Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 8/31/2018 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

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August 31, 2018 | 20 Elul 5778

Candlelighting 7:36 p.m. | Havdalah 8:34 p.m. | Vol. 61, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Synagogue official shines in life and death moments

Opioid addiction and loss through the lens of local poet

Page 3 NATIONAL John McCain remembered  Valarie Bacharach took to poetry when dealing with her own profound loss.

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

in poetry workshops through Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic program wo years after Valerie Bacharach’s — has mastered the art. Her first collection of son, Nathan, died at the age of 26 poetry, “Fireweed,” sheds light on a parent’s from causes related to his opioid ordeal suffering through the addiction of a addiction, she was still searching for ways to child, and, ultimately, his death. cope with her unfathomable loss. The slim volume, published by Main Street The grief she was experiencing was Rag Publishing Company, contains just overwhelming. 30 poems, but within its pages lie a heart“To lose a child is the wrong order,” breaking world of truths. Bacharach said. “Your children B a ch ar a ch , a should outlive you, not the other special education way around. It’s not the way teacher, had not written Other fall poetry prior to her son’s it’s supposed to be.” arts preview death, but once she began, When her therapist she “grew to love it, not suggested she look coverage only for the way it helped to art as a way to begins on me begin to cope, but I loved express her feelings, page 13. the act of writing, ” she said. Bacharach picked up w Soon after enrolling in the some colored pencils writing workshops, she began and some paper, publishing some of her poems, and eventually and tried to draw. decided “to try to put a book together.” Just She hated it. But one day, in yet another attempt one month after submitting her manuscript to sketch a flower with a purple pencil, she to Main Street Rag, she heard back that it had been accepted for publication. instead jotted down a poem. She was thrilled. “It was a really bad poem,” she recalled, “I wanted Nathan’s story out there,” said but nonetheless, the process of putting her Bacharach, whose other son, Jacob, is a thoughts to paper was cathartic. That was seven years ago, and in that time, Bacharach — who has been engaged Please see Poet, page 18 By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

Page 5 ROSH HASHANAH Traditional Jewish dumplings

Making kreplach ties generations together. Page 12

JCC CEO Schreiber to help national association strategize By Lauren Rosenblatt | Digital Content Manager

Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha vice president volunteers for rescue missions.

Late senator’s bipartisanship also extended to Israel support.

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resident and CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Brian Schreiber has been tapped to help leadership at the JCC Association of North America as it begins to strategize and strategically plan for the future of the JCC movement as a whole. Schreiber will serve as special adviser to JCC Association president and CEO Doron Krakow starting in November. In his role at the JCC Association, he will act as a “resource and connector” between the national association and individual JCCs and will offer advice based on his nearly 20 years of experience as a sitting executive at the Pittsburgh JCC. During his 90-day sabbatical, a team of professional and lay leaders will take over day-to-day operations of the community center in Squirrel Hill. For Krakow, the JCC Association is at a “meaningful juncture,” as they are beginning to form action plans to best evolve alongside the Jewish community and continue to serve as one of the most significant points of contact for Jewish life. “We have an increasingly clear understanding of the vision [for the future of the movement], but being able to take a vision and bring it to life through implementation is going to require a lot of thought and careful planning,” Krakow said. “We’ll be using this time that Brian will be working here to evolve specific plans for how to make ourselves into a better version of ourselves.” Over the next few months, Schreiber and Krakow will work together to plan the agenda and make sure he is prepared and properly equipped once he arrives in Manhattan. At the same time, Schreiber and JCC leadership will be working to prepare for his absence. Please see Schreiber, page 24

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle NATIONAL

Candidate’s Judaism questioned

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Nazi guard kicked out of U.S.

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Headlines Jewish Pittsburgher leads regional search and rescue team — LOCAL — By Lauren Rosenblatt | Digital Content Manager

lan Hausman, vice president of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha congregation, has logged more than 10,000 hours of training throughout his career. As Chief of PA Strike Team 1 — an urban search and rescue team that is equipped to handle situations as extreme as building collapses, floods and terrorist attacks — Hausman leads a team of nearly 90 volunteers. Each of his volunteers, who hold day jobs including physicians, paramedics, firefighters and retirees, must complete 300 hours of training from the get-go and routine updates as they go. As Hausman puts it, it’s best to know your craft so well you don’t have to think or react, you just act. To put this into perspective, the final exam for a structural technician class involves moving a 200-pound slab of concrete — by hand — before finding, rescuing and treating a patient, and returning the concrete back where it began. “They have the equipment, the training, the knowledge to do what they need to do,” Hausman said of the volunteers who make up Strike Team 1. “I’m just the conductor here. My job is to put all the pieces together, because whether I’m there or not, they’re going to get the person out.” Despite all the preparation, Hausman said the team has only used their training a handful of times, luckily because they are generally only deployed for the most highrisk situations. Last summer, they earned the name “refrigerator rescue team” after they saved a woman in Washington County who was pinned under a refrigerator in a

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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Email: newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org BOARD OF TRUSTEES Evan Indianer, Chairman Andrew Schaer, Vice Chairman Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary Jonathan Bernstein, Treasurer David Ainsman, Immediate Past Chairman Gail Childs, Elizabeth F. Collura, Milton Eisner, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Tracy Gross, Richard J. Kitay, Cátia Kossovsky, Andi Perelman, David Rush, Charles Saul GENERAL COUNSEL Stuart R. Kaplan, Esq.

p Alan Hausman

Photo by Lauren Rosenblatt

collapsed apartment building for nine hours. The federal government formed PA Strike Team 1 in 2002 in response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. After the initial planes hit in New York, the Pennsylvania Task Force team, which is deployed by FEMA to assist state and local emergency responders, went to New York for a month, leaving Pennsylvania vulnerable after another plane struck down in a field in Somerset County. Hausman, 59, and now working with the City of Pittsburgh emergency management team, has been involved with the team since its inception and with emergency services since college when he took an EMT course as a student at University of Pittsburgh for a required physical education credit. Shortly after graduation, while participating in a B’nai B’rith bowling event, someone at the bowling alley went into cardiac arrest. Hausman’s skills kicked in and he performed CPR for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, he was not able to save the man’s life, but the experience showed him a passion he didn’t know he had.

is particularly important for the Jewish community so that they can remain open and welcoming to everyone. “A lot of people are nervous when they don’t know [how to respond],” Hausman said. “We want to be open to people, but we want to be able to identify and be prepared if something did happen.” Though Hausman said he often doesn’t feel any emotion while he is working on an emergency response call — whether that is rescuing someone from a collapsed building or a flooded car or assisting with cleaning up a train derailment — it usually hits him later on. “You recall it in your mind to try to make it better,” he said. “Sometimes that’s good, sometimes it can really eat at you.” He used to ask himself if he would be able to voluntarily put himself into a position where he knew there would be a high likelihood that he would get injured or killed. Throughout his career, he has answered that question time and time again, but one moment stands out for him. As he was working on rescuing people from a flood in August 2016, he got a call that someone was stuck in an area that was already closed off. As he plowed his truck through the water, he saw a woman trapped with water halfway up her chest. “I said, ‘You know what, she’s only got one chance,’” Hausman recalled. “There’s a very good chance you may not come back out of this, but we’re going to do this anyways. “It’s dangerous, but you don’t think that every time. You go into response mode,” he added. “The most important thing is to know your craft so well, so you don’t think. You just act.” PJC Lauren Rosenblatt can be reached at lrosenblatt@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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“I was hooked on this,” he said. “This is where I really wanted to put some time and effort.” Throughout his career, he has volunteered with fire departments, companies that build emergency response equipment, Salvation Army disaster services and the city of Pittsburgh. He now works with the city’s emergency management team as his day job, managing the Strike Team as a volunteer gig. Though the city compensates Hausman and his team for their time and is very supportive of their efforts, Hausman said the money is never enough to cover everything. Over the years, he continued, federal money for the project has dwindled. Just as he has always been interested in emergency management and services, Hausman said he has always been “deeply entrenched” in the Jewish community; he grew up a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, attended Hillel Academy for a few years and won an international young leadership award for his involvement in B’nai B’rith. Now, as vice president of Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, Hausman said he is hoping to work on improving the safety and security of the building itself as well as getting more people involved in safety and security training. Next week, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Security Director Brad Orsini will lead a training for the congregation’s security committee, ushers and greeters to prepare for the High Holidays. “[Hausman] works for City of Pittsburgh emergency management, so it’s a great fit to work on security related issues at the synagogue,” Orsini said. “We [can] plan out experiences together and come up with a great plan for the synagogue.” From Hausman’s perspective, this training

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AUGUST 31, 2018 3

Calendar q SATURDAY, SEPT. 1 Selichot: An Evening of Reflection, Devotion & Jazz, will be held at 8:30 p.m. following 7:30 p.m. mincha, 8:15 p.m. ma’ariv and 8:30 p.m. Havdalah services at Temple Sinai featuring The Afro-Semitic Experience band. Temple Sinai, Congregation Beth Shalom, Tree Of Life*Or L’Simcha, Rodef Shalom Congregation, New Light Congregation and Adat Shalom are hosting the evening. There is no charge. Visit templesinaipgh.org/slichot-service for more information. >> 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 EVERY WEDNESDAY EVENING Heal Grow and Live with Hope, NarAnon meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Beth El Congregation, 1900 Cochran Road; use office entrance. Newcomers are welcome. Call and leave a message for Karen at 412-563-3395.

q EVERY THURSDAY EVENING

q MONDAY, SEPT. 3

Israeli Dancing will be held at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh every Thursday, except holidays. Beginners of all ages are welcome in the JCC Kaufmann Dance Studio with a special teaching session from 7:30 to 8 p.m. Open dancing follows until 10 p.m. The charge is $3 per person and $2 for students.

Beth El Congregation hosts its monthly First Mondays program with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. featuring guest Ram Kossowsky presenting Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. There is a $6 charge. Visit bethelcong.org for more information and call 412-561-1168 to make a reservation.

q SATURDAY, SEPT. 1 Selichot: An Evening of Reflection, Devotion & Jazz, will be held at 8:30 p.m. following 7:30 p.m. mincha, 8:15 p.m. ma’ariv and 8:30 p.m. Havdalah services at Temple Sinai featuring The Afro-Semitic Experience band. Temple Sinai, Congregation Beth Shalom, Tree Of Life*Or L’Simcha, Rodef Shalom Congregation, New Light Congregation and Adat Shalom are hosting the evening. There is no charge. Visit templesinaipgh.org/slichotservice for more information. q SUNDAY, SEPT. 2 Chabad of Squirrel Hill will hold a “Kids in the Kitchen: Honey Cake in a Jar” event for kids, grades K-5, to bake two honey cakes, one to take home and one to donate. While cakes are baking, there will be a special Shofar Factory presentation. There will also be a special Tiny Tots program for 3- and 4-year-olds. The events are from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. at 1700 Beechwood Blvd. There is a $10 charge per child. Visit chabadpgh.com/ kidscooking for more information.

a meaningful life. The community is invited to “Sally Kalson: The Early Years” at the Heinz History Center to see how she did it, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 1212 Smallman St. Visit heinzhistorycenter.org/events/sally-kalsonthe-early-years for more information.

