Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 12/15/2017

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December 15, 2017 | 27 Kislev 5778

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Atlanta Conservative confab an ‘uplifting’ experience

Pittsburgh delegation returns full of ideas for local synagogues.

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Candlelighting 4:36 p.m. | Havdalah 5:40 p.m. | Vol. 60, No. 50 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Local residents react Menorah at to President Trump’s comments City-County on Jerusalem Building still lights way for religious freedom

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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Jon Tucker called the decision a “bold move,” but worried about what may follow.

Trump “is carrying through with his campaign promise,” he said. “My concern is that the law of unintended consequences may be operative. It may drive everybody to the table with a new imperative; on the other hand, it may drive the parties apart.”

Trump could not only imperil continued dialogue and progress in the region, but violence could ensue, as well, added Haviv.

“It scares me. I know that our neighbors are not going to take it sitting down.”

Indeed, while Trump’s announcement was met largely with applause from Jewish organizations — although some, including J Street, criticized the move as needlessly endangering the chances for achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim the eastern part of Jerusalem as a future capital — American allies in Europe and the Middle East decried the new policy. A day later, Palestinians had embarked on one of

hanukah is just one story about the Jewish fight for religious freedom, when circa 165 B.C.E., the Maccabees revolted against Antiochus IV, ruler of the Syrian branch of the Alexandrian empire, to thwart his attempt to impose Greek culture on the Israelites and ban Jewish ritual practices.

Flash forward about 2000 years to 1989 and the fight for religious freedom for the Jews played out again, this time on the steps of Pittsburgh’s City-County Building, where Chabad was battling for its right to erect an 18-foot menorah alongside a 45-foot Christmas tree.

The conflict, which revolved around the interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, ended up before the United States Supreme Court in The County of Allegheny v. The American Civil Liberties Union. The case was ultimately decided in a 100-page opinion, by a 6-to-3 vote, allowing the menorah to remain on its public perch but accompanied by a slew of supporting and dissenting opinions drafted by the justices on just about every aspect of the case.

Two lawyers who had been involved with the case — on opposite sides — presented their arguments once again last week, but this time in front of local Jewish learners enrolled in Chabad’s Jewish Learning Institute course on the “Great Debates in Jewish History.” The December 6 lunch and learn program, held at the downtown offices of Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney, was the sixth and final class in the course.

Jon Pushinsky, who represented the ACLU

Please see Jerusalem, page 20

Please see Menorah, page 20

LOCAL Reform’s largest biennial

Steel citizens were in Boston as well.

Page 7 ART Wings aflutter

Butterfly exhibit wows.

Page 12

$1.50

 A view of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images

Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ours after President Donald Trump broke with two decades of American foreign policy and officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — he also called for the U.S. Embassy in Israel to be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although the move is expected to take years — Squirrel Hill resident Abby Schachter was among the many Jewish community members Wednesday who praised the president.

“I’m thrilled,” said Schachter, a former Chronicle columnist. “The embassy should have been moved a long time ago. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and will always be the capital of Israel, and it’s good that the U.S. is finally behaving that way.”

But Melissa Haviv, an Israeli citizen who lives in Pittsburgh, was not so sure.

“As Israelis, I don’t think we need the U.S. to acknowledge the capital of Jerusalem.

I don’t understand how it will benefit the region at this time.”

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LOCAL Dennis Jett releases new book.

NATIONAL Franken’s seat now up for grabs.

WORLD Some Israelis turning Japanese.

Headlines It’s a holly, jolly time of year for Jewish Pittsburgh — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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eginning each November and continuing for several weeks, Malori Asman finds herself discreetly closing the door to her home office as she plays one particular Pandora station from her computer.

It is there, in the comfort of her solitude, that she can avoid the disdainful looks of family members and be free to indulge in her guilty pleasure of the season: listening to Christmas music.

“I love Christmas music,” confessed Asman, president and founder of Amazing Journeys, a Jewish travel company based in Pittsburgh. “My family is very much the ‘bah humbug’ type, but I get very excited come November.”

Asman has her car radio tuned to WISH-100, which bills itself as “Pittsburgh’s Official Christmas Station,” so that even while driving she can enjoy her favorite yuletide tunes, such as “O, Holy Night” and “Silent Night,” to which she knows every word. The songs are nostalgic for Asman, who fondly recalls her days of caroling with the choir of her mostly Jewish high school in Beverly Hills, Calif., serenading the shoppers on Rodeo Drive from the singers’ perch on the rooftop of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Asman, with her guilty seasonal pleasure, is hardly alone among members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community — many of whom clandestinely look forward to Christmastime for one reason or another.

Take Ari Goldberg, for example, the former adviser to the Pittsburgh chapter for the Orthodox youth group, NCSY. Goldberg,

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p “I get it a lot — that I look like Santa,” says Rabbi Chuck Diamond.

now a financial adviser, said he “loves the lights this time of year.”

Between Christmas and New Year’s, Goldberg routinely took a group of NCSYers to New York City. The purpose of the trip was for the teens, who hailed mostly from public schools, to learn Torah during winter break.

But Goldberg also made sure each year to stop with the teens at Rockefeller Center — to see the big Christmas tree brilliantly decorated with lights.

“I just love the look of this time of year,” Goldberg admitted.

So does Dave Rullo, administrative and communications coordinator for South

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File photo

Hills Jewish Pittsburgh. Each year around Christmas, Rullo, his wife, and his son make a point to visit Phipps Conservatory’s holiday flower and light show.

“There’s a general calmness at Phipps this time of year,” said Rullo, adding that the feeling is a welcome contrast to the hustle and bustle elsewhere in the world. “We’ve done this forever.”

For longtime community members Nina and Dan Butler, this time of year inspires them to watch a certain holiday-themed film, which they own on DVD. “We are huge fans of ‘It Happened One Christmas,’” Nina Butler divulged. “It’s a

remake of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and it’s really a beautiful story about recognizing all the remarkable goodness in your life and that there’s a ripple effect that each individual makes in their family and in their community.”

While she and her husband enjoy the film over and over again, her kids, she said, “just roll their eyes.”

Although Brian Eglash definitely has a guilty Christmas pleasure, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the holiday.

“I like watching the NBA games on Christmas day,” said Eglash, senior vice president and chief development officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, a Wisconsin native whose secret pleasure is admittedly odd in a town that is all about other sports. “That’s my traditional activity.”

Perhaps more aptly described as a “secret wish” rather than a guilty pleasure is the urge Rabbi Chuck Diamond develops each Christmas season: to don a costume and play Santa Claus.

“I get it a lot — that I look like Santa,” said Diamond, whose white beard, generous smile and striking demeanor do, actually, evoke Father Christmas.

“Little kids often think I am Santa,” said the founder of Kehillah La La. “In fact, I have a friend with a 3-year-old daughter who saw a photo of Santa Claus at the mall and said, ‘Look, there’s Rabbi Chuck!’”

Diamond — who has a connection to someone who sold Santa suits — is seriously considering playing the part, maybe at parties.

“I think that would be a cool thing to do,” he said. “Maybe next year.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Schachter enlarges familiar boundaries in book on contemporary Jewish art — BOOK REVIEW —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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en Schachter is in many ways a “kosher cartographer.” As a Jewish artist widely known for his depictions of eruv maps, Schachter’s paper projects depict boundaries stitched in blue thread with the remaining portions painted with acrylic.

Functionally, Schachter’s contoured creations operate similarly to their representations in that they offer assistance. While an eruv, through its symbolic status, permits activities traditionally forbidden on the Sabbath, Schachter’s art enables conversation and understanding of a space and topic that is ironically nebulous and often misunderstood.

To date, observers and learners have enjoyed the artist’s works via exhibitions at the Youngstown (Ohio) Area Jewish Federation Art Gallery; the Yeshiva (N.Y.) University Museum; the Yale University Institute for Sacred Music; the American Jewish Museum in Pittsburgh; and, most recently, the Jerusalem Biennale 2017.

Despite having long established a relationship with viewers, Schachter’s current creation is aimed at an alternative audience, primarily readers.

In “Image, Action, and Idea in Contemporary Jewish Art,” Schacter touches upon the subject of skillfully crafted eruv maps; however, the new 176-page work is largely a tip of the hat to his other profession, namely scholar.

Apart from a recognizable eruv tracer, Schachter is professor of fine arts at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. Within “Image, Action, and Idea in Contemporary Jewish Art,” the author situates himself within the realm of art critics. With an opening chapter that recapitulates traditional theories of Jewish art criticism, Schachter sets the stage for a text that is less a coffee table art book than an art book that is read while drinking coffee.

As both a practitioner and expert in contemporary Jewish art, Schachter explores the failings of prior critics in dealing with art “unconcerned with images.”

Whether appropriately or not, past scholarship has been too entwined with the biblical prohibition, as stated in the Second Commandment, of producing graven images. But what happens when art exists

beyond this understanding of imagery?

What should we make of Jewish art that is not devotional, used in religious rituals or even illustrates Jewish customs, asks Schachter.

A new critical method for grappling with such pieces is necessary, he claims, and this fresh approach must “be able to examine action and process and balance the critical gaze currently overdetermined by the image.” Guided by another biblical text, the Fourth Commandment — keeping of the Sabbath — this tactic, Schachter proposes, would establish an “alternative to the Second Commandment as the foundation for Jewish art criticism” and successfully expand such critiques by balancing “image with action.”

Much of Schachter’s text goes on to substantiate this point through explications and definitions as well as share lessons that Judaism can offer regarding contemporary art.

Early in the work Schachter explains that “action is at the heart of this inquiry.” That statement, along with the claim that the book is “for everyone who wants to learn

more about Judaism and art, religion and art, and art criticism” are both truthful and thoughtful statements. Schachter’s work may be deliberately aimed at all, however its narrative construction obfuscates such goal.

At its heart, “Image, Action, and Idea in Contemporary Jewish Art” provides an insightful and understandable analysis of traditional theory and presents new means for considering contemporary art; however, an even broader audience may have benefited from the inclusion of more visual representations. The inclusions of Ken Goldman’s “Chevrutah” and “With Without,” Ben Schachter’s “Instant Eruv” and Archie Rand’s “The 613” offered visual cues for referencing the author’s textual claims. For those less versed in the subject, additional “images” may have eased understanding.

Nevertheless, the book is a meritorious work both for amalgamating past scholarship and for furthering the field as it relates to contemporary art. Much like the author, who is an expert in allowing viewers to see something new in a recognizable boundary, “Image, Action, and Idea in Contemporary Jewish Art” creates fresh space in a seemingly stationary setting. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh presents its annual

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 3

4 DECEMBER 15, 2017

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Headlines The Iran deal: Problems of politics explored in ‘Bombs, Bureaucrats and Billionaires’ — BOOK REVIEW —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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ithin the flood of information surrounding the Iran deal, Dennis Jett would like to offer a raft. The Congregation Beth Shalom member and former career diplomat recently authored a book examining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (more commonly known as the Iran deal or the Iran nuclear deal). Published

by Palgrave Macmillan, “The Iran Nuclear Deal: Bombs, Bureaucrats and Billionaires” explores the myriad influences upon those involved in cementing the agreement.

As Jett establishes early in the 481-page text, the debate over the Iran deal represents the realities of foreign policy. “Money, technology, truth, partisan politics and globalization” — none of which is a particularly new factor, he explains — augmented the decision-making done by representatives of the United States government. Specifically, the coalescence of Super PACs and lobbyists, the internet’s facilitation for mass dissemination, the rise in polarizing political views, individuals with

disregard for veracity and the weakening impact of sanctions constrained the abilities of those principally involved in negotiations.

Within the book, Jett explicates each faction

(or distraction) associated with the agreement.

Beginning with a brief history of the policies and politics surrounding the July 2015 pact reached between the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany) and Iran, Jett describes the principal actors, both supporting and opposing the enterprise. He identifies the finances driving their decisions and the technological means with which these parties propagated their messages.

Through constant reminders that domestic dialogue has devolved, Jett imparts that falsehoods and misrepresentations were largely uttered to sway public and private opinion.

Finally, despite the deal’s conclusion nearly two-and-a-half years ago, Jett suggests that these influences and influencers continue to wreak havoc.

Jett is professor of international affairs and a founding faculty member at the School of International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University. His writing reflects this professional fact, as “The Iran Nuclear Deal” feels like material plucked from a university syllabus. With regular excerpts and endnotes, Jett’s work reveals great effort to substantiate its various claims.

While this tactic is appreciated, similarly enjoyable are the intermittent inclusions of the author’s own narrative. Apart from operating as an academician, Jett spent nearly three decades in the State Department, worked on the National Security Council and was ambassador to Peru and Mozambique. As he alludes, these experiences yielded firsthand perspective on the subtleties of diplomatic maneuvering and negotiations. Granting readers greater insight into his prior orchestrations as an international wheel greaser may have familiarized the subject more.

With that said, the text offered is the product of a professor well versed in the scholarly venture of research and publication. In likening the work to a college course, despite access to the informality of office hours, the lecture is informative. For those interested in a detailed recitation of resources, “The Iran Nuclear Deal” should please given its thorough analysis of the problems plaguing not only this particular accord, but also future diplomatic negotiations. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Pittsburgh delegation discovers tools for change at USCJ convention — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

baker’s dozen of Steel City representatives recently returned from Atlanta with renewed commitment to the Conservative movement. For the 13 Pittsburgh residents who traveled south to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 2017 Convention, the international gathering was uplifting and beneficial. “It was an absolutely fabulous conference,� said Ed Frim of Squirrel Hill. “There were so many dynamic sessions that I wasn’t expecting. It was a great weekend, and I was really impressed,� added Marissa Tait, director of youth programming at Congregation Beth Shalom.

