Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 10/12/2018

P I T TS B U R G H

October 12, 2018 | 3 Cheshvan 5779

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Pigeon Bagels flying high, looks to expand

Owner Gab Taube wants to open Squirrel Hill shop.

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Art provides ‘common thread’ Community for women of diverse communities activists share Chicago story in hope of inspiring Squirrel Hill residents

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

LOCAL

P Leslie Golomb and Deborah Liberman, and the poetry of Sue Elkind, Tikvah Feinstein and Rachel Goldstein. The diverse collective of artists is also comprised of Muslims and Christians, and those representing African-American, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, Asian American and Native American communities.

“Poetry and stories told through art are agents for social change, vehicles for individual expression, and tools for honest dialogue through which we can promote deeper understanding and allyship in service toward a more just, equitable and compassionate society,” said Rashida JamesSaadiya, the co-curator and creative director of “Common Threads.”

The themes explored in the pieces underscore the challenges and triumphs, dreams and the obstructions to those dreams, faced by the artists, their families and their communities.

The poems of Rachel Goldstein — who was born in a displaced persons camp and who died in Boston in 2015 — were inspired by her parents’ experience as

art-time Pittsburgh residents Beverly Siegel and Howard Rieger will return to the Steel City on Nov. 1 to share thoughts on neighborhood redevelopment.

Siegel, a documentary filmmaker whose work has regularly appeared on WTTW, Chicago’s primary PBS member television station, and Rieger, volunteer president of the Jewish Neighborhood Development Council of Chicago, have spent years on a project resulting in both a 25-minute long documentary and urban improvements to West Rogers Park, a decades-old haven for Chicago’s Jewish community.

Siegel and Rieger’s collective endeavor began shortly after their 2008 marriage.

“Howard and I were living in West Rogers Park and I really wanted to see change being made in the neighborhood. He immediately saw the problem and it bothered him too,” said Siegel.

An apparent duality had formed where investments in private residences, agencies, synagogues and schools were evident, but the area’s “public face was shabby and run down,” said Rieger, who for many years led the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh as its president and CEO. Although the Windy City’s Jewish communities have a history of living and leaving certain areas, West Rogers Park, unlike other spaces, “was still here and showing some real rebounding,” he added.

Something unique was occurring in West Rogers Park and it was important to not only mark the history but the efforts made

Please see Women, page 16

Please see Chicago, page 16

JRS names executive director Nancy Gale brings business acumen to the position.

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 Leslie Golomb (left) poses with sculptor Dominique Scaife and Scaife’s piece, “Serenity.”

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

THEATER ‘Anastasia’ opens next week

Jewish actor relishes complexity of heroine’s pursuer.

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nter the current display in Oakland’s Carnegie Library’s Community Engagement Gallery and be ready to take in an array of artwork and poetry created to inspire empathy, understanding and joy. The pieces are eclectic, but that is precisely the point.

Presented by the newly revived interfaith literary organization Crossing Limits, the multimedia exhibition “Common Threads: Faith, Activism, and the Art of Healing” showcases 12 poets and 14 visual artists from diverse racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, coming together to form a veritable tapestry of what it means to be a woman as well as a minority in contemporary society.

“Our world is shaped by stories told and the memories they leave behind,” said Carol Elkind, founder and president of Crossing Limits, the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit established in 1998 to foster interfaith understanding through the arts. “Everybody has stories, and art of all types is a form of storytelling.”

Included in the exhibit is the visual artwork of Jewish community members

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Jewish history in the Midwest

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Old dogs learn new Yiddish tricks

Headlines Pigeon Bagels looks to soar in Squirrel Hill — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ab Taube, owner of Pigeon Bagels, is circling in on a recipe for growth.

The 26-year-old Regent Square resident has plans of opening a bakery and storefront in Squirrel Hill. The proposed site is located near the corner of Hobart Street and Wightman Street, in a building that previously housed Nu-Life Cleaners & Shirt Laundry.

Taube, who has built a loyal following by selling bagels at farmers markets in Squirrel Hill and Bloomfield, as well as through wholesale to local cafes, explained the decision to set up a brick-and-mortar shop as a natural progression of her expanding business.

After eight years’ experience in food services, “this is kind of where I was at,” she said.

Previous employments have included stops in fast food, fine dining and at A’Pizza Badamo in Mt. Lebanon, where she currently rents space and equipment to cook her bagels.

Taube credited Anthony Badamo, the restaurant’s owner whom she called “my mentor,” for introducing her to a “non-pretentious way” of doing things “just right.”

“I kind of saw what my old boss is doing with pizza and how it was kind of like an evolving process of always wanting to get the stove just right and find the right ingredients,” she explained. “I was like, I could do this with a bagel.”

Comments shared on social media suggest Taube is well on her way. Instagram posts of Pigeon Bagels’ sandwiches and spreads elicit positive feedback and demonstrate customers’ desire for more product.

Remaining committed to “simple” offer-

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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

p Gab Taube, owner of Pigeon Bagels

ings and paying homage to her family are at the heart of the enterprise, she said.

The idea is to operate a small shop where people can have daily walk-up service, while the business still meets wholesale demands.

“I think it will be kind of new,” said Taube.

Placing it in Squirrel Hill makes sense, she added, given her family’s history in the area.

Taube’s aunt and uncle live in the neighborhood, as did her grandparents, the late Marion and Mike Taube.

“They had a real sense of this is the best place you could be,” she said. “They just loved Squirrel Hill so much.”

Although Taube has never resided there, “Squirrel Hill is just home in a way,” she said.

Whether Squirrel Hill will actually house Pigeon Bagels is a matter to be determined by the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment.

From its Sept. 20 hearing, the board has 45

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Photo by Adam Reinherz

days to decide whether the building, which is owned by Steve Stoller and managed by Ben Roth, both of Squirrel Hill, can “change from one non-conforming use to another,” reported Print.

Taube is optimistic about the ruling.

“I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited,” she said.

In the meantime, she has begun exploring the possibility of making Pigeon Bagels kosher.

“It’s something I’m really strongly considering, but I’m actually not educated on at this point,” she said. “It’s not like the kind of thing you can Google, like, ‘How do I get kosher in the city of Pittsburgh?’”

Creating a kosher establishment would enable certain eaters, including members of her family, to enjoy her offerings, but it is not definite that Pigeon Bagels will ever fly

p Everything bagels at the Squirrel Hill Farmers Market Photo by Sara Savage

that route. More certain is that Taube will continue upholding her family name, which in German means pigeon, thus explaining the business’ moniker.

“A lot of people don’t know why I called it that. I think it’s a lot of fun. People are like, ‘It doesn’t make a lot of sense,’ and people don’t really love pigeons either, which is kind of fun, but they’re actually a pretty noble bird,” she said.

So with a quirky pairing, birds and bagels seem ever present.

At any family event, “everyone is gathered around bagels,” said Taube. “It doesn’t matter what it’s for or the time of the day. … I just feel like it’s a very universal comfort food and I love that about it.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines JRS names Nancy Gale new executive director — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ancy Gale, former president of Temple Sinai and a senior manager at EQT Corporation, has been named executive director of Jewish Residential Services of Pittsburgh. Gale, who holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the Wharton School of Business, assumed the role Oct. 10.

“After an exhaustive and highly competitive search, Nancy Gale was hired because of her outstanding background and work in both private industry and the Jewish Community,” Gerri Sperling, co-chair of the JRS search committee, said in a statement.

Throughout the course of Gale’s nearly 30-year career in the private sector, she served as director of corporate credit at EQT, managing director at BNY Mellon and commercial lending officer at Toronto Dominion Bank. In joining JRS, Gale will have her first crack at Jewish professional life.

“I had been thinking about transitioning to the nonprofit sector for a long time,” and JRS, because of its “great” reputation, provided a welcome chance, she noted.

Prior to officially beginning, Gale met with members of the organization’s board of directors to better determine “what they’re

and revolutionary programming and greater inclusiveness within the community right now,” said Judy Cohen, president of JRS’ board, in a statement. “We are on the cusp of exciting and seminal changes, embarking on a journey that we call JRS 2.0. We need an executive director who understands the organization and can lead us into the next phase of development and care for our sensitive and deserving client base.”

Gale believes completion of the Seymoure and Corinne Krause Commons will be key to achieving the board’s objectives. The multistory building, situated on the former Poli’s restaurant space, will house JRS’ administrative offices, an expanded Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse and 33 affordable housing units, “half of which are slated for those with intellectual and/or mental health disabilities,” according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.

“I think it’s a very visible symbol of p Nancy Gale Photo courtesy of Nancy Gale an initiative that JRS could raise the like,” she explained. “The biggest issue is that money and that they partnered with Action the organization wants to grow and is trying Housing to bring it about,” said Gale. “JRS to figure out how they will do that. I think has not always been that visible. It’s been that’s a lot of what I will be turning my atten- well thought of but not many people knew a lot about it. This is an opportunity to tion to while I’m there.”

“JRS has many opportunities for new spread that word.”

Construction of the site is nearing its end, and “my understanding is that the people who have been assigned the apartments will be able to move in in December, and our offices will be able to move in in January,” she added.

While a completed Krause Commons will demonstrate JRS’ progress, less publicly discernible details, such as professional development, will also guide the organization forward, explained its new executive director.

“When I was at Temple Sinai it was a period of a lot of change at the synagogue, and I think I was able to manage in a way that made the institution stronger,” said Gale.

While serving as presidnent, from 2015 to 2017, the executive director and two members of Temple Sinai’s clergy resigned. Gale said she worked with the temple’s board in creating “a very transparent process” on informing the congregation “how we were going to deal with that and fill those positions.”

“At the same time we also launched a new funding model and went to a voluntary dues system,” she added. “It was a big change, but it’s been really successful.”

Gale is confident she can bring such skills to JRS. This is “another organization that wants to change,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to getting started.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Calendar q SUNDAY, OCT. 28 The Women’s Health Expo 2018 will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UPMC Herberman Conference Center, UPMC Shadyside, 5150 Centre Ave. There is a $36 charge that will include breakfast followed by a program about breast and ovarian cancer given by experts in the field. The program will consist of seminars about breast and ovarian health, cutting edge diagnostics and treatments, Jewish medical ethics in treatment and a survivor’s story.

RSVP by Oct. 22 to Stacie Stufflebeam at 412-214-7973 or Stacie@Kollelpgh.org. >> 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 TUESDAY, DEC. 18

Deadline for nomination q TUESDAY, JAN. 8, 2019 Deadline for applications The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are seeking nominations of exceptional Jewish teens leading meaningful community service and social change initiatives. The national award annually recognizes up to 15 Jewish teens that are awarded $36,000 each toward their project or education. Up to five teens from California and 10 from across the United States will be recognized for their humanitarian efforts. Teachers, civic leaders, rabbis — anyone interested in nominating a teen, or any teen interested in applying — can visit dillerteenawards.org to begin the nomination/application process. Selfidentified Jewish teens that are 13 to 19 years old on Jan. 8, 2019, are eligible. Teens who have applied in the past are also eligible to reapply. Contact dillerteenawards@sfjcf.org or call 415-512-6432 for more information. q SATURDAY, OCT. 13 Shabbat on the Ark aboard the Gateway Clipper will be held for families with children up to age 12 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at 350 W. Station Square Drive. A dairy breakfast will be served. The cost is $20 per family for up to six members; space is limited. Contact Katie Whitlatch at kwhitlatch@jccpgh.org or 412697-3540 for more information and to RSVP. q SUNDAY, OCT. 14 Teens and their parents are invited to learn about opportunities to visit and explore Israel with Young Judaea. Adam Jenshil, assistant director of Young Judaea Israel, will be at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Robinson Building at 1 p.m. to talk about summer and gap year programs in Israel. Contact pghyj@youngjudaea. org or yearcourse@youngjudaea.org for more information and to RSVP or visit youngjudaea.org.

The Women of Rodef Shalom invite the community to its Sisterhood Movie Night Series for the Israeli comedy, “The Women’s Balcony,” a favorite of 2017 Jewish Film Festivals around the country and also

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circulated in mainstream theaters. The movie was written by Shlomit Nehama, directed by Emil Ben-Shimon and acted by an ensemble of Orthodox Jews with some relaxed liberal tendencies. The film is in Hebrew with English subtitles. Light refreshments and socializing will follow the showing. q MONDAY, OCT. 15 Temple Emanuel will host a downtown lunch and learn featuring Rabbi Don Rossoff and a conversation on current events from noon to 1 p.m. Free and open to the public. Bring your own lunch. For more information, location and to register, contact Temple Emanuel at templeemanuel@templeemanuelpgh.org or 412-279-7600. q TUESDAY, OCT. 16 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh will host the exhibit “Stitching History from the Holocaust,” on loan from the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. The exhibit features reconstructed dress patterns from Hedy Strnad, a woman whose talent was cut short by the Holocaust. Helen Epstein, a journalist and author, will talk about Jewish women in the fashion industry. Registration is $10 and is free for survivors and students (with valid ID).

Meet Mordechai Cohen, head of school for the Alexander Muss High School in Israel from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 2nd Floor, J-Line Lounge. Cohen will teach a short lesson on important events in Jewish history and then open the discussion regarding the study abroad experience. Wendi Shapera, Israel programs admissions director for Pittsburgh, will also be there to answer questions about the application and enrollment process. The program is open to parents and teens. There is no charge; a light dinner will be served. Contact Shapera at wshapera@jnf.org for more information and to RSVP or visit amhsi.org.

Squirrel Hill AARP will feature the New Horizons Band of Greater Pittsburgh following their general meeting at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha, 5898 Wilkins Ave., at 1 p.m.