New Light Congregation Sisterhood invites the community to an evening with Chana Gittle Deray, inspirational speaker, blogger, author, wife and mother of nine. Through her q TUESDAY, SEPT. 4 pursuit of creating a life truly worth living Deray unexpectedly became an observant Chabad of the South Hills will hold a preJew. Her first book, “Kugel, Chaos and High Holiday lunch for seniors at noon, Unconditional Love,” is a humorous collection including honey cake and a presentation by of stories on family life, marriage, growth, Asti’s Pharmacy. There is a $5 suggested female empowerment, gratitude and faith. donation; the building is wheelchair Deray is also the founder of Woman2Woman accessible. Call 412-278-2658 to preregister and visit chabadsh.com for more information. Toastmasters. Light refreshments will be served. The program is at 7 p.m. at 5898 Wilkins Ave. There is a $5 per person charge. A book launch for Tova Feinman’s “Teacup RSVP to Sharyn Stein, 412-521-5231 or in a Storm: Finding My Psychiatrist,” will sshop47@aol.com by August 31. be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the University of Pittsburgh’s Book Center, 4000 Fifth Ave. q THURSDAY, SEPT. 6 Feinman and her psychiatrist, Dr. Yaakov Guterson, will both speak. There is no charge. Cub Scout Pack 1818 will hold its annual signup night at Shaare Torah, 2319 Murray q WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 5 Ave., from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pack 1818 is inclusive and observant and features The Temple Sinai Book Club will meet at 1:15 p.m. camping, fishing, Pinewood derby, boat races in the Lockhart Lounge. The selection is “Judas” and adventures. Contact bgelman@comcast. by Amos Oz. Contact Anne Faigen at 412-4229580 for more information or visit templesinaipgh. net for more information. org/temple-sinai-book-group. There is no charge. Before Sally Kalson became a beloved columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, she was a young reporter with deep roots, a strong will, a clear voice and a desire to lead

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh will hold its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Katz Performing Arts Center, Robinson Please see Calendar, page 29

Be Our Guest At Temple Sinai! Free & Open To The Community ROSH HASHANAH Sunday, September 9

7:45 PM Erev Rosh HaShanah Service

Tuesday, September 11

10 AM Rosh HaShanah 2nd Day Morning Service

YOM KIPPUR Wednesday, September 19

1:30 PM Minchah Afternoon Service 2:45 PM Beit Midrash 4 PM I am Jonah in collaboration with Attack Theatre 5:15 PM Yizkor and N’ilah 7:15 PM Break Fast: a light snack to break your fast

5505 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (412) 421-9715 www.TempleSinaiPGH.org

TOT SERVICES — FREE & OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY

A SPECIAL EREV ROSH HASHANAH DINNER

Looking for an informal, inviting way to teach your little ones about High Holy Days? Join Rabbi Keren Gorban for a fun, active service of stories, singing, and dancing for families with children ages 0–5.

We invite you to join us for a special catered Erev Rosh HaShanah Dinner on Sunday, September 9 at 6:15 PM. Come have a relaxing, friendly meal with us before our Erev Rosh HaShanah Service.

Erev Rosh HaShanah: Sunday, Sept. 9, 5 PM Rosh HaShanah: Monday, Sept. 10, 8 AM Rosh HaShanah: Monday, Sept. 10, 4:30 & 5:15 PM (Community Family Service & Tashlich in Frick Park)

Kol Nidre: Tuesday, Sept. 18, 5:30 PM Yom Kippur: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 8 AM

RSVP Requested

Please contact Lynn Corbett at (412) 421-9715 ext. 113 or LynnC@TempleSinaiPGH.org with your name, number attending,

and age of tot(s).

4 AUGUST 31, 2018

Our dinner menu includes Homemade Chicken Soup Grilled Chicken Breast Seasonal Vegetarian Pasta Mixed Green Salad Challah, Dessert, and Wine Cost: $24 per person $10 per child (ages 6–12) FREE for kids 5 and under RSVP: Judy Rulin Mahan at (412) 421-9715 ext. 110 or Judy@TempleSinaiPGH.org. Reservations will close at 5 PM on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

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Headlines As senator, McCain made human rights and Israel central to his foreign policy — NATIONAL — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

ASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain, who made human rights and Israel centerpieces of his advocacy for a robust U.S. influence across the planet, has died. The Arizona Republican died Saturday at the family ranch in Sedona, Ariz., one day after declining further treatment for brain cancer. He was 81. “With the senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family,” a statement from his office said. “At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 60 years.” Never-Trump Republicans and not a few Democrats during the campaign and presidency of Donald Trump have held up McCain as an avatar of what the Republican Party once was and still could be: the national security flagship ready to overcome partisan differences to advance U.S. interests. Indeed, the relationship that was perhaps most emblematic of his dedication to national security and bipartisanship was his close friendship with Joseph Lieberman, the

Orthodox Jewish senator from Connecticut. McCain became in his final years the reluctant un-Trump. He was the hero who spent 1967-1973 in a Vietnamese jail for American POWs, when Trump was a swinging young businessman who won five deferments from service. McCain was the victim of torture who led advocacy against the practice, while Trump embraced it. McCain was the flag bearer for robust American interventionism abroad, while Trump counsels conciliation and isolationism. McCain was candid about his flaws while Trump seldom apologizes; McCain took long meetings and delved into detail, while Trump eschews particulars for the big picture; McCain forgave his enemies while Trump nurtures his enmities. McCain failed where Trump succeeded: Barack Obama defeated McCain in the 2008 presidential election and Trump defeated Obama’s handpicked successor, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election. It is a difference that Trump reportedly has emphasized in recent weeks in explaining to his advisers his reluctance to praise McCain even as he neared death. (That and their acrimonious relationship.) The very same qualities that perhaps cost McCain the presidency helped make him a hero of the Jewish and pro-Israel communi-

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p Sen. John McCain with Sen. Joseph Lieberman at the Munich Security Conference in Germany in 2014. Photo by Joerg Koch/Getty Images

ties. The robust interventionism that he insistently espoused, even as the chaos engendered by the war he championed in Iraq turned Americans off foreign adventures, included a fierce commitment to standing by Israel. “A passionate advocate for American global leadership, Senator McCain rightly bemoaned those who favored a U.S. pullback from world affairs,” David Harris, CEO of the American

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Jewish Committee, said in a statement. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called McCain “an extraordinarily courageous defender of liberty.” “Throughout his congressional career Senator McCain stood with Israel because throughout his life he stood up for America’s allies and our shared democratic values,” its statement said. And McCain’s willingness to reach across the aisle even to liberal Democrats, which likely kept some conservatives away from the polls, extended to the Jewish community, where he worked with human rights activists. “He was a tireless champion of the issues and principles that he held dear, from reforming the broken campaign finance system, to the effort to bar the use of torture by U.S. authorities, to his pivotal vote just last year to save the Affordable Care Act,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center. “On those issues and others including combating climate change and strengthening U.S.-Israel relations, we were honored to work with him. And when we engaged him around areas of disagreement, Sen. McCain was always honest and straightforward.” In its statement mourning McCain, the Please see McCain, page 26

AUGUST 31, 2018 5

Headlines Amid controversy, state Senate candidate aims to clarify her Jewish identity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; NATIONAL â&#x20AC;&#x201D; By Charles Dunst | JTA

EW YORK â&#x20AC;&#x201D; New York state Senate candidate Julia Salazar is pushing back against an article on a Jewish website describing discrepancies in her Jewish and family biography. Salazar, 27, a democratic socialist running for a seat in Brooklynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 18th District, has been profiled in various Jewish and general media, including JTA, which note that she is Jewish and Colombian American. An article that appeared Aug. 23 in Tablet, an online Jewish magazine, said Salazar has been inconsistent in describing her place of birth and Jewish background, and that her Jewish and â&#x20AC;&#x153;immigrantâ&#x20AC;? identity is â&#x20AC;&#x153;largely self-created.â&#x20AC;? The Tablet article, by Armin Rosen, does not challenge Salazarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right to describe herself as Jewish, although it does say that she appeared to identify as a conservative Christian in her first years as an undergraduate at Columbia University. It also pointed out discrepancies in the way Salazar and journalists who have reported about her have described her familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jewish ties. Lilith magazine reported

p Julia Salazar is running for New York State Senate as a Democratic Socialist.

Photo by Charles Dunst/JTA

that Salazarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father was â&#x20AC;&#x153;a Sephardic Jew from Colombiaâ&#x20AC;?; the Forward wrote that â&#x20AC;&#x153;her father was Jewish.â&#x20AC;? (The author of the Forward piece, Ben Fractenberg, said that he recalls her saying that her father was Jewish.) Salazarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brother, Alex, told Tablet, however: â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was nobody in our immediate family who was Jewish â&#x20AC;Ś my father was not Jewish, we were not raised Jewish.â&#x20AC;? In a JTA story last week published before the Tablet article appeared, Salazar said she was raised in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;secular and mixed family, Catholic and Jewish,â&#x20AC;? and that she was previ-

I n - Ho m e Care S e r v i ce s

ously aware of her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sephardi surname.â&#x20AC;? Contacted the day after the Tablet article appeared, she gave a similar account of her upbringing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My parents werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t religious when my brother and I were growing up,â&#x20AC;? Salazar wrote over Facebook Messenger. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some of my extended family are Jewish; many are Catholic. Others converted from Judaism to Catholicism. My dad didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t identify as Jewish (or any other religion, although his funeral was in a Catholic church).â&#x20AC;? Citing this â&#x20AC;&#x153;extended [Jewish] family,â&#x20AC;? Salazar said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I converted, but my engagement with Judaism came from learning about my family background.â&#x20AC;? Pressed on the details of her conversion, Salazar said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I went through a conversion process with a Reform rabbi at [ColumbiaBarnard] Hillel in 2012.â&#x20AC;? She also said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really bother to consider it a conversion because many people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t respect Reform conversion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I essentially took a course and learned how to read Torah and had the option of going through a bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nai mitzvah ceremony (along with two other women who studied with me) but declined to do it,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to make a big deal about it. It also didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel earnest to consider it a conversion because there was no religion for

me to convert from. I know that might seem simplistic but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true and even halakhic.â&#x20AC;? Halachah, or Jewish law, however, considers someone Jewish if their mother was Jewish, if they converted under rabbinical authority or, in the Reform movement, if either parent was Jewish and they were raised exclusively Jewish. Rabbis and synagogues have become increasingly welcoming to those who express a bond with the Jewish people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially the non-Jewish spouses of Jews â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but most also would encourage conversion. That often includes an extended course of study and a ritual that includes an immersion in a ritual bath, or mikvah. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Simplistic isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t what I mean,â&#x20AC;? Salazar clarified. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maybe pedantic? Anyway, I felt Jewish, I was committed to Judaism and remain committed to Judaism, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never demanded that anyone else accept my Judaism nor have I sought to somehow use it to my benefit. From a political or like utilitarian perspective, if I were politically motivated rather than spiritually motivated then I never wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve identified with Judaism, I wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dismissed it just as my older brother did. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I am Jewish, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no way for me Please see Candidate, page 28

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High Holidays of Hope at the JCC Free and open to everyone—no matter your membership or faith

On Rosh Hashanah Rededicate Yourself to Social Justice

On Yom Kippur Find Comfort and Inspiration

Monday, September 10 2-3 PM

Wednesday, September 19 2-3 PM

The shofar (ram’s horn) will be our social justice call to action

We will recite Yizkor and Kaddish memorial prayers for our own losses and our community losses

Be inspired by these community upstanders: Mourning is the Other Side of Love

Standing Up for Opportunity for All

David Silvasy Doctoral Practicum Intern Jewish Family and Community Services

Zack Block, Executive Director Repair The World Pittsburgh

Standing Up for Immigrants

My Life’s Work After My Two Sons Were Murdered by Gun Violence

Betty Cruz, Director Change Agency

Geraldine Massey MS PRC Family Counselor/Outreach Specialist Center of Life, Hazelwood

Standing Up for Queer Rights Jake Goodman, Executive Director Opportunity Fund

Rebuilding After the Trauma of the Franklin Avenue Massacre Pastor Janet Hellner-Burris Christian Church of Wilkinsburg President, Wilkinsburg Sanctuary Project

Standing Up for Food Justice Jake Seltman, Executive Director Grow Pittsburgh

Casual Dress • RSVPs requested For Rosh Hashanah: tinyurl.com/jccpghrh For Yom Kippur: tinyurl.com/jccpghyk

Standing Up for Creative Community janera solomon, Executive Director Kelly Strayhorn Theater

JCC of Greater Pittsburgh Katz Performing Arts Center 5738 Darlington Road

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For more information: Rabbi Ron Symons rsymons@jccpgh.org • 412-697-3235

Kesher

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AUGUST 31, 2018 7

Headlines Nazi camp guard Jakiw Palij deported from US to Germany — WORLD — By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

former guard at a Nazi concentration camp was deported to Germany last week from the United States, where he had lived for decades. Jakiw Palij, 95, had lived in Queens, N.Y.. He served as a guard at the Trawniki concentration camp near Lublin, Poland, during World War II, and may face prosecution in Germany for his actions. Members of New York’s congressional delegation last year urged the Trump administration to deport Palij, whose citizenship was revoked in 2003 based on his wartime activities, human rights abuses and immigration fraud, NBC reported. A federal court also ruled that he had assisted in the persecution of prisoners at the camp, though it stopped short of finding him responsible for deaths. A statement released by the White House after Palij landed in Germany early Aug. 21 commended President Donald Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for “removing this war criminal from United States soil.” “Despite a court ordering his deportation in 2004, past administrations were unsuccessful in removing Palij,” the statement said. “To protect the promise of freedom for Holocaust

p View down an alley off the street where Nazi camp guard Jakiw Palij lived in Queens, N.Y.