While convening major figures for mass address as a means of inspiration is nothing new within the movement, what resonated was the tenor of each speaker’s remarks. “It’s like somebody lit a fire under them,� said Liron Lipinsky, director of JJEP. “They are done sitting around and are ready to make some big changes and adjustments to continue on and be relevant, stay relevant and become even more relevant. It was awesome to see.�

p The Pittsburgh contingent poses for a photo at the USCJ convention.

Photo by Mindy Gordon, USCJ Kehila Relationship Manager for the Central District

According to Lipinsky, who has routinely attended USCJ programs for years, the movement has too often trudged along and told tired tales of past successes; USCJ 2017 demonstrated something different, she said. “Today, I’m not feeling like I wasted three days. I learned so much, and I haven’t stopped talking about what I learned.�

“USCJ has a lot of challenges that it needs to address, and I appreciate the recognition that it needs to do that,� said Andy Schaer, a member of both the USCJ International and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle boards. “It doesn’t have its head in the sand but is actually implementing those changes, which isn’t easy.�

Dec. 15, 1999 American venture capitalists purchase stake in Israeli water company

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Aqua International Partners, a San Francisco-based venture fund, purchases a 25-percent stake in Israeli bottled water company Mayanot Eden (Eden Springs).

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Dec. 16, 1922 Eliezer Ben-Yehuda dies

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, considered the “father of modern Hebrew,� dies from tuberculosis at the age of 64 in Jerusalem. Thirty thousand mourners attend his funeral on the Mount of Olives.

Dec. 17, 1975 Henry Kissinger meets with Iraqi foreign minister

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At the urging of Berl Katznelson, a proposal is passed among Zionist leadership creating the Kupat Holim Clalit (General Sick Fund), a still-present healthcare organization in Israel.

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Included among the difficulties that the movement faces are issues of engagement, explained Schaer. “I think that this is true of all synagogues but probably more true with Conservative synagogues in that maintaining a congregant base is challenging, and

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In a Paris meeting, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger tells Foreign Minister Hammadi that the United States would not negotiate Israel’s existence but could “reduce its size to historical proportions.�

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Dec. 19, 1903 Max Nordau is victim of assassination attempt

While attending a Chanukah ball arranged

by Mevasseret Zion, a Paris Zionist Society, Max Nordau is the victim of an assassination attempt. Nordau, who together with Theodor Herzl had co-founded the World Zionist Organization, escapes unharmed.

Dec. 20, 1936 Arturo Toscanini arrives in the land of Israel

Arturo Toscanini, considered to be one of the finest virtuoso conductors of the 20th century, arrives at Lod airport after being asked to conduct the opening performance of the Palestine Philharmonic.

Dec. 21, 1973 Geneva Middle East Peace Conference takes place

Convened under the co-chairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union, the Geneva Middle East Conference is “aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East.�  PJC

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Headlines Reform Jews at Biennial take on issues of equality at home, in Israel — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

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ith a focus on social justice, more than 6,000 Reform Jews from across North America — including more than 50 professional and lay leaders from Pittsburgh — gathered in Boston last week for the four-day Union for Reform Judaism Biennial.

The largest Biennial of the URJ to date came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and prepare to move its embassy there.

So, when keynote speaker Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., addressed the crowd on Friday, speaking largely about working to help the powerless, she also weighed in on Trump’s decision regarding Israel.

“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and diplomacy between Israelis and Palestinians should determine the final status of Jerusalem for all parties,” Warren said to loud applause from the gathering. “I believe a two-state solution remains the best chance for peace for all who remain in the Holy Land. I also believe neither the U.S. nor any other outside power should impose a solution, and that is why I am concerned about Trump’s decision, which I believe makes it more difficult to reach that goal.

“If the president is serious about peace, I urge him to produce a comprehensive strategy to achieve it. That is what American leadership demands. That is what the Israelis and Palestinians deserve.”

p Lynn Magid Lazar, a Temple Sinai member and URJ board member, addresses the Biennial.

Photo by Dale Lazar

Warren’s remarks echoed those of the Reform movement itself, which called Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem and moving the U.S. Embassy to the city “ill-timed.” While Trump’s announcement affirmed the movement’s view that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” its leaders “could not support the decision” to move the embassy “absent a comprehensive plan for a peace process.”

In a follow-up statement, URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs said: “We do, however, commend the President for affirming the importance of moving the peace process forward, and clarifying that these decisions are not intended to restrict final status decisions of the Israelis and Palestinians —

including the borders of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and border issues generally.”

URJ’s criticism of Trump’s announcement contrasted with the full-throated welcome for the move by most of the largest Jewish groups.

“My sense is that nobody here is particularly opposed to Jerusalem ultimately being the capital, and ultimately the U.S. Embassy moving there, but it needs to be part of a plan for peace and not a unilateral action,” said Lynn Lazar, a Temple Sinai member who is on the boards of the URJ and the World Union of Progressive Judaism and is also the immediate past president of the Women for Reform Judaism. She added that she feared Trump’s announcement would be “disrup-

tive,” and “there will actually be violence.”

“I think people are very concerned this will be counterproductive to working to a two-state solution,” Lazar said.

Relations were already strained between the Reform movement and the Israeli government before last week’s announcement. The government had angered the non-Orthodox movements by freezing a plan to expand non-Orthodox and egalitarian prayer options at the Western Wall and moving to strengthen the Orthodox monopoly over conversions in Israel.

“There has been a lot of talk about egalitarianism and pluralism in Israel,” at the Biennial, Lazar said. Those topics coincided with other issues regarding equality, such as racial equality, that were a focus of the gathering.

“There has been a lot of public speaking about Israel and how supportive we are of Israel,” Lazar added. “Just because you are part of a family, that doesn’t mean you can’t be critical.”

For Lazar, Warren’s address was one of the highlights of the convention.

“The entire room was entirely engaged,” Lazar said. Warren “talked about being a voice for the people of the United States and for those who don’t have a voice or power — standing up for those who can’t and welcoming the stranger.”

At its opening plenary session on Wednesday night, the URJ presented an award to the Rev. William Barber, founder of Repairers of the Breach and one-time leader of the North Carolina NAACP. Barber collaborates frequently on social Please see Reform, page 21

Some Orthodox feeling left behind

by Federation movement’s perceived lean to the left — LOCAL —

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

T

housands of people cheered and applauded at the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly in Los Angeles last month, when JFNA president Jerry Silverman announced the organization’s resolution on Israel, criticizing the Jewish state for backtracking on a deal to expand egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, and a bill that would hand greater authority to the Orthodox over conversions.

But for Barry, a 30-something modern Orthodox Jewish communal professional from L.A., that moment made him wonder if he was out of place at the annual conference of the Federation umbrella group.

“It was my first time going to the GA, and I was very excited,” said Barry, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym. “I had heard a lot about it from lots of different colleagues.

You know, the Federation world, especially

when you work in development, they are the gold standard. And so, you look up to them in so many ways.”

Barry was “surprised” by Silverman’s speech, he said, and by the reaction of the crowd.

“He came out with a statement about the Women of the Wall and how we are going to be pushing the Israeli government and the Orthodox establishment,” Barry said. “It’s not an easy issue. I don’t even know where I stand on the issue itself. I know it’s super complicated, and I want everyone to be able to express their Judaism. But they were very strong saying, ‘We’re going to be pushing for inclusiveness.’ [It’s] sort of like saying the way it has been done is wrong and bad.”

For Barry, that implication was uncomfortable.

“I’m totally new to the Federation world, and I’m hearing, ‘This is what the Federation is going to stand for.’ When you just hear it, and they are coming out proud, and the whole place is cheering for something — I know that I don’t understand all the issues — but I know that on either side I wouldn’t be clapping and cheering, because I know that

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some people would feel left out,” he said.

“For me, I wondered if I was part of this camp, whether it represents the diversity of opinions in our Jewish community, or does it just represent a certain slice.”

Despite his unease at times during the conference, Barry nonetheless appreciated the feeling of Jewish community.

“I don’t want to take away from the great moments of the conference, and there were many,” he said. “You feel proud that you are connected to everyone else there and it is deeply inspiring.”

Despite not getting “that call to action from the Federation that I would have expected,” he said, he might be willing to give it another try.

“But I’d probably want to get a couple friends to come with me. I’d want to be more strategic,” he said. “I’d probably say, ‘Hey, guys, let’s be a part of it and make sure all voices are heard.’”

The JNFA’s recent focus on what some in the Orthodox movement view as liberal and progressive values is leading to feelings of exclusion. Some Orthodox Jews question

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whether it is, or should be, the Federation’s mission to weigh in on what they see as domestic political issues in Israel.

“I don’t think this is the place of Federation,” said Pesach Lerner, president for the Coalition for Jewish Values, an organization that advocates for “classical Jewish ideas and standards in matters of American public policy” according to its website. “The Federation was supposed to be the place where you could sit down at the table and worry about the needs of the community. Federation is no longer where everyone can sit at the same table.”

The JFNA, Lerner said, should not be “dictating to a Democratic country what it should do,” and instead, should be “focusing on problems of assimilation, intermarriage and lack of Jewish education. Those are the problems the community should be looking at, rather than giving them a bigger space at the Kotel.”

Lerner, speaking by phone from Israel Please see Orthodox, page 21

DECEMBER 15, 2017 7

Calendar q SUNDAY, DEC. 17 Moishe House and Repair the World at the Repair Workshop at 6022 Broad St. will hold Documentary Night with a screening “One of Us,” from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The documentary explores the journey of leaving Chasidism and joining the secular world. A discussion will follow.

Visit tinyurl.com/yckklru5 for more information. q MONDAY, DEC. 18

q SUNDAY, DEC. 17 Latkepalooza, the eighth annual community Chanukah celebration with games, crafts, prizes, sufganiyot and latkes, will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30

p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St. Bella Christie will be making hot kosher pareve and nut-free doughnuts on the spot. There is a $5 charge per person. Visit jjep.org/latkepalooza/ for more information.

Rosh Chodesh and Chai Mitzvah at Rodef Shalom Congregation: Women are invited to welcome the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) at Rodef Shalom Sisterhood’s monthly brown bag dinner discussion, now partnering with Chai Mitzvah, an adult education curriculum for engaging in a meaningful Jewish life. q TUESDAY, DEC. 19

>>>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. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q REGISTRATION NOW OPEN Mitzvah Day, a long-standing tradition in Pittsburgh in which the Jewish community comes together to provide services to different organizations throughout the entire community, takes place over two days, with projects on Sunday, Dec. 24 and Monday, Dec. 25. This will be the 17th annual Mitzvah Day, named for the Hebrew word for “good deeds” or “acts of loving kindness.” The event is coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Volunteer Center, which provides a network of meaningful opportunities to connect volunteers with organizations and people in need. Visit jfedvolunteer.org/about-mitzvah-day/ for more information and to register.

The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., is now accepting applicants for three programs for recent graduates, college students and high school students: the 2018 Steiner Summer Yiddish Program; the 2018-19 Yiddish Book Center Fellowship Program; and the 2018 Great Jewish Books Summer Program.

Visit yiddishbookcenter.org/educationalprograms for more information about each program and the deadlines for applications. q THROUGH DEC. 22 Chai Lifeline Toy Drive. Donate toys to benefit sick children. Unopened toys only.

Drop-off location is by the front desk at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, 5685 Beacon St. q FRIDAY, DEC. 15 Beth El Congregation of the South Hills will have a Mega Chanukah Celebration from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Cantorial soloist Sara Stock Mayo and musicians will stimulate the Chanukah spirit. The evening is open to the community and will include a Chanukah dinner with latke bar at 7 pm. Visit bethelcong.org for more information; call 412.561.1168 to make reservations. There is a $10 charge per person. Beth El is located on 1900 Cochran Road.

Chanukah dinner at Rodef Shalom Congregation at 6:45 p.m., immediately following the 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service.

BYOM (bring your own menorah).

The Ner Shel Tzedakah, the Candle of

8 DECEMBER 15, 2017

Righteousness, will be lighted. Gift bags for children at the Ronald McDonald House will be made. Reservations are available at rodefshalom.org/rsvp.

A Chanukah family dinner is set for 5:30 p.m. and a Shabbat service for 6:30 p.m. at Temple Emanuel of South Hills. Everyone is invited to bring menorahs and candles to light together for the fourth night of Chanukah. Visit templeemanuelpgh.org/ event/chanukah2017 to RSVP. The event cost is $5 per person, $20 family maximum.

Temple Sinai Chanukah Congregational Dinner & Menorah Lighting. Bring your family Chanukiot to light before dinner.

Chef Drew and a small crew of volunteers will make a dinner of latkes, soup and salad followed by Shabbat service at 7 p.m.

The Intergenerational Choir will feature Chanukah songs led by the Shir Joy Youth choir, Next DOR students and students from Community Day School. The cost is $10 per person and $5 for children 10 and under. Visit templesinaipgh.org/hanukkahcongregational-dinner-menorah-lighting for more information.

Temple Sinai Tot Shabbat Chanukah at 5 p.m. with snacks and schmoozing followed by worship service using special prayer books at 5:30 p.m. Visit templesinaipgh.org/totshabbat-hanukkah for more information.