The band’s repertoire includes standards, sing-alongs, patriotic, folk, swing, jazz and holiday music. Attendees are asked to bring donations of used eye glasses, cell phones/ chargers, new travel size toiletries and caps for men and women who are undergoing cancer treatments. Items will be donated to the Veterans Administration, Children’s Hospital, Hillman Cancer Center and Family House. For more information contact Marcia Kramer, 412-731-3338.

Chabad of Squirrel Hill will host “Sweet Beginnings,” a kick-off event for the Love and Knaidels program, which brings women together to cook for others in need. Women will make two pans of rugelach, one to bring home and one to donate, at the event, which will be held at 7 p.m. at Chabad, 1700 Beechwood Boulevard. Admission is $18 per person; a table of 10 can be purchased for $180. Reservations are required by Oct. 14 at chabadpgh.com/sweetbeginnings. q THURSDAY, OCT. 18 “South Hills Healthy Living: A Blueprint for Tomorrow” series will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, 345 Kane Blvd. Dr. Keith Somers, a pediatrician and co-founder of One World Eating, will explain the benefits of plant-based diets for both adults and children in his talk on “Plant-Based Diets for a Healthier Family.” Register at southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/jewishveg. q SUNDAY, OCT. 21 Women of Rodef Shalom will hold Get Out the Vote Postcard Writing for the upcoming midterm elections from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Postcards, stamps and templates for writing will be provided; bring a pen (or several colored pens if you have them). Snacks will be provided. Preregistration would be appreciated to know how many postcards and stamps to have on hand, as well as how many snacks to provide. Preregister with Elaine at 412-965-8563 or elaine@ rybski.net by Sunday, Oct. 14. This is a free event, but donations to help cover costs would be appreciated. Visit facebook. com/events/498178107328374 for more information. ]\ NA’AMAT Pittsburgh will hold a Holiday Craft Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Robinson Pavilion with

q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17 South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh presents “Nosh & Know with Rabbi Danny Schiff” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. In this five-part series, held at The Artsmiths of Pittsburgh, 1635 McFarland Road, Schiff explores “Judaism & The Holy Body.” Limited to just 40 people, “Nosh & Know” sells out quickly each year. Registration is $50 for all five sessions and includes lunch.

Dates and topics: Oct. 17, Tattooing and Piercing; Oct. 24, Cosmetic Procedures and Enhancements; Oct. 31, Visiting the Sick; Nov. 7, Exhibiting Bodies; and Nov. 14, Extending Life. Sessions are presented in partnership with Beth El Congregation, The Carnegie Shul, Jewish Community Center South Hills and Temple Emanuel. Call 412-278-1780 for any questions and/or help with registration. To register visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/ events/nosh-know-with-rabbi-danny-schiff.

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vendors and crafters from around the region selling their wares, some handmade and all are unique. There is no charge.

Temple Sinai’s Brotherhood will hold a brunch featuring a conversation with Pittsburgh native and The New York Times op-ed staff editor and writer Bari Weiss from 10 a.m. to noon. Weiss was an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal before joining The Times. She has also worked at Tablet, the online magazine of Jewish politics and culture and is a frequent panelist on “Real Time with Bill Maher.” She has written extensively on the #MeToo Movement and on issues related to social justice. The charge is $10 per person before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11 and $18 per person at the door. Register online in your Temple Sinai account or mail a check payable to Temple Sinai Brotherhood, by Thursday, Oct. 11 to Temple Sinai, 5505 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Contact Todd Miller at toddprmktg@gmail.com or 412-848-1082 for more information or visit templesinaipgh.org/brotherhood-brunchspecial-guest-bari-weiss.

Multifaceted artist Tobi Kahn will be the Israel Heritage Room fall speaker at 4 p.m. in Room 332 on the topic “Art as Prayer.” Kahn has made Jewish ritual objects, depictions of golems, paintings inspired by nature and in commemoration of 9/11 as well as shrines and miniature sacred spaces of all kinds, including for outdoor and hospital spaces at the HealthCare Chaplaincy of New York and at synagogues and Jewish community centers. His 9/11 art was part of a 2016-2017 exhibition, “Rendering the Unthinkable: Artists Respond to 9/11” at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. The Israel Heritage Room is part of the Nationality Rooms at the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. There is no charge.

“Cabaret Spectacular” is the theme of the benefit concert by the East Winds Symphonic Band at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside at 7 p.m. Admission is free, but attendees are encouraged to bring donations of nonperishable food or cash contributions as they arrive to hear the 70-member ensemble, taste light refreshments, and enjoy BYO wine. All donations received will be used to support the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry, which serves families and individuals in the 15217 ZIP code who meet specified income requirements.

Please see Calendar, page 5

q SUNDAY, OCT. 28 Camp Young Judaea Midwest and Pittsburgh Young Judaea will hold an open house from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Rosenbergs’ home with Robin Anderson, camp director. There is no charge to attend. Visit cyjmid.org for more information.

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Calendar Calendar: Continued from page 4 q SUNDAY-TUESDAY, OCT. 21-23 The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University will hold the 2018 Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference on “Women, the Holocaust and Genocide.” Contact Tim Crain at tcrain@setonhill. edu or 724-830-1855 for more information.

Register at alumni.setonhill.edu/lefrakconference. q MONDAYS OCT. 22 TO NOV. 18 Tiferet Creative Writing: Fiction Shorts With a Taste of the Poetic is a five-class series that will focus on developing skills toward writing short fiction stories, taught by Instructor Dov Ber Naiditch. Before the first class, Rabbi Elchonon Friedman will give insights on Torah and Chassidut. The class will be held from 7:40 to 9:40 p.m. at Bnai Emunah Chabad on Murray Avenue. The class will welcome women of all stages and ages who are looking to learn, grow, bond and express themselves creatively in a warm, welcoming Jewish environment. There is a $70 charge.

Visit tiferet-greenfield.wixsite.com/tiferet/ upcoming-sessions or contact Shaina.

Rothman@gmail.com for more information. q THURSDAY, OCT. 25 Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David will discuss the book “The Assistant” by

Bernard Malamud from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Monroeville Public Library at 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd. The community is invited; no registration is required. Visit MonroevilleLibrary.org for more information. q SUNDAY, OCT. 28 The Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh presents “Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family From My Couch” with local genealogist and historian Tammy Hepps of HomesteadHebrews.com, at 10:30 a.m. at the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center. The presentation will begin with a brief introduction by a member of the JGS leadership team with time at the end for questions and JGS business.

Refreshments will be served. Contact pghjgs@gmail.com for more information.

Chabad of the South Hills will hold its fourth annual Jewish Comedy Night at 7 p.m. at the Music Hall at the Carnegie Free Library, 300 Beechwood Ave. in Carnegie, featuring Sarge, a singer, comedian and pianist. Enjoy wine, cocktails and hors d’oeuvre. Visit chabadsh. com or contact mussie@chabadsh.com or 412344-2424 for more information and to register.

The cost is $36. q MONDAY, OCT. 29 Students and teachers are invited to attend a free live stream featuring Holocaust survivor Magda Brown and a demonstration of

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Interactive Testimony AKA “The Hologram,” both visiting Pittsburgh from Illinois. The virtual seminar will feature Brown and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center Hologram. Brown will speak from 10 a.m. to noon; the hologram demonstration will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Classes and individuals will need to register to receive the link to the livestream. There is no charge. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is organizing the program. Visit hcofpgh.org/virtualseminar-2018 for more information. q TUESDAY, OCT. 30 The 2018 ZOA: Pittsburgh Awards dinner will be held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom. ZOA will be presenting its Lifetime Achievement Award to Charles H. Saul, Esq., the Israel Service Award to Meyer “Skip” Grinberg and the Natalie and Ivan Novick Community Leadership Award to Katie Warren Whitlatch. Contact ZOA Executive Director Stuart Pavilack at 412-665-4630 or at stuart. pavilack@zoa.org for more information and to make reservations. q SUNDAY, NOV. 4 Women of Rodef Shalom, Sisterhood book and author series, will present a panel discussion at 7 p.m. on “My Own Words” by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

The panel will be moderated by Lynn Cullen and will include Rabbi Sharyn Henry, Rabbi Danielle Leshaw and Rabbi Jessica

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Locketz. The discussion is free and open to the community. q WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7 National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section will hold a Designer Days Patron Party “Couture Carnival” as the kick-off party to its annual fundraiser sale, Designer Days, which runs through Nov. 11. This year’s patron party is a celebration of NCJW, Pittsburgh Section’s 125th Anniversary. Enjoy food, wine and music from 6 to 9 p.m. at Thriftique, 125 51st St. at this first chance to shop the gently worn, high end and designer clothing, shoes, and accessories for women and men before the public sale begins.

Visit ncjwpgh.org/ncjw-designer-days for more information and to purchase patron tickets, which are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. There is no charge to shop from Nov. 8 to Nov. 11. q TUESDAY, NOV. 13 The Ben Gurion Society will hold a dinner at a private home with guest speaker Sara Tmim at 6:30 p.m. Tmim will discuss how she made aliyah to Israel from France because of the anti-Semitism. For more information and to RSVP contact Sara Spanjer at sspanjer@ jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5237. BGS members and those interested in the Israel Next mission are invited to attend. PJC

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Headlines These non-Jews are fighting Labour anti-Semitism from the inside

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You’re invited to share this special evening with us Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh

Charles H. Saul, Esq.

2018 Awards Dinner Honoring Charles H. Saul, Esq. with ZOA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and

Meyer “Skip” Grinberg with the Israel Service Award and Meyer “Skip” Grinberg

Katie Warren Whitlatch with the Ivan & Natalie Novick Community Leadership Award

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 6:00 PM Congregation Beth Shalom 5915 Beacon Street Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Katie Warren Whitlatch

— WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

Steeped in anti-Semitism accusations involving him and his supporters, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has made many Jewish enemies — including inside his own party.

But one of his most effective critics is not Jewish. He is a meteorology student at the University of Reading who describes himself as “just a kid with a laptop.”

Denny Taylor, 20, has used that laptop to keep a running tally of party members who have flouted Labour’s own guidelines against hate speech and report them to the party’s ethics review panel.

Horrified at the revelations about Corbyn’s ties to anti-Semites, Taylor set up Labour Against Anti-Semitism, or LAAS, in 2016 with a few dozen non-Jewish and Jewish volunteers. He was 18 and had voted the previous year for Corbyn.

It was LAAS that last month reported to Labour’s ethics panel on an old recording in which Corbyn declared that Zionists “don’t understand English irony.” The group has flagged 1,200 alleged members who it said have breached the party’s guidelines against hate speech and has a backlog of about 2,000 additional cases of people engaging in what LAAS considers anti-Semitic rhetoric. LAAS has not reported the latter yet, according to its spokesman, Euan Philipps, who also is not Jewish.

LAAS “punches far above its weight,” said Jonathan Hoffman, a British Jew who has been involved in some of the most vocal protests against Labour’s anti-Semitism problem — including a poster campaign in London earlier this year.

The “small group of volunteers,” to which Hoffman does not belong, “has achieved great success in raising the profile of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and is now the first port of call for media like the

BBC, The Times and Sky News,” he said.

Corbyn, a far-left politician who was elected to lead Labour in 2015, has alternated between vowing to address Jewish concerns and dismissing them. In August, he called many Jews’ existential fears about a Corbyn-led government “overheated rhetoric.”

He also has refused to apologize for his own controversial actions, including his honoring in 2015 of dead Palestinian terrorists and saying in 2013 that local “Zionists” lack a sense of irony.

Amid attacks by Labour moderates, Corbyn’s worsening relationship with British Jewry sunk to a new low in August when former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a lord and probably British Jewry’s most eminent representative, called Corbyn “an anti-Semite.”

The Jewish Labour Movement, a group of coreligionists within the party that once was British Jewry’s political home, has threatened to sue Corbyn and dismissed his promises to fight anti-Semitism as lip service.

Corbyn supporters dismiss many critics either as “Zionists” — Corbyn himself has acknowledged that the term has often been “hijacked” by anti-Semites as code for Jews — or Labour rivals seeking to weaponize anti-Semitism claims.

Such criticism is harder to pin on LAAS, according to Taylor.

Beyond having non-Jewish members from across the political spectrum within Labour, “We primarily file complaints that are well-documented,” Taylor said. He traces his commitment to fighting anti-Semitism within Labour to a desire to “make up for the damage” that Corbyn and other of his erstwhile supporters helped cause to the United Kingdom.

The ethics board of Labour — a party eager to shake off its image as a hub for antiSemitism — is forced to act on the complaints on Corbyn’s behalf, making the complaints Please see Labour, page 7

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p Denny Taylor founded the group Labour Against Anti-Semitism at 18.

Photo courtesy of Denny Taylor

6 OCTOBER 12, 2018

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Headlines Labour: Continued from page 6

and subsequent disciplinary actions more difficult for his supporters to dismiss than an external criticism.

LAAS said it follows Labour’s own definition of anti-Semitic hate speech, which as of last month is identical to that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. That working definition acknowledges that criticism of Israel is not automatically anti-Semitism, but also notes examples of how anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric often takes anti-Semitic forms.

Among LAAS’ recent successes is the April suspension of Pam Bromley, a local lawmaker from northern England. LAAS reported her 2017 Facebook post defending her opposition to the Rothschilds, the famous Jewish banking family at the center of numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. She urged followers to remember that the “Rothschilds are a powerful family (like the Medicis) and represent capitalism and big business — even if the Nazis DID use the activities of the Rothschilds in their anti-Semitic propaganda. We must not obscure the truth with the need to be tactful.”

