Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 1-29-21 by Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

January 29, 2021 | 16 Shevat 5781

Candlelighting 5:17 p.m. | Havdalah 6:19 p.m. | Vol. 64, No. 5 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Former B’nai Israel synagogue to find renewed life as affordable housing and more

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL A passion for public service

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Estate of couple murdered on Oct. 27, 2018, sues Colt By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

Upper St. Clair native joins Biden administration

To meet some of those concerns, the former structure will not be torn down; rather, Beacon will reuse the building and add an additional two stories, thereby limiting the environmental impact of the development. The project is slated to be both Passive House and Enterprise Communities Certified, meaning that the apartments will be energy efficient in terms of heating and cooling and have a reduced ecological footprint. The building will be at least net zero if not net positive in energy use, explained Koslow. That means that on average it will produce the same or more energy from renewable energy sources than it imports from external sources. “We are striving to minimize the use of carbon-heavy materials, such as foam insulation, while at the same time providing affordable housing for families and individuals,” she said. Beacon’s plans don’t stop with the building itself. Its leaders hope to turn the front lawn into a regenerative farm, repurpose trees that

he son of a couple murdered during the massacre at the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018, has filed a lawsuit in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas against Colt Manufacturing alleging that the gun lobby, through anti-Semitic propaganda, incited the shooter to carry out “one of the bloodiest acts of domestic terrorism in United States history” with an AR-15, a “machine gun not suitable for civilians.” Marc Simon, as executor of the estate of his parents, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, has also named the shooter as a defendant in the lawsuit. “Our goal first and foremost is to save lives,” said Robert Bracken of Bracken Lamberton, LLC, one of the lawyers representing Simon. “If we can prevent just one hate crime or avert just one mass shooting, it’s worth it.” The 45-page complaint alleges the gun lobby radicalized the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter with a barrage of white supremacist conspiracy theories about Jews. The complaint is peppered with screenshots from social media posted by leaders of the National Rifle Association and its supporters with explicit anti-Semitic messages and imagery. One post by Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, reads: “Join the NRA to end Semitism.” According to the complaint, in 2016, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA, said that “European-style socialists” who “hate individual freedom” had taken control of American government, and “[t]hat should terrify every citizen who values the American ideal in this country of individual liberty.” “European-style socialists,” the complaint alleges, “is white supremacist code for Jews.” Ted Nugent, an NRA board member, later

Please see B’nai Israel, page 14

Please see Colt, page 14

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LOCAL Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Torahs

 Beacon Communities plans to create affordable housing in the former B’nai Israel synagogue. Rendering provided by Beacon Communities

Emblems of perseverance

David Rullo | Staff Writer

Page 5

LOCAL Keeping tabs on seniors Sharyn Rubin’s new role at the JAA Page 8

f the ethos of the renovation of the building that once housed B’nai Israel synagogue could be summed up in three words, they might be “reduce, reuse, recycle.” The former East End synagogue, built in 1923 and most recently home to the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School, is set to find new life as apartments and, perhaps, a collaborative community arts and performance center. Boston-based Beacon Communities plans to begin construction in late winter or early spring this year, converting the former school administration wing of the structure into 45 primarily affordable apartments and seven units offered at market rates. “We are really approaching the entire development of the site with the lens of a regenerative community,” said Beacon Communities Development Director Courtney Koslow. “We’re thinking about how we can align our approach to reuse the building in a way that aligns with nature and addresses social justice and environmental concerns at the same time.”

keep your eye on PittsburghJewishChronicle LOCAL

Israel connections for teens

LOCAL

Global Minds expands

HISTORY

The storied Webster Hall coffee cake

Headlines Upper St. Clair native joins Joe Biden’s National Security Council — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer

aura Rosenberger’s first passion is public service, according to her mother Barbara Rosenberger: “She feels a very high calling to be of help and to do what she can to make changes.” The Upper St. Clair native was recently named to Joe Biden’s National Security Council as senior director for China. Rosenberger was a senior fellow and director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, a public policy think tank, prior to taking on her new role with the Biden administration. Rosenberger announced her new position on Twitter, posting: “Honored to be joining @ JoeBiden’s National Security Council as Senior Director for China. Humbled by the enormity of the task and privileged to once again serve the American people alongside an incredible team.” Rosenberger’s appointment is the most recent in a nearly two-decade long career of helping to shape public policy. She served as NSC director for China and Korea under former President Barack Obama and as chief of staff to then Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. She also served as a foreign policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign in 2016. Rosenberger met Clinton while working in the State Department when the former New York senator became secretary of state. “I was so blown away by her,” Rosenberger told the Chronicle in 2016. “I literally remember the first time I ever briefed her. She has an unbelievable grasp of nuance and detail while seeing the big picture.” The Upper St. Clair High School graduate’s career might have turned out differently had it not been for Sept. 11, 2001. At the time,

