P I T TS B U R G H
January 26, 2018 | 10 Shevat 5778
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Rabbis, community members arrested at Dreamer protest
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Candlelighting 5:13 p.m. | Havdalah 6:15 p.m. | Vol. 61, No. 4 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
High schoolers prepare to confront BDS, anti-Zionism on campus
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Temple David celebrates 60 years of Jewish life in the eastern suburbs By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
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Local activists were among those arrested in D.C.
“When you don’t know your own story, then you let someone else decide how the conversation begins,” noted Ken Stein, professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israeli Studies at Emory University. “And when someone else decides how the conversation begins, then you are immediately put on the defensive. I would argue that knowing the story before you go to college, even knowing a small part of it, gives you an ability to play into the thinking game without necessarily always being put on the defensive.” Addressing the problem of Jewish college students not having the knowledge and confidence to talk about Israel, several Jewish communities across the United States have created initiatives to educate high school students on the complexities of the Jewish state. Pittsburgh launched its first iteration of such a program earlier this month, a project of the Jewish Life and Learning department of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Called the Israel Engagement Fellowship, the five-session course taught on Tuesday nights by Rabbi
oz Schwartz remembers the year 1958 as one filled with “optimism.” And why not? The cohort of Jewish families living in Monroeville, which she and her husband — along with five other couples — had organized, received its charter to establish Temple David that year and finally began the process of building a synagogue as a permanent home. Now, 60 years later, Temple David continues to be a hub of Jewish learning and spirituality in the eastern suburbs and will be marking its milestone anniversary with a series of celebratory events throughout the year. “We all had young children, and my husband and I were going out to Beth Shalom [in Squirrel Hill] for services,” Schwartz recalled. “We wanted a place to raise our children with a Jewish education out here in Monroeville. So, we started out by renting an old, creaky, empty house. Then we met in churches and a local movie theater.” By 1960, the congregation, which had grown to about 125 people, had raised enough funds to begin construction of the temple located on Northern Pike, where the Reform community of Monroeville continues to congregate. “After several years of a nomadic existence, we were able to realize our Temple David building,” Schwartz said. What are now called the “eastern suburbs” of Pittsburgh was rural countryside for the first half of the 20th century, explained Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center, in an email. “There were Jewish merchants living in
Please see Engagement, page 16
Please see Temple David, page 17
Page 2 LOCAL City Council race heats up Four candidates now vying for Gilman’s seat Page 3
The five-session Fellowship course gives students a chance to engage with the topic of Israel. Photo by Rabbi Danielle Leshaw By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer
LOCAL Women’s March in Pittsburgh
Area activists took to the streets to call for equal rights. Page 4
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upport for Israel among Jewish college students is declining dramatically, according to a study commissioned and published last year by the Brand Israel Group. While in 2010, 84 percent of American Jewish college students favored the Israeli position in its conflict with the Palestinians, that percentage plummeted to just 57 in 2016. The drop in young Jews’ support for Israel escalated during the Obama years, a period of often strained U.S./Israel relations. Those years also saw a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Israel initiatives on campus that were supported by groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, both proponents of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement. Jewish students who have had little or no education regarding Israel’s history and the politics of the Middle East are finding it difficult to respond to even outrageous claims made by those who oppose Israel, often not able to discern facts from distorted narratives or outright lies.
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