Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 12-4-20

December 4, 2020 | 18 Kislev 5781

Candlelighting 4:36 p.m. | Havdalah 5:38 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 49 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Chanukah traditions reimagined but celebrations continue

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL No space for hate

$1.50

Day schools balance pandemic challenges and in-person instruction

Bringing community together through art

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

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institutions, hope to have 1,000 families — the limit set by Zoom for streamed events — light their menorahs simultaneously.

“It’s going to be about doing it from home but feeling we’re all together,” Friedman said.

The virtual menorah lighting will be followed by public events Monday, Dec. 14, and Tuesday, Dec. 15, at Summerset at Frick Park, and on Murray Avenue in front of B’nai Emunoh, which will be closed to traffic. All in-person events will follow social distancing and face mask regulations.

The retooled public celebrations will include the annual menorah car parade, a Chanukah truck featuring an LED screen playing holiday-themed videos, a fire juggler, individually wrapped treats, a raffle and menorah lighting.

The Grand Menorah Parade will begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at Rodef Shalom Congregation, concluding at Chabad of Greenfield where those interested can partake in the celebration and menorah lighting, Altein said. Anyone interested in watching the parade can do so from a safe distance.

“We want to be able to connect with people and bring them the warmth of Chanukah,”

ittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools continue to navigate the challenges of in-person instruction amid rising COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County.

On Nov. 30, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh announced that, to be prudent, students would complete the week virtually, “because of COVID-19 prevalence in the community,” said Rabbi Sam Weinberg, the school’s principal.

On Nov. 25, third-graders at Hillel Academy had returned to in-person instruction after 12 days of virtual learning following a COVID-19 exposure. One day prior, students from Hillel Academy’s seventh grade returned to in-person learning after a similar exposure.

“Fortunately, due to our podding system, where students from different grades are separated from each other, we were able to contact trace and only send a small percentage of the school’s student body home,” Weinberg said.

Since the pandemic’s onset, Hillel Academy, like Community Day School and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh, has worked with medical advisors to adopt procedures regarding COVID-19.

Having spent countless hours revising plans to support safe in-person instruction, Weinberg, said he was pleased the procedures operated as intended.

“Our health and safety systems worked and no additional students reported any symptoms during the two-week quarantine,” he said.

On Sept. 17, CDS closed its campus early after learning an individual had tested positive for COVID-19.

“At the time, we were unable, from a personnel standpoint, to keep our classrooms open for a period of time, so we

Please see Chanukah, page 14

Please see Schools, page 14

LOCAL ‘Pajamukkahs’ for Chanukah

 Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld lights the menorah at last year’s Chanukah celebration at the Waterfront. Due to COVID-19 concerns, large public holiday events have been put on hold until next year.

Photo provided by Rabbi Yisroel Altein

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

Local designer gets in holiday spirit Page 3

LOCAL 50 years of toys, and more

S.W. Randall still going strong Page 4

T

he Chanukah menorah will burn just as brightly this year, although Jewish organizations and families have been forced to rethink their celebrations, incorporating social distancing and virtual programming into their regular traditions.

“Things are much different this year,” said Rabbi Elchonon Friedman of B’nai Emunah Chabad in Greenfield. “Things have to be more intimate this year. People need the intimacy.

You know, we lost the massive things this year, but they weren’t that important to life.”

Friedman, along with Chabad of Greenfield’s Rabbi Yitzchak Goldwasser, usually coordinates a large Chanukah event including a Grand Menorah Parade, organized

by Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s Rabbi Yisroel Altein, through Greenfield and Squirrel Hill, culminating in a festival at the Waterfront in Homestead attracting hundreds of attendees.

Instead, the rabbis have planned several different events to fill the void of a large community celebration.

On Thursday, Dec. 10, the first day of Chanukah, rabbis Friedman and Goldwasser, in conjunction with more than 15 other Jewish

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

A piece of Pittsburgh history

LOCAL

Cantor Taube celebrated

FOOD

Chanukah bimuelos

Headlines Window art promotes peace as well as local businesses — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

T

he 10.27 Healing Partnership is taking its message to the streets — and windows.

In an effort to promote local businesses and encourage community members to imagine an area free from hate, the 10.27 Healing Partnership has partnered with Uncover Squirrel Hill and neighborhood store owners to disseminate peaceful messaging through art.

Highlighting local businesses by placing colorful and impactful artwork in store windows was driven by a desire to create dialogue, said Maggie Feinstein, the 10.27 Healing Partnership’s director. “This project is a way to display the community we all want to create together, even while we are socially distant.”

COVID-19 has brought numerous challenges to small business owners in Pittsburgh and across the country, including fewer customers and shifting standards for operation. As of Aug. 31, more than 163,000 businesses had closed nationwide since March 1, according to a Yelp analysis.

While some professionals, such as lawyers, architects and accountants, have managed to weather the pandemic, owners of restaurants and retail are among those hardest hit.

Within Squirrel Hill, restaurants, retail, professional and financial services help make up the Squirrel Hill Business District.

A representative task force, Uncover Squirrel Hill, advocates on behalf of business owners and liaisons with local officials. In years past, Uncover Squirrel Hill also hosted Squirrel Hill Night Markets, CommUNITY Day, Upstreet Halloween and the Holiday Wine Walk. Due to COVID-19, though, those events, which promote local merchants and

 Artwork displayed in Little’s Shoes store window

Photo by Larry Ceisler

 People create art with 10.27 Healing Partnership during a Festive Friday event on Nov. 13.

Photo courtesy of 10.27 Healing Partnership

provide community members fraternizing opportunities, were canceled in 2020.

In working with Uncover Squirrel Hill, the 10.27 Healing Partnership wanted to draw attention to local businesses that may be getting fewer customers these days, said Feinstein.

“We are all community, and especially as a community created around 10.27, the local businesses have been such amazing supportive allies, and have been so impacted,” she said. It’s important to “see them and recognize them in different ways.”

In store windows along Forbes Avenue and throughout Squirrel Hill, displayed artwork includes bright pictures and designs drawn by children. Some of the pieces were created during Uncover Squirrel Hill’s Festive Friday event, a program of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition that invites merchants to bring “the best of their shops and restaurants outdoors” and encourages passersby to safely patronize these businesses.

On Nov. 13, the 10.27 Healing Partnership operated a table during a Festive Friday event and provided poster boards and markers for people interested in creating art geared around the theme “No Space for Hate.”

Justin Sigal, president of Little’s Shoes, received a cheerful piece of art containing a bright yellow smiling sun shining down on friends walking hand in hand. The picture was prominently displayed in Little’s storefront on Forbes Avenue.

Joining the project, and hanging up the piece, were easy decisions, explained Sigal.

“We love doing community-oriented projects, whether just for fun or like this when it has a healing perspective,” he said. “To walk our street and see children’s artwork in the window makes people smile.”

As part of the community-oriented project, artwork is rotated and new pieces will be regularly created. Follow-up prompts will continue to reinforce the “No Space for Hate” message but allow creators to explore other ideas as well, explained Feinstein.

Following Oct. 27, 2018, the business district responded “in amazing ways with support and encouragement,” said Feinstein. Showcasing these merchants is another way “for us to be creative and see each other. In some ways it’s another opportunity to bring community to businesses and businesses to community.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines ‘Pajamukkahs’ for Chanukah, thanks to Pittsburgh designer

 Final version of the Hanukkah Llamakkah PJs

— LOCAL —

By Kayla Steinberg | Digital Content Manager

W

hen Shira Levenson started seeing Christmas pajamas marketed to her on Facebook, she asked, “Why isn’t there a Jewish version of this?”

She took it upon herself to make that happen.

In late 2017, Levenson started Chosen Threads, designing and selling Jewish holiday-themed and year-round apparel — like glow-in-the-dark “Light Up the Night” menorah pajamas (or, as she puts it on Facebook, “pajamukkahs”) and “Challah at Me” onesies.

She hopes the apparel will inspire pride

Please see Pajamukkahs, page 15

 Shira Levenson and her cousin Roey Tuti in the newly printed Menorasaurus shirts.

Photos courtesy of Shira Levenson

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Headlines 50 years later, S.W. Randall still bringing smiles — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

A

s you approach S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes on Smithfield Street downtown, you are greeted by a large display in the front window comprised of Santa Claus figures, nutcrackers and a model train. Holiday music can be heard playing on speakers as you enter the store.

Cross the doorway and you see glass cases filled with toys and gifts that would be right at home in any North Pole or Santa’s workshop model: stuffed animals, toy trains, creches and small Christmas trees complete with 3-D ornaments requiring cardboard glasses to view in their full splendor.

Asked if he carries any Chanukah items, owner Jack Cohen said he has a few dreidels on hand but nothing more.

Despite the store’s emphasis on that other winter holiday, Cohen grew up as a part of Squirrel Hill’s Jewish community, where he attended Congregation Beth Shalom.

So how does a nice Jewish kid end up running a toy store that looks like it was created as a location for a Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas Movie Marathon selection?

“I listen to my customers,” Cohen said. “If I get enough requests, I order something. It’s the only way I know.”

 Jack Cohen has owned S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes for 50 years.

Because of Cohen’s business acumen, his toy store — celebrating its 50th anniversary this year — now has three locations. The first one, on Forbes Avenue in Squirrel Hill, opened in 1970; the downtown location opened eight years later; and his Shadyside store opened in 1988. A fourth location in Station Square closed in 2007.

Along the way, Cohen outlasted chain

stores like Toys R Us and Children’s Palace and managed to maintain his relevance in spite of the internet and big box stores fighting for space in the retail toy landscape.

Cohen did not begin his career with toys in mind. At the University of Pittsburgh, he studied engineering and worked in that field for one year.

“I hated it,” he said. “I just hated being an

Photo by David Rullo

engineer. I told my wife we had to figure out something else.”

