Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 10-1-21 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

October 1, 2021 | 25 Tishrei 5782

Candlelighting 6:44 p.m. | Havdalah 7:40 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 40 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL Book Review: ‘The Soul of a Neighborhood’ Squirrel Hill after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

Suspect for Squirrel Hill assaults Mark arrested, ethnic intimidation Oppenheimer charges filed on ‘Squirrel Hill’ David Rullo | Staff Writer

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LOCAL ‘Our little mitzvah’

50 gallons of breast milk, and counting Page 3

LOCAL On your mark …

 Sign in Squirrel Hill

Photo by Jamie Lebovitz

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

The report specifies that no physical or verbal threats were directed toward the second victim, though it makes no mention of a physical or verbal threat toward the first victim. Shaare Torah Rabbi Daniel Wasserman told the Chronicle he had heard reports of an unknown person verbally assaulting congregants. The situation “came to a head,” Wasserman said, when a man came into the synagogue for services on Sept. 20 saying he had been assaulted, both physically and verbally. “He was shaking like a leaf and said somebody had thrown him into a car,” Wasserman told the Chronicle. “At first, I thought he meant kidnapped, pulled into the car; he meant against the car.” The synagogue’s security cameras had

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ittsburgh Police arrested Tyrone Correll on Wednesday, Sept. 22, for two incidents of assault in Squirrel Hill targeting Jews. Correll, 30, was charged with simple assault, harassment and ethnic intimidation, as well as other charges stemming from his arrest, including terroristic threats, disorderly conduct, aggravated assault and resisting arrest. According to a police report, Correll shouted antisemitic comments at a male near the intersection of Murray Avenue and Nicholson Street on the early morning of Sept. 20. About the same time, the report states that Correll yelled profanities at a second male on Nicholson Street, but did not physically or verbally threaten him.

ark Oppenheimer’s new book, “Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood,” which will be released Oct. 5, 2021, recounts the massacre through interviews with those impacted — both directly and tangentially — while examining the effects of the event on the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The author’s Pittsburgh roots go back several generations. His great-great-great grandfather co-founded the first Jewish burial society in Pittsburgh, and his father grew up on Aylesboro Avenue. In writing his book, Oppenheimer traveled to the city 32 times, interviewed about 250 people and had contact with relatives of eight of the 11 people who were murdered that day. He also relied heavily on various news reports, including many published in the Chronicle. Oppenheimer had a virtual conversation with the Chronicle to discuss the book prior to its release. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to write this book now?

I was always curious about Squirrel Hill. The morning of the shooting, I was at a bat mitzvah in Newton, Massachusetts, with my eldest daughter. We had left our phones in the car until after the lunch. We got back to our car, I opened my phone, and I had a ton of messages. “Is everyone safe in Pittsburgh? Are you going to Pittsburgh? Did you know anyone in Pittsburgh?” Then I looked at my news app and saw that there had been a shooting at a synagogue in Squirrel Hill. It immediately registered as the neighborhood where my father and grandfather and great-grandfather had all lived. My father was a fifth-generation Pittsburgher and his family settled in Squirrel Hill pretty much around the time that Jews were settling

Please see Assault, page 14

Please see Oppenheimer, page 14

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Headlines Book review: A portrait of a community in crisis — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

“Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood” Mark Oppenheimer Penguin Random House, Oct. 5

o many Jewish Pittsburghers will recall walking around in a sort of adrenalin-fueled daze in the weeks following the shooting at the Tree of Life building, trying to process at once the shock, grief, anger and fear. There was a lot happening in the wake of the massacre. The vigils. The funerals. The outpouring of love from all corners of the world. So many stories. In the year that followed, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle published hundreds of articles and opinion pieces about the massacre in Squirrel Hill — the most violent antisemitic attack in the history of the United States, which left 11 worshippers dead and six people seriously injured. Journalist Mark Oppenheimer has collected and retold many of those stories — and several others — in his new book “Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood.” Oppenheimer has never lived in Pittsburgh, but his father’s family were Squirrel Hill stalwarts. The host of a podcast called “Unorthodox” produced by Tablet magazine, Oppenheimer lives in New Haven, Connecticut. He visited Pittsburgh 32 times between November 2018 and March 2020 to do his research, and interviewed about 250 people. Oppenheimer was just one of many journalists and documentarians who came from away as we were living through the pain of

the unimaginable. The onslaught of outsiders peering into the lives of those affected by the massacre — and let’s face it, we were all affected by the massacre — was not always welcome. At times it felt intrusive. Who were all these people, and why did they think they were the ones who should be chronicling our reactions to this unfathomable and devastating event that had changed our lives? So, when I received the galley for Oppenheimer’s book, I opened it with a bit of skepticism and a critical eye. I read it in one sitting.

If you are wondering if an outsider could hope to capture the mood — maybe even the soul — of a neighborhood to which he does not belong following an unthinkably horrific event, I tender this take: Perhaps an outsider, as it turns out, is best suited to do so. Oppenheimer’s being far enough removed from Squirrel Hill allows him to observe meaningful details that could be too close in the line of vision for natives to see as clearly. Oppenheimer reports with candor and clarity in 18 chapters, including “The Attack,” “Those Inside,” “The Funerals,” “The Gentiles” and “The First Anniversary.” To be sure, he doesn’t cover everything that occurred in the year after the shooting, but he covers a lot and he does it well. Which may be why some Pittsburghers may want to avoid reading this book. Not everyone will want to relive those days so vividly. Three years have passed since Oct. 27, 2018, but it could still be too soon for those whose friends or family members were murdered, or those who barely escaped with their own lives, to immerse themselves in that emotional space again. For those interested in revisiting that time, though, “Squirrel Hill” is a compelling read. Oppenheimer covers the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and shares the zeitgeist of the neighborhood through in-depth portrayals of various community members. Jewish

Pittsburghers will recognize many, if not all, of the people Oppenheimer chooses to feature in this book. Some are obvious choices, such as the rabbis of two of the congregations attacked, Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life and Jonathan Perlman of New Light; Dan Leger and Barry Werber, who both survived the shooting; and Eric Lidji, the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives, who is given his own chapter for undertaking the Herculean task of collecting and cataloguing the materials created and donated in the wake of the massacre. Other people Oppenheimer features in his book are less obvious choices, but are nonetheless good ones: Danielle Kranjec, the Hillel Jewish University Center educator, whose response to the massacre was baking hundreds of loaves of challah with her students, then delivering them to first responders, the families of the victims and anyone else who might appreciate them; Melissa Lysaght, the manager of the Starbucks on Forbes and Shady who asked her husband’s cousin Nicole Flannery to paint images of love and support on the store windows, which remain to this day; David Shribman, the Jewish editor of the Post-Gazette responsible for the memorable headline days after the shooting: the first line of the Mourner’s Kaddish. If you didn’t know these people before, you will know them well after reading “Squirrel Hill.” One of the most poignant chapters is “The Body Guards,” in which Oppenheimer provides a glimpse into acts of love that were largely invisible: guarding the bodies of the dead by Rabbi Daniel Wasserman’s team of shomrim. In accordance with Jewish law, the community volunteers made sure the bodies of those murdered were never left alone. They got as close to the bodies as Please see Review, page 15

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Headlines ‘Our little mitzvah’: Local mom donates vast quantities of breast milk O’Connor stressed it’s not about quantity; whether it’s 1,000 ounces or 150 — the milk bank’s minimum donation — everyone can By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle make a difference. “Every single drop is impactful,” O’Connor ifty gallons — 6,356 ounces — is told the Chronicle. “I cannot overemno small number. phasize the impact they’re having with Just ask Stephanie Shropshire, who these little ones.” has donated that much breast milk — the O’Connor, a certified lactation consulequivalent of about 800 baby bottles — to tant, laughed when saying the mission of the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank in her milk bank, which collects about 25,000 Pittsburgh since her ounces of breast milk each third child, Lev, was month for babies in more born a year ago. than 40 hospitals, “is not a Though she found pumping contest.” herself producing much “Milk banks are so vitally more breast milk than important to maximize the Lev needed, Shropshire health outcomes of our still managed to collect most vulnerable patients,” the sizable haul while only O’Connor said. “We want pumping twice a day. all moms who have more “It’s not like I’m living milk than their babies connected to the pump,” need to know about us.” laughed Shropshire, a Shropshire said she has Greenfield mother whose to go through a few steps two older children attend to keep donating, mainly Stephanie Community Day School. p submitting bloodwork and Lev “It’s a labor of love because Shropshire Photo courtesy of Stephanie Shropshire every six months and it’s really not [difficult]. responding to inquiries It’s pretty easy. about the medications she “It’s a weird thing to takes and her diet. have so much milk,” But she said it’s worth it, she continued, “but it’s especially when the breast a good thing — it’s our milk bank sends her a note little mitzvah.” saying some of her donated Shropshire discovered milk was used for a NICU that she produced large baby in a local hospital. amounts of breast milk She also loves the support six years ago when her she’s received from other first child, Micah, was mothers here in Pittsburgh. born in New York. Though the milk bank At the time the provides bags to collect her Pittsburgh native, who breast milk, local mothers p Lev at one month old after grew up in Squirrel Hill their first milk drop off have been donating more Photo courtesy of Stephanie Shropshire bags to help offset the and moved to New York City to attend Parsons sizable need — sometimes School of Design, didn’t know about milk complete with notes of encouragement. banks, but donated “a few hundred ounces” “It’s kind of a community thing,” to the mother of a local boy diagnosed with Shropshire said. “They feel it’s their part to Down syndrome. She donated again when be able to help.” she was breastfeeding her second child, Shropshire, who has three siblings, doesn’t Sammi, who is now in pre-kindergarten at know if she inherited her ability to produce Community Day School. extra milk from her own mother. In fact, she When Lev was born, it was immediately said she was fed formula as a baby. clear Shropshire could produce enough Though Shropshire is pleased with the milk to help several babies in need and quantity she’s donated, she admits she mothers not able to produce enough milk would love to know which donor has given for their children. the most — and if she’s close to the top spot. “With Lev, I was producing the day he was (O’Connor said her bank does not keep born way more than he could eat,” she told those records.) the Chronicle. “At least it’s going to good use.” “I’m going to go for it if I can!” she said. Denise O’Connor is thrilled by donors As of now, this super mom said she doesn’t like Shropshire. O’Connor founded and know how much longer she’ll keep it up. serves as executive director of the Strip “I guess what’s next just depends District-based breast milk bank to which the on Lev.” PJC Greenfield mom donates her breast milk — Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living all of it collected from a dairy-, gluten- and in Pittsburgh. fish-free diet.