Photo by Celeste Sloman for the Washington Post

survivors and their families, President Trump prioritized the removal of Palij.” Palij was born on former Polish territory, an area now located in Ukraine. He immigrated to the United States in 1949 and became a citizen in 1957, but concealed his Nazi service saying that he spent World War II working in a factory on a farm. Palij told Justice Department investigators who showed up at his door in 1993, “I would never have received my visa if I told the truth. Everyone lied.” He later admitted to officials that he attended a Nazi SS training camp in Trawniki in German-occupied Poland and then served as an armed guard at its adjacent forced-labor camp. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Trawniki camp was part of

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can no longer seek justice, I am delighted that our President’s administration took it upon themselves to deliver justice.” Although members of the Jewish community of New York have held demonstrations outside of his house in Queens for years, Palij seemed unimpressed, telling the New York Post in 2013 that he was “starting to get used to it.” “They told us we would be picking up mines. But that was a lie,” he told the paper. “In that camp they took us — 17-, 18-, 19-year-old boys. I am one of them. They did not give us Nazi uniforms. They gave us guard uniforms: pants, black; shirts, light brown; and hats with one button in the front. You could tell we were not Nazis. If you tried to run away, they take your family and shoot all of them.” “I am not SS. I have nothing to do with SS,” he added. Efraim Zuroff, the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement that a “14-year long campaign has finally been crowned with success. Trawniki guards do not deserve the privilege of living in the United States and that was finally achieved.” Edward Mosberg, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland and now a property developer from New Jersey, said that although the “decision comes late, it is a good and positive action and we are grateful to the United States for bringing this evil man to receive punishment for his crimes.” PJC

This week in Israeli history Sept. 3, 2011 — March of the Million held

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

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Operation Reinhard, the Nazi operation to murder the approximately 2 million Jews residing in German-occupied Poland. Because Germany, Poland, Ukraine and other countries refused to take him, he continued living in limbo in the two-story, red brick home in Queens he shared with his wife, Maria, now 86. Germany’s Foreign Office said its decision to accept Palij showed the country was accepting its “moral responsibility.” And Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told German tabloid Bild that those who “committed the worst crimes on behalf of Germans” would be held accountable. A reporter from ABC News who was present when Pajil was removed by ICE described him as “looking frail with missing front teeth visible through his white beard. The only noise he made was a pained howl as agents hoisted him from his wheelchair onto the ambulance stretcher.” His deportation comes after years of protests by Jewish groups. Earlier this year, a group of more than 80 New York politicians, led by Assemblyman Dov Hikind, petitioned the Trump administration regarding Pajil. “I never gave up on this issue because Palij’s presence here mocked the memory of the millions who perished,” Hikind said in a statement Tuesday. “There was no question of his guilt. It was imperative that someone responsible for Nazi atrocities be held accountable for his crimes. While his victims

Aug. 31, 1947 — Last meeting for special panel on Palestine

More than 450,000 Israelis take to city streets around the country in what is billed as the March of the Million, part of a summer of social justice demonstrations focused on affordable housing and economic relief.

The U.N. Special Committee on Palestine meets for the final time. Its majority report, endorsed by eight of the 11 nations on the panel, calls for Palestine’s partition into two states with an economic union. The minority report calls for a federation of Jewish and Arab states.

Sept. 4, 1975 — Israel, Egypt disengage

Sept. 1, 1915 — Weizmann joins British admiralty

Sept. 5, 1972 — Olympic massacre in Munich

Chemist Chaim Weizmann, who is credited with playing a key diplomatic role in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, is appointed as an honorary technical adviser to the British Admiralty on the supply of acetone, an important ingredient in the manufacture of the military explosive cordite.

Sept. 2, 1935 — Rabbi Kook’s funeral

An estimated 80,000 mourners, roughly a quarter of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel, line the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who died of cancer the previous day.

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Israel and Egypt sign a deal, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, providing for Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai’s Abu Rudeis oil fields and Mitla and Gidi passes and the creation of a U.N.-monitored buffer zone.

Palestinian terrorists with Black September kill two Israeli Olympic team members and take nine others hostage during the Summer Games in Munich. The nine hostages and five of the eight terrorists are killed during a German rescue attempt at the Munich airport.

Sept. 6, 2007 — Israel destroys Syrian reactor

In Operation Orchard, conducted with U.S. knowledge, an Israeli airstrike secretly destroys a suspected nuclear reactor at the military site of Al Kibar in northeastern Syria. PJC

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AUGUST 31, 2018 9

Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

French parliament evacuated over powder sent to Jewish lawmaker Dozens of firefighters evacuated a part of the building housing the French parliament after a letter containing slurs against a Jewish lawmaker and white powder was found there. The letter, reading “fat Zionist pig, you’re not French,” among other insults, was opened by an employee of Meyer Habib’s office Monday, the lawmaker wrote on Twitter. At least 40 firefighters and 20 police officers were dispatched to the seat of the National Assembly, the French parliament’s lower house, in Paris. They evacuated the building and scanned it. The powder was found to be harmless and the threat lifted from parliament within an hour of the evacuation. Police are looking for the culprits but have no suspects in custody. Habib, a former deputy president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, represents French voters based in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Authorities in France have a mixed approach to vitriol toward Israel and Zionism. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism during a speech — the first such public statement by a French head of state. “We will never surrender to the expressions of hatred; we will not surrender to anti-Zionism because it is a reinvention of anti-Semitism,” Macron said during a ceremony commemorating Holocaust victims. Promoting a boycott of Israel is illegal in France following a 2003 law that forbids it as form of incitement to hate or discrimination. But whereas some incidents of anti-Zionist vitriol are treated as hate crimes, others are tolerated. The Bureau for Vigilance Against AntiSemitism, or BNVCA, on Sunday protested a plan by promoters of the boycott to demonstrate Tuesday in front of a police station in the southern city of Montpelier over the prosecution of their fellow activists in March. The three activists prosecuted demonstrated outside a theater to protest the performance there of Israeli performers. In first, Israel sets up temporary consulate in Uman Israel will open a temporary consulate in Uman during Rosh Hashanah, when at least 30,000 Jews perform a pilgrimage in that Ukrainian city. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem announced the move Tuesday, stating the diplomat working from the temporary consulate will “address urgent consular matters like stolen or lost travel documents and any other emergency assistance extended by Israeli embassies worldwide.” The temporary consulate is located at the compound containing what many believe is the burial site of Rabbi Nachman, an 18th-century luminary whose supposed gravesite is the focal point of the celebration. As in previous years, Israeli police will also send officers to Uman for the dura10 AUGUST 31, 2018

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

tion of the holiday to help local authorities maintain order. Authorities in Ukraine have improved access to Uman in recent years, and plans are underway for reopening an unused military airport near the city for direct flights. Uman, a city of 70,000 residents, is located in central Ukraine, 150 miles south of Kiev and 200 miles north of Odessa. Last year, a record 40,000 pilgrims made the trek to Uman. The pilgrimage has created frequent friction between the predominantly Israeli pilgrims and locals, many of whom resent the cordoning off of neighborhoods by police. Street brawls are not uncommon during the holiday, when Uman attracts many followers of the Breslov Hasidic sect. In Israel, that movement is known for its outreach to prison inmates. Loophole allows expansion of Kotel egalitarian prayer section A plan to expand the Western Wall’s egalitarian prayer section received final approval, using a loophole that applies to handicapped-accessible sites. The approval was first reported late Sunday in Haaretz, which did not say when the meeting to approve the work took place. Approval of the work under the special regulation cut months off the time it would take to begin the work, since it need only be approved by the municipal engineer and not also by both the regional and local planning committees. The scheme to approve the fast-track process for the work was supported by the Prime Minister’s Office, according to the report. The attorney general’s office reportedly was against using the loophole as a way to approve a major and controversial project. The plan was approved by the Jerusalem municipality’s legal counsel, however. Plans to renovate the site, with a budget of more than $7 million, have continued, despite the suspension of a comprehensive plan approved in 2016. In June 2017, the Cabinet suspended the deal that came about as a result of negotiations between the Reform and Conservative movements, the Women of the Wall, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government. The suspension came after the government’s haredi Orthodox coalition partners pressured Netanyahu to scrap the agreement, including threatening to bring down the government. Netanyahu had promised to expand the area following the suspension of the comprehensive deal, though the expansion has been appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court over concern that it would damage an important archeological site. Last month, the three members of the Knesset ministerial committee charged with deciding whether to approve the plan to upgrade the Western Wall’s egalitarian section resigned over political pressure from the haredi Orthodox parties. Netanyahu placed himself as head of the committee. The comprehensive plan would have included a common entrance to the Western Wall plaza for all three sections and a public board to oversee the egalitarian prayer space and would include representatives of the non-Orthodox movements and Women of the Wall. PJC

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Rosh Hashanah How to build a better brisket, sous vide style marinated with sauce or spices, and then placed in a container of water. The heated metal coil of the sous vide By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer machine warms the water to a temperature which remains constant throughout the t may look like an aquarium heater, but cooking process. The process is slow and a sous vide machine could be just the gradual, so the protein takes longer to cook ticket to the perfect High Holiday meal. than it would using traditional methods, If you have not yet jumped on the sous but it can never become overcooked. And vide (pronounced soo veed) train, don’t be because the sous vide is constantly circuintimidated by its fancy French name, which lating the water, the protein is cooked translates to “under vacuum.” It is essentially perfectly throughout, with no portions of the the process of placing food in a vacuum meat more or less cooked than others. sealed bag and cooking it in water that is The only caveat is that the outside of temperature-controlled. A sous vide is used the meat will not be charred or crisp after most commonly for meat, chicken and fish, being cooked in a sous vide, thus necessitating a quick sear on a grill or a cast iron skillet after it has been removed from the sous vide pot. Using a sous vide is a great method for cooking brisket, but to do it, you need to plan ahead, said Avram Avishai, the proprietor of Smoky Nat’s, a kosher pop-up caterer located at Shaare Torah Congregation in Squirrel Hill. “Brisket is a big knot of tough muscle and sinew and needs to be thoroughly p Brisket works great in the sous vide bhofack2/iStockPhoto.com worked over to be delicious,”

— FOOD —

Avishai said. “You can do it low and slow in an oven, but I typically do it in a smoker. You can also do it in a sous vide, but the only thing is, because brisket is so tough, you need at least 24 hours.” Avishai, who founded Smoky Nat’s about a year ago to honor the memory of his father, said that his catering enterprise is an “all-volunteer organization, where 100 percent of the proceeds support the synagogue.” Although the brisket Avishai is selling for the High Holidays will be cooked in a traditional smoker, an excellent alternative is to sous vide your own at home, he said. Smoky Nat’s Sous Vide Brisket

3 lbs. brisket (usually the max that can fit in a vacuum bag) 2 Tbl. kosher salt 2 Tbl. black pepper 2 Tbl. paprika 2 tsp. white sugar 2 tsp. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp. dry mustard 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. onion powder

Mix spices together to create a rub. Thoroughly apply rub to brisket and vacuum in a sous vide bag (store excess rub for final step). To cook, set the machine for 54 hours at

135 degrees Fahrenheit, or (if you are in a hurry) 24 hours at 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the sous vide is complete, cool in an ice water bath for 30 minutes to stop the cooking process. (Skipping this may cause the meat to dry out during the next step.) Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut open bag and place brisket on a rack in the oven after applying any remaining rub. The purpose of this step is to dry out and caramelize the outside to create a “bark,” which typically occurs in one to two hours. Once done, cut against the grain to roughly pencil thickness and enjoy! To make this “Smoked” Brisket Sous Vide, you need to add two more ingredients: The smoky flavor can be replicated by adding a 1/2 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke to the sous vide bag in the beginning. The smoke ring in barbecue meat is a chemical reaction caused by the nitric oxide released from the burning wood. This can be replicated by adding one teaspoon of pink curing salt to the rub mix but be forewarned: 1) The smoke ring is purely cosmetic; and 2) directly ingesting a tablespoon of pink curing salt is enough to kill a grown person by suffocating them on the cellular level, so please use caution and good judgment. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

JCC of Greater Pittsburgh 123rd Annual Meeting Thursday, September 6, 2018 6:30 PM Katz Performing Arts Center 5738 Darlington Road Featuring the film Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel Free and Open to the Public

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AUGUST 31, 2018 11

Rosh Hashanah Holiday kreplach can be a family affair — FOOD — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

f matzah balls are the simple, crowdpleasing, go-to of High Holiday soup accompaniments, kreplach remain their slightly intimidating, yet more interesting cousins. While most Jewish cooks can whip up a matzah ball easily and quickly, kreplach are another story entirely, and for those chefs who are rolling pin-averse, the meat-filled doughy dumplings can present a challenge. Kreplach are served most commonly on Rosh Hashanah, at Yom Kippur’s pre-fast

meal and on Simchat Torah, although dairy versions have been known to surface in some homes on Purim, Shavuot or even Chanukah. The dough is generally boiled, but some recipes — especially those used on Chanukah — call for the dumplings to be fried in oil. It is hard to pinpoint the origin of the dish, but some historians trace it back to the filled pasta that was introduced from Italy to Jews living in Germany in the 1300s. Kreplach are an Ashkenazi delicacy, with some families using recipes that have been passed down for generations, each clan putting its own, personal spin on the dish. Such is the case for Dori Oshlag, of Mt. Lebanon, and her mother, Lenore Sherman. “My mom has always made kreplach for

p Joseph Rosenbloom’s bowl and table leg/rolling pin.