Cohen’s next gig, selling frozen treats while driving an ice cream truck, had him earning $100 a day, 15 cents at a time. As winter approached, he knew he needed to do something else to provide for his wife, Linda, Please see Randall, page 15

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Magen David Adom is Israel’s official ambulance, blood-services, and disaster-relief organization. MDA has been on the front lines in the fight against coronavirus while also contending with terrorist attacks, car accidents, and other threats to Israeli lives.

But Magen David Adom is not government-funded. Its 25,000 EMTs and paramedics, most of them volunteers, rely on support from people like you for the supplies and equipment they need to perform their lifesaving work.

There are many ways to support Israel, but none that has a greater impact on its people than a gift to Magen David Adom. Your support isn’t just changing lives — it’s literally saving them.

Support Magen David Adom at afmda.org/chanukah

4 DECEMBER 4, 2020

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Headlines Ellen Roteman visits familiar settings and characters in two new books — LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

A

uthor, grandmother and communications professional Ellen Roteman’s two new children’s books, “Production!” and “The Case of the Unfair Science Fair,” each explore situations and personalities their readers will likely recognize.

Roteman, an award-winning former Jewish Chronicle writer who later served as marketing director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, wanted her books — both recently released by Menucha Publishers — to address relatable moments in the lives of Jewish children and feature realistic characters.

The new titles follow Roteman’s first children’s book, “The Case of the Disappearing Chanukah Candles,” published by Menucha in 2018.

There is a tendency from certain publishers which largely cater to Orthodox Jewish readers to portray children as perfect, but for Roteman, it is important “as a grandmother with some Orthodox grandchildren” to present children “as a work in progress, as we all are,” she said.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

 Ellen Roteman

 The covers of “Production” and “The Unfair Science Fair”

Photos courtesy of Ellen Roteman

The children in both “Production!” and “The Case of the Unfair Science Fair” are “trying to be better and do what’s right, but they’re still kids,” she said.

In both books, whether the figures are staging a high school production,

or partnering with siblings, classmates and friends to solve a middle school mystery, Roteman’s characters exhibit a range of emotions.

Not only was it important to the author that the characters solve their quandaries,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by Barbara Secher Greenidge

but also that they act reflectively and feel bad when treating each other poorly, she said.

In “Production!,” readers enter the dramatic world of theater at Jewish girls Please see Roteman, page 15

DECEMBER 4, 2020 5

Headlines Historical marker unveiled for Pittsburgh founder of NCJW — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

I

t’s official: The contributions of Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg are a part of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania history.

State officials recently unveiled a historical marker honoring Rosenberg, a progressive Pittsburgh Jewish woman who helped found the National Council of Jewish Women and what would become the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, outside the Deutschtown home where she lived around 1888.

Matthew Falcone, a Rodef Shalom board member and historian, has lived in the Lockhart Street house for 10 years with his husband, Adam Falcone, and their two children. He has been lobbying for the historical designation, pulling in letters of support from several organizations.

“I’ll say I’m very happy — it’s a milestone,” Falcone told the Chronicle. “I’ve been working on this project for well over a year so it’s nice for the marker to materialize. We’ll likely have the official unveiling ceremony in the spring, when the weather warms up and we hopefully fare a little better with COVID-19.”

The City of Pittsburgh has added the North Side home to its list of historic landmarks, said Falcone, who has also applied to have the home recognized on the National

6 DECEMBER 4, 2020

 A historical marker commemorating the contributions of Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg outside her former home on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Photo by Matthew Falcone

 Matthew Falcone holds a photo of Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg

Register of Historic Places.

When Falcone moved into the Deutschtown house about a decade ago, the former University of Pittsburgh history and art history professor didn’t know its lineage

or who Rosenberg was. That was until his friend, the late Carol Peterson, realized that Rabbi Lippman Mayer, who led Rodef Shalom from 1870 to 1901, once lived next door. Once Peterson began researching

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

other homes on the street and in the area, she found the Rosenberg connection.

Rosenberg, born in Pittsburgh predecessor Please see Marker, page 15

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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. Submissions also will be included in print. Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q SUNDAY, DEC. 6; WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9 Chabad of the South Hills presents Secrets of the Bible, a new six-week course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Study iconic stories, mystical meanings and their lessons for life. Sunday classes begin at 10:30 a.m.; Wednesday classes start at 8 p.m. Classes are presented on Zoom. For more information and to register, visit chabadsh.com. q SUNDAYS, DEC. 6, 13, 20, 27; JAN. 3 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q SUNDAYS, DEC. 6, JAN. 31; FEB. 7, 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7, 14 What does Jewish tradition have to say about God, Torah, mitzvot, suffering, messiah, Israel?

In this special course, Pittsburgh Rabbis on Jewish Belief, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will host 14 Pittsburgh rabbis, each teaching a session on fundamental aspects of Jewish belief. Fourteen sessions for $70. 10 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q MONDAY, DEC. 7 Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for First Mondays at Beth El. This month, Barbara Burstin will present “FDR, was he good for the Jews? A discussion on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.” Burstin is on the history faculty of both the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University and has written several books, including a biography of Sophie Masloff. She was the historical consultant and producer of the movie by Ken Love titled “Jewish Memories of the Hill.” 12 p.m. For more information, visit bethelcong.org. q MONDAYS, DEC. 7, 14, 21, 28; JAN. 4 Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, DEC. 7; FEB. 1, 8, 15, 22; MARCH 1, 8, 15 Most people associate the term “Haftarah” with opaque prophetic reading on Shabbat morning.

This course, Haftarah, will attempt to make the opaque sparkle. Choosing selectively from the most interesting Haftarah portions, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will seek to imbue meaning in these powerful prophetic passages. Fourteen sessions for $70.

9:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q TUESDAY, DEC. 8 United Hatzalah is an innovative and fast-growing organization whose focus is getting emergency medical attention to people all over Israel.

Learn about the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s relationship with, and support of, United Hatzalah, as well as the story of its founder, Eli Beer. 12 p.m. For more information, visit jewispgh.org/event.

Join Moishe House of Pittsburgh for a Virtual Yoga Night taught by community member Gavriela Burston of Haven Yoga and Meditation. The class will focus on self-care. It will be a physically gentle practice, incorporating breathing and meditation techniques, to help participants relax and reconnect with feelings of safety and alignment.

7 p.m. For more information visit facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh.

Repair the World invites you to Virtual Latke Making with 412 Food Rescue. Make nontraditional latkes (zucchini, sweet potato, carrot, etc.) and hear from Marissa Fogel and Greg Austin from 412 Food Rescue’s Good Food Project, who will discuss the impact of food waste in our global food system and how we can turn food that may have been wasted into latkes. 6 p.m. For more information and to register, visit rpr.world/412Latkes.

q TUESDAYS, DEC. 8, 15, 22

q WEDNESDAYS, DEC. 9, 16

Jewish Family and Community Services hosts Mindfulness and Meditation for Stress Management, offering the opportunity to cultivate greater awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Increasing awareness and integrating mindfulness and meditation into one’s routine strengthens one’s ability to act with intention rather than reactively and decrease feelings of being overwhelmed. 11 a.m. To register, visit jfcspgh.org.

Classrooms Without Borders presents “Becoming Blended L2: A Practical Course for Remote Pedagogy.” All classroom educators can receive this fully subsidized teacher training.

Educators attending the program are eligible to receive Pennsylvania Act 48 continuing credits.

4 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.

Join Classrooms Without Borders scholar Avi Ben-Hur on a fascinating look at Jewish heritage in six different countries across Europe and North Africa. Ben-Hur will dedicate two weekly sessions to each country in this 12-week series.

This series is co-sponsored by Rodef Shalom Congregation. 2 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org/jewishheritage-around-the-world.

Join Jewish Family and Community Services for Art and Contemplation - Teen Edition, an artbased support group just for teens. The sessions will explore how making art can help regulate the nervous system, promote playfulness, imagination, help develop insight, and connect us more deeply to our bodies, emotions and thoughts. For the first session, blank paper and drawing materials that have some variety of color will be needed.

Free. 3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfcspgh.org. q TUESDAYS, DEC. 8-JUNE 1 What is the point of Jewish living? What ideas, beliefs and practices are involved? Melton Course 1: Rhythms & Purposes of Jewish Living examines a variety of Jewish sources to discover the deeper meanings of Jewish holidays, lifecycle observances and Jewish practice. Cost: $300 per person, per year (25 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q TUESDAYS, DEC. 8, 15; FEB. 9, 16, 23; MARCH 2, 9 Treating Jewish jokes as text, From Sinai to Seinfeld invites students to analyze and interpret the evolving concerns, styles, rhythms, preoccupations and values of the Jewish people that lie buried deep in words that make us laugh as Jews, and that bond us as a people. $50 per person, (10 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9 Classrooms Without Borders presents On Slavery: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Huck Finn, examining enslavement and freedom through literature written during slavery or immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation. Join resident teaching artist Susan Stein to explore and analyze​​ literature created by African American writers and thinkers, as well as​works that silence African American voices. 4 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.

Join Classrooms Without Borders for a weekly book discussion of “Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People” with Dr. Joshua Andy on Zoom.

7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q THURSDAY, DEC. 10 Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh director Dr. Lauren Apter Bairnsfather talks to Kevin Mosley, social justice expert and former state trooper as part of the Center’s Conversation series. 3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit hcofpgh.org/events.

Classrooms Without Borders is honored to convene an interfaith discussion about resilience and miracles featuring religious leaders from the three major monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Moderated by Imam Jihad Turk, founding president and dean of Bayan Islamic Graduate School, the panel features Rabbi Aaron Bisno of Rodef Shalom Congregation, Rev. David Poecking of Archangel Gabriel Parish and Imam Chris Caras of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. 4 p.m. For more information, visit classroomswithoutborders.org.

Join Chabad of the South Hills and celebrate the Annual South Hills Lights with a Chanukah drive-in.

The first candle will be kindled on the grand 12-foot menorah. Enjoy individually wrapped Chanukah treats and swag for each car, a family-friendly multimedia experience on a giant 30-foot screen, live entertainment, music and more. All you have to do is drive in, park your car and enjoy. Dormont pool parking lot. 5:30 p.m. This event will strictly adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines. Reservations are required. Go to chabadsh.com to register your vehicle.

