Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 6/15/2018 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

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June 15, 2018 | 2 Tammuz 5778

Candlelighting 8:34 p.m. | Havdalah 9:43 p.m. | Vol. 61, No. 24 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Friendship Circle’s ‘gateway’ to the community

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Jewish Pittsburgher has insider’s view of everyone’s favorite ‘Neighbor’

AgeWell at the JCC offers lunchtime community. Page 3 LOCAL A lifetime of making a difference

By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

A photography, according to his father, Martin L. Supowitz. Still, Michael doesn’t go out to take photos on a “regimented” schedule, but rather whenever it piques his interest. “It’s a casual hobby, but it’s something he’s really good at,” Martin Supowitz said. “When he would go for walks along the river, he would just stop mid-stride and … something caught his eye and he would want to capture that image.” For years, though, his talent remained only a family secret. “For Michael, I think what’s great about the camera is it’s an outlet to allow his creativity to come out and sort of see the world through his eyes,” said pop artist Burton Morris, Michael’s cousin. “That’s what I really find fascinating.” Three years ago, the Supowitz family agreed to provide one of Michael’s photos for the Friendship Circle’s annual fundraising auction, and have continued to do so each year. Michael’s photos have sold for “a lot of money,” according to his father, and helped

udiences of the new documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” can’t help but come away from the film with an appreciation of Pittsburgh legend Fred Rogers as not only a person whose personal values mirrored those he projected on television, but as an inspired innovator who refined a radical approach to engaging children through media. Cathy Cohen Droz, who began working with Rogers in 1979 at WQED as associate producer of the iconic “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” credits her late colleague for both positively influencing the ways that television could be used and helping to create a new generation of better parents. Droz, a member of Temple Sinai, worked on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” until 1983 and has since taken on other projects at Fred Rogers Productions, including multiple books and audio recordings, a play space installation at a mall, and a hands-on children’s museum exhibit. She is currently helping to create a “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” website which will launch in September. “Fred understood the power of the medium,” said Droz, who worked alongside Rogers until he died in 2003. “He was very astute. He knew how he could use the medium to talk to individuals and to talk to children. This was radical at the time. He wasn’t performing on television. He was talking directly to the viewers. “I think Fred really impacted the way people used television,” she continued.

Please see Windows, page 16

Please see Neighbor, page 16

Longtime educator Roz Rosenblatt passes away at 84. Page 4 LOCAL ‘Divas’ take TOL*OLS’ bima

 The photography of Michael Supowitz, a longtime member of Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, is on display in the windows of the organization.

Photo by Michael Supowitz

By Jonah Berger | Chronicle Intern

W Female cantors celebrate Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers. Page 6

alking down the bustling Murray Avenue sidewalk, one can feel far removed from the sights and scenes that make Pittsburgh famous. But the city’s iconic bridges, elegant rivers and captivating parks are never far away. That is made abundantly clear by the new exhibit on display in the windows of the Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, which showcase the photography of Michael Supowitz, 25, a longtime member of the organization. The Friendship Circle is a nonprofit which, according to its mission statement, “engages youth and adults with diverse abilities in a full range of social activities.” With a simple pocket camera — no tripod or other posh devices — Supowitz attempts to capture the essence of the Steel City. The six photos of his currently on display at the Friendship Circle encompass a wide range of Pittsburgh scenes: from a snowdrenched river bed to a viridescent forest cut through by a railroad. Since the age of 15, Supowitz has taken to

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Headlines Jewish Music Festival to highlight works by Russian-Jewish composers — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

ittsburgh audiences will be treated to an evening of Yiddish art song and instrumental chamber music as the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival returns to Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Levy Hall on Monday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. following a four-year hiatus from live performances. Featured in the program, titled “Hebrew Melodies,” will be repertoire by Russian-Jewish composers affiliated with the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music (1908-1918), focusing on works by the violinist and composer Joseph Achron, including several newly discovered chamber ensemble versions arranged by Achron himself. “Three Hebrew Workers’ Songs” and incidental music to “The Golem” will be performed from the composer’s manuscripts, having rarely been performed in public. While the Festival’s Pittsburgh concerts were discontinued for the past four years as a result of director Aron Zelkowicz having moved to Boston, the Festival has nonetheless continued its outreach by releasing internationally distributed commercial recordings. “Each year we’ve put out a new CD devoted to a different composer as part of a ‘Russian Jewish Classics,’” Zelkowicz said in an email. “These albums are released and distributed by Toccata Classics, an independent classical music label based in London that specializes in unknown composers. As a result, the performances we’ve given to Pittsburgh audiences have been broadcast in New Jersey, reviewed in Germany and the Netherlands, and are even distributed in Asian markets.”

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p Aron Zelkowicz

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The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival was founded in 2004 by Zelkowicz, a cellist. Since then, the Festival has programmed over 150 pieces of classical chamber and orchestral music inspired by Jewish traditions. One of the motivations for the return concert, Zelkowicz said, “is the opportunity to record the sixth volume in this series devoted to the music of Joseph Achron. The CDs really wouldn’t be complete without some contribution from Achron, who was perhaps the most celebrated composer to have emerged from this group of Russian composers who worked with Jewish source material a century ago.” Achron was part of a group of composers working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who wanted to compose Jewish classical music “the same way that people like Tchaikovsky were writing Russian classical music and Franz Liszt was writing Hungarian classical music,” explained Samuel Zerin, a musicologist and founder of the Joseph Achron Society. The music created by that group, Zerin

a thing, and Jewish folk music is a thing, and it’s really because of them.” Audiences who are familiar with Achron know him primarily through his works for violin, mainly, the “Hebrew Melody” and “Hebrew Lullaby,” according to Zelkowicz. The June 25 program, however, will focus on some of his more obscure pieces. “Achron actually created different arrangements of some of his most popular works, like the ‘Canzonetta’ or the ‘Hebrew Melody,’” Zelkowicz said. “This program includes essentially unknown versions for voice with string accompaniments, some of them straight from Achron’s unpublished manuscripts. We’ll get to experience his craft as a miniaturist, conveying a world of moods in songs that run less than three minutes each.” The program will also include music by Achron’s colleagues Alexander Zhitomirsky, Hirsch Kopit and Lazar Saminsky. Featured vocalist Tehila Nini Goldstein, an Israeli whose career is based in Europe, will be flying into Pittsburgh from Berlin for the concert. “Tehila has already performed some of Achron’s songs with the pianist and scholar Jascha Nemtsov, who is the leading authority on composers like Achron and his fellow colleagues from the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music,” Zelkowicz said. “The songs will be performed in either Yiddish, Hebrew, or Russian.” In addition to the soprano, the concert will feature eight instrumentalists: a string quartet, pianist, clarinet, trumpet, and horn. Tickets are available at chambermusic pittsburgh.org. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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continued, is not only important because it is Jewish music, but because “it’s really great classical music even if you forget the Jewish aspect of it.” These works, he added, are also significant because their composers proved that Jewish music did in fact exist as a genre despite the fact that Jews as a people were not associated with a particular country as were, for example, Russians and Germans. “A lot of people today take for granted that there is such a thing as Jewish music,” said Zerin. “If you ask someone what Jewish music is, they will say klezmer music, or synagogue music, or Yiddish folk songs. But even 100 years ago, there was a lot of debate over whether such a thing as Jewish music even existed in the first place.” Naysayers, beginning in the mid-19th century and continuing until the early 20th century, “were saying there is no such thing as Jewish music, it can’t possibly exist, it doesn’t make any sense. How could music be Jewish? You can talk about Russian music because there is a place called Russia, and there are people called the Russian people. And you can talk about German music because there is a place called Germany and there are German people, but what music do Jews have?” Achron and his colleagues began collecting Jewish music “and figuring out what was Jewish about it,” Zerin said. “They are the ones that started researching synagogue music and figuring out what is Jewish synagogue music. They are the ones that started researching klezmer music and started figuring out what is klezmer music and what makes it different from Polish music or Russian music, and it wasn’t an easy process. They were really pioneers in this whole field of research, and nowadays klezmer music is

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Headlines Friendships and fresh food are always available at J Cafe — LOCAL — By Jonah Berger, Lauren Rosenblatt and Adam Reinherz

andwiched between classrooms and windows overlooking an aquatic center is the heart of senior life in Squirrel Hill, as each day, more than 125 Allegheny County residents between the ages of 60 and 104 frequent J Cafe, a station-based eatery at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. The pop-up restaurant, located within Levinson Hall, affords camaraderie to elderly denizens of the county, some of whom travel more than 40 miles for lunch. “I come every day. Almost,” said Morris Hundley, of Tarentum. Although “parking is a little shaky” and the trip is long, the 72-year-old returns daily to a familiar space with friends. Situated beside Hundley was Point Breeze resident Julie Murphy, 69. For the past five years, she and Hundley have sat together in the bistro-like setting. “We’re missing one of our companions,” said Murphy, acknowledging an empty chair at the circular table. “If somebody is missing,

p Bronia Weiner, 98, and Manny Kolski, 103, both of Squirrel Hill, enjoy a friendly lunch at J Cafe. Photo by Adam Reinherz

we question where they are.” Such sentiment drives friendships throughout the program; members and staff look out for unexpected absences or even changes in behavior, said Amy

Gold, information and referral specialist at AgeWell at the JCC. Aiding the enterprise are a steady corps of volunteers, who serve food and converse with seniors. While many helpers are teen-

agers who attend local schools — including the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh, a local school which provides young people and their families with a “specialized continuum of services,” according to its website — the volunteers range in age from 16 to 104. “I’m happy when people come, and it feels good helping,” said Bela Skotnevskaya, 83. Hailing from Belarus, Skotnevskaya has volunteered for 15 years at J Cafe. The opportunity to converse with fellow seniors provides myriad benefits as well. “Studies have shown that getting out, interacting, and socializing really helps older adults remain independent and at home for much longer,” Gold noted. In addition, according to the National Institute on Aging, socialization improves a wide range of health biomarkers in older adults, reducing the risk of developing depression, Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure and various other conditions. Even before the doors open at 11 a.m. and the sound of metal silverware clattering on ceramic plates fills the room, the retractable walls reverberate noise. On most days, eager eaters arrive early, cluster in a nearby vestibule and share Please see J Cafe, page 18

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JUNE 15, 2018 3

Headlines Roz Rosenblatt remembered as Jewish educator and communal worker — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

oslyn “Roz” Rosenblatt, a Jewish educator who parlayed her innate understanding of community into a successful career as a religious school administrator, United Jewish Federation staffer and ultimately executive director of PPG Industries Foundation, died Monday, June 4 at her home in Oakland. Rosenblatt was 84. Long before the term “social network” was a part of common parlance, Rosenblatt recognized links in what others confused as cloudy connections in a community. That ability to understand people and craft meaningful relationships across religious, ethnic and socioeconomic divides aided her in each professional endeavor, explained her son, David. After graduating from McGill University with an undergraduate degree in education and sociology and a Master in Social Work, she began employment at Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS) of Montreal. Following her marriage in July 1957 to Harvey Ben Rosenblatt, the young couple moved to Pittsburgh, where she took on work at the local JFCS.

p Roz Rosenblatt

p Junior synagogue — led and run by the students — was a significant part of Roz Rosenblatt’s Hebrew school program. This is a picture of the board from the late 1970s. Photo courtesy of David Rosenblatt

Upon informing her employers that she had become pregnant with her first child, Rosenblatt was told that she could only return after her baby had reached the age of 2. Having

an alternative understanding of work-life balance, she took a job in Jewish education. It was in that field that her brilliance began to JC TurnUpLife2016_Eartique 6/21/16 9:50 AM shine, noted Rabbi Stephen Steindel.

Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archive

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“Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor” Wednesday, June 20, 0, 1:15 PM Temple Sinai invites you to a timely discussion of American-born Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi’s New York Times Bestseller “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor” led by his student and friend, Rabbi Jamie Gibson. With this book, Halevi (in an interview on ReformJudaism.org) said he hopes to “trigger the ﬁrst public conversation between an Israeli writer and people in the Arab world about the legitimacy of the Jewish story and our shared future with the Palestinians.”

TURN UP LIFE, not the volume.

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Temple Sinai is an inclusive community that embraces, supports, and values all people, regardless of ability or needs, to participate in every aspect of our Reform Jewish synagogue life. If you need an accommodation, please call Judy Mahan at (412) 421-9715 ext. 110.