Photo provided by Cheryl Blumenfeld

p Recipe by Mildred Rosenbloom

Photo by Cheryl Blumenfeld

MELTON PITTSBURGH ADULT LEARNING FOR THE WONDERING JEW

yontif as she learned from her mom to do,” said Oshlag. “The recipe is fairly forgiving in that the Cuisinart pulses the basic flour/water dough recipe from Norene Gilletz’s ‘The Pleasure of Your Food Processor’ cookbook.” But the filling, Oshlag stressed, “is where the heart and soul of the kreplach is found.” Her mother taught her “to make the chicken soup early before yontif and freeze it. Then the soup chicken is taken off the bones, and by hand, chopped very fine. Unfortunately the food processor cannot do this because the consistency would be wrong.”

Onions, which are part of the filling, “should be slowly sautéed for an hour on low heat, and then added to the chopped chicken, with a half cup soup along with salt and pepper to taste and chopped by hand to be a fine consistency,” she explained. The shape of the kreplach “is the cook’s signature,” Oshlag noted. “The dough is rolled out and cut into small circles using a small drinking cup and stuffed and folded in half, then the two edges are brought up and Please see Kreplach, page 21

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Wednesdays, October 10–May 22 9:30 – 11:45 AM JCC Squirrel Hill Melton offers a comprehensive program of discussion and text study led by superb instructors. Engage with Judaism fully in a way that you never have before. You will explore central ideas which inform our daily, weekly and annual rituals as well as life cycle observances, essential Jewish theological concepts as they unfold in the Bible, the Talmud and other sacred texts ... and so much more.

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Photo/art by lenanetw/iStockphoto.com

Pittsburgh Fall Arts Preview Pittsburgh Public Theater season includes two hits with Jewish themes — THEATER — By Lauren Rosenblatt | Digital Content Manager

he Pittsburgh Public Theater is bringing two shows to the city for their newest season that are sure to resonate with the Jewish community. The seven-show lineup includes “Indecent,” which tells the story of a theater troupe as it deals with censorship and cries of obscenity when performing a show by Jewish playwright Sholem Asch, and “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin,” which combines music and theater to trace the life of Jewish composer Irving Berlin, famous for hundreds of songs including “God Bless America.” The Public Theater also welcomed a new artistic director in August. Marya Sea Kaminski, who is coming to the city after serving as associate artistic director at Seattle Repertory Theater, said part of her mission is to “welcome more Pittsburgh into Pittsburgh Public.” As the theater moves forward, said Kaminski, she hopes to tell stories “with ideas that resonate with the communities and represent those communities.” “Indecent,” written by Paula Vogel,

 Risa Brainin, director of “Indecent”  O’Reilly Theater

Photos courtesy of Pittsburgh Public Theater

directed by Risa Brainin and based on true events, follows a theater troupe as it performs Asch’s play, “God of Vengeance.” Asch’s play was widely championed in Europe and then New York, where it was performed in Yiddish. But, once translated to English and brought to Broadway, the troupe was met with cries of obscenity and eventually efforts to ban the play. “Indecent” is a very “meta-theatrical expe-

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rience,” Brainin said, that focuses both on how theater is made and issues of censorship, prejudice and inclusion. Starting in the early 1900s and ending in the early 1950s, the play spans a significant amount of history, adding a historic backdrop to themes that are still relevant today, Brainin said. “I think the play can be a call to action,” Brainin continued, encouraging audience

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

members to examine their own communities and say, “Wow, are we shutting people down? Are we trying to sanitize our communities? Trying to get rid of people who are not like us? Trying to stop stories from being told that aren’t our stories?” Opening in April, the cast includes only seven actors for 32 total parts, meaning each person plays multiple roles. Brainin said this adds to the experience because the audience Please see Theater, page 20

AUGUST 31, 2018 13

Fall Arts Preview Jewish dancer at Pittsburgh Ballet is ‘rare breed’ — DANCE — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

ot many professional male ballet dancers happen to be Jewish. In fact, Alexander Castillo, a member of the corps de ballet for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, only knows four besides himself. Being Jewish is not the only thing that makes Castillo a bit atypical in the world of the arts. On Instagram, the native New Yorker describes himself as an “American Patriot,” “Israel Supporter” and “Conservative.” “Even before I converted, I saw the necessity and importance behind supporting the nation of Israel, and it only intensified after I converted, and after I put more time and effort into really delving into these modern political issues,” he said. “I would definitely say I’m a rare breed, in the arts especially, just because I don’t fit into that political realm at all. I grew up in a very conservative household, and I share a lot of those values.” After spending six years dancing with the Los Angeles Ballet, Castillo moved to Pittsburgh in 2016 to join the PBT, and to be closer to his family in New York and his wife’s family in Hollidaysburg, Pa., near Altoona. The couple has since found a home in Brookline and are members of Beth El of the South Hills, where Castillo regularly attends Shabbat services.

p Jewish dancer Alexander Castillo, third from left, is a member of the PBT’s corps de ballet. Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater

Castillo met his wife, Dina, while they were both training as dancers at the School of American Ballet in New York City, and they began dating while they were dancing for the Los Angeles Ballet. Dina has swapped ballet for a career in real estate, although she still teaches from time to time. Castillo converted from Catholicism to Judaism shortly before he and Dina were married, but his impending marriage did not influence his decision to become Jewish, he said. “I know it’s common that people convert for

marriage, but I always make it really clear to people — and I think once they get to know me they realize that my conversion had nothing to do with me marrying my wife. There was just something that clicked, and I just found the beauty of Judaism, and it has really become a very, very important part of my life.” Castillo came to ballet a bit late in the game, not taking up the discipline until he was almost 14. Influenced by his mother, who he referred to as a “recreational dancer,” Castillo was

initiated into the world of dance with tap lessons when he was a child. When he was first introduced to ballet, he “hated it,” he said. Fortunately that feeling did not last too long, and after spending a summer with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in Carlisle, Pa., he knew for sure that he was headed to a professional career as a ballet dancer. The deal was sealed that summer when he saw a VHS recording of one of his peers Please see Ballet, page 20

with the PBT Orchestra OCTOBER 26-28, 2018 BENEDUM CENTER

412.456.6666 | PBT.ORG

GROUPS OF 10+ SAVE! Call: 412-454-9101 or Email: groupsales@pittsburghballet.org Artists: Amanda Cochrane and Yoshiaki Nakano | Photo: Duane Rieder

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Fall Arts Preview Bernstein anniversary is a time for memory and appreciation — MUSIC — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

ug. 25 marked 100 years since the late composer Leonard Bernstein’s birth. The centennial has been commemorated globally by concerts, lectures and conversations — including the July 27 evening of “music, anecdotes and remembrances” with Jamie Bernstein, the composer’s daughter, in Chicago — other programs are extending the “Year of Bernstein.” Locally, between Oct. 5 and 7, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will be hosting “Bernstein in Pittsburgh.” The concerts, under the direction of Manfred Honeck, will feature Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 and Stravinsky’s Suite from “The Firebird” (1919). Also included is Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah,” a work Bernstein debuted with PSO in January 1944. Prior to the October performances, Flavio Chamis, a Pittsburgh-based conductor, met with Honeck to share thoughts on the late composer, conductor and musical icon. Such recollections largely stemmed from Chamis’ having served as Bernstein’s conducting assistant between 1983 and 1990 — the year of Bernstein’s death — a position requiring Chamis to travel ahead and rehearse with the

p Flavio Chamis, left, sits with Leonard Bernstein. Chamis was Bernstein’s conducting assistant between 1983 and 1990.

Photo courtesy of Flavio Chamis.

orchestra before Bernstein’s arrival. “It was an honor and privilege to do that,” said the Jewish Pittsburgher, who first met Bernstein in Europe nearly a quarter century ago. “In 1983, I was living in Vienna and my friend and I had gone to see a rehearsal of the Vienna Philharmonic, which Bernstein was conducting,” said Chamis. “After the rehearsal my friend went to talk to Bernstein. I was far away from where they were, but Bernstein looked at me from 80 feet away, from the other side of the stage, and he said, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘Flavio Chamis.’” Bernstein replied, “With that name, you are a Russian Jew.” Though he was born in Brazil, Chamis’ grandparents had come from Russia. The

surname is related to the Yiddish word shames, a term traditionally reserved for the person who manages the Torah and the synagogue. By 1985, Bernstein and Chamis had developed a working relationship. That year, because the former had always dreamed of seeing Carnival and Chamis was living in Brazil, the two met up in a rented property in Rio. The house had a piano, recalled Chamis, and among the pieces Bernstein played were Hebrew and Yiddish songs. After he completed “Shalom Aleichem,” the song traditionally sung prior to beginning the Friday evening meal, Bernstein said, “To me this is the essence of Shabbat.” Chamis preserved the interaction on a recording device and shared audio of it during a talk last weekend at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Titled, “The Jewish Music of Leonard Bernstein,” Chamis’ presentation included images, artifacts and anecdotes pertaining to Bernstein and his Jewish works. The connections between the luminary and his religious heritage have been well documented, most recently through an exhibition at the National Museum of American Jewish History, which utilized Bernstein’s piano, annotated scores, ketubah, Passover seder plate and nearly 100 other items to explore his “Jewish identity and social activism in the context of his position as

an American conductor and his works as a composer,” Goodman Media International’s Lauren Hiznay, said in a statement. Bernstein “was connected to Judaism. He would talk to you about it with a permanence like how a rabbi sees the world. It didn’t matter where he was — Vienna, Austria, Japan — he would have this personality imbued with Judaism wherever he was,” said Chamis. And regardless of locale, “he would call his mother every Friday night to say, ‘Shabbat shalom.’ I saw it happen many times. Even if he had to conduct, he would call his mother, which he did no matter what, invariably every Friday eve.” Still, said Chamis, “the main thing is how he approached music. Even if Bernstein had conducted or played the piece many times before, prior to the rehearsal he would start looking at it as if he had never seen it before. “He would study it as if he were seeing it for the first time.” Because of this, Bernstein brought a “spontaneous creativity and wisdom” to music, explained Chamis. “When you go back to something you know but discover new things you get more and more into the depth, and I think that’s something you can take not only for music but for life.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

“An extraordinary production—stunning for right and left, Arabs and Jews, natives and immigrants, soldiers and civilians, religious and secular.” -Calcalist, Isreal F R O M T E L - AV I V ’ S A C C L A I M E D G E S H E R T H E A T E R