Chabad of Greenfield presents a virtual group menorah lighting. Be part of the 1,000 members of the Jewish community who light their menorahs together on the first night of Chanukah. chabadofgreenfield.com q SUNDAY, DEC. 13 Be a superhero, join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Annual Phone-a-thon to raise funds for the community. Super Sunday will be held virtually in 2020. Represent your favorite Jewish Pittsburgh organization. The group with the most representatives will receive $1,800. There will be a training session on Wednesday, Dec. 9. You will need a computer with internet access and a mobile device to make calls. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org/event/super-sunday.

The Cantors Assembly will look back on The Life and Work of Hazzan Moshe Taube. Taube is one of the great cantors of our generation. A survivor of the

Holocaust on the legendary Schindler's List, Taube served as cantor of Congregation Beth Shalom of Squirrel Hill for over 40 years. The program will feature musical selections, excerpts from recorded interviews and recollections of colleagues and friends. Free. 8 p.m. bit.ly/MosheTaubeShloshim. q MONDAY, DEC. 14 Join Chabad of Greenfield for a public menorah lighting at Summerset at Frick Park. Enjoy Chanukah treats and special holiday-themed fun. 5:30 p.m. chabadofgreenfield.com Join Classrooms Without Borders in Israel — virtually. Monthly tours with guide and scholar Rabbi Jonty Blackman via Zoom.

7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q TUESDAY, DEC. 15 Join Chabad of Greenfield and Chabad of Squirrel Hill for a Grand Menorah Parade and menorah lighting. The parade begins at 5 p.m. at Rodef Shalom Congregation ending at B’nai Emunoh on Murray Avenue. The socially distanced menorah lighting will take place following the parade and will include individually wrapped donuts, Chanukah treats, an LED screen playing Chanukah videos, music and more. 5:30 p.m. chabadofgreenfield.com q THURSDAY, DEC. 17 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Rodef Shalom Congregation and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage will screen “From Slavery to Freedom” and host a post screening discussion with Natan Sharansky. 3 p.m. To register visit classroomswithoutborders.org/natan_sharansky. q TUESDAY, DEC. 22 Discover the latest news and views from Israel and the Middle East in the last month. Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for The Month that Was: Behind the Headlines in Israel – Part 2, an in-depth analysis and a fascinating discussion with Neil Lazarus. 12 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org/event. q THURSDAY, DEC. 24 Got nothing to do on a random December Thursday night? How about a tradition as old as the Torah itself? Join Moishe House Pittsburgh for Chinese Food and a Zoom movie (“But I’m a Cheerleader”).

Chinese food delivery is on MoHo (up to $15/person) for the first eight Pittsburgh-based registrants.

6 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh. q MONDAY, DEC. 28 Moishe House Pittsburgh welcomes HIAS President Mark Hetfield for Our People Were Refugees Too: MoHo Meets HIAS President Mark Hetfield. Hetfield will discuss the organization’s work, the current state of the refugee crisis during the pandemic and how we can advocate for our country to welcome the stranger.

7 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh. q MONDAY, JAN. 4 Join Beth El Congregation of the South Hills for First Mondays with Rabbi Alex. This month, musician Seth Kibel will present “Klezmer: American Music.” 12 p.m. For more information and to register visit bethelcong.org. PJC

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James Wolfensohn dies at 86

James Wolfensohn, the World Bank president and philanthropist who helped shepherd Israel’s exit from the Gaza Strip, died at his Manhattan home of pneumonia.

His wife of 59 years, Elaine, died in August.

Wolfensohn was an investment banker whose philanthropic endeavors included turning around the fortunes of Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in the 1990s.

President Bill Clinton named him to the World Bank post in 1995 and his 10-year term was marked by his focus on partnership, rather than patronage, with the developing world. He made the institution a counselor to developing economies and ended the bank’s practice of tolerating corruption.

“We must rebalance our world to give everyone the chance for life that is secure,” Wolfensohn said in a 2003 speech, “with a right to expression, equal rights for women, rights for the disabled and disadvantaged, the right to a clean environment, the right to learn, the right to development.”

President George W. Bush named Wolfensohn as the envoy to the Gaza Strip of the Quartet, the grouping of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union guiding the Middle East peace process. Wolfensohn shepherded Israel’s exit from Gaza in 2005, a process rife

with miscalucalations that led to the victory of Hamas in 2007 elections and permanent tensions on the border.

Symbolic of the enterprise’s failure was the fate of greenhouses tended by Israeli settlers.

When Wolfensohn learned the settlers planned to smash the greenhouses on their way out, he raised $14 million, including $500,000 of his own money, to salvage them for use by Palestinians.

Much to the consternation of Palestinian leaders, whose police were understaffed, local Palestinians looted the greenhouses.

What truly doomed the enterprise, however, according to Wolfensohn, were Israeli restrictions on the export of produce from Gaza.

Wolfensohn was devoted to Jewish giving.

The family foundation he set up, administered by his children, gave to a broad array of Jewish causes across denominations.

In 2006, he seeded money for perfect reproductions of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah that would be sold in part to help sustain the tiny Bosnian Jewish community.

His activism stemmed from his youth; his parents helped bring to Australia Jewish refugees from Europe. He was radicalized, he said, by the poverty he encountered in Africa and Asia as an air conditioning salesman. He eventually joined investment banks in London and then in New York.

“The inequity was so striking that I could hardly absorb what was in front of me,” The Washington Post quoted him as saying in his 2010 autobiography, “A Global Life.” PJC

Giving Tuesday extended for our print edition!

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his year it’s more important than ever that you support our only source of news about Jewish Pittsburgh. Every day online and every week in print the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle informs, engages and connects our community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has decreased ad revenue significantly and we depend on your support. Several cities have seen their local Jewish news cut back or end altogether, but we’re working hard to bring you more news and information than ever. The ongoing impact of the pandemic, the aftermath of 10/27, the triumphs and trials of people and organizations, and yes, births, marriages and deaths — we bring all of it to you.

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Headlines Moshe Taube retrospective to celebrate the man and the music — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

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any Pittsburghers, Jews and fellow cantors harbor treasured memories of Hazzan Moshe Taube — a Polish Jew with a tremendous voice who survived the Holocaust thanks to industrialist Oskar Schindler’s famous list, and spent 40 years on bimas in Pittsburgh as a beloved cantor. Taube, a fixture at Congregation Beth Shalom for decades, died Nov. 11 at age 93.

Hazzan Stephen J. Stein attended Poale Zedeck growing up in Pittsburgh. But he admits he often snuck over to Beth Shalom simply to hear Taube daven. He calls Taube one of the biggest influences on his own cantorial style.

“There are musical modes, scales and musical motifs that are unique to each synagogue service — and a skilled cantor knows how to improvise,” Stein told the Chronicle.

“Taube was outstanding. He’s the end of an era of the great, traditional classical cantors.”

On Sunday, Dec. 13, Taube will be memorialized and his work will be shared and celebrated. The Cantors Assembly — a 600-member national association based in Ohio — will host an online “Sh’loshim Retrospective” on Taube and his work from

 Cantor Moshe Taube in a portrait hanging in Congregation Beth Shalom Photo by Adam Reinherz

8 to 9 p.m. that day. It is free to attend but advance registration is required.

Taube’s colleagues and protégés will speak at the Dec. 13 event, and there will be an open forum at the end. But the real gem of the evening is, without a doubt, the playlist. In addition to sharing recorded excerpts from a 1984 interview with Taube, the Cantors Assembly will stream multiple Taube performances, including his “Kiddush for Festivals,” “Sim Sholom”

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

Dec. 4, 2000 — Law passed to prevent discrimination in schools

The Knesset passes legislation proposed by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, also the education minister, to prevent discrimination in schools based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status or political alignment.

Dec. 5, 1949 — Ben-Gurion rejects international status for Jerusalem

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declares that “Jewish Jerusalem is an organic, inseparable part of the state of Israel” and rejects any U.N. attempt to remove Jerusalem from Israeli sovereignty.

Dec. 6, 2007 — Helene’s Palace believed to be found

An Israeli dig discovers the remains of a 2,000-year-old mansion in the Old City of Jerusalem that is believed to have belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene, who died in Jerusalem around 55 C.E.

and “Tikanto Shabbos,” among others, said Hazzan Michael Weis, the group’s director of communications.

“I think it’s going to be really nice — I think we’ll have a nice group,” Weis said.

Though Weis never met Taube in person, he does have a Taube memory: He rehearsed to get into the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City with a Taube piece, “Sheva Berachot.” The man helping to lead Weis’ audition, seminary professor Boaz Tarsi,

Dec. 8, 1948 — Historian Benny Morris is born

Benny Morris, a history professor known for uncovering evidence that Israel expelled many Arabs during the War of Independence, is born in Ein HaHoresh to a diplomat and a journalist.

Dec. 9, 1987 — First Intifada breaks out

Riots erupt in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the start of the First Intifada (“awakening”). The immediate cause is the crash of an army truck that killed four Palestinians the previous day.

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Dec. 7, 1953 — Ben-Gurion resigns, is succeeded by Sharett

Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, announces his resignation and retirement to Kibbutz Sde Boker. He is succeeded by fellow Mapai member Moshe Sharett, the foreign minister.

was stunned by the work; he begged the young Weis to tell him where he could get a copy of the music.

“I was shocked,” Weis said. “I didn’t know how I got a copy and he didn’t.”

Hazzan Robert Kieval remembers Taube from his time at Shaare Zedek in New York City in the late 1950s. Taube had arrived in the United States around 1957 by way of Israel after World War II, and later received a degree in voice from The Juilliard School.

Two performances from Taube’s Shaare Zedek years — “Ohavti (Hallel)” and “Zaro Chayo”— will be played at the Dec. 13 event.