Temple Sinai Wine and Cheese Young Adult Shabbat Chanukah after Hours, mixing and mingling with young adults ages 21-45 at 8:30 p.m. following services. Visit templesinaipgh.org/shabbat-after-hours-4 for more information. q SATURDAY, DEC. 16 Shalom Pittsburgh presents the 12th annual Vodka Latke Pajama Party with a Purpose from 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. at The Waterfront Town Center.

Visit shalompittsburgh.org/events/vodka-latke for more information and to register.

The Moishe House Party and Bus to Vodka Latke at the house from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Be a part of Moishe’s annual tradition and ride on a party bus to The Waterfront. There is no cost to join the party train, but tickets to the event will need to be purchased separately.

Visit tinyurl.com/y9fxbm3b for more information.

South Hills Eighth Night Community Chanukah Celebration from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of the South Hills. Chanukah songfest and candle lighting, pizza dinner with potato pancakes, jelly doughnuts, Chanukah obstacle course, EKC dreidel tournament, balloon artist and face painting. In honor of the “Mitzvah of Sharing” bring a bottle of cooking oil to donate to friends at South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM). There is no charge. Contact drullo@jfedpgh.org for more information or visit southhillsjewishpittsburgh.org/ event/chanukah.

Kol Shira, an eight-woman vocal ensemble performing original a cappella arrangements of music from around the world and across the centuries, will hold a Chanukah concert for women and girls only from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Robinson Building. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 day of/at the door. Senior and student rates available. Visit tinyurl.com/ y7uv2prd for more information.

Chabad of the South Hills and the South Hills Jewish Community Center hold their annual Chanukah lunch and program for seniors at noon, which will include a kosher lunch with hot latkes (potato pancakes) and holiday music. Lunch will be held at the South Hills JCC, 345 Kane Blvd. The building is wheelchair accessible. Preregistration is strongly suggested. $5 suggested donation.

Contact barb@chabadsh.com or visit chabadsh.com for more information. q WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20 AARP Squirrel Hill Chapter 3354, which now meets at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha on the corner of Shady and Wilkins avenues, holds its holiday party at 1 p.m. In addition to food, there will be a grab bag; bring a $3 to $5 gift in to participate. Meetings are open to nonmembers. Contact Ilene Portnoy at 412.683.7985 for more information. q FRIDAY, DEC. 22 Ugly Sweater Chanukah Shabbat from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Moishe House. Grab your favorite ugly sweater and join us for Kabbalat Shabbat with latkes, doughnuts, and dreidels. A Shabbat dinner will be served following services. Visit tinyurl.com/y9tn2pye for more information. q SUNDAY, DEC. 24 MoHo Does Jewish Christmas from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Moishe House. Got nothing to do on a random December Sunday night? How about

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a tradition as old as the Torah itself? Come to the Moishe on Christmas Eve for a cozy night in with a movie and Chinese food. Visit tinyurl. com/y9lngxhh for more information. q TUESDAY, DEC. 26 Radical Trivia Night with Moishe House from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the book-themed bar, The Library, at 2304 E. Carson St. Visit tinyurl. com/yd8dyarv for more information. q SUNDAY, JAN. 7 AgeWell at the Jewish Community Center will hold a Senior Singles Group from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in room 202 at 5738 Forbes Ave. Socialize in a friendly and welcoming environment.

Light refreshments will be served. There is no fee to participate. Contact Debbie Marcus at 412.339.5405 or dmarcus@jccpgh.org for more information. q TUESDAY, JAN. 9 Behind Enemy Lines. Spend an evening with Marthe Cohn as she tells her story of being a spy in Nazi Germany. The Chabad of the South Hills program will be held at 7 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Pittsburgh South, 164 Fort Couch Road. Cohn was born in France in 1920. As the Nazi occupation escalated, her sister was sent to Auschwitz while her family fled to the south of France. At 24, she joined the Intelligence Service of the French 1st Army. Utilizing her perfect German accent and Aryan looks, Martha posed as a German nurse desperately trying to attain word of a fictional fiance. She traveled the countryside and approached troops sympathetic to her plight thereby obtaining vital information about troop movements for the Allied commanders. For her service, at the age of 80, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor. Cohn is now 96 years old and travels internationally sharing her story and has no plans of slowing down. There is a $5 charge. Register before Dec. 25 at chabadsh.com, 412.344.2424 or rabbi@chabadsh.com . q THURSDAY AND SATURDAY,

JAN. 11 AND 13

The Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Music on the Edge series and the Andy Warhol Museum, will include two concerts that feature klezmer clarinet virtuoso David Krakauer. The first, an orchestra concert at Carnegie Music Hall at 8 p.m. will include the premiere of Mathew Rosenblum’s work, “Lament/Witches’ Sabbath,” a clarinet concerto that chronicles the Rosenblum family’s escape from Ukraine in 1919. The second concert, at 8 p.m. at the Andy Warhol Museum, features Krakauer’s powerhouse klezmer group, Ancestral Groove. This will be the closing event of the three-day festival that celebrates cultural roots. Visit music. pitt.edu/mote/beyond for more information about the concerts and festival. q THURSDAY, JAN. 18 Chabad of the South Hills will hold a new monthly course for women, Pause and Effect: A Shabbat Outlook, by the Rosh Chodesh Society. Classes will be held on the third Thursday each month at 10 a.m. There is a $5 charge. Visit chabadsh.com or contact barb@ chabadsh.com for more information. PJC

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Headlines Al Franken’s resignation pains his Jewish fans in Minnesota — NATIONAL —

By Ben Sales | JTA

I

t’s a shame Al Franken has to go, Minnesota Jews say. But he has to go.

That’s the feeling Minnesota Jewish leaders expressed a day after the Democratic senator announced he would resign his seat in the coming weeks following a string of sexual harassment allegations against him.

Eight women have accused Franken of inappropriate conduct, and many of his Democratic colleagues called on him to step down.

Franken denies some of the allegations.

“Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the issues they face every day,” Franken, who is Jewish, said in a speech on the Senate floor on Dec. 7. “I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution.”

Jewish political activists in Minnesota and beyond said that they have fond memories of the senator, whom they described as an advocate for their agenda and a patron of the local Jewish community. But several said he was making the right choice by resigning.

“I think Senator Franken has been a really effective senator,” said Carin Mrotz, executive director of Jewish Community Action, a liberal Jewish Minnesota activist group. “It was hard to lose him from the Senate, and it’s also what needed to happen. I think that in resigning he has an opportunity to say this is a culture that’s toxic, and he wants to be part of that change rather than part of the problem.”

Franken was elected to the Senate in 2008 following a career as a comedian, actor and liberal political author and activist. He won re-election comfortably in 2014 and rose in national prominence this year for his aggressive questioning of President Donald Trump’s executive appointees.

As a senator, Franken was a friend to Jewish communal priorities, his Jewish constituents said. He supported parochial Jewish issues like safeguarding Israel’s secu-

p Sen. Al Franken speaks at a Capitol Hill committee hearing on hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

rity, as well as domestic policies favored by communal institutions, like expanding access to health care and social services.

At times he disagreed with legacy Jewish groups, notably in his support for the Iran nuclear deal that most large Jewish groups opposed. But Steve Hunegs, executive director of the local Jewish Community Relations Council, said Franken remained friendly despite that conflict.

“He always made time for the Jewish community when we would go and visit him in D.C.,” Hunegs said. “When he was in town, if there was a visiting Israeli diplomat, he would receive the visiting Israeli diplomat.

If we had human services concerns, he was always open to discussing the issue.”

In his personal life, Franken was not just Jewish but “Jewy” — that is, highly identified if not personally religious. He grew up in St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb with a large Jewish population that served as the setting for the Coen Brothers’ film “A Serious

Man.” In his recent memoir, “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate,” Franken recalls learning moral lessons from his childhood rabbi at the Reform Temple Israel.

“We had the Holocaust pounded into our heads,” he said in June. “That was our first lesson in justice. Our rabbi, Rabbi [Max] Shapiro, would say, ‘It’s not enough to be for justice. You have to do justice.’ I think he was quoting Hillel.”

Franken also brought out his Jewishness in his comedy. As one of the original writers on “Saturday Night Live,” he co-wrote, with his writing partner Tom Davis, a skit in which a mohel performs a circumcision in the backseat of a car in order to test its suspension.

And his signature character, the feckless, unlicensed therapist Stuart Smalley, channeled stereotypical Jewish neuroses.

As a lawmaker, Franken remained Jewishly affiliated, attending Temple Israel for High Holidays services and speaking there at a 2011 dinner to honor former Vice President

Walter Mondale, a fellow Minnesota Democrat. He also sits on the council of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“There was a great pride in having another Jewish senator in that seat,” said Marcia Zimmerman, Temple Israel’s current senior rabbi, referring to the Jewish senators who preceded Franken in his position. “We were quite proud of his position and what he has done as a senator.”

Not everyone was happy with Franken’s performance.

Mark Miller, who chairs the local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition, portrayed Franken as an ineffective senator and moral disgrace. Miller disliked Franken’s support for abortion rights and opposition to conservative judges.

“He was a complete hypocrite,” Miller said, stressing that he was speaking only for himself and not for the Republican Jewish Coalition. “When the Weinstein allegations came out, I remember Franken saying how terrible it is, and then these allegations came out and he had to resign. The guy was a disaster. Good riddance.”

Revelations about the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s treatment of women set in motion a series of accusations of sexual harassment and assault by high-powered men. Weinstein is under investigation in New York, Los Angeles and the United Kingdom after 80 women came forward with allegations of harassment, abuse, unwanted advances, retaliation and rape.

Some of Franken’s liberal Jewish supporters agree with Miller on one point: Franken was right to resign. Even though they appreciated his work in the Senate, they said that by facing the consequences of his actions, he set a good example for the wave of men accused of sexual assault in politics and beyond.

“There’s a loss of his voice, but the resignation is an expression that no one is above that accountability,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

“We will miss that voice, but we understand and affirm his courage to resign and set an example for all others.” PJC

Following Trump’s declaration, European Union doubles down on its Jerusalem policy — WORLD —

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

A

MSTERDAM — Following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and pledge to move the U.S. Embassy there, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Jews all over the world “expect the rest of the world to follow suit.”

If that’s true, they may be in for something of a wait — especially when it comes to Israel’s other close allies in the European Union.

European leaders’ harshly worded rebukes of the Trump declaration on Wednesday suggested that they view it as his latest contribution to a growing list of disagreements on foreign policy. Some EU states see the U.S. government’s declaration as an incentive to double down on its official neutral position on Jeruslame pending the result of peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

One of the most outspoken rebukes came from one of Israel’s closest allies in the European Union: the Netherlands.

Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra told U.S. officials in Brussels last week that Trump’s move was “unwise and counterproductive,”

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according to the NOS public broadcaster.

His language went further than the European Commission’s expression of “serious concern” over the statement’s possible repercussions and reiteration of its neutral position on the city.

In Britain, another key ally of Israel within the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May also rebuked the Trump statement, elaborating on her Foreign Office’s official position that the Israelis and Palestinians should decide in a peace agreement on Jerusalem’s status.

In a statement, May also added a vision of her own: “Jerusalem should ultimately form a shared capital between the Israeli and Palestinian states.”

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As had been the case with the U.S. prior to Trump’s declaration, the European Union and nearly all its member states do not recognize Israel’s claim on Jerusalem as its capital. That’s because in 1947, the city had been designated by the United Nations Security Council to remain an international zone, a demilitarized “corpus separatum”— a separate body — governed by U.N. troops.

Israel captured the city’s west in its 1948 War of Independence; it captured the eastern half in 1967 from Jordan and annexed it in 1980. Since then, Jerusalem has grown Please see EU, page 10

DECEMBER 15, 2017 9

Headlines For Israelis in Japan, the North Korea nuclear threat is business as usual

By Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA

T

OKYO — Outside this city’s largest synagogue, a wailing siren drowns out the sounds of traffic.

The cacophony alarms a boisterous group of students headed to the nearby United Nations University. Fearing an earthquake, they instinctively run into the middle of the small street in the busy, upscale neighborhood of Shibuya.

But they relax and giggle nervously when they realize that the siren emanating from the Shiritsu Tokyo Jogakkan Elementary School, opposite the synagogue, has nothing to do with seismic activity. Rather it is part of a nationwide series of drills designed to ready the population of this island nation in the event of a missile attack by its bellicose nuclear neighbor, North Korea.

“We really are not prepared for this,” Riku Yushin, a post-doctorate student who was standing outside the Jewish Community of Japan Conservative synagogue, said in October.

“Unlike you,” he said of Jews, “we’re not used to this sort of thing here in Japan. We worry only about earthquakes.”

Yushin may be partially right about the Jewish community’s relatively blasé attitude.

EU: Continued from page 9

considerably, nearly doubling its size geographically and more than doubling its population, which numbers approximately 850,000. Of those, more than 250,000 are Palestinians living mostly in the city’s east.

While the Palestinians also claim Jerusalem as a capital, the European Union recognizes neither assertion pending the reaching of a mutually accepted solution regarding the city.

Vowing to defend this longstanding policy, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter that his country “does not approve” of Trump’s statement.

Of course, there was not uniform agreement among the EU’s 28 member states; Trump’s Jerusalem declaration also received some support.

In Prague, the spokesman for Czech President Milos Zeman fired off six tweets within 10 minutes lauding the proclamation. Most were retweets of statements from the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but one tweet contained a quote from Zeman from earlier this year in which he said Jerusalem is Israel’s “eternal capital.”