— LOCAL —

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Headlines Youth sports return with newfound appreciation

HEINZ HALL

 Miriam Levari, center, and Hillel Academy cross-country teammates

Photo by Rabbi Sam Weinberg

— LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

group of nearly 300 student athletes and parents gathered at Bowling Green in Frick Park for a cross-country meet last week. The event, though common during pre-pandemic Sundays, reflected a new chapter in the COVID-19 narrative. Though youth sporting events were largely canceled throughout the fall and winter of 2020, now outdoor and indoor competitions are back. Miriam Levari, a ninth-grader at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and a member of its high school cross-country team, welcomed its return and said she missed the competitions. “It felt like it wasn’t really right,” she said. “Youth sports is really a big thing for kids, and lots of their school experience revolves around this.” Even though cross-country meets were canceled, Levari’s team continued practicing throughout fall 2020. Thanks to backyard Zoom sessions scheduled by their coaches, the young athletes were able to go outdoors and see each other, albeit virtually, and gain some sense of camaraderie. The virtual practices, which everyone initially thought would be “ridiculous,” ended up proving valuable, Levari said. After being a part of a cross-country team for five consecutive years and then having such a dramatic interruption, “we realized we need that competitiveness and that time to exercise and be a part of a team,” she added. Stephanie Rodriguez, a swim coach at North Allegheny and adolescent and teen psychotherapist at UpStreet, said that compared to last year, there’s a noticeable difference in youth sports. “Sports in general brings a lot of normalcy for kids,” she said. And because it helps create routines, when competitions were canceled last year, many kids felt “their outlet was taken away.” Rodriguez’s swimmers, like Levari’s fellow

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runners, continued practicing throughout the pandemic, with protocols established to reduce possible viral transmission: As opposed to everyone gathering for two-hour practices five nights a week, Rodriguez’s team was divided into two groups. Consequently, she and her fellow coaches spent four hours each weeknight working with swimmers all winter long. Giving 20 hours a week to her team was a big commitment, but “people were definitely appreciative,” Rodriguez said. There’s an understanding that for some kids, “sports are safe spaces, it’s where they go to and be themselves without any judgments.” Dayna Greenfield, an assistant girls basketball coach at West Allegheny High School and cross-country coach at Hillel Academy, said her athletes are behaving noticeably differently now compared to last year. “It seems like the kids enjoy it even more than ever,” Greenfield said. Whether it’s because actual competitions are occurring or that they can now perform in front of fans, young athletes are excited to be a part of their teams this season, Greenfield said. Jonathan Weinkle, a pediatrician and Squirrel Hill resident, said he understands the enthusiasm. Competitive sports give people something to “get excited and cheer for, which we’ve had too little of,” he said. Also, there’s the element of cooperation and commitment that comes from being part of a team. “After a year when kids haven’t had that, it’s really valuable.” Ethan Anish, an 11th-grader at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and member of its varsity basketball team, said he hasn’t noticed his attitude toward the sport change, but he senses a real difference between this year and last. “I’m hard-working whenever I’m in the gym, but now you have all these friends around you,” he said. This time last year, it was mostly individual workouts or limited meetups with a trainer. For Anish, absence from the larger Please see Sports, page 17

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Headlines

Proposed Skinny Building sale renews historical interests — LOCAL — By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

he upcoming sale of the historic Skinny Building downtown has sparked renewed interest in its Jewish ties. Located at 241 Forbes Avenue, the Skinny Building was built by Louis Hendel, a Jewish produce merchant, who bought the oddly shaped property — it measures 6 feet by 80 feet — from Andrew Mellon in 1918 for $65,000. One of the narrowest commercial buildings in the world, the Skinny Building, also known as the Hendel building, came into the ownership of the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2013. Now, it is poised to be sold by the URA to Home Town Real Estate LLC, an affiliate of PNC Bank, for $1.3 million. Initially, Hendel used the space for outdoor fruit sales. Following complaints from local merchants that his business crowded the sidewalk and violated city ordinances, Hendel built the tiny building in 1926. Mark Houser, a Leet Township resident and director of news and information at Robert Morris University, researched the Skinny Building’s history for a 2019 lecture with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, as well as a 2020 article in Pittsburgh Magazine. Houser discovered that after Hendel

 The Skinny Building, on Forbes Avenue and Wood Street is 80 feet long, 3 stories tall, and 5 feet 2 inches deep. Photo via Wikimedia commons, Cbaile19, CCO

completed construction on the building, he leased the top two floors to Clarence Jefferson, a restaurateur. “From what I read in newspapers from the time, that would have been the only restaurant in all of downtown where Black people could have a sit-down meal,” Houser said. A 1928 Pittsburgh Courier article

confirmed Houser’s statement and described the restaurant’s opening and Hendel’s support of Pittsburgh’s Black community: “Through his friendship with Mr. Jefferson and the desire to help the colored race, [Hendel] has leased this property, disregarding the bitter comments of the nearby white business men, in order that we might have a decent place to

eat in the downtown section.” The Courier went on to describe Hendel’s efforts to erect the Roosevelt Theatre, formerly located at 1862 Center Avenue, and said Hendel wanted Black people to enjoy seeing talent “in a theatre as good as any” without being subject to humiliation. Hendel, as quoted in the Courier, explained his aim: “The Jew would be treated as the Negro if he had not had the money to make him independent as a race.” In turn, the Courier called Hendel “a Jew, with a sympathetic understanding of the problems of our race,” and praised him as “a prominent friend of the Race.” Although “Lincoln” — Jefferson’s restaurant in the Hendel building — was out of business by 1931, “Raywell’s,” a lunch counter, opened in 1938 and welcomed customers until 1979. Hendel died in 1945 in Miami Beach, but his story helps fill Pittsburgh’s historic tapestry, explained Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives. In addition to Hendel’s business ventures, he served as president of New Light Congregation — a biographical oddity given that the congregation was Romanian and Hendel “seems to have come from elsewhere in Europe,” Lidji said. Even so, Hendel’s various pursuits reflect a bygone era. “He was part of that generation of Hill Please see Skinny, 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 SUNDAYS, OCT. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 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. 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q SUNDAYS, OCT. 3, 10, 17, 31 Gather on Zoom with the Briya Project, for moments of ritual and writing in the eight-week writing course “Sh’ma - Hear Your Inner Voice.” Each session will include a communal ritual and creative prompt to help you hear your inner artistic voice. 6 p.m. $200. ticketailor.com/events/briyaproject/564066 q SUNDAYS, OCT. 3-NOV. 21 In this new series, Halachic Conversations, Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will discuss a variety of controversial halachic issues relevant to the lives of contemporary Jews with Poale Zedek Rabbi Daniel Yolkut. Ranging from end-of-life issues to the difficult test of coronavirus to the use of technology, the conversations will consider how the halacha is applied to today’s cutting-edge issues. $75 for all eight Zoom sessions. 10 a.m. foundation. jewishpgh.org/halakhic-conversations q MONDAY, OCT. 4 Moishe House Pittsburgh presents Pen Pal Pairing with Black and Pink, an initiative to support incarcerated LGBTQ+ people. Pick up stationary and send a letter of support and affirmation. They’ll supply paper, envelopes, pens and postage. Visit the Black and Pink website to be assigned a pen pal. Pick up any time between 7 and 9 p.m. Register at forms.gle/ieF3MzzSyU93sVm36 q MONDAYS, OCT. 4, 11, 18, 25 Join Congregation Beth Shalom for a weekly Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q MONDAYS, OCT. 4-DEC. 20 Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will examine the accounts of some of the most interesting righteous gentiles in the Tanakh in his new course Righteous Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible. $55 for all 11 Zoom sessions. 9:30 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh. org/righteous-gentiles q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 6, 13, 20, 27 Bring the parashah alive and make it personally relevant and meaningful. Study the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman. 12:15 p.m. bethshalompgh.org/life-text q WEDNESDAYS, OCT. 6-JAN. 26 In The Jewish Moral Virtues, Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will explore Jewish teaching on critical moral virtues. Based on the qualities listed in the 13th century Sefer Maalot Hamiddot (The Book

of the Choicest Virtues), Rabbi Schiff will explore the contemporary application of these moral virtues to our 21st century lives. $65 for all 13 Zoom sessions. 9:30 a.m . foundation.jewishpgh.org/jewishmoral-virtues q THURSDAY, OCT. 7 Classrooms Without Borders presents “The ‘Sonderkommando’ Uprising in AuschwitzBirkenau,” a lecture by Prof. Gideon Greif. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/prof_gideon_greif q THURSDAYS, OCT. 7-JUNE 30 The Alan Papernick Educational Institute Endowment Fund presents Continuing Legal Education, a sixpart CLE series taught by Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff. Earn up to 12 CLE credits. Each session is a stand-alone unit; you can take one class or all six. 8:30 a.m. With CLE credit: $30/session or $150 all sessions; Without CLE credit: $25/session or $125 all sessions. For a complete list of dates and topics, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org/continuinglegal-education. q FRIDAY, OCT. 8 Join Moishe House Pittsburgh for Virtual Shul Shopping. This month, they’re partnering with Temple Sinai. Come pick up snacks and wine or grape juice at MoHo, then join them at the synagogue for a night of song and prayer. 7 p.m. Register at forms.gle/ieF3MzzSyU93sVm36. q SUNDAY, OCT. 10 The Arab-Israeli conflict plays a large role in current events. Classrooms Without Borders’ Arab Israeli Conflict with Avi Ben Hur aims to unpack the causes and core issues that relate to the conflict. The Q & A following each session is designed to enable the participants to engage with related issues on a higher resolution. Each section will be accompanied with suggestions for further exploration. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/arab_israeli_conflict q MONDAY, OCT. 11 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh commemorates Operation Solomon. Hear from a diverse panel on the effects of Operation Solomon and explore where we are with Ethiopian aliyah today. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/ operation-solomon Learn more about the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Mega Mission over Zoom. The mission will take place in Israel June 13-21, 2022. This is your chance to hear the details and ask all your pressing questions. RSVP required to receive Zoom link. 6 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/ mega-mission-september-info-session q TUESDAY, OCT. 12 Given the events in the past few months, from the recent conflict with Gaza to the internal political upheaval in Israel, there is a necessity to get an educated view from the “inside.” Join Classrooms Without Borders for Israel Update with Avi Ben Hur. 2 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/ israel-update-2021 The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh invites donors who make a minimum commitment of $1,000 and young adults (ages 22-45) who

make a minimum commitment of $180 to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Hybrid Community Campaign. The live event will take place in the Outdoor Plaza at Nova Place and will include festive drinks, strolling dinner and desserts on the Plaza. In-person event: $75 per person; 130 per couple. Young adult pricing: $50 per person; $80 per couple. Virtual option: $36. 7 p.m. jewishpgh.org/campaign-launch

Partnership2Gether Pittsburgh-Karmiel/MisgavWarsaw. It will celebrate fall with unique twists on traditional American fall recipes. Our guest chef will be our very own Young Adult Engagement Director Daniel Heinrich. Learn how to make delectable American fall treats, including “apple borekesim,” an Israeli twist on an American turnover. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event/cooking2gether-virtualcooking-class-5

q TUESDAYS, OCT. 12-MAY 24

q MONDAY, OCT. 18

Sign up now for Melton Core 2, Ethics and Crossroads of Jewish Living. Discover the central ideas and texts that inform our daily, weekly and annual rituals, as well as life cycle observances and essential Jewish theological concepts and ideas as they unfold in the Bible, the Talmud and other sacred texts. $300. 9:30 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh. org/melton-2

Join Moishe House Pittsburgh for a Monster Movie Night and Netflix watch party to get you in the Halloween spirit. Watch “Monster House.” Snacks will be provided to take home. Let MoHo know if you do not have access to Netflix and they can provide a login. 1 p.m. Register: forms.gle/ ieF3MzzSyU93sVm36.

q TUESDAYS, OCT. 12-NOV. 30 Join Rabbi Daniel Yolkut for Messiah, an exploration of the history and philosophy of one of the most powerful (and destabilizing) ideas in the Jewish experience: Messianism. A fascinating deep dive into the personalities and perspectives that shaped history-changing movements from Christianity to Zionism and continues to be a misunderstood but critical Jewish belief to this day. $75 for all Zoom sessions. 11 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh.org/messiah q WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether program for Holocaust Restitution: Making Sense of the New Restitution Law in Poland. Explore the significance and impact of the new restitution law approved by the Polish government in August 2021. This law will limit the right of Holocaust survivors and their descendants to reclaim property that was seized by Poland’s Communist regime. The panel will include Warsawbased journalist Konstanty Gebert, Gideon Taylor of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, and Israel-based journalist Sever Plocker. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/ event/holocaust-restitution-making-sense-of-thenew-restitution-law-in-poland Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Liberation75, is excited to offer the opportunity to engage in their new series: Confronting the Complexity of Holocaust Scholarship: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Holocaust Studies. 3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders. org/confronting_the_complexity_of_ holocaust_scholarship q THURSDAY, OCT. 14 Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, and Liberation75 is excited to offer the opportunity to watch the film “The Road to Babi Yar” and engage in a postfilm discussion with the documentary filmmaker Boris Maftsir in conversation with CWB Scholar, Avi Ben-Hur.3 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org/ the_road_to_babi_yar q SUNDAY, OCT. 17 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for the next Cooking2Gether Session with