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Headlines Cycling couple headed to Krakow to see Jewish community leaders”; courses on Torah study and Arabic, Hebrew and Yiddish language meetups; children’s programming, such as Sunday school, By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer a nursery and student club; and daily opportunities for seniors, like sewing, culinary ocal cyclists and community activists workshops or playing bridge. Kristen and Matt Keller are headed The cumulative endeavors underway to Poland for a 55-mile bike ride at the JCC Krakow represent a revival, from Auschwitz to Krakow. For the Kellers, explained Matt. completing the distance is an opportunity to “It’s life and it’s growth,” added Kristen, put past and present in tandem. who explained that visiting Krakow has long “Matt and I are both very community been on the couple’s radar. focused in Pittsburgh. The Jewish commu“My parents traveled to Poland in fall of nity has been a mainstay in our lives, and to 2015 and they stumbled upon the JCC in see a Jewish community that is rebuilding Krakow,” she said. The holiday of Sukkot after such tragedy is really appealing to us. was approaching “and the JCC was putting We want to support and encourage that up their sukkah.” growth,” said Kristen. During that trip, Kristen’s parents met In pedaling from Auschwitz to Krakow, the Jonathan Orenstein, executive director of Kellers will be joining nearly 200 fellow cyclists Krakow’s Jewish Community Center, and in the Ride for the Living, a four-day event learned of RFTL. One year later, Matt toured scheduled between the JCC Krakow June 28 and July 1. while on a mission Now celebrating its with the Jewish fifth anniversary, Council for Public RFTL enables particAffairs. His positive ipants to “celebrate impression of the Jewish life in Poland” place and people by overlapping with mirrored Kristen’s the Jewish Culture parents’ perceptions. Festival, an annual “They both said event — this year it was amazing,” taking place June 23 recalled Kristen. to July 1 — welcoming So while considnearly 30,000 people. p Kristen and Matt Keller ering avenues to Photo courtesy of Matt Keller return, the Kellers Although some time will be spent on the saddle, much of realized that RFTL provided a perfect path. the Kellers’ stay will revolve around learning “We are able to combine our passions of more about Krakow’s rebirth, explained Jewish community and getting out and being Kristen. “It’s amazing that the commu- physical,” said Matt. nity is coming back from such tragedy and Like many of their fellow riders, the Kellers such destruction.” are committed to raising money to support Krakow, whose Jewish presence dates to Jewish life in Poland. While the collective the 13th century, experienced a fluctuation cause has netted $107,000, “Team Keller” in Jewish residents during the 20th century. helped secure $2,200. Those interested in According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, learning more about their fundraising efforts a project of the United States Holocaust can visit jcckrakow.kindful.com/ride-forMemorial Museum, “on the eve of the war the-living-2018/team-keller. some 56,000 Jews resided in Krakow. … By Spending one day on a seat and others November 1939, the Jewish population of alongside fellow Jews represents something Krakow had grown to approximately 70,000.” much larger than themselves, explained Matt. Those figures starkly contrast with later “It is definitely very symbolic,” agreed counts, as following World War II, “some Kristen, who noted that exiting Auschwitz 4,282 Jews resurfaced in Krakow.” Although for Krakow represents “leaving darkness and that number shortly swelled to 10,000, death and heading toward light and life.” “pogroms in August 1945 and throughout It is also a chance to dispel myths and 1946, as well as [a] number of murders counteract behavior, said Matt. of individual Jews led to the emigration “In the news you hear so much about of many of the surviving Krakow Jews. the bad, especially in Europe and Poland By the early 1990s, only a few hundred you hear about the anti-Semitism, and yet Jews remained.” there is this growing thriving community More recently, the Jewish population in Krakow, and I want people to know it has rebounded. exists and they are family and we should be Currently, the Jewish Community Center there to encourage them, support them and of Krakow, which is celebrating its 10th continue to grow and fight what the trend anniversary, has 700 Jewish members. seems to be in Europe right now.” PJC Constituents of the communal hub enjoy Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ stratified offerings, such as adult activities including lectures on “great Polish-Jewish pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

— LOCAL —

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Headlines ‘Divas’ take the bima to celebrate Myers’ TOL*OLS installation — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

ust hours before the Israel-set “The Band’s Visit” swept the Tony Awards, another tribute to Broadway — and beyond — was playing at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Congregation as the singing group Divas on the Bima delivered a concert of familiar showtunes and unique takes on Hebrew standbys. All ordained cantors from the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary, the three “divas” were part of last weekend’s celebration of the formal installation of Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers as the spiritual leader of TOL*OLS. Myers, who began his tenure at the Squirrel Hill congregation last August, wanted Divas on the Bima to be part of his installation festivities to further his overall efforts to infuse the synagogue with more song. “There has been a rich tradition of cantorial music here that has been absent for way too long,” said Myers in an interview. “I want to bring that back.” The concert, which followed a cocktail reception and formal installation program, commenced with Myers joining the divas — Magda Fishman, Alisa Pomeranz-Boro and Elizabeth Shammash — on the bima for their opening number, “Ma Tovu.” The show that followed was a diverse repertoire of songs in Hebrew and English, with the women moving seamlessly from their trio to solos to duets, and equally easily from new and old Broadway classics to music based on Jewish liturgy. In addition to serving as hazzans at various congregations, the three divas also have broader musical backgrounds and experience. Fishman was both a singer and trumpet player in the Israeli Defense Forces, founded a band called Shorashim, and is now the cantor at Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn. Pomerantz-Boro comes from

a long line of cantors and rabbis and was among the first 12 women to be inducted into the Conservative movement’s Cantor’s Assembly. She is currently the cantor at Congregation Beth El in Voorhees, N.J. The third diva in the group, Shammash, was familiar to many in the audience: she was a former High Holiday soloist for Tree of Life in 2004. She has performed with several opera companies in the United States and in Israel, and is the cantor at Tiferet Bet Israel in Blue Bell, Pa. Highlights of the show included a Fishman and Pomerantz-Boro duet of “For Good” from the popular Broadway musical, “Wicked,” and Fishman’s Hebrew rendition of a Venezuelan showstopper — whose title translates to “Go Crazy” — in which she expertly delivered the frenetically fastpaced and lyric-dense piece, accompanying herself on trumpet. “Just listening to that song, I’m out of breath,” said Myers, as he again ascended

p Divas on the Bima, all ordained cantors from the Jewish Theological Seminary, delivered a concert of familiar showtunes and unique takes on Hebrew standbys as part of a weekend-long celebration of the formal installation of Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers as the spiritual leader of TOL*OLS. From left: Hazzans Magda Fishman, Elizabeth Shammash and Alisa Pomeranz-Boro. Photos by Toby Tabachnick

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the bima to belt out his moving interpretation of Leonard Bernstein’s “Maria” from “West Side Story.” While most tunes were adeptly accompanied on piano by Scott Stein, a New Yorkbased musician, the divas also performed an a cappella version of “Gesher Tzar Me’od,” melodically combining their voices simultaneously in Hebrew and English. Pomerantz-Boro, who is currently the international president of the Cantor’s Assembly, read a letter on behalf of the organization to Myers, congratulating him on his installation at TOL*OLS, and noting: “Clearly, your congregation already knows that you make a difference.” Additional highpoints of the show included Shammash’s poignant performance of a song from the musical “Stars of David,” from the perspective of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg being excluded from the shiva minyan for her mother because she is a woman, and Pomerantz-Boro’s take on Peggy Lee’s “I’m a Woman” — changing the lyrics to “I’m a hazzan … H- A- double Z- A- N.” In a tribute to the person whom he dubbed his “greatest inspiration” — his wife, Janice, a special education teacher — Myers picked up his guitar and performed George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun,” accompanied by three friends on additional instruments. The show concluded with the three divas and Myers on the bima together, joining in a final Hebrew number, followed by a standing ovation. Several of Myers’ rabbinic colleagues were in the audience for the show, including rabbi emeritus of the congregation, Alvin Berkun. For Myers, the weekend of events, which included a special kiddish luncheon on Saturday, marked the commencement of a meaningful relationship between him and the congregation — which had its roots as Tree of Life — established more than 150 years ago. “It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as the 10th rabbi of Tree of Life Or L’Simcha,” said Myers. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines Beyond the mug: creative Father’s Day gifts for the Jewish dad — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Senior Staff Writer

f you’re still debating between a necktie and a quippy coffee mug as a gift for your Jewish dad for Father’s Day on June 17, but wishing you could come up with something a bit more inspired, the Chronicle has you covered. Whether that special guy in your life is a foodie, a social justice champion or a bookworm, check out our list below of ways to say “thanks” to the dad in your life.

For the culturally enthusiastic dad

Take a road trip to Cleveland for a visit to the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, where admission for Dad is free on Father’s Day. The slightly more than two-hour drive to the suburb of Beechwood will be worth the trip to experience the Everyday Heroes Activity Center, which highlights “the values of everyday heroes, celebrating everyday superpowers within each of us through books, crafts, and movement,” according to the museum’s website. While there, you and Dad can explore the museum’s core exhibition, “An American Story.”

Hours on Sunday, June 17, are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For the socially conscious dad

sculpted fashion accessory measures about ¾ of an inch, retails for $30.00, and can be purchased online from Modern Tribe.

Make a donation in Dad’s honor to the Flower Project of Jewish Women’s International. For each $25 donation to the project, which allows JWI to create and send financial literacy resources to 200 domestic violence shelters across the United States, the organization will send one colorful, paper Father’s Day card with a personal message from you. Cards can be sent to anyone you choose to honor, including a father, brother, grandparent, uncle, in-law or friend. To order, go to: jwi.org/fathersday.

For the gastronome dad

For the funky, spunky dad

For the bookworm dad

How about a set of bagel, lox, cream cheese, red onion and caper cuff links? What dad wouldn’t want to conjure the image of the perfect brunch entrée on his wrists? Billed as “too cool for shul,” the polymer clay, hand-

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Speaking of bagels, having them freshly baked and shipped from New York — and delivered right to Dad’s doorsteps — could be a failsafe gift not just for professed foodies, but really anyone. Check out the Bagel of the Month club at bagelofthemonth. com, which offers several packages, from a one-month subscription of six bagels for $24.95, to 12 months of 13 bagels delivered for $399.00. The bagels are kosher, made by Bagel Boss under rabbinical supervision and baked by sixth generation bagel bakers. Your dad is sure to find these treats geshmak. If you’ve got a dad who likes to read, consider Jewish author Michael Chabon’s recently released collection of essays: “Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces” (Harper, 2018). The bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning, and

admittedly controversial, author of “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” and “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” — and father of four — ponders what it means to be a dad in seven essays based on his own experiences. “Chabon’s book feels like a late-night talk with a friend about how much we love our kids and how hopeful we are that we’re better dads than we fear,” wrote Judd Apatow in a review in The New York Times. In one essay, in which Chabon’s son, Abe, shows an interest in fashion, Chabon describes taking him to Paris Men’s Fashion Week and becoming aware of the tenuousness of a child’s emerging passion. “Chabon seems to understand the delicate nature of handling a child who is testing the waters of what could be a lifelong occupation or a passing fancy,” wrote Apatow. “One misplaced phrase or discouraging comment and something wonderful could suddenly vanish.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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CASE STUDY: FIRST-PARTY SPECIAL NEEDS TRUSTS

Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq.

Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney practicing at Marks Elder Law with offices in Squirrel Hill and Monroeville. Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com. Deborah was an adult with a disability. She had emotional issues and health problems and could not work. She lived in her own apartment on modest SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and fortunately had long been covered by Medicaid - a public health care benefit that pays for doctors, hospitals and her very expensive prescription medications. Deborah’s mom, Minnie, had planned properly so that when Minnie died, Deborah would inherit from mom in ways that would not jeopardize the needbased benefits that Deborah relied on (as described in last month’s column on Third Party Special Needs Trusts). As Medicaid and SSI both have income and assets limits, excess assets would disqualify Deborah. But then Deborah’s aunt died. With good intentions, the aunt left an inheritance directly to Deborah. Such funds received by Deborah as an inheritance (or as an injury settlement, for example) would make her ineligible for Medicaid and SSI benefits. The inheritance, instead of providing an extra benefit to Deborah, would be spent on her expensive prescriptions. Only when the money was spent could she re-apply for aid. The solution for Deborah to stay eligible for coverage and SSI AND still enjoy additional advantage from her inheritance was to create the right kind of “First Party Special Needs Trust.”

PLANNING FOR FAMILY MEMBERS WITH DISABILITIES – Part 2

Working with an elder and disability law attorney and a local nonprofit charitable trust organization, Deborah created a special needs trust using her own money, a “first party trust” (as compared to a “third-party trust” created for her by someone else with their money). Several important advantages (and disadvantages) resulted. •

The trustee organization reliably managed and invested Deborah’s money for her, along with investments from other trust beneficiaries, but still accounted for her funds separately.

•

The professional trustees handled all the accounting, tax filing, and compliance reporting requirements.

•

The nonprofit organization spent Deborah’s money only in ways that were allowed, to comply with the strict rules to maintain her Medicaid and SSI benefits.

•

As a bonus, the trained experts at the trust organization also helped Deborah to access new services and life skills, deal with her disability better than ever, and improve her quality of life.

A statutory special needs trust must be irrevocable and for the sole benefit of the disabled person under 65 and is subject to strict rules. Most often a professional, non-family Trustee is preferred to handle the complexity. The beneficiary can’t control the trust or the funds. Trust funds can be spent only for specified, qualifying uses and purposes. In a pooled trust, the trust remainder at the end does NOT go to the family, and instead must go either to pay back the government Medicaid agency benefit provider, or stay in the charitable pooled trust organization to help other trust group members with disabilities who have used up all their own trust money.

In a payback trust, any excess can sometimes be left to family or others. Payback trusts must be filed with and approved by both PA Medicaid and Social Security authorities. Conclusion: a person with a disability who receives money that would disqualify them from receiving needed benefits can instead create a first party special needs trust to both keep their benefits and also keep some access to their inheritance or settlement. At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you or your family.

A first party special needs trusts can help a person with a disability maintain eligibility for needed benefits, AND also enjoy additional value from an inheritance or settlement. There are ordinarily only two kinds of such trusts: “pay-back” trusts and “pooled trusts”. Both are created under laws passed by Congress. Following the statutory rules correctly promises a safe harbor or assured result.

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Calendar  WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 Jewish Family and Community Services will participate in World Refugee Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Market Square with international performers, food and crafts, children’s activities and an American citizenship oath ceremony. World Refugee Day was established in 2000 by the United Nations to honor the spirit, courage, and contributions of refugees worldwide.

>> Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions will also be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon.

Choices, Better Health six consecutive Tuesdays, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. in room 202. The workshop is free. Participants will actively be a part of brainstorming on key topics. Contact Amy Gold at 412-697-3528 for more information and to register.

 TUESDAYS TO JUNE 26

 EVERY WEDNESDAY

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh is hosting the workshop Better

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills at 1900 Cochran Road hosts a NarAnon and an

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 SUNDAY, JUNE 17 A motor coach will leave the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill for a trip to Fallingwater at 10:30 a.m. and will return at approximately 3:30 p.m. Visit the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, nestled within the lush, wooded Bear Run Nature Reserve. Tickets are $75 prepaid and include transportation and a one-hour tour of Fallingwater. Contact Deborah Marcus at dmarcus@jccpgh.org for more information. Before the Pittsburgh Playhouse officially “turns off the lights” at its Oakland campus and prepares to open its new theater complex downtown, join the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 1212 Smallman St. in a celebration of the many Jewish actors, writers, directors, stagehands, patrons and critics who have made the Pittsburgh Playhouse an iconic part of the cultural landscape of Pittsburgh for more than 80 years. See glamorous photographs and fascinating backstage materials from local playhouse legends including Nat Elbaum, Allan Pinsker, Helen Wayne Rauh, Eddie Steinfeld and many more. There is no charge. Contact Eric Lidji at eslidji@heinzhistorycenter.org or 412-454-6406 for more information or visit heinzhistorycenter.org/events/curtain-calljews-and-pittsburgh-playhouse.

q TUESDAY, JUNE 19 Almog Elijis, Israeli Consul for Media Affairs, will be in Pittsburgh to speak to the Jewish community about the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem, Gaza, and other current events in Israel at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, Levinson Hall. Reservations are requested to Emily Bernstein at ebernstein@jfedpgh.org or visit jfedpgh.org/almog-elijis.  WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 Rabbi Jamie Gibson of Temple Sinai will review and lead the discussion on the book “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor” at 1:15 p.m. by American-born Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi. Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. There is no charge. Visit templesinaipgh.org/bookgroup-book-review-rabbi-jamie-gibson for more information. AARP Squirrel Hill Chapter 3354 will hold its annual luncheon with entertainment at noon at the Comfort Inn, 699 Rodi Road in Penn Hills. The cost is $23 for members and $25 for guests. Nonmembers are welcome. Make checks payable to Marcia Kramer, 100 Bryn Mawr Ct., #311 East, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Contact Ilene Portnoy at 412-683-7985 for more information. The 27th annual NCSY Garden Sizzler, for adults only, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Butler Gardens, 5710 Bartlett St. Reservations can be made at centraleast.ncsy.org. Please see Calendar, page 9

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Minnie Sklar who both passed away this past year. They had been married 70 years. During his 26 year tenure, at Beth Shalom, Rabbi Sklar trained over 800 children for their Benei Mitzvah. He served as our Torah reader and was also our minyan leader for both morning and evening services. His contribution to our Beth Shalom community was immeasurable.

NA meeting every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Enter in the school/office entrance. Contact Karen at 412-563-3395 for more information.

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 THURSDAY, JUNE 21

Continued from page 8

Before he revived the movie musical with “An American in Paris” and “Singin’ in the Rain,” Gene Kelly worked as a dance instructor for Congregation Beth Shalom. The congregation paid Kelly $15 a week to teach dance classes for children on Sunday afternoons and to prepare for an annual springtime dance festival. The community is invited to a free program with Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives Director Eric Lidji as he reveals this unexpected historical connection through rare photographs and documents at 7:30 p.m. at Beth Shalom.

 THURSDAY, JUNE 21 Hadassah Greater Pittsburgh will have a Take Me Out to the Ball Game: A night with the Pirates at PNC Park event. The cost is $25 per ticket. Contact fsurloff@hadassah.org for more information. q SATURDAY, JUNE 23 Temple David in Monroeville will hold Trivia Night at 7 p.m. Questions will cover a wide variety of topics; prizes will be awarded. The cost is $15 per person, which includes food from Smallman Street Deli and one soft drink. Beer and additional soft drinks will be available for purchase. RSVP by Tuesday, June 19 at jessicar@templedavid.org or call the office at 412-372-1200. q MONDAY, JULY 2 Beth El Congregation will host its monthly First Mondays program with Rabbi Alex Greenbaum from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring guest Todd DePastino, historian and executive director of the Veterans Breakfast Club. He will be presenting Women in World War II. Visit bethelcong.org for more information. There is a $6 charge. Call 412561-1168 to make a reservation.

q TUESDAY, JULY 3

q MONDAY-FRIDAY JULY 16-20

Chabad of the South Hills will hold a senior carnival at noon with a picnic-style lunch, games and presentation by Home Instead on “Five tips to avoid hospitalization.” There is a $5 suggested donation; the building is wheelchair accessible. Call 412-278-2658 to register.

The Holocaust and the 21st Century: 2018 Summer Teachers’ Institute is a weeklong seminar that addresses a variety of topics to help educators gain the knowledge to teach about the Holocaust more effectively. Experts from around the country share the latest research and tools with participating

educators. This year’s topics are: America’s Response to the Holocaust; International Perspectives on Remembrance; AntiSemitism and White Supremacy; Multimedia Survivor Testimony; Working with Families of Survivors; and Propaganda and Media Literacy. The cost to attend is $200. Visit hcofpgh.org/summerinstitute2018 for more information. PJC

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Headlines â&#x20AC;&#x201D; WORLD â&#x20AC;&#x201D; From JTA reports

Quicken Loans makes it kosher for Orthodox Jews to take out a mortgage Orthodox Jews can continue to take out mortgages and other loans from Quicken Loans after the company resolved a Jewish legal problem. Agudath Israel of America, a major haredi Orthodox organization, issued a Jewish legal ruling in April prohibiting Jews from taking out loans from the Detroit-based company because it is majority-owned by Jews â&#x20AC;&#x201D; notably Dan Gilbert, who also owns the NBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cleveland Cavaliers. Quicken Loans, which claims to be Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest mortgage lender, also owns Rocket Mortgage, the online mortgage agency. Jewish law, or halachah, forbids Jews from charging interest to other Jews. So Jews are allowed to own mortgage agencies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and lend to non-Jewish customers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but they are not allowed to lend to fellow Jews. The biblical commandment against charging interest is known as ribbis dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oraisa. As of June 8, Quicken Loans adopted what is known as a heter iska, a technicality that changes the loan into a co-investment in which the lender and borrower become â&#x20AC;&#x153;business partnersâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one supplies the capital and the other uses it as they see fit.

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Agudah issued a statement notifying the community that Quicken Loans had adopted a global heter iska covering all mortgages initiated after June 8. The heter iska does not retroactively reclassify existing loans, however, according to Agudah spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran. Quicken Loansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; practice is to sell all loans shortly after they are made and thus do not need any further corrective action. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On behalf of Torah Jewry across America, we thank Quicken Loans for its sensitivity and devotion to the needs of the community,â&#x20AC;? the Agudah statement said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The company has exhibited true leadership in taking this bold move quickly and efficiently, trailblazing a clear path forward for the observant Jewish community. We are grateful for this and we express our deepest appreciation.â&#x20AC;? Patriotsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Julian Edelman apologizes to fans for failed drug test New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman responded to reports that he violated the NFLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policy on performance-enhancing drugs with an apology. Edelman is appealing the four-game suspension for the violation, which was reported first on Thursday by ESPN. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am very sorry â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what happened,â&#x20AC;? Edelman wrote last week on Instagram. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve taken many, many tests obviously over the course of my career, and nothing like this has ever happened. I

While being ranked #34 in Pennsylvania CZ`'PSCFT is truly an honor, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m QFSIBQT NPTU QSPVE UIBU JU SFĹ&#x2014;FDUT NZ commitment to addressing the full range of my clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs and helping them BDIJFWF XIBUĂ T NPTU`JNQPSUBOU Who you choose to work with as a wealth manager has never been more DSJUJDBM * IBWF UIF FYQFSJFODF BOE BDDFTT to global resources you need to help you pursue what matters mostâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;for today, UPNPSSPX BOE GPS HFOFSBUJPOT UP DPNF Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m honored by the trust that is placed JO NF CZ NZ DMJFOUT FWFSZ EBZ "OE * look forward to continuing to serve with EJTUJODUJPO Are you getting the advice you need to HJWF ZPV DPOĹ&#x2013;EFODF GPS ZPVS GVUVSF 5PHFUIFS XF DBO Ĺ&#x2013;OE BO BOTXFS -FF 0MFJOJDL Managing Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Wealth Management 8BMOVU 8FBMUI .BOBHFNFOU (SPVQ 6#4 'JOBODJBM 4FSWJDFT *OD 5600 Walnut Street Pittsburgh, PA 15232 412-665-9914

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10â&#x20AC;&#x192;JUNE 15, 2018

apologize to the Kraft family, my coaches, teammates and fans. As this matter is being appealed, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say any more but no matter what, I will be ready to play and pursue another championship with our team and for Patriots fans around the world.â&#x20AC;? Edelman, 32, will miss the Patriotsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; first four regular-season games. He would be permitted to participate in training camp practices and preseason games. The Jewish Pro Bowler missed all of last season after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. Edelman, one of quarterback Tom Bradyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite targets, is entering his 10th season. He has caught as many as 105 passes in a season, played in three Super Bowls, starred in a series of comedic videos and written a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book. In April, he was credited with helping to stop a potential school shooting by a Michigan teen. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wins 10 Tony Awards, including for best musical â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visit,â&#x20AC;? a jewel-box musical based on an Israeli film about an Egyptian band stranded in a hardscrabble Negev town, won the 2018 Tony Award for best musical. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visitâ&#x20AC;? dominated its categories during the 72nd annual Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall Sunday night. Ariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;el Stachel, the California-born son of an Israeli-Yemeni father and an Ashkenazi mother from New York, won the award for best featured actor in a musical for his

performance as a romantic Egyptian trumpeter in the musical. Tony Shalhoub (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Monkâ&#x20AC;?) won for Best Actor in a Musical and Katrina Lenk for Best Actress in a Musical for their roles as, respectively, the leader of the band and the Israeli cafe owner who takes him in. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visitâ&#x20AC;? also won awards for best book (by Itamar Moses), best direction of a musical, best original score (by David Yazbek), best lighting design, best orchestration and best sound design. In her acceptance speech, Lenk paid tribute to the late Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz, who originated her role in the film. Stachel, 26, is making his Broadway debut in â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Visit.â&#x20AC;? The play is based on the 2007 award-winning Israeli movie directed by Eran Kolirin. In his acceptance speech, Stachel acknowledged his parents, who were in the audience, saying the musical led him to again embrace an identity he had long avoided. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both my parents are here tonight. I have avoided so many events with them because for so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And after 9/11 it was very, very difficult for me, and so I concealed and I missed so many special events with them. And theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking at me right now and I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe it.â&#x20AC;? He also thanked producer Orin Wolf â&#x20AC;&#x153;for telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along at a time where we need that more than ever.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC

This week in Israeli history and director-general of the Jewish National Fund, is born in Moldova.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; WORLD â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

June 19, 1967 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; President Lyndon Johnson outlines five principles for peace in Middle East

Items provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.

June 15, 1949 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Moshe Sharett updates Knesset on the status of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s frontiers

In an address to the Knesset, Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett reconfirms Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to negotiate agreeable and sustainable terms of peace with its neighbors.

June 16, 1947 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Bronislaw Huberman passes away

Known as one of the most cherished violinists of his generation, and one of the greatest Jewish musicians of all time, Bronislaw Huberman passed away at his home in Switzerland at the age of 64.

June 17, 1939 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Jewish refugee ship SS St. Louis returns to Europe

The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany, returns to Europe after being refused entry into both Cuba and the United States.

June 18, 1890 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Avraham (Granot) GranovskyÂ is born

Speaking to a group of 800 educators at the State Department, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers an important foreign policy address, which includes five principles for peace in the Middle East.

June 20, 1914 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Poet Zelda is born

Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky (known simply as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zeldaâ&#x20AC;?), one of the most widely acclaimed and beloved Israeli poets, is born in Russia.