 Laura Rosenberger

Photo courtesy of the German Marshall Fund

Rosenberger was working on a triple major in sociology, psychology and women’s studies at Penn State University before she shifted gears. “I think what happened was 9/11,” her father Bryan Rosenberger said. “That was her senior year at Penn State. Soon after that she applied to American University’s master program in international peace and conflict resolution. That was the beginning of where she is now.” Rosenberger began working in the State Department under President George W. Bush through the Presidential Management Fellows program. “She very much wants to be involved in policy, as opposed to other aspects,” her father

said. “In the State Department, there’s policy and there’s management and some other things. She wants to be involved in policy.” Although Rosenberger has been working in the public sector since receiving her master’s degree, and despite a demanding work schedule, she often volunteers for causes important to her, her mother Barbara Rosenberger, said. Rosenberger’s interest in social justice began at an early age. “I remember in elementary school she was involved in an environmental project and got into it big-time,” recalled Bryan Rosenberger. Working toward social justice was part of Rosenberger’s upbringing. Her mother

has volunteered with the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh and her father serves on the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Israel and Oversees Committee. The couple is also active with the South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM). “I was grounded in the social justice philosophy of Judaism and have always been interested in working on behalf of those who are oppressed,” Laura Rosenberger told the Chronicle in her 2016 interview. She attended the Jewish Community Center’s Emma Kaufmann Camp as a child, and with her family — including her sister Lisa, a senior research director in the Health Department at NORC in Washington, D.C.— attended Temple Emanuel of South Hills, where the sisters celebrated their bat mitzvahs and were confirmed. When not helping President Biden manage the complicated relationship between the United States and China, she enjoys spending time at home with Rose, the Portuguese water dog she adopted in 2017. Based in Washington, D.C., Rosenberger still loves the city of her youth. “She loves to come home,” said her mother. “We all take advantage of hiking and being outdoors and do a lot of family dinners. We try to be family-oriented because both of our daughters have pretty hectic schedules. Pittsburgh is her hometown, and she loves it.” Rosenberger’s time in public service has not only helped make the world a better place, said her father, but it’s also taught him about government work. “Before Laura got involved, I had a common misconception about government employees that maybe their jobs are 9 to 5,” he said. “That misconception has been badly shaken. They bust their butts.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines New initiative fosters connections between local teens and Israeli peers — LOCAL — By Dionna Dash | Special to the Chronicle

ven if a trip to Israel isn’t in the cards this year for many local teens, they can still visit vicariously. In a new program from Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance, the concept of the international pen pal is being revived for the 21st century, with a decidedly Jewish twist. Through the One2One initiative, Pittsburgh high schoolers can meet virtually with Israeli students to discuss common interests and forge friendships in a series of video-based encounters. Teens and their Israeli peers will talk about sports, history, art and music, or science and technology, interwoven with classic and modern Jewish texts to foster deeper discussions. Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance is a new startup from the minds of accomplished Jewish philanthropists, like Birthright Israel co-founder Charles Bronfman. The organization aims to maintain a diverse, inclusive, interconnected global community through initiatives like One2One, which rely on local Jewish community organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh,

to recruit participants. Pittsburgh’s Federation was eager to join Enter in facilitating this modern-day correspondence program in its inaugural year, said Kim Salzman, Federation’s director of Israel and Overseas Operations. “We wanted to partner with Enter on this pilot year initiative because it’s a wonderful way to engage our teens with Israel, so that they can make a direct personal connection with Israeli peers. It’s a great opportunity that we didn’t want to miss out on,” Salzman said. The program was specifically designed with students’ needs in mind. It requires only five 30-minute video sessions, beginning in February and taking place over three months. All sessions will occur in English, avoiding any language barrier for the U.S. participants and allowing the Israeli students to practice English. The meetings will take place on Sundays to ensure students will retain ample time for their classes and schoolwork during the week, and each participant will be able to choose the meeting dates most convenient for them. Yet for such a minimal commitment, there’s a lot to gain. Partners will choose their topics of discussion from four different thematic tracks, designed by Dr. Noga Cohavi of Haifa, a leading content developer in the