Another subject of an LAAS ethics complaint is Anne Kennedy, who was suspended in May for writing that Israeli Jews are “Hitler’s bastard sons.”

Jane Dipple, a university lecturer in media and communication, was suspended

p Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses delegates at the party’s conference in Liverpool, England, in September.

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

and possibly fired for inveighing against “a Zionist attempt at creating a pure race” and “rampant Zionism across the media” in a post that included a link to an article on the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer. It was headlined “BBC to Replace Male Jew Political Editor with Female Jew.” This kind of rhetoric is something that Emma Feltham, a London painter-decorator and longtime Labour voter, had never imagined existed in mainstream politics before it surfaced in 2015, after thousands of far-left voters entered Labour in support of Corbyn.

“I’m a white English person; I had never seen anything like this. I remember crying the first time I did,” recalled Feltham, who joined LAAS following that experience.

The fact that she’s not Jewish, she said,

makes it harder to dismiss her criticism.

“It’s harder to ignore, they can’t say, ‘oh, it’s just because she’s a Zionist, what she says doesn’t matter because she’s Jewish,’” Feltham said.

When rank-and-file non-Jewish members of Labour fight in the trenches against anti-Semitism, she said, “it shows there are people out there who care, who find it unacceptable.”

Nevertheless, Labour’s highly public anti-Semitism problem seems to have only marginally hurt the party’s popularity in the general population. Corbyn’s approval rating in a YouGov poll from Sept. 27 was 10 points higher than in a poll conducted on that week in 2016. (He currently enjoys 51 percent approval versus 49 percent disapproval.)

Anti-Semitism isn’t even the main issue working against Corbyn, according to Taylor.

“The main issue is Corbyn’s handling of Brexit,” he said. Critics say the Labour leader has failed to effectively oppose the government’s policy of exiting the European Union.

With positive ratings and a Conservative government in shambles over internal disagreements on Brexit, Corbyn seems nearer than ever to becoming prime minister, regardless of his being pummeled on the front pages of mainstream dailies over Labour’s anti-Semitism problem.

Given this reality, Feltham said she understands and agrees with British Jews who say they view a Labour government led

by Corbyn as an existential threat to their community — a statement that, unprecedentedly, all three major British Jewish newspapers put on their front pages in July, and which the Board of Deputies of British Jews has also echoed.

“I don’t think it’s an overreaction,” she said of this warning. And Feltham believes that a “party that can target one minority or group will target others when it becomes expedient. It’s a danger to society at large.”

Still, Feltham, Taylor and Philipps, the LAAS spokesman, said they are not sure whether they can win the fight for Labour’s identity and image.

“This question is beyond my control,” Feltham said. “All I know is I can’t stop fighting. I don’t want to have to say that I did nothing when all of this was happening.” PJC

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Headlines An exhibit on Jewish life during World War I energizes a Midwestern community — NATIONAL —

By Victor Wishna | JTA

K

ANSAS CITY, Mo. — The scribbled, shorthand note is faded, but the formal origins of the first modern Jewish state are clear: “H(is) M(ajesty’s) G(overnment) accepts the principle that P(alestine) shld. reconstitute as the Natl.

Home of the J(ewish) P(eople) …”

Jotted on stationery from London’s Imperial Hotel, the memo would be forwarded along with a second annotated version to Britain’s foreign secretary, Lord Arthur James Balfour, who would revise them into an official declaration on Nov. 2, 1917.

“Those are two amazing little pieces of paper,” said Doran Cart, senior curator at the National WWI Museum and Memorial here, where a revelatory new exhibit probes the century-altering impact of the Great War from a Jewish perspective. “To have them here is an incredible touchstone — not only for the Jewish community, but also for everyone else, because that has really affected the world order.”

Besides the original drafts of the Balfour Declaration, which was officially announced toward the end of the war, the exhibit titled “For Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI” offers a remarkable range of artifacts tracing Jewish responses to the war — from early enlistment to outspoken opposition to efforts to help other Jews around the globe.

Through dozens of photos, placards and personal correspondence, it explores the fortuities and challenges of American-Jewish identity and highlights the consequences of century-old events — from Balfour to the Bolshevik Revolution, also in 1917 — that still reverberate today.

Even as it marks the centennial of its ending this year, the First World War is often overlooked in comparison to the one that came after — though not so much in Kansas City, where the museum’s 265-foot-high Liberty Memorial rises above downtown. The site was dedicated in 1921 in front of more than 100,000 people, including the Great War’s five Allied commanders. More than 150,000 showed up when President Calvin Coolidge opened the tower to the public five years later.

In the 1990s, the tower was restored and significantly expanded with the world’s most diverse collection of artifacts from the war.

Congress declared it the nation’s official WWI museum in 2004.

Also overlooked — or rather under known — is the outsize impact World War I had on Jewish Americans, many of them only recently arrived in the country. Of the 4.8 million men and women who would serve in the American Expeditionary Force, 250,000 were Jews.

“When the time came to serve their country under arms, no class of people served with more patriotism or with higher motives than the young Jews who volunteered or were drafted and who went overseas with our other young Americans,” Gen. John Pershing, commander of the expeditionary force, said in a 1926 address to an interfaith crowd in New York City.

8 OCTOBER 12, 2018

p The National WWI Museum and Memorial opened to the public in 1926.

Indeed, “For Liberty” offers plenty of odes to Jewish commitment to the cause by those in uniform and beyond. The large recruitment posters printed by the Jewish Welfare Board may be the most eye-catching, as is the fully preserved uniform of Army Sgt. William Shemin — and the Medal of Honor he was awarded posthumously in 2015.

Also on display is songwriter Irving Berlin’s draft card, as well as copies of the patriotic music he wrote while stationed at Camp Upton on Long Island, N.Y. For instance, there’s the score from “Jewish War Brides,” by Boris Thomashefsky — one of several Yiddish Theatre productions staged in support of the war. A photo shows the Jewish singer and vaudevillian Nora Bayes belting out the first recording of George M. Cohan’s “Over There,” which was to become the best-selling anthem of the war.

Yet the exhibit is also alarming, in a cautionary tale sort of way. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s 1917 New York Times op-ed declaring that American military service will “mark the burial … of hyphenism, and will token the birth of a united and indivisible country,” is presented as a dream clearly still unrealized.

Other documents, such as letters from politicians to American Jewish leaders requesting loyalty oaths, notices demanding “100% Americanism” and a cartoon depicting a literal wall to keep out “alien undesirables” echo the anti-immigrant passions and policies of today.

The Communist revolution quickly led to the earliest Red Scare and fears of Russian influence in America — though after centuries of life under the czars, it was seen as “deliverance” by many Russian Jews and their American relations, as revealed by a special Haggadah supplement published to celebrate this newest exodus.

Photos and quotes highlight the antidraft activism of Emma Goldman, who was arrested and eventually deported with hundreds of other “radical aliens” for “anarchism.” There’s also the hint of a Supreme Court controversy, symbolized in the robes of the first Jewish justice, Louis Brandeis, whose 1917 appointment and contentious,

Courtesy of The National WWI Museum and Memorial

months-long confirmation process was seen as unprecedented.

“For Liberty” is especially prescient considering that it was planned years ago.

A joint effort of Philadelphia’s National Museum of American Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, it debuted at those two institutions last year under a different name.

Rachel Lithgow, then-executive director of the historical society, wanted the exhibit to travel beyond the Jewish museum world, so that visitors of different backgrounds could see it.

“I wanted any hyphenated Americans to be able to relate to it because the Jewish story [of that time] is the Italian story, it’s the Irish story, it’s the Asian story,” she said, noting that 18 percent of the American Expeditionary Force was foreign-born. “It’s really, how did people become American, what does becoming American look like?”

Cart, the museum’s senior curator, said he was intrigued when Lithgow presented the idea.

“It told a new story, that we had dealt with in smaller ways, but never in a real comprehensive exhibition like this,” he said.

The local community, home to nearly 20,000 Jews, has shown substantial interest in the exhibit. A capacity crowd attended a July presentation at the museum on the attitudes of American Jews toward the war featuring Michael Neiberg, a professor of history at the U.S. Army War College and Pittsburgh native.

On a recent Monday evening, nearly 200 members of the Women’s Philanthropy of the Kansas City Jewish Federation gathered at the museum for the group’s annual meeting. Cart presented a PowerPoint on “American Jewish Women in World War I,” concluding with a series of slides from the museum’s archives: six typewritten pages of women volunteers of the Jewish Welfare Board who had traveled overseas in the war’s waning days.

As the lists of names went up, many in the crowd gasped.

“You could hear excited mumbling throughout the room,” recalled Barb Kovacs, a business consultant who had just been installed

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

p A handbill made by the Jewish Welfare Board in 1918 is on display at the exhibit “For Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI” at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo.

Gift of the Anne and John P. McNulty Foundation

as Women’s Philanthropy board chair. “‘That’s my last name.’ ‘That’s my maiden name.’ ‘That’s my grandmother’s maiden name.’ It brought it home and made it really personal.”

The show continues through Nov. 11 — Veterans Day and the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Great War. While Lithgow has moved on from the American Jewish Historical Society — she is now executive vice president for Beit Hatfutsot International — she expects the exhibit she co-created will have a future.

Kovacs hopes so, too.

“In Kansas City — and wherever it travels — for people to have access to this information is so important,” she said. “It set the stage for our own story.” PJC

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Headlines

Optical Outlet is Now Part of

Lithuania is paying attention after a Chicago teacher showed grandfather as Nazi collaborator — WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

B

arring unexpected delays, Silvia Foti is months away from fulfilling an old promise that’s become her life’s work: to write a biography of her late grandfather, who is a national hero in his native Lithuania.

Foti, a 60-year-old high school teacher from Chicago, made the pledge to her dying mother 18 years ago. She has spent a long time studying the life of her grandfather, Jonas Noreika, as well as acquiring the writing skills necessary for chronicling it and finding a publisher.

But rather than celebrating Noreika’s legacy as her mother requested, the biography that Foti wrote confirms and amplifies the findings of Holocaust scholars who for years have called for stripping Noreika of his honors.

The national hero, she and they insist, was a Nazi collaborator who helped murder thousands of Jews and steal their property.

The unpublished biography, which Foti summarized in a bombshell Salon article in July, split her own family. She said her father and his second wife asked Foti not to publish the book because it would “make Lithuania look bad.” And it would have distressed her mother if she were still alive — the author said this causes her “great pain.”

But the main significance of the book is the unprecedented attention it is bringing to Noreika’s alleged crimes in Lithuania, where a school has been named for him.

Noreika died in 1947 while in the hands of the KGB. In 2000, former president Vytautas Landsbergis, the first head of state of independent Lithuania, attended the funeral of Noreika’s wife in Vilnius.

Last week, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius urged authorities to remove a memorial plaque to Noreika from the wall of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in central Vilnius — the first such call by a senior Lithuanian official on any of the country’s numerous monuments celebrating killers of Jews.

Following the Salon article and coverage of it in The New York Times, Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Simasius, who for years has ignored calls by Jewish groups to remove the plaque, asked the state-funded and -operated Genocide and Resistance Research Center to review Noreika’s status as a national hero.

In her book, Foti explores how her grandfather issued orders to round up and kill the Jews after his appointment in 1941 as head of Siauliai County under the German Nazi occupation. And she presents evidence that he personally moved into the home of a Jewish family after its members had been killed, presumably at his order.

Foti recalled being shocked when she first learned of these allegations in 2013 while visiting the school in Sukionių named for her grandfather. The principal told her that “he got a lot of grief from the Jews” over the name, but assured her it “was all Soviet lies.”

That remark put her on a path to unravel the history of Lithuanian Jewry’s murder and her grandfather’s complicity in it. At first she had “hoped to exonerate him,” Foti said. Yet a wealth of evidence convinced her that her grandfather was complicit and actually “taught his Lithuanian soldiers how to exterminate Jews efficiently: how to sequester them, march them into the woods, force them to dig their own graves and shove them into pits after shooting them,” as she wrote in the Salon article.

It was a devastating discovery for a woman Please see Lithuania, page 17

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p Silvia Foti while visiting a friend in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2013.

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 9

Headlines Billionaires love Israel and hate Trump, the president who has been closest to its government — NATIONAL —

By Ron Kampeas | JTA

W

ASHINGTON — Buried deep in the latest Jewish Public Policy Institute report on the Israel-Diaspora relationship: President Donald Trump wants more credit for his pro-Israel policies.

“Israel and U.S. Jewish organizations should sharpen their awareness of a trend of growing frustration within the Trump administration that the president’s pro-Israel moves (especially the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem) are not sufficiently appreciated by large segments of the American Jewish community,” said the report, which was drafted by a group known for its ties to the elites in Israel and the United States.

It’s become the Trump anomaly: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the U.S.-Israel relationship has never been so close. Trump has moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, maintained levels of defense assistance to Israel while cutting spending elsewhere, pulled out of the Iran deal reviled by Netanyahu and largely defunded the Palestinians.

The Jewish divide on these moves is on one hand not surprising: The majority of Jews typically vote Democratic, and beyond the 20 percent of mostly Orthodox and right-leaning Jews who vote Republican tend to poll well to the left of Netanyahu and his government.

But the trend was thrown into sharp relief last week when two Jewish billionaires said they were switching from supporting Republicans to backing Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Even a hawkish pro-Israel agenda, they seemed to signal, doesn’t justify the damage they feel Trump is doing to America and its democratic institutions.