The Czech parliament already recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital earlier this year, but the embassy of the Central European nation has remained in the Tel Aviv area.

In a statement Wednesday, the Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry said it considers Jerusalem to be “in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967,” meaning only the city’s west. It will 10 DECEMBER 15, 2017

p Rabbi Binyomin Edery, left, poses for a photo with some of his congregants in Tokyo.

Photo courtesy of Chabad Tokyo Japan

Japan’s Jews form an eclectic group of several hundred people, with sizable American and Israeli contingents. And perhaps not surprisingly, the many Israelis living here

— raised in a climate of constant security threats — are pooh-poohing North Korea’s escalating military provocations. (The latest happened last week: For the second time this

year, Pyongyang test launched a missile that landed inside Japan’s territorial waters.)

But it’s a different story for the American Jews living in Japan. They say they find the threat deeply disturbing, especially in a country that has served as a safe haven for Jews for the past 150 years.

Israelis may relativize the North Korea threat with memories of Iraqi Scud missiles raining down around their homes, but it’s “very hard” for Americans “when the Tokyo city government tells us that if there’s a nuclear attack, we’ll have about five minutes to go into the basement,” said David Kunin, the synagogue’s New York-born rabbi.

Israelis are accustomed to hearing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say Iran may bomb Israel with nuclear weapons, “even if that’s not immediately true,” he said, noting that Iran does not actually have nuclear weapons yet.

By contrast, the threat to Japan is concrete and potentially immediate. Plus, adding to the mood of anxiety is the recent decision by several local governments, including in the Tokyo area, to hold drills at schools. It may be necessary, Kunin said, but it’s especially stressful for parents and children.

Please see Japan, page 24

significant foreign policy upsets — Macron promised he would work even harder to implement the treaty’s limitations on gas emissions and other sources of pollution.

“I can assure you,” Macron said in June, “France will not give up the fight.”

He also addressed American “scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president of the United States,” telling them “they will find in France a second home.”

Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium called the American decision on the Paris Accords “a brutal act,” assuring his readers on Twitter that his country is “not forsaking commitment.”

Such statements are unusual, even between the members of the uneasy alliance that makes up the European Union. In the traditionally polite and calculated framework of transatlantic discourse, such dramatic language had been unheard of in the decades p French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the press at an EU meeting prior to Trump assuming office in January. in Brussels.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Yet the same defiant stance was on view not move the embassy prior to a negotiated determination not to cede any ground to in October after Trump declined to certify Israeli-Palestinian deal, the statement said.

Israel on Jerusalem. The bloc, she wrote the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on As of Wednesday afternoon, Bennett’s after the address, “will increase its work with Iran, which the United States had signed in statement — that Jews will expect the world parties and partners to negotiate the status of July 2015, along with six other counties and to follow the U.S. example — was met by Jerusalem as capital of two states.” the EU central government. one nation: the Philippines. According If this is the case, then the disparate stateThe deal, which offered Iran sanctions to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, Presi- ments fit into a wider pattern of disputes relief in exchange for scaling back parts of dent Rodrigo Duterte sent a message to between EU leaders and Trump, in which its nuclear program, “is clearly not in the Israel that he wanted to move his country’s his departures from conventional foreign hands of any president of any country in the embassy to Jerusalem. relations policies have prompted his coun- world to terminate an agreement of this sort,” Back in Brussels, however, Federica terparts in Europe to double down on them. Mogherini told reporters, even though Trump Mogherini‫‏‬, the EU’s foreign policy chief, For example, when the United States left did not terminate the agreement. “The presidemonstrated how Trump’s declaration may the Paris Accord on global climate earlier dent of the United States has many powers, but have simply entrenched European leaders’ this year — arguably one of Trump’s most not this one.” PJC PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Leader of Lithuanian haredi Orthodox community dies at 104 Hundreds of thousands of mourners attended the funeral for Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the leader of the non-Chasidic Lithuanian haredi Orthodox community, who died at the age of 104.

Shteinman, who has been considered the gadol hador, or great sage of his generation, died Tuesday morning of cardiac arrest after being in and out of the hospital for much of the last year.

The funeral later that day began in front of his home in Bnei Brak, a mostly haredi city in central Israel. There were no eulogies in response to a request that Shteinman put in his will. He also asked that his followers not name their children after him.

Shteinman was the spiritual leader of the Degel Hatorah faction of the United Torah Judaism party and served as the dean of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. He has been considered the gadol hador since the death of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv in 2012.

Critics in the haredi world thought Shteinman was too lenient, privately allowing men not studying fulltime in yeshiva to seek professional training and find jobs, or to enlist in the Israeli military. Publicly he spoke against military service and those who

chose a profession over learning Talmud.

The rabbi was widely known for living modestly. He remained in a small, modestly furnished apartment for his entire adult life and held few public positions.

He wrote dozens of books on halachah.

The rabbi was born in 1913 in an area of the Russian empire that is now Belarus, and grew up in Brisk. In 1938, after receiving a draft notice from the Polish army, he moved to Switzerland, thus saving himself from the Nazis. He moved to prestate Israel in 1945.

Couple sues Manhattan hotel for ‘starving’ bat mitzvah guests A couple is suing a Manhattan hotel for allegedly “starving” the guests at their daughter’s $37,000 bat mitzvah party.

The lawsuit against Hotel Eventi was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Nancy Held, the mother of the bat mitzvah girl, said the food for her 150 guests at the party in May was so mishandled that the hungry adult guests began eating the children’s ice cream desserts.

She said in the lawsuit that the 700 hors d’oeuvres were never served to the guests as promised, and that the main course, a choice of steak or scallops, was served cold.

“We were starving,” Held’s husband, Marc, told the Post. “We were hosting the party and we didn’t have any food to eat.”

The hotel offered $1,000 and a night

in a suite to make up for the errors, according to Held. The couple is suing for $637,000 in damages.

Nancy Held said in a court filing that she had been planning for her daughter’s big day ever since being misdiagnosed with a fatal genetic mutation in 2013.

The family also later discovered that the hotel was using photos of their event in promotional material, which the family had not given permission for.

Rutgers isolates but does not fire professor Rutgers University took steps to ensure that students and faculty do not have to work with a professor it investigated for anti-Semitic and racist social media posts, but did not fire him.

In a letter sent to faculty Friday morning, Dec. 8, University President Robert Barchi and Chancellor Debasish Dutta announced that professor Michael Chikindas, who is tenured, will be removed from teaching required courses so that students will not have to study with him.

Chikindas will also be ousted as director of the Center for Digestive Health at the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health, to allow employees to avoid working for him, Barchi and Dutta wrote, and he will be required to go through a cultural sensitivity program.

The university is seeking further disciplinary action under its collective bargaining

agreement with the faculty union, and if and when Chikindas returns to the classroom, he will be monitored, according to the letter.

Barchi and Dutta wrote that Chikindas had been informed of the university’s decisions.

They condemned the material he posted, saying it “perpetuated toxic stereotypes,” and voiced solidarity with “Jewish students, faculty and staff ” who found it “deeply upsetting.”

“The fears and concerns they have expressed to us and many university leaders are both justified and understandable,” the letter read.

Chikindas was found earlier this fall to have posted to social media caricatures of hooknosed Jews; canards that the Jews control Hollywood, the Federal Reserve and the government, and accusations that Israel is committing genocide and is a “terrorist country.” He blamed the Armenian genocide on Jewish Turks and republished claims that American Jews and Israel were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, among other anti-Semitic claims.

In an interview with the Algemeiner at the time, Chikindas rejected accusations of anti-Semitism, saying he was previously married to a Jewish woman and is one-quarter Jewish. He also said he does not believe any of his postings violate Facebook policies.

Some 3,200 students signed a petition calling for Chikindas’ suspension from the university, the student newspaper The Daily Targum reported.

Rutgers, the biggest state university in New Jersey, has among the largest Jewish student populations of any U.S. university. PJC

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 11

Life & Culture Artists give flight to powerful Holocaust poem — ART —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

rt interpreting art is nothing new.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, the English Romantic poet, performed the task in “On the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery.” W.H. Auden, the 20th-century titan, similarly did so with in the “Musée des Beaux Arts.” But the ekphrasis undertaken by Alix Glosser Paul and Deb Englebaugh, two local artists, hovers a bit closer for some.

“The Butterfly Project,” a work by Paul and Englebaugh, is now permanently installed at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. The mosaic, which includes five panels, mesh fencing and more than 300 hand-painted butterflies, was inspired by Pavel Friedman’s “The Butterfly,” a poem composed after the Czech Jew’s arrival at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942.

“There are a lot of layers to the artwork, and really we just wanted it to tell a story and for the viewer to be able to look at the artwork and draw elements from the poem,” said Paul, 61.

Included within the multifaceted piece are nods to imprisonment, the ghettos and camps, along with representations of European towns, train tracks and forgotten faces.

Evocatively, and in direct relation to Fried-

p Twenty-eight hand-painted butterflies by area survivors are on display.

p A volunteer afixes a butterfly to the installation.

Photos by Alix Paul

man’s writing, is a yellow butterfly “symbolizing freedom and friendship,” explained the artists. “Surrounding the poem, and with high regard and special significance, are 28 butterflies painted by Pittsburgh Holocaust survivors.”

Those butterflies in particular narrate a larger story, said Paul.

In 2016, the mosaicist discovered the

San Diego-based nonprofit “The Butterfly Project.” Designed as a mechanism to utilize the lessons of the Holocaust to prevent hatred and bigotry, the organization invites participants to paint ceramic butterflies for public display, with each butterfly signifying one of the 1.5 million children lost in the Shoah.

Paul, who for decades has worked on simi-

lar-sized projects, was intrigued.

“It brought together all of my interests, both in community art, large-scale art, installations, art having a purpose and the Jewish component involved in it,” she said. “I contacted the Holocaust Center in Pittsburgh to talk to them about it, and it turned out fully coincidentally that it was already on their calendar.”

Paul then reached out to Englebaugh, a fellow artist and friend.

“Alix explained to me what was going on,” said Englebaugh, 59. “She gave me the background information on the project and asked if I would be interested in working with her. Because of her excitement, I got excited about it. We met with people from the Holocaust Center, and they were so accommodating. And then it took off.”

The duo spent more than a year collaborating on the project. The process was enlightening, said Englebaugh. “When we received the butterflies from the survivors, just working with those alone, for me, it was very emotional.”

Unlike Paul, whose Jewish upbringing was marked by interactions with survivors, this was Englebaugh’s first foray into the subject of the Shoah.

“I never realized the number of children who lost their lives in the Holocaust,” she said. ”I don’t know why, but you don’t think Please see Butterflies, page 17

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 13

SPONSORED CONTENT

The Federation Securing the Future of Jewish Pittsburgh with a Legacy Fund

JF: Why were you inspired to endow your gift?

KRISTEN: When our son Jonah was born, we didn’t know a lot of people, and we had no friends at his bris. Fast forward four-and-a-half years, to our daughter Avi’s baby naming—which we also had at our house—we had about 150 people. We looked around, and almost all of them you could trace back to a Federation experience or connection. It was breathtaking to think, “This is our community.” It was really a gift and a result of our involvement with Federation.

What could we do not just for the community in the room but for the community at large?

MATT: It wasn’t until some years later when I was on a [National Young Leadership] Cabinet retreat that I realized that we were beneficiaries of Federation. Not in a tangible—direct service—way, but Federation really changed our lives. Right before we moved to Pittsburgh, fifteen years ago [on December 6th], we lost our newborn daughter. Later I sat down and thought, “Federation really changed our lives.” Our community helped us through that grieving process. And that’s the amazing thing about the Pittsburgh Jewish community—we really are a family and help each other, whether it’s through a direct service through one of our agencies or just by being there.

JF: What does that mean to you, in terms of creating a legacy?

MATT: It means creating the same opportunity for generations to come— to have the benefits of this incredible Pittsburgh Jewish community.

KRISTEN: And kids grow up, and they move on. Our children are raised by this community, and— selfishly as a mother—I hope that they stay in Pittsburgh, but there is no guarantee of that. We want our community to be here for the future kids of Pittsburgh to come and make a life and have a community to support them. Hopefully, wherever Jonah and

Avi end up, they will have as good of a community; but I don’t know if that’s possible.

MATT: [laughing] Only if it’s another community that has done the Grinspoon Life and Legacy™ project.

JF: Would you say that an endowment is an investment in the future of Jewish Pittsburgh?

MATT: For a hundred and however many years, they’ve been doing it right. We recognize that the community is going to change and that demographics and needs are going to shift. The great thing about the Pittsburgh Jewish community is that people are thinking ahead, working collaboratively and making sure that we’re staying with the times. Our involvement now is different than it was thirteen years ago, and it’s going to continue to change.

JF: How would you encourage other young adults to create a Legacy Fund?

KRISTEN: There are so many different ways to leave a legacy, and there is a misconception that you need to be old and rich and be able to write a huge check. That’s not the case at all, and there’s no such thing as too small.

People always say, “That’s something that I’ll do later.” Why wait?

MATT: If you give a little bit now, or plan ahead now, it’s much cheaper, and you can make a bigger impact. We have two life insurance policies with Foundation as the full beneficiary.

Being young and healthy, it is rather cheap to do.

“There is a misconception that you need to be old and rich and be able to write a huge check. That’s not the case at all.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh recently sat down with Kristen and Matt Keller to discuss the importance of creating a Legacy Fund with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh.

JEWISH FEDERATION: When did you first get involved with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh?