“Taube made five or six recordings and, when he was in Israel, he did a lot at Kol Israel, on Israeli radio, doing Chasidic songs he learned in Poland,” said Kieval, who helped lead his first High Holidays in 1964 at 17 and led a suburban Washington, D.C., shul for 25 years. “He was one of the top guys around in the old, European style.”

Stein believes the Dec. 13 event will be a great way to celebrate a colleague and a giant of the cantorial form.

“He prided himself that he never chanted the same text the same way twice,” Stein said.

“A master needs to know how to do that.”

To register for the event, go to bit.ly/ taubeevent. PJC

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Opinion Effi Eitam appointment would negate Yad Vashem’s core message Guest Columnists Efraim Zuroff Yossi Klein Halevi

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t’s a relief to know the appointment of former Brigadier General Effi Eitam as head of Yad Vashem has apparently been frozen for now due to the political deadlock between Likud and Blue and White.

And yet his nomination has not been canceled. It should be.

Eitam’s appointment to chair the Holocaust memorial, research and educational center would pose a potentially fatal threat to its sacred mission of Holocaust commemoration and outreach around the world. His reputation has been sullied by accusations of acts of brutality committed by soldiers under his explicit command and by his well-publicized statements calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from the territories and of Arab lawmakers from the Knesset.

Eitam’s advocates note his long years of service defending the Jewish state, the necessity of which is one of the principal lessons the Jewish people learned from the Holocaust. Eitam deserves our gratitude for his heroism and self-sacrifice. But those

qualities do not mean he has the expertise or moral standing needed to undertake one of Israel’s most sensitive assignments.

Among the historic achievements of Yad Vashem is to uphold the uniqueness of the Holocaust against a growing tendency around the world to relativize and thereby trivialize the genocide of European Jewry.

Yad Vashem has led the struggle against those who would subsume the Holocaust in the general category of “genocide studies,” or else liken it to Stalin’s crimes.

Eitam will be widely perceived as the antithesis of the Holocaust’s moral lessons.

As Holocaust awareness transitions from open wound to historical scar, it is crucial that Yad Vashem maintain its moral credibility, its ability to speak to Jews and others across the political spectrum. Putting a figure widely seen as a symbol of intolerance at its head undermines what is already a difficult struggle.

During the last two decades, there has been an enormous increase in research on, and commemoration of, other cases of genocide, along with a growing sensitivity to issues of human rights. Astonishingly, this has often led to downplaying the Jewish dimension of the Holocaust and the indispensable role played by centuries of anti-Semitism in preparing the ground for the destruction of European Jewry. Many Holocaust museums tend to emphasize universalist lessons — the recent exhibition in memory of George Floyd at the Holocaust Memorial Resource

and Education Center in Maitland, Florida is only the latest example.

Since its inception, Yad Vashem has been the guardian of the Jewish narrative and has transmitted the particularist Jewish understanding of its lessons to vast numbers of Jews and non-Jews around the world.

Thanks largely to Yad Vashem, the Jewish people can still define its own story.

Yad Vashem performs another crucial educational mission: It upholds the lessons of the Holocaust that reflect the Israeli ethos, especially the need for Jews to defend themselves in their own state. Yet the appointment of Eitam, who was linked to acts of violence against Palestinians during his IDF career, would compromise the integrity of that message.

Yad Vashem is able to maintain the credibility of the particularist position on the Holocaust by respecting its universalist lessons. For Yad Vashem, there is, in fact, no contradiction between the view of the Holocaust as an event unparalleled in the history of humankind, and its universalist takeaways — even as it rightly insists on placing greater emphasis on the lesson Jews learned of the need for self-empowerment.

The next chairman of Yad Vashem must have a genuine sensitivity to human rights while being committed to preserving the Shoah’s uniqueness — all while possessing the diplomatic skills needed to maintain that complicated balance.

Effi Eitam fails to meet the essential qualifications for this job. Instead, he will be widely perceived as the antithesis of the Holocaust’s moral lessons. Ironically, in heading Yad Vashem, Eitam will compromise its ability to promote the very Zionist lessons of the Holocaust — Jewish sovereignty and self-defense — that he has dedicated his life to affirming.

Under Eitam’s leadership, Yad Vashem would almost certainly become a target of an international boycott, one that could also involve friends of Israel. Yad Vashem’s invaluable educational programs, attracting teachers from around the world, could be severely harmed.

This is not a question of left or right. There are figures on the right with impeccable moral credentials capable of leading Yad Vashem in a complicated landscape of memory.

We call on the government to rethink this disastrous appointment, which risks politicizing Holocaust memory, perhaps the last consensus issue still capable of uniting the Jewish people.

Efraim Zuroff is chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and director of the center’s Israel office and Eastern European Affairs. The views expressed here are his own.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

This piece was first published by The Times of Israel.

The Supreme Court’s repeal of synagogue restrictions won’t change anything for Orthodox congregations like mine Guest Columnist Rabbi Yosie Levine

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s the rabbi of a synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I have been keeping a close eye on pronouncements by the governor about the ever-changing New York state guidelines governing houses of worship. Since reopening in the summer, we have taken note of how quickly synagogues have had to adapt when they found themselves subject to occupancy limits of 10 or 25 people.

When the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision about the legality of these state-imposed restrictions, we followed it with great interest.

In last week’s split decision, the court set aside the attendance limits that Governor Cuomo had imposed on houses of worship in red and orange zones. The decision does not immunize synagogues, mosques or churches against government restrictions.

It simply insists that those restrictions must

10 DECEMBER 4, 2020

not be more severe than those placed on comparable secular gatherings.

Champions of religious freedom cheered.

In their view, the court had beaten back an overreaching state. But for a synagogue community like ours, the decision is largely academic.

From the outset of this pandemic, it has been our position that while adherence to the dictates of the government is required by halakha, or Jewish law, those dictates represent a floor rather than a ceiling. In the halakhic calculus, few issues are treated more conservatively than those pertaining to public safety. That a given activity may be legal does not necessarily mean it is advisable or even permitted. Our synagogue closed before being mandated to by the government. We waited to reopen until well after the state proclaimed reopening permissible.

And while the government’s occupancy limits would have allowed us to seat 100 or more people in our sanctuary, our internal guidelines restricted capacity to a fraction of that number.

We can all agree on the need to protect the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment. But in the context of

a raging pandemic, we are not animated by a desire to search for allowances or dispensations. We are not interested in how many people we can legally cram into a given space. Our goal is not simply to satisfy the requirements of the state so that we can check a box. Our goal is to protect the health and well-being of every person who passes through our doors and, in turn, the health and well-being of every member of our broader community. If that requires the expenditure of more time or more funds on our part, so be it.

As Americans, we are conditioned to think about rights. As Jews, we are also meant to think about responsibilities. Mitzvot are not good deeds; they are obligations dutifully performed by those who aspire to better the world by making it more sacred or more godly. Rather than pursuing concessions from the state, we ought to be pursuing opportunities to contribute to it. For Jews, the best way to celebrate the triumph of religious freedom is to treat that freedom responsibly.

Justice Neil Gorsuch filed a separate opinion in this case in which he wrote that “[e]ven if the Constitution has taken a holiday during this pandemic, it cannot

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

become a sabbatical.” By the same token, those of us operating houses of worship cannot afford to rest for even a moment. By insisting on protocols that meet and exceed the expectations of public health officials, we can model responsible civic conduct.

Maintaining these high standards represents an ongoing challenge, but we are obliged to do nothing less.

As citizens of the United States, each of us is called upon to abide by the laws of the nation. What kind of citizen a person will be remains a question of personal preference.

But in the Jewish conception, the Talmud tells us that we are charged with an affirmative requirement to be “good neighbors.”

When the need arises, each of us has to make a concession for the benefit of a greater good. It’s not about how many people in our community we can fit into a service. It’s about how our people can fit service to the community into their lives. PJC Rabbi Yosie Levine holds a doctorate in Early Modern Jewish History from Yeshiva University and is the seventh rabbi of The Jewish Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. This piece was first published by JTA. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion Creating space for progressive voices Guest Columnist Sara Stock Mayo

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here are those in our community who believe Jewish activists should not bring politics into the public square, particularly given what happened in our community two years ago, when 11 Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life building.

But I feel it is possible to simultaneously hold space for individual and collective grief while speaking truth to power. By doing both, we can be a united community and also one that acknowledges there are multiple ways of acting on our Jewish values. This work is complex and can only be built in relationship with one another.

Spiritual activism is about creating space to both comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable. This is a fine line to walk and requires deep discernment about which role to play at any given moment. As a member of Bend the Arc, I feel it is necessary to speak to political concerns relating to white supremacy and the dangerous rhetoric that has come out of this White House.

Our Jewish community is divided on what role activists can and should play. This became clear to me after the shooting at the Tree of Life building, when members of Bend the Arc were accused of being divisive and criticized for holding a protest march on

the day of Trump’s visit to Squirrel Hill.

Yes, we felt it had to get political. It had to get political when the attack on our community was motivated by racist rhetoric about Jews welcoming in refugees, classic anti-Semitic tropes based on the notion that Jews are at fault for “darkening America.” It had to get political because we had a sitting president who had not specifically renounced white nationalism, which is animated by anti-Semitism. And it has to get political when we see racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and any other form of bigotry being not only accepted by those who hold the highest levels of government, but actually uplifted.

It has to get political because we as American Jews must use our voices.

We cannot just rage on social media or express concern on pulpits — we have to pray with our feet.

What struck me most during the days following the attack was how much support we got from those around our city, as well as the response from around the world. Not only was our Jewish community, directly impacted by this trauma, but so was the entire city of Pittsburgh. So many caring people from every neighborhood wanted a place to come together to both express their anguish and to comfort us. This is what we should do as neighbors.

In our own time of crisis, allowing others to join our march against hatred, division and anti-Semitism was healing. It was a reminder that we are not alone, that there are those who

— LETTERS — Repairing the world, one mitzvah at a time

It was genuinely heartwarming to read, in last week’s Thanksgiving edition of the Chronicle, the wonderful chesed (kindness) performed in and by our community. Virtually every page spoke of some individual or organization performing chesed for others.

