August 27, 2021 | 19 Elul 5781
Candlelighting 7:41 p.m. | Havdalah 8:40 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 35 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
JFCS helps resettle Afghan refugees in Pittsburgh
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Rabbi Walter Jacob honored at dedication of Jewish learning center in Germany
Cards for our military
By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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N other U.S. organizations or companies may qualify for the new P2 status. Afghans who are allowed to leave Afghanistan for the U.S. will be flown to Virginia, where their paperwork is processed, before the refugees are relocated to a final destination. Pittsburgh is one of the cities identified to receive some of the approximately 53,000 Afghan nationals who will arrive in the States as part of the SIV program. Those refugees will be assisted by JFCS, a local affiliate of HIAS (originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), a national resettlement agency working with the U.S. government. “Evacuation is critical, as political stability put these American heroes and their families in grave danger,” said JFCS President and CEO Jordan Golin at an Aug. 17 press conference. So far, JFCS has been notified that it will be assigned two families, said Ivonne Smith-Tapia, JFCS’ director of refugee and immigration services. One family is already in the city, having arrived on a travel visa rather than as part of the SIV program. But Smith-Tapia expects JFCS will be assigned
early eight decades after the collapse of the Nazi regime in Europe, German Jews and elected officials dedicated a new space for the continuance of Jewish studies and worship in Potsdam, Germany. The new European Center for Jewish Learning at the University of Potsdam includes a synagogue, the first in post-war Potsdam; the School of Jewish Theology of the University of Potsdam; and Germany’s two rabbinical seminaries — the Abraham Geiger College, modeled on the North American Reform seminary, and the Conservative Zacharias Frankel College. As part of the Aug. 18 dedication ceremony, the building that houses the Abraham Geiger College — the first liberal rabbinical seminary in Continental Europe since the Shoah — was named after Rabbi Walter Jacob, rabbi emeritus at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Jacob co-founded the college in 1999. The event drew nearly 250 attendees, including German President Dr. FrankWalter Steinmeier and Minister-President of the State of Brandenburg Dietmar Woidke. German politicians, who joined European Jewish leaders as they carried Torah scrolls into newly dedicated spaces, decried antisemitism. “It makes me angry that antisemitism, antisemitic hatred and incitement to hatred are once again openly manifesting themselves in Germany, of all places, and have been doing so for years,” said Steinmeier, according to the German Press Agency. “Even 76 years after the end of the National Socialist terror regime, the opening of Jewish
Please see Refugees, page 14
Please see Jacob, page 14
Former Pittsburgher helps support our troops Page 5
Kabul and other cities fell under Taliban rule as the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kenneth Jasik By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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uring the United States’ nearly two decades in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghan nationals gave assistance to the American military and American companies that offered support to their country. Now that America is withdrawing its troops and the Taliban is in control of the government, those nationals — whose occupations ranged from translators to truck drivers to cafeteria workers — fear for their lives, as well as the safety of their families. The Biden administration is working to help Afghans in danger of Taliban reprisal flee the country. Those eligible for U.S. aid include people who qualify for the Special Immigration Visa program — created by Congress to assist people in Afghanistan and Iraq targeted for retribution because of their work with the U.S. — as well those who have been given a new, Priority 2 (P-2) refugee status. According to Allie Reefer, a spokesperson for Jewish Family and Community Services, the SIV status is available to Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or military for at least one year. Those who worked for
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