KRISTEN KELLER (looking at each other): How much time do you have?

MATT KELLER: We started 13 years ago...

KRISTEN: In 2005, right? Jonah was born in 2004, so 2005.

MATT: Yeah, we got involved through the Wechsler Leadership Development Institute. We were new to the Pittsburgh community and really had no connections or ties.

Somehow our name got to the powers that be and we got a phone call and said “OK.” It was a way for us to get out of the house and was a guaranteed date night once a month. From there, we went on a young adult mission to Israel and got sucked in.

14 DECEMBER 15, 2017

JF: What kept you involved with the Federation?

KRISTEN: We just kept getting asked to be more involved, and apparently neither of us can say no.

So, we chaired Mitzvah Day and then worked our way through Shalom Pittsburgh.

MATT: I chaired Wechsler for a few years and then got involved in the Community Campaign. I think one thing just led to another and kind of built our level of engagement. And really the central theme is community.

Federation became our community; all of our friends—or many of our friends—were involved in Federation and the Jewish community, so that became our circle. We saw the impact it was having on our own lives, on our kids with preschool and camp and the impact it was having on the broader community.

JF: Would you say that the impact you saw encouraged you to increase your giving?

KRISTEN: Absolutely.

MATT: One hundred percent.

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A Legacy Fund is an endowment that helps support the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Campaign. To create a Legacy Fund with the Jewish Community Foundation or to learn more about potential tax savings in 2017, contact Sharon Perelman, Director of Planned Giving at 412.992.5224 or sperelman@jfedpgh.org.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

The Federation

Pittsburgh Supports Young Adults and Their Families Pittsburgh has been called the “new Brooklyn” for attracting a hip younger demographic, and the young Jewish families moving here fit the description. Jordan Fischbach and Yael Silk moved here from Santa Monica for work, family, and because of the strong Jewish community—made stronger by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Campaign.

The Jewish Federation’s support has enhanced Jordan’s and Yael’s experience in Pittsburgh immensely.

They now have two boys attending Colfax Elementary. They enjoyed the benefits of enhanced Jewish learning when the boys were at Jewish Federation-supported early childhood programs at Adat Shalom, Hillel Academy and Congregation Beth Shalom Congregation. The entire family enjoys the pool at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh (JCC). Their kids attended the JCC’s James and Rachel Levinson Day Camp for multiple summers.

This past year, their eldest son benefited from a One Happy Camper grant that went toward his first summer at Camp Young Judaea Midwest.

Seeing how much the Jewish Federation supported them in Pittsburgh inspired Jordan and Yael to get involved with the SteelTree Fund. The SteelTree Fund is a program that gives young Community Campaign donors the ability to make grants for innovative social entrepreneurship projects. The Jewish Community Foundation and a private donor funded the grant pool to engage these young people with philanthropy. Jordan is currently co-chairing SteelTree.

Community Campaign-supported Jewish organizations have also been able to innovate through SteelTree grants. For example, the Friendship

Circle, an organization that creates meaningful relationships and friendships between teen volunteers and children with special needs, was granted funds to help start a rooftop gardening club to help build these relationships. This virtuous circle—sustaining Jewish agencies through the Community Campaign and adding value through the Jewish Federation’s other programs—has also helped Jordan and Yael give back to the community they have adopted as home.

Supporting the Jewish community relies on broadening participation and cultivating new leaders. Yael is serving as the chair for the Wechsler Leadership Development Institute, Federation’s young adult leadership program. This yearlong program introduces young adults to Federation’s structure and agencies, develops leadership skills, and provides opportunities for participants to make a difference in the Jewish community.

In addition to their Federation involvement, Jordan and Yael are members of Congregation Beth Shalom, where they can often be found leading services.

They also helped form a local Bend the Arc moral minyan and serve on the steering committee. Brad Orsini, Federation’s director of Jewish Community Security, attended a recent Bend the Arc meeting to brief the group on what security measures to take when attending rallies and other public events. Jordan and Yael love Pittsburgh, and will continue working toward making it a livable city for all its residents, and cannot imagine living anywhere else.

Several programs supported by the Young Adult Division offer leadership opportunities in addition to Pittsburgh’s supportive Jewish community. Learn more about the programs to which Jordan and Yael have given their volunteer time: The SteelTree Fund provides grants of $5,000, $3,600, or $1,800 to projects that serve the Pittsburgh Jewish community.

Young Adult donors to the Jewish Federation’s Community Campaign evaluate proposals. An organization or individual can apply for more than one project within a calendar year.

Upcoming Grant Application Deadlines: January 23, 2018 April 3, 2018 For more information about the SteelTree Fund or to apply, visit shalompittsburgh.org/steeltree

“Supporting the Jewish community relies on broadening participation and cultivating new leaders.”

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Jessica Budik (left), Stacey Horvitz (middle) and Matt Feinman (right), along with fifteen other young adults involved in the 10-month Wechsler leadership program participated in team building activities at Camp Guyasuta.

WECHSLER: The Wechsler Leadership Development Institute, funded through the Irving J. and Jacquelin G. Wechsler Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Foundation, is a unique opportunity for young adults who are interested in, and passionate about, the Jewish community. Wechsler provides a platform for participants to develop their own leadership skills and identify what it takes to be a Jewish community leader. Graduates learn to utilize those strengths to perpetuate the Federation and its beneficiary agencies’ missions both locally and globally through a ten-month program.

To learn more about Wechsler visit shalompittsburgh.org/wechsler or contact Young Adult Director Sara Spanjer at sspanjer@jfedpgh.org or 412-992-5237.

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 15

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Headlines USCJ: Continued from page 6

people have other options and are seeking new ways to find spirituality and meaning.

We have to find ways to meet their needs and offer the authenticity that we seek to deliver, and it’s not easy.”

What the conference achieved so skillfully was offering tools for congregants and congregations, said Frim, who, as USCJ’s director of learning and enrichment, organized aspects of the convention.

“United Synagogue is doing a very good job right now at offering help to congregations that need it and in particular helping them to change what they do so that they are more sustainable,” said Rabbi Seth Adelson, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom.

Specifically, there was an increased focus on social and personal matters at the Dec. 1-5 assembly, noted participants.

“They had Al-Anon meetings for family and friends of people who have addictions” as well as “really interesting sessions for people on how to be an ally to the LGBT community and making space for interfaith families,” said Tait.

“I definitely noticed a lot more open conversation about social justice and the place of Judaism and Jewish identity, Jewish life and Jewish values on social justice issues, and this is definitely something different than what I saw coming out of the Conservative movement in the past,” said Lipinsky.

“It is not replacing what the Conservative movement was, but it’s placing it in a new, innovative, disruptive way.”

In general, it was a “more progressive-themed dynamic,” added Tait.

“There is a real commitment to continuing being dynamic and being authentic at the same time,” noted Schaer.

“Among the ideas I heard echoing over and over throughout the three days were: ‘We need to translate more’ — not just Hebrew terms, of course, but in a greater sense the

Butterflies: Continued from page 12

of it as something [that] involved children.

I knew that children perished but never realized how many.”

“The very different backgrounds between us lends itself well to the enterprise,” said Paul. “We work in mosaic, and mosaic is single elements that when combined create a harmonious whole.”

Along with “The Butterfly Project” and a quilt created by Louise Silk, which hangs in the front gallery of the Holocaust Center and also incorporates butterflies, 20 area schools and organizations collaborated on the art installation, said Lauren Bairnsfather, the Holocaust Center’s executive director.

ideas and wisdom that our tradition offers us, so that more people will benefit from and appreciate those things,” said Adelson.

“We need to continually reinforce the idea that Judaism brings meaning to our lives and offers us the tools with which to improve our relationships, our families, our workplaces and our society. We need to make sure that we know why we as a synagogue do what we do and that we consider carefully our goals and expectations so that we are not doing things because that’s the way we’ve always done it. We need to offer new points of entry so that all of the above will reach more people.”

Implementing these ideas and others will begin soon, noted the Jewish professionals.

Specifically, JJEP will re-examine the b’nai mitzvah process and identify areas to increase relevance, said Lipinsky.

Youth programming at Congregation Beth Shalom will be reimagined, and better strategies will be employed in delivering opportunities “back to the team,” said Tait.

“I will continue to offer a message of change in my sermons and writings and continue to offer programming aimed at changing Beth Shalom’s model, like the Sulam for Emerging Leaders seminar, a USCJ program that trains young leadership that I am offering now for the second year in a row,” said Adelson, who added that, apart from building on the success of Derekh, a program directed by Rabbi Jeremy Markiz, the congregation may consider “the possibility of beginning work on a new strategic plan.”

“The convention gave us a lot of tools for thinking about what we do at our congregations and for new programs and ideas to bring into our families’ lives,” said Frim.

Adelson agreed: “Overall, I think the sense that I left with is that the movement acknowledges that the landscape of North American Judaism has changed and that synagogues need new tools to face that challenge.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

The hope is that the art will spur not only art, but future activity, said the creators.

“People need to be informed and reminded of this horrific situation,” said Englebaugh of the Holocaust. “You don’t want anything like this to happen again.”

Accordingly, the installation is intentionally engaging, said Paul.

“For anybody coming into the center, it’s an educational tool, and it’s there to evoke emotion, to tell a story, and for the participants to look deeper into the piece and the mosaic surrounding the poem,” she said. “I think each viewer will see something different as in any artwork, but hopefully, it will draw an emotion deep inside of them.” PJC

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 17

Opinion Clashes did not spontaneously ‘erupt’ — EDITORIAL —

A

fter President Donald Trump announced U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week, the world readied itself for the reaction from Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. And in the statements that followed from world leaders, it was sometimes hard to know what was a prediction, what was a provocation and what was a license for some in the Muslim world to unleash their violent fury.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Trump’s decision would put the region in a “ring of fire.” Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah urged Palestinians to begin a third intifada. With their statements, both were essentially encouraging and blessing the violence that followed. As such, much of the blame for the handful of deaths and the clashes in the West Bank, Gaza and Europe that followed must be shared by those and other provocative Muslim leaders.

But even with those encouragements, relatively peaceful protests took place in Jordan, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Cairo, where protestors nevertheless shouted, “With blood and soul, we sacrifice for you, al-Quds,” using the Arabic name for Jerusalem. The Washington Post quoted a 15-year-old in Gaza named Sarah Louay as she headed to

p Palestinian protestors confront Israeli forces near an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethelem.

Photo by AFP PHOTO/THOMAS COEX/Getty Images

a demonstration carrying a Palestinian flag.

“Trump made the wrong decision,” she said.

“We will raise our voices for Jerusalem.”

There is nothing wrong with peaceful protest. And we understand that there are those who are critical of the president’s recognition of Jerusalem and were searching

for an outlet to give voice to their frustration with the long wait for a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But Louay and other protestors, peaceful and not, give lie to the ominous and threatening predictions that Trump’s action would ignite violence. Let’s be clear: The cause of

any violence is not the president. Those who engage in violence are responsible for their own actions. And we also know that not a single one of the clashes occurred spontaneously. The protests and the violence didn’t “erupt,” as some headlines reported. They were orchestrated and encouraged by incendiary rhetoric. And those who promoted them should be held accountable for the resulting losses of life and limb.

Jerusalem is a potent symbol and presents a thorny practical issue in peace discussions.

We hope that world leaders will stay focused on the objectives of peace and not succumb to reactions that close off political solutions.

“The United States is drawing a distinction between acknowledging the reality that Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since 1949, and the need for negotiations to resolve all the respective claims that Israelis and Palestinians have, including questions related to Jerusalem,” Dennis Ross and David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote in Foreign Policy. “Israelis and Palestinians must resolve these issues directly and without outside interference.”

Working toward resolution is the opposite of violence. But because such activities require a delicate touch and an appreciation for nuance, we doubt that most current Middle East leaders are up to the task. PJC

Winners and losers as the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Guest Columnist Michael J. Koplow

P

resident Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his announcement that he will move the embassy there from Tel Aviv will have a number of consequences for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider region.

For Israel, it has finally received from an American president what it has long craved, which is righting the historic wrong of it being the only state whose self-declared capital is not recognized by the rest of the world.

Israel’s government institutions are primarily in West Jerusalem in undisputed territory, and by formally recognizing this fact, Trump acknowledged what has been obvious to Israelis since the founding of the state 70 years ago. In using language that was not qualified and declaring Jerusalem to be the capital, some Israelis may interpret this to constitute an endorsement of Israeli claims to the entirety of the city, even though Trump explicitly ruled out this announcement as prejudging final status issues or the specific borders of Israeli sovereignty in the city.

18 DECEMBER 15, 2017

While the Trump announcement will change nothing on the ground itself, as Israel’s capital was Jerusalem even before Trump acknowledged it and moving the embassy will take years, the symbolism should not be understated.

Nevertheless, even a more appropriate interpretation that the United States has recognized only the undisputed sections of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is an enormously positive development for the Israeli government, and it will have cause to celebrate.

For the Palestinians, Trump’s qualifier that his announcement does not prejudice final status issues and the president’s extolling of the importance of peace will not eliminate the bitterness of this pill. Trump’s lack of an explicit endorsement of an equal Palestinian claim to part of the city will be seen as a reversal of longstanding American policy

and make it far more difficult for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to continue to engage with Trump’s emerging peace initiative. It will adversely affect Palestinian cooperation with the United States and Israel going forward, and is likely to lead to protests and violence.

While nothing that Trump said last week has actually changed the situation on the ground, for the Palestinians this is an extremely significant symbolic loss.