Join Classrooms Without Borders for a virtual tour of Israel. Monthly tours with guide and scholar Rabbi Jonty Blackman via Zoom. 4 p.m. For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org. q TUESDAYS, OCT. 19-NOV. 9 In the workshop Making the Case for Israel, Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will offer tools for how to respond to Israel’s critics in 2021. This is a course for those who want to see Israel prosper, and who would like to know more about how to answer the accusations that are now being made against Israel. $40 for all Zoom sessions. 9:30 a.m. foundation.jewishpgh.org/making-thecase-for-israel q THURSDAY, OCT. 21 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents The Untold Story of How the Stories Were Told: An Evening with Louis Schmidt. Schmidt was an official witness and interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Project. Listen as he tells the genesis of his involvement, how he was chosen for the position and the remarkable videotaped conversations he conducted with these unforgettable martyrs of one of world history’s darkest periods. 7 p.m. hcofpgh.org/event/theuntold-story-of-how-the-stories-were-told q TUESDAY, OCT. 26 Join Hadassah Midwest as they welcome Wendy Evans, art historian, as she illuminates the art and lives of Jewish women artists. 7 p.m. $18. hadassahmidwest.org/RooseveltArt Join Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures for Made Local with Mark Oppenheimer, a virtual lecture with the author of “Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood.” Oppenheimer will also be at Riverstone Books in Squirrel Hill for a book signing on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. Register for the prerecorded, virtual event at pittsburghlectures.org/mark-oppenheimer. q FRIDAY, OCT. 29 Join Moishe House as they partner with JFed, Repair the World, The Friendship Circle, and OneTable for Together At The Table: 10.27 Commemoration. There will be a virtual service with a brief kiddush and intention setting, followed by individual dinners at home. Time TBA. Register here: https://forms.gle/

Every Friday in the

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Headlines Making an ‘impACT’ for Jewish students at Pitt — LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

recently launched program at the University of Pittsburgh should help new students get the most out of their freshman year. The program, a six-week slate of meetings and learning sessions titled impACT, teaches Pitt freshmen about the ins and outs of the city and region. It also helps them understand myriad housing options in the city, instructs them in the nuanced ways of health and wellness, and ushers them into the local Jewish community and the orbit of Hillel Jewish University Center, according to Sarah Chalmin, Hillel JUC’s Springboard Innovation fellow for Pitt. Chalmin, who started working in her Hillel JUC role this summer, said she took part in the impACT program during her undergraduate years at the University of Delaware. It clearly left a lasting impression. The program aims to give students “information their first semester seminar doesn’t give them,” said Chalmin, a Maryland native who is new to Pittsburgh. Connecting the students to the people and rituals of Jewish Pittsburgh is “one of the top

p Participants of impACT at Pitt

priorities” for the program, in large part because the pandemic has kept everyone living a virtual lifestyle for the past 18 months, Chalmin told the Chronicle.

Photo courtesy of Hillel JUC

“It is critical to build that Jewish community now,” she said. “Last year, they couldn’t hang out at Hillel JUC, they couldn’t have Shabbat dinner.”

Dan Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC, said the new program also gels with the organization’s overall ethos, “to engage every Jewish student with meaningful Jewish life by providing these first years with a community of peers, and an opportunity to learn together at the beginning of their time on campus.” The impACT sessions started last week, with about a dozen University of Pittsburgh freshmen attending the opening sessions, Chalmin said. The plan, she added, is to launch “impACT 2.0” in the spring. Chalmin has found that most members of the University of Pittsburgh freshman class she’s interacted with are anxious to emerge on the other end of the pandemic in a kind of new normal. But she said the pandemic’s fingerprints remain. “They are extremely excited to be on campus, to be with other students,” Chalmin said. “On the other hand, transitions to in-person [activities] have been hard for them … A lot of people are overwhelmed because they went from zero to 100.” For information on impACT, email Chalmin at sarahc@hilleljuc.org, or message her on Instagram, @sarah_fromhillel. PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

The Ten Commandments These tablets adorned the outside of the last synagogue in the Beaver Valley, and now stand guard over the Agudath Achim Cemetery in Beaver Falls. The bench and garden is dedicated in memory of longstanding and valued local attorney and cemetery leader Barris Siegel, Esq.

For more information about JCBA cemeteries, to volunteer, to read our complete histories and/or to make a contribution, please visit our website at www.JCBApgh.org, email us at jcbapgh@gmail.com, or call the JCBA office at 412-553-6469 JCBA’s expanded vision is made possible by a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Foundation

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Headlines After a fight, Seattle City Council won’t bar police from training with Israeli forces — WORLD — By Ben Sales | JTA

n a contentious meeting last week, the Seattle City Council narrowly voted down legislation that would have prohibited the city’s police department from conducting training with Israeli forces. The bill, which was defeated by a vote of 5-4 at the council’s meeting on Sept. 20, was conceived following the May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Its lead sponsor was a socialist council member, Kshama Sawant, who also led a protest in June seeking to block an Israeli cargo ship from docking at Seattle’s port. The defeat of the bill marks at least the third vote this month in which a major local anti-Israel motion brought in the wake of the May conflict did not pass. Two weeks ago, the Burlington, Vermont, city council voted to withdraw a resolution to boycott Israel. Last week, the teachers union in Los Angeles voted to “indefinitely” delay a boycott vote. In Seattle, Sawant initially sought to ban the city’s police from training with Israel’s military or police forces. The bill was later modified to ban training with the military or police of any country that is not party to certain international human rights treaties, or that has been found by an international court or the United Nations to have violated human rights conventions. Human rights groups as well as the United Nations General Assembly have accused Israel of violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The bill followed a years-long campaign by pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, opposing U.S. police delegations to Israel. More than 1,000 senior American police officers have participated in such delegations, which seek to learn from Israeli counterterrorism and security practices. Some of the groups that oppose such delegations have called them a “deadly exchange” in which American police forces adopt Israeli forces’ abusive practices. Trip organizers say that allegation is false, with some saying that suggestions that Israel is to blame for racist policing practices in the United States amounts to antisemitism. In the debate ahead of the vote on Sept. 20, council members said they had spoken with Jewish groups opposed to the bill as well as local groups that supported it. An amendment that would have expanded the bill to prohibit police exchanges with all countries failed, in part because the Seattle Police Department frequently works with police forces in Canada, less than a two-hour drive away. As the debate drew to a close, council members debated whether the proposed legislation was antisemitic. The local Jewish

8 OCTOBER 1, 2021

p Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, pictured here in January 2020, sponsored legislation that would have barred Seattle police officers from getting training from Israeli forces. Photo by Jason Redmond AFP/Getty

federation as well as the Anti-Defamation League, which runs police delegations to Israel, opposed the legislation. Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group that has campaigned against the police exchanges, supported the legislation.

cautioned against. “I believe this legislation has been not only distracting but also divisive,” he said, citing “leaders in synagogues and our city who are very concerned about the origin, intent and impact of this legislation. From

“ I believe this legislation has been not only distracting but also divisive... I believe the

legislation seems to be an errant solution in

”

search of a problem.

— COUNCIL MEMBER ALEX PEDERSEN Alex Pedersen, a council member who opposed the legislation, said he wanted to “demilitarize” the Seattle police but had determined the bill was a distraction that local Jewish organizations had

a policy standpoint, I believe the legislation seems to be an errant solution in search of a problem.” But Sawant said that the bill targets not Jews but a country she believes is violating

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

international human rights law. “We all and they all fight alongside us against antisemitism because they understand the common struggle against all forms of oppression internationally,” she said regarding her staff members and allied activists. “But the presence of this ideology of hatred does not absolve any nation or any government, including the city of Seattle, from calling out human rights abusers wherever they are, and from aligning policy, such as police training, with our declared human rights values.” The debate was marked by interruptions and personal attacks between council members. At the end, Council President Lorena Gonzalez apologized to those viewing the meeting for the rancor. “Temperatures are running really high right now,” she said. “And this is exactly part of the reason why I think this bill is perhaps not as helpful as you would have desired it to be even amongst this very diverse city council.” She added, “I am sorry to the viewing public for what has occurred and I want to encourage us as leaders in this city to strive to lead by example.” PJC PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Impossible Pork is here — but the plant-based meat won’t be certified as kosher — WORLD — By Jacob Gurvis | JTA

mpossible Foods, the plant-based meat company, is releasing a longawaited new product — but unlike the wildly popular Impossible Burger, it won’t be certified kosher. The largest and most influential certifier of kosher products in the world has declined to endorse Impossible Pork, even though nothing about its ingredients or preparation conflicts with Jewish dietary laws. “The Impossible Pork, we didn’t give an ‘OU’ to it, not because it wasn’t kosher per se,” said Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of the Orthodox Union’s kosher division. “It may indeed be completely in terms of its ingredients: If it’s completely plant-derived, it’s kosher. Just in terms of sensitivities to the consumer … it didn’t get it.” For Jews who keep kosher, the Impossible Burger has allowed some food experiences that would otherwise Please see Impossible, page 15

p Impossible Foods has unveiled its latest plant-based meat product: Impossible Pork

Photo courtesy of Impossible Foods

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Headlines — WORLD — From JTA reports

Palestinians who escaped from Israeli prison recaptured

Israel captured the final two Palestinian prisoners who escaped from a maximum-security Gilboa facility two weeks earlier, JTA reported. Israeli police and army troops surrounded a building in the West Bank city of Jenin and the prisoners surrendered. They were Iham Kamamji, 35, who was convicted in the 2006 murder of Eliyahu Asheri, an Israeli 18-year-old, and Monadal Infiat, 26, who was convicted of belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. Israeli police captured the other four in northern Israel the week after their escape. The other captured prisoners are: Zakaria Zubeidi, 45, a Fatah operative arrested in 2019 for shooting at Israelis in the West Bank; Yakub Kadari, 49, who was convicted of planning several attacks on Israelis; and cousins Mahmoud Aradeh, 46, and Mohammed Aradeh, 39, who have been in jail since 1996 and 2002, respectively.

Vaccine opposition leader dies of COVID

Israeli Hai Shaulian, a prominent activist against coronavirus vaccines, died at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon from the coronavirus, The Jerusalem Post reported. Shaulian uploaded a video to social media when he was hospitalized, alleging that JCwas Oticon Man Looking Down_Eartique 4/27/21 he poisoned.

“The Jerusalem police tried to poison me. I have never felt this way in my life. All week I struggled as if nothing had happened, but today I could no longer breathe ... If something happens to me — know that it’s an assassination attempt.”

IDF officer to be reprimanded for injuring activists

An Israel Defense Forces officer faces reprimand after he was filmed injuring and teargassing left-wing activists in the West Bank — including video that showed him kneeling on an activist’s neck, JTA reported. The activists were bringing water to a Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills, a contested area in the southern West Bank. The officer, whose identity is not known, was seen in one scene pushing an activist off a road and down to the ground. The IDF called the activists’ conduct a “violent demonstration,” saying the protesters were blocking the road to a nearby Israeli settlement. But in a statement the next day, the IDF said the officer “erred and did not act in a way the situation demanded or that met the norms of the IDF.”

‘My Unorthodox Life’ renewed by Netflix

Netflix announced that it is bringing back “My Unorthodox Life,” the reality series about a formerly Orthodox fashion mogul and her family, JTA reported. Neither an approximate release date nor details about season two were mentioned. The series follows the family of Julia Haart, 9:49 AMleft Page who the 1Orthodox community she grew up

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in Monsey, New York, and became CEO of the Elite World Group fashion model agency. The show focuses on Haart and her four children adapting their varying levels of Jewish practice to secular New York City society. The show received criticism for its portrayal of Orthodox communities as harshly restrictive, resulting in a wide array of debates in different Jewish communities.

Poway shooter pleads guilty to 113 charges

John Earnest, who opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California in 2019, killing one and injuring three, pleaded guilty to a 113-count federal hate crime indictment, JTA reported. The plea comes with a recommended sentence of life in prison plus 30 years. He faced a maximum sentence of the death penalty. On April 27, 2019, the final day of Passover, Earnest, a white supremacist, walked into the Chabad synagogue in Poway near San Diego and began shooting at worshippers. The attack occurred exactly six months after the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, which killed 11 Jews. Earnest killed one woman, Lori Gilbert Kaye, and injured three others, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and a child.

Ukraine passes law banning antisemitism

Ukraine’s parliament passed a law that says “antisemitism and its manifestations are banned” in the country, JTA reported. The law passed with 283 lawmakers out of 450 in support. It also makes antisemitic sentiment

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

Oct. 1, 1981 — U.S. Plans Aircraft Sale to Saudi Arabia

President Ronald Reagan announces a plan to sell F-15 fighter jets and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes to Saudi Arabia. Israel opposes the sale, but Reagan says the sale is not a threat to Israel.