Whether it was the “Volunteers of the Year” who spend countless hours helping in our synagogues and communal organizations, Sacred Spaces (protecting children and teens from abuse), Into Their Hands (getting laptops to students who need them), “Tuesdays with Jon and Helen” (friendship with a lonely senior), Giving It Forward Together (providing Thanksgiving kits to seniors), “My Cause, My Cleats” (NFL players’ donation of their personalized cleats), the Tree of Life campaign, Federation’s COVID-19 relief distributions, or Chabad’s work around the world, it was exceptionally inspiring to read.

This kindness of one person to another is perhaps the true meaning of social justice and tikkun olam (repairing the world).

Counter to those who promote a concept of social justice that entails “we” and “them,” privilege and victimization, cancel culture, defunding the police, etc., these volunteers have shown that the process of tikkun olam comes down to performing one mitzvah at a time, one person doing one good deed and thereby inspiring each of us to do likewise. And one good deed leads to another.

We invite you to submit letters for publication. Letters must include name, address and daytime phone number; addresses and phone numbers will not be published. Letters may not exceed 500 words and may be edited for length and clarity; they cannot be returned.

Mail, fax or email letters to:

Letters to the editor via email:

Website address:

letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217

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stand with us as we surely stand with them.

We all have different ways of processing trauma and those most directly affected needed to be sheltered and protected following the Tree of Life attack. But many of us recognized we had a different role to play.

I would like to think our community has the capacity to support both of these things.

Our city and our country are divided along lines of race, class, religion and status of citizenship. So many are left behind, especially during the current pandemic. Now is not the time for silence.

Rabbi Tarfon taught that we are not responsible to finish the work, but neither are we free to desist from trying. The work we do as activists is not about being divisive.

It is about radical inclusion and certainly falls in line with Rabbi Tarfon’s charge to try to fix what is broken, and also to realize we cannot do it alone. We need to build strong relationships across our city so that we may know more about one another’s lived experiences and come to recognize our personal views are largely determined by our own narrow worlds. We must begin to recognize that we are, as one of our communal slogans touts, stronger together. Building broad coalitions of solidarity will only further strengthen our Jewish community.

It is through creating and practicing bold visions of radical justice, like the “Beloved Community” of Martin Luther King, Jr., that we work with others to cultivate a society which draws upon our shared humanity.

Creating space for more progressive voices

and actions should not be seen as a threat to our survival as a Jewish people. We need to create spaces in which we can learn to listen better and then ask: What are we willing to dare ourselves to discuss? What discomfort are we willing to sit with so that others may be heard, so that we all might learn something and so that the new paradigms represented by younger Jews and generations coming up can be a part of the dialogue? Who are we willing to become?

The goal of being a united community is a lofty one and something we took great pride in while the cameras were on us after Oct. 27, 2018. All of the accolades about who we are and what we represent are true.

And yet, there is another more complex and challenging narrative underneath this rosy exterior. Expecting total agreement on all communal issues is not realistic. How can we delve into challenging conversations in ways that push the envelope without causing further harm?

Now, two years after the largest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history played out in our own backyard, perhaps we are ready to begin wading, like Nachshon, into the waters of discomfort without knowing where they will lead us. It is time to let go of who we thought we had to be and to dream about who we want to become. Our children will thank us for it. PJC Sara Stock Mayo is an independent spiritual leader/co-leader of Kesher Pittsburgh and an activist with Bend the Arc.

The value of a single mitzvah greatly outshines today’s grandiose ideological schemes that purport to save the world, but that, in fact, only distort and obfuscate societal realities by grossly exaggerating what is wrong in our society and minimizing or ignoring all that is good.

As it says in Proverbs (27:19), “As water reflects face to face, so is the heart of man to man.”

If you smile into a pond of water, you will see a smile back. Likewise, the genuine positive feelings that you show toward someone else will be reciprocated back to you. And this is how society grows toward perfection.

Reuven Hoch Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle Poetry Contest Our readers are invited to submit poems to the Chronicle’s first poetry contest. Winning entries will be published in our Jan. 15 issue, prior to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The theme is “solidarity.” Submissions will be accepted in two categories: teens and adults. The winner in each category will receive a $54 gift card to Pinsker’s Books and Judaica, supplied by an anonymous donor. All submissions must be received no later than Dec. 25.

Guidelines: Poems must be submitted to newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Please type “Poetry Contest” in the subject line. The poem must be in a Microsoft Word file.

No pdfs or handwritten entries will be accepted.

• One submission per author • Must include the author’s name, address, phone number and email address • Must designate whether entry is intended for teen or adult category • Poem should reflect the theme of solidarity • Unpublished poems only

pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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DECEMBER 4, 2020 11

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DECEMBER 4, 2020 13

Headlines Chanukah: Continued from page 1

Altein said. “The car parade is one of the safest things we can do because no one gets out of their cars.”

Those participating in the parade are asked to include a menorah or other Chanukah decorations on their car, making them identifiable to other drivers who may otherwise think they’re caught in a traffic jam created by a group of slow-moving cars.

“It’s very clear that this year’s needs are very different than a typical year,” said Goldwasser.

“Nevertheless, we’re trying to make sure that every family can celebrate Chanukah in a way that is comfortable for them.”

B’nai Emunoh Chabad will deliver 400 holiday-themed bags to those who will not be celebrating with the community at the public events. In addition, on Sunday, Dec. 6, families are invited to schedule individual appointments for “Chanukah Family Fun Day,” which will include crafts and doughnut decorating.

Chabad of Squirrel Hill is collecting menorahs and other Chanukah themed items so those who are homebound will be

able to celebrate the holiday.

The popular annual South Hills Lights event hosted by Chabad of the South Hills also has been modified to meet the health mandates of COVID-19.

Instead of an open-air festival held in the center of Dormont, Chabad will be utilizing the borough’s swimming pool parking lot for a special Chanukah drive-in on Thursday, Dec. 10.

“We want to get everyone together in a very safe way,” said event coordinator Mussie Rosenblum. “People are going to drive in.

They’re going to get individually packed food — latkes, gelt, donuts, drinks, some activities for the kids.”

As if they were at a drive-in theater, attendees will tune their radios to a predetermined radio frequency and hear the audio portion of a multimedia event projected on a large screen.

“There will be a video, an interactive game, different things on a screen for people to enjoy,” Rosenblum said.

The event will culminate with the lighting of a giant menorah.

Chabad of the South Hills had planned a few other activities, including fire jugglers and entertainers, but the borough expressed

concern because of the virus and asked that they scale back the event, according to Rabbi Mendel Rosenblum, director of Chabad of the South Hills.

Everyone is invited to attend, but only 40 cars will be able to view the screen because of space limitations. Interested families can register for the event on Chabad of the South Hills website.

While Jewish organizations have been forced to alter their plans to celebrate Chanukah, so have local families. Some are planning creative ways to continue their traditions, despite the restrictions of a pandemic.

Temple Emanuel of South Hills and Temple Ohav Shalom member Naomi Padolsky Herman and her husband, Paul, will not have their usual Chanukah meal and celebration with their combined seven children and 18 grandchildren. Instead, Herman will be cooking and delivering latkes, apple sauce, gelt, cookies and gifts to their four children in town and mailing gifts and cookies to those who live in other parts of the country.

Like so many others, the family will share lighting their menorahs over Zoom.

For Herman, it is important to keep familial traditions centered around

Schools: Continued from page 1

shifted online,” said Jennifer Bails, CDS’ director of marketing.

Since then, CDS returned to in-person instruction. Although there have been additional COVID-19 cases in the community, “they haven’t impacted school operations due to their timing relative to when we were on campus,” Bails said. To be cautious, though, following Thanksgiving break, CDS students in kindergarten to eighth grade will attend school virtually until at least Dec. 7.

Since the start of this school year, Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh has had no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its employees and students, Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Yeshiva Schools’ CEO, told the Chronicle last week. As numbers of COVID-19 cases rise in Allegheny County, though, “we are tightening things up,” he said.

New measures at Yeshiva Schools include a restriction against welcoming guests on Shabbat, quarantine requirements for travel and the dismissal of students from school who are unable to appropriately wear masks, said Rosenblum.

Nearly 1,000 students attend Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools. Inside CDS, Hillel Academy and Yeshiva Schools, scores of administrators, teachers, staff and volunteers recognize that COVID-19 cases are rising in Allegheny County — on Nov. 27, 1,642 new cases were reported in Allegheny County from the previous two days — but are tirelessly working to keep in-person instruction going. Daily meetings are dedicated to updating risk mitigation strategies.

Technological equipment and other supplies, like plexiglass dividers between desks, were purchased in bulk so students can continue learning in school. All the while, teachers are constantly adapting.

“Finding a way to charismatically teach, while wearing a mask and remaining distanced, isn’t easy,” said Weinberg. Couple 14 DECEMBER 4, 2020

 CDS eighth-grader Benjamin Pinkston works on an assignment.

Photo courtesy of Community Day School

that with the prep needed to deliver online instruction — each of the day schools has students who engage in remote learning — and teachers are “doing double the work.”

“Throughout this process our teachers have been nothing less than superheroes,” said Bails. “They have managed to do their jobs under incredibly challenging circumstances and rise to the occasion with extraordinary grace and passion.”

Still, none of the day school representatives were certain how much longer their institutions would remain open given the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County.

Staying open is the goal, but it’s a daily discussion, said Rosenblum.

“What we’ve found is that once you close it becomes harder to open back up,” he said.

“Our students are finally in a rhythm, and unless we need to break that rhythm and shut down, we won’t.”

While remaining open isn’t easy — requiring daily health checks, reconfiguring learning environments for social distancing, constant meetings with medical professionals, buy-in and compliance from staff and families, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses — leaders of all

three schools want to see it work.

“It is undeniable that the social and emotional benefit to children of being in school with their teachers and peers cannot be achieved fully in a remote learning setting,” said Bails.

“Although we were quite successful with online learning in the spring, it doesn’t compare,” agreed Rosenblum.