The announcement will also make it more difficult for Sunni Arab states to be seen as publicly backing a Trump peace initiative,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

as Jerusalem remains one of the most sensitive issues among Arab publics. Serving as boosters for the Trump peace plan or being seen as heading toward normalization with Israel following this announcement will put Arab governments in a political bind, and despite the president’s prediction that this move will make a peace agreement easier, the opposite is likely to be the case. Public opinion serves as a heavy brake even in authoritarian states, and while the importance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has subsided for many Arabs in recent years, any changes in Jerusalem’s status quo have the ability to reverse that trend given the unique sensitivity surrounding the city.

While the Trump announcement will change nothing on the ground itself, as Israel’s capital was Jerusalem even before Trump acknowledged it and moving the embassy will take years, the symbolism should not be understated. In declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital without making a clear statement that the United States does not recognize unhindered Israeli sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem, Trump may end up killing his own peace initiative in the cradle for the sake of an announcement whose timing was unnecessary now. PJC Michael J. Koplow is policy director of the Israel Policy Forum.

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Opinion ‘American Jews versus Israel’ — Richard Cohen’s clichés Guest Columnist Eric Rozenman

W

ashington Post columnist Richard Cohen worries about “the widening gap between American Jews and the policies of the Netanyahu government.” But the gap seems to be between his perception and reality.

Cohen laments that “for moderate or liberal Jews — in other words, for the 76 percent who did not vote for Donald Trump — Israel has become like a relative who always has to be explained.” He then substitutes clichés for explanation.

The columnist claims “the overriding issue is the future of the West Bank — whether, along with the Gaza Strip, it will comprise a future Palestinian state or whether Israel will simply swallow it.” He never mentions Palestinian rejection of U.S.-Israeli and Israeli-only offers of a West Bank and Gaza Strip country in exchange for peace with Israel as a Jewish state in 2000, 2001 and 2008, or spurning of U.S. “frameworks” for talks toward such an outcome in 2014 and 2016.

Cohen obsesses over “the so-called settler movement, which wants more and more West Bank settlements, eventually foreclosing any chance” of a West Bank/Gaza Strip state. He avoids Palestinian rejectionism, suggesting leaders focus more on defeating Israel than building “Palestine.”

Cohen cites Ehud Barak, former Israeli defense and prime minister and vehement critic of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latter fears a new Palestinian Arab state would become a terrorist enclave. Barak and other former Israeli generals and intelligence officials who agree with him “would not trifle with Israel’s security” and could “handle the situation,” Cohen prophesizes.

He fails to note that under Barak, Israel withdrew completely from southern Lebanon in 2000. This move ended a long, low-intensity conflict but also boosted the Iranian-backed “Party of God’s” influence and contributed to the 2006 Lebanon war.

Hezbollah now possesses more than 100,000 short- and medium-range missiles that can strike almost any part of Israel.

Likewise, Cohen is silent over Israel’s 2005 unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip under another former general-turned-prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

That maneuver too was intended to end a low-intensity policing/military presence, to secure “the moral high ground,”

and perhaps spur peace talks. Instead, it allowed Hamas to claim, as Hezbollah had done in Lebanon, a “resistance” victory, win Palestinian elections in 2006, and turn Gaza into a terrorist base.

Handling that situation required Israeli incursions in 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014.

These offensives sacrificed a moral high ground that will remain out of reach for the Jewish state so long as the “progressive” world-view imagines Palestinian Arabs as a colonialized “other” rather than, to the extent they adhere to Sunni Islamist imperialism, a supremacist part of a Middle Eastern majority. It was not “Zionist racism” or “apartheid occupation,” but rather Israeli self-defense that sparked anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic eruptions across the globe.

It’s true many former Israeli security leaders agree with Barak. It’s also the case, which Cohen omits, that many others disagree strongly.

The columnist invokes Jeremy Ben-Ami, “head of the liberal pro-Israel group J Street and a frequent campus speaker,” to warn of a divide between what many American college students “believe are Jewish values and the policies of the Netanyahu government.” But J Street repeatedly sabotages its “pro-Israel, pro-peace” pose.

The group also implied a false equivalence between Palestinian aggression and Israeli defense over terrorism from the Gaza Strip, and it repeatedly has claimed to champion a two-state solution while implying that Netanyahu has not supported such an outcome. Yet the prime minister has called for negotiating a peace aimed at two states for two peoples — if and when a Palestinian leadership also in favor can be found. Meanwhile, J Street’s political action committee has demonstrated a weakness for candidates with dubious pro-Israel credentials.

Cohen cites Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, who wrote, “The world will judge the Jewish State by what it will do with the Arabs.” What Israel has done with its Arab minority is to ensure equal rights religiously, civically and legally. What Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have done with the rights of Arabs under their administrations is another matter. It reflects oppression by Arab governments throughout the region, not that the columnist notices.

If Cohen is explaining Israel’s problems with liberal American Jews, they need a second opinion. It should be more factual, less wishful. PJC Eric Rozenman is communications consultant for the Washington, D.C.-based Jewish Policy Center. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 19

Headlines Jerusalem: Continued from page 1

several “days of rage,” with violence escalating in Gaza and in cities in the West Bank.

Apart from the possibility of inciting violence, Trump’s comments signal other factors at play, said Joshua Friedman. “The announcement about Jerusalem is one, a distraction from everything else going on within this administration; two, will be portrayed as something that Jewish Americans pushed for; and three, will change the nexus of the impending World War III to Jerusalem and not the Korean peninsula.”

Malke Frank, a Chronicle board member who is active with the local chapter of J Street,

agreed with those critical of the president.

“It was very disturbing to listen to Trump’s remarks. They were directed mainly to his American audience — evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews and far-right Jewish donors, such as Sheldon Adelson, all of whose support he still needs — and contrary to the opinion of a majority of Jewish Americans,” she said.

For her part, Schachter was dismissive of those who saw Israeli-Palestinian peace as now in greater jeopardy.

“What’s the connection between this and the peace process?” she said. “The problems with the peace process have” always existed. PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz @pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

p A patron at a Jerusalem pub watches as President Donald Trump recognizes the city as Israel’s capital.

Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Menorah: Continued from page 1

and currently is the chairperson of the Pittsburgh ACLU’s legal committee, presented the arguments on why the public display of the menorah violated the Establishment Clause; Charles Saul, who represented Chabad as an intervenor in the case and currently is a partner at Margolis Edelstein, presented the arguments as to why the display of the menorah was constitutionally protected.

Because both attorneys are local, Rabbi Yisroel Altein, who teaches the JLI course, decided to invite them to present their respective arguments.

Both Saul and Pushinsky are Jewish, and Altein had no problem giving the ACLU attorney a forum to once again argue his case.

“Even though Jon [Pushinsky] is on the other side of the team,” Altein said, “we’re all on the same team now.”

After studying the complexities of the case, Altein said he had a new appreciation for the intricacies of American civil law.

“And I thought Talmud was complicated,” he told the two dozen class members as he introduced his speakers.

Altein explained the history of the erection of public menorahs and that the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is unique in that it requires a Jew to “publicize the miracle” of Chanukah.

“We do that by lighting the menorah where everyone can see it, to publicize it to the world,” he said.

In the 1970s, Chabad rabbis embarked on a mission to put menorahs in public spaces to “reach as many Jews as we can and let them know that Chanukah is here,” Altein said.

But once a religious symbol is placed on public property, a constitutional question is triggered as to whether such display is allowed, or whether it violates the requirement of separation between church and state.

Pushinsky explained that the ACLU’s argument was focused on the fact that the menorah was indeed a religious symbol and had been placed in a public space.

“The lighting of a menorah is a mitzvah,” Pushinsky said. “It is a religious commandment. And what is the government’s role in performing one religion’s commandments?”

A challenged practice “violates the Constitution,” Pushinsky argued, “if it creates a symbolic link between government and religion.”

20 DECEMBER 15, 2017

p A photo exhibit admitted at trial.

p Jon Pushinsky

p Charles Saul

Photos by Toby Tabachnick

The ACLU also argued that a Christmas tree on the steps of a courthouse can be distinguished from a menorah because Christmas is a national and secular holiday and Chanukah is a religious holiday.

Saul responded to Pushinsky’s points by looking at the location of the menorah, the extent of “government entanglement,” and whether the menorah is a “religious symbol,” and, if so, “what is the degree of religiosity?”

The placement of the menorah at the CityCounty building, Saul said, was appropriate because that forum is one where “people go to convey important messages,” such as advocating for LGBT or African American rights, or on behalf of Soviet Jewry.

“That’s where you go to state your case,” he said.

As for government entanglement, the city’s involvement was minimal, because Chabad owned the menorah.

But is the menorah a “religious symbol?”

Saul unequivocally argued that it is.

“We never took the position that it was a secular symbol,” he said. “But what is the degree of religiosity?”

Saul noted that a menorah is not the same as a Torah, which is an intrinsically holy object, and that a menorah is often used as a political or cultural symbol.

“The real issue was whether the City of Pittsburgh was sending a message of endorsement of Judaism,” or whether, having the menorah alongside the Christmas tree, the message was instead about the freedom to choose one’s own religious beliefs.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

If the menorah was banned, Saul pointed out, that would just leave the Christmas tree, whereas including the menorah in the city’s display would be a sign of “tolerance” and “inclusion.”

While the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of keeping the menorah as part of the public display, its rationale is not particularly clear.

“There are so many different opinions,” Saul said. “The judges agree on different things.”

Saul thinks the court’s primary rationale can be found in the concurring opinion of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that a reasonable person would view the menorah as a message of religious pluralism and freedom and not as the state endorsing a religious message.

As part of the same case, the court held that a crèche depicting the Christian nativity scene located on the Grand Staircase of the Allegheny County Courthouse, was in fact an endorsement of Christianity and would have to be removed.

“I never dreamed the court would split between the crèche and the menorah,” Pushinsky said.

He offered another theory as to why the court ruled as it did.

“My own personal view is that the real reason the Supreme Court decided the menorah aspect the way it did — which made no sense to our side, that they left the menorah and took away the crèche — is that at this particular time, there were no Jews on the Court. So, there was no one in conference to say that this is a religious symbol for a religious ceremony.”

Almost three decades later, the menorah at the City-County Building is still being lit annually, as it was on Dec. 13 this year, to mark the second night of Chanukah. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Reform: Continued from page 7

action projects with the movement’s Religious Action Center.

In his speech, Barber said 14 million children living in poverty will suffer more under the tax overhaul bill now being reconciled on Capitol Hill.

“We don’t have a scarcity of money.

We have a scarcity of moral will,” he said to loud applause.

Susan Friedberg Kalson, a member of Rodef Shalom and chair of the Biennial Resolutions Committee, praised Barber’s speech.

“He’s in the best tradition of black churches, an incredible public speaker,” she said. “He carries the mantel of the civil rights movement and is very serious about standing up for justice. We have an obligation in our shared texts to do justice in the world.”

On the same night, delegates unanimously adopted resolutions on racial justice, school discipline and redistricting. Other resolutions passed later in the week addressed climate change, the global refugee crisis and student sexual violence in schools.

The resolutions are designed to “be representative of our movement and to be broadly representative of the diversity of Reform

Orthodox: Continued from page 7

where he had been visiting for several weeks, noted that he had been to the Kotel several times during his stay, and during none of those visits did he see a single person worshipping at Robinson’s Arch, the space currently designated for egalitarian prayer.

“This is not where Federation should be putting their efforts,” said Lerner. “The demand is not there. Why are we spending so much time on an issue that affects so few people? There are bigger fish to fry, bigger concerns to the Jewish community.”

Rick Wice, a former member of the Reform congregation Temple David in Monroeville, who is now a member of Pittsburgh’s local Orthodox community, is an annual contributor to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and said he was “peripherally” involved in its lay leadership several years ago when he co-chaired its environmental committee.

The Federation movement’s “magnification” of issues of social and political action and its interpretation of tikkun olam, Wice opined, is contributing to a chasm between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox when it comes to participation in Federation.

“In the Reform and Conservative movements, there is more of a focus on tikkun olam, and the Orthodox focus more on halacha, so there is a collision,” Wice said.

“That is not to say that one group is better than another,” he was quick to add.

Many in the Orthodox community “think it’s a wedge issue for the Federation to be

leaders, youth leaders and high school and college students.

Pittsburgh was well represented at the gathering, including 25 members of Temple Sinai, which was recognized as an Exemplar Community for its work in inclusion of those with disabilities.

Rodef Shalom had 23 delegates at the conference, with other Pittsburgh participants coming from Temple Emanuel of South Hills and Temple Ohav Shalom.

Former Pittsburgher, Cantor Leslie Niren, was honored by being chosen to lead the music for the main worship session on Saturday.

Kalson, speaking by phone from Boston on Friday, said she was looking forward to heading into Shabbat, “praying with 6,000 fellow Reform Jews and doing text study and celebrating our commitment to our faith and our people and the future of Judaism.”

The experience of being together with so many others who care about community was energizing, Lazar said. p Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center (RAC) of the “It’s kind of a Jewish soulful regeneraURJ, Susan Friedberg Kalson and Daryl Messinger, chair of the URJ address tive experience, being with 6,000 people the crowd at the URJ. Photo by Dale Lazar who want to be engaged in commuJews, including political diversity,” according The record Reform gathering attracted nity,” she said. PJC to Kalson, who added that the resolutions delegates from 500 congregations, 51 states include calls to action. and territories, six Canadian provinces and JTA contributed to this report.