June 21, 1990 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Eliahu Eilat (Epstein) passes away

After a distinguished career in the service of Zionism and Israel, Eliahu Eilat passes away in Jerusalem at the age of 86.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC

Avraham (Granot) Granovsky, a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence

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Headlines Social media groups are helping new immigrants navigate life in Israel — WORLD — By Sam Sokol | JTA

ERUSALEM — Vanessa, a Venezuelan-American olah, or immigrant, had experienced a hard landing in Israel. Faced with persistent financial problems, she had trouble holding on to an apartment. Turning to the internet, she found Keep Olim in Israel, an online group dedicated to crowdsourcing solutions for newcomers to the Jewish state. There she found people who were able to help her solve her personal housing crisis. Later, after she underwent surgery, the same group, which boasts 40,000 members, helped arrange for well-wishers to visit during her convalescence. Chaz Tulin, a 32-year-old freelance computer programmer, had similar issues. Not long after Tulin arrived in Israel from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., his father had a stroke that left him immobile and required full-time care. Sued for his father’s medical bills, Tulin lost everything and ended up on the streets. While he eventually posted a request on Keep Olim in Israel for help in finding temporary lodging, for most of his time on the streets he acted as something of a voyeur, following along as other new immigrants poured out their woes on the internet. “It helped me when I was homeless to see people dealing with hardships in Israel,” he said. Eventually a friend from ulpan, or Hebrew classes, found Tulin on a Tel Aviv sidewalk and brought him to group founder LiAmi Lawrence, an American immigrant from Los Angeles. “I had beat-up sneakers that were falling apart and he gave me a pair of his soccer shoes, and I had a long beard at the time and he got me a barber cut,” Tulin said. “I think what was the most valuable thing was the moral support from him and others.” As in so many other areas, many immigrants to Israel have migrated online to discuss their problems and search for solutions, leading to the establishment of a plethora of groups dedicated to easing the often difficult and confusing experience of moving to Israel. Groups like Keep Olim in Israel, Ask an Israeli Lawyer, Support an Oleh and Living Financially Smart in Israel have all stepped in to fill the information gap and allow new immigrants to swap stories, ask each other for ideas and offer help when needed. The groups are also a window into some of the inevitable challenges of restarting one’s life in a foreign country — a topic that has spawned jokes about the meeting of idealism and reality. Arriving in Israel from Los Angeles in 2014 at the height of a war in Gaza, when missiles were falling across the country, Lawrence was certain that he was making a new start. Despite the conflict, life would be good. The 50-year-old Lawrence had held many jobs over the years, including model, press agent, radio host and planner of Israeli-themed parties. After being laid off

there was a man with cancer asking for help. ... He had no money for food, rent or to get to the hospital,” she recalled. “If you took a moment to look at his profile, you could see he was a very sick man. So I asked him for his address and sent him a small check. He called me thanking me in tears. “Next time I took a look at his profile [and] he had died,” she said. “I would think about him every so often and feel guilty that I did not do more. It was p Guests mingling at a Keep Olim in Israel clear to me that some olim do not have Hanukkah event in 2016. any support here in Israel, those who from his latest gig, he decided what he really have no family, those who are not part of a wanted to do was move to Israel. community, those who don’t quite fit in. So I Within less than a year of making aliyah, decided to start the group.” however, Lawrence found himself with “no Aside from providing emotional support, job, no money, no hope, no food” and a desire the online group has set up collection points to move back to the United States. Noticing for dried goods and toiletries throughout that many of his friends from ulpan had the country and provides supplies to new already left, he turned to Facebook, creating mothers and struggling olim who ask for a group and writing a long post detailing help via Facebook.

“ I had beat-up sneakers that were falling apart and he gave me a pair of his soccer shoes … I think what was the most valuable thing was the moral

”

support from him and others.

— CHAZ TULIN his woes. Within two days the group had thousands of members, all “venting and complaining and screaming and cursing in every language about their aliyah.” Surprised by the response, Lawrence decided to turn the group into a forum for immigrants (olim in Hebrew) to share experiences and tips. Around the same time, he connected with Tzvika Graiver, an Israeli attorney several years out of law school who had spent time volunteering for the American aliyah organization Nefesh B’Nefesh. Graiver suggested they create a nonprofit that could leverage the interest of the group’s members in assisting other newcomers. Many of its programs — including pairing new immigrants with Israeli families for the holidays, providing free legal advice and visiting the sick — have been facilitated by the easy communications afforded by social media. Lawrence and Graiver are especially proud of their role in easing restrictions on transferring foreign drivers licenses to Israel. They recently announced the formation of a small Knesset lobby for olim, headed by opposition member Ksenia Svetlova. Like Lawrence, Caroline Goldman was prompted to create her group, Support an Oleh, following an online interaction. “I was on Facebook a few years back and

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Other groups have a slightly different focus. Russell Mayer’s group Ask an Israeli Lawyer focuses less on the open crowdsourcing of other oleh groups and instead only allows accredited Israeli lawyers to post responses to queries.

p LiAmi Lawrence, right, is the founder of the Keep Olim in Israel group.

Photos courtesy of KeepOlim.org

Mayer, a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School who practices law in Jerusalem, said that he had been offering free or cheap legal advice for years through Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel. Eventually he said he “realized that many of those needing legal advice wouldn’t even think to contact those organizations and in many

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instances wouldn’t even know to whom to turn for legal advice.” With some 50 lawyers involved in the group of more than 8,700 members, Mayer estimates that “we have helped approximately 8,000 olim” over the years. Aside from legal issues, financial issues are also on many immigrants’ minds. The concern prompted financial adviser Rifka Lebowitz to create Living Financially Smart in Israel, which allows its members to ask financial questions necessary to ensure a successful move. “There are 23,000 people in the group. Everywhere I go in any context, people tell me they follow the group and have learned so much, saved so much, that it’s the most useful group on all of Facebook,” Lebowitz boasted. However, some experts, while acknowledging the utility of these online groups, have expressed reservations. Nefesh B’Nefesh, which partners with the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel in its traditional role of promoting immigration, is understandably protective of Israel’s aliyah and absorption establishment. While social media makes aliyah easier and online communities are “important channels for finding educational options, communities and employment opportunities among other relevant topics for olim,” said Marc Rosenberg, director of pre-aliyah for Nefesh B’Nefesh, “it is extremely important that when seeking advice, one should check that the information provided is current and being given by professionals in that specific field.” “Additionally, it is necessary to maintain perspective and realize that some comments and anecdotes are individual and don’t always reflect general experiences,” he said. Rosenberg added that Nefesh B’Nefesh runs its own online community where discussions are moderated by his organization’s professional staff. Josie Arbel, director of absorption services for the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, also was somewhat skeptical of the more freewheeling groups. “The reliability of the information is as good or as weak as the knowledge of the person who responds to your post,” she said. “I think it can be amazingly helpful in certain situations, but it can also be damaging. It has a place in people’s aliyah planning, [but] my concern is for hard information. “There are certain kinds of information that are important enough in aliyah planning to get from an authority,” Arbel said. “It’s a very democratic thing, but it’s not authoritative and if you need to know something that will have real implications for your aliyah, it’s not enough. It’s not a substitute for a consultation with an expert.” Others, like Vanessa, seemed less concerned about social media’s drawbacks than with its benefits. “I don’t have much family here,” she said, adding that she felt the fellow olim in her online community will be there “if you need anything.” PJC JUNE 15, 2018 11

Headlines Bernie Sanders, focusing on foreign policy, blasts Israel on Gaza — NATIONAL — By Ron Kampeas | JTA

a foreign policy town hall he convened in Washington, D.C., that was meant to focus on Iran. The protests were also the centerpiece of his speech in April to the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, J Street. The left has taken notice. The liberal news site Mic noted that “Sanders has stood out for his forceful condemnation of the Israeli government’s actions and the U.S. response.” Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports a boycott of Israel, shared the video titled “Palestinians describe life in Gaza.” So did IfNotNow, a group for millennials who oppose the occupation. Here are some takeaways:

violent struggle against Israel, bears significant responsibility for the deteriorating situation,” he said. Sanders framed his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with expressions of affection for the country. “As someone who believes absolutely and unequivocally in Israel’s right to exist, and to exist in peace and security, as someone who as a young man lived in Israel for a number of months and is very proud of his Jewish heritage … we must say loudly and clearly that to oppose the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make us anti-Israel.”

speaking from Gaza, with evocations of the hardship of living under siege. (One dramatic sequence includes a young woman speaking just as the lights go back on — Gazans get about four hours of electricity a day.)

ASHINGTON — In his historic 2016 run for president, Bernie … but he can still be tone deaf. Sanders was faulted for not The second video, released after the deadhaving much of a foreign policy beyond liest day of riots, explained that “Gazans have reminding folks that his rival for the been holding weekly protests at the fence Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, demanding an end to the 10-year blockade, had favored the Iraq war. the occupation, and the right to return to A key stumble in that campaign was their former homes in Israel.” That appeared a wide-ranging interview with the Daily to be an affirmation of the Palestinian claim News editorial board prior to the New that the descendants of refugees from IsraYork primary. The Daily News, el’s War of Independence have a then owned by Mort Zuckerman, claim on lands in Israel. Sanders’ wanted to hurt Sanders, and all it staff explained that the video was had to do was run the transcript merely stating Palestinian claims, in its entirety. Sanders was diffinot endorsing them. dent, vague and not sure of his facts. He made a major error when Sanders gets in the he vastly overstated the number weeds of the American of Palestinians killed in the 2014 Jewish debate and Hamas-Israel war, which got doesn’t like what he the Jewish candidate dinged by sees. Jewish organizations. In his decades in Congress, The Independent senator Sanders was never one to engage from Vermont, 76, is considdeeply with what was happening ering another presidential run in in the broader national American 2020, and this time he’s making Jewish community, which made foreign policy a focus. Among sense for a senator from Vermont, issues where he has taken a lead: where the tiny Jewish community blasting President Donald Trump has often steered clear of national for pulling out of the Iran deal, Jewish politics. calling for an end to support These days he’s taking notice. The for Saudi Arabia in its bombing villains of his latest video are three raids on Yemen — and offering New York Times columnists — Pittsburgher Bari Weiss, Bret Stephens tough criticism of Israel for how and Thomas Friedman — who in it’s responding to Palestinian the video are accused of blaming the protesters attempting to breach Palestinians for their own suffering. the fence with Gaza. The three may not line up ideoSanders’ surprisingly effective logically on Israel, but all fit well challenge to Clinton as the flag within the broad Jewish communal bearer for the party’s left — he p Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a MoveOn.org rally in Reading, Pa. Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for MoveOn.org consensus on the Jewish state. was the first Jewish candidate of a major party to win state primaries — and his focus on Israel is likely to spur What Sanders posts is less A social media video framed around Sanders has been thinking a more Israel-related debate within the party nuanced than what he says. the speech omitted all the affection. Seven lot about Israel and Netanyahu Sanders’ speech to J Street in April was minutes long, the video instead focuses on and Trump. as the election approaches. The senator’s embrace of the Gaza issue Since the launch of the protests in late familiar to anyone who has closely followed Israeli responsibility for the humanitarian March, Sanders’ office has posted three his pronouncements on Israel over the years: crisis in Gaza, emphasizing Israel’s blockade is not merely a corrective to what for decades has been his overwhelming focus videos to social media criticizing Israel for He was critical of Israel but added sympathetic and its troops’ use of live fire. what he deems is its excessive use of force caveats affirming its right to self-defense. Another video, released last week, on domestic economic issues. Sanders has “Hamas, due to its ongoing repression, dismisses out of hand Israeli claims that noticed a change in Israel and doesn’t like it; and the Trump administration for not intervening. He brought up the Gaza protests at corruption and insistence on pursuing a Hamas is responsible for the protests, he really doesn’t like Israel’s coziness with the saying instead that the demonstrations are Trump administration. That was evident in an expression of grassroots activism. The the second video, which pointedly noted that claims of Hamas involvement, however, are the worst day of violence took place on the not Israel’s alone — Hamas has made them. day the Trump administration opened the Reporting from Gaza suggests that as is often U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and juxtaposed the case among Palestinians, authorities video of Trump and Netanyahu. It was also evident the same day at his have assumed responsibility for protests that town hall on Iran. developed organically. “It looks to me, not only of the events Sanders can be responsive of today but just the actions of Israel over the last several years, plus the Trump to criticism … The first video, released April 21, was administration repudiating the concept of lauded by the pro-Palestinian community a two-state solution, the growth of settleand liberal pro-Israel activists, but there was ments, the kind of violence we saw today, criticism that most of the voices (grabbed what is going to happen in the future, in interviews at the J Street conference) when you have 2 million people in Gaza were those of Israeli human rights activists. living in absolute desperation, 60 percent unemployment, what is going to be the Where were the Palestinians? A third video solely includes Palestinians future?” he said. PJC

A social media video framed around the speech omitted all the affection.

Seven minutes long, the video instead focuses on Israeli responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,

emphasizing Israel’s blockade and its troops’ use of live fire.

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Headlines Argentina’s canceled soccer game causes shockwaves in Israel — WORLD — By Ben Sales | JTA

sraelis want nothing more than for their country to be considered normal. That may have to wait. A much-anticipated soccer game between the Argentine and Israeli national teams was canceled last week because, Israeli and Argentine officials say, of physical threats made to the Argentine players — including megastar forward Lionel Messi. The exhibition game was set for Saturday night, June 9, in Jerusalem, less than a week before the beginning of the World Cup. Beyond the disappointment of tens of thousands of Israeli soccer fans, the cancellation shows Israelis once again that even seemingly innocuous cultural events, like a soccer match, aren’t immune from the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israelis want to portray their country as a thriving democracy like any other — violence on the border and the Palestinian conflict notwithstanding — and a full member of the family of nations. And they appreciate when other countries treat them that way. Thousands of Israelis lined the streets for the Giro d’Italia cycling race last month, even though biking Please see Argentina, page 17

p Lionel Messi, left, and Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina playing against the United States during the 2016 Copa America Centenario in Houston. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

A groundbreaking project aims to study the Latin American Jewish experience — WORLD — By Josefin Dolsten | JTA

rowing up in Venezuela, Menachem Bandel was deeply aware of the unique culture and history of Latin American Jews, including the experiences of his Holocaust survivor grandparents who settled there. Thus it came as a surprise to him when he started his studies at Brandeis University and discovered that most of his fellow students did not even know Jews lived in Latin America. “The Latin Jews were kind of forgotten. No one knew about them,” said Bandel, who graduated in the spring. “People didn’t even know you could speak Spanish and be Jewish at the same time. That to me was pretty mind-blowing.” A new project seeks to change that. Developed by Dalia Wassner, a Jewish studies scholar who was raised in the United States and Mexico, the Brandeis initiative aims to shine a light on the Latin American Jewish experience. Please see Latin, page 17

p A woman walks across Israel square in Guatemala City.

