P I T TS B U R G H
September 1, 2017 | 10 Elul 5777
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Candlelighting 7:34 p.m. | Havdalah 8:31 p.m. | Vol. 60, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL ‘Small-town’ rabbi Connellsville native takes helm of Jerusalem’s Pardes Institute. Page 3
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JCC takes on ‘civic engagement,’ Chronicle hosts interfaith anti-hate confab launches new website in partnership with Times of Israel By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
LOCAL A different kind of camp
Area clergy gather in front of the JCC, singing “We Shall Overcome” in a demonstration organized by the JCC’s newly formed Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement, and Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania. Photo by Toby Tabachnick By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
W Memories of Camp Hemshekh’s focus on survival. Page 5 NATIONAL Helping Harvey’s homeless
Federation joins hurricane recovery effort. Page 9
hen Rabbi Ron Symons and the Rev. Liddy Barlow decided to co-host a program protesting racism and bigotry in the wake of the Charlottesville riots, they hoped that maybe 30 interfaith clergy members would show up and perhaps an additional 20 might sign on to a declaration to the community accentuating their unity in the face of hatred and discrimination. Instead, more than 100 clergy and other community members assembled Monday afternoon at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill, and 169 people signed on to the declaration. The interfaith gathering was the inaugural program of a new initiative of the JCC called the Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement, headed by Symons, and was held in collaboration with Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, an umbrella group for a variety of Christian denominations, of which Barlow serves as executive minister. The event united clergy from many streams of Christianity, along with representatives from the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and local rabbis and cantors from Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist congregations. The program marked the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. “We are living in very challenging times,” said Symons, the JCC’s senior director of Jewish life, reading from a joint statement signed also by Barlow. “Protesters, advocates and politicians are trying to spin our moral
compasses in such a way so that we have little sense of which way to step. But we know in which direction we should march: the moral direction that is taught by all of our faith traditions, the direction of ‘love your neighbor as yourself ’ and ‘do not stand idle while your neighbor bleeds.’ Our fathers and mothers marched in this direction, and so must we, so that our children will in their day and so that we can create a world where hate, bigotry, racism and discrimination have no place in society, no matter the voice speaking them nor the unspoken words of those in power.” In addition to an audio excerpt of the Rev. Marin Luther King Jr.’s address delivered at the March on Washington, the crowd also heard an excerpt of a 1903 sermon by Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Leonard Levy, read by that congregation’s current senior rabbi, Aaron Bisno, and part of the final sermon of Muhammed read by Imam Abdul Wajid. Following the readings of the excerpted sermons, the clergy members marched together singing “We Shall Overcome,” to address community members assembled at the entrance to the JCC on Forbes Avenue. The JCC’s Center for Loving Kindness and Civic Engagement has been in the works for several months, with an intended launch this fall, according to Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the JCC. The white supremist rally in Charlottesville, and its aftermath, however, created an “impetus” to act sooner, he said.
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he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is scheduled to introduce a new state-of-the-art website this Friday as part of the newspaper’s relaunch. On July 21, the Chronicle introduced a new name, a new look in its print edition and a new subscription model that provides copies of the Chronicle free of charge to members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Now, the Chronicle has joined a digital partnership with The Times of Israel, the Jerusalem-based online publication founded in 2012 that reports on developments in Israel, the Middle East and around the Jewish world. Four other Jewish news outlets are part of The Times of Israel collaboration: the Atlanta Jewish Times; the Jewish Standard in northern New Jersey; The New York Jewish Week; and the Jewish News based in the United Kingdom. The Chronicle’s new website can be found at pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Jim Busis, publisher and CEO of the Chronicle, explained the need to modernize his outlet’s digital presence. “In internet terms, the Chronicle’s former website was very old,” said Busis. “When it was started in 2008 it was very good. In fact, in 2009 we won a Rockower Award [from the American Jewish Press Association] for best website. But in the years since, the software company that provided our platform has not kept up with the times,” rendering the old site “inadequate by modern standards.” The Chronicle opted to join the partnership with The Times of Israel, Busis said, which “includes using their website platform, but
Please see JCC, page 16
Please see Website, page 16
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