The switch by Seth Klarman and Les Wexner, coming the same week, is a big deal: More than any midterm election in recent memory, Nov. 6 may change the course of a presidency. If the U.S. House of Representatives goes to the Democrats, Trump may face impeachment. If the House and Senate go, his agenda is officially dead.

How significant are the switches? Here’s an examination according to how involved they are in pro-Israel policies, how Republican they are, and how far have they distanced themselves from Trump and his policies.

Klarman, 61, is a hedge fund manager based in Boston whose net worth has been put at $1.5 billion. His investment advice is considered so sound that “Margin of Safety,” an out-of-print book he wrote in 1991, goes for $950 on Amazon.

Klarman’s interest in Israel appears to be fairly recent — but very strong. Sparked by his concerns about terrorism following the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., he visited the country and became convinced Israel was getting short shrift in the press. That led him to donate money to pro-Israel media monitoring groups like CAMERA and MEMRI, and culminated 10 OCTOBER 12, 2018

p Seth Klarman in Sun Valley, Calif.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

p Les Wexner

Photo courtesy screenshot from YouTube

in 2012 with his founding of The Times of Israel online daily with former Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz.

“As a longtime student of the history of anti-Semitism, I know that this blind hatred is never the fault of Jews,” he said at the time.

“Moreover it is clear to me that anti-Zionism is simply the newest form of anti-Semitism.

When the Jewish state is singled out above all others for criticism, such as it is at the United Nations, this is anti-Semitism.”

Publishing The Times of Israel represented a slight shift left — Horovitz, like Klarman, is critical of Israel’s settlement movement — but Klarman remains firmly in the pro-Israel mainstream. A Times of Israel gala in New York in 2015 highlighted “good news” stories out of the country.

Klarman never liked Trump: A longtime donor to Republicans, he split the difference in 2016, backing the Democrat Hillary Clinton for president while funding GOP congressional campaigns.

“His words and actions over the last several days are so shockingly unacceptable in our diverse and democratic society that it is simply unthinkable that Donald Trump could become our president,” Klarman said in August 2016. The trigger was Trump’s claims then that the election, which Clinton

was favored to win, would be “rigged.”

Klarman was never a registered Republican, but he backed an array of other candidates for the GOP nomination and has backed GOP lawmakers.

No longer: The main item on the agenda must be to thwart Trump, he said this weekend in a rare interview with Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss of The New York Times Op-Ed page. And he faulted Republican lawmakers for not standing up to the president.

“People should be asking themselves: Why are we writing checks to these same people who are cowards?” he said.

Klarman even had kind words for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York nominee for Congress who is a democratic socialist and has had sharp words for Israel.

“In a lot of ways I’m actually excited about somebody like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez coming along because it’s a way of younger people and people of color and people who are different finding their voice and being part of the process,” he said.

Leslie Wexner, 81, is a fashion mogul based in Columbus, Ohio. Until he quit the party, he was considered the richest Republican in his state with a fortune worth $4.7 billion.

Through the Wexner Foundation, Wexner has long supported a series of programs

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

meant to develop pro-Israel leadership among teens, adults, volunteers and Jewish communal professionals. He is also a founding funder of Birthright, the program that pays for Israel tours for young Jews, and a major giver to Ohio’s Jewish federations.

Like Klarman, Wexner was never really enamored of Trump. He backed Trump’s fiercest rival in the 2016 GOP nomination stakes, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. His wife, Abigail, backed the equally anti-Trump Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Last year, after Trump equivocated about condemning a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, Wexner told staffers at L Brands, which he heads, that he felt “dirty” and “ashamed” when thinking about the president.

But unlike Klarman, Wexner was always unmistakably Republican: He joined President George W. Bush on his 2008 visit to Israel marking the country’s 60th anniversary.

And he was harsh in explaining why he was cutting out of the party and becoming an Independent, speaking last week at an event on political civility in Columbus sponsored by the Columbus Partnership, a business and civics group he chairs. Like Klarman, he was fed up with Republicans for not standing up to Trump.

“I won’t support this nonsense in the Republican Party,” Wexner said. “I’ve been a Republican since college, joined the Young Republican Club at Ohio State.”

And like Klarman with Ocasio-Cortez, Wexner ventured into once unthinkable territory for a Republican, lavishing praise on former President Barack Obama.

“I was struck by the genuineness of the man; his candor, humility and empathy for others,” Wexner said of Obama, who had just met privately with the Columbus Partnership.

Much of the coverage of Klarman and Wexner’s defection has focused on their disaffection with Trump, but a few observers have said that both may be well aware of the way Trump’s Israel policies are dividing Jews.

“The subtext here is that both Wexner and Klarman have stellar records of support for transformative Israeli and Jewish communal initiatives,” tweeted Shalom Lipner, a former adviser to Netanyahu who is now with the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy. “That they would break with the GOP over Trump speaks volumes about how they perceive his impact on both Israel and the Jewish community.”

By contrast, Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition said that loyal Republicans ultimately will reward the administration for its support of Netanyahu.

“Very few are neutral on the Trump Administration,” Brooks told Haaretz. “As such, it’s not surprising that some GOP donors have decided not to give.

“However, we are also seeing many new donors and people significantly increasing their support to the GOP because of the strong pro-Israel actions of this president, including moving the embassy, ending the Iran deal and cutting off funding” for the Palestinians. PJC

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Trump signs law expanding hate crime protections President Donald Trump enacted a law that expands hate crime protections to religious institutions.

The bill signed Sept. 28 by Trump, the Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act, was prompted in part by a series of bomb threats last year against Jewish institutions.

The American Jewish Committee last week praised the passage of the law, which had strong bipartisan backing. “This important law, which provides for new and strengthened measures to deter, as well as punish, perpetrators of attacks on religious institutions, will provide a much-needed sense of comfort and security,” said Jason Isaacson, the AJC associate executive director for policy.

Hate crimes laws enable prosecutors and law enforcement to impose enhanced penalties for existing crimes if they can show that bias was a motive.

Joseph Schocken, a businessman in Mercer Island, Wash., contacted his congressman, Derek Wilmer, after a local Jewish community center got a threat.

Wilmer, a Democrat, joined David Kustoff, a Jewish Republican from Tennessee, to advance the bill, and it was also advanced in the Senate by Orrin Hatch, a Republican

from Utah, and Dianne Feinstein, a Jewish Democrat from California.

In June, Michael Kadar, a 19-year-old American-Israeli man, was convicted by an Israeli court of making hundreds of bomb threats to Jewish community centers and Jewish schools in the United States, as well as to airlines.

Swedish prosecutors appeal decision not to deport firebomber Swedish prosecutors appealed to their country’s Supreme Court against a lower tribunal’s decision not to deport a Palestinian immigrant who firebombed a synagogue.

The unusual appeal announced Oct. 4 by the Public Prosecutor’s Office is of a June court decision not to deport Gaza-born Feras Alnadim, who attacked a synagogue in Gothernburg in December with two accomplices. The appeal follows vocal protests about his trial by Israel and the World Jewish Congress.

Last month, a Swedish appeals court overturned a criminal tribunal’s ruling from June stating that Alnadim would be deported at the end of his two-year prison term. The firebombing, he and his accomplices said, was payback for President Donald Trump’s decision to have the United States recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Since Alnadim committed a crime that “could be perceived as a threat to other Jews,” and that Israel “might be interested in the matter,” the appeals court ruled that one “cannot safeguard the man’s fundamental human rights if he is deported to Palestine,”

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the judge wrote in his opinion.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court because “there is no reason to assume that the man would be subjected to death penalty, torture or other inhuman treatment upon return to Palestine,” the office wrote in a statement last week.

Aron Verstandig, president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, in a statement on Facebook called the prosecutors’ call to appeal an “important decision.” He said the community expects the Supreme Court to order Alnadim’s deportation.

In rare rebuke, Russian chief rabbi slams missile transfer to Syria A chief rabbi of Russia said that Moscow’s decision to give Syria advanced anti-aircraft missiles is a “mistake,” offering a rare rebuke of his country’s defense policy. Berel Lazar, of the Chabad movement, made his remarks Oct. 4 at a conference organized by the Limmud FSU cultural group in Sighet, Romania.

Russia is giving Syria the S-300 system following the downing last month of a Russian intelligence gathering aircraft by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli strike over Syrian airspace. Russia has blamed Israel for the incident, which killed 15 Russian soldiers.

“I think it’s a mistake that will only augment the region’s problems,” Lazar, who meets regularly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the Israeli journalist Eli Mandelbaum about the missile transfer.

Lazar’s group, the Federation of Jewish

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Communities in Russia, often speaks out against expressions of anti-Semitism in Russia and aspects of Russia’s policy concerning Israel, including its voting in 2017 in favor of a U.N. resolution that ignores Jerusalem’s significance to Jews. But Lazar, who has said he opposes excessive involvement by Jewish community leaders in Russian politics, has seldom criticized Russia publicly over its bilateral relations with Israel on subjects devoid of a religious dimension.

The rabbi, a native of Italy who became a Russian citizen in 2000, went on to say that he and his organization “speak about [the S-300 issue] with the president,” referencing Putin.

“We explain, I’d say, the sensitivity of this issue to our brethren in Israel, in Zion, and we hope Israel and Russia can continue to cooperate in stopping terrorism, stopping Iran, and that Israel will continue to guard its borders and neutralize any threat before it reaches its doorstep.”

Lazar is one of two chief rabbis in Russia along with Adolf Shayevich.

Israel and its allies for years have lobbied Russia not to give Syria and other regional players the S-300 system, arguing that it would limit Israel’s ability to neutralize terrorist threats, including by the Lebanonbased group Hezbollah.

Several hundred people attended the event in Sighet, which is the birthplace of Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor who died in 2016.

In August, Romanian police arrested a 37-year-old man they suspect wrote anti-Semitic slogans on Wiesel’s childhood home. PJC OCTOBER 12, 2018 11

Opinion Toxic canary?

— EDITORIAL —

T

he headline in the Forward, “Canary Mission Blacklist Is Secretly Bankrolled By Major Jewish Federation,” was misleading. But revelations last week about the opaque right-wing Canary Mission show what can happen when support for Israel goes unchecked.

The Forward detailed how the San Francisco-based Diller Family Foundation, which is managed by the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, provided a one-time $100,000 grant — sent via the Central Fund of Israel — to Canary Mission, a secretive blacklist of purportedly antiIsrael students, professors and organizations. Those organizations include Hamas and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The professors and individuals named include those who have written articles accusing Israel of apartheid, promoted commercial and academic boycotts of Israel and argued publicly that Israel’s founding in 1948 was illegitimate.

Canary Mission says that it “documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.” Critics accuse

p The University of Michigan student union

it of seeking to intimidate pro-Palestinian college students and stifle their activism with the threat of a blacklist. Supporters argue that exposing Israel haters and BDS supporters is a worthwhile activity, and that those critical

Photo by smontgom65/iStockphoto.com

of Israel should be made to answer for their actions. Canary Mission does not reveal who funds it or manages its activity.

Many in the Jewish community are troubled by Canary Mission’s activities and

intimidation tactics, arguing that Jews should not be spying and Jewish organizations should not be in the business of compiling enemy lists. While we don’t minimize the very real threat that Students for Justice in Palestine and other pro-Palestinian organizations targeted by Canary Mission pose to Israel and the Jewish community, we support taking them on directly, on college campuses and elsewhere, as well as encouraging journalists to impartially investigate those whose writings and social media presence and actions appear to threaten Israel and the Jewish people.

In the name of fighting what Canary Mission has decided are Israel’s enemies, a respected Jewish family foundation and the Jewish federation that manages it have been tarnished by their association. That’s unfair and unfortunate.

There are additional consequences that could prove to be regrettable. According to the Forward, the Hillel director at the University of Michigan said that Canary Mission’s work has backfired, leading to “greater support for the targeted students and their beliefs, and had spread mistrust of pro-Israel students, who were suspected of spying for Canary Mission.”

This revelation, if true, is indeed disturbing. PJC

With time running out, we must engage with Holocaust survivors Guest Columnist Julius Berman

T

here are more than 400,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors worldwide, but the survivor population is rapidly diminishing. As we celebrate the beginning of another year, each of us needs to reflect on what we have done in the past year to support this shrinking community and commit to doing more for them in the coming year.

If you have never met a survivor, you are not alone. The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness study conducted in April in the United States revealed that U.S. adults have little personal connection to the Holocaust, and 66 percent have never met a Holocaust survivor. This is unfortunate, as meeting and engaging with survivors and learning about their experiences firsthand can significantly impact the way individuals perceive Holocaust-related issues as well as hatred and bigotry overall.

Damage perpetrated during the Holocaust and the resulting grief and pain continues to this day. Consequently it is never too late to reach out to survivors, and it’s always necessary. Engaging may be easier than you think.

12 OCTOBER 12, 2018

Events recognizing and celebrating survivors can be found around the globe at local synagogues, Jewish organizations and social welfare agencies that specialize in elder care.

For example, Chanukah 2017 marked the first International Holocaust Survivors’ Night — a day set aside to honor survivors.

On the third night of Chanukah, simultaneous candle-lighting ceremonies were held in New York City, Berlin and Jerusalem at the Western Wall. This year, International Holocaust Survivors’ Night events will expand to include candle-lightings in Paris, London and Moscow.

Moreover, Claims Conference-sponsored Cafe Europas — local gatherings of Jewish Holocaust survivors that include entertainment, dancing and often a meal — are hosted by social welfare agencies around the world.

Each Cafe Europa provides a special opportunity to hear firsthand testimony about the Holocaust and observe what it is to still have hope and a positive outlook despite having been forced to endure the darkest chapter of human history.