Israeli public education system. All pairs will be introduced to traditional Jewish values that foster a shared sense of Jewish peoplehood, including principles like arvut hadadit, mutual responsibility. Students will discuss the differences between life as a high schooler in Israel versus the United States, and will ultimately design a final project together. After the five sessions, each participant will receive a certificate of completion and can choose to continue speaking with their partner outside of the scheduled meetings. While Salzman notes that the most impactful way to connect with Israel is to visit the country in person, this program allows for connection in times when financial hardships or safety issues may prevent students from traveling — like during the pandemic. Many programs that normally permit high schoolers to experience Israel up-close have been suspended this past year. “This initiative was in the works before the coronavirus, but now the whole world is using Zoom, so it makes sense for students to use video platforms to connect with others right now,” Salzman said. “This is a wonderful way to get many teens from the Pittsburgh community connected with Israel and to strengthen their connections to their Jewish identities.” In order to attract Israeli students, Enter

has been coordinating with the Israeli ministries of Education and Diaspora Affairs to enlist high schools for the program. So far, about a dozen Israeli high schools representing Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Ashkelon and Netanya, among other cities, have signed up to participate in One2One meetings. Israeli students are mostly juniors and seniors with high English proficiency. For now, missing from the list are Karmiel and Misgav, Pittsburgh’s Partnership2Gether sister cities in Israel, but Salzman is optimistic they will be represented in the future. “We’re hoping that they’ll partner with schools from Karmiel and Misgav next year and enhance the connections between Pittsburgh and Israel,” Salzman said. “This is truly only the beginning of what this program could become, and I am certain this is going to grow in the coming years. I think it’ll be really exciting for our teens to be able to say, ‘I was a part of this when it was in its pilot year.’” Sign-ups for One2One close at the end of January and can be accessed on Pittsburgh’s Federation website. PJC Dionna Dash can be reached at dbdash7@ gmail.com.

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Headlines Teen’s Global Minds Initiative merges with World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh — LOCAL — By David Rullo | Staff Writer

eyton Klein believed she was working to help build a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming world when she interned for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. The then-15-year-old noticed something odd one morning, though, that made her question how she was embracing those values in her personal life. Klein realized that she knew everyone’s name in one of her classes at Taylor Allderdice High School except for the girl wearing a hijab. “This struck me specifically from my Jewish context, because I grew up in a house that preached the values of tikkun olam and repairing the world and welcoming the other, but I wasn’t actually living by those values,” she said. Klein eventually became friends with the girl in the hijab, a refugee from Syria, and the relationship was mutually beneficial. “I realized that I was confronting so many stereotypes that I had,” Klein said. “In turn, I was helping her with her biology homework and navigating the school system and talking with counselors.”

 Peyton Klein (left) and Betty Cruz shared a socially distanced air hug last summer when they met to catch up on the budding plans for the merger.

Photo provided by World Affairs Council

It was through that friendship — and the realization there were many other students for whom English was a second language who were confronting social isolation, cultural intolerance and ignorance — that drove

“I am not used to being someone on the receiving end of help. Words can only begin to express how thankful I am for your help and generosity.” — JAF Grant Recipient

Klein to create the Global Minds Initiative. Initially an after-school club with 10 members, the organization has grown to include 25 chapters across the country comprising 3,600 students.

On Jan. 1, 2021, Global Minds officially merged with the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, becoming part of that organization’s youth programming. “I always looked up to the World Affairs Council and the work that they were doing,” Klein said. “We partnered with them early on, specifically with our Baldwin chapter. It’s really exciting that this partnership has evolved in the way it has.” Klein, currently in Israel for a gap year, will remain with the organization, joining the Council’s board of directors where she will serve on the executive committee. Three other Global Minds board members will join Klein on the Council board. Beginning last year, Council president and CEO Betty Cruz said the organization, which celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2021, has been going through a strategic planning process. “It’s been about how do we lean into celebrating the work we’ve been doing with young people and going even further, really leaning into leadership,” Cruz said. For the last 50 years, the Council has included a Global Youth Education Program, which serves Western Pennsylvania secondary schools, focusing on the foreign Please see Initiative, page 17

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Headlines Pittsburgh’s Holocaust Torahs encompass rich history it could not be used for ritual purposes, only commemoration. Memorial Scroll Torah #1294 has a similar story. Written more than 150 years ago, it was used in Neveklov, a small Bohemian town near Prague. It also was rendered homeless, taken from its home synagogue by the Nazis; after many years, it found its way to London and the Memorial Scrolls Trust loaned it to Tree of Life in Squirrel Hill in 1998. “It is a sacred trust that we possess and display this Torah as a stark reminder to all that God’s teachings continue unabated,” Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life told the Chronicle. “Many might pull larger meanings from any events post-Holocaust, but I think that the opening sentence says it all.”

