P I T TS B U R G H
March 23, 2018 | 7 Nisan 5778
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Candlelighting 7:17 p.m. | Havdalah 8:17 p.m. | Vol. 61, No. 12 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Former Wings guitarist to soar this weekend
CDS students participate in National Walkout
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One woman’s anger ignites grassroots activism By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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“Your voices are being heard at city government,” said the Democrat. “This shows you care. It shows that all lives matter. Not a lot of schools are doing what you’re doing.” While students from schools nationwide participated in the walkout, CDS was the lone Pittsburgh Jewish day school to offer an organized activity. Although similar action did not occur at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, Principal Rabbi Sam Weinberg explained that “students process tragedies in different ways, and when a horrific tragedy like the one in Parkland occurs it is important for our entire staff to be on the lookout for any grieving or distressed students. We are always there to listen and help our students in all aspects of their lives.” Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh did not return requests for comment. CDS Head of School Avi Baran Munro said that the walkout was student driven and that “this is the first time that Community Day School students have organized a demonstration like this.” “Kids across the country are being heard in ways that adults haven’t been,” she explained. “It’s inspirational. It feels like we built these
llen Katzen was “mad as hell.” Four days after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, in which 17 people were killed and another 17 were wounded when a former student opened fire inside the Parkland, Fla., school building, Katzen, 77, sent an email to 93 friends. Titled “mad as hell,” she wrote, “Dear friends, I am so angry about the school shooting in Parkland — and all other school shootings. I can’t stop thinking about all of the gun violence.” The Squirrel Hill resident had just returned from seeing “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” an award winning film which stars Frances McDormand as a determined mother who rents multiple billboards in an effort to challenge the town’s local police chief, played by Woody Harrelson, and address her daughter’s unsolved murder. After explaining that the movie had spurred a thought, Katzen closed her email with the words, “If you have a better idea — let’s get together and brainstorm and DO SOMETHING! I can’t stand what our country has become.” It was clear that “she was mad as hell,” said Laurie Moser, a recipient of Katzen’s message. What transpired next, though, was that “everybody rallied. It was really interesting; it was grassroots at its best.” Days after the email was sent a group of eight people gathered in Katzen’s home and crafted a three-pronged approach. Step one involves advertisements in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and the Pittsburgh PostGazette, designed to “raise some awareness and activate some people who are mad as hell and don’t know where to channel that anger.” “The hope is that we’ll be able to put that into some positive action,” said Moser, 70. Step two is to “support local students who
Please see Walkout, page 24
Please see CeaseFire, page 24
Lawrence Juber will help honor Rabbi Mahler. Page 4 LOCAL If no recount, Lamb by a nose Democrat edges out Saccone in nail-biting finish. Page 6 PASSOVER Modern-day plagues
Rabbis sound off on contemporary challenges. Page 18
Orelle Magnani, Dori Catz and Madison Zunder protest gun violence.
Photo courtesy of Community Day School
By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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s students around the country took part in nationally organized walkouts sparked by last month’s murder of 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school, more than 50 young adults at Community Day School in Squirrel Hill headed outdoors last Wednesday to offer voice, silence and solidarity with those seeking legislative attention on gun reform. “Good morning and thank you all for being here. Being out here as a community sends a strong message to our elected officials that mass shootings are not right,” eighth-grader Talia Rosen told students, staff, parents and friends who gathered outside the Gary and Nancy Tuckfelt Keeping Tabs Holocaust Sculpture on CDS’ campus. “We have all walked out here today to show our politicians what it really means to take action,” echoed fellow eighth-grader Ada Perlman, who along with Rosen organized the local student walkout. Attendees were encouraged to take a moment of silence to “commemorate all the victims that have been lost in such horrifying gun massacres,” explained Perlman. Among those present at the CDS walkout was City Councilman Corey O’Connor.
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