The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness study also indicated that 58 percent of Americans believe something like the Holocaust could happen again. This bleak yet sobering outlook confronts us with the knowledge that as a global community, we have not done enough to address the bigotry

and hatred that paved the road to genocide more than 70 years ago. Such a finding underscores the unmistakable importance, and urgency, to “never forget.”

To that end, and despite the lack of knowledge about the Holocaust revealed by the study, there was a silver lining in the survey: 93 percent of Americans agree that all students should learn about the Holocaust in school, believing that education is the key to preventing the recurrence of such a horrific tragedy. This could serve as a strong foundation for leveraging local campaigns for survivor engagement and public education.

Currently, only 12 states mandate Holocaust education in their schools. While the number is small, it represents an opportunity, a serious gap that an overwhelming majority of the country agrees should be addressed.

Let the plaintive cries of the shofar we heard during the Days of Awe not only pierce that part of us that remains complacent with the way things are, let it also fortify our call to action for the new year: Find a way to engage with the survivors in your community. Invite survivors to share their experiences with your organization, synagogue or local school.

Honor survivors on Dec. 4, the third night of Chanukah. Contact your local and state representatives and push for Holocaust education in your schools. Try to bring Holocaustrelated films to your community centers or

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neighborhood theaters with a related panel discussion including survivors.

All too soon, it will be too late. When the survivor population is gone, our opportunity to learn from them and enrich our lives passes as well. Clearly this call to action is no small ask. It requires diligence from survivor advocates and family members, innovation to develop new and creative ways to preserve survivor memories, and — most important — that we understand that whatever we do, it will never be enough.

During the Holocaust, the world stood by complacently while 6 million people were murdered; not for what they did, but for who they were. Make this new year different.

Make this the year you take responsibility — or additional accountability — to support our survivor population. As long as there is a single survivor left it is not too late. In the end, our call to action is quite simple: Don’t just stand by. Do something. Get engaged with the survivors in your community. PJC Julius Berman is president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) and has headed many national Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Zionist Youth Foundation and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Opinion ‘Operation Finale’ and the rise of anti-Semitism Guest Columnist Jonah Dov Pesner

A

s my family left a screening of “Operation Finale” at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum a few weeks ago, I could tell my daughters had been moved by the film. Their silent introspection turned outward as we made our way home.

Our discussion about the movie’s depiction of the conditions that led to the Holocaust and portrayals of lingering anti-Semitism prompted them to ask the question that has troubled many of us since the dark days of the Third Reich: “Could something like this happen again?”

“Operation Finale” tells the story of the hunt for Adolf Eichmann, a key architect of the Nazis’ “final solution,” who in 1960 was living under a false identity in Argentina.

After his capture by Israeli operatives, Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem held him to account for his pivotal role in the Nazi regime. This was a critical moment in the pursuit of justice after the Holocaust.

More than 70 years have passed since the end of the Holocaust, and the number of living survivors gets smaller each year. We are losing the people who have bravely spent the past seven decades bearing witness to the horrors of the Shoah. The generation being born today will likely never meet or speak with a survivor.

We are reaching the moment when the Holocaust moves from contemporary event to part of history. Worse yet, and perhaps not coincidentally, this is happening at a time when bigotry and xenophobia are finding new voice in North America and Europe.

How can I tell my daughters this could never happen again when anti-Semitic incidents have increased by 60 percent in the United States from 2016 to 2017, and approximately one-quarter of adults

surveyed in the 100 countries that make up the ADL Global 100 Index of Anti-Semitism harbored anti-Semitic attitudes?

Hate and bigotry have become more prevalent and strident in public discourse and politics in recent years. Xenophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-refugee rhetoric has driven nationalist politics in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and elsewhere, including Germany. On the left, criticism of Israel too often veers into anti-Semitism.

Stories have the power to shift thinking, discourse and behavior. Indeed, one reason that the Eichmann trial looms so large in history is that it was among the first times in the post-war era that the public heard directly from those who had experienced the death camps, the ghettos and the other inhumanities of the Holocaust. Their first-person testimonials profoundly changed the world’s understanding of the scale and brutality of the Nazis’ mass murder.

With the fading of those voices comes an

age when each of us must confront hatred, racism and bigotry in our own modern society without the living reminders of what can happen when we ignore rising waves of misguided nationalism, or anti-Semitism in the name of justice. Movies like “Operation Finale” will play an increasingly important role in shaping the public’s knowledge of the Holocaust.

As a father, I want only to reassure my daughters that nothing like this could ever occur again. But I know better. The truth is that we must continue combating harmful stereotypes, meeting violence with peace and telling the stories of those who can no longer speak for themselves if we are to abolish once and for all the conditions that allow hate to fester. PJC Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner is the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and senior vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

— LETTERS — Stop subtly delegitimizing alternative approaches

I was very excited to see that you elicited a wide breadth of voices on synagogue fashion (“For local spiritual leaders, High Holidays are an opportunity to elevate their dress,” Sept. 7). My respect for the piece and the paper, however, fell when I got to the secondto-last paragraph.

When introducing Keshira haLev Fife, the spiritual leader of Kesher Pittsburgh (as well as my wife and my spiritual leader), you put quotes around her identification as “the ordained ‘Hebrew priestess.’” She is not a “Hebrew priestess,” she is a Hebrew priestess. By putting quotes around her title, the paper appears to delegitimize her position.

Not only is her ordination as a Kohenet, her Hebrew title, legitimate, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle wrote a story about it on July 26, 2017. In addition to your own reporting, The Forward, Tablet, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Boulder Jewish News all ran stories that either focus on or reference Kohenet or Hebrew priestesses. None of those articles put quotes around the title, as they all recognized the role as being legitimate.

If the Chronicle wants to continue presenting itself as a balanced source of reporting, it mustn’t marginalize, even subtly, those who sit outside the institutionalized structures of Judaism. As all educated minds know: Just because something is not familiar does not mean it is not legitimate.

Tim Fife Regent Square

Happy to be in a shul that overlooks politics A recent guest column asked rabbis to take a rather partisan political stand in their High Holiday sermons (“Dear rabbis, take a stand in your High Holiday sermons,” Sept. 7). In my shul we are not ostriches, we do not use a microphone during Shabbos and Yom Tom services, and by being in the service we strongly feel we are bringing some light to the grim world by connecting with Hashem. In our pews are Obama, Clinton and Trump supporters davening together working together for Torah and Haftorah readings. Aliyahs are given without regard to political party or position on an issue.

At Kiddush, a climate change denier sits next to a climate advocate, someone who believes the earth is 5,779 years old next to one who believes its age is 4.5 billion years. It is nice to be in a haven on Shabbos and Yom Tov where we tone down current events and turn up spiritual events.

In this world of increasing division, where we judge a person more for their position on an issue than their character, I am glad at shul we put aside those differences and find common ground.

Rocky Wice Squirrel Hill

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Correction In “Jewish values infuse practice of local physician turned author” (Oct. 5), the website from which Dr. Jonathan Weinkle’s book can be ordered was incorrect. “Healing People, Not Patients” can be purchased from healthylearning.com. The Chronicle regrets the error.

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 13

Life & Culture Former choir boy embraces role of villain in ‘Anastasia’ — THEATER —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

J

ason Michael Evans may be a nice Jewish choir boy from St. Louis, but lately, he seems to be typecast as a villain.

Pittsburgh audiences may remember his turn as Gaston in last summer’s CLO production of “Beauty and the Beast,” or from other regional theater roles in which he played characters with a “darker side.”

“Maybe it’s because of my big bushy eyebrows, who knows? But that is what it has been for the last few years,” said Evans, speaking by phone from Schenectady, N.Y., where he was rehearsing for the national tour of “Anastasia,” opening at the Benedum Center on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and running through Oct. 21.

As he sinks his teeth into the role of Gleb in the musical adaptation of the story based in part on the 1997 animated film, Evans recognizes that this particular villain is complicated, as is the myth of Anastasia herself.

The legend around the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of imperial Russia, has intrigued writers for the last century.

Although it was reported that Anastasia was murdered along with her family by the

father started, to kill her. But he also has very strong feelings for her and is maybe a bit conflicted with the ideology of the current regime, and he doesn’t know whether or not it is the right thing to do.”

The role is a meaty one, and with its accompanying musical numbers is a chance for Evans to showcase the vocal skills that he developed as a high school student singing in the youth choir at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis. Under the tutelage of a “magnificent choir teacher,” he recalled, teens at his congregation assembled a High Holiday choir which led youth services for more than 500 attendees.

“It was really a special thing to be a part of, ” Evans said. p Jason Michael Evans

Several cantors at Shaare Emeth

Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust inspired him as well.

“I was always listening to these wonderful Bolshevik secret police in 1918, rumors circulated of her possible escape, with several operatic voices, one of whom tutored me women coming forward and claiming to be through my bar mitzvah training,” he said.

“He was really someone to look up to, a her in the years that followed.

While the character Evans plays in voice that was jaw-dropping and fun to try “Anastasia,” a young “up-and-coming to emulate myself on the bimah.”

Evans’ identity continued to be shaped by Soviet officer,” has villainous attributes, his Judaism beyond the bimah, too. soul is divided.

“His backstory is his father was one of the “All of my fondest memories from growing guards who participated in the execution of up had some connection to being Jewish,” he the Romanov dynasty, so he feels a family said. “Whether it was the Maccabi Games duty to carry out what his father could [for which he played baseball] or NFTY not,” Evans explained. “So, if she is indeed youth group, or Camp Sabra summer camp Anastasia, it’s his job to go finish what his in the Lake of the Ozarks. My first job was

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at the JCC, and some of my friends whom I met at the JCC while in preschool, I still talk to almost every day.”

Evans is looking forward to heading to Pittsburgh next week and is eager for Steel City audiences to experience what he sees as a “stunning show” in “Anastasia.”

“The costumes, the projections, what they do with these screens — you feel like you are in the place they are projecting,” he said. “But first and foremost, it’s just the story and the music. It’s something anyone can connect to.”

Although the musical, with its book by Terrence McNally and score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, is based in part on the animated film, “it’s not just for kids,” Evans noted.

“It’s just the story of a really passionate young woman that is searching for her place in the world, searching for her family, and that’s something that anyone can connect to,” he said. “And the talent in this cast — there is not a weak spot in it. We adore this show, and that shows in the work on stage.

It’s going to be a spectacle, that’s for sure.”

“Anastasia” is part of the 2018-2019 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Broadway Across America. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Life & Culture Want to teach your dog Yiddish? There’s a class for that — PETS —

By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

N

EW YORK — Dogs and their owners are a common sight in Central Park on the weekend, but there was something different about the group gathered on the grass on a recent Sunday morning.

The approximately 20 people could be seen and heard pointing at the ground while yelling “zits” and “shtai” and urging their dogs to “shpring” over hurdles.

p Alexandra Straytner and Zachary Levine took the course with their dog, Jofi.

Photo by Josefin Dolsten

A group of befuddled visitors from Canada who stopped by to ask what was going on seemed even more confused when they learned the answer: This was a Yiddish course. For dogs.

Sponsored by the Workmen’s Circle, the Jewish cultural society founded in 1900 by Yiddish-speaking immigrants, the workshop was a chance for dog owners to learn a little Yiddish while schmoozing with fellow pet owners. Yiddishist Leyzer Burko taught the course with dog trainer Miguel Rodriguez.

The fusion of German, Hebrew and Aramaic — once the language of millions of Jews from Eastern Europe but now mainly spoken by haredi Orthodox Jews — seemed to come easy to some of the canines.

Jofi, a 3-year-old brown and white Cavalier King Charles spaniel, took a particular liking to the word “shpring,” happily leaping over hurdles upon command.

“She seems to be picking up pretty quickly on the commands,” kvelled Alexandra Straytner, who came to the course from the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan with her fiancé, Zachary Levine.

“We’re having a lot of fun,” Levine said.

“Jofi has a bit of a barking problem, but I think she’s enjoying it.”

Other canines were less eager to follow commands in the mamaloshen.

Bibi, a tiny 7-year-old white Shorkie, mostly sat on the grass watching the other dogs respond to commands.

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“She’s a bit of a Jewish diva,” said her owner, Joanne Freed.

The Upper West Side resident wasn’t exactly surprised, since Bibi had yet to master commands in English. Still, Freed was happy the dog got to hear some Yiddish.

“She’s adopted, but it’s her heritage,” she said with a laugh.

Pairing Yiddish and dogs may seem strange today, but it would have been even more unusual 100 years ago, said Burko, who received a doctorate in modern Jewish history from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

Eastern European Jews historically were wary of dogs because they associated them with less-than-friendly landowners and aristocrats, he said.

That gave rise to expressions such as “a hunt iz vert dem shtekn,” meaning a dog deserves (to be beaten with) the stick and “a karger hunt,” which literally translates to “a stingy dog” and was used to mean a miser.

Biblical and rabbinic sources also associate dogs with negative qualities such as uncleanliness and violence.

But owners at the Central Park event were quick to praise, telling their canines “gut” (rhymes with boot) instead of “good” and handing out treats when the dogs did as told.

Hannah Raykher was schepping plenty of nachas from her dog Archie Drucker, a 3-year-old black and white Havanese who

seemed to be mastering the “zits” command.

Raykher, 17, who came to the workshop with her family, said teaching her dog commands in Yiddish was both fun and useful.

“I kind of like it more than the English now,” said Raykher, who lives in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. “It’s more fun. Also, it will probably be nice in the park when everybody is yelling ‘Go! Stay! Stop!’ [to yell] ‘Zits!’”

Ann Toback, the executive director of the Workmen’s Circle, said there are a few other advantages to speaking to dogs in Yiddish.