— LOCAL — By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

t was the evening of Nov. 9, 1938, and throughout Nazi-controlled Germany, government-sanctioned violence was leading to destroyed synagogues, social unrest and the arrest of thousands of Jewish citizens. That night would become known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Jakob Weinblum, a Jewish teenager born in Forst (Lausitz), Germany, risked his life that night to flee to his shul, where he managed to save its cherished Torah scroll before the building was burned. In 1939, the Torah accompanied him and his family to the only country taking Jews without passports — China. After eight years in a makeshift Shanghai synagogue, the Torah traveled, along with Jakob, to the U.S. and eventually found a home at Tree of LifeSfard in White Oak. Today, Jakob’s daughter-in-law, Pittsburgher Marilyn Weinblum, tells the Holocaust scroll’s story with particular relish. “It means everything to me,” said Weinblum, a retired teacher. “I have been telling everyone I meet about my Shanghai Torah.” There are at least five Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust currently housed in the Pittsburgh area: Jakob’s scroll, which is now in the permanent collection of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh; and four on loan from the United Kingdom at Tree of Life Congregation, Beth El Congregation of the South Hills, Rodef Shalom Congregation and Congregation Beth Shalom. International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops in 1945 and honors the lives of those murdered during the Nazi regime. Although much Judaica was lost or destroyed by Nazis, many Torahs survived thanks to the heroic efforts of people like Jakob Weinblum.

The Memorial Scrolls Trust

There were about 130,000 Jews and about 350 synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia — today parts of the Czech Republic — in 1939. By the end of World War II, the Nazis had murdered about 71,000 Jews and deported 7,000 of the Jews that remained. Today, the Jewish population of the Czech Republic is about 4,000. In 1942, German officials instructed the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia to send more than 200,000 items of Judaica to the Jewish Museum in Prague for safe keeping. Some have hinted, without evidence, that the Nazis wanted to create a museum of an exterminated people. Jeffrey Ohrenstein, chairman of the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, believes the officials were more well-intentioned, as they asked the Bohemian and Moravian Jews for remnants of every aspect of Jewish life — down to the fingernail clippings from those who prepared the dead for Jewish burial. “What is important,” Ohrenstein told the Chronicle, “is that they survived the Shoah.” The Communists staged a coup in the PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Emblems of ‘Jewish persistence’  Marilyn Weinblum in front of the display case of Jakob's Torah at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh in 2001 Photo provided by Marilyn Weinblum

 Sam Balk, Rabbi Ken Stern and congregants of Beth Congregation of the South Hills, in the early 1990s with the Holocaust Torah housed now within the synagogue

Photo provided by Sam Balk

Czech region after the war, leading to further stifling of Jewish life. But in 1964, after a failed bid to sell the Judaica to the Israeli government, 1,564 Holocaust Torah scrolls were brought to London and the Westminster Synagogue. Shortly thereafter, the Scrolls Trust was born. “It was decided, rather than keeping them as a memorial, that they should be allocated to communities around the world,” Ohrenstein said. More than 1,000 of the scrolls are on loan today, with 66 of them in Pennsylvania and the four aforementioned scrolls in Pittsburgh, according to Ohrenstein. “We’ve allocated them all over the world,” he said. “The majority go to America because that’s where the majority of Jews went after the war … Wherever there are Jews in America, you’ll find our scrolls.”

