September 6, 2019 | 6 Elul 5779
Candlelighting 7:26 p.m. | Havdalah 8:24 p.m. | Vol. 62, No. 36 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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Studying community: Parents Preparing for confront choices when it comes Elul after a to formal Jewish education devastating year
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A sacred ritual
By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
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Decomissioning a shul in Monessen. Page 2 LOCAL Investigating historical mystery
Rabbi Yisroel Altein tutors Hallie, Samantha and Jack Cohen. Photo icourtesy of Jed Cohen
What does a missing piece from an ark mean? Page 3 NATIONAL Complex relations in Lakewood
Orthodox face tensions — and connection — with neighbors. Page 6
“Sometimes they have fun there and sometimes it’s not quite as fun, but that’s life.” And her kids don’t rom morning until night, This is the third parents are tasked with complain about attending Torah in a 10-part series, making choices. Some Center. “I’m not sure if that’s the exploring the decisions may seem relatively norm or not the norm, but my data of the 2017 benign, such as whether to kids don’t mind going at all.” Greater Pittsburgh pack a tuna sandwich or pay During the 2016-’17 school Jewish Community the school for chef ’s surprise, year, roughly 37% of houseStudy through the while others can require holds in the South Hills with people it represents. greater consideration, such children in grades K-12 particas determining if formal ipated in part-time Jewish Jewish education, and in what capacity, is education, according to the report commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater right for a child. Numbers and charts, such as those found Pittsburgh and conducted by researchers in the 2017 Greater Pittsburgh Jewish at Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Community Study, reveal Jewish educa- Modern Jewish Studies. “I get that other people make different tion’s place of importance in Pittsburgh, but decisions,” Markowitz said of the choices it’s the parents themselves who bring the she’s made regarding Jewish education. “But findings to life. for our family, it’s the right choice.” Michelle Markowitz, of Mt. Lebanon, Th at doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. Like has two children: a 14-year-old son and a most parents, Markowitz has to contend 10-year-old daughter. Both attend public school, participate in sports and are students with competing demands on her children’s at JLine and Temple Emanuel Torah Center, time, which can be logistically complicated. part-time religious schools where they learn Her son attends J Line South Hills, a weekly Jewish learning opportunity for teens in Hebrew, Judaics and Israeli history. Torah Center tries to “mix it up for the grades 8-10. The program provides dinner kids,” said Markowitz, whose children also enjoy art, games and other programs there. Please see Choices, page 14
Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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osh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are likely to feel different this year for Jews in Pittsburgh who are reckoning with traditions and liturgy that may well trigger disturbing feelings associated with last October’s massacre at the Tree of Life building. To help prepare for the upcoming High Holiday season, which begins with Rosh Hashanah on the evening of Sept. 29, three community members organized a program to kick off the month called “Awaken, Reflect, Together, Rosh Chodesh Elul.” Held on Sept. 1 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, the program was sponsored in collaboration with the 10.27 Healing Partnership, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Resiliency Center. “We wanted to make sure heading into this High Holiday season of 5780 that people would recognize it will feel differently than other High Holidays have felt, and to bring intentionality and mindfulness, to not allow us to get caught off guard by the emotions that will come,” said Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership. The program was conceived by Beth Kissileff Perlman, a writer and teacher, along with Sara Stock Mayo, a drama therapist who has trained as a chaplain and who is also the director of music and ruach at Temple Ohav Shalom. Kissileff ’s husband, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, is the spiritual leader of New Light Congregation, one of the three congregations attacked in the massacre last fall. The program, inspired by Pittsburgh’s annual community-wide Tikkun Leil Shavuot event, included learning sessions, singing and blowing of the shofar. “I liked the idea that the whole community could come together to start the season because this was such an important year, and this season is going to be triggering for people, for most people,” said Mayo. The organizers thought that a communal Please see Elul, page 14
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