“Now, the real work begins because the 12 additional countries, according to the Toby Tabachnick can be reached at resolutions are the starting point,” she said.

URJ. Delegates include clergy, educators, lay ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

political. That’s part of the problem. The Orthodox community doesn’t feel at home; [Federation] feels so liberalized and secularized. There is a perception in the Orthodox community that the Federation’s idea of Judaism is to save the world with liberalism, and that can conflict with the views of the Torah observant. The Torah observant believe in the same principles, but in a different execution.”

Locally, the Federation is “very careful to avoid making political statements, and I think we have been pretty successful,” said Cindy Shapira, vice chair of the JFNA board and immediate past chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. “We are here for the community and everyone in the community. And JFNA has the exact same attitude. So, I don’t really understand the reference to political acts.”

The recent JFNA resolution on Israel, Shapira said, “has to do with JFNA expressing its concerns over an agreement that was negotiated and agreed to by the Israeli government, which took many years, by the way, to negotiate and was primarily handled by our overseas partner, the Jewish Agency — which is also a big tent, big umbrella organization for all Jews.”

The concern on the part of the JFNA, she continued, “was that an agreement that had been adopted and passed was then reneged on last June. So that was what the issue was over. It had nothing to do with playing politics.”

The Kotel agreement, she added, “was something that modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and unaffiliated Jews came together on under the auspices of the Jewish Agency because the JFNA does work with all

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

streams, including Orthodox streams.”

Shapira noted, as just one example, a collaboration between Federations and Chabad to help hurricane victims in Houston.

“We simply do not do political or religious-based work,” she stressed. “There is no sense, from our point of view, that we are not inclusive of any part of the community.

We have an agenda that’s around community-building and fundraising to take care of the Jewish people, not about religion.”

From the perspective of the JFNA, there is no gulf between the Orthodox community and the Federation movement, echoed Rebecca Dinar, the JFNA’s associate vice president of strategic communications.

“In all of our efforts to support Israel and Jewish communities in the U.S. and worldwide the Orthodox community is our valued and cherished partner,” she wrote in an email.

Dinar listed examples of how the JFNA works together with the Orthodox, including funding Orthodox groups based in Israel “who support Israeli freedom of expression,” and having its security arm, the Secure Community Network, regularly consult with Orthodox institutions to keep them safe.

“We look forward to strengthening and enhancing this partnership to continue this critically important work,” Dinar wrote.

Judi Kanal, a board member of Pittsburgh’s Federation who is Orthodox, said that locally, the Federation “does a great job in reaching out to the Orthodox community.”

“We have a seat at the table, and our voice can be heard,” Kanal said.

Still, the fact remains that despite its agenda of inclusivity for all religious streams, there are those in the Orthodox community who feel that the Federation machine has, in

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

fact, become political, leaned to the left and left them behind.

“Our relationship with Federation has cooled over the years,” said Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, spiritual leader of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens. “Forty years ago, my father [who is also an Orthodox rabbi] would solicit funds for Federation.

Those days are gone.”

The Orthodox community and the Federation world have “fewer shared values,” Schonfeld contended. “The Federation should be a charity gathering institution for local needs and for Israel. There should be no right-wing statements and no left-wing statements and no middle-of-the-road statements. Once you mix politics with charities you’re going down a very dangerous road. Charities can’t be tainted by political stances.”

The Federation’s common emphasis on “pluralism,” he said, is also problematic.

“Pluralism has become a code word for a large umbrella that includes things that shouldn’t be included. There is a big open umbrella, but it’s not shading everyone.”

For Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, an ultra-Orthodox organization, whether there can be a place for the Orthodox at the JFNA table depends on the Federation’s “commitments for the future.”

“If they assure us that they will not take sides on religious issues and limit their activities to charitable endeavors and social services, they can recapture the trust they once enjoyed in parts of the Orthodox community that supported them in the past,” he said. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

DECEMBER 15, 2017 21

Celebrations

Torah

Bar Mitzvah

The warmth of Chanukah starts at home

Simon Nathan Davis, of Columbus, Ohio, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 16 at Congregation Tifereth Israel. Simon is the son of Suzanne and Eric Davis and the grandson of Marcia Feldstein and Eden Feldstein (Toledo, Ohio) and Pauline and Charles Davis of Pittsburgh. Simon is a seventh-grade student at Bexley Middle School.

He plays piano and is a trombonist in the concert and jazz bands. He also enjoys theater, swimming and playing with his dog, Obi. For his mitzvah project, Simon is raising money for the Circus of the Kids scholarship program. PJC

Rabbi Elchonon Friedman Parshat Miketz | Genesis 41:1-44-17

I

n teaching the proper place to light the Chanukah menorah, the Talmud states that the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles is “by the door of one’s house on the outside.” If one lives above the street, he should light the menorah in a window. And during times of danger, one lights it within his or her own home.

The lighting of the Chanukah flames was established for the purpose of publicizing the miracle of the Jewish people during the Syrian-Greek persecution. Religion had been banned, the temple destroyed, and proclaiming one’s belief in G-d was met by death.

no oceans or rivers can drown the light and love of a Jewish soul; and that as low as one may fall, he can always rise above and shine.

So the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles was established to publicize the miracle of purity and faith, to bring its light to streets, communities and markets, warming the world with its presence and message.

Yet, the Talmud teaches us that there can be times when taking the flame directly into the street may serve no purpose, for the community might reject its message. The social order will argue that pure faith and old traditions are a thing of the past. They will place modernity and worldly pleasure as the only scientific reality, and question anything G-dly.

Under these circumstances, the Talmud teaches that to continue telling the true story of the miracle, you should light the menorah in your own home. As the passers-by see the

Spend the time with your loved ones and make sure that they experience firsthand the miracle of Judaism.

For their pure young souls are the miraculous candles that will light up the world, making a better and brighter future.

Happy Chanukah

may love and light Fill your home and heart at chanukah

From the Staff & Board of

22 DECEMBER 15, 2017

A small group of Jews led by Matisyahu and his sons, known as the Maccabees, led a revolt against their Syrian-Greek oppressors. The few overpowered the many, the righteous prevailed over the wicked, and the mighty fell in the hands of the weak. Yet, when the small army of believers entered the Temple, there was no pure oil sealed by the high priest to be found. Their enemies had defiled every last jar, and no pure oil was available with which to kindle the menorah.

The menorah was a special vessel within the Temple. Its light signified how G-d dwells among his people, and the pure oil represented the pure essence and soul within each Jew that is a light of G-d in this world.

The Greeks had tried to defile the very soul of the Jewish people, and the people who had fought back, with the cry that no Jewish soul can ever be defiled, could find no pure oil.

But the people believed that the defilement of a soul was impossible and therefore continued searching, trusting that just as a soul cannot be lost, so too there must be pure oil that is not lost as well.

The miracle of finding that one flask of oil sealed by the High Priest and its lasting miraculously for eight days and nights told the story of their victory. The story that even one small pure soul can beat all odds; that

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

warmth permeating the home from candles lit, a Shabbat meal being shared by a warm and loving family and beautiful harmonious song, they will see the impact and effect of the pure soul. They might not comprehend the actual Kiddush or the holiness of the Shabbat candles, yet the warmth and tranquility achieved through faith and purity of soul will be plainly evident.

The effects of Judaism are real and tangible and create a place of belonging in a broken world. A home of tradition, holidays and Shabbat has a glow and beauty that no plastic surgery can replicate. It may not be scientific or modern, but it is heartwarming and pure.

So this Chanukah, bring the light of faith to your street and community, but remember that the warmth starts at home. Spend the time with your loved ones and make sure that they experience firsthand the miracle of Judaism. For their pure young souls are the miraculous candles that will light up the world, making a better and brighter future.

Have a good Shabbat and happy Chanukah. PJC Rabbi Elchonon Friedman is the spiritual leader of B’nai Emunoh Chabad. This column is a service of Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

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Obituaries BROWNMAN: Linda (Weinberg) Brownman, of Hollywood, Fla. on Nov. 29, 2017, after a courageous fight with cancer, and surrounded by her loving family, passed away at the age of 81. Born in Pittsburgh on September 23, 1936, to the late Oscar and Tema Weinberg. In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her loving husband Stanley Brownman and her brothers Leo Weinberg and Marvin Weinberg. She is survived by her adoring children Jimmy (Susie) Cohen, Tracey Cohen and Heidi (Joe) Benz, twin sister of Sandra Weinberg, her grandchildren Andrea Cohen, Erica (Justin) Leffakis, Tiffany (Edward) Sanchez, Jason (Tiffany) Cohen, Stephanie (Elijah) Shropshire, Jonathan (Taylor) Cohen, and her great-grandchildren

Japan: Continued from page 10

In Israel, schoolchildren are regularly drilled in procedures in the event of an attack. They practice evacuating classrooms quickly and calmly into on-campus bomb shelters that are equipped to protect against chemical weapons attacks. These drills often have a lighthearted approach — many students relish the activity as a welcome break from the school routine.

But in Japan, such drills — combined with constant news about the North Korea threat — are making “people feel very worried” in a country without an army, said Hidetaka Muto, a Tokyo father of three who works as the right-hand man for Binyomin Edery, one of the city’s two Orthodox rabbis.

Also, unlike Israel, Japan largely lacks the infrastructure to protect the population in the event of an attack. For example, at the Kamimatsuyama Elementary School in Sakura, a city located 75 miles north of Tokyo, a recent drill entailed faculty and pupils running across the yard to the sound of a siren and the words “Missile launched! Missile launched!” In the yard’s center, the students squatted low with arms covering their heads.

Madison, Zoie, Jaxson, Edward (EJ), Micah and Samantha (Sammi), and also her many nieces, nephews and friends. She loved to tap dance, garden and ride her bike. She adored her granddogs, Romeo, Charlie, Buddy, Angel, Brady and Chico. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Humane Society of Broward County.

GOLDFARB: Soralie (Levin) Goldfarb passed away peacefully with her family by her side on December 2, 2017. She was 86 years old. Soralie was the wife for 62 years of Ed Goldfarb and loving mother to Jane Goldfarb and Larry (Ann Schnaper) Goldfarb, and adoring grandmother to Daniel, Jonathan and Aashma Goldfarb. Soralie was preceded in death by her beloved sister Reda

“We haven’t got a nuclear shelter or even strong buildings, so this is all we can do,” Nakamura Takashi, an official of Sakura City who helped to organize the missile defense drill, told Time magazine in September.

“The government says you have a much higher survival rate if you crouch rather than stand up,” he added.

Because of Japan’s history as the only nation that was attacked with nuclear weapons, the North Korea threat plays upon nightmares that remain very much alive in the national consciousness. Japan’s defeat in World War II, following the nuclear bombing by the United States of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, left its society with a nuclear trauma reinforced in movies, comic books and popular culture, Muto explained.

“So it’s particularly disturbing to come again under this threat for the first time in almost 80 years,” he said.

By contrast, the rabbi’s wife, Efrat Edery, who was born in Israel and, at 40, has nine children, isn’t particularly worried.

“What, the North Korea thing?” she said.

“I see it on the news but, to tell you the truth, I’m not really concerned. I think it’s all talk and I don’t get the feeling that Japanese people around me are particularly worried about it, either.”

Please see Obituaries, page 25

basement where the first Jewish settlers from Eastern Europe used to pray. With its wooden decor that marries Jewish and Japanese symbols, it is also one of the country’s prettiest, attracting non-Jewish visitors from across Japan to the resident congregation of some 100 Jews.

The city’s earliest Jewish settlers came here to flee persecution in Eastern Europe and explore the potential of the newly opened market, Vishedsky said. And they remained protected throughout World War II, when their brethren were butchered in their home countries.

In fact, Japan is the only member of the pro-Nazi Axis powers whose Jewish population grew during the Holocaust. That’s largely thanks to Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who in 1941 was serving in Lithuania. In defiance of his superiors’ orders, he issued visas to thousands of Jews who thus were able to flee the advancing Nazis and survive the war in Japan and its occupied areas in China.

Despite this new threat from North Korea, Jews can still feel safe in Japan, according to Moshe Gino, a member of the Kobe Jewish community who settled here in the 1990s and has two children with his Japanese wife, who converted to Judaism.

“That’s a constant,” he said. PJC

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Lior Pasternak, an Israeli father of two from the western city of Izumiotsu, which is located just 500 miles from North Korea’s southern border, was equally dismissive.

“I’m pretty sure this posturing by North Korea will not lead to violence because even the loudmouth in Pyongyang doesn’t want to mess with Donald Trump,” he said in reference to dictator Kim Jong-un and America’s president.

“Besides,” added Pasternak, a former combatant in the Israeli armored corps, “for a Jew and an Israeli, it’s never a good idea to get frightened by threats, or we would have to leave or freak out pretty much everywhere we live.”

Yet Japan is precisely one of a handful of places where Jews had been able to live threat-free lives — including during the Holocaust. Jews came to this country for its safety and opportunities shortly after Japan ended its policy of isolation in the latter half of the 19th century, according to Shmuel Vishedsky, the rabbi of Kobe. His city near Izumiotsu, in Japan’s west, was one of the first places where Jews settled here.

Kobe, a bustling port city that is favored by many Western expats, is home to Japan’s oldest Jewish place of worship, which began in the early 1900s. The city’s synagogue, Ohel Shelomoh, was built in 1970 atop the storage

theater company in the Pittsburgh area including the Odd Chair, Little Lake and White Barn theaters. She also produced and directed theater productions for the Jewish Community Center. An animal lover, she volunteered at the Pittsburgh Zoo. In her later years she explored even another side of her creativity by painting landscapes.