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Photo by Orlando Estrada/AFP/Getty Images

JUNE 15, 2018 13

Opinion Dialogue needed when unpacking community study — EDITORIAL —

ews have been intent on counting themselves since Moses conducted a census after the erection of the Tabernacle, and the practice continues in contemporary Pittsburgh. But while the community’s newest effort, the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study released earlier this year, showed that the local Jewish population has increased by 17 percent since 2002, other findings of the study reveal that there are serious challenges to our Jewish future. That was one message that came out of last month’s panel discussion, titled “Where Do We Go from Here?” in the South Hills, where community leaders weighed in on the data revealed in the 100-page study — which includes almost 200 additional pages of appendices. But after the two-hour long discussion,

we wondered if our South Hills communal leaders — and perhaps our Greater Pittsburgh communal leaders — are in fact delving into the data in a meaningful way. As explained by panelist Rabbi Danny Schiff, the Jewish Community Foundation’s community scholar, the study uncovered some statistics that are hard to ignore. When looked at honestly, he said, they expose where work needs to be done in order to enable Judaism to thrive in Pittsburgh in the coming decades. Intermarriage rates are soaring, and the study’s unequivocal data show that the children of those marriages have just a 10 percent chance of being raised as Jewish “by religion,” compared to an 86 percent chance if raised by two Jewish parents. Non-Orthodox congregational affiliation is plummeting in Pittsburgh, the data shows, with evidence pointing to the decline continuing. These statistics mirror the trends of Jews nationwide, according to

the 2013 Pew study of American Jewry. And although 20 percent of Greater Pittsburgh Jews live in the South Hills, only 27 percent of those consider themselves either immersed or connected to Jewish life. The $325,000 study is chock-full of other facts and findings from which the community might glean a path forward, if it takes the time to really examine the conclusions and engage in frank and comprehensive dialogue. Jewish philanthropic dollars are limited, and the data produced by the study may well indicate the most prudent use of those dollars to ensure the best chance of a vibrant Jewish future. The study was just released in February, so it’s still early to evaluate if its findings can provide meaningful direction and whether community leaders are willing and able to come up with a plan to propel Jewish Pittsburgh forward. But, at least in the South Hills, the work of utilizing the study does not appear to have yet begun.

The panelists at the South Hills forum seemed stuck in their respective organizations’ fixed and persistent narratives, with no indication of having absorbed the wealth of information that is now at their fingertips. The Foundation invested significant resources in commissioning the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, intending that our professional and lay leaders would use it to plan for our Jewish future. If we really want to figure out “where do we go from here?” as a community, we need to start the process by seriously looking at and unpacking the study’s copious findings. The Chronicle intends to play a role in charting this path in an upcoming series of articles which will take a closer look at the data and its implications. We hope that other community leaders begin to pay attention to what the study says about Jewish Pittsburgh now, what it can be, and how best to get there. PJC

Chabon’s views on intermarriage are increasingly mainstream, and also morally abhorrent Guest Columnists Sylvia Barack Fishman Steven M. Cohen Jack Wertheimer

n May 14, Michael Chabon gave the most remarkable commencement speech in the recent history of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement’s highly respected flagship seminary and training institution. Surpassing the widely held view that the intermarried, their children and their non-Jewish family members ought to be welcomed warmly by the Jewish community, Chabon took the next step — or shall we say, the next giant leap. He inveighed against inmarriage itself as a desirable aspiration, as a sacred Jewish norm and as an effective instrument of Jewish continuity. His words bear repeating, much as it pains us to write them: “An endogamous marriage is a ghetto of two. … It draws a circle around the married couple, inscribes them — and any eventual children who come along — within a figurative wall of tradition, custom, shared history, and a common inheritance of chromosomes and culture.” Chabon urged the HUC-JIR graduates and their parents to abandon advocacy for Jewish-Jewish marriage, rejecting the view that Jewish homes with a single group identity are critical to raising Jewishly committed and Judaically competent children. Later he underscored the seriousness of his rejection of inmarriage by, in effect, doing teshuvah for having inmarried with his beloved Jewish wife and for having taught his four children that marrying Jews is the preferred option. Apparently to accelerate Judaism’s withering away in at least one household, Chabon proudly 14 JUNE 15, 2018

related his recent draconian “retreat from religious practice.” Indeed, the only aspects of Jewish culture that Chabon ratified as valuable today are those related to critical thinking, such as “learning, inquiry and skepticism.” Not content to pummel a traditional norm, Chabon targeted the heart of Judaism itself. He condemned the overarching concept of havdalah (the Judaic value of distinguishing between entities), which he depicted as a “giant interlocking system of distinctions and divisions.” He specifically targeted Shabbat candlelighting, monthly immersions in the ritual bath, circumcision, bar mitzvah and the Four Questions recited during the Passover Seder. Even the Passover removal of leavened bread troubled this would-be slayer of Judaism’s age-old distinction-making ethos. Chabon extolled the virtues of outmarriage, declaring himself a devotee of “mongrels, syncretism, integrated neighborhoods, open borders, pastiche and collage,” and, above all, “miscegenation as the source of all greatness.” It is important to recognize that Chabon’s call to abandon inmarriage is a symbol of his larger, more grandiose objective. Promoting intermarriage was the opening shot in a drive to dismantle Judaism and put an end to the ostensibly inherent and inevitable injustices he insists religion perpetuates. Not only is Judaism responsible for religious prejudice around the world, it is also responsible for its own demise: If Judaism disappears from the earth, Chabon asserted, “the fault for that extinction will lie squarely with Judaism itself.” Chabon seemed content, even disturbingly relaxed, imagining the end of Judaism. “If Judaism should ever pass from the world,” he said, “it won’t be the first time in history … that a great and ancient religion lost its hold on the moral imaginations of its adherents.” What are we to say? It is tempting to dismiss Chabon’s thinking as hyperbolic, idiosyncratic or unworthy

of reply, perhaps performance art of a personal psychodrama in a public setting. But Chabon’s undeniable and sometimes dazzling talent as a novelist and the high status he enjoys among elite reading audiences make it critical to respond. Even more important, his perspectives have unfortunately been foreshadowed and echoed in other corners of the Jewish community. Chabon’s ideas have cache, especially in culturally and politically progressive bubbles, such as elite universities where Jews live in safe enclaves, experiencing highly privileged lives. In fact, Chabon’s willfully ignorant denial of intermarriage as a threat to the health of American Jewish life is common in many Jewish circles outside of certain subgroups, among them Orthodoxy, religious Conservative Jews, political conservatives and Jewish immigrant communities. (Only one-fifth of recently marrying Jews raised in Reform families married other Jews.) Citing the fact that intermarried couples are proud to identify as Jews, the majority of American liberal Jews ignore the mountain of evidence that only a small minority of those adult children raised by intermarried parents remain firmly connected to Judaism, Jewish friends, community or culture. Only 8 percent of the grandchildren of the intermarried are being raised in the Jewish religion. Few intermarried households are anywhere near as educated, connected or committed as their single-ancestry contemporaries. Among the 7 million or so American adults who have been raised by a Jewish parent, more than 2 million deny they are Jewish. Chabon’s views are worrisome because among liberal American Jews they are not so outlandish. We live in an age that not only is opposed to behavioral norms imposed from above but to social boundaries to our left and right. Jews, a tiny minority in a sea of more than 300 million Americans, are being engulfed increasingly by the majority society

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— one blessed by a deep culture of welcoming and tolerance, at least until recently. Theologically and ideologically, our concept of peoplehood requires both respect for the outside culture, but also transmitting our own. Distinguishing between Jews and non-Jews has made Jewish societies more tolerant, since according to Judaism only Jews are called upon to comply with Judaic law. Once, some argued that intermarriage was inevitable in an open society and trying to prevent it was as futile as trying to resist gravity or change the weather. Chabon and people who share his values now go a step further: They like the new weather. They view intermarriage as a positive development in human history, not a step toward Jewish self-destruction. Chabon’s assault on the positive salience of Jewish difference is dangerous, morally abhorrent and factually incorrect on at least four verifiable counts. First, Judaism as a religious culture offers so much more of value than critical thinking skills alone. To take just one example, albeit an outstanding one: Ancient Judaism, unique among world cultures, introduced the very inclusive weekly day of rest, the Sabbath, and mandated it for all socio-economic classes, without exception. The Sabbath was a bold blow against what Chabon calls “the economics of exclusion.” Recognizing its virtue, Christianity and Islam adopted the Sabbath concept from Judaism. Millions of Jews cherish the cultural richness that the celebration of the Jewish calendar year brings to their lives and the lives of their children — as Chabon and his family did until recently. Millions are captivated by the intellectual wealth, moral wisdom and cultural complexity of Judaic text study. For others, the warmth of Jewish community life is the compelling factor. Still others demand social justice in the name Please see Intermarriage, page 15

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Opinion ‘Radical inclusion’ of interfaith families is the best response to Chabon Guest Columnist Edmund Case

ylvia Barack Fishman, Steven M. Cohen and Jack Wertheimer describe a “left camp” that argues for greater acceptance, welcoming and inclusion of the intermarried and their family members, and a “Jewish right” that argues for holding on to distinctions between the inmarried and

the intermarried. As a proud member of the left camp, I’ve never said that marriage between two Jews is a bad thing, and if that is what Chabon meant, he’s wrong. But in his commencement speech last month at Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion, the novelist didn’t “inveigh against inmarriage itself.” This is what he actually said: “Any religion that relies on compulsory endogamy [inmarriage] to survive has, in my view, ceased to make the case for its continued validity in the everyday lives of human beings.” What Chabon rejects is compulsion when

— LETTERS — Not much to think about when it comes to Gaza In reflecting upon the events in Gaza last month when 61 Palestinians (58 of whom were members of Hamas, an organization officially listed by the United States as a “terrorist group” that not only refuses to recognize Israel as a nation but repeatedly calls for its destruction), I would like to address all the Jews in Britain and their philosophical soul brethren here who are condemning Israel for these deaths (“A Jewish prayer for Gaza victims rally makes British Jews lose their cool,” June 1). Envision the following scenario: Tens of thousands of Mexicans, attempting to storm the U.S. wall at the Arizona border, hurl baseball-sized rocks, firebombs, burning tires, and fire-kites at U.S. Border Patrol guards. Tear gas and rubber bullets do not succeed in dispersing the mob, and the wall is physically damaged as they attempt to break down the barrier and enter the country. What would U.S. government officials and military leaders in Washington, D.C., instruct those border guards to do? Now imagine that you are the mother of an 8-month-old infant whom you love and would do anything to protect from any kind of potential harm. You leave your home a safe distance away and go the U.S. border wall, where a massive mob is being repelled by tear gas and missiles. Would you carry your infant in your arms and proceed anywhere near such a conflict? Any sensible reader’s unbiased responses to these two scenarios (quite real, not at all hypo-

Intermarriage: Continued from page 14

of Judaism, putting the directives of the Hebrew prophets into practice in local and international settings. Not least, for many American Jews the opportunity to engage with Israel, the only country in the world where the language, culture and religious ethos are Jewish, is a source of joy and renewal. Second, Chabon treated religious extremism as a Jewish monopoly. But worldwide — including the United States — large swathes of society have reacted to transnational change by retreating into sectarian and exclusivist ethnoreligious and political enclaves. Yet Chabon declared that he would be fine with his children marrying into other religions that are as likely to produce exponents of intolerance and extremism as the Jews who provoke Chabon’s fear and disgust. Third, distinctiveness is not the enemy of creativity. Chabon’s rhetorical rejection of making distinctions is revealed as a lie in his own justly acclaimed novels. Chabon’s gorgeous, edgy, evocative language is the product of the author making artistic “distinction and divisions,” moving sentences from one paragraph to another. As Chabon well knows, only when artists define their own “boundaries and bright lines” can they

create credible settings, provide each character with distinctive dialogue, and give each character life and dimension on the page. Indeed, much of Chabon’s commencement address was curiously binary and judgmental — and bogus. We can all, like Chabon, love “pastiche and collage,” but distinctions are necessary to life and health, judgment and morality — to say nothing about science, families, communities and nations. Finally, religious “syncretism,” which Chabon embraced, erodes ethnoreligious viability. Sociologists and historians provide powerful evidence of rich minority cultures that fade not because of their moral “fault,” as Chabon asserts, but because they could not maintain their distinctiveness and cohesion. Minority cultures may not need to be hermetically sealed off, but to survive they all depend on living expression in the form of ethnic languages, music, arts, foods, texts, history, religion and folkways. Marriages between two Jews, whether born Jews or Jews by choice, along with Jewish societies that support them, are demonstrably the most effective factors in Jewish vitality because they do indeed create a “figurative wall of tradition, custom, shared history and a common inheritance” — and, contrary to Chabon, that is a good thing. To deny this reality is to deny sociologically verifiable facts. Chabon may no longer care — but we still do.