Oct. 2, 1947 — Jewish Agency Accepts Partition Plan

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Torah scroll stolen by Nazis returns to service in Prague

A Torah scroll that the Nazis stole in Prague returned to use there on Simchat Torah, JTA reported. Memorial Scrolls Trust, a London-based nonprofit that preserves Torah scrolls and other scripture, transferred the scroll to Ec Chaim, a Progressive Jewish congregation in the Czech capital, ahead of the holiday. The Nazis seized the scroll, which dates to 1890, in 1942. They had it shipped to the Central Jewish Museum — an institution that they planned to use to showcase liturgical objects stolen from Jewish communities. That museum is now the Jewish Museum of Prague and is owned by the local Jewish community. PJC

This week in Israeli history — WORLD —

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illegal, which is unusual, as most countries with laws against antisemitism criminalize expressions of antisemitic hatred, but not the condition of harboring it. The Law on Prevention and Counteraction to Anti-Semitism in Ukraine defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, expressed as hatred of Jews.” Examples include Holocaust denial and “calling for, concealing or justifying the killing or harm of persons of Jewish origin.” The law doesn’t mention anti-Israel rhetoric, nor does it address a growing phenomenon in Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators as national heroes. Punishments for those found guilty of violating the law weren’t specified. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, needs to sign the law for it to become effective.

David Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, formally accepts the partition plan proposed by the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine. Arab leaders have rejected partition.

Oct. 3, 2005 — Choreographer Levy-Tanai Dies

Sarah Levy-Tanai, a choreographer who incorporated Mizrahi and Ashkenazi elements and won the Israel Prize in art, music and dance in 1973, dies at age 94 or 95. She founded the Inbal Dance Theater in 1949.

Oct. 4, 1992 — El Al 747 Crashes

El Al Flight 1862, a 747 flying cargo from New York to Tel Aviv, crashes in Bijlmermeer, Netherlands, 16 minutes after taking off from Amsterdam after a crew change. The crash kills four on the plane and 43 on the ground.

Oct. 5, 1941 — Justice Louis Brandeis Dies

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis dies at 84. His embrace of Zionism made its support more acceptable among American Jews, and he helped secure U.S. support for the Balfour Declaration.

Oct. 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur War Begins

More than 70,000 Egyptian infantrymen and 1,000 tanks cross the Suez Canal on bridges erected overnight, and Syria attacks Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, starting the Yom Kippur War.

Oct. 7, 1985 — Achille Lauro Is Hijacked

Members of the Palestinian Liberation Front seize the cruise ship Achille Lauro with 748 passengers off the Egyptian coast. The terrorists fatally shoot wheelchair-bound American Jew Leon Klinghoffer. PJC

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Headlines William Shatner, at 90, set to boldly go to space — WORLD — By The Times of Israel Staff

illiam Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the beloved “Star Trek” franchise, is reportedly set to boldly go where no 90-year-old has gone before, becoming one of fewer than 600 people to have reached the edge of space or beyond. According to a report in TMZ, the Jewish Canadian actor will take a real trip to space next month on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket ship. The trip, similar to the company’s first manned flight in July, will see Shatner blasted into space for a 15-minute civilian flight, which will include several minutes of weightlessness to float around the capsule, the report said. The flight and the run-up to it are being filmed for a documentary currently being shopped to a number of entertainment outlets, the report said. Bezos himself was aboard Blue Origin’s first manned flight, which also included a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas — the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space.

p William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk from the television program Star Trek.

Photo courtesy of NBC Television/Wikipedia/public domain

Shatner’s flight would bre a k t h at re c ord by eight years. Shatner first swaggered onto the bridge of the starship Enterprise in the 1966 original television series, which has spawned four spin-off series and 13 feature films, including the 2016 “Star Trek Beyond.” Blue Origin — founded by Bezos in 2000 in Kent, Washington, near Amazon’s Seattle headquarters — hasn’t revealed its price for a ride to space, but some reports have said that tickets for the first flight cost up to $20 million. Blue Origin is working on a massive rocket, New Glenn, to put payloads and people into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The company also wants to put astronauts back on the moon with its proposed lunar lander Blue Moon, in effect challenging SpaceX, which has been awarded NASA’s sole contract so far. PJC

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OCTOBER 1, 2021 11

Opinion The immorality of Democratic ‘progressives’ targeting Iron Dome Guest Columnist David Horovitz

ere it not for the astonishing Iron Dome missile defense system, the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group would have been able to reduce Israel’s residential areas to rubble in recent years, rendering much of the country unlivable. It would also have condemned Israel to international isolation: A single rocket from Gaza that evaded Iron Dome and fell near Ben Gurion Airport in 2014 prompted most foreign airlines to suspend their flights to Israel. In this past May’s 11-day conflict alone, an estimated 1,500 rockets fired from Gaza were heading directly into Israeli civilian neighborhoods. In excess of 1,400 of them were knocked out of the sky by Iron Dome interceptors. In the little more than a decade since the system was first rushed into service, it has stopped thousands of the terror group’s indiscriminate rocket launches from killing and maiming Israelis, with an intercept rate somewhere between 85 and 90%. While simultaneously protesting to a gullible world the Israeli security blockade on Gaza that prevents a more rapid development of its capacity to wreak destruction in Israel, Hamas works feverishly to outwit Iron

Dome — altering the range of its rockets, modifying its warheads, attempting to overwhelm the system with multiple launches, and, most recently, by utilizing drones to carry its warheads across the border. Acutely conscious of the lives at stake, Iron Dome’s developers continually upgrade it, racing desperately to stay one step ahead of the terrorists. The United States has been a core, consistent partner in the development and funding of Iron Dome. This is an immensely expensive enterprise: Each of the dozen or so Iron Dome batteries reportedly deployed by Israel costs upward of $50 million, and each interceptor rocket costs $20,000-$100,000. The Gaza rockets they stop, by contrast, range in cost from hundreds of dollars to the low thousands. But, last week, with their political power magnified by the gulf between U.S. Democrats and Republicans on almost everything, a small group of “progressive” Democratic legislators held their party hostage and secured the removal of a clause providing $1 billion in supplementary funding for Iron Dome from a critical U.S. government-funding bill. In the Barack Obama era, a president heavily criticized by many in Israel for his positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the Iranian nuclear threat helped ensure that funding for Iron Dome was approved with alacrity, even when Capitol Hill was at its most dysfunctional.

Hosting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House only last month, President Joe Biden took pains to stress, “I fully, fully, fully support replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome system.” That Democratic members of Congress today would even wish to prevent, never mind succeed in preventing, the smooth approval of funding for Iron Dome dismally underlines the immorality taking hold in small but now self-evidently potent areas of that party when it comes to Israel. For seeking to deny funds to Israel for Iron Dome is indeed immoral. This is a military system whose sole purpose and capability is defensive. It keeps people alive despite terrorists’ best attempts to kill them. It is the vital first line of defense against the war crime of indiscriminate rocket fire directed at civilians. Those U.S. legislators doing their utmost to deprive Israel of its protection are attempting to abandon Israelis to that deadly fire. They are opposing Israeli civilians’ right to a shield against murderous terrorism. Iron Dome’s principal deployment, moreover, has been facing a territory, Gaza, in which Israel has no military or civilian presence — having withdrawn to international acclaim in 2005 — an enclave that is ruled by a globally reviled terrorist organization. It would also be crucial in any war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror army with far greater rocket and missile

capabilities than Hamas and the shared goal of destroying Israel. Without the protection afforded by Iron Dome, it is worth stressing, the Israeli military would likely be forced to resort to greater use of firepower when the home front comes under rocket attack, in order to limit the duration of conflict and minimize Israeli civilian deaths — likely leading to greater civilian casualties in the terrorists’ home territory. In other words, far from protecting Palestinian civilians, hobbling Iron Dome would probably have the opposite effect. Leading Democrats assured Israel and Israel’s supporters in the U.S. that the capitulation to the progressive legislators is a short-term setback that will be swiftly reversed. Anything else would be unthinkable. (Editor’s note: In fact, on Sept. 23, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved an extra $1 billion in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, following the pushback effort from Israel-critical progressives. The vote was 420-9, with two voting present. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is likely to be approved.) But the very readiness, the cynical scheming to target Iron Dome, of all things, is despicable and unforgivable. It shows that, for some legislators, obsessed by a loathing for a small state in a toxic region, absolutely no avenue is off-limits when it comes to harming Israel and rendering its people vulnerable to their would-be killers. PJC

NY Times blames powerful ‘rabbis’ for crushing AOC’s principles Guest Columnist Gilead Ini

he New York Times was the subject of uncomfortable attention for its coverage of a House of Representatives vote in favor of helping Israel procure more interceptors for its Iron Dome missile defense system. In a piece that spent nearly as much time promoting the anti-Israeli arguments of the eight Democrats who voted against the bill as it did sharing the views of their 210 party colleagues who supported it during the Sept. 23 vote, reporter Catie Edmonson also focused on one representative who voted “present.” Along with most other members of the so-called “Squad” of like-minded legislators, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had initially voted against funding for the Iron Dome, which was put into heavy use last May to combat barrages of indiscriminate rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. A short while later, though, she changed her vote from the House floor. Edmondson had ideas about why the vote was changed: “Minutes before the vote closed, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tearfully huddled with her allies before switching her vote to ‘present.’

12 OCTOBER 1, 2021

The tableau underscored how wrenching the vote was for even outspoken progressives, who have been caught between their principles and the still powerful pro-Israel voices in their party, such as influential lobbyists and rabbis.” Jewish clergy were nowhere to be seen on the House floor. And for some reason, they didn’t get to Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and the small handful of others opposed to the Iron Dome funding. But, yes, it was apparently powerful “rabbis” who, in the middle of the vote, helped cajole Ocasio-Cortez into abandoning her principles, the Times told readers. Not her ambition for higher office. Not principled voters. Not New Yorkers who believe Palestinian rocket fire targeting civilians is a problem that should be combatted. But “influential lobbyists.” And those rabbis. As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) brought the language to the attention of a Times editor, commenters on social media commented on Edmondson’s language. “Chalking this up to ‘influential lobbyists and rabbis’ is an especially bad look,” wrote Zachary Braiterman, a professor of Jewish studies and philosophy. “This really is bad,” noted law professor David Schraub. The Times framed the vote as “pitting ‘principles’ — the honorable goal of Israeli civilians

getting murdered by Hamas — and the raw naked power of the evil Jew Lobby. Including rabbis!” wrote journalist Gary Weiss. It appears that some at the newspaper might agree that there was a problem with the language. The Times story, which was published online after the vote on Sept. 23, was edited later that night to eliminate the reference to lobbyists and rabbis. Although a prior change to the article was noted in a correction appended to the bottom of the story, no indication was given of this corrective edit. Although the online copy was “stealth edited,” print editions went out unchanged, and so readers of the print copy were still told of the nefarious rabbis. With no published “correction” to be found on the website, it’s unclear whether the paper will inform print readers that it doesn’t stand by the problematic language. Will editors admit to echoing antisemitic tropes about Jewish power used against good, and apologize? Or will they pretend the edit, made as news of the language was spreading on Twitter, was just an inconsequential change made to save a bit of space? This wasn’t the first time Catie Edmondson stumbled in her coverage of Jews and the Squad. When covering the controversy over Rashida Tlaib’s comment that pro-Israel Democrats “forgot what country they represent,” which was broadly criticized as a form of the antisemitic “dual loyalty” slur leveled at Jews, Edmondson actually

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concealed the offending words, making it appear that she was unfairly criticized for innocuous comments. She has also whitewashed the anti-Israel BDS campaign by telling readers it is a group that merely “seeks to pressure Israel into ending the occupation of the West Bank.” (In fact, BDS leaders and critics of the campaign agree that it is opposed to Israel’s very existence.) Nor is it the first time the New York Times has published, promoted or covered up for antisemitism. In 2019, it published a cartoon that closely resembled anti-Jewish Nazi propaganda cartoons. It interviewed an author who, as one journalist described it, “has flirted with anti-Semitism for years,” and published her recommendation of a virulently antisemitic book. In covering a candidate for office, it ignored the candidate’s assertion on Twitter that “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.” And more. Editors apologized for the cartoon. They defended their promotion of the antisemitic book. What, if anything, will they say about their charge that powerful rabbis stomp out the principles in the halls of Congress? PJC

Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA). This piece, published by JNS, was first published by CAMERA. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion The Price of Fish: What lox can teach us about thrift and luxury Guest Columnist Andrew Silow-Carroll

hen I was a kid, lox was definitely a luxury. My dad, raised during the heart of the Depression, would watch us on Sunday mornings like an auditor as we placed fingernail-sized bits of lox on a bagel spread thinly with cream cheese. If we put on too much lox, he’d say, “There’s a whole ‘nother meal there!” and force us to put some back. Once I slept over at a friend’s house, bigger and more luxurious than my own, and watched in amazement and horror as he slapped a slab of lox on an inch-thick shmear of cream cheese. He might as well have taken a $10 bill out of his pocket and burned it. My wife has similar memories of her parents’ thrift, and neither of us has really shaken off their Depression-era values. (A friend who grew up like I did said it wasn’t until she was dating her husband did she realize it was possible to order a second soda at a restaurant.) Even when we try to indulge ourselves or our kids, our internal accountants are watching carefully. Breaking the Yom Kippur fast last month, I layered on the lox with the care and efficiency of a transplant surgeon. I’ve always wondered how lox came to be the symbol of Jewish luxury. Just how expensive was a quarter-pound of lox in the early 1970s, when my parents doled it out like gold leaf? I actually looked it up. According

to a New York Times article from July 1973, prices ranged from “about $1.15 for a quarter of pound of regular lox (Waldbaum’s, Oceanside, L. I.) to $1.49 at Zabar’s.” This, mind you, was on the eve of an expected lox shortage, the result of “heavy buying by Japanese and Europeans.” But even taking the shortage into account, $5.96 a pound doesn’t sound like that much to pay for a cured fish. But then I factored in household income. Fifty years ago, the median family income for households with wage-earners in the 45-54 age bracket was $12,900, which rose to $16,730 for college grads (like my dad). By contrast, the median family income for the same age bracket in 2019 was $92,221, and rose to $100,164 for college grads. So that must explain it, right? In 1971, a quarter-pound of lox would have cost you .46% of your weekly household income. In 2019, when lox sold at the supermarket for, let’s say, $8.99 a quarter-pound, it would set you back only … .47% of your weekly paycheck. In other words, almost exactly the same. So if household income doesn’t account for the luxurification of lox, what does? Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture might explain it: It turns out our spending on food — proportional to our income — has “actually declined dramatically since 1960,” according to a 2015 article by NPR. The average share of per capita income spent on food fell from 17.5% in 1960 to 9.6% in 2007. “Because of the overall rise in income, and the consistent shrinking of food prices

adjusted for inflation, we actually have more disposable income than our grandparents did, according to Annette Clauson, an agricultural economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service,” reports NPR. Which suggests that lox may not have taken a bigger bite out of my parents’ income than it does mine, but it took a much larger bite out of their household food budget. If you were worried about the price of meat (like a lot of people in the early ’70s) and just how much three growing boys could eat (which my parents definitely were) you too might go easy on what is essentially a glorified breakfast food. I also think lox had a cachet beyond its price tag, which taught our parents to treat it as a delicacy. I don’t know when lox first became available in vacuum-sealed packs, but growing up my folks got theirs custom-sliced at an appetizing store or at a supermarket deli counter. (I worked at one such counter in high school, and without any training I was told to slice the lox for a customer. The result looked like an autopsy gone bad.) You weren’t just grabbing some fish, but having it carefully prepared by an artisan to your specifications, usually on the very same morning you intended to serve it. And this you were going to let your husky son just gobble down? I don’t know that my rich friend’s life would have been better if he ate less lox, but let’s pretend it would have. He never learned that thrift is good for the planet and good for the soul. In the version of the “Al Het” confession I recited on Yom Kippur, the community owns up to sinning “in our eating and drinking.”

The confession doesn’t specify in what ways we sinned at the table, but the verse is immediately followed by the sin of “greed and oppressive interest.” We sin as eaters — and consumers — when we bite off more than we can chew, or let our appetites overwhelm our ability to savor. As food writer M.F.K. Fisher put it — in what, actually, sounds like a confession — “We sink too easily into stupid and overfed sensuality, our bodies thickening even more quickly than our minds.” Eating, like life, is a balancing act between moderation and indulgence. My wife is definitely a “less is more” person, and she is usually right: If you end up putting too much lox on a bagel, you find yourself masticating a mouthful of fish, instead of appreciating the subtle interplay among the lox, cream cheese and bagel, with perhaps a caper or slice of red onion for a grace note. The risk of thrift is when it leads you to calculate the price of everything and appreciate the value of nothing. I admit, I have been guilty of that. But I’d prefer to think of myself as prudent, not cheap. Eating, like life, is a balancing act between moderation and indulgence. I inherited an appreciation for lox, among other finer things in life, and might not have had I been able to eat as much of it as I wanted as a kid. As for a second soda — what am I, a Rockefeller? PJC Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor in chief of The New York Jewish Week, where this first appeared.

Chronicle poll results: Have you put up a sukkah this year?

ast week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Have you put up a sukkah this year?” Of the 199 people who responded, about a quarter (26%) said they did, and that they usually do; only three people (1.5%) said they put a sukkah up this year for the first time. Thirty-six percent said of respondents said they did not put up a sukkah, but enjoy going to another person’s or a synagogue’s sukkah. Five people (2.5%) said they usually put up a sukkah, but didn’t this year. Twenty people submitted comments. A few follow. I love building a Sukkah. However, this year, time has just escaped us. You would think with the pandemic, we would have more time; I feel we have less. Quality family time is dwelling in the sukkah. Whether eating a bountiful meal, chatting with friends, curling up to read a good book or playing fun board games, we hope everyone has an opportunity to enjoy time in the sukkah during this Sukkot. Chag Sameach!

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Used to have a Sukkah every year when my kids were here.

Have you put up a sukkah this year?

With all the restaurant “booths” during the pandemic, sitting together in the sukkah has taken on a different meaning for us this year.

2.54%

Unable to attend live services and visit the sukkah due to worry about leaving my ill wife!!

Democrats clashed in Congress last week over funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. Do you think that military assistance to Israel should be subject to restrictions related to the Palestinians? Submit your response at: survey.zohopublic.com/zs/dFCsDy PJC

36.04%

Yes – I usually put up a sukkah.

No – I usually don’t, but I enjoy going to other people’s sukkah or a synagogue’s sukkah.

34.01%

I have lived in different places which require making the tiniest sukkah with huge blessings to a big sukkah with space for a living room during the day.

I put up my sukkah and got the roof on it thanks to my two neighbors that are over 6 feet tall. I’m thinking of cutting a foot off the pipes to make all things easier for next year. That would make it only suitable for short people, under 6 feet tall, though. PJC

Yes – I built a sukkah for the first time this year.

25.89%

I used to be Jewish. I am alone. People have not invited me to anything for a number of years.

I live in an apartment and there is no room for a sukkah.

1.52%

No – I usually do, but not this year.

Chronicle weekly poll question

No – I usually don’t go to a sukkah.

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:

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Website address:

letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Address & Fax: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 5915 Beacon St., 5th Flr., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Fax 412-521-0154

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OCTOBER 1, 2021 13

Headlines Assault: Continued from page 1

captured an image of Correll walking down Murray Avenue. Wasserman said he posted copies of the image on the synagogue door and reminded congregants of longstanding security protocols, which had been in place even prior to the massacre at the Tree of Life building in October 2018. “It’s a shame we have to have them, but we do,” Wasserman said. Correll was apprehended after a private security guard employed by Shaare Torah, along with two congregants, followed Correll through the neighborhood and called 911. While following Correll, the security guard also witnessed him shouting antisemitic obscenities at an Orthodox Jewish couple. The description provided by the security guard, a retired law enforcement officer, played an integral role in Correll’s arrest, according to Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Brokos said that based on his description, Correll is likely responsible for several other antisemitic incidents that occurred earlier this year. Pittsburgh Police are actively

Oppenheimer: Continued from page 1

there around World War I. I felt afraid for the community. I felt a connection to the community. To be clear, I grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, but I knew, as a historian of American religion, that Squirrel Hill has a special place in the annals of American-Jewish history as an extremely old, extremely stable Jewish community, having been substantively Jewish for about 100 years. The irony that this terrible attack would happen to this community that has been so special to American Jewry felt like it called out to be explored more. I also got curious about how a community that has so many advantages in terms of stability, in terms of having multigenerational families, in terms of walkability, good urban street life, local institutions, schools, synagogues, churches, shopping districts, how it would be resilient in the face of something terrible.

What does the community represent to you, and did that change because of the shooting?

My father had this wonderful idyllic childhood in a community where it was safe, where people looked out for each other, where there were Jews of all kinds, ranging from the most secular to the most Orthodox, and that people basically lived pretty happily. I also knew that Pittsburgh was a good city in which to be Jewish, that antisemitism is fairly low, that it’s a city of ethnic neighborhoods and that people respect the different ethnicities. I knew it as a special place. I don’t think the shooting changed what it meant for me at all. I feel bad for Pittsburghers that now some people will think of an act of violence when they think of Pittsburgh, but the city itself and its neighborhoods are as wonderful as ever. I don’t think that the shooter changed that. 14 OCTOBER 1, 2021

 Tyrone Correll

Photo provided by Pittsburgh Police

investigating those incidents. In early June, several members of the Jewish community were verbally assaulted in the vicinity of Beechwood Boulevard and Forbes Avenue. On June 13, an Orthodox male was physically assaulted walking home from synagogue services near Murray Avenue and Bartlett Street. The victim was hospitalized and required hip replacement as a result of the assault. Brokos said while Correll has exhibited a pattern of antisemitic actions, he hasn’t been linked with any organized group.

Correll’s arrest coincides with a new initiative of the FBI, a “Stop the Hate” campaign designed to encourage victims and witnesses of potential hate crimes to report the incidents to law enforcement. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tim Swanson told the Chronicle that the underreporting of hate crimes has been an area of concern for the bureau, and “in light of what’s going on in society, the FBI has decided to focus on hate crimes and civil rights violations, making it a national threat priority for the upcoming year.” In Pennsylvania, hate crimes are termed “ethnic intimidation” and defined in Title 18, Section 2710 of the commonwealth’s crime code as acts “motivated by ill will or hatred” toward a victim’s or group’s “race, color, religion or national origin.” Pittsburgh police charged Correll under this statute. Both Brokos and Swanson said they don’t expect community members to know whether an incident technically constitutes a hate crime, or if it violates federal or state law; they simply want people to report instances of violence, harassment or intimidation. Brokos said several additional antisemitic attacks, most likely involving Correll, are now being reported, which could help

strengthen the case against him. She urged anyone with information about any other incidents to report them to both her and the Pittsburgh Police. “That’s why we say seeing something and saying something is essential,” Brokos said. “At the time it may not be consequential, but at a later date it may be critically important.” Brokos said that when various incidents are reported, law enforcement can connect events that may seem unrelated to witnesses at the time they occur. “We want to show a pattern of activity and make this an airtight case,” she said. “We want to charge him with all of this antisemitic conduct. If we have 10 or 20 witnesses, that certainly bolsters the case.” Correll has a history of arrests dating back to 2016, including charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Shaare Torah’s Wasserman said he’s glad Correll’s off the streets. “If he’s a mentally disturbed person, I hope he gets the help he needs,” Wasserman said. “If he’s a hateful person, he should bear the consequences of his actions.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

For whom did you write the book?

I always write for the public. I always write with the hope that anyone who’s curious about human beings and anyone who wants to read something interesting will find that in my work. I think the book will be interesting to Jews, but it’s not at all meant only for Jews. I think it’s meant for everyone who is curious about the human experience and about the way people cope with difficult times. With that said, the book isn’t strictly a Jewish book, nor is it strictly a Squirrel Hill or Pittsburgh book. It seems to encapsulate everybody and everything.

Given that you don’t live in the neighborhood, why did you think you were the right person to write this book?