IN THE TUNNEL

A PART OF TH E

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Fall Arts Preview A one-stop-shop for arts and culture in the ’Burgh — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

f you haven’t visited artsburgh, you are missing out on much more than the charm of a clever portmanteau. Go to artsburgh.org, a one-stop-shop calendar website run by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, and be ready to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume and variety of arts and cultural offerings in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Included on the well-organized site are about 350 listings of workshops, openings, performances, classes, lectures and festivals — in short, an art seeker’s dream. “Up until this point, there was no one-stop-shop for the arts community,” explained Jennifer Saffron, director of communications for GPAC. Prior to the advent of artsburgh, she said, arts enthusiasts would have to check five or six different websites in order to learn what was going on around town at any given time. Launched about a year and a half ago, artsburgh, which promotes the events of approximately 200 local arts and cultural providers, is a “great equalizer” of for-profit and non-profit arts organizations, as all providers get the same marketing opportunities, according to Saffron. “A small

p Screenshot of artsburgh.org

theater company gets the same treatment as the CLO.” Even a cursory look at artsburgh reveals there is a lot going on in the Steel City when it comes to arts and culture, and GPAC has the statistics to back that up. Analytical research the organization conducted shows there are “more artists per capita in Pittsburgh than in other cities our size,” Saffron said. “There are so many people making art in our region.” And artsburgh is making it easy to find those art-makers. Click on “Performance,” for example, to see what’s coming up in the genres of dance, music, musical theater, opera and theater. Click on “Visual,” and see the array of options for crafts, exhibitions, film, photography and public art. Users can filter their

Courtesy photo

searches by outdoor activities, or “great for a date,” or “fun for the family.” And, by using the “Access” tab, people can find events that are friendly to those with disabilities, including hearing impairment. “You can bump into stuff you didn’t even know existed,” Saffron said. Any arts organization — or any organization offering an art-related activity — can create a profile and begin to populate artsburgh with information about its events. The site is moderated, though, so that events posted are “appropriate,” Saffron said. While the content of events is not censored, the moderator does ensure that programs listed are indeed arts events. Also available on artsburgh is a tab listing special deals and discounts, and the oppor-

tunity to purchase a “flexpass,” a $20 voucher that can be redeemed for tickets to any one of 21 different participating arts events vendors, including Front Porch Theatricals, the New Hazlett Theater, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Playhouse. Flexpass is a “unique” opportunity in Pittsburgh not yet available in other cities, said Pittsburgher Amy Kline, senior client support manager at Showclix, and the developer of flexpass. The “dual purpose” of flexpass, Kline explained, is to “introduce new art forms and organizations to an already arts-friendly public,” and to help arts organizations “build their own audiences.” “It’s a collective impact model,” Saffron added. “We are trying to get organizations to realize that, in reality, they are not really competing for audiences. When someone has a positive experience at any arts event, they are four times more like to go to another arts event. By working together, we can lift all the boats.” Artsburgh is just one function of GPAC, which also provides financial, professional and political support for more than 400 diverse artists and nonprofit organizations in the region, including legal and business consulting, networking and professional development opportunities. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

October 3, 2018 7:30 PM at Carngie Music Hall, Oakland

2018-19 Subscription Series

Partnering with the South Hills Interfaith Ministries (SHIM), anyone that brings a non-perishable food item to this concert will receive a FREE access pass to any upcoming CMP concert.

Tickets and Information: 412-624-4129 chambermusicpittsburgh.org

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Fall Arts Preview Miracle of miracles, ‘Fiddler’ begins North American tour in Pittsburgh — THEATER — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

radition dictates these performances will be worth seeing. Between Nov. 20 and 25, “Fiddler on the Roof ” will captivate audiences at the Benedum Center (237 Seventh St. in the city’s Cultural District), telling the classic tale of Tevye, his five daughters, and his pursuit to preserve Jewish heritage and ritual in light of increasing pressures. The classic musical is based on a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem. “Fiddler” will begin its new North American tour with eight Steel City shows under the direction of Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher and will feature, in the words of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, “a wonderful cast and a lavish orchestra.” “We could not be more joyful for the Tony-nominated revival of ‘Fiddler on the Roof ’ that will tour to Pittsburgh and play the Benedum Center as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series,” said Marc Fleming, vice president of marketing and communications at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

p The new ‘Fiddler’ offers an updated set.

Given Sher’s prior successes in bringing “The King and I,” “South Pacific” and the 2017 Tony-winner “Oslo” to Pittsburgh, Fleming is confident that the “Fiddler”

Wake up little Pittsburghers, ‘The Simon & Garfunkel Story’ is here — THEATER — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

eaven may hold a place for those who pray, but the Byham Theater has a spot for those who sing. On Nov. 7, “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” will entertain audiences with one action-packed Pittsburgh performance complete with projection photos, original film footage and a full live band. The “critically acclaimed concert style theater show about two young boys from Queens, N.Y., who went on to become the world’s most successful music duo of all time” will feature hit songs including, “Mrs. Robinson,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Homeward Bound,” “Scarborough Fair,” “The Boxer” and “The Sound Of Silence,” noted promoters. “The Simon and Garfunkel fans around the world have really responded to our show, which has a lot to do with our cast,” said presenter Ralph Schmidtke at Quatro Entertainment. “We are bringing this tour to many U.S. cities in 2018 — including Pittsburgh — which we have not played before.” “The Simon & Garfunkel Story,” which has been seen by more than 250 million people worldwide, narrates the story of how Paul

Simon and Art Garfunkel, two Jewish kids, met at elementary school in 1953, originally operated as Tom & Jerry and eventually became one of the “best-selling music groups of the ’60s.” “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” also captures the duo’s divorce in 1970, the same year their fifth and final studio album, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” was released. “Our goal is to entertain the fans and to establish this as an ongoing touring production for years to come and bring it back to Pittsburgh annually,” said Schmidtke. Alan Cooper of The Portsmouth News called “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” a “must for fans, an education to the uninitiated, this is a tribute show made with true respect for the music — and the audience.” Slightly more muted was Neil Norman of The Express, who wrote, “Small niggles aside it’s an effective reminder of an extraordinary musical duo.” Paul Vale of The Stage gave the production four out of five stars and described the performance as “an authentic tribute to a musical duo that helped define an era.” While such praise for “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” may or may not break your heart, perhaps Pittsburghers should note that for this performance, the “time has come to shine.” PJC

Photo by Joan Marcus

revival will follow suit; additionally, because of the “stunning movement and dance by the acclaimed Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter,” which is “based on the original

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

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staging by Jerome Robbins,” attendees will be certain to enjoy something spectacular. While the original “Fiddler” production won nine Tony Awards in 1965, including a special Tony in 1972 for becoming the longest-running musical in Broadway history, this rendition should prove that the sun has yet to set on this story. New York Magazine called the new Fiddler “an entirely fresh, funny, and gorgeous new production. A reason for celebration.” Charles Isherwood of The New York Times similarly described the new production as “superb,” writing, “The sorry state of the world gives us new reason to appreciate the depth of feeling so powerfully, so ingeniously embedded in ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ the much-loved and much-revived 1964 musical comedy that has returned to Broadway at a time when its story of the gradual disintegration of a family, and a community, strikes home with unusual force.” Added Mark Kennedy, of the Associated Press, the production is a “remarkable achievement. From the first moment to the profound last, this ‘Fiddler on the Roof ’ is a triumph. The show is the star.” PJC

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Fall Arts Preview Poet: Continued from page 1

to Pittsburgh from Uniontown in 2013, when Paul became president and CEO of Gateway Rehab, which was founded in 1972 by Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski and the Sisters of St. Francis to treat those suffering from alcohol and other drug dependencies. Bacharach now volunteers twice a week, leading poetry workshops for women dealing with drug and alcohol addiction at halfway houses. She encourages the women in her workshops to put their feelings to paper and shows them the power of their own words. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I admire what these women are trying to do,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pretend to understand what they are going through because I have not suffered from the disease of addiction. I just know what I went through and that

published novelist. Although Nathan probably had been addicted to opioids for years â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he began using the drugs to treat pain from a broken leg when he was 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; his parents did not realize that he was ill. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The thing with addiction, especially when it is opioid, is that people can maintain for a very long time,â&#x20AC;? Bacharach said. Her first clue that something was wrong came when Nathan was fired from a job as an X-ray technician at Shadyside Hospital, having been accused of coming to work under the influence. He denied the charges, and his parents longed to believe him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was very Lamentations defiant,â&#x20AC;? Bacharach My life was bereft of peace, I forgot what happiness was. said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And we lived â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Lamentations, 3:17 in the world of rose-colored glasses. In my wallet, a black silk ribbon, hidden among We wanted to believe quarters and dimes, our son. What slipped between creased papers scribbled with psalms. parent doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to believe? He was A ribbon torn by the Rabbi, pinned to our jackets looking us in the eye as we swayed in hot July air at the funeral of our son. and saying of course this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t me.â&#x20AC;? My fingers glide along its length, grab at change Nathan, whom for parking meters, money to pay for dark roast coffee Bacharach described as â&#x20AC;&#x153;incredibly and blueberry scones, my husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shirts charming, incredibly from the cleaners, three white, one sky blue, good looking and incredibly manipuone pale yellow. Shirts he wears every day, matched lative,â&#x20AC;? got another with silk ties, silk like the ribbon he too still carries, job in Pittsburgh working at a local hidden behind credit cards and dollar bills, restaurant but was smudged with his fingerprints as he fumbles to pay for gas. fired from that position for stealing. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; By Valerie Bacharach Bacharach and her husband, Paul, Reprinted from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fireweedâ&#x20AC;? (Main Street Rag, 2018). had been living in Uniontown, Pa., and insisted that Nathan move back home, which did not help. writing has helped me.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;He started stealing from us, credit cards, Some poems in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fireweedâ&#x20AC;? draw from money,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He stole from where he Bacharachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jewish tradition, such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;The worked. He stole from friends. We had to Last Seder,â&#x20AC;? with its compelling final lines: kick him out of the house. Then he moved â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why is this night different from all other back to Pittsburgh. He went to rehab.â&#x20AC;? nights?/Because on this night all of us teeter When Nathan left rehab and moved home on the sharp/edge of pain, tilt slowly toward again, the cycle repeated. its open mouth.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;He kept saying he was clean now, and he Others deal with the universal pain of losing was seeing a therapist in Uniontown, who a loved one, such as the poem â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some Days,â&#x20AC;? he fooled as much as he fooled anyone,â&#x20AC;? she which begins: â&#x20AC;&#x153;it is all I can do to/remember/ said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As I said in one of the poems, there to breathe,/remember/how to stand.â&#x20AC;? was no walking into walls, there were no Through her honesty and facility with bloodshot eyes, there was no white powder words, Bacharachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection is a salve to those under his nose, there were no needle marks dealing with loss from death or addiction. on his arm. He was looking us in the eye and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Opioid addiction cuts across every saying, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Of course this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t me.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? demographic,â&#x20AC;? she stressed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spare The walls came crashing down one day anyone. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a scourge upon the land.â&#x20AC;? when Nathan stopped answering his phone. Bacharach will read her poem â&#x20AC;&#x153;To Say Your â&#x20AC;&#x153;My husband went over there to check on Nameâ&#x20AC;? from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fireweedâ&#x20AC;? prior to Rodef Shalom him, and Paul called me at work and said, Congregationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Yizkor service on Yom Kippur. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Something is wrong, the room is bolted â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are honored that Valerie has agreed from within, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not answering the door,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? to so generously share her perspective and Bacharach recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I ran out from heart with us,â&#x20AC;? said Rabbi Sharyn Henry of work and drove there, and we had to call the Rodef Shalom.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC police and the paramedics, they had to break Toby Tabachnick can be reached at down the door. And he was dead.â&#x20AC;? Bacharach and her husband moved back ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Fall Arts Preview