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it comes to marriage partners. He doesn’t tell Jews they shouldn’t marry Jews. That would be just as compulsory, and just as misguided, as telling Jews they shouldn’t intermarry. It’s also not fair to say that Chabon wants to “dismantle Judaism.” Remember, this was a speech to HUC graduates. He explains that division and boundaries ultimately can lead to the feeling that “we are not those people over there.” His real concern is that religious traditions have justified or prettified the dirty work of denying other humans their humanity. In his charge to the graduates, Chabon urges them to move outward, opening

hearts and minds to those on the other side; to knock down walls, find room in the Jewish community for all who want to share in our traditions; to expand the protective circle of Jewish teachings around the “other” and, yes, to seize the opportunity to enrich the Jewish cultural genome by the changes that result from increased diversity — i.e., intermarriage. It doesn’t sound like dismantling Judaism to say, as Chabon does, that it has reinvented itself over history by being Please see Inclusion, page 20

thetical or hyperbolic) will immediately and unequivocally establish the critical validity of what Israeli soldiers were obliged to do at the Gaza border on May 15. Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D. Pittsburgh

Israel reflection devoid of affection

Imagine a 70th anniversary party where one of the guests uses the occasion not to reminisce about sweet or heroic moments in the celebrant’s life, but instead to rehash what she perceives as the celebrant’s shortcomings and the differences she has with her (“We need to have the difficult conversations,” June 1). Not much of a friend, you’d think. Yet that is what Stefi Kirschner did with the space she was invited to use to comment on Israel’s 70th anniversary. She couldn’t find anything uplifting or inspiring in Israel’s history. Instead, she used the occasion to reiterate well-known grievances and disagreements she has with Israel’s behavior and lecture the community on the need to engage in what she ironically describes as a conversation that is “forbidden,” even as she repeats it in a Jewish community newspaper. The Chronicle describes the reflections it printed as the submissions it received from a “broad swath” of “leaders” who were invited to comment. How sad and depressing that this response would be one so devoid of affection for the land that has been in our hearts and dreams since time immemorial. Ann Sheckter Powell Squirrel Hill Chabon naively envisions a utopian world where through wholesale intermarriage of all races, nationalities and creeds, all of humanity will be homogenized into a single “mongrelized” blandness. In practice, since Jews are a minuscule minority worldwide, this prescription would yield the disappearance of Diaspora Jews and Judaism. Christian denominations would be untouched. Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam would be unperturbed. The world with all its divisiveness would hardly notice — but it would be a world without Jews. Jews with any historical sense have seen this movie before. At least since the Enlightenment, some Jewish cultural elites have proposed that the solution to the world’s ills is Jewish assimilation. If only the Jews would let go of their distinctive religious culture, the world would be redeemed. Over the past four decades and more, the Jewish community has been marked by impassioned discourse over intermarriage. Though far from uniform, a “left” camp has argued for greater acceptance, welcoming and inclusion of the intermarried and their family members. The Jewish “right” has argued for holding on to distinctions — liturgical and otherwise — between the inmarried and the intermarried. Each camp sees the other as suspect, albeit in very different ways. Those on the left don’t believe the right is sincerely committed to

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

tolerance and welcoming. To those on the right, the left’s promotion of “welcoming” has seemed like a stalking horse for total indifference to intermarriage, if not the celebration of intermarriage. We urge the proponents of welcoming and inclusion — many of whom we count as dear friends and colleagues — to think anew about where they stand in regard to Chabon’s challenge. Where would you draw boundaries? Where do you stand on maintaining some distinctions between Jews and others? Is Jewish group survival a force for good or for ill, not only for individual Jews but for humanity? Should we teach the next generation that all Jews —both those born Jewish and converts — are in a kinship relationship with one another as heirs of a unique, rich and valuable cultural heritage? As Pete Seeger once asked, “Which side are you on? Which side are you on?” PJC Sylvia Barack Fishman is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University. Steven M. Cohen is Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR, and director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive. Jack Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary. JUNE 15, 2018 15

Headlines Windows: Continued from page 1

to put Michael “on the map.” Additionally, it has led to praise from numerous community members, including many strangers. This spring, after much urging from Friendship Circle Executive Director Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, the family agreed to provide the Friendship Circle with enough photos to display across the entire facade of the building, allowing passersby to enjoy them. The new exhibit is a point of “pride” for Michael, according to his father. After the Friendship Circle purchased its current space from Gullifty’s — the Pittsburgh-based restaurant known for its desserts — in 2013, the organization embarked on an ambitious $7 million capital campaign to fund significant renovations to the building. Concurrently, Rudolph convened relevant parties to debate whether

architects should strive for insularity when designing the Murray Avenue facade. The response was nearly unanimous. “Parents overwhelming said, ‘No, people should be able to see our kids; our kids should be part of the community. They should not be a separate space. They should be very much a part of the fabric of who the community is and what the community is,’” Rudolph recounted.

So the Charles Morris Foundation gallery was built to serve as a “gateway to the rest of the community,” said Rudolph. The space is also used for programming, board meetings and, in the future, possibly a weekly bake shop, according to Rudolph. Michael’s photos will be on display for the remainder of June. Michael has been a member of Friend-

“ For Michael, I think what’s great about the camera is it’s an outlet to allow his creativity to come out and sort of see

”

the world through his eyes.

Jonah Berger can be reached at jberger@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

— BURTON MORRIS

“Fred Rogers speaks directly to each of us,” Rabbi Aaron Bisno, senior rabbi of Rodef Shalom, told the Chronicle at the time. “There’s a saying in the Talmud: ‘Words from the heart go to the heart.’ And Mister Rogers spoke to our hearts.” Rogers’ work led to an array of other honors, including induction into the Television Hall of Fame and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Another film showcasing Pittsburgh’s favorite neighbor is currently in the works at Sony Pictures, starring Tom Hanks as Rogers. Titled “You Are My Friend,” the biopic is scheduled to be released in October 2019. PJC

Neighbor: Continued from page 1

“There was no sense of interactive TV then. Now I work on interactive websites, but what Fred was doing — interacting with the viewer — no one was doing that.” She described Rogers as “ahead of his time.” “People didn’t ‘get’ children then — the social, emotional, interior thoughts of children,” Droz explained. “But Fred said that children knew what was going on. He was schooled in child development and was a very spiritual man. He thought about who was watching; he understood how a 4-year-old thought.” When Droz began working on the “Neighborhood” in 1979, the show was resuming production after being off the air for four years. “Fred had taken a hiatus,” she recalled. “He actually said, ‘I’m done.’ He had done close to 600 shows, and he said that was more than enough. He said, ‘I’ve covered all the main themes of early childhood.’” But Rogers eventually realized “there were new themes he wanted to explore,” Droz said. “There was new technology — remote cameras — and he was excited about that.” In a subtle shift in format, Rogers decided to begin producing a full week of shows around a single theme. Those themes included superheroes — whom he disliked for their promotion of violence — transitioning to school, and divorce. “Fred thought he never would do shows about divorce, but divorce was now so familiar in children’s lives,” Droz said, adding that taping a full week of shows around a single theme “gave Fred a chance to think about these topics from lots of angles. It was an exciting time to work on the ‘Neighborhood.’” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” directed by Oscar winner Morgan Neville, premiered in Pittsburgh last week and has garnered rave reviews from multiple and varied media outlets. Even the edgy online magazine Slate reported that: “Even the most hardened cynics won’t be able to resist it.” Hedda Sharapan, another Jewish Pitts16 JUNE 15, 2018

ship Circle since its inception in 2006, according to his father. “He’s had the good fortune of making friends with so many teens through the years,” Martin Supowitz said. “And it’s been a tremendous social opportunity for him.” Morris praised Michael, calling him an “amazing” individual, and said he could take his artistic talents in many different directions. “I just think that people should hopefully understand that this is a very special person and I know watching from day one, what Michael has achieved and accomplished over these years is incredible,” Morris said. “Knowing his story and what he’s had to overcome that most of us … take for granted. “It’s a real heroic story for anyone with a challenge in their life,” Morris added. “I give him a lot of credit for sure.” PJC

Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. p Cathy Cohen Droz and her family pose for a photo with Fred Rogers in 1991.

burgher who has worked with Fred Rogers Productions since 1966, is interviewed extensively in the film. In one segment, she sums up the efficacy of Mister Rogers’ quiet and thoughtful manner in conveying his messages of love and respect: “If you really want to communicate, the best thing is to listen.” Droz has seen the impact of Rogers and his work in 21st-century parents who grew up with the “Neighborhood.” “I think it’s fascinating that people now having children of their own can think back on how they felt watching ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,’” she said. “They felt respected, and they can take those feelings and be more confident parents by identifying with how their children feel.” That is exactly the result Rogers wanted, she said: “If people can remember their own childhood they can be better parents, and that’s what we’re seeing now.” A lot of people had a hand in making the show the success it was, she said. “But it was Fred’s vision.” Working with Rogers on the “Neighborhood” was a “wonderful” experience, said Droz, who was hired by WQED after she returned from a period of living in Israel. “It was wonderful for so many reasons,”

she said. “Fred was really so thoughtful and cared so much about what he was doing. He took his work so seriously. It was great to be in a place where people were trying to do something better, to help children and families.” The film, which is playing at AMC Waterfront as well as at the Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill, “will be at the Manor for a long time,” Droz predicted. “This was really Mister Rogers’ neighborhood. He went to church on the corner of Forbes and Murray. He shopped at the CVS on the corner. People saw him all the time.” In 2014, Rodef Shalom Congregation — located across the street from WQED where the “Neighborhood” was filmed — recognized Rogers posthumously for his good works with its Pursuer of Peace Award. u Cathy Cohen Droz and Fred Rogers in 2001

Photos courtesy of Cathy Cohen Droz

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Headlines Argentina: Continued from page 13

is not a popular sport in Israel. Celebrating that international sporting event, perhaps the largest to be held in Israel, one of Israel’s leading newspapers ran a full front-page photo with the headline “We’re on the map.” Last month an Israeli, Netta Barzilai, won the Eurovision song contest, a 43-country competition that this year drew some 186 million viewers. Such signs of normalization are manna for Israelis, and a setback for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to isolate Israel internationally. So the BDS community seemed ecstatic to claim the Argentines’ decision as a result of their political pressure. The truth seems murkier. The president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, apologized to Israel and said players had received threats. Protesters outside the team’s practice facility in Barcelona also waved Argentine soccer jerseys covered in fake blood — leaving it up to observers to decide whether the blood was meant to symbolize Palestinians who died or soccer players who might. This cancellation, nevertheless, cuts especially deep. Israelis feel stung when foreigners cancel appearances because of the conflict. Earlier this year, the singer Lorde

canceled a Tel Aviv concert after pressure from pro-Palestinian activists. And Natalie Portman, an American-Israeli, refused to show for a prestigious prize ceremony because of her opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Soccer is Israel’s most popular sport, and Messi’s professional squad, FC Barcelona, is the most popular international team in Israel, according to a recent survey. So watching him face off against Israel’s team on its home turf would have been an especially big deal. Israelis are outraged — and split on who is to blame. Even if the ultimate decision was not a direct response to BDS pressure, many accuse Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev of inflaming the opposition by politicizing the game. Regev told Israel’s Army Radio that she moved the game from the northern city of Haifa to Jerusalem, specifically to exhibit Israel’s claim to the city. She also linked the game to “our fight over the [United States] embassy moving to Jerusalem,” which happened last month amid objections from Palestinians, the European Union and the United Nations. “From my perspective, the important thing is that Argentina’s national team and Messi are coming to Israel and playing in Jerusalem ahead of the World Cup,” Regev told Army Radio two days before the cancellation. “Jerusalem is on the map. In this era — which includes BDS — in this era nothing is more important.” A Palestinian official also name-checked

Regev, and the Jerusalem move, in a letter requesting that the game be canceled. “After political pressure took place from the Israeli government, as it was openly said by Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev, the match was moved to Jerusalem,” Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Football Association, wrote in a letter to Tapia obtained by Haaretz. “The Israeli government has turned a regular sports match into a political tool.” Rajoub also called on Palestinians to burn their Messi jerseys in protest of the game. And this isn’t his first foray against Israeli soccer. In 2015, he unsuccessfully tried to get Israel kicked out of FIFA, the international soccer organization. In an informal online poll conducted by Ynet, a news website that tends to oppose Netanyahu, almost 60 percent of respondents blamed Regev for the match’s cancellation. Ben Caspit, a journalist for the Israeli daily Maariv, tweeted that Messi visited Jerusalem in 2013 without incident “because no one turned the event into a political campaign.” The Jerusalem decision, he wrote, “woke the Palestinians up and awakened the mob.” But Regev is known for being bombastic, and she isn’t backing down. In a fiery statement Wednesday night, she blamed Palestinian terrorism for the cancellation, and compared the threats against Messi to the murders of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Palestinian Black September terror group.

Latin: Continued from page 13

During his senior year, Bandel worked with Wassner to develop the program, which is being launched in November at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, a freestanding research institute on women and gender. The project aims to be a corrective to Jewish studies departments that gloss over the region in favor of focusing on the experience of Jews in Europe, Israel and the United States. It also will use the lens of gender in order to examine the experiences of Latin American Jews, making it the first academic initiative in the world to do so, Wassner said. “Our mandate is to explore fresh ideas about Jews and gender, and the full range of Jewish women’s experiences in particular,” said Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. “Part of what I want to do is expand understanding of who Jewish women are and where these experiences take place and the complexity of their experiences.” The project will explore the topic of immigration. Latin America’s Jewish population has declined in recent years as many Jews have left for Israel and the United States, motivated by economic reasons and Zionism, Wassner said. An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Jews live in the region today, compared to more than 500,000 in the 1970s. Still, Jewish communities continue to thrive in countries like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and immigrants who settle elsewhere bring their culture with them,

p A man buys Jewish newspapers from a stall in Buenos Aires, circa 1956.

Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images

creating a second Diaspora with Latin America as its center. Wassner herself is one such immigrant. She grew up in a Mexican Jewish family in San Diego, but when she was 12, her parents decided to return to their native country. They wanted Wassner and her siblings to “know and connect to our Latin American

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Jewish identity in our own skin,” she said. Mexico City’s Jewish culture had a different flavor than the one she had known in San Diego. Her family moved back to the United States five years later, but the experience had a deep impact on Wassner that she says enriches her field of study. “I think I understand these questions in a

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

“We’re talking about an old-new terror that scares, deters and frightens players, the same teror that led to the murder of the 11 Munich victims in the 1972 Olympics,” she said. “The true story here is not Haifa and not Jerusalem. The true story here is the threats on Messi’s life.” Regev also accused Rajoub of inciting terror and accused opposition Israeli Knesset members for “backing up terror” because they wrote tweets criticizing her conduct. Regarding the idea that the move to Jerusalem directly caused the cancellation, she said “there is no bigger lie.” “How much stupidity can you talk all the time? How much nonsense can you say?” she said. “How nasty and mean can people be? Don’t people have national pride?” Regev pledged that “we will continue to host international events.” She noted Israel is set to host the Eurovision contest, according to its annual tradition, next year. But will Eurovision actually end up coming to Jerusalem? According to Yossi Sharabi, director-general of Regev’s Culture Ministry, maybe not. In the wake of the soccer cancellation, he acknowledged that in Israel, planning these events is never simple. “Eurovision in Jerusalem? It isn’t at all a given,” Sharabi told the Sports 5 TV channel. “It’s too early to talk about this. Everybody wants it to be in Jerusalem. But there could well be other considerations.” PJC JTA briefs editor Marcy Oster contributed to this report.

very personal way,” she said. The idea for the project grew out of a course Wassner taught at Brandeis in 2015. The class focused on the Latin American Jewish experience and identities, how they have shaped the region’s history and gender issues. The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute provided seed money, and additional funding came from private donors and Targum Shlishi, a foundation promoting Jewish culture, education and women’s issues. In addition to promoting academic study and research, Wassner wants to foster community for Latin American Jews and others interested in their culture. To that end, in addition to offering courses, hosting a conference and publishing articles, the initiative will host cultural events, such as film screenings and talks at synagogues. Though it has yet to officially launch, the initiative held events in the past academic year. Fishbayn Joffe said the turnout showed a need and desire among Latin American Jews living in the United States for community. At a film screening of “Cuba’s Forgotten Jewels,” a documentary about European Jews who fled to Cuba during World War II, attendees spoke of how happy they were to attend an event that spoke to their Jewish identities. “The people in the audience were saying, ‘This is my story, Latin America is part of my Jewish identity, my family sought shelter there, my family lived there,’” Fishbayn Joffe recalled. “This narrative of the Jewish community as just being Ashkenazi or Sephardic doesn’t capture the complexity of our identities.” PJC JUNE 15, 2018 17

Celebrations

Torah

Wedding

And the earth opened its mouth â&#x20AC;Ś Rabbi Chuck Diamond Parshat Korach | Numbers 16:1-18:32

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orach was not your ordinary troublemaker. He came from a privileged background â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a leading member of the Kehatites, one of the most prestigious of the Levite families. He had a loyal following of 250 men of Israel. He is seen in parts of our tradition as an â&#x20AC;&#x153;arch demagogue, lusting for power to inflate his own prominence, not to serve the people.â&#x20AC;? His challenging of Moses and Aaron is seen as not a legitimate controversy, but one that â&#x20AC;&#x153;was not in the name of Heaven.â&#x20AC;? Korach and his followers did not possess a joint vision, but were unified only in their opposition to Moses and Aaron. Korach attacked the policies of Moses and Aaron in broad generalizations and selective offering of facts. He was not only challenging the authority of Moses and Aaron, but also the Torah and God. There is much to be learned by this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parshah, from Korach and his challenge to authority, the way he presents himself and by his apparent motivations. We learn about arguments and how some arguments are to be dismissed, while others that â&#x20AC;&#x153;are in the name of Heavenâ&#x20AC;? are worth-

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updates. As the doors to Levinson Hall unlatch, a volunteer greeter welcomes patrons, marks attendance and collects a nonmandatory $1.50 donation. This â&#x20AC;&#x153;suggestedâ&#x20AC;? amount lowers barriers to seniors who experience financial difficulties, explained Sybil Lieberman, director of AgeWell at the JCC. J Cafe was â&#x20AC;&#x153;designed so any senior could come in with dignity and get a meal,â&#x20AC;? Lieberman noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is in keeping with our mission of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;caring for those who cared for us.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Those who qualify for the reduced fee must reside in Allegheny County, be older than 60 and register with AgeWell at the JCC. Non-county residents and younger lunch goers pay a higher sum, said Lieberman, who noted that caregivers and grandchildren often attend in tow. Along with J Cafe, AgeWell at the JCC offers numerous programs to eligible seniors, including lectures from local physicians, film screenings and outings to Phipps Conservatory, Fallingwater and other area attractions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love to come to the Jewish Community Center. I like their programs, the exercise and yoga, and years ago I used to do swimming,â&#x20AC;? said Marilyn Friedman, 84. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just went to an exercise class and I come in here starving,â&#x20AC;? said Murphy. What they and every other J Cafe patron can expect is a nutritious, tasty and strictly kosher meal prepared on-site, explained food service director Tony Rodnicki. The high quality of each dish is apparent, remarked multiple attendees.

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while and lasting. We are reminded of what happened to Korach and his followers: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.â&#x20AC;? It is seen as a miracle. Perhaps itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a warning as well,

Korach and his followers did not possess a joint vision, but were unified only in their opposition to Moses and Aaron. to all of us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to think of others and to make sure our arguments are for the good of the people and not selfishly motivated. Shabbat Shalom!â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC Rabbi Chuck Diamond is the leader of Kehillah La La. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best food in the city for a senior program,â&#x20AC;? said Murphy. Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;andrew Vaulicisco, 71, agreed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first time I ate here, I was amazed at the food. And Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This is really good. Probably a freak accident, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll come back,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? the Mount Washington resident recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I came back, and it was good too.â&#x20AC;? J Cafe was redesigned after AgeWell at the JCC received a state grant in 2010 from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging Senior, according to Lieberman. The innovation grant helped fund a complete redesign of the eating area, add multiple stations to increase choice for diners and allow J Cafe to go â&#x20AC;&#x153;environmentally green.â&#x20AC;? Since that time, a steady stream of satisfied seniors, like Manny Kolski, have continued to enjoy J Cafe and auxiliary activities. The 103-year-old Holocaust survivor who regularly sports suspenders and a blue baseball cap bearing â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pittsburghâ&#x20AC;? above its brim, said he has been coming to the cafe for 15 years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This place is wonderful. It brings people out that would be home in bed,â&#x20AC;? said Adalyn Baraff, 96. Her friend and tablemate, Rose Stone, 91, agreed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can see people, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not stuck in the house, you can talk to them. When you get to be 90 years old, you need friends, and this is where you find them.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201A; PJC Jonah Berger can be reached at jberger@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org, Lauren Rosenblatt can be reached at lrosenblatt@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org and Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Obituaries DAVIDSON: Lea E. Davidson, on Sunday, June 10, 2018. Beloved daughter of the late Robert and Sara T. Davidson; loving sister of Elinor and Sanford Zaremberg; aunt of Robert “Robbie” Zaremberg. Lea was an elementary school teacher for 34 years. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or to a charity of the donor’s choice. schugar.com EASTLAND: Rebecca Jacy Eastland, on Thursday, June 7, 2018. Wife of the late James Eastland. Former spouse of Karl Meyers. Beloved mother of Alan (Sharon) Meyers, Beth (Robert) Plotkins and Andy (Megan) Meyers. Sister of Barbara (late Robert) Brody. Grandmother of Jesse and Liesl Meyers, Leah Plotkins and Anabelle and Benjamin Meyers. Services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation). Interment West View Cemetery of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Association on Aging, 200 JHF Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. schugar.com KEYSER: Sheldon L. Keyser passed away Thursday, June 7, 2018. Beloved husband of the late Joan Bails Keyser; son of the late Max and Fanny Keyser; brother of the late Micki Reich (Herb) of Mt. Lebanon. He is survived by his daughter Lauren Keyser Warsing (John) of Miami and his three most treasured granddaughters, Sydney, Olivia and Sophia and his loving, very significant other, Ruth Foltz, as well as her children Marcy Geiger (Joel) and Christopher Foltz (Julie), and he was the third grandpa to Julia, Michael, Molly, Jenna, and Michael. Sheldon also leaves behind his sister in law Eleanor Levine (Shelly), Susan Bails (Howard Wein), Sandra Bails and the late Irvin Bails, all of Squirrel Hill. Additionally, many dear nieces, nephews, and cousins. Sheldon was born and raised in Squirrel Hill where he practiced law for over 50 years. He was an avid runner, biker, skier and tennis player. In his free time, he enjoyed traveling and exploring the various cultures of the world. His charity work included the Hebrew Free Loan Association and Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh missions to Israel. A Memorial service was held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Charitable donations are welcomed in Shelly’s name to the Humane Society of Greater Miami, 16101 West Dixie Highway, North Miami Beach, FL 33160. schugar.com ROSENBLATT: Roslyn (Roz) Kornbluth Rosenblatt, 84, passed away peacefully on June 4, 2018, in her home in Pittsburgh. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 1, 1934, to the late Aaron and Chane Kornbluth, sister to Martin and Seymour Kornbluth, Roslyn stated that her decision to marry Harvey Ben Rosenblatt, love of her life, and move to Pittsburgh, was one of the most impulsive and best decisions she ever made. Harvey’s love for Roslyn was steadfast as she fulfilled her life

plan of pursuing a career, raising four children together, and ensuring the continuity of Judaism and love of Israel. Harvey predeceased Roslyn by 23 years. Beloved mother and grandmother, she is survived by her four children: Alan Israel Rosenblatt (Lisa Freund Rosenblatt) of Chicago; Donna Beth Horowitz (Aaron) of Chicago; Susan Gail Rosenblatt (David Birenbaum) of Pittsburgh; and David Mark Rosenblatt (Shari Gersten) of New Jersey and her grandchildren: Galit and Shachar Rosenblatt; Jonathan, Elana and Alexa Horowitz; Harrison Chase and Andrew, Steven and Amelia Birenbaum; and Arielle and Zeke Rosenblatt. Roslyn is a proud graduate of McGill University where she received her undergraduate degree in education and sociology and a Master in Social Work. She applied her education to bring out the best potential in others, starting her career at the Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS) of Montreal and, after her marriage, continuing at the JFCS in Pittsburgh. Roslyn’s philosophy was always to ‘turn lemons into lemonade’, so when she informed the JFCS that she was pregnant with her first child and was told she could only resume working for them in the future when her children were over the age of two, she took the opportunity to work in Jewish education, her great passion. Roslyn started as a teacher and soon became assistant principal at B’nai Israel, then moved to Beth Shalom as principal where she spent 10 very happy years building an engaging environment for students and teachers that promoted curiosity, learning and strong Jewish identity. Roslyn then went to work at PPG Industries Foundation for 15 years where she was executive director helping charities use strategic planning to address unmet needs and assisting in pioneering innovative programs to build community. Roslyn used her leisure time to bring out her own potential by engaging in her love of studying different cultures and languages through reading, enjoying and supporting the arts, and traveling. She considered her books to be among her best friends. Services were held at Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. Interment Beth Shalom Cemetery. Roslyn and Harvey Rosenblatt Family Fund (pittsburghfoundation.org). schugar.com ROSENBLOOM: David A. Rosenbloom, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Beloved husband of Jil Branson Rosenbloom. Loving father of Ashley Barwinski, Melanie (Ross) Goldman, Jason (Lyndsey) Upcraft and Geoff (Clara) Upcraft. Cherished brother of Cheryl L. Blumenfeld. Grandfather of Ian and Kaelyn Barwinski, Sydney and Lucas Upcraft and an expected grandchild in October. Uncle of Brandon, Justin and Morgan Blumenfeld. Former spouse of Lynn Daniels and brother-in-law of Harold Blumenfeld. Graveside service and interment were held at Kether Torah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to a Go Fund Me account that has been set up for the grandchildren in David’s memory. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., schugar.com. Please see Obituaries, page 20

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Anonymous ................................................... Rose Marcovsky

Sharon Knapp ..................................................... Jack Galanty

Lawrence N. Adler, M.D. ................................Samuel H. Adler

Sharon Knapp ..................................................... Frank Knapp

Joel Berg .......................................................Regina Goldberg Faye Bleiberg ....................................................... Anna Krantz

Rushie Leff .................................................................. Mel Leff Jean Metzger ......................................................Erwin Becker

Faye Bleiberg ................................................ Sophia Mallinger Evelyn Rebb ..................................................Ruth Kuperstock Cheryl Bloch.................................................Eugene Barovsky Cheryl Bloch......................................................Morris Glasser Paula W. Callis ........................................Irene Feldman Weiss

Richard Stuart ..................................................Edith Liberman Marilou Wagner ................................. Sarah Hoffman Reifman