I think there are a lot of right people to write about everything. There should be multiple books about every aspect of human experience. My book is the third book that touches substantively on this shooting. I’m not a Pittsburgher, I’m a journalist. Journalists should go everywhere that their curiosities take them, and they should report what they find as truthfully and as empathetically as they can.

You named the shooter in the book. Many in the local media, including the Chronicle, will not do that. Why did you make that decision?

As somebody writing for posterity, I have no choice. Imagine if all the books about the Tree of Life shooting didn’t name the shooter. How would anyone study the shooting, how would we have an accurate record of this hateful, antisemitic, bigoted terrorist act? We need the names of historical Nazis, of historical racists, of historical antisemites, of historical terrorists. These are crucial to the public record. I did not feel that I had a choice.

p Mark Oppenheimer

One of the points you make is that there’s a cottage industry built around each mass shooting, but aren’t books like this part of that industry?

That’s a great question. It’s hard to think of my book and the two others that have come out of the past three years as representing an industry. It is certainly true that journalists who cover sad events have to deal with the irony that they’re making their livelihood writing about sad events. There’s no way around it. Journalism about sad events and about destructive human behavior should happen. It should be a profession that’s done by people who do their best to be ethical and competent. You wouldn’t want it done only by volunteers or only by people who lived

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Photo by Lotta Studio

through it. We are often paid to investigate other people’s misfortune. And that doesn’t always feel great. But I do think it’s important work, especially in a free society.

What are the lessons that you’ve learned from writing the book?

Squirrel Hill reminded me of something that other reporting had led me to believe: Most people flourish more and thrive better when they live in relatively dense, walkable closeknit neighborhoods. For most people, that’s a better way to live. And that if bad things happen to them, they will be grateful for the proximity of their friends and neighbors. PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines Review: Continued from page 2

law enforcement would allow, positioning themselves outside the Tree of Life building, working in shifts all night and through the rain. Afterward they drove alongside the bodies to the morgue — and once inside, again got as close to the bodies as they could — then the funeral home. Oppenheimer also

Skinny: Continued from page 5

District entrepreneurs who got into all sorts of ventures, always with interesting outcomes,” Lidji added. Houser agreed that the Skinny Building is an iconic Pittsburgh landmark — some argue that the Skinny Building is the narrowest building in the world — and that Hendel’s story is very much a part of its tale. It’s important, Houser said, that people remember that well before the Civil Rights movement swept the country, there was a “Pittsburgher who played a role in recognizing the dignity and humanity of Black people.” Gloria Forouzan, a Lawrenceville resident who previously served as office manager in Mayor William Peduto’s office, said she’s concerned that the upcoming sale of the Skinny Building to PNC will cause this history to be lost.

Impossible: Continued from page 15

be off-limits because of the prohibition in dietary law on mixing milk and meat. For the last five years, Jews and kosher restaurants have been able to serve up cheese-topped chili, greasy cheeseburgers, and that quintessential American diner pairing: a hamburger with a milkshake. “The Impossible Burger itself is a huge, huge success and people really, really like it,” Genack said. “It’s a really excellent, excellent product in every respect.” With the new product, Impossible Foods wanted to give that same experience to Jews and Muslims who do not eat pork, along with others who are seeking to avoid animal products or reduce their environmental impact. But Genack said he and others at the OU recalled what happened when they once certified “bacon” that wasn’t made of pig. “We still get deluged with calls from consumers who either don’t get it or they’re uncomfortable with it,” he said. The OU has held back certification for reasons other than food preparation before. In 2013, for example, it required a Manhattan restaurant to change its name from Jezebel, the name of a biblical figure associated with immorality, to retain its certification. But the organization certifies other products that might seem to conflict with Jewish dietary law, explaining on its website that “a fish sauce may display a PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

highlights the sensitive work of Pittsburgh’s two chevra kaddishas, who washed and prepared the bodies for burial. For the most part, the author’s depictions of people and events throughout “Squirrel Hill” are accurate and honest — sometimes to a fault: He exposes the good, as well as the not-so-good, in several community members. While those warts are surely there, I wondered if it was really necessary to reveal them. Beyond providing salacious fodder for

voyeurs interested in reading about community conflicts and troublesome personalities, those sections added little of value to the narrative as a whole. “In the aftermath of a mass shooting,” Oppenheimer writes, “there is a collective response and then there is the individual response.” The collective response takes the form of fundraisers and marches and memorials. The individual response is manifested in baking challah, knitting Jewish

stars, studying Talmud with a partner — or standing watch over the body of a neighbor who has been gunned down in hate. In focusing his lens on the individuals who are Squirrel Hill, Oppenheimer has created an inspiring portrait of a resilient and, yes, loving community. A community that is Stronger than Hate. PJC

“What do we have in this town to say, ‘Here’s what we did and here’s how we helped the city become what it is?’” Forouzan asked. Pat Clark, a Bloomfield resident, provided public testimony at the URA’s Sept. 9 board meeting and later told the Chronicle that he, too, is concerned about preserving the Skinny Building’s history. “The key thing for me is just making sure that they address and honor the level, the role, that the place played in Pittsburgh’s Black history, and that also they make sure that there’s demonstrable ways — in dollars and cents ways — that this project can show community equity and social investment return,” Clark said. During the Sept. 9 board meeting, Adelaide Roddy, a URA project manager, said the URA is acting with preservation in mind. The URA acquired the Skinny Building in 2013 in order to prevent the building from demolition, as well as to spur downtown growth, Roddy said. Now that PNC has been

identified as a viable partner, she continued, the URA has found an entity “who’s not only interested in activating the space, but would like to preserve the building’s character.” PNC, whose headquarters are near the Skinny and adjacent Roberts buildings, intends to use the property as flexible office space for its employees. “We want to see the Roberts and Skinny buildings preserved in a tasteful way that respects both the city’s history and the buildings’ history, yet makes them pleasant, safe and productive places for our employees to come to work,” said Alyssa Sinicrope, vice president, real estate developer of PNC Realty Services, during the Sept. 9 meeting. PNC is passionate about “continuing to play an important role in rejuvenating the downtown area through urban renewal,” she added. As part of the upcoming sale, PNC has agreed to work with an approved third-party preservationist, who will provide guidance on changes to the building.

Sam Williamson, chair of the URA, said the organization’s purpose is to “intervene in our economy, to achieve outcomes for the people of Pittsburgh that the free market on its own is not going to generate. One small example of that is when the URA intervened to acquire this building, and save it from the wrecking ball back in 2013. Another example is what we could do with the $1.3 million that PNC will be paying for these buildings.” Proceeds from the upcoming transaction will be directed to equitable aims aligning with the URA’s mission, according to Williamson. “There are all kinds of outcomes that we need to intervene on, from affordable housing to income equality, to occupational segregation, to the wealth gap — urgent needs which the free market on its own is clearly not meeting, and not able to meet,” he said. PJC

“ While Impossible Pork was originally

designed for Halal and Kosher certification, we aren’t moving forward with those

”

certifications...

— IMPOSSIBLE FOODS SPOKESPERSON picture of a non‐kosher fish, the OU may appear on artificial crab or pork, or there may be a recipe for a non‐kosher food item on the label.” It even certifies other products that aim to replicate the pork experience, such as Trader Joe’s “spicy porkless plant-based snack rinds.” But ultimately agency officials decided that a product called “pork” just wouldn’t fly, Genack said. “We of course discussed it with the company and they understood,” he said. For Impossible Foods, the word “pork” is here to stay. “While Impossible Pork was originally designed for Halal and Kosher certification, we aren’t moving forward with those certifications as we wish to continue to use the term ‘Pork’ in our product name,” an Impossible Foods spokesperson told JTA in an email. The decision means Impossible Pork won’t be on the menu at kosher restaurants, which must use only kosher-certified

products in order to retain their own kosher certification. That includes kosher and/or vegan Asian restaurants with mainstay dishes that would typically include pork, such as the dumplings and dim sum that marked Impossible Pork’s first outings this week in New York and Hong Kong. It also means that Jews who seek to follow traditional dietary rules will have to make their own freighted decisions about Impossible Pork — including whether to follow the OU’s ruling. “I don’t think the OU labeling on it has a huge impact on me,” said Rabbi Justin Held, the director of Jewish education at Herzl Camp and the University of Minnesota Hillel, who described himself as a “huge Impossible fan.” But he said he was concerned about marit ayin, or appearance to the eye, a concept in Jewish law that prohibits actions which appear to violate Jewish law, even if they technically do not. The concept raises the concern that someone

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Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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

who sees Held eating an Impossible Pork banh mi sandwich, for example, might think that he eats non-kosher meat. A different concept, lifnei iver, or not placing stumbling blocks before the blind, could also come into play. The concept raises a related concern: whether someone who sees an observant Jew eating Impossible Pork dumplings could conclude that pork must actually be kosher. For Held, the issues related to dietary law pale in comparison to the ick factor of consuming something that replicates one of Judaism’s strongest taboos — and even that isn’t enough to keep him away. “The word pork is definitely a gross aversion to me,” he said. “But knowing it’s not [pork], I will try it.” Rena Kates, an attorney in Baltimore, isn’t sure she will. Like Held, Kates keeps kosher and also uses ingredients, not an agency’s certification, as her guide for whether food is acceptable. An avid consumer of plant-based meat products, she doesn’t think she can stomach Impossible Pork. “I have this visceral reaction to it,” she said. “There is something about pork that is just triggering.” It was that reaction, Genack said, that swayed the OU’s decision-making — though he said Impossible Pork came close to carrying the agency’s label, and still could one day. “It could have gone either way, frankly,” Genack said. He added, “This is something which we absolutely would be willing to review in the future.” PJC OCTOBER 1, 2021 15

Life & Culture Stuffed pepper soup: Easy and perfect for fall — FOOD — By Jessica Grann | Special to the Chronicle

s the weather changes and summer turns into fall, I start making soup again. This recipe is a variation of my mom’s recipe — it gives you the warming flavor of stuffed peppers, but it’s easier to prepare and to serve. The soup also freezes and rewarms well.

Stuffed pepper soup Serves 8 Ingredients: 2 tablespoons oil 1 large onion, diced 1.5 pounds ground beef 6 cups beef broth or 6 cups of water with 6 teaspoons of Osem beef consommé or the equivalent of bouillon cubes. The ratio for Telma cubes is 1 cube to 2 cups of water. 5 bell peppers; you can use all green, but I use 3 green and 2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes. 1 can condensed tomato soup 2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes 2 tablespoons tomato paste 3/4 cup of ketchup 1 cup white rice 1 teaspoon sweet paprika ½ teaspoon black pepper Salt to taste (optional; I find that this recipe really doesn’t need any)

p Stuffed pepper soup

Add the oil to a large soup pot and sauté the onions for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add the ground beef, chop and cook until browned, another 7-10 minutes. Add the beef broth/bouillon and water,

chopped peppers, and all other ingredients and spices except for the rice. Bring to a boil, then bring the heat down to low and allow to simmer uncovered for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Photo by Jessica Grann

Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil, then stir in the rice, cover and turn off the heat. Stir every 10 minutes and re-cover. Repeat 3 times. This allows the heat of the soup and the warmth from the turned-off burner to do

the work without overcooking the rice. Bless your hands and enjoy! PJC Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

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Mail to: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle | 5915 Beacon Street, 5th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 16 OCTOBER 1, 2021

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Headlines Sports: Continued from page 4

group was challenging. Being on a team offers camaraderie, so “not being able to compete with those guys was really hard,” he said. “Not being able to participate in the sport I love — and that provides a great deal of enjoyment — has a big effect on a person.” Scientists began tracking COVID-19’s toll on athletes just weeks into the pandemic.