2018–2019 SEASON

Discoveries abound in Gesher’s “In the Tunnel” — THEATER — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

he age-old adage proclaims that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, but as producers of this politically poignant performance explain, “In this tunnel, if there’s a light at the end — lock and load.” Hailing from Israel, “In the Tunnel” (“Baminhara”) is a satirical take on a happenstance involving two Israeli soldiers who encounter two Palestinians while trapped underground. As the predicament forces the four participants to ride an emotional rollercoaster, those above ground experience a media circus customary of contemporary times. “In the Tunnel” makes its Pittsburgh debut on Oct. 11 at the August Wilson Center (980 Liberty Ave.) and runs until Oct. 13. The four scheduled shows are part of the 2018 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts and among a slate of offerings designed to expand audiences’ understandings, said Karla Boos, founder and artistic director of Pittsburgh’s Quantum Theatre and a guest curator of the festival. “Artists all over the world are actively expressing their citizenship in a borderless ‘country’ of the mind and spirit — one that transcends national boundaries and resists xenophobia. Their works address their concerns head-on, but often in unexpected ways, expressing resistance to bleak political or social climates with startling beauty.” “In The Tunnel is a stunning production that, once we saw it in Tel Aviv, we knew we had to bring to the Festival of Firsts,” reads some of the festival’s promotional material. “Not only is the story truly timely, but this is also a beautiful production that will look amazing on the stage of the August Wilson Center. The set features two levels — the lower level a recreation of one of the real tunnels running under the Israeli border; the upper level a high tech morning television studio.” Directed by Irad Rubinstein, “In the Tunnel” is a play by Roee Chen and inspired

by Danis Tanovic’s “No Man’s Land,” which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001. To date, “In the Tunnel” has garnered praise for its ability to humorously burrow uncomfortable situations. “The creators of this play hold nothing sacred; they make fun of everyone,” writes Haaretz contributor Michael Handelzalts. “But if there is any difference, I would say that ‘In the Tunnel’ laughs with the young people trapped in the tunnel, who are paying with their lives but are also capable of laughing at themselves, and laughs at all the others: politicians, the media, religion, ideology and the audience.” “Above and below ground, Chen’s brilliant, ironic, deliberately over-the-top satire ‘judges everybody’ — as Chen and Rubinstein write — and what happens, or not, forms the meat of the play. Rubinstein’s direction is fierce, precise, unrelenting and hilarious,” remarks Helen Kaye in a review for The Jerusalem Post. “In the Tunnel” is a production of Gesher Theatre, a 1991 creation intended to bridge Russian and Israeli culture. Founded by Yevgeny Arye and a group of Russian actors, Gesher was at its inception “one of the few bilingual theatres in the world, staging every play both in Hebrew and in Russian,” according to Broadway World. “Today, Gesher Theatre performs solely in Hebrew, while still maintaining its close ties with the Russian culture and heritage.” Over the years, Gesher has staged more than 60 productions and received numerous awards. Noted for its talented theatrical artists, Gesher has delighted audiences internationally. In Pittsburgh, those familiar with “Fauda” (2015), “Hostages” (2013), “Homeland” (2011) or the nonpareil “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” (2008) will recognize some faces. But as observers of “In the Tunnel” should discover, mining memories of “where do I know that actor from” doesn’t even scratch the surface of what this play provides. PJC

Pittsburgh Public Theater Before Tinder there was high tea

SEPTEMBER 27– OCTOBER 28 “Delightfully different… the language is traditional but the approach is totally modern” — The New York Times PRESENTED BY

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize

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From “White Christmas” to “God Bless America”

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

DECEMBER 19 – 30 “An absolute delight from beginning to end!” — Broadway World

AT THE O’REILLY THEATER In the heart of the Cultural District

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p Screenshot from the promotional YouTube video of “In the Tunnel”

Youtube screenshot

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Fall Arts Preview Theater:

Ballet: Continued from page 13

Continued from page 14

members watch as the actors transform along with their roles and the design forces people to think about “the roles that we all play.” In the show, there is a trio of musicians that play everything from musical theater to klezmer music. The actors, though always speaking English, add an accent when they are representing speaking in English and take away the accent when they are representing speaking in Yiddish to emphasize the ease of using their native language in a foreign country. “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin” also focuses on themes of immigration and adjusting to a new country, telling the story of the famous Jewish songwriter who immigrated to the United States with his family as a child. Berlin wrote more than 1,000 songs, including “White Christmas,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Anything You Can Do,” throughout his career and is credited by many people as giving the “country a sound.” Created in 2014, the play combines music and theater to give the audience a sense of who Berlin was, Felder said, and “what it means to really be an American, to have come from another country and fully embrace the magic that this country is and be a contributor.” The play, which will run in December, is driven from Berlin’s “Jewishness,” Felder

performing in the ballet “Petite Mort” by Jiří Kylián. “That ballet starts off with these strong male dancers, no music, just bodies, and it really captured me and drew me in and impacted me in a way that just … right there I thought, ‘I want to do this,’” he said. Coincidentally, “Petite Mort” is included in this season’s PBT lineup as part of its “Mozart in Motion” program, running Oct. 26-28. “Petite Mort” juxtaposes the slow movements of two Mozart piano concertos with dancing that integrates baroque dresses, fencing foils and black silks. While the dancers for the PBT’s production of “Petite Mort” have not yet been selected, Castillo said he is “keeping my fingers crossed” that he is chosen to dance that piece. “It’s a dream ballet. It’s what, I can easily say, started the whole thing for me.” Another dream of Castillo’s is to visit the Jewish state, he said. “I have not yet been to Israel,” said the 27-year-old dancer, noting that he recently heard that Birthright had added a trip for those aged 27-32. “I am desperately trying to look into finding the time to go on Birthright.” In addition to “Mozart in Motion,” the PBT’s five-ballet season also includes: “The Nutcracker,” “The Great Gatsby” with the PBT Orchestra, “Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre + Dance Theatre of Harlem,” and “The Sleeping

p Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin

Photo provided by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

said, which influenced every part of Berlin’s life, from his father to his time as a busker on the streets of New York. In his career, Felder has worked for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation to chronicle the oral histories of Holocaust survivors and attended the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, according to a press release from Pittsburgh Public Theater. The fact that the two plays focus on themes pertinent to today is not a coincidence, according to Kaminski, who hopes to “curate a conversation through entertainment” with this season’s shows. “The best theater creates an intersection between great entertainment and resonant ideas,” she said. PJC Lauren Rosenblatt can be reached at lrosenblatt@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p Alexander Castillo

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

Beauty” with the PBT Orchestra. “This season offers something for every palette,” said PBT artistic director Terrence S. Orr. “Audiences will see masterworks by George Balanchine and Jiří Kylián alongside great classics like ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ We also look forward to continuing our partnership with Dance Theatre of Harlem and retelling ‘The Great Gatsby’ through the fresh eyes of choreographer Jorden Morris. “I think this season speaks to ballet’s versatility of technique, musical influences and meaning, and we look forward to sharing it all with our audiences.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Rosh Hashanah Kreplach: Continued from page 12

squeezed shut.” Her mom’s kreplach shape resembles “little tortellinis.” The kreplach are then frozen on a cookie sheet and transferred to a plastic bag when they harden. “Before dinner, they are placed in boiling water for just five minutes and taken out, ready and waiting to be placed in chicken soup to be ‘pillows,’ as my kids used to say,” said Oshlag. “It’s a yearly rite I plan out and look forward to doing with my mother.” While Cheryl Blumenfeld leaves the kreplach-making to her cousin, Carol Wolsh, she is the keeper of not only the recipe that her grandfather, Joseph Rosenbloom, brought to America when he emigrated from Poland, but also his wooden mixing bowl and a brown table leg that he used as a rolling pin. “Kreplach is kreplach,” said Blumenfeld, who lives in Squirrel Hill. “It all came down from someone’s grandparents.” Her grandfather was not only handy with a rolling pin, but also with a needle and thread. Joseph Rosenbloom was known as “the Little Tailor,” Blumenfeld said, and was so talented, he even made her wedding gown. “He was the cook of the family,” she recalled. “My grandmother didn’t really cook. We would all sit around the table and watch my grandfather. He would literally roll the dough out with that leg he brought from Poland. We would sit around for hours watching him make kreplach. And he was a perfectionist. His food was exceptional. He ground his own meat. Now, you go to the butcher shop, and you can buy ground meat and chicken. “As he dropped those kreplach in the boiling soup,” she said, “we ate them as fast as he could make them.”

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Blumenfeld’s mother, Mildred Rosenbloom, took up the mantle of kreplach-maker after the Little Tailor passed away, and although she died 42 years ago, her daughter can “still picture her getting out that rolling pin.” “The kreplach recipes are all basically the same recipe,” Blumenfeld noted. “They are just an egg, flour and salt.” She shared her family’s recipe, which was typed out on a yellowing index card. Kreplach Dough

1 egg 2/3 cup flour (approximately) 1/2 tsp. salt

Beat egg slightly. Add salt and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Knead well and let stand, covered for ½ hour. Roll out very thin and spread on cloth to dry for an hour. The dough must not be sticky, yet it must not be dry. Cut as desired. Filling

1 lb. cooked meat (chopped) 1 tsp. onion juice 1 egg salt and pepper

Add seasoning to egg and meat. With knife, mark dough into 2-inch squares. Place a teaspoon of meat on each square, then fold over in three-cornered shape, pressing edges together well. Drop into boiling soup or salted water and let cook 15 minutes. Drain in colander. Place on hot platter and pour several tablespoons of melted butter over them (you can substitute margarine if using meat filling). Sprinkle with browned crumbs. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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The Holocaust Memorial Monument was provided through the generosity of the Stark, Adler, and Balis families.

The cemetery is open for visitation during daylight hours except on the Sabbath and Jewish Holidays. Beth Shalom Cemetery 1501 Anderson Road Shaler Township, PA 15209 We will also be having the Homestead Hebrew Cemetery Open House on Sunday, September 9, 2018 from 9:30 am - 1:00 pm

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AUGUST 31, 2018 21

Opinion Justice, honesty and the Episcopalian bishop — EDITORIAL —

n Jewish tradition, justice and mercy share an uneasy balance. Indeed, we are beginning to see a growing trend among critics of Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians who explain their hostility to the Jewish state as an outgrowth of their pursuit of justice for the weaker side in the long-running conflict. That inclination is understandable as a natural impulse to champion the underdog. But that blind, reflexive reaction — couched in the “sacred pursuit of justice” mantra, especially when practiced by Israel’s critics — can make fools out of those who lack integrity and humility, and is an assault to truth. That’s exactly what happened to the Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, bishop suffragan, the second highest official in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. During a speech in July to the church’s General Convention, Harris lied to the assembly, claiming that she had witnessed Israeli security forces arrest a 3-year-old on the Temple Mount and shoot a 15-year-old in the back 10 times after making a comment to a group of soldiers. “I was there a couple of years ago on the Temple Mount,” Harris said. “A 3-year-old

p Bishop Alan M. Gates

p Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris

little boy, a Palestinian with his mother, was bouncing a rubber ball. The ball happened to sort of roll away from him and go over the side down to the Western Wall otherwise known as the Wailing Wall. And immediately, Israeli soldiers came up to the Temple

Mount and attempted to put handcuffs on a 3-year-old little boy — for bouncing a rubber ball.” The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the media watch group CAMERA disputed this incident, and the one in which she claimed

Photos Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

the Israeli soldiers shot the teenager for asking a question they found offensive. Caught in a lie, Harris backtracked and changed her story. “I now acknowledge that I reported stories which I had heard and unintentionally framed them as though I had personally witnessed the alleged events,” she wrote in a public apology. “I was speaking from my passion for justice for all people, but I was repeating what I received secondhand.” In other words, in the name of “justice,” Harris smeared Israel. The rest of her apology is meaningless boilerplate; we’ve read it before. Bishop Alan M. Gates, Harris’ superior, affirmed the apology. “We recognize that for Christian leaders to relate unsubstantiated accounts of Israeli violence awakens traumatic memory of a deep history of inciting hostility and violence against Jews — a history the echoes of which are heard alarmingly in our own day.” Perhaps he is referring to the Holocaust, but Harris’ dishonesty and bias would be offensive even without the Holocaust. “Blood libel” is what the Wiesenthal Center and CAMERA slapped on Harris’ remarks. We may not go quite that far, but the alarming offensiveness of the Harris episode should remind us all that it doesn’t take much of a lie to be gobbled up as fact by Israel’s critics. PJC

Holocaust Museum’s exhibit makes excuses for FDR Guest Columnist Rafael Medoff

he most important person in the story of America’s response to the Holocaust, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was not mentioned even once in some news coverage about the new “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. But perhaps that’s not surprising, since Roosevelt is reduced to such a minor figure in the exhibit itself. The exhibit blames the Roosevelt administration’s failure to aid European Jewry on public opinion, former President Herbert Hoover and a few bad guys in the State Department — but never the president. Most Americans recall FDR as a strong, decisive leader, but in the Holocaust Museum’s new exhibit, he becomes the Incredible Disappearing President. When the exhibit does mention Roosevelt, it is to excuse and minimize his responsibility for own policies. For example, the exhibit defends FDR’s refusal, from 1933 to 1938, to publicly criticize Hitler’s persecution of the Jews. A text panel claims that “the accepted rules of international diplomacy obliged them to respect Germany’s right to govern its own citizens and not intervene on behalf of those being targeted.” Obliged to respect Hitler’s brutality? Presidents Van Buren, Buchanan and Grant protested the mistreatment of Jews in Syria, Switzerland and Romania, respectively.