“Research says that in-person education is best for children and least disruptive for families,” said Weinberg.

Prior to the start of this school year, the American Academy of Pediatrics reiterated its support of in-person instruction, citing “evidence of the negative impacts on children” due to school closures in the spring of 2020.

“Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression and suicidal ideation,” noted the professional association.

Children who are away from school are less physically active, engage in longer periods of screen time, experience irregular sleep

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the holiday, despite the interruption caused by COVID-19.

“It’s the family being together, the acknowledgment of the holiday,” Herman said. “It’s making the holiday special at a time we can’t be together physically. This is what we do, we eat, we celebrate, we share the story of Chanukah.

“The Maccabees won the war and rededicated the temple and were able to thank God for the victory. This is an opportunity to think about that.”

Despite — or perhaps because of — the virus, the message of Chanukah will shine through for the Jewish community, said Chabad of the South Hill’s Rabbi Rosenblum.

“It’s a festival of light and it’s where we light the darkness,” he said. “What other year is it more important to celebrate the message of Chanukah and bring light to the dark, to realize that darkness does come to us sometimes but it’s up to us to celebrate the message of Chanukah and to bring light and be optimistic and hopeful? If we can figure out a way to do it safely and bring people together it’s the best possible way to celebrate it.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. patterns and undertake worse diets, according to a March 2020 article in The Lancet. The psychological effects, due to frustration, boredom, lack of in-person contact with peers and educators and reduced personal space at home, can have lasting effects.

Following a state-imposed closure of schools last March, students at Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools completed the year online.

Students remember what it was like having school on Zoom, said Rosenblum. “They are afraid of being isolated and looking at a screen.

They still want to be in school and see friends.

Learning is a social thing.”

Many parents are likewise troubled by the possibility of returning to remote learning.

Managing each child’s schedule and assignments, in light of inevitable technological challenges, can be “totally overwhelming,” said Rosenblum. “The overwhelming majority of our parents are asking us to stay open for the sanity of the family.”

Whatever the immediate future holds, leaders of the three schools are proud of the efforts of their staff to maintain in-person instruction safely.

Teachers had to become “proficient in new technologies on the fly and to take on greater responsibility during a demanding time,” said Weinberg. “Teachers are covering for teachers who have to be out. Administrators are stepping in and covering classes.”

The rewards of educating the next generation of Jewish leaders in an immersive Jewish environment has been well worth the effort, Bails said.

“The fact that so many people are committed to ensuring that Pittsburgh’s Jewish day schools continue in the face of such tremendous odds is extraordinary,” she added.

“This requires a tremendous investment and really shows the amount of human capital that exists in the Pittsburgh Jewish community and its commitment to Jewish education.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Pajamukkahs: Continued from page 3

and excitement about being Jewish.

Levenson, 30, embraces cheesiness but tries to avoid the cliché. She is hesitant to adopt phrases like “I love you a latke,” for example, unless she pairs them with designs that are unique.

The native Pittsburgher spends hours thinking about what rhymes with what, researching Jewish foodie blogs for inspiration (she briefly played around with a kugel design before deciding it was ugly) and running ideas by friends and family.

“It takes me personally a long time to digest my own ideas before I’m willing to push them out,” she said, often wondering if something is “a little ridiculous — or is it so ridiculous that it’s actually cool?”

After she comes up with ideas and an artist creates the designs, Levenson sends the files to a factory in China. There, the

Randall: Continued from page 4

and their four children.

Then an empty storefront caught Cohen’s and his wife’s attention, and they convinced the property owner to lease them the space.

The pair didn’t need to look far for inspiration when deciding what they would sell.

“My wife could never find anything for the kids,” Cohen said. “She was always looking for something for their birthdays.”

In searching for a name for his new business, Cohen cast aside possibilities like “Jack’s Box” or “Jack’s Toys.” Instead, he wanted something that sounded dignified.

Roteman: Continued from page 5

high schools. Across the country, these productions have a tendency to take over the lives of students and serve as a rite of passage, said Roteman, and students often are charged with every aspect of the show — from performing the play and creating the scenery, costumes and program book, to selling advertisements and tickets.

“It’s a phenomenal learning experience,” she said.

Productions offer lessons in group dynamics and confidence building, while reinforcing practical skills, like mathematics or design, she added.

Roteman’s daughter, now 38, attended

Marker: Continued from page 6

Allegheny City in 1863, was steadfast in her support of progressive Jewish values and held regular discussions on topics of interest in her home, Falcone said. A Rodef Shalom congregant, she was one of 13 women who founded the national NCJW and also PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

designs are printed on clothing and shipped to Levenson, who sells the products on Etsy and promotes them on social media, posting photos of people sporting the apparel — like her husband and young cousin.

Some items, though, like her “Menorasaurus” shirts, are made in Braddock.

“I like to do that as much as I can because it’s local and it’s nice,” Levenson said. But the cost of manufacturing in the U.S. can be excessive — if a pair of PJs costs $8 to be manufactured in China, it could cost Levenson $25 plus shipping if it’s made in the U.S. She can’t justify selling pajamas for $50, she said, noting that her products are mostly in the $15 to $25 range.

Levenson’s clothes are mainly for kids, but she rolled out some adult apparel like an “Oy Vey All Day” crewneck and a “ShalOHM” yoga tank top that was a hit the minute she put it on Etsy. She is also toying with new ideas, like a shirt with the Pittsburgh skyline and “Pittsburgh” written at the top in Hebrew, something she could replicate for other cities.

Etsy orders come from all over, but when

Levenson gets that rare Pittsburgh order, she’ll sometimes personally drop it off.

One customer ordered eight pairs of pajamas sent to five different addresses for a Zoom Chanukah celebration. All the cousins wanted to match. “That was very cool to know that I could be a part in orchestrating that,” said Levenson.

She has spoken with people who feel their connection to Judaism is falling apart with changes to Jewish programming due to the pandemic.

“They feel a little bit of a loss,” said Levenson.

“Am I fixing that problem? Certainly not. But am I maybe helping people connect to their Judaism a tiny bit more? I hope so.”

Levenson once received a message from a woman in Georgia who is in a group of lawyer moms, called LawMas (they’re also llama enthusiasts). The woman bought the “Hanukkah Llamakkah” pajamas and posted in the LawMas Facebook group. Levenson got 10 orders just from those lawyer moms.

She has made over 1,300 Etsy sales, where

Chosen Threads has a five-star rating after more than 100 reviews.

Levenson gets requests to design apparel for other holidays, like Passover pajamas and even Sukkot pajamas.

“I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, we’re light-years away from me ever making Sukkot pajamas — I just don’t see that as a thing,’” she said. Her inbox would have to be flooded with prepaid preorders for that to happen.

Even if people tell her they want something in a message or a social media poll, she explained, they won’t necessarily buy it. Before she begins the process of launching a new item, she needs a level of certainty that it will do well.

Levenson hopes to someday open a shop in Pittsburgh. “I’m sure it will take me a long time to get there, but I would love to have a more expansive, well-known business,” she said. “Maybe one day we’ll get to Sukkot pajamas.” PJC

So he created a tribute to his children: Sherry, Stacy, Wendy and Randall (which is his son James’ middle name).

S.W. Randall stores have been able to maintain a robust business, despite COVID-19 and changing retail tastes, in part because of Cohen’s decision to stick with classic toys and gifts that are hard to find at other retailers, he said. Board games, puzzles, action figures, dress-up costumes, electric trains, ceramic houses, and animals that are warmed in the microwave and cuddled by children at night fill his stores.

When Toys R Us closed, Cohen expected to see an increase in business, but that didn’t happen. The lesson, he said, was “That’s not our customer.”

The type of person likely to shop at a big box or chain store in the suburbs is most likely looking for the latest fad to satisfy their child, he said, whereas he sells “the specialty stuff.”

Included among his inventory are some items that might seem out of place at other toy stores, but seem to fit in perfectly at S.W. Randall, including Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirts, face masks and a few items in support of both presidential candidates (although now the election is over, a sign tells customers Trump products are 50% off).

His Shadyside and Squirrel Hill stores are neighborhood locations, Cohen said, supported by the communities where they are located. The downtown location is frequented by office workers.

Cohen understands he isn’t simply selling toys but is also creating good feelings and memories.

“People love coming into the store,” he said. “They come in and it makes them feel good. The office workers, if they are having a bad day at work, they would come in and it would cheer them up just to walk into the store. It’s just amazing.”

After 50 years in the toy business, Cohen is now selling toys to the second and third generations of his original customers.

“A lot of parents come in now and they say, ‘I grew up here.’ It’s nice to hear that.” PJC

Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh. Thinking back to those productions from years ago, it wasn’t only the students who were given a new venue for learning, but the teachers as well, said Roteman.

“The educators became educators in different ways,” she said. “I remember that the teachers and principals brought a wisdom that the girls really picked up on.

Remembering how fulfilling this was for my daughter made me think it would be a good story.”

Prior to “Production!” Roteman had never written a young adult novel — “The Case of the Unfair Science Fair” and “The Case of the Disappearing Chanukah Candles” are both shorter in length and are designed for younger readers. As much as she believed

that the subject of girls theater at Jewish high schools was ripe for mining, Roteman also knew the material would benefit from outside eyes.

As a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Roteman turned to fellow authors for critique.

COVID-19 changed the way the group interacted — meetings are currently digital — but the quality remains, explained Roteman: “These are a group of people who are very specific with their critiques and always find something kind to say.”

What Roteman discovered by sharing “Production!” and other writings with the group was that objective readers can see plot fissures or compositional flaws authors may be blind to.

“When you are passionate about your

writing, you know where you want it to go and what you want your characters to do,” she said. Having an impartial party question certain narrative tactics can be really helpful.

Roteman credits past ventures and rejections — a manuscript she drafted about her father’s experiences in World War II was passed over by publishers — with leading her to this moment of professional accomplishment as a young adult and children’s author.