Using a language different than the one the dog hears in everyday speech makes the command more effective, said Toback, who came up with the idea for the course and offered it for the first time last year. (Sunday’s workshop sold out.)

The fact that people love speaking in Yiddish also helps, she said.

“When most of us are using Yiddish, it makes us happy and we’re conveying that to the dogs,” Toback said while standing next to her dog Jesse.

Beyond dogs, Toback also hopes the course can help encourage people to celebrate the language’s rich history.

“Too much we forget the thousand years of high culture because of the tragedy of how Yiddish ended in Eastern Europe,” she said, “but reconnecting to that, reconnecting to our heritage, to our hearts, is really part of this.” PJC

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 15

Headlines Women: Continued from page 1

survivors of the Holocaust, said her sister, Rosie Goldstein, who was in town for the exhibit’s opening on Oct. 7.

“Rachel’s work fits in beautifully with this exhibit because she was a visual artist and a poet, and her work touched on her culture and her experience,” Goldstein said. “Rachel would have been very proud to be part of this exhibit. It is so important, especially nowadays, to bridge communities.”

Leslie Golomb’s print, “Aza Sheyn Meydll,” Yiddish for “such a pretty girl,” depicts a young woman with braids tied on top of her head, along with the words of a Yiddish poem suggesting that following marriage, the woman’s braids will be those she creates when shaping challah, as her own braids disappear underneath a head-covering.

“It’s a feminist poem,” Golomb said, one that she encountered as she was exploring her “own place as a contemporary Jewish woman.”

For Golomb, a highlight of being a part of the exhibit was working alongside women from different cultures and communities.

“I love this group of artists,” she said.

“There are not many opportunities out there like this.”

One standout piece in the collection is self-taught sculptor Dominique Scaife’s life-size “Serenity,” a likeness of a beautiful African-American woman with her arms outstretched.

“Working with clay is my form of prayer,” said Scaife. “And now I get to share that with this great exhibit.”

Other highlights include the colorful quilts of Tina Brewer, recently named Pennsylvania’s Artist of the Year, and African-American activist Michele P. Ellison’s spiritual poetry.

Elkind established Crossing Limits 20 years ago at the suggestion of a friend who had seen the “Bridges and Boundaries: African-Americans and American Jews” exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society.

That exhibit, originally sponsored by the NAACP in conjunction with the Jewish Museum in New York, examined the historical relationship between Jewish and African-Americans through art.

Although, at that time, Elkind knew little about the visual arts, she did know quite a bit about “the world of poetry,” she said.

Her mother, the late Sue Elkind, had begun writing poetry at the age of 65, and in the next 15 years, published eight books of her poems. In 1978, the elder Elkind founded the Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop, which remains an active group to this day.

At the suggestion of her friend, in 1998, Carol Elkind put out a call for poetry to African-American and Jewish people in Pittsburgh and published an anthology of 51 poems, “which explored our relationships, our similarities and our differences,” she said.

“We got to know each other through poetry instead of by attending lectures and protests.”

The project “had a profound impact,” she recalled. “We had a big citywide reading, and presentation on Martin Luther King Day that year. Then we got calls to do other readings.”

Crossing Limits then took a 20-year hiatus.

“Life happens,” Elkind said, citing personal responsibilities as consuming her time and energy.

p A visitor reads one of the poetry selections exhibited as part of “Common Threads.”

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

But in 2016, after attending a “sacred activism retreat” at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico along with poet and friend, Rashida James-Saadiya, Elkind was motivated to “reboot” Crossing Limits.

“That retreat cracked open my heart,” she said. “And that’s a good thing because that lets love out, and once the love is out, it can flow back in.”

Elkind filed the necessary paperwork to re-establish her 501(c)(3) and got busy organizing “Common Threads.”

The “Common Threads” exhibit is germane to the purpose of Crossing Limits, according to Elkind.

Chicago: Continued from page 1

to preserve “the future viability of the neighborhood,” said Siegel.

The Jewish history of West Rogers Park largely began in the 1930s. By the 1960s, nearly a generation later, approximately 47,000 Jewish residents called the neighborhood home, but in later decades such figures waned. Tempted by the suburbs and other opportunities for Jewish life, only 30,000 Jews resided in West Rogers Park in 1973. By the year 2000, only 20,000 Jews remained, according to reports in JUF News.

Rieger, who after his position in Pittsburgh led United Jewish Communities, the precursor to Jewish Federations of North America, recognized the trajectory and after a year of networking, determined a volunteer corps was best suited to address West Rogers Park’s disparate facades as well as its decreasing Jewish presence. With help from Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Rieger contacted a consultant who had tackled similar issues in Baltimore. Through the vehicle of the renamed Jewish Neighborhood Development Council of Chicago, Rieger gathered local Jewish professionals and community activists.

“We began an idea of doing something together,” he said.

Five years later, significant changes have altered the area, explained the couple.

An abandoned movie theater and parking lot, which “blighted the western edge of West 16 OCTOBER 12, 2018

p Howard M. Rieger and Beverly Siegel

Rogers Park for 12 years,” was “taken over by the Chicago Park District, landscaped and beautified,” said Rieger.

The formerly vacant space now boasts installation art, as well as a segment of the North Shore Channel Trail, a nearly sevenmile path connecting Chicago and northern Evanston. Other enterprises resulted in the filling of empty storefronts on Devon Avenue and the construction of communal buildings throughout the neighborhood.

“We started seeing real accomplishments, major changes that are occurring here,” said Siegel.

“Jews started coming back and the Jewish

Photo courtesy of Howard Rieger

community didn’t die in West Rogers Park,” added Rieger. “It came back to life primarily as an Orthodox neighborhood. It’s really reinvigorated and much more Jewish than it had ever been in the past.”

Rieger spoke just days after the slaying of Eliyahu Moscowitz, a 24-year-old kashrut supervisor from West Rogers Park who police say was the victim of a random attack by a serial killer. Rieger said the crime, while tragic, could have happened anywhere, and pointed to a similar murder of a visiting yeshiva student in Squirrel Hill in 1986.

“People are very concerned,” he said.

Siegel’s documentary, which will be shared at

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“We cross limits,” she said. “So, we believe in what minority groups are capable of doing, and I think that’s relevant and has been relevant in our country since its inception.”

The exhibit will run through Oct. 28 and will include a discussion on Oct. 17 and a poetry workshop on Oct. 26. All events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

the Nov. 1 gathering at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, captures the communal undertakings, as well as the Jewish history of West Rogers Park. Following the screening, time will be allotted for discussion of both the couple’s work, as well as actionable steps to improving life in Squirrel Hill.

Although clear distinctions separate the two cities, lessons can be learned, explained Rieger.

“The greatest enemy of any city is complacency, and Squirrel Hill has been pretty complacent,” he said.

There are certain entities, which have been charged with responsibilities, who have not lived up to their duties, he added. Issues such as air quality, health systems and rising housing costs are of serious concern. “What are our institutions doing?” he asked.

Siegel and Rieger hope those who attend the program are inspired to take “actionable steps” to improving their surroundings.

“I think a group of willing individuals in the community can coalesce and lend their voice to the neighborhood,” said Rieger.

Added Siegel, “I think it will be really interesting to see what kinds of ideas come out of this.”

“What Squirrel Hill Can Learn from Chicago’s West Rogers Park” will be presented

by Rieger and Siegel on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Lithuania: Continued from page 9

who said she grew up “adoring” her late grandfather. At Christmas dinners, her tight-knit family would leave an empty chair and glass of wine for him to acknowledge the absence of the handsome man in framed portraits who probably was tortured to death by the KGB at the age of 37.

Foti said she hopes the book helps “Lithuania finally take a good look at its own role in the Holocaust and stop blaming the Germans for everything.”

She has had to pray and seek guidance from God throughout her work on the book, she said.

The debate about Noreika and other collaborators who sided with the Nazis when they were fighting Russia during World War II goes to the heart of Lithuania’s national narrative that it was and is a victim of Russia. Seen through that prism, collaborators like Noreika or Juozas Ambrazevicius, the leader of a local pro-Nazi government, sided with Germany only to achieve independence for Lithuania.

But that narrative ignores the level of complicity by ordinary Lithuanians — many of whom viewed Jews as agents of communism — in the near total annihilation of the approximately 220,000 Jews who lived in Lithuania before the Holocaust, according to Efraim Zuroff, the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Zuroff believes that the veneration of people like Noreika in some ways is rooted in a collective desire to whitewash Lithuanian complicity.

“You see this tendency across Eastern Europe,” he said, “but it’s strongest specifically in the countries with the highest amounts of genocide complicity.”

Lithuania is the only Nazi-occupied country noted by Israel’s Yad Vashem museum for its people’s “enthusiasm” for collaboration with Germany. And even when this enthusiasm “subsided … hostility towards Jews and denunciation persisted,” the museum says.

One example of this genocidal zeal occurred in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city. At the Lietukis Garage, pro-German Lithuanian nationalists killed more than 50 Jewish men in 1941 by beating, hosing and then murdering them with iron bars, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Some of the perpetrators then posed for pictures with the victims’ tortured bodies, providing some of the most memorable images of Nazi collaboration anywhere.

Foti’s research turned the plaque for Noreika into a symbol for the fight for recognition of that complicity. But the plaque is just one of numerous expressions of veneration for perpetrators.

Juozas Krikstaponis, a member of a death squad who killed thousands of Jews in Lithuania and Belarus, has a monument for him in the city of Ukmergė, 30 miles north of Vilnius.

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

Oct. 12, 1938 — Peace educator Salomon Born

Gavriel Salomon, the founder of the Center for Research on Peace Education at Haifa University and the dean of the university’s Faculty of Education from 1993 to 1998, is born. An advocate for coexistence programs and improved Arab education, Salomon wins the Israel Prize in 2001.

Oct. 13, 2011 — La Scala hires Barenboim

Oct. 15, 1894 — Prime Minister Sharett born

Moshe Sharett, a signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the country’s first foreign minister and second prime minister, is born Moshe Shertok to Zionist parents in Kherson, Ukraine. The family settles in Jaffa in 1906.

Oct. 16, 1981 — Dayan dies

Moshe Dayan — the iconic Israeli military leader who was acclaimed a hero after the 1967 war, faced criticism after the 1973 war and played a key role in the 1978 Camp David peace talks — dies of a heart attack in a Tel Aviv hospital at age 66.

Composer Daniel Barenboim, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 and moved to Israel in 1952, is named the musical director of La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy.

In demand as a conductor since his debut in London in the 1960s, he served as the musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 2006.

Oct. 17, 1880 — Jabotinsky born

Oct. 14, 1994 — Rabin, Peres awarded Nobel Prize

Oct. 18, 1991 — Israel, Soviets resume relations

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres are sharing the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with PLO leader Yasser Arafat for negotiating and signing the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The Nazi collaborator Kazys Skirpa, who represented his nation in Berlin during World War II, has a main street named after him in Kaunas, and his image features regularly in nationalist marches. An outspoken anti-Semite, Skirpa “proposed to solve ‘the Jewish problem’ not by genocide but by the method of expulsion from Lithuania,” the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania asserted in 2015.

Against this background, the developments around Foti’s article have surprised veteran campaigners for Holocaust recognition in Lithuania.

Zuroff acknowledged that Jewish Holocaust scholars like himself are “easy to dismiss” in Lithuania as Russian agents or disgruntled enemies of the Lithuanian nation. Even ethnic Lithuanians who try to confront complicity quickly get labeled as traitors.

In 2015, Zuroff co-authored a landmark book with Ruta Vanagaite, a successful writer who is not Jewish, that chronicles their joint travels across many of the killing sites of Jews that dot Lithuania and their history. “Our People” also features Vanagaite’s discovery that two of her close relatives, her grandfather and uncle, were active in the persecution of Jews.

But Vanagaite’s publishing house last year dropped her as the mainstream media attempted to discredit her. Landsbergis, who was Lithuania’s first leader after communism, published an op-ed on the Delfi news site calling Vanagaite a “moral scumbag”

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The Original

Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky, the father of Revisionist Zionism, is born in Odessa, Russia.

He is central to the formation of the British army’s Jewish Legion during World War I, helps create the Betar youth movement in 1923 and is a leader in organizing Jewish self-defense.

The Soviet Union and Israel resume full diplomatic relations for the first time since June 1967.

The two countries experienced a thaw while Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet Union and established consular ties in 1987.

Israel had to agree to participate in the 1991 Madrid peace conference to gain full relations PJC

and “Mrs. Dushanski” — a reference to the Jewish KGB officer Nachman Dushanski.

Vanagaite’s publishing house also recalled all of her books, only one of which was about the Holocaust. And the governing coalition in April introduced a bill banning the sale of books that “distort historical facts” in what was seen as direct reaction to some of her claims about World War II. Whereas Vanagaite’s ties to Zuroff and liberal credentials made her vulnerable to smear campaigns, Foti “totally blindsided the Lithuanian government,” according to Grant Gochin, a Los Angeles-based financial adviser of Lithuanian-Jewish descent.

Gochin is behind multiple lawsuits over his ancestral homeland’s veneration of war criminals, including Noreika.

“They can’t call Noreika’s daughter a Soviet agent, they can’t defend against her,” he said.

In this respect Foti, who also favors the removal of the plaque honoring her grandfather and other honors, landed a rare victory for Zuroff, Vanagaite and Gochin’s side. She also highlighted their fight to the outside world.

But the officials who said they favored steps to remove Noreika as a national hero were “clearly paying lip service,” Gochin said, “or it would’ve happened long ago.”