22 AUGUST 31, 2018

President Theodore Roosevelt protested the persecution of Jews in Romania. The U.S. government, under President William Taft, canceled a Russo-American treaty to protest Russia’s oppression of Jews. President Woodrow Wilson inserted clauses protecting minorities in the Paris Peace Conference agreements. There was ample precedent for Franklin Roosevelt to speak out; he chose not to. On the crucial issue of Roosevelt’s immigration policy, the exhibit omits important information. The exhibit does not mention that clergy (rabbis), professors and students could have been admitted — within the existing law — with no numerical limit. Nor is there any mention of FDR’s rejection of the proposals that were made to admit refugees temporarily to U.S. territories such as Alaska or the Virgin Islands. Of course, acknowledging those options would have conflicted with the exhibit’s theme of a weak, hapless Roosevelt who had no choice but to follow public opinion — an FDR who was a prisoner of the immigration policies initiated by the Hoover administration. The exhibit simply ignores the numerous extra requirements and burdens which the Roosevelt administration itself imposed upon visa applicants. In a particularly egregious misstatement, the exhibit claims that “most [German Jews] did not have enough money to qualify for immigration” to the United States. Presumably that gets Roosevelt off the hook for the low level of German Jewish immigration. But in fact, nothing in U.S. law required a visa applicant to possess a specific sum of money. There was no monetary threshold for immigrants. Individual U.S. consuls in

Germany decided whether they thought an applicant had sufficient means — or American relatives — to support them. And the consuls made those decisions in accordance with the president’s overall policy of suppressing refugee immigration below the limits allowed by law. As a result, the quota from Germany was filled in only one of FDR’s twelve years in office, and 190,000 quota places sat unused during that period. The exhibit claims that there was nothing President Roosevelt could do to admit more refugees, because most of the public was against increasing immigration, even as the Holocaust’s atrocities were becoming known. Presumably that gets FDR off the hook once again. But once again, the exhibit is distorting the historical record. The exhibit shows many polls from the 1930s and early 1940s demonstrating public opposition to immigration. But it fails to explain that after the tide of the war turned in 1943 and substantial information about the massacres reached America, public opinion did change. The exhibit omits the April 1944 Gallup poll which found 70 percent of the public in favor of granting temporary haven to Jewish refugees for the duration of the war. Daniel Greene, the exhibit’s lead curator, was quoted in the Washington Jewish Week saying that the exhibit asks, “Why didn’t rescue ever become a priority?” But that’s the wrong question. Rescue didn’t have to become a priority in order for Jews to be saved. There were numerous steps the Roosevelt administration could have taken that would have involved minimal effort and would not have interfered with the war effort. For example, the president could have

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permitted the immigration quotas to be filled. That didn’t require an act of Congress or a public controversy. All he had to do was quietly instruct the State Department to admit the maximum number allowed by law. Or Roosevelt could have permitted empty troop transport ships returning from Europe to carry refugees. Those ships were too light to sail and had to be weighed down with ballast (rocks and chunks of concrete). Jewish refugees could have served the same purpose. Perhaps the best known example of what the United States could have done, without making rescue a priority, was to bomb Auschwitz, or the railways and bridges over which Jews were deported. U.S. planes repeatedly flew over Auschwitz in 1944 when they bombed oil factories that were adjacent to the death camp. For those planes to have dropped a few bombs on the gas chambers and crematoria, or on the transportation routes leading to the camp, would not have delayed victory over the Nazis. Even if such bombings would have only slowed down the pace of the mass-murder process, that would have been significant. At its peak, 12,000 Jews were being gassed in Auschwitz every day. Any interruption would have saved lives. Unfortunately, the exhibit gets too caught up in making excuses for Roosevelt to acknowledge these facts. But making excuses for FDR’s abandonment of the Jews should not be part of the mission of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. PJC Rafael Medoff is founding director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the author of 19 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust.

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Opinion Israel and Judaism are alive and well at Northeastern University Hillel Guest Columnist Gilad Skolnick

he online nonprofit site “The Conversation” ran an article by Northeastern University Professor Dov Waxman titled “As Israel turns 70, many young American Jews turn away.” He argues that young Jews are less connected to Israel than ever before, and that they are no longer interested or comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state. Waxman’s body of work suggests that he wishes this to be the case, but there are many reasons to doubt his conclusion. For starters, he should leave his office and walk across the street to my Hillel to see the reality on the ground. Over the past few years, Northeastern University Hillel has experienced the opposite of young Jews “distancing” themselves from Israel. We sent more than 120 students to Israel this year — more than 10 percent of the total Jewish student body at the university. Student engagement was high despite security threats such as Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza (and more recently, Iranian missiles from Syria). We are witnessing an increased desire over recent years by Jewish students to explore their Jewish homeland. When we brought Artists for Israel to Northeastern, hundreds of students participated, and our Israel-themed Shabbats typically exceed room capacity, with attendance well over 100 students. Students for Justice in Palestine launched four campaigns supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel over the past three years, yet student senators overwhelmingly defeated divestment resolutions each time. If you take a walk through campus on an average day, you will see Hillel’s IACT Coordinator and student leaders “tabling” in support of Israel or members of our supported student group Huskies for Israel. Waxman’s work seems intent on politicizing Israel — exploiting a lack of support for the current Israeli government to promote a wider disdain for the State of Israel. But Northeastern University students are able to distinguish between the two, just as they can distinguish between their love of the United States and their feelings toward any particular occupant of the White House. The fact that students have proved more resilient and less malleable is fortunate, given the attempts by professors to leverage their position of influence over students in creating a following for their false narrative. In his article, Waxman makes his case using a not-particularly-relevant and outdated survey from half a decade ago. He also cites a survey from San Francisco, which

is perhaps not representative of the entire United States, considering its population’s long history of leaning to the far left. For decades, there have been those who warn that support for Israel is on the decline. Yet in poll after poll by Pew and Gallup, overall support for Israel is holding steady. A March 2018 Gallup poll showed that three out of four Americans have a favorable view of Israel. This is the same as what polls showed nearly 30 years ago. It comes as no surprise that students here are excited to be involved and active with organizations such as Hasbara, CAMERA, StandWithUs, Jewish National Fund-USA, Israel on Campus Coalition and others. Students here have met the rise of anti-Israel campus activism with their own pro-Israel campus activism. Half of all Jews who attend Northeastern University sign up to go to Israel with us at some point during their time here. In my experience, they return with a new or renewed sense of enthusiasm about participating in Jewish life and start attending more programs about Israel, such as the “Onward Israel” internship program, organized by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (our Jewish Federation) in Boston. Non-Jewish students are also growing interested in Israel. For the third year in a row, 40 non-Jewish students have chosen to spend their spring break with Hillel volunteering on an Israel Defense Forces’ base. They, too, are excited to visit a country where about half of the world’s Jews live — a place fundamental to three of the world’s major religions, where there are 3,000 years of Jewish history. They are intrigued to be in the only place where a dead language (Hebrew) was brought back to life, in the home of countless ancient and modern miracles, and in a country with few natural resources, which leverages the talent of their people while flourishing in a very unfriendly neighborhood. All of this is fortunately happening while anti-Semitism is growing in the United States, and when many in Europe no longer feel safe being publicly identifiable as Jews. One of my favorite things about serving as executive director of Northeastern’s Hillel is seeing the hundreds of students who are passionate about the Jewish people. We help by fostering an environment where people can feel pride in being Jewish and in Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East. This Yom Kippur, as our people have been saying for thousands of years, students will say: “Next Year in Jerusalem!” If you’re a student at Northeastern though, there’s a good probability that it will be this year. PJC Gilad Skolnick is the executive director of Northeastern University Hillel in Boston. Prior to joining Hillel, he was the director of campus programming at CAMERA and served in the IDF as a corporal in the Spokesperson’s Unit. This article was distributed by JNS.org.

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— LETTERS — Reader loses a bet I found it obscene that the Chronicle would publish a cartoon including two U.S. presidents alongside Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Castro, Putin and Kim in depicting a lack of freedom of the press (Opinion, Aug. 24). Even allowing that the Chronicle is a liberal paper and the two presidents — Nixon and Trump — are Republicans, it was a low and smarmy way to make an unjustifiable point. To me, it just further demonstrates the way the liberal press twists the news. Is this what they call “fake news?” (I’m betting this won’t make it into your paper, but I had to let you know that there are many Jewish people out there who support Donald Trump and the amazing work he is doing for the American people.) Susan Reiter Pittsburgh

We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned. Mail, fax or email letters to:

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AUGUST 31, 2018 23

Headlines Schreiber: Continued from page 1

The board, which includes 27 people, has been very supportive of the endeavor, both because it would help Schreiber professionally and the mission of the JCC as a whole. “Brian will provide service and guidance to the JCC field and bring the work of the continental JCC Association closer to Pittsburgh,” Jimmy Ruttenberg, chair of the board, said in a press release. “The Pittsburgh JCC benefits by being part of a strong national movement that serves as a central resource for our field.” Before coming to the JCC, Schreiber served for six years as director of the annual funding campaign for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and prior to that at The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. During his time at the JCC, Schreiber has grown agency endowment funds from $1

p Brian Schreiber

p Doron Krakow

million in 1999 to more than $19 million and has doubled revenue over the past 17 consecutive years, according to a press release from

the JCC Association. This opportunity provides a welcome chance to step back — this will be the first

Photo courtesy of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Photo courtesy of the JCC Association of North America

time in his nearly 20-year JCC career that he will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization, he said — and think about “the vision and the strategy and the purpose” of the JCC. At the start of his tenure at the JCC, Schreiber said he was on the other side of this situation and watched as the organization received help from an experienced outside professional who offered an extra “hand, advice, counsel and expertise.” Now that Krakow has reached out for “additional expertise and support,” Schreiber said he feels humbled, nervous and excited all at once. “I believe that Doron [Krakow] has a great deal of vision,” he said. “The strength of [the JCC Association] will come back to help Pittsburgh in the short and the long term.” PJC Lauren Rosenblatt can be reached at rosenblatt@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

PJ Library receives grant

ittsburgh area families raising Jewish children will now have more opportunities to participate in Jewish life, thanks to a grant recently awarded by PJ Library, the flagship program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, which provides free books to families raising Jewish children all over the world. PJ Library in Pittsburgh, a program of the

Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, received $15,000 to create Holiday Chavurah, a yearlong program aimed at empowering families to strengthen their Jewish community by providing the materials, knowledge and firsthand experiences to host holiday experiences in their homes.