Frank & Barbara DeLuce ...............................Fay Doltis Shaer

Claire & Morris Weinbaum ........................... Mildred Mallinger

Sarita & Milton Eisner.................................. Isadore Goldblum

Marcy & Rick Williams .....................................Arlene S. Apter

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday June 17: Nathan Ackerman, Israel Mayer Blumenthal, Emanuel Kauf, Lillian Lookman, Max Markowitz, Edythe Markowitz Merksamer, Anne P. Meyers, Matilda Neuman, Mary Pechersky, Mamie Ripp, Nathan Rosenberg, Dorothy Shakespeare, David A. Stahl, Pearl Tufshinsky, Ben Wanetick, Margaret Weinberger Monday June 18: Louis J. Abrams, Jacob H. Becker, Harry Bluestone, Sylvia Caplan, Max Hirsch, Louis Kenner, Louis J. Klein, Abraham Mallinger, Sadie Lebowitz Mittleman, Sol Louis Pearlman, Jennie Roth, Seymour Segal, Ida Mae Bloom Swartz Tuesday June 19: Oscar Bennett, Morris Brodie, Linnie R. Caplan, Barney Drosnes, Esther Gross, Julius H. Harris, Brian H. Ibe, Louis Katz, Bessie Cohen Silverberg, Estelle Swartz, Joseph Swartz, Florence M. Teitelbaum, Rosella Herzberg Wanetick Wednesday June 20: Dr. Mortimer Cohen, Jerome Cohen, Gerson Finkelstein, William R. Finn, Charles Fischer, Charles Greenberg, Minnie Hyman, Fannie S. Lattanzio, Jacob M. Levine, Mildred Mallinger, Tillie Rider, Harry Ruben Thursday June 21: Samuel H. Adler, Jesse Carl Devon, Millie Escovitz, Marion Bergad Halfond, Curtis I. Kossman, Fannie Kisilinsky Lindner, A. L. Mars, Harry Santman, Ruth Marks Schenk, Belle G. Schiff Friday June 22: Sylvia Americus, Herman Margolis Buck, Ray S. Freeman, Morris Glasser, Isadore Goldblum, Madeline A. Harris, Joseph Herskovitz, Bertha Jacobs, Fred Kaminsky, Irving Kart, Harry Kurtz, Leah Labovitz, Sarah Linder, Helen Marcosky, Julia L. Miller, Rabbi Morris Moskowitz, Elizabeth Sack, Frances G. Stewart Saturday June 23: David Bregman, Samuel Buck, Helen K. Davidson, Isaac Glickman, Marcella Cohen Goldberg, Edward W. Harris, Morris L & Mary Ruth Jacob, Edith Liberman

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Obituaries Rosenblatt: Continued from page 4

lived it and generated it from her same person,” added Steindel, the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Shalom. First as a teacher, then as an assistant principal at Congregation B’nai Israel and finally as the educational director at Beth Shalom, Rosenblatt guided scores of young adults on a pathway forward fueled by Jewish thought, a knowledge of Hebrew and a love of Israel. Charged with instilling those lessons, Rosenblatt refused to be shaken by a child’s difficulty or demeanor. Such commitment to upholding the statement of Proverbs 22:6 — that each child should be educated according to his path — earned her the respect of even the hardest students. Said David, “I was friends with people who were troublemakers, and they said, ‘Your mom is cool. She was tough but she was fair.’” Added Steindel, “She was a solid and dedicated Jewish educator in the best sense of the word. She wasn’t a hypocrite, she lived a Jewish life, she taught Hebrew and Judaism as values for the survival of the Jewish people.” Yet for Rosenblatt, survival was not enough. Life needed enrichment. So at Beth Shalom she facilitated “an ecosystem” for young adults where religious school, youth groups, summer camps and continued education at the School of Advanced Jewish Studies (SAJS) were part

Inclusion: Continued from page 15

mutable and flexible, and that could and must happen again. Fishman and her co-authors write that those in the left camp don’t believe the right is sincerely committed to tolerance and welcoming. Their own words, perhaps unintentionally, undermine such a commitment. They talk about intermarriage as “a threat to the health of American Jewish life.” That analogizes intermarriage as an illness, sickness, virus, cancer. Saying that intermarriage is “a step toward Jewish self-destruction” is a self-fulfilling prophecy. With all respect, they don’t seem to understand the negative, off-putting impact that these kinds of statements have on interfaith couples who might otherwise be interested in engaging in Jewish life. If the authors really want more interfaith families to engage in Jewish life and community — a goal on which the right and the left could agree — why not emphasize the value and meaning that Jewish life provides, and treat as a great positive that many interfaith families

and parcel of a student’s rearing, said her son. In 1983, after a decade at Beth Shalom, Rosenblatt joined the United Jewish Federation and coordinated a critical document to help chart the support of seniors. “Full Life Catalogue,” a directory of services and resources to “help promote the full life after 60,” was a nearly 200-page manuscript that required a year of planning and research. Distributed at Full Life Festival, a three-day event held in October 1983 at Rodef Shalom Congregation, the catalog was recognized as a national model for enabling seniors to avert institutionalized care and reduce the costs of aging. One year later, Rosenblatt joined PPG Industries Foundation. After serving as a program officer, she was named executive director and guided millions of philanthropic dollars to raise communities by empowering their inhabitants. “That’s what nonprofit work is about, it’s about changing lives,” Rosenblatt told her daughter, Susan, in an April 2016 recording with StoryCorps. Added the mother, “My parents taught me by example.” Born April 1, 1934 in Montreal to Aaron and Chane Kornbluth, Polish immigrants, Rosenblatt recalled how her father had signed for nearly “1,500 people” after World War II. “It was very hard to get into Canada and people needed to find sponsors who would vouch for the fact that they would be housed and they would get jobs and so on, and there in fact are experiencing that for themselves? As they write, millions of Jews “cherish the cultural richness that the celebration of the Jewish calendar year brings to their lives and the lives of their families.” So, too, do many intermarried Jews and their families, just as they can be and are “captivated by the intellectual wealth, moral wisdom and cultural complexity of Judaic text study,” “the warmth of Jewish community” and the opportunity to “demand social justice in the name of Judaism” and to engage with Israel. Wouldn’t including interfaith families in that conversation attract instead of repel them? How mainstream Jewish leaders think and talk about intermarriage is what’s important, not what Michael Chabon did or didn’t say or mean. The deeper issue is that the right wants to hold on to distinctions between the inmarried and the intermarried. But there is a critically important difference between holding up distinctive Jewish traditions and saying that only those with distinctive Jewish identity can participate in those traditions. While recognizing that Jewish traditions have continuously adapted throughout Jewish history, I

were not social services agencies set up for that.” So Kornbluth navigated the network of local dressmakers, secured employment for those resettled and enabled countless Jewish families to start anew. That model of steering and serving for the betterment of others was one that Rosenblatt would adapt with each professional undertaking and apply again and again. With a “personal style that commanded respect without having to insist upon it,” she accomplished that which she had set out to almost 60 years earlier, explained David. As David’s parents drove to the Nevele Grand Hotel for their honeymoon “they talked about what their goals were.” She said that she wanted four children, a career and that she and my father “would raise the family substantively in the Jewish faith.” As the story goes, she then turned to her

husband and said, “I’m a lot to handle.” Harvey, whom Roz called “the love of her life,” not only could handle it, but even encouraged it, said David. Predeceased by her husband Harvey 23 years ago, Roslyn (Roz) Kornbluth Rosenblatt is survived by her four children: Alan Israel Rosenblatt (Lisa Freund Rosenblatt) of Chicago; Donna Beth Horowitz (Aaron) of Chicago; Susan Gail Rosenblatt (David Birenbaum) of Pittsburgh; and David Mark Rosenblatt (Shari Gersten) of New Jersey and her grandchildren: Galit and Shachar Rosenblatt; Jonathan, Elana, and Alexa Horowitz; Harrison Chase and Andrew, Steven, and Amelia Birenbaum; and Arielle and Zeke Rosenblatt. PJC

Obituaries:

(Cheryl); loving mother of David and Bryan (fiancée Kristen); devoted sister Stephanie and brother Oscar (Laura). Cherished nieces and nephews Brittany, Taylor, Brandon, Brett and Chase, and cousins Jimmy (Susie) Cohen, Tracey Cohen and Heidi (Joe) Benz and Debbie’s beloved and faithful dog Jessie. Debbie’s family suggests donations in her memory be made to Humane Society of Broward Count (humanebroward.com) or Susan G. Komen Foundation, (komen.org) or charity of one’s choice. PJC

Continued from page 19

WEINBERG: Debra Lynn Weinberg, June 14, 1957-May 15, 2018. Debbie, 60, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., formerly of Pittsburgh, passed away Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at 3:44 p.m. surrounded by her loving family after a two-year battle with cancer. Debbie worked in the ER at Plantation General Hospital in Florida for 38 years. Beloved daughter of Sandra, Morley also recognize the positive salience of distinctive Jewish traditions. But in the context of intermarriage, distinguishing between Jews and their partners from different faith backgrounds is counterproductive. In order to engage interfaith families, Jews and Jewish leaders and organizations need to adopt radically inclusive attitudes — treating interfaith couples as equal to inmarried couples, and partners from different faith traditions as equal to Jews — and to embrace the radically inclusive policies that follow from those attitudes, supporting full and equal participation in Jewish life and community. That is the central thesis of the book I have written for publication in the spring of 2019. Radical inclusion is the opposite of the compulsory endogamy Chabon rejects, and opens up to the “other” distinctive Jewish traditions that offer ongoing validity for their lives. We need to broaden our thinking about heirs to Jewish tradition and include not only those who are born Jewish or Jews by choice, but those who are in relationships with Jews. We need to adapt our concept of Jewish “people” to a broader Jewish

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

“community” that includes everyone who is Jewishly engaged — Jews, their partners from different faith backgrounds and their children — to welcome and include all of those people as heirs to our valuable heritage. The left is not indifferent to intermarriage and, unlike Chabon, does not celebrate intermarriage because it’s intermarriage. Instead, it celebrates any marriage involving a Jewish partner and seeks to maximize the Jewish engagement of those marriages. I urge those who are holding on to distinctions between the inmarried and the intermarried to consider what it would mean to maximize the Jewish engagement of interfaith families — the Jewish partner, the partner from a different faith background and, most important, their children. What steps can be taken toward that end? What do we lose by turning our backs on those families? What do we gain by embracing them? Which side of that question are you on? PJC Edmund Case, the retired founder of InterfaithFamily, writes on intermarriage issues at edmundcase.com.

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Community Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s STEM Fest

Bet Tikvah celebrates 30 years Bet Tikvah celebrated the 30th anniversary of its founding with a wine and dessert reception held on June 3 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.

p Shira Wiesenfeld (right) assists Sori Rodkin in creating a homemade lava lamp from oil, water and food coloring. Wiesenfeld’s project was one of more than 50 experiments and projects presented by students at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s STEM Fest. The May 31 event showcased the work of student researchers who investigated topics including the efficacy of ancient chariot wheels, the erosion speeds of rocks and the journey of flushed contents from a toilet. Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. p Jordan Karp and Jamie Phillips celebrate Bet Tikvah’s 30th anniversary.

Honoring Jewish Educators

Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

The community honored part-time Jewish educators on Wednesday, June 6 at an event presented by the Jewish Life & Learning Department of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Barbara Parker presented Pittsburgh’s 2018 Harold Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Jewish Education to Sharon Serbin. Serbin held her grandson as she shared her perspective as a part-time Jewish educator. Serbin is currently in her 20th year of teaching at Adat Shalom Religious School and in her third year of teaching at Dor Hadash Religious School. In Pittsburgh, the Barbara and Lester Parker Fund for a Jewish Future Endowment, an endowment of the Federation’s Jewish Community Foundation, supports the award.

p Jen Butchart and Aly Silver

Photos courtesy of Bet Tikvah

Book burial at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery Several truckloads of prayer books were collected from individuals and congregations in the community, enough to fill a special, quadruple-sized grave at the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association’s Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery.

t From left: Helpers Herbert Adelman, Elaine Berkowitz, Harvey Wolsh, Jonathan Schachter, Bernard Dickter, Steven Santman, Rabbi Alex Greenbaum and Judy Ryave McGuire

Photos courtesy of Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association

22 JUNE 15, 2018

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Community Chabad of Squirrel Hill celebrates the Sound of Jewish Music

Love is kosher

More than 500 women enjoyed the Sound of Jewish Music, an evening of music, art and women’s unity sponsored by Chabad of Squirrel Hill on May 30. t From left: Julie Harris, Carlie Platt, Ariana Finkelstein, Sara Stock Mayo and Becca Ackner perform “We,” a song about community

u A group of community women perform a dance to a klezmer tune played by Janice Coppola and Laura Daniels

p Rabbi Jeremy Markiz led parents and children from Congregation Beth Shalom along with representatives from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in making signs for this year’s Pittsburgh Pride EQT Equality March, which took place on June 10. Photo courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom

Yeshiva Schools Gala t From left: Lauren Burke, Bracha Deren and Jennifer Jaffee share personal remarks about friendship

More than 500 people joined Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh on May 29 at its annual gala at the Westin Convention Center, celebrating 74 years of excellence in Jewish Education.

p Rabbi Yossi and Chanie Rosenblum were presented with the community leadership award. From left: David Nadoff, Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld, Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Chanie Rosenblum and Blumi Rosenfeld

p From left: Laura Daniels, Elinor Nathanson, Hailey Shevitz, Hannah Adelson and Cara Shuckett take a bow after performing a parody song about prayer.

Photos by Marla Jones

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p The Friend for Life award was presented to Ed Goldston. From left: Shlomo Jacobs, Ed Goldston (seated), Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld and award presenter Shalom Leeds Photos courtesy of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh

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