Memorial Scroll Torahs #658 and #1294

The year 1991 brought an interesting task for Sam Balk. The longtime Mt. Lebanon resident and

past president of Beth El Congregation of the South Hills was visiting family in England when he took a detour to Westminster Synagogue. His mission, per his rabbi, was to bring back the most damaged Torah scroll he could find. Balk clearly recalls walking into a room on the synagogue’s third floor, where Torah after Torah — seemingly nondescript but each a survivor of the Holocaust — lined shelves. “It was awesome,” said Balk, who now lives in Carnegie and whose daughter, Susan Seletz, is Beth El’s current president. “All we saw were the handles, laying horizontally on these shelves, one after the other. We didn’t know which one was which. But we asked for one that was not repairable and that’s what we got.” On loan at Beth El is what the U.K. synagogue, and by extension Ohrenstein’s Memorial Scrolls Trust, called “Memorial Scroll Torah #658.” Originally created in Vlašim, Bohemia, the Torah was stolen from that town by Nazis during World War II. At the end of the war, it ended up in the Prague State Museum — severely damaged by water,

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Dr. Rachel Kranson is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and book review editor at Journal of Jewish Identities. In 2017, she launched a project to document the “lives of scrolls” with special meanings in the Pittsburgh area with her “Jews and Judaism: Modern” students. “Students in the course traced the known histories of 10 Torah scrolls,” Kranson said. “Whether we could trace the journeys of these scrolls across oceans or just across a few streets in Squirrel Hill, these scrolls helped us think through crucial aspects of Jewish history.” The Holocaust Torah scrolls fall into a subfield of religious studies called “material religion,” said Kranson, which “is the study of how objects, images, architecture and art take on sacred meaning and create sacred experiences. “Holocaust Torahs are a rich lens through which to understand the workings of material religion,” she said. “Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust are treasured by many Jews for two reasons. First, because Torah scrolls are ritual objects that play a crucial role in Jewish worship. And secondly, because these objects survived the destruction of the communities that originally created them. For many Jews, valuing and revering these sacred scrolls — even if they are no longer fit for ritual use — is a way of keeping the memory of their creators alive. “The fact that Pittsburgh’s Jews revere these scrolls, and use them to remember and honor those who perished in the Holocaust, still tells us something important about how the Pittsburgh Jewish community engages with memory of the Holocaust,” she said. “These scrolls have come to represent Jewish persistence,” added Eric Lidji of the Sen. John Heinz History Center’s Rauh Jewish Archives. “They are a reminder of what was lost and also a reminder of what could not be destroyed as the center of global Jewry shifted from Europe to America. Beautiful and heartbreaking as pieces on display, I sometimes wish they were repaired and returned to use, to extend the symbol of survival into one of ongoing life.” PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh. JANUARY 29, 2021 5

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 FRIDAY, JAN. 29 – MARCH 8 The Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh is accepting applications for its Israel Scholarship Program. Open to local Jewish teens in qualified programs who will be a junior or senior in high school in September 2021. Three $1,000 scholarships will be awarded. Applicants will be judged on their involvement in Jewish organizations, volunteerism and on an essay about Zionism and Israel. Applications accepted through Mar. 8. For information and applications, please contact ZOA executive director, Stuart Pavilack, at stuart. pavilack@zoa.org or 304-639-1758. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 31; FEB. 7, 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7 Join a lay-led Online Parashah Study Group to discuss the week’s Torah portion. No Hebrew knowledge is needed. The goal is to build community while deepening understanding of the text. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org. q SUNDAYS, JAN. 31; FEB. 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for the virtual bus tour, “The Secret Jews of Majorca Island.” The series will include “Medieval Majorca,” “Crypto-Judaism,” “Chuetas,” “Rebirth & Renewal” and “Taste of Spain.” 3 p.m. https://tinyurl.com/ jewish-spain q SUNDAYS, JAN. 31; FEB. 7, 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7, 14 What does Jewish tradition have to say about God, Torah, mitzvot, suffering, messiah, Israel? In this special course, Pittsburgh Rabbis on Jewish Belief, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will host 14 Pittsburgh rabbis, each teaching a session on fundamental aspects of Jewish belief. 10 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q MONDAY, FEB. 1 A few days after Tu B’Shevat, Moishe House will offer a Lunch & Learn: Recycling Refresher to discuss Pittsburgh’s quirky recycling rules. As funds allow, they will provide the first few Zoom registrants with blue bins from Home Depot. 12:30 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh.