“You learn from everything that you do,” she said, adding it is sometimes difficult to understand life’s journey. “There are all of these steps that didn’t feel worthwhile at the time, but they’ve taken me where I want to go.” PJC

worked to kickstart local NCJW chapters in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Youngstown, Ohio, among others.

NCJW CEO Sheila Katz, whose organization supported the historical designation, lauded the milestone last week.

“National Council of Jewish Women was created by trailblazers like Pauline Rosenberg to make sure women had a rightful voice at the table,” Katz told the Chronicle. “Today

over 127 years later, the installation of the Pennsylvania Historical Marker acknowledging Pauline’s important legacy resolidifies our mandate to ensure the voices of the most vulnerable continue to be heard.”

The future of the Rosenberg house is at least a little bit uncertain, though Falcone is resolute about one thing.

“I hope to continue to live there for several more decades,” he laughed.

Falcone said he is open to the idea of hosting salon-like events to commemorate Rosenberg, though nothing concrete is in the mix right now.

“I don’t know what the house has in store for it,” Falcone said. “But it’s nice to have it commemorated in this way.” PJC

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Kayla Steinberg can be reached at ksteinberg@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

DECEMBER 4, 2020 15

Life & Culture Chanukah bimuelos, a Turkish twist on donuts — FOOD —

By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

16 DECEMBER 4, 2020

If I have extra simple syrup from making another recipe, like baklava, I will also drop a few bimuelos into the syrup. That is the traditional Syrian way, which is called awamat. The Morrocans have something similar called sfinge. Every Mediterranean country has its own version for Chanukah.

The great thing about this recipe is that it only take about 20 minutes to prepare and to cook, so it’s something that you can easily do after work.

Bimuelos Ingredients For the batter: 1-2 quarts vegetable or canola oil 1 stick butter or margarine 1 cup water 3 tablespoons sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 eggs

For the toppings: ¼ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, mixed and/or ½ cup of powdered sugar

Place the butter, water, sugar and salt into a saucepan and melt over low heat.

Once the ingredients are melted, dump in the flour all at once, and mix up until a ball of dough starts to form. I suggest using a Please see Donuts, page 18

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Photos by Jessica Grann

B

imuelos are a tradition in my husband’s family, which emigrated to the U.S. from Izmir, Turkey, before World War I. The dough is more of a pastry dough, as opposed to the yeasted dough of typical donut recipes.

Our tradition at Chanukah is to eat light food, fried in oil, with other foods containing dairy ingredients. This recipe is made with butter, but you can use margarine to make it pareve.

I’m typically very picky about cooking oils.

I can count on one hand the amount of times per year I use vegetable oils, but this is one of them. The oil must be very hot in order for these to fry quickly and come out light and airy on the inside. Olive oil has too low of a smoke point, and it’s not cost effective to use avocado oil considering you need between one and two quarts at a time for frying. The good news is you can reuse the oil several times, so I just leave the oil in the pot, put a lid on it, and place it somewhere cool and secure until I need it again.

Everyone in my family prefers a different topping for their bimuelos. Some like them plain, some dusted with powdered sugar, and others rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

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Life & Culture Donuts: Continued from page 16

hand mixer to finish combining. I once tried to do this by hand but the bimuelos turned out very heavy. Turn your mixer on low, and mix until you don’t see any steam rising from the dough. This can take 4 to 5 minutes.

Once the steam stops, and the dough is simply warm, add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding another. It is important that the dough is not too hot, or the eggs will scramble and you will have to start again.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat until it reaches around 375 F. It should not be cooler than 350 F, but also never hotter than 400 F or the dough will burn. I use a thermometer, but if you don’t have one, you can eyeball it. You want it to be very hot, but not smoking. If you start to see smoke, remove the pot from the flame until it cools down and start again.

I cut a carrot into 5 or 6 chunks. I add one in the beginning to test the oil. If it starts to fry and bubble quickly the oil is the right temperature. If the oil is not hot enough, the bimuelos will soak up too much oil and get heavy. If the oil is too hot, the exterior will cook but the inside will remain doughy.

Torah

Determining when the oil is the correct temperature is a skill that one learns from practice. It can take a few batches.

You can spoon drop the dough into the oil, but I choose to use a cookie scoop so that the balls are similar in size and cook for the same amount of time. They will have little lumps on the exterior, so don’t worry about perfection. I’ve never had anyone complain.

Scoop out all the dough into the oil, being careful not to splatter yourself. I add a few more pieces of carrot, which attracts any burned oil or bits away from the dough. This trick works when frying anything — the carrot will turn dark, but your bimuelos will remain a beautiful brown color.

After a few minutes, the bimuelos flip over like magic. This usually takes 4 to 5 minutes.

Then cook them for 1 to 2 minutes more, before scooping them out of the oil with a slotted spoon and placing them on a plate lined with a paper towel.

Let rest for a few minutes more before rolling them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture, or sifting powdered sugar over them.

Serve immediately — they are best fresh.

Chanukah sameach, or as they say in Ladino, Chanukah alegre! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

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Being called upon to wrestle, as was Jacob Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer Parshat Vayishlach Genesis 32:4 – 36:43

T

he stories of our patriarchs and matriarchs, so richly interwoven in the book of B’reisheet (Genesis), are informative, puzzling, thought-provoking and even entertaining. This week’s portion, Vayishlach, contains one of my favorite narratives in the Torah — the incident in which our patriarch Jacob, alone on the shores of the Jabbok river, wrestles with a mysterious personage until dawn.

To understand the context of this conflict, we need to review Jacob’s history. After working for his uncle Laban for 20 years and taking as wives Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel, Jacob is instructed by G-d that it is time to return to his birthplace. Jacob knows all too well this means facing his brother Esau, whom he wronged so many years ago when, by trickery, he obtained Esau’s birthright and blessing as the firstborn. Because of this chicanery and Esau’s subsequent wrath, Jacob had to flee the family home in Canaan.

and his armed men, only to have Esau fall on his neck weeping. Esau sees that which Jacob has not — that Jacob indeed has changed from the wily boyhood brother. Jacob has matured and he will limp the rest of his life as a reminder of the night’s battle.

As Jews, we wrestle with this Torah portion as we seek relevance and guidance for our own lives. Many of us follow the suggestion of one of our sages, Ben Bag-Bag, to turn the Torah over and over to reveal meaning for our time.

For me, this begs the question, “With what adversaries are we wrestling with in 2020?”

Three immediately come to mind: the pandemic; the unrest in our country brought into focus by the Black Lives Matter movement; and the broader political and social polarization of our country. These are huge topics, well beyond the scope of this d’var Torah, yet they are topics that do concern us — or should concern us — every day. All involve adversaries whose visages may not be clear, much like Jacob’s mysterious opponent.

Our individual battles, internal or external, can raise the following questions: How are we dealing with the pandemic?

Are we following the guidelines scrupulously or have we erred on the side of personal

How are we dealing with others whose political or world view differs from our own?

Do we dismiss them out of hand, or try to understand why they might think as they do?

Jacob hears from his spies that Esau is on his way to meet him and his entourage — wives, children, servants, and flocks — along with 400 well-armed men. He fears Esau is coming to attack him and his family. For reasons the Torah does not explain, Jacob sends everyone else across the river Jabbok, leaving him alone. During the restless night before he is to meet Esau, Jacob is attacked by a being with whom he wrestles until dawn.

In the fighting, Jacob’s hip is badly wrenched, yet he will not release his mysterious antagonist. Neither can claim victory when dawn comes, and the entity begs to be released.

The Torah relates: “But he [Jacob] answered, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ Said the other, ‘What is your name?’ He replied ‘Jacob.’ Said he, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.’ Jacob asked, ‘Pray, tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘You must not ask my name!’ And he took leave of him there.”

Our commentators have grappled with this portion for thousands of years. Who was the mysterious wrestler? Was it G-d?

An angel sent by G-d? Was it Esau, Jacob’s wronged brother? Or was Jacob wrestling with himself, with his conscience and memories of a life of being a trickster?

The Torah gives us no definitive answer.

Further in the narrative, a miraculous event occurs. Jacob crosses the river to meet Esau

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convenience? Have we found a way to reach out to or help others who might be suffering?

Have we already forgotten the issues giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement because they no longer make daily headlines, or have we decided to learn more about the lives and experiences of our neighbors of color? Do we dismiss their history, because it doesn’t affect us personally, or embrace it and them because of our own definitive story of servitude?

How are we dealing with others whose political or world view differs from our own?

Do we dismiss them out of hand, or try to understand why they might think as they do?

Following the election, have we reached out to those we know were disappointed, just to let them know we recognize their humanity?

Our Torah portion gives us the paradigm that we are a wrestling people. Jacob’s name is changed that fateful night on the Jabbok to Israel, most often translated as “wrestling with El, G-d, and prevailing.”

We take on our ancestor’s name, as we take on his actions. Forever, we are called to wrestle with the Torah in order to derive meaning, as we always will be called upon to wrestle with the issues of our day. PJC Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer is spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Abraham. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Obituaries DAVIDSON: Georgia Davidson. On Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. Beloved wife of the late Israel Davidson; mother of Marjorie, Robert, James and Michael Davidson. Let’s start with how much Georgia loved her plants! Her seventh-floor condo was filled with sunlight and so many beautiful plants.

Georgia taught at Brashear High School, was president of the Rodef Shalom Sisterhood, volunteered at the Biblical Gardens at Rodef Shalom, was a docent at Phipps Conservatory, was volunteer of the year on the PIC unit at Children’s Hospital and was a wonderful cook! She leaves behind a large and accomplished resume and a life well lived. She lives on in the hearts of the many lives she touched. Private service and interment were held at Homewood Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Congregation Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com DRUCKER: Esther Drucker. On Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Beloved wife of Harry Drucker. Beloved mother of Jean Renee (Paul) Reznick and Jeffrey Michael (Elyse) Drucker. Sister of Harold Leiner and the late Louis and Sidney Leiner. Grandmother of Dr. David (Dr. Stephanie) Reznick, Sara R. (Jason) Berliner, Rachel H. Reznick (Aaron Greengard) and Madeline N. Drucker.