As long as Lithuanians are taught to revere people like Noreika, Gochin said, “the fight for historical accuracy is being lost.”

“Genocide,” he said, “needs to be acknowledged where it happened.” PJC

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 17

Celebrations

Torah

Engagement

A modern-day Noah Chizeck-Cooper: Mary and Brian Chizeck of Deerfield Beach, Fla., are pleased to announce the engagement of their son, Seth Chizeck, to Christin Cooper, daughter of Gloria Powell and Michael Cooper.

Seth is an analyst at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, and Christin is a freelance musician and piano teacher in Pittsburgh. Seth’s grandparents are Harry and Irene Chizeck of Deerfield Beach.

A September 2019 wedding is planned in Lancaster, Pa.

B’nai Mitzvah

Sara Pearl Adler, granddaughter of Dr. Lawrence Adler of Pittsburgh and Barbara Adler of Boynton Beach, Fla., became a bat mitzvah on Sept. 1 at Temple Solel in Hollywood, Fla. Sara Pearl is in the seventh grade at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She is also the family chef and artist, and brings her warm smile to everything she does. When not reading dystopian novels, watching “Hawaii Five-0” or seeing Broadway shows, Sara Pearl plays viola in the Florida Youth Orchestra, rows crew and also plays softball. Her mitzvah project, Cards for Care, combines art and compassion to raise money for important causes.

Eliana Mira Bennett, daughter of Jamie and Nate Bennett, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. Grandparents are Don and the late Judie Selig of Mt. Lebanon, Tilden Bennett of Presto, Pa., and Judy and Ed Spahr of Mt. Lebanon. Eliana is the great-granddaughter of the late Sophie and Max Leff of Pittsburgh.

Yishai Ezra Selig, son of Haliel Shomeret and Steven Selig, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. Grandparents are Lauren and Jack Maskowitz of Naples, Fla., Kenneth Helfand of Coober Pedy, Australia, and Don and the late Judie Selig of Mt. Lebanon.

Jordan Wilson, son of Michelle Einstoss and James Wilson, became a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Grandparents are Sheila and Howard Einstoss. PJC

18 OCTOBER 12, 2018

Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer Parshat Noach | Genesis 6:9-11:32

I

n Parshat Noach, the rich narrative of the human condition on earth and God’s reaction to its limitations continues.

Found in the portion are the stories of the Flood, God’s rainbow covenant with humankind, the descendants of Noah and his sons, the Tower of Babel and the introduction of Avram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah.

Early in the parshah we learn that “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.” This opening verse has elicited much commentary throughout the ages. Our sages debated whether the righteousness ascribed to Noah was a compliment or qualified praise. Yohanan ben Zakkai of the late Second Temple period viewed Noah as righteous only in contrast to the wickedness around him. His contemporary, Shimon ben Lakish, believed that it is harder to keep to one’s moral code in the midst of evil, and he considered Noah praiseworthy.

Others pointed out that Noah followed God’s commandment to build the ark and fill it with the prescribed animals, but did not warn his fellow humans to repent or be swept away by the coming catastrophe. It would take 10 more generations for Abraham, the first Jew, to argue and bargain with God about saving any righteous individuals who might be found in Sodom and Gomorrah.

This classical commentary might lead us to examine our own era and its righteous individuals. Are there any contemporary heroes to whom we can look for inspiration?

In my High Holiday sermons, I profiled four individuals whose lives exemplified living by their values and who had a great impact on the world; one of my choices was Fred Rogers.

Rogers died in 2003, but 2018 truly has been a “Mr. Rogers year.” A documentary about his work on television entitled (what else?) “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” as well as a biography, “The Good Neighbor,” came out earlier this year. A Tom Hanks film about his life is currently filming in Pittsburgh. What is it about his life that still resonates with us 15 years after his death, and what can we learn about righteousness from his example?

Rogers intended to go to seminary after college, but a visit home changed his life’s mission. On his parents’ television, he saw what passed for children’s entertainment in the early days of commercial TV. It disturbed him to see sponsors’ blatant attempt to turn children into consumers, and he saw little respect for children or human dignity in the content. By the end of his college break, he had decided on his life’s work of making each child who watched his show feel special “just the way you are.”

He was later criticized by some for destroying a whole generation of youth by telling them they were special, with or without making the effort. In a college commencement speech he addressed this, saying he wanted children to understand that you don’t have to do anything sensational for people to love you. He added his belief that the greatest evil is to make people feel less than they are; and the greatest gift, to let someone know he

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or she is lovable and capable of loving.

During the 1960s, Rogers undertook a series of themed programs. When Robert Kennedy was assassinated, the puppet Daniel Striped Tiger addressed children’s fears in the safety of their own neighborhoods. Rogers tackled difficult subjects like divorce, death and civil rights. When African-Americans were not able to use the same swimming facilities as whites in the South in 1969, he skillfully addressed segregation in a skit with Officer Clemmons, an African-American.

In my favorite moment from the show, Rogers is seen soaking his feet in a wading pool because it is a hot day and the cool water of the pool is refreshing. Officer Clemmons comes by on his rounds, also remarking about the heat. Fred invites him to share the pool and soak his feet. The camera pans to the two sets of feet in the pool — one white and one black. Afterward, Rogers shares his towel with Clemmons and even helps to dry his feet, thus modeling equality and kindness to every viewer in the country. Rogers’ ministry was his show, and his show bravely reflected his strong values.

“ The only time anything changes in the world is when love abounds

”

and can be shared.

— FRED ROGERS In his public and private life, he was a beacon of niceness and “caring for the other,” a commandment found in our Torah and repeated more than any other. In one of his last interviews before his death, he said, “Let’s take the gauntlet and make goodness attractive in this so-called next millennium. I’m not talking Pollyanna-type optimism but down-to-earth real goodness — people caring for each other.

The only time anything changes in the world is when love abounds and can be shared.”

In his life’s work, Rogers built an ark of love, community and caring. His shows continue to be a shelter from the myriad of different storms we see around us. Rogers was not Jewish (neither was Noah), but he was well read about other religions, and respectful and embracing of the differences. In a program filmed after 9/11 to help children and adults cope with the enormity of the tragedy, Rogers faced the camera and said, “We are all called to be tikkun olam — repairers of the world.”

Generations after Noah, the human race has evolved to embrace the noble endeavor of caring for others, as commanded by Torah no less than 36 times. This pursuit is embodied by the life and work of Rogers, a truly “righteous gentile” for all times and a model for us all. PJC Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer is spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Abraham. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries ABRAMS: Richard “Rich” Abrams, passed on Sunday, September 30, 2018. He was a man with a Heart after God’s Heart. Beloved husband and best friend of Marilyn Abrams.

Cherished father of Heather, Lester and Benjamin Abrams. Stepfather of Michael (Kellie), Bryony, and Patrick and Katy Noszka. Beloved brother of Fred (Cheryl) Abrams. Stepgrandfather of Kayla, Taylor and Michael Noszka. Uncle of Lee (Jennifer) Abrams. Also survived by many extended family. With a gentle soul, twinkle in his eye, and mischievous smile Rich captured the hearts of all he met. Saturdays at the synagogue, regular workouts at the JCC, dancing feet, joyriding bikes, and long walks with the dogs rounded out his time.

A man of few words, but the heart of a mensch he was our quiet hero. He lived his life to the fullest, setting an example of what we can aspire to be. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. For research purposes, contributions may be made to Alzheimers Association of Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 1100 Liberty Avenue, Suite #E-201, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. schugar.com

known for the fabulous cakes that they produced in their bakery in the Strip. She was the beloved wife of the late Abraham (Abe) Ainsman. Sister of Edie and the late Albert Twersky; Lee and the late Shirley Levine; and the late Marvin and Blair Kramer. Loving mother of Leslie Ainsman; David and Meryl Ainsman; and Debra and Jack Levin. Nana of Laura and Lewis Sohinki; Molly and Michael Fisher; Jesse Ainsman and Louise Rome; Lucy Ainsman; Elizabeth and Andrew Grauer; Stephanie Levin; Beth Wooke and Chuck Wooke. Great-Nana of Charles and Benjamin Sohinki and Aaron and Eli Fisher. Special thanks to Marilyn Jones for the love and care that she provided to Betty. She will be missed by all who love her. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel. Interment Beth Abraham Cemetery.

Donations in memory of Betty may be made to the Jewish Association on Aging (Charles Morris) 200 JHF Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15217. schugar.com

AINSMAN: Betty Ainsman, age 97. Beloved wife, sister, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother passed from this life on Tuesday, October 9, 2018. She lived a life full of love with her family, friends and all who knew her. Betty and her sister Edie were well

ALLON: Marjorie Baer Allon, a mother of four and the former owner of Marjie Allon Fine Stationery in Shadyside, died Monday, October 1, 2018, at the age of 95.

The middle child of Dr. Harry Baer and Lillian (Mervis) Baer, Mrs. Allon became a fixture on Walnut Street, helping customers design wedding invitations, birth announcements, thank you notes and other paperbased correspondence for 38 years. “She loved working with people, talking with people, and thinking creatively to help customers design the right impressions for their messages,” David Charles Allon, her youngest son, said. “Outside of the business, she carried the same lively, engaging attitude to everyone she met.” Mrs. Allon was ahead of her time, operating a woman-owned business beginning in 1968 at the urging of her husband, Joseph Allon, the founder and operator of Pittsburgh-based Treasure Island Department Stores. Her first store, located just off the lobby of the Coronado Apartment building on Centre and Aiken, was about 200 square feet. She quickly outgrew that space and moved to Filbert Street in Shadyside and then to her permanent location next to Schiller’s Pharmacy on Walnut Street. When Marjie started her business, there were few small stationery boutiques in the country.

Stationery was sold primarily in department stores and Crane’s controlled the bulk of the high-end business. As her clientele grew, she worked diligently to diversify her business, making regular trips to gift shows in New York as she added fine pens, accessories, gifts, and greeting cards as well as personalized announcements printed by Crane’s.

Within a few years of her move to Walnut Street, Marjie’s small business had become the largest dealer of Crane’s stationery in western Pennsylvania and had a clientele that included Pittsburgh sports stars, society figures and everyday working people across all neighborhoods, as well as customers from neighboring states. She is survived by her daughter Jane Allon (Michael) Cuddehe of Fairfield, Iowa; Harvey Baer (Sue) Allon of Denver, Colorado; Eric Robert (Monica) Allon of Boston, Mass; and David (Pamela) Allon of Weston, Conn.; 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren; her sister Sally Baer Moses; many nieces and nephews; and her caregiver Ronda Frederick. “Long after she sold her business,” her daughter Jane recalled, “she delighted in encountering former customers who greeted her warmly and thanked her for the role she had played in creating the right announcements for their life events. She loved working with her friends and customers, and they loved working with her.” Services at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation, Ross Twp. Contributions can be made to Jewish National Fund, National Tree Order Center, 78 Randall Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY, 11570-3946. schugar.com

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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

In memory of...

A gift from ...

In memory of...

Anonymous .............................................. Bertha & Herman Jacobs

Robert Miller..........................................................Harold B. Cramer

Anonymous ...............................................................Sharon Morton

Linda Rattner Nunn .......................................... Rose Cohen Rattner

Anonymous ................................................... Dr. Marshall Steinberg

George Pattak ..............................................................Morris Pattak

Paul & Peggy Clovsky .................................................Irving Clovsky

Toby Perilman .........................................................Bernard Bennett

Marilyn Friedlander ....................................................... Hanna Ficks

Toby Perilman ...............................................Traci Michele Perilman

The Goldberg Family..................................................Harold L. Roth

Barry Reznick ................................................................. David Miller

Dr. & Mrs. Marc Greenstein & Sons ........................... Michael Stone

Barry Reznick .................................................................Grace Miller

Rena Hanks................................................................. Leo Berkovitz

Barry Reznick ...............................................................Aron Reznick

Stewart R. Jaffy............................................................... Sara Recht

Naida & Joel Schwartz..............................................Mildred Caplan

Fay Kardon ................................................................ Eugene Brown

Frank Smizik............................................................. Harry S. Smizik

Carol Ann & Leslie A. Klein .................................Dorothy Goldstone

Lynda Stern ................................................... Sylvia & Edward Stern

Sheila Lawrence ..................................................... Sylvia Moskovitz

Mitchell Toig ................................................... Minnie Toig Pearlman

Harry & Lisa Levinson ..............................................Jacob Levinson

Sybil Wein & Family........................................................ Morris Wein

Marsha Lieb ...........................................................Sidney Lefkowitz

Claire & Morris Weinbaum .....................................Sarah Weinbaum

Mary B. Marks ....................................................... Herbert B. Marks

Harold C. Weiss ........................................................ Alfred L. Weiss

Mary B. Marks .......................................................... Sylvia B. Karpo

Patricia Wolbe ..................................................... Morris O. Guttman

Stanley Marks ............................................................Herbert Marks

Ruth Yahr........................................................................ Miriam Yahr

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday October 14: Janice Gay Barovsky, Anne Tauber Dym, Fannie Klein, Rose Ratowsky Ohl, Saul Schilit, Molly Schutte, William Schwartz, Frank Shakespeare, Gilbert Shepse, Freda Ulzheimer, Abe Wekselman Monday October 15: Jules Joseph Anatole, Hyman Bales, Albert Blumenthal, Rachel Cohen, Jennie B. Glass, Minnie Hoffman, Louis Kaddell, Robert Klein, Jerome Meyer, Sylvia Steinberger Moskovitz, Arthur B. Moss, Helen Sachs, Ethel Sarah Simons, Michael Stone, Wolfe Tex, Roxine M. Weinthal Tuesday October 16: Milton Cohen, Rose Elinow, Fannie Titlebaum Frank, Elinor Sarah Goldman, Elizabeth S. Kalovsky, Frank Mayer Marcosky, Dr. Geneva Markus, Mary Opter, Elaine R. Rubin, Morris Spector, Fae Velardi, Dora Sriglitz Wechsler, Dorothy Weinberg, Harry Wishnev Wednesday October 17: Harry Robbins Brody, Sol Feinberg, Isadore Feldman, Milton Gottlieb, Isadore Krouse, Sylvia R. Melnick, Minnie Toig Pearlman, Louis Rosner, Harry Sparks, Regina Brown Wand, Sarah Weinbaum Thursday October 18: Pauline Berzosky, Anna Birnkrant, Leonard Farber, Hanna Ficks, Jeanette Kohen Kuperstock, Hannah Rae Levine, Barnett Marcus, Lillian Pretter, Henry Rosenfeld, Sam Schlessinger, Peter Shaffer, Meyer Shepman, Alberta Myers Walken, Adolph Weitzen, Miriam Yahr, Max Zweig Friday October 19: Mildred Caplan, Frances Citron, Marcia Green Farbstein, Eva Frank, Reva Cohen Goldberg, Sarah B. Gordon, Lawrence L. Green, Jacob Levinson, Samuel Nathan, Jerrilyn Ruth Perilman, Sara Recht, David Srulson, Tobe L. Unger Saturday October 20: Arthur Levine, Solomon Linder, Mayer Eli Ruben, Rose Shapiro, Freda Siegel, Charles Weiss

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

ARONSON: Evelyn “Evey” Horelick Aronson, 1924-2018, on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. Evey, the youngest child of Samuel and Esther F. Horelick, grew up in Brighton Heights, North Side Pittsburgh. She was a graduate of Oliver High School and the University of Michigan where she was a music performance and composition major.