Frontiers, an open access publisher and open science platform, collected 28 peer-reviewed articles dedicated to the subject. In one study, Nigerian researchers found that compared to team sports athletes, individual sports athletes reported elevated levels of psychological distress during the pandemic. In another study, researchers, who followed young Spanish athletes during nearly 100 days of lockdown, noted that sport clubs and institutions were able to mitigate the pandemic’s negative impact by “supporting

young athletes during difficult moments.” “Any opportunity at this point for kids to connect, not over a screen, is really worthwhile,” Weinkle said. Several parents and coaches noted that after such an odd year of regulations, disruptions and cancelations, young athletes are clearly articulating their profound appreciation like never before. And having just returned from an open gym where no one was required to be masked and players were speaking about the

possibility of an uninterrupted basketball season, Anish remarked on how he’s come to cherish these last few weeks. After everything that’s happened with the pandemic, “and all the time away from the team, you love it even more playing with these guys again,” he said. “As we learned a year ago,” Anish added, “it can all go away in a second.” PJC Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Rabbi Daniel J. Fellman Parshat Bereshit | Genesis 1:1-6:8

e Jews never really finish. In Pirkei Avot we learn that our job is not to complete the task, nor are we free to desist from doing all we can. Ours is a tradition calling us to act, to engage, to do even if we never complete the work. We Jews have never been a people content to sit on our laurels. So it is that as soon as we finish reading Deuteronomy, we immediately return to Genesis. This week we return to the beginning, to the very act of creating the world. In the beginning, God spoke, and the universe reacted. By the end of six days, God takes a day for rest, having concluded the work of creation. One might assume that God had completed creation by the end of that first week. After all, the whole of the physical world had come into being because of the power of God’s words. Might God really have retired from the work of creation after only one week? The second chapter of Genesis tells a different story. Another round of creation, this time the story of the Garden of Eden. After that, humanity grows and soon we encounter the Tower of Babel. Clearly the work of creating the world continued long after that first week. So too with us. We are not yet completed; each of us continues to learn and grow and move closer to completion. Our world is not yet

he Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle invites you to join its newly launched Chronicle Book Club. Our first selection, “The Passenger” by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, is the fictionalized account of flight and survival in 1930s Germany. The novel was written in just four weeks in 1938, immediately following Kristallnacht, and captures the mood of those German Jewish citizens in real time. At that point, the author was just 23, and could not have anticipated the scope of the atrocities that were to come. “The Passenger” tells the tale of a Jewish businessman in Berlin who, prior to Kristallnacht, has not identified strongly as a Jew. But life abruptly changes for him as the Nazis make his Jewish identity paramount. While the book was originally published in the U.S. in 1939 as “The Man Who Took the Trains,” it failed to make an impact and went out of print shortly thereafter. It was re-released this year, garnered critical acclaim and was translated into more than 20 languages.

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BUY

completed; we continue to work toward its completion. Our tradition in exquisiteness and subtlety reminds us again and again — we never fully reach perfection. Our world is never fully completed. As we continue to live through a pandemic, the reminder offered in the opening words of Bereshit seem especially poignant. As much as we may all wish to fully move beyond the pandemic, we may not have that luxury. COVID-19 likely will be an ongoing part of our world. We, like God in the creation story, will never fully remove ourselves from the pursuit of health and wholeness. We Jews possess a gift our nation and world need us to share. We understand that perfection may not be possible, but the pursuit remains a most powerful force. Our world needs this unique Jewish lesson now more than ever. We may never reach full control over the virus, but through exploration, scientific experimentation, learning and growing, we can move ever closer to the goal. Our people from the earliest of times understood the need to keep moving, to keep pushing forward, even in dark or challenging times. We have endured because, in spite of everything, we Jews never stopped pursuing. In beginning again, we recommit ourselves to the challenge of being like God — continually creating, continually reaching for health, wholeness and holiness. PJC Rabbi Daniel J. Fellman is the senior rabbi at Temple Sinai. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

Join the Chronicle Book Club

helping you plan for what matters the most

18 OCTOBER 1, 2021

The pursuit of perfection

Your Hosts

Toby Tabachnick, editor of the Chronicle David Rullo, Chronicle staff writer

How It Works

We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 1:00 p.m. to discuss the book. As you read it, we invite you to share comments and join discussions in our new Facebook group, Chronicle Connects: Jewish PGH. We invite you to join now if you are not already a member of the group.

What To Do

Buy: “The Passenger.” It is available at Riverstone Books on Forbes Avenue in Squirrel Hill, and is also available on digital format from online retailers. The book is about 280 pages long. Email: Contact us at drullo@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org, and write “Chronicle Book Club” in the subject line. We will send you a Zoom link for the discussion meeting. We anticipate capping the discussion meeting to the first 15 people who sign up, so don’t delay. Happy reading! PJC — Toby Tabachnick PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Obituaries COHEN: Milton Cohen, 97, of Atlanta, Georgia, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Sept. 14. He was surrounded by immediate family, who were gratified that Milt had the good fortune to have not spent a night in a hospital in decades. Beloved husband of 70 years of Helen Gusky Cohen, and devoted father to Jeffrey (Robyn) Cohen, Fredric “Rick” (Gayle Kornman) Cohen, and Sheri Cohen, who was his loving caretaker for three years. Milt is also survived by two grandsons, William Cohen and Brett Cohen. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Ruth Hersh and Bernice “Dolly” Landay. He was a World War II veteran, having served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga in the Pacific. After a career in retail in Pittsburgh, Milt became a pioneer of sorts and moved the family to Raleigh, and later, Hilton Head Island, where he was self-employed as a realtor. Retirement never took hold, and he spent 20 years as a golf course starter and ranger, allowing him to pursue his long-time passion of golfing. Private services were held after Yom Kippur along the Chattahoochee River, where Milt loved to relax with family and a cocktail. DEKTOR: Judy Dektor, age 79, of Stanton Heights, sunrise, Sept. 12, 1942, and sunset, Sept. 21, 2021. Beloved wife of 59 years to Eddie Dektor; loving mother, grandmother and sister. Judy will be deeply missed and forever loved. Services will be private. Professional services trusted to D’Alessandro Funeral Home & Crematory, Lawrenceville. dalessandroltd.com. GROSS: Madeleine Sandra Gross, of Scottsdale, Arizona, formerly of Pittsburgh, died at age 83 on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, surrounded by her family. Madeleine was the third child of Samuel and Gertrude Rubin, and niece of Jean Ruben Miller. She was predeceased by her sister Joyce Rubin and survived by her sisters Norma Olszewski, Karen Bond, Linda Marzurek and by her brother Gary Ruben. Madeleine is survived by her sons Lee (Megan) Gross, Stuart (Tina) Gross, Andrew (Tracy) Gross and James (Nureet) Gross. Madeleine is also survived by 13 grandchildren, Ophir, Max, Roni, Lewis, Jake, Carly, Tav, Tessa, Akiva, Hinda, Elimelech, Gavin and Alexander, and two step- grandchildren, Trae Nelson and Jamiah Ming. Madeleine succumbed to renal failure after putting up a valiant fight over the last few years of her life. Madeleine will be remembered as a loving and very generous sister, mother and grandmother. Graveside services and interment were held at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Phoenix on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Contributions in her honor can be made at Arizona Kosher Pantry, azkosherpantry.org, United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Fund uwswpa.org/donate or a charity of your choosing. GUSKY: Marilyn Gusky, of Boca Raton, Florida, formerly of Mt. Lebanon, passed away peacefully, but unexpectedly on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. She was 81. She was the beloved wife of Burton (Burt) Gusky, her childhood PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

sweetheart, married for 54 years. In addition to being a devoted wife, she was also a loving mother to her two daughters, Phyllis (David) Kimel of Pittsburgh, and Michelle Fellman of Delray Beach, Florida. She was a devoted Grandma to her four beautiful grandchildren, Nathan and Evan Kimel, and Ryan and Taylor Fellman. She leaves behind three sisters, Elinor (Ivan) Gold, Bernice (Carl) Trout, and Doreen Gerzoff, and a brother, Irving Silverberg (deceased), as well as many nieces and nephews. She will be deeply missed by all who loved her. Not only was Marilyn brilliant, but she was beautiful and extremely talented. In addition to playing tennis, golf, canasta, bridge and mah-jongg, she was a brilliant investor and bought into the idea of fixed income and equities at a time when retail investing was not yet a “thing.” She was part of a group of people who trailblazed modern day investing, and was an avid “day trader” from her living room, living her life by the ticker tape. But investing was not her defining trait. She was also a prominent pianist and an accomplished entertainer, still playing piano from memory until her final days. She regularly held private recitals for her friends at her home in Broken Sound, entertaining them with medleys from “Fiddler on the Roof,” “New York New York,” and brought musicals to life by performing hundreds of songs from popular Broadway shows, in addition to mastering the most complicated works of Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. She also did music therapy with Alzheimers patients, and performed in nursing homes, as she understood that music is a great healer, and it calms patients down and brings them joy. Private services were held at The Gardens of Boca Raton, on Sept. 14, 2021. Arrangements entrusted to Sinai Memorial Chapels. Donations can be made in Marilyn’s memory either to Alzheimer’s Association alz.org, or at volencenter.com or at The Volen Center, Attn. Debbie, 1515 West Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33446, where she spent several months in their daycare program before moving to a memory care facility. HAUSLER: Mary B. Hausler, on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. Beloved daughter of the late Sam and Dora Hausler. Cherished sister of Nathan (Susan) Hausler of Pittsburgh and Hannah Hanai (Dan) Leary of Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Beloved aunt of Megan (Merle) Neiman, Jesse (Mara) Hausler, Natalie (Amanda Thompson) Leary and Jeremy Leary. Great-aunt of Lily Dora Neiman, Samuel Dov Hausler, Noam Sidney Hausler and Andrew Ruben Hausler. Mary was a dedicated elementary school teacher who loved her work in the Philadelphia Public School System. Mary was also an avid traveler. She has been to India, Nepal, Egypt, Bali, Costa Rica, Israel, and was recently in South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. Graveside service and interment were held at Adath Jeshurun Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK 73123. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com Please see Obituaries, page 20

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

In memory of …

A gift from …

In memory of …

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther L. Carver

Sharon Knapp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna Sadowsky

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Betty Ainsman

Sharon Knapp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ida Sadowsky Frankel

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martin Snow Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dr. Marshall Steinberg

Elaine McNeill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sylvia R. Melnick

Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Nathaniel Racusin

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Selma P. Ryave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Irving Podolsky

Rhoda & Jay Gefsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Allan H. Barnett Mrs. Goldstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Capt. M. Allan Rudick

Selma P. Ryave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Esther Y. Podolsky

Mrs. Goldstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sarah Rudick

Ruth Yahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sigmund Yahr

Edward M. Goldston . . . . Yitzchok Moshe Isaac Goldstein

Ruth Yahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leroy Yahr

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday October 3: Joseph Adler, Shirley Barr, Jean Singer Caplan, Fannie Coon, Saul Eisner, Louis Friedman, Sam Goldberg, Yitzchok Moshe Issac Goldstein, Jack Greenberg, Sadye R. Kantor, Charles Leefer, Louis Levy, Violet C. Miller, Alexander Reich, Flora May Shadden, Bertha Ethel Shamberg, Andrew H. Shapiro, Alexander Sharove, Adolph Weinberger, Esther H. Winkler, Ada Marie Wolfe Monday October 4: William Abrams, Mary Astrov, Peter Davidson, Edward A. Feinert, Abraham Hansell, Sylvia B. Karpo, Harry D. Linder, I. Edward Plesset, Jesse Rogers, Sara Sadie Sobel, Anna Sokol, Dr. Daniel Solomon, Fannie Stein, Mary Stoller, Harry Ulanoff, Donald Eli Witkin, Rose Zasloff Tuesday October 5: Jack Caplan, Morris Chaimovitz, Isaiah Cooper, Laurel B. Devon, Rose K. Freed, Harry Freedman, Pauline J. Isaacs, Sarah Jacobson, Rose Bigman Kalmanowitz, Dr. Paul Kaplan, Anna Klee, Ethel I. Krauss, Ida Magdovitz Krouse, Jacob Joseph Kurtz, Allen Lebovitz, Milton Lehman, Dr. Leonard M. Monheim, Emanuel Rosenthal, Edith F. Simon, Joseph Weintraub, I. Leroy (Lee) Yahr Wednesday October 6: Betty Ainsman, Harry Barash, Bernard M. Bennett, Ruth Mermelstein Cramer, Rhoda Fisher Jonas, Freda Leff, Jacob Levenson, Lillian B. Martin, Charles Monheim, Traci Michele Perilman, Sadie Schnitzer Thursday October 7: Fagie Cohen, Oser Cohen, Edward Dobrushin, I. Louis Eckhouse, Morris Freeman, Israel Gershon, Dorothy Goldstone, Marlene Harris, Marlene Harris, Albert Hendel, Jacob Katz, Louis A. Livingston, David Miller, Eugene Moskovitz, Morris Pechersky, Peter Pink, Sarah Ruth Saul Rosenberg, Berde S. Ruttenberg, Sarah Sable, Myer Skirboll, Louis Stern, Rose Wyatt, Bertha Cooper Young, Henry L. Zacks Friday October 8: Gabriel Abramovitz, Morris Beck, David Cohen, Evelyn Hepps Cushner, Fanny Davidson, Sarah Samuels Finkelhor, Bertha Handelman, Adolph Klein, Louis Klein, Bertha Kruman, Rhea K. Landau, Ruda Bella Rose, Mollie Finegold Ruttenberg, Israel Samuel, Jacob Schnitzer, Abe Shulman, Tibie Verk, Sigmund Yahr Saturday October 9: Yetta Angel, Benjamin Bondy, Herman Brown, Sarah Schnitzer Elling, Mollie Goldenberg, Sorly Cukerbaum Gordon, Jay Helfant, Miriam Shifra Heller, Benjamin Herskovitz, Jacob Kaufmann, Samuel Levinson, Anne B. Litman, Belle Rosenson, Meyer Rosenthal, Adolph Rutner, Samuel Shire, Morris Shulgold, Ben Spokane, Samuel J. Sugerman, Meyer Veshancey, Jacob Weinstein

