician, bubble show, mime and Disney princess, as well as a prize table and Kona Ice truck.

JHF fosters critical awareness The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative, managed by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, hosted a virtual statewide learning session on July 11.

Among the topics covered was racial and reproductive justice in perinatal health care and the efforts of doulas in addressing perinatal mortality disparities, particularly for Black women and babies.

p This is soap cool

p Ngozi Tibbs of Healthy Start, Inc. discussed the role of doulas during the pandemic and the work of the Healthy Start Virtual Doula Program.

Photo courtesy of Healthy Start

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u Just miming my own business

Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle

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AUGUST 7, 2020 23

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