Evey married Morton Aronson in December 1946 to whom she remained devoted and in love for over 72 years. They had three children, Richard (Roberta), Carol Sue Aronson Soifer (Bruce) and Thomas. She was also proud of her grandchildren, Esther Frances Aronson (Michael Blackburn), Rachel Ann Aronson (Jacob Garguilo), Scott Samuel Soifer and Jason Matthew Aronson Soifer (Rachel Zamoiski). Great-grandchildren are Lucas Aronson, Lily Aronson, Joseph Soifer, Julia Soifer and Aron Blackburn. Evey was strikingly beautiful and charming in so many ways and her positive, optimistic (sometimes over the top idealism) was noted and always appreciated by her family. Her strong talent as a pianist and musical composer was astonishing by any measure. Even so, she was so spontaneous and casual about her keyboard renderings and original music. Evey held five Library of Congress copyrights for her work including her most known, “Our Love is the Talk of the Town,” written as a student.

Evey went on to inspire her family including her son in music and is also beloved for her own lullaby sung to generations of her family known as “Go to Sleep.” Evey enjoyed painting and gardening and had passion for animals, great and small. Evey’s unpretentious sense of wonder coupled with her devotion, dignified view of self and oversight of an organized and well-orchestrated household was a standout, but perhaps her natural charm will be remembered and missed most by all of us who loved her. Services and interment private. Donations may be made to the Humane Animal Rescue, 1101 Western Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233 or Humane Animal Rescue League, 6926 Hamilton Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208 or others of donor’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com BARNES: Wilmer “Frank” Barnes on Saturday, September 29, 2018; Beloved husband of Marci Kantrowitz Barnes; loving father of Henry Logan Barnes; son of the late Willie and Eunice Barnes of Perry, Ga.; son-in-law of

Kenneth and Susan Kantrowitz of Carnegie, Pa. Brother of Tammie (Donnie) Stephenson and Teresa Barnes, all of Perry, Ga. Brotherin-law of Pamela Kantrowitz (Gregory) Calig and Ronald Kantrowitz, all of Pittsburgh. Also survived by nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and many cousins. Born in Montgomery, Ala., Frank lived briefly in Florida and then was raised in Perry, Ga., where he lived until he moved to Pittsburgh in 2001. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Shadyside.

Interment Beth Abraham Cemetery.

Contributions may be may be to the W. Frank Barnes Funeral Fund, c/o 5509 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. schugar.com COHEN: Cynthia L. Cohen, on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Beloved daughter of the late Dr. Morris and Ethel Cohen. Miss Cohen worked as a psychiatric social worker for 31 years in state facilities. Services and interment were private. Contributions may be made to Stem Cell Research.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com COHEN: Morton H. Cohen, 97, of Upper St. Clair, formerly of Chippewa Township, passed away Sunday, October 7, 2018. Born December 2, 1920, in Pittsburgh, he was a son of the late Harry and Jennie Cohen. He was a veteran of the United States Navy and Marines having served during World War II. While stationed in Bainbridge, Md., he met his future wife of 71 years Sonia Fisher. Together they loved to travel the world.

He was the founder and president of Chippewa Construction Company until his retirement in 2008. He was an active member of the former Beaver Valley United Jewish Community.

He is survived by three children and their spouses, Larraine and Ron Bates, Hanford, Calif.; Dr. Howard and Luisa Cohen, Upper St, Clair; and Dr. Robert and Debra Cohen, Boca Raton, Fla.; five grandchildren, David Cohen, Eden Cohen Brown and her husband Drew, Jamie Wasserman and her husband Evan, Dr. Michael Cohen and his fiancée Emily Jacobs and Stephen Cohen and two great-grandchildren, Hayley and Sydney Wasserman.

Services were held at Hill And Kunselman Funeral Home, interment in Agudath Achim Cemetery, Patterson Township. Military honors were conducted by the Veterans Honor Guard Tuesday in the funeral home.

FAKIRO: Betty J. (Miller) Fakiro, on September 14, 2018. Beloved wife of Herzel; loving mother of Michele (Rob) Rosenberg; adoring Bubbe of Samantha and Matthew; daughter of the late Morris and Rose Miller;

sister of Belle (Leo) Yellin, and the late Israel (Vivian) Miller and Alyce (Irv) Frankil.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Gesher Hachaim Jewish Burial Society.

FRIEDMAN: Stuart Friedman, on Saturday October 6, 2018, Stuart Friedman passed away peacefully. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Stuart attended Washington and Jefferson College and received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He Is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Joanne, his daughter Lynn Friedman (Dan) Warren, grandchildren Andrew Stuart Warren, Kathryn (Katy) Elizabeth Warren, his brother Jon (Judy) Friedman, sister-in-law Harriet Schwartz, several nieces, nephews, cousins, and his beloved Aunt Helen Azen. Stuart spent most of his career as a financial planner with Morgan Stanley, a job that he loved. He was an avid reader, enjoyed listening to classical music and opera, cruising around town in his convertible, and seeing the world on many cruises with Joanne. Stuart will be deeply missed by his family and many friends.

Graveside services and interment were held at West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions may be made to Humane Animal Rescue, 6926 Hamilton Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208 or Animal Friends, 562 Camp Horne Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com GATTEGNO: Sylvia (Fine) Gattegno, born in Boston in 1929, passed away at age 89 on October 1, 2018. Daughter of the late Ruth and Benjamin Fine; sister of the late Elaine (Morris) Rubin and Gloria (Harold) Polan; beloved wife of the late Edgar Gattegno for 57 years; mother of Benjamin Gattegno, Laura (Jeffrey) Tolkin, Daniel Gattegno and Gina (Howard) Chajson; grandmother of Michelle (Adam) Miller, Michael Tolkin, Joshua Tolkin, Robert Chajson, Madison Chajson, Nicole Chajson, Jacob Chajson, JessieRose Gattegno, and Skye Gattegno; and great-grandmother to Jordan Miller. Sylvia graduated from Boston College and the New England School of Law before joining the legal field as a real estate attorney at a time when there were few women in the profession. While her career was important to her, nothing mattered more to her than her family. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and a beloved friend to many. Graveside services and interment were held in Emerson, N.J. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that Sylvia’s memory be honored with charitable contributions of personal choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com LEVY: Lois G. Levy, on Saturday, October 6, 2018. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Lois

was thrilled to call the city her home almost her entire life. Lois attended Carnegie Institute of Technology as a psychology major, and when not in school, she worked at her family’s downtown business, American Wholesale. While attending college, she met the extraordinary love of her life, Dr. Marshall S. Levy, who was a senior in medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. After graduation, Lois and Marshall married, had three amazing children, Carol Levy (Joel Goron), Steven Levy and Louise Levy (Jay Shuster), and later she became a grandmother to eight wonderful grandchildren, Chloe, Camryn, Chace, identical twins, Cassidy and Carly — born in 2017, David, Bradley and Sammy. Sister of Charles Galtz. Sister-in-law of Dr. Stanley Levy. Lois always loved helping others and contributing to her community. Through her organizational work, Lois dedicated herself to exceptional causes including the Allegheny County Medical Society, Hadassah, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, ORT, Jewish National Fund, Ladies’ Hospital Aid Society, Brandeis University and many more.

A true believer in the power of giving and doing, Lois enjoyed inspiring and helping others to learn, earn and celebrate life — physically, intellectually and emotionally.

Lois recently was awarded The Thompson Award from the Allegheny County Medical Society Alliance. She also won awards from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in various years for Volunteer of the Year for her service and devotion to the Jewish community as well as Technion - The American Society for Technion for her dedication to the Jewish community. Lois will always be deeply loved and deeply missed. Services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation.

Interment West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com NATHENSON: Marian Nathenson on Friday, October 5, 2018. Adored wife of 57 years of Alan Nathenson; devoted mother of Ira (Helen) Nathenson and Marcy (James) Jordan; cherished sister of Carol Neuhaus (Larry Megahan); beloved grandmother of Kathryn and Jennifer Nathenson and Julia Robb. She spent 30 years at Howard Hanna as an administrative assistant in the Squirrel Hill office. Her family was always her first priority followed by spending time with good friends enjoying outings and activities. Private services and interment. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com PJC

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Community Seniors in the Sukkah lunch More than 30 seniors enjoyed musical entertainment by Joel Perchesky at the Seniors in the Sukkah lunch on Sept. 28 at Chabad of the South Hills.

p From left: Volunteers Rochel Rosenblum, Hannah Freidlander, cook Cindy Freidlander and Kelly Schwimmer served pasta, salad, rolls and an assortment of cookies and coffee.

p From left: Merle Blumenseld, David Dickman, Lester Hadburgh and Photos courtesy of Chabad of the South Hills Rubin Abramowitz

Temple David activities

PJ Library celebrates Sukkot t Eighth- to 10th-grade students enjoy Israeli snacks as they chat with Raz Levin and Hadar Maravent, the shinshinim who visited Temple David on Sept. 30.

u Mazel Tov to Temple David’s newest students, Aaron DiCola, Asher Rose, Rory Pihony and Bentley Rose, who were consecrated during erev Simchas Torah-Shemini Atzeret services.

Photos courtesy of Temple David

p PJ Library hosted a well-attended Sukkot celebration on Sept. 23 at Kaelin Farm Market. The program was geared for kids 6 and under.

Senses of Sukkot On Sunday, Sept. 30 Community Day School and PJ Library Pittsburgh hosted S.T.E.A.M. Senses of Sukkot, welcoming children ages 2 to 5 and their grownups to celebrate the holiday while engaging in multisensory science, technology, engineering, art and math

p Examining deconstructed gourds

22 OCTOBER 12, 2018

Photo courtesy of PJ Library

experiences. Visitors prepared friendship fruit salad, created Sukkah decorations out of natural materials, examined deconstructed gourds, and explored the lulav, etrog and other materials under a digital microscope. The PJ Library corner provided a quiet space to read and connect, and the journey through a tot-sized hay maze supported the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) as children encountered new friends within the maze.

p Exploring the lulav, etrog and other materials under a digital microscope

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Photos courtesy of Community Day School

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Community Sukkot Fest at CDS

Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Council

The two-day Sukkot Fest at Community Day School was a celebration through outdoor learning experiences, coordinated by parent volunteers under the leadership of CDS sustainability coordinator Molly Muffet. Students participated in hands-on activities including harvesting and preparing horseradish; cooking handmade pita on an open fire; making prints using natural materials to create Sukkah decorations; picking mint to make tea and collecting wildflower seeds to make paper; cooking salsa verde with tomatillos and other ingredients from the CDS gardens and planting blueberry bushes and pawpaw trees.

p Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council chair Bob Silverman facilitated the inaugural meeting of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Council on Thursday, Oct. 4. t Susan Friedberg Kalson received the Sonia and Aaron Levinson Community Relations Award at the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Council meeting in recognition of her leadership in advancing intergroup relations in harmony with Jewish ideals of social justice.

Past award recipient Eileen Lane presented the award.

p Harvesting horseradish to prepare in the kitchen

Photos by David Bachman

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh acitivities

p Collecting wildflower seeds to make paper

p Making pita and then cooking it on an open fire

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p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s cross-country team competed in the East End Cross-Country Championship at the Frick Park Lawn Bowling Greens on Sunday, Oct 7. The team ran, competed hard and won medals, and they also worked hard baking dozens of treats for the charity bake sale, helping to raise more than $350 for the Dayna’s Donors team for the National Kidney Foundation walk coming up on Nov. 4 at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

All proceeds were donated to the National Kidney Foundation. Photo by Shaina Ziff

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OCTOBER 12, 2018 23

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Empire Kosher Fresh Whole Frying Chicken

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24 OCTOBER 12, 2018

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

10/3/18 9:36 AM

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