She and her husband, Ed, enjoyed traveling abroad, including two recent trips to New Zealand to visit their grandchildren, one while recovering from recent surgery.

Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Beth Abraham Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.

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(Leroy) Bloom and brother Marvin (Lenore Cohen) Sleisenger, M.D. Also survived by many cherished nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Soralie was raised in Squirrel Hill, and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.F.A. from the School of Drama in 1953 and received a master’s degree in deaf education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965.

She was a devoted teacher at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and the Pittsburgh Public Schools for 38 years.

Along with teaching and raising a family, Soralie pursued her love for acting for many years with leading roles at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. She acted in just about every

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24 DECEMBER 15, 2017

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 24

HIRSH: Charles Gene Hirsh, son of the late Sophie and Manny Hirsh, died on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at the age of 82. “Chas” is survived by his wife, Elissa Karp Hirsh, who was the center of his life for 46 years. Chas is also survived by two daughters and their families: Rabbi Erin Hirsh, son-in-law Ezra Sherman and granddaughter Zoe Hirsh Sherman of Glenside, Pa; and Amanda Hirsh, son-in-law Dan Hirsh and grandson Ryan Hirsh of Pittsburgh. Being the father of two strong, successful daughters and the grandfather of two cherished grandchildren were the most gratifying parts of his life. Chas is also survived by his beloved sister, Joan Hirsh Chelemer and in-laws, the late Harold Chelemer, Diane Karp Rudov and Walter Rudov, Norman Karp and Nancy Friedman Karp, as well as many nephews, nieces and cousins. Born in 1934, Chas grew up in East Liberty. He was always proud that Hirsh’s Drug Store, owned and operated by his pharmacist father, was a longtime fixture of the neighborhood. Chas learned to value generosity and compassion by watching how his father treated his customers. Chas graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957 with a business degree and soon began a tremendously rewarding career as a high school teacher. He taught social studies, psychology and political science at Taylor Allderdice for 30 years. “Mr. Hirsh” was an inspiring teacher who loved to engage his students in robust discussions and created opportunities for them to learn outside the classroom. At 36, Chas met his beloved Lissa on a blind date and they were engaged four weeks later. Together, they raised Erin and Mandy in Squirrel Hill among close family and friends. Chas taught his daughters and his students about the importance of civic engagement, and he proudly lived his life accordingly. Chas’ liberal Democratic values were indivisible from his Jewish values, and a core sense of human dignity and compassion informed his politics and activism. A lifelong member of the ACLU, Chas served on the board and as vice president of the Pittsburgh chapter for many years. Chas joined the 14th Ward Club, where he became the committeeman for his district and was active in local politics for the next 40 years. He was proud to be the treasurer for Rich Fitzgerald’s campaign for City Council. Chas and Lissa co-founded the Beeler Street Association and became active members of Congregation Dor Hadash, where Chas served as vice president of ritual and then of administration. Chas represented Dor Hadash on the board of East End Cooperative Ministry, through which he delivered Meals on Wheels in the neighborhood in which he was raised.

Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Homewood Cemetery.

The family would appreciate contributions in Chas’ memory and suggests three organizations in particular: the American Civil Liberties Union, PO Box 23058, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or Congregation Dor Hadash, 5898 Wilkins Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Brother’s Brother, 1200 Galveston Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233.

KLEINMAN: Elliott Kleinman, on Friday, December 8, 2017. Beloved husband of Rita Kleinman. Beloved stepfather of Ronald (Charlene) Kubitz, Nancy (Rodney) Matheson and Robert (Ryan Muchmaker) Kubitz. Brother of the late Irma Seewald.

Loving grandfather of Dan (Katelyn Panfil) Kubitz, Ilana Matheson, and Zach and Zoe Kubitz. Also survived by two great-grandchildren, Kamryn and Kendall, as well as nieces and nephews. The family would like to acknowledge the care provided by his caretakers, Beth Kanee and Jamee Connors.

Services were held at Beth Shalom Cemetery.

Donations may be made to FurKid Rescue.

5815 Kings School Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102 or New Light Synagogue, 5898 Wilkins Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. LANG: Charlotte E. Lang on Monday, December 4, 2017.

Beloved mother of Robert H. Lang. Grandmother of Michael K. and Mark K. Lang.

Charlotte had no brothers or sisters and had only one child but she touched the lives of so many. She especially was proud of being a graduate of Carnegie Tech, of serving her country in World War II as a civilian employee in the Department of the Navy working in the office of the Inspector of Naval Materials, her career as a medical technologist and her family and many friends. She made friends and kept them for decades. She will be truly missed by all who loved her. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Frick Park Lawn Bowling Club of Pittsburgh, c/o Patricia Goetz, 425 Dorseyville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15215 or Veterans Breakfast Club Of Pittsburgh, 200 Magnolia Place, Pittsburgh, PA15228.

MILLER: Arnold Miller, on Thursday, December 7, 2017. Beloved husband of the late Ruth Miller. Beloved father of David M. (Iris) Miller, Richard and Gary Miller. Brother of the late Sidney Miller. Grandfather of Drew, Eli, Natan, Tamar Tova, Noam and Devorah Ruth Miller. Graveside services and interment were held at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery/Beth El Section. Contributions may be made to Temple Emanuel of South Hills, 1250 Bower Hill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. POMERANTZ: David Pomerantz, on Saturday, December 9, 2017. Beloved husband of the late Elaine Fox Pomerantz. Beloved father of Jolene (Rich) Brozi, Shelley (Joe) Tavis and Sanford (Ann) Pomerantz. David was preceded in death by his siblings, Bella Levine, Harold, Sidney and William Pomerantz.

Grandfather of Jessica (Shawn) Bulsak, Stephanie (Daryl) Lucas, Amanda (John) Bonar, Jason (Melissa) Owens, Daniel Pomerantz, Jeremy Pomerantz and the late Joshua Tavis.

Great-grandfather of Nicole, Dallas, Jacob, Olivia, C.J., Brooklyn, Atley, Hayden, Greysen, Hudsen, William and Ajay. Also survived by nieces and nephews. David proudly served in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Washington in the South Pacific during World War II. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment at Ohav Zedeck Cemetery, Shaler Twp. Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. PJC

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

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Reggie Bardin .................................................. Charles Bardin

Michael & Nancy Lichtenstein ..........................Jack Ginsburg

Beverly Blatt .......................................................... Simon Blatt

Arlene Murphy ........................................ Dr. William Ratowsky

Joel Broida ......................................................Helen N. Broida

Rona Mustin ......................................... Dorothy Sacks Mustin

Harry & Ruthie Davidson....................... Florence G. Davidson

Marc Rice, M.D. ................................... Rose Schwartz Bodek

Gerald Gold ......................................................Theodore Gold

Simma & Lawrence Robbins ......................... Sara Rosenberg

Lynne Gottesman............................ Fred & Esther Gottesman

David & Susan Rosenberg ..............Edward David Rosenberg

Lynne Gottesman..................................Lewis & Lena Wesoky

Karen K. Shapiro ......................................Esther Levy Shapiro

Dr. Harold Lenchner .........................................Betty Lenchner

Robert Soltz ......................................................... Fannie Soltz

Michael Levin .......................................Gertrude Shakespeare

Richard S. Stuart ..............................................Celia Liberman

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday December 17: Thelma Chizeck, Jacob Coon, Julius B. Epstein, Jacob Goldblum, M.D., David Goodwin, Lawrence Louis Green, Mollie G. Kartub, David Aaron Liebman, Bella Marians, Dorothy Mustin, Anna Natterson, Rebecca Oppenheim, Annette Reidbord, Edward David Rosenberg, Howard Bernard Schwartz, Selma Schwartz, Milton Shermer, Bertha Tabachnick Monday December 18: Samuel Avner, Helen N. Broida, Esther F. Busis, Murray D. Goldstein, Mary Malyn, Louis Marlin, Alex Pollack, Nathan A. Potosky, Annette Reicher, Sara B. Rosenberg, Hattie Shire, Max Shulman, William Silk, Della Ruth Stearns, Louis F. Stein, Mildred Weiner Tuesday December 19: Henry Abelson, Carl Anish, Milton Backal, Baruch Berenstein, Bert Bergad, Sydney Bertenthal, Fredric Alvin Green, Philip Katz, Joseph Levy, Ella Markowitz, Louis Miller, Gust H. Oppenheim, Ralph Pecarsky, Sol E. Podolsky, Abraham W. Shapiro, Rae Specter, Bernard H. Weiss, Ann Whiser Wednesday December 20: Emma F. Brody, Isadore Caplan, Samuel Davis, Samuel Finkel, Louis Gallet, George J. Golden, Joseph Goldhamer, Celia Kaddell, Charles Kanselbaum, Lina Kapner, Phillip Larry Katz, Louis Kessler, Sarah E. Kramer, Blanche Levine, Louis Monsein, Jacob Robinson, Shirley B. Samuels, Sarah Stein, Albert Zweig Thursday December 21: Pearl Alinikoff, Ethel Berry, Beyne R. Bricklin, Ida Briskin, Sheldon A. Cohen, Thomas Cohen, Nettie Ebel, Charles Finesod, John J. Fischer, Arnold Kanselbaum, Gertrude C. Kimball, Samuel Fishel Londo, Sgt. Max Marcus, Mollie Rubin Pretter, Joseph Recht, Harry Rice, Charlotte June Ruthrauff, Fannie Shapiro, Erma R. Spielberger, Ralph Morris Swartz Friday December 22: Max L. Berg, Leah Birnkrant, Moses Bluestone, Paul Cooper, Sadie Mermelstein Feinberg, Celia Garber, Henrietta Goldman, Phillip Goodman, Nathan Greenberg, Rose B. Gross, Ethel Farber Hoyt, Yetta Klein, Dr. Marvin Kurfeerst, Celia Levin, Ruben Marcus, Samuel Neustein, Belle Mandell Rodin, Ruth Sachs, Bessie Sands, Abraham Schulman, Julius Shapiro, Louis Shapiro, Raymond Weinberg, Bella Zeman Saturday December 23: Anna Arnowitz, Freda Blumenfeld, Dora Cole, Anna Sanes Cukerbaum, Esther Davis, Caroline Falk, Theodore Gold, Abe Goldstein, Josephine Levine Gottlieb, Ada Hilsenrath, Anna Hinkes, Harry Kellman, Harry Klatman, Josiah Drotman Lazar, Harry Levinson, Samuel Mandelblatt, Abe Mullen, Jennie Shaffer, Tillie Simon, Louis B. Supowitz, William Zeidenstein

PITTSBU RGH NEWEST ’S FUNERA L HOME

• Serving the Pittsburgh Jewish Community with Traditional Jewish funerals • Specially Developed Taharah Room with Mikva facilities for Chevra Kadisha • Accommodations for Shomer • Guaranteed advanced funeral planning LOCALLY OWNED and OPERATED

1650 GREENTREE ROAD • PITTSBURGH, PA 15220 412.563.2800 • FAX 412.563.5347

DEBORAH S. PRISE Licensed Jewish Funeral Director

SERVING Scott Twp., Greentree, Carnegie, Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park

Your family can take comfort in knowing that we follow all Jewish Traditions & Rituals.

We take time to plan every detail and help relive the burden on you and your family.

Our purpose is to serve you and your family, by offering professional service and caring support through High Standards and not High Costs.

The Rapp Funeral Home, Inc.

10940 Frankstown Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235

Bernadette L. Rose, F.D. Supervisor 412-241-5415

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DECEMBER 15, 2017 25

Community At CMU Hillel t Pictured is Carnegie Mellon University Hillel’s newly elected executive board. From left: Talia Solomon, Gabi Brik, Jadon Grove, Jordan Safer, Alan Menaged, Avital Rabinovitch and Cece Brower

Photo courtesy of Hillel Jewish University Center

At Temple David t From left: Erin Frank, Rachael Farber, Joseph Raithel, Robin Sloan, Sammy Sloan and Minda Raithel enjoy the “The Lion King” and a sing-a-long.

t Olivia Bakaturski prepares latkes for the upcoming Chanukah dinner.

26 DECEMBER 15, 2017

p Members of the Jew-nior Youth Group are making dog biscuits to help support the Tiny Cause organization as part of the Weiger School’s value curriculum.

Photos courtesy of Temple David

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Community Creative fun Students at Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Jewish Discovery Center get creative while exploring Jewish topics.

p Children build and furnish their own dollhouses while learning about all the mitzvot that can fill a Jewish home.

p Getting ready to spread the light, participants at Chabad of Pittsburgh’s Bar Mitzvah Club build their own wooden Chanukah menorahs.

At Hillel Academy

p Girls and boys create crown mosaics after hearing the stories of great Jewish kings.

Photos courtesy of Chabad of Squirrel Hill

How it works t Rabbi Eli Wilansky presented a Chanukah program for the Congregation B’nai Abraham Religious School and demonstrated how an olive press works to Ethan Binus.

p The pre-K classes came together to share a special Thanksgiving lunch. They talked about the many things they are thankful for and had a great time celebrating the holiday together.

u Religious school student John Miller examines the olives that will be used by Rabbi Wilansky in the press. The oil harvested from the olives was then spun in a centrifuge, and the pure oil used to light a Chanukiah.

t Michal, a nursery school student, shows off the adorable turkey centerpiece she made for her Thanksgiving table.

Photos courtesy of Congregation B’nai Abraham

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Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy

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