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Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

L AT TERMAN: E arl Merwin Latterman passed away at the age of 92 on Sept. 20, 2021, in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Our beloved “Poppy” was a lifelong le ar ner and self-described “futurist” who lived life with the optimistic belief that mankind is empowered to change the world for the better. Earl was an avid tennis player, golfer and skier, actively participating is all three sports right up to his death. A graduate of Carnegie Tech and its Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Earl began working at Northern Light Company, his family’s lighting business on the North Side. He joined Tygart Industries, a manufacturer of steel plate products, in the early 60s and served as its president for many years. After selling the business in the mid-80s, Earl moved to his third career as a trusted financial advisor at Advest and Merrill Lynch where he continued

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to provide caring advice into his 80s. Poppy was actively involved in the community and especially had a deep passion for the Jewish Community Center, serving as its president from 1979 to 1982. With his late brother Bernard and in memory of their parents, they established the Sam and Ida Latterman Volunteer Mitzvah Award, presented annually to an individual whose outstanding achievements contributed to the success of the JCC and the community. Earl loved to read and was always researching a new subject. Whether it was the environment, longevity, technology or reincarnation, Earl’s shelves were stocked with books, meticulously bookmarked with paper scraps to highlight important passages. He even taught a course on “Exponential Technological Growth and its Impact on the Future” at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CarnegieMellon University. Earl would never hesitate to share his opinion on a wide variety of subjects, but he would also listen to others intently and graciously, even though he was rarely swayed. Earl was preceded in death by his parents, Sam and Ida, and his brother, Bernard. He is survived by his wife of 67

years, Marilyn, sister, Vitie Friedman, sisterin-law, Eleanor Feldman (Bruce), children Michael (Jose), Sue Ann, and Steven (Leslie), grandchildren Shelby and Spencer, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Funeral services were held at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Contributions can be made to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 or the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, 2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc. family owned and operated. schugar.com OSTRAGER: Chanah Ostrager, on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. Beloved wife of the late Seymour Ostrager. Beloved mother of Evan D. Ostrager. Cherished sister of Bernard S. (Karen L.) Rubb. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Services were held at Sinai Chapel in Queens, New York. Interment Mt. Zion Cemetery in New York. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com

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ZEIDENSTEIN: George Zeidenstein, 92, died Aug. 21, 2021, at his home in Goshen, Connecticut. He was born in Pittsburgh on July 29, 1929. He married Sondra Auerbach in 1953; they were married 68 years and lived a life of wonder. George was educated at University of Pittsburgh (BA) and Harvard Law School (JD). He dedicated his life to service to humanity. His focus was international development and improving the lives and status of women around the globe. He was a leader in reproductive health and choice. George was a volunteer civil rights lawyer in Mississippi in the Freedom Summer of 1964; Peace Corps director in Nepal, 1965-1968; Ford Foundation representative in New York and Bangladesh, 1969-1976; and president of the Population Council, 19761992. Upon retirement, George became a Fellow at Harvard’s School of Public Health and lectured there for several years. He then became an active community member in Goshen along with his wife. George is predeceased by his wife, Sondra, and survived by Laura Zeidenstein (daughter), Louis Peter Zeidenstein (son), Colin Zeidenstein-Wilson (grandson), Julian Cavin-Zeidenstein (grandson) and Valentine Langatta-Cavin (great-grandson). PJC

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OCTOBER 1, 2021 21

Life & Culture Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV, yet his trial was no slam dunk — BOOKS — By Rich Tenorio | The Times of Israel

wo days after the assassination of United States president John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963, the accused killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Ruby — born Jacob Rubenstein into a Jewish family in Chicago — would be tried for murder in 1964. His shooting of Oswald had actually been captured on live TV with millions watching. Still, the subsequent trial was far from a slam-dunk, as explained in a new book, “Kennedy’s Avenger,” by Dan Abrams and David Fisher. Celebrity lawyer Melvin Belli helped make the Ruby case into a protracted affair that featured a defense based on claims of Ruby’s mental illness, a rare tactic at the time. Belli fought the prosecution with objection after objection — including claims of antisemitism — in a trial further punctuated by the testimony of Ruby’s rabbi and with a hostage-taking by escaped prisoners from a jail upstairs. Meanwhile, a larger investigation was underway with the Warren Commission examining the assassination, while JFK conspiracy theories circulated among the public. In a phone interview with The Times of Israel, Fisher said that Ruby’s niece contacted the authors after reading the book and shared previously unheard stories about her late uncle. She told them that after the Kennedy assassination, Ruby called his mother in Chicago later that day. “He was crying hysterically,” Fisher said. “He said he wanted to come home because he was so emotionally overcome with this. His mother said ‘don’t come home, stay there.’ He did. Two days later, he killed Lee Harvey Oswald.” The book is part of a series co-written by the authors about individual court cases illustrating key moments in Americanlegal history. Each case is from a different century, and all involve U.S. presidents to some degree — including future president Abraham Lincoln working as a defense attorney in a murder case back in 1859. Fisher has co-authored many other books with many other authors — including separate titles with the late George Burns, former New York Mets pitcher Tug McGraw and then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Asked about his collaboration with America’s 45th president, Fisher laughed and mentioned some of his other collaborators, from Nobel laureates to sports stars to famously liberal Congressman Robert Wexler.) He noted a few other accomplishments, from becoming the only journalist ever granted full access to the FBI crime lab to attending Russian rocket launches in the Ural Mountains. “I have been very privileged to spend time

22 OCTOBER 1, 2021

p Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, who is being escorted by Dallas police detective Jim Leavelle (left), Nov. 24, 1963

Photo by Robert H. Jackson/Wikipedia via The Times of Israel

with extraordinary people, truly extraordinary people,” he reflected. One of them is his current co-author Abrams, a lawyer and the head of legal affairs at ABC. Their partnership began after Fisher found a transcript of the 1859 murder case defended by future president Lincoln — his 29th and final such case. He contacted Abrams and a book was born. The series is now up to four, with six planned in total. The case that’s the focus of their current book hinged upon the relentlessly resonant series of events that transpired on Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963. That morning, Ruby drove to downtown Dallas with his favorite dog — whom he referred to as his wife. Leaving the dog in the car on a hot day, he went to a Western Union office to send $25 to a stripper he employed who needed to pay her rent. Afterward, he walked to Dallas police headquarters, where Oswald was being transferred to prison. Ruby often carried large sums of money because of his nightclub work, and he carried a gun as well. His profession had familiarized him with the Dallas police, some of whom visited his nightclubs, although Fisher dispels rumors that he also had ties to the Mob. Unimpeded, Ruby entered the basement of police headquarters and approached Oswald. Ruby fatally shot Oswald in the stomach — an event captured on live TV by NBC with millions watching at home. This widespread coverage made it among the thorniest issues to sort through when selecting a jury for the trial. “Here was this heinous crime committed on national TV,” Fisher said. “Two questions

arose. It was all new stuff. If a person had seen the crime being committed, could they be a juror? Secondly, do you let TV cameras into the courtroom? Neither one of these issues had been debated or settled.” The book details the subsequent debate over these and other issues, including whether to change the trial venue entirely. Yet the location remained in Dallas as a legal showdown ensued between Ruby’s attorney Belli and the prosecutor, Henry Wade, who would become famous again a decade later as an opponent of abortion in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case. “[Belli] was the most flamboyant lawyer in America at that time,” Fisher said. “This case was going to make his reputation… It was going to be his greatest moment.” As for Wade, “he used to boast he had done 24 capital cases and of the 24, 23 people had been executed. He wanted to execute Jack Ruby.” To save his client, Belli turned to an unorthodox strategy and claimed that Ruby suffered from a rare, recently discovered mental illness. There were at least two witnesses for the defense who gave poignant testimony: Ruby’s former longtime girlfriend Alice Nichols and Ruby’s rabbi, Hillel Silverman. “[Nichols] described Jack as a somewhat troubled but good person,” Fisher said. “His rabbi told some stories about Ruby showing up at his house when the [assassination] happened, crying hysterically. Basically, both in fact said Ruby’s behavior at different times was inappropriate to the scope of the event,” which was part of what Belli was

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trying to show the jury to bolster the mental illness argument. An article on the Shearith Israel congregation website describes Silverman as giving a talk last year about his experiences in Dallas, including encounters with Ruby, as well as with another congregation member — Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the Kennedy assassination. “I think what’s important is that the trial is the beginning of the Kennedy conspiracy industry,” Fisher said. “It does not work without Jack Ruby, the whole conspiracy claim. He fills a lot of voids for a lot of people wanting to say or demonstrate there was a conspiracy.” The authors delve into the conspiracy theories in the book, writing that “conspiracy buffs, as they were becoming known, suggested Ruby was part of a larger plot and had killed Oswald to prevent him from naming those people who had hired and paid Oswald — and may have even been shooting at the president on that Dallas afternoon.” “Several people claimed to have seen Oswald and Ruby together prior to Kennedy’s assassination,” but prosecutor Wade declined to call any of them to testify at Ruby’s trial, write Abrams and Fisher. They quote Wade as saying that he felt “there had been no proof Ruby and Oswald knew each other,” while three individuals who argued otherwise had taken lie detector tests and failed. At the end of Ruby’s trial in 1964, the jurors did not believe he was mentally ill and issued a guilty verdict. “I felt that the defense had actually made a pretty good case,” Fisher reflected. PJC

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Community Illustrating the importance of mental health

Macher and Shaker

The Friendship Circle partnered with The Second Floor at the JCC, the 10.27 Healing Partnership, and Center of Life for a collaborative teen art exhibit at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s Robinson Building. The Sept. 12 event showcased 27 art pieces, created by teens, that express individual pandemic experiences. Along with a teen panel who shared their perspectives, Shoota Shak and Big Kat performed for a crowd of more than 60 attendees. The exhibit will remain open for public viewing through the month of October at the JCC’s Robinson Building.

Pittsburgh Business Times named Jordan Golin a winner of its 2021 Outstanding CEOs and Top Executives award. Golin is president and CEO of JFCS.

p Jordan Golin

Photo provided by JFCS

Starting the season off right Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh’s junior varsity girls cross-country team shared first place with Shady Side Academy in the Shady Side Academy & Hillel Academy 2021 Kickoff Classic. The Sept. 12 meet was held at White Oak Park.

p Abby Blank describes the event’s origins.

p Art highlights the importance of mental health awareness.

p Little legs, big smiles

Photo by Adam Reinherz

Wine and Wisdom p Noa Shimshi and her mother participate in the community art tree.

30 young adults socialized in a sukkah at Wine & Wisdom, an event hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Young Adult Division, Congregation Beth Shalom and Moishe House on Sept. 23. Wisdom about wine was provided by Chosen Wine, a kosher wine store in Dormont.

p Admiring the art

p Rejoicing in the sukkah

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Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

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Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

OCTOBER 1, 2021 23

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