S’LICHOT

The winning initiatives are designed to build social connections among families and engage them in Jewish life, programming or learning. The initiatives range from ongoing neighborhood meet-ups to Shabbat-themed workshops and dinners. The 13 winning grant proposals were chosen through a competitive process open

to organizations implementing PJ Library across North America. For information about PJ Library in the Pittsburgh area, or for more information about the new Holiday Chavurah program, contact Danielle West, Pittsburgh PJ Library coordinator, at 412-339-5403 or dwest@ jccpgh.org. PJC

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Happy New Year

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AUGUST 31, 2018 25

Headlines McCain: Continued from page 5

Jewish Democratic Council of America noted that he “rose above politics and represented his values.” McCain was a scion of a fighting family. His grandfather and father had graduated the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and he did as well and was soon a combat pilot flying missions over Vietnam. His plane was shot down and he was captured in 1967. Upon his release in 1973, he remained in the Navy and eventually became its liaison to the Senate, which is where he became interested in politics. It was in that capacity that he first visited Israel in the late 1970s, and a scene at Ben Gurion Airport fused what were to become two overarching passions in his political career: Israel and human rights. McCain was accompanying Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-Wash.), who had spearheaded pressure on the Nixon and Ford administrations to squeeze the Soviet Union into allowing Jewish emigration. “And I will never forget at the airport there was a crowd of people that were there to show their appreciation for Scoop, and he stopped some in the crowd and told us to stop so that he could greet Nathan Sharansky’s wife, and I will never forget that one as long as I live,” McCain said in a 2008 campaign interview with the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. Sharansky at the time was a Prisoner of Zion. McCain left the Navy in 1981 and went to work for his second wife’s father, who ran

an Arizona beer distributorship. He won a race for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and for the Senate in 1986, and since has been re-elected to the Senate. Two years later, Lieberman joined him in that body and they soon formed a fast friendship. They traveled together countless times to Israel, and in the mid-2000s, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined them on their overseas trips, to Israel and everywhere else where McCain determined the United States should make its strength known to allies and enemies. They were often photographed together — they called themselves “the Three Amigos” — each grinning, wearing the senator-abroad uniform of a blazer and an open collar button-down shirt. They seemed to have had a blast together, and McCain went deep blue at an Israeli Embassy reception in 2012 that honored Lieberman as he retired from the Senate. He described the alternating sensations of alarm and boredom that was the job of being a companion to an Orthodox Jew. “Why in every f***ing kosher menu do we have to have salmon?” he said. And then there was the time McCain fell asleep on a plane and woke up next to Lieberman davening in a tallit. “I hear this mumbling and I look and there’s this guy wearing a shawl — I thought maybe I’d died,” the Arizonan said. The friendship even earned a gibe from Jon Stewart, the late-night comedian who was both a friend and nemesis of McCain. Someone ought to tell the senator, he joked on the “The Daily Show,” that there are

Kehillah La La A Community for Living Judaism • • • • • • • •

plenty of Jews in Israel, he doesn’t have to bring his own. Lieberman by 2008 was no longer a Democrat but was still caucusing with the party. That didn’t stop him from endorsing his friend, and McCain thought seriously of repaying the compliment by naming Lieberman his running mate. The Republican establishment mightily resisted, saying Lieberman’s backing for reproductive rights would drive away conservatives, and McCain at the last minute chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” he wrote this year in “The Restless Wave,” his final book, describing the GOP insistence that Lieberman was a bad bet. “But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.” It will never be known if Palin — who seemed callow and unprepared — cost McCain the presidency, but she appeared to have cost him Jewish votes. In polling before the pick, Obama was at 60 percent, low for a community that tends to vote for Democrats in the 70s. On Election Day, Obama garnered at least 74 percent of the Jewish vote. McCain in that election and subsequently was a vigorous advocate of using all means of pressure to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “I have to look you in the eye and tell you that the United States of America can never allow a second Holocaust,” he told Israel’s Channel 2 during the campaign. McCain repeatedly hammered Obama for his expressed willingness to meet with Iran’s leaders and later on led the charge against the 2015 deal spearheaded by Obama that swapped sanctions relief for a partial rollback of Iran’s nuclear program. (Trump despised the deal and pulled out of it this year.) McCain’s willingness to buck his party was perhaps most pronounced in his outspokenness on torture, and that was an issue where he found common cause with liberal Jews. He had a long meeting with Rabbis for Human Rights (the group now known as T’ruah) in 2005 and it left an impression. The group briefed McCain on Israel’s High Court ban on torture in 1999 — and it

subsequently became a talking point for him. He also joined with Jewish former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) in passing an act informally named for them that limited campaign giving. His party leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), led one of the legal challenges to the law that culminated in its gutting by the Supreme Court in 2010. McCain had difficulty cultivating evangelical Christians — their support for George W. Bush in 2000 was a factor that kept McCain from winning the GOP nomination that year — but in 2008 he secured the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, who founded Christians United for Israel. McCain dumped Hagee, however, after it was revealed that Hagee had espoused a theology that cast the Holocaust as a means of ingathering the Jews in Israel. “Obviously I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,” McCain said at the time. “I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.” His credo was forgiveness — seeking it from others and proffering it. Appearing with Obama at a 2008 faith forum, McCain said his Christian faith “means I’m saved and forgiven. Our faith encompasses not just America but the world.” In the 1980s and 1990s, he joined then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), another Vietnam War veteran, in leading the normalization of relations with Vietnam. He was magnanimous to those who opposed the war at home as well. An anti-war activist, David Ifshin, traveled to Hanoi to speak out against the war, and his words were piped into McCain’s cell. Years later Ifshin, who had become a lawyer with AIPAC and came to appreciate a robust U.S. military posture, sought out McCain for his forgiveness. They became fast friends. Ifshin died of cancer in 1996, and McCain spoke at his funeral. “What David taught me and, I suspect, what he taught a great many people,” McCain said, “was how narrow are the differences that separate us in a society united in its regard for justice, in a country in love with liberty.” PJC

Participatory and engaging High Holiday Services — At Phipps Garden Club off of Shady Ave. Kinder KVELL on Rosh Hashanah-Day 1 B’nai Mitzvah Training and individual tutoring Study opportunities with the Rabbi A full range of Life Cycle Events Rabbinic ‘House Calls’ Interfaith Programming Reasonable dues and much, much more…

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26 AUGUST 31, 2018

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Celebrations

Torah

B’nai Mitzvah

The positive and the negative Talia Rayne Gelman will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Sept. 1. Talia is a seventh-grader at Community Day School. She is the daughter of Daniel and Eva Gelman, and the granddaughter of Ruth and the late Robert Gelman, and Sarah and the late Abraham Honig.

Dora Jee Gordon, daughter of Darcy and Mike Gordon, and younger sister of Rebecca Gordon, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Temple Sinai. Dora is the granddaughter of Sara and Larry Gordon of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (formerly of Pittsburgh), and Dee Hunter and the late Converse Hunter of Oakmont, Pa.

Theodore Franklin Rothstein (Shai Zalman Eleazar), son of Kate and Ira Rothstein and brother to Simone, Raphael and Camille, will be called to the Torah on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 9:30 a.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom. His parshah is Ki Tavo. Theo is an eighth-grader at the Falk School, where he plays basketball and soccer. He likes to spend time with friends, read and play computer games. He has been working with the inaugural PeerCorps group at Repair the World for his bar mitzvah project. PJC

The Original

Cantor Henry Shapiro Parshat Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8

his week’s parshah, Ki Tavo, opens with the ritual of bikurim, the giving of the first fruits of the season’s harvest. This practice of offering a portion of our produce is a way of giving thanks, but also as an acknowledgement of our history and the many factors, good and bad, planned and unplanned, that led to this place and time. As if to reinforce these vicissitudes in life, the following Chapters 27 and 28 open with Moses charging the people of Israel to obey the instructions in the Torah, to reap the blessings if so or suffer the consequences if not. This stark black and white, either/or thinking, is not the kind of choice we care to make. If life is full of possibilities, it’s unfortunate but all too often that we are faced with few choices or even none at all. It’s not uncommon that Jewish thought and ideas are broken into opposite categories, like two sides of a coin. Such as the 613 mitzvot, which are commonly divided into positive commandments and negative commandments, 248 positive commandments “to do” something and 365 to refrain from doing. Also, as in Kohelet, there’s a time to do something and another time to refrain from doing. We cannot help but think of the kinds of

choices we read of in this parshah as a very timely lesson — a chance to re-examine our choices now only a few short weeks before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Like the opening chapter of the Ki Tavo, we start with positives — a new month, a new year. As time goes on and we approach Yom Kippur, our questions and self-doubts grow. With this in mind, it’s entirely fitting the Hebrew phrase for this period and for the holidays is yamim noraim, the Days of Awe. Like the English word awesome, norah can mean either a great positive or a frightening power. In some ways, those decisions with few or no possibilities may be the hardest to come to grips with. One goes round and round, and even if it’s finally decided and seemingly finished, it’s difficult to live with the decision and let the matter rest. Just as we are to forgive others this time of year, we need to acknowledge making the best decision we can with matters at hand. As they crossed the river Jordan, the Israelites were to erect a stone written with words of Torah to guide them and mark the border into a new land. So too may we enter into the High Holidays with guidance and hope for a good and sweet year. PJC Cantor Henry Shapiro is the spiritual leader at Parkway Jewish Center. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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AUGUST 31, 2018 27

Headlines Candidate: Continued from page 6

to become un-Jewish except by converting to some other religion which I never intend to do,” she said. “Even if the gatekeepers of Jewishness want to deny my Jewishness, that doesn’t really upset me.” (Asked later to respond to Tablet’s reporting that she was once a practicing Christian, Salazar did not respond.) “I’m not running for chief rabbi here; I’ve never sought to use my Jewishness for political gain, especially because frankly it is not politically advantageous for me at all.” Tablet also noted that Salazar at times has identified herself as an immigrant. She told Jacobin Magazine earlier this year that “my family immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia when I was a baby.” Speaking at a Brooklyn forum on July 3, she said, “My family immigrated from Colombia to the U.S. when I was a little kid.” In an invitation to a recent fundraiser for Salazar held by The Jewish Vote, a new organization promoting political progressives, Salazar was described as “an immigrant, Jewish women [sic] of color, feminist, democratic socialist, and union member.” The Jewish Vote is an offshoot of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, an organization where Salazar has worked as an organizer and a Grace Paley Fellow. Speaking earlier last week, however, Salazar said she was born in Miami. She gave

a similar account in an interview May 5 with Village Voice reporter Emma Whitford, who posted the transcript on Aug. 24. “I was born in Miami but it’s kind of complicated,” Salazar told Whitford. “Basically my parents were living in Colombia at the time but my mom was a flight attendant when my parents met so they were sort of transient when my brother and I were really young. So we lived in Colombia and then my mom raised my brother and I in South Florida.” Some of the discrepancies may be attributed to a political neophyte who was unprepared for the media spotlight. Her campaign was given a boost by comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another 20-something Latina and political newcomer who upset the Democratic incumbent in the party’s U.S. House of Representatives primary in June. Her supporters have also blamed the media for misreporting her biography or lifting mistaken biographical details from other outlets. But others insist that she is misleading voters for political gain. In posting the story to Twitter, Bari Weiss, the Pittsburgh-raised New York Times opinion editor and former Tablet editor, argued that Salazar “is running on her identity as a Colombian immigrant and a Jew of color. But it seems she is neither of those things.” In the Forward, opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote that, “If Salazar had come out of the gate saying, ‘I consider myself Jewish, though my parents are not’ or ‘I am a Jew by choice’ or ‘I traveled back and forth to Colombia as a very young child so

I consider myself an immigrant’ — a sentiment she tweeted in her defense — there would be no exposé here.” In the hours after the Tablet article appeared, Salazar denied any wrongdoing and expressed outrage over what she views as a “birther conspiracy theory” centered around details of her place of birth and Jewishness. Alana Newhouse, editor of Tablet, denied that her site was acting as a Jewish “gatekeeper.” “We have no test of, or opinions about, ‘who is or isn’t a Jew,’” she wrote in an email. “Indeed, much to the chagrin of our critics on the right, Tablet has always welcomed everyone into our Jewish tent — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, denom-

inational affiliation or lack thereof, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, Wiccan, et al. Nor is this about a political test. … The point of Armin’s article is that there are inconsistencies in multiple key components of the biography that Julia Salazar has publicly and repeatedly claimed for herself — and not just, or even most importantly, about her Jewish identity.” Salazar also denied representing herself as an immigrant. Salazar’s supporters include Linda Sarsour, the Palestinian-American activist and Women’s March leader. “This is the story of my life,” Sarsour wrote on Facebook. “Don’t spend any energy responding.” PJC

Obituaries KATZ: Martin “Marty” J. Katz (1943-2018). Marty passed away on Friday, August 24, 2018, after a fierce battle against cancer. Marty was born and raised in Pittsburgh and loved the city through and through. He was the devoted husband to Janie (Simon) Katz for 49 wonderful years. Together, they have three children, Lauren (Scott) Woodard, Alexis (Matt) McClurg and Perry (Laurel) Katz; six cherished grandchildren, Taylor, Maddie, Evan, Abbi, Alexa and Aiden. Marty’s parents were Philip and Bertha (Pachtman) Katz and he was the beloved brother of Rhoda (late Paul) Mathias and Maury (Ellen). Marty was

a veteran of the United States Army, having served as a lieutenant in Vietnam. Marty enjoyed a long and successful career in the Insurance industry as both an entrepreneur and an executive. He loved Pittsburgh sports, vacations on Long Beach Island, N.J., and most of all spending time with his family. A celebration of his life was held at their home in Mt. Lebanon. Donations in Marty’s name can be directed to The Beth Cohen Memorial Fund, c/o The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, 10 Children’s Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com PJC