Shaare Torah Congregation presents Virtually Hilarious with comedian Eli Lebowicz. $36 per screen. 8:30 p.m. RSVP at office@shaaretorah.net. Zoom link will be provided by email prior to event. To register, email office@shaaretorah.net.

q TUESDAYS, FEB. 2, 9

q SUNDAY, FEB. 7

Classrooms Without Borders presents a weekly book discussion of “Suzanne’s Children” with Dr. Joshua Andy. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org

Join Temple Sinai’s Brotherhood for a Brotherhood Brunch for Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month, a unified effort among Jewish organizations to raise awareness and foster inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in Jewish communities worldwide. Kristin Ahrens, deputy secretary for Pennsylvania’s Office of Developmental Programs, will discuss empowering people with disabilities. Free. 10 a.m. To register, visit templesinaipgh.org/programs-events.

q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17

q MONDAYS, FEB. 8, 15, 22

q THURSDAY, FEB. 18; MONDAY, MARCH 8

Beth El Congregation of the South Hills presents its Winter Speaker Series. For a complete list of speakers, topics and times, and to register, visit bethelcong.org/events.

Beth El Congregation presents Oy Joy Labs 2021: L’Chaim, L’Chaim — To Life! Do you find yourself asking “Why?” and “How?” Are you eager to find a deeper meaning? Are you now the “go-to person” for family and extended family to be there for answers? Are you trying to put into words “the reasons and what to do” for your children or grandkids in a home where there is Judaism and perhaps another religion? Join Beth El for this threepart series. 7 p.m. For a complete list of guests and to register, visit bethelcong.org.

q TUESDAYS, FEB. 2 – JUNE 1 What is the point of Jewish living? What ideas, beliefs and practices are involved? Melton Course 1: Rhythms & Purposes of Jewish Living examines a variety of Jewish sources to discover the deeper meanings of Jewish holidays, lifecycle observances and Jewish practice. Cost: $300 per person, per year (25 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q THURSDAY, FEB. 4 What are you doing in June 2022? The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh hopes that you will be in Israel with them and hundreds of others from Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. To learn more, join Federation for a Zoom info session on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfedpgh.org.

q TUESDAY, FEB. 9

Join Moishe House for Avodah Learning Series: Tzedakah to Tzedek. Avodah educator Adina Alpert will facilitate a discussion about social justice, service work and systemic and root causes of poverty. This event is the first in a two-part series with Avodah, so look out for the event in March, where methods of social change, as well as how to enact change and build movements will be discussed. 7:30 p.m. facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s education outreach associate, Emily Bernstein, interviews Dr. Joshua Andy, the 2016-’17 Holocaust Educator of the Year. Andy teaches at the Upper School at Winchester Thurston. 3 p.m. hcofpgh.org/events

q THURSDAYS, FEB. 4, 11, 25; MARCH 4, 11 The Mishna, the Oral Law in written form, is one of the greatest works of the Jewish people. In this survey course, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will provide a comprehensive overview of this singular, foundational work. Co-sponsored with Derekh at Congregation Beth Shalom. 9:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org/mishna. q THURSDAYS, FEB. 4 – MARCH 18

Join Rabbi Jeremy Markiz in learning Masechet Rosh Hashanah, a tractate of the Talmud about the many new years that fill out the Jewish calendar at Monday Talmud study. 9:15 a.m. For more information, visit bethshalompgh.org.

Join the 10.27 Healing Partnership and Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife for Jewish Style R&R — Rachamim and Resilience. This series of weekly interactive workshops will be an opportunity to engage in classes that will build on Jewish values, core concepts of resiliency, and mindfulness tools as a way of expanding our resiliency toolbox in this next year. This program is being offered at no cost and is open to all ages. 7 p.m. For more information, visit 1027healingpartnership.org/events.

q MONDAYS, FEB. 1, 8, 15, 22; MARCH 1, 8, 15

q SATURDAY, FEB. 6

Most people associate the term “Haftarah” with opaque prophetic reading on Shabbat morning. This course, Haftarah, will attempt to make the opaque sparkle. Choosing selectively from the most interesting Haftarah portions, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will seek to imbue meaning in these powerful prophetic passages. 9:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org.

Join Beth El Congregation for a Whiskey Rebellion Virtual Happy Hour with Wigle Whiskey and special guests Todd DePastino, historian. $72 per person. Your ticket includes a flask of Wigle Whiskey, the makings for an Old-Fashioned cocktail, and a spirited romp down Whiskey Lane. 7 p.m. RSVP by 1/27. bethelcong.org

q MONDAYS, FEB. 1, 8, 15, 22; MARCH 1

q TUESDAY, FEB. 2 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is