Great-grandmother of Alexandra and Leo Reznick, and Lillian Berliner. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, 826 Hazelwood Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com HERSCH: Morton Hersch.

On Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Beloved husband of the late Gloria (Goldsmith) He rs ch .

L ov i ng father of Russell (Roz) Hersch of Israel and the late Bradley (surviving spouse Marilyn) Hersch. Brother of Richard Hersch and Susan Nachman, both of Philadelphia. Grandfather of Max, Steven, Meni, Michal, Edya and Noam. Also survived by seven great-grandchildren. Morton was a very kind and personable man who will be missed by all of his family and friends.

Services and interment were held at Temple Sinai Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Temple David, 4415 Northern Pike, Monroeville, PA 15146. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SERBIN: Frederick Serbin, 83, passed away peacefully at his home outside of Pittsburgh on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Fred was born in Pittsburgh on Aug. 24, 1937, the only

son of the late Hilda Serbin, and was preceded in death by his late wife Barbara E. (Shotts) Serbin.

Fred is survived by sons of his first marriage to Baillee (Kleckner) Serbin: Edward (Roberta) Serbin of Monroeville and his children Tulip and Mollie; Joseph (Michelle) Serbin of Pittsburgh and his children Jacob and Michael; and David (Denise) Serbin of Pittsburgh and his children Isabelle, Hilary and Isaac. Survived also by his stepdaughter Jennifer (Joseph) Hermann of Plum and children Joseph H. IV and Stella. Born and raised in Pittsburgh on Stanton Avenue, Fred started his career at a very young age by keeping the books for his mother’s small business. He then leveraged that experience into a full scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh where Fred became a respected member of Kappa Nu fraternity, completed Army ROTC training program and performed the duties of business manager for the Pitt newspaper, graduating in 1959.

Fred served two years in the U.S. Army rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant and honorably discharged in 1961. After a successful career of structuring accounting departments for multiple Pittsburgh companies, Fred ultimately opened his own successful small business helping other small businesses with their accounting and finances.

Sharing a love for warm oceanside destinations, Fred and Barbara, his wonderful wife of 38 years, traveled as much as they could, often including family and friends on their beach vacations. Fred was a caring and loving husband, father, grandfather and true friend whose kindness and wisdom was well sought-after. He was a generous, loving soul, and he will be sorely missed. The family had a private graveside memorial service on Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, at Oakland Cemetery in Indiana, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you make donations in Fred’s name to his favorite charities: heifer. org and audubon.org.

SINGER: Jo h n “Jack” Singer. On Friday, Nov. 27, 2020.

Beloved husband of the late Sondra (Nathan) Singer.

Loved and cherished father of Rochelle (David) Lilien. Brother of the late Joseph (late Yvonne) Singer, late Max (late Sara) Singer, late Edith (late Gilbert) Sacks and late Yetta Singer. Adored pa to Matthew and Francine Lilien. Also survived by cherished nieces, nephews and cousins who were all very close to him. Services and interment private. Contributions may be made to Tree of Life Congregation Capital Fund, 5898 Wilkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh,

PA 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com WEINER: Albert “Alby” Weiner (1929– 2020), 91, passed away peacefully at home in Teaneck, New Jersey, with his beloved wife, Carol Gluck, at his side. Alby was born, raised and spent most of his life in Pittsburgh as a valued member of the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill. He attended Taylor Allderdice High School and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in child psychology and a master’s degree in retail management. He used that education and extensive life experience to successfully run two local small businesses: Staman’s Women’s Clothing in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, (with his mother, Sadie and his wife BC) and Babyland children’s furniture in East Liberty (with his wife, Margie).

Alby was so much more than a businessman — truly a renaissance man. He was an adventurer (skiing in Europe, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, white water rafting on the Yough), a sportsman (Pittsburgh city champ at golf and “dead man’s carry”), a philanthropist, a lifelong learner and avid reader, a dedicated supporter of the arts and a master of the “natural” approach to gardening. In retirement, Alby and Carol traveled extensively throughout Europe and spent winters in Florida. Alby was an inspirational leader of kids of all ages, organizing all manner of outdoor adventures. Most importantly, Alby was a family man, in the most expansive

and inclusive definition of that term. His strength of spirit and optimism allowed him to persevere after the premature deaths of his first wife, Bernice “BC” Weiner and his second wife, Marjorie “Margie” Ash. With BC, he had three children: Stuart (Kathy) of Grand Blanc, Michigan, Wendy (Charles) of Larchmont, New York, and Debra (Paul) of Del Mar, California. With Margie, he added six stepchildren who were all embraced as his own: Kathy of Long Island, New York, Richard (Gale) of Orinda, California, Amy (Earl) of Jacksonville, Florida, Steve (Katie) of Hackensack, New Jersey, Lisa of Pittsburgh and Hillary (Mark) of Pittsburgh.

With Carol, he added Paul (Michal) of Israel, Amy (Michael) and Judy (David), both of New York, New York. Alby also has 23 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Everyone will miss him dearly.

His mother, Sadie Segal, and beloved sister, Beatrice Schlesinger, predeceased Alby. He is survived by his wife, Carol, several close in-laws, cousins and many lifelong friends.

The family would like to acknowledge the loving care he received from his home caregiver, Norma Chavez. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there was a private virtual graveside service and interment at Kether Torah Cemetery. In memory of Alby’s extraordinary life, the family suggests that donations can be made to the charity of choice recognizing Alby’s wide-ranging generosity.

Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com PJC

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday December 6: Gertrude P. Elias, Leonard Enelow, Arthur Forman, Jack J. Friedman, Jacob Gold, Norma Harris, Harry Haynes, William Hersh, Milton Iskowich, Minnie Van Praagh Jacobs, Max Janowitz, Sylvia Kalmenson, Nannie Klater, Ruth Kwall Land, Ruth Kwall Land, Joseph Levitt, Allan Lippock, Maurice Malkin, Rebecca K. Malt, Harris Nathan Miller, Ruth Murman, Annette Nussbaum, Louis Rapport, Harry Rosenfield, Harold J. Rubenstein, Frank Smith, Zelig Solomon, Anne C. Weiss Monday December 7: Maurice P. Ashinsky, Esther L. Bialer, Saul Broverman, Julian Falk, Harry First, David Frank, Louis Frank, Rose Goldstein, Martin W. Hepps, Sarah Jacobson, Alvin Lichtenstul, Jennie Markovitz, Julia Monheim, Myer Palkovitz, Morris Rudick, Morris J. Semins, Aaron Siff, Dr. Jacob Slone, Shirley Starr, Morris Weiss Tuesday December 8: Susan Barotz, Irving I. “Chick” Bogdan, Victor Chesterpal, Marc Leon Front, Rae Kleinerman, Dr. Hyman Levinson, Fannie Malkin, Max Mallinger, Louis Menzer, Fannie Rice, Marvin L. Silverblatt, Sam Swartz Wednesday December 9: Julius Berliner, Jacob Braun, Florence Meyers Clovsky, Leonard Samuels Finkelhor, Edward L. Friedman, Alfred Krause, Max Lemelman, Sarah Young Pretter, Hymen Rosenberg, Annie Segall, Lillian Shermer, Samuel Z. Udman, I. Barnes Weinstein Thursday December 10: William Aronovitz, Fannie Gertrude Becker, Belle Bennett, Nathan Bennett, Joseph Braunstein, Hannah Cohen, Meyer Fineberg, Benjamin Finkelhor, Louis Fishman, Philip Hoffman, Milton Kuperstock, Samuel Kurfeerst, Benjamin Levin, Abraham Lincoff, Benjamin Jacob Platt, Leon Ryave, Fannie Solow, Philip Stein, Sophie Patz Strauss, Max Zeiden Friday December 11: Essie Finesod, Rebecca A. F. Finkelhor, Hymen Glickman, Ralph Hoffman, Harry Katzen, Sylvan Meth, Max Osgood, Mary R. Sachs, Dorothy Saul, Dorothy Weiss Schachter, Sylvia Snyder Sealfon, Benjamin S. Shapiro, Charles Tillman, Mary Weinerman

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Saturday December 12: Rose Blatt, Reuben Bliwas, Raymond Cole, Lena Eisenberg, Jacob Erenrich, Birdie Weiler Greenberg, Celia Liberman, Morris Miller, Ed Newman, Stella G. Pervin, Louis Riemer, John Rothstein, Lawrence E. Schachter, Marcia E. Schmitt, Sarah Schor, Faye Schwartz, Herman Schwartz, Charles Stewart, Fannie White, Dave L. Wyckoff

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Community Good times at Beth El

Giving to others on Thanksgiving

t Author Abby Mendelson shared his knowledge of Jewish Pittsburgh during Beth El Congregation’s First Mondays with Rabbi Alex on Nov. 2. The event was titled “Cigars, Shuls and Settlement Houses: the Jewish Hill District.”

p Volunteers with GIFT prepared and delivered 500 Thanksgiving meals to area seniors on Thanksgiving Day. Photo by Kelly Schwimer

Thankful for school

p Beth El’s Musical Shabbatot, sponsored by Cheryl and James Snyder, featured Sheldon Low on Nov. 13.

Screenshots courtesy of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills

p Prior to Thanksgiving, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh first-graders created tinfoil Mayflower ships. Buoyancy not guaranteed.

Macher and Shaker t Peyton Klein, founder of Global Minds Initiative, a youth-led organization that creates more inclusive and welcoming schools, was named one of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21. The list includes “the girls and femmes building a better future.”

Photo courtesy of Peyton Klein

Chanukah giveaway p Eighth-graders dressed up like their favorite Thanksgiving Day foods.

u Early Childhood Center students made turkey crowns.

Photos courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

20 DECEMBER 4, 2020

p Temple David members Meryl and Laura Karelitz at the Chanukah giveaway. Families received candles, two bags of gelt and a dreidel.

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p Chanukah-related books were available for borrowing at the giveaway.

Photos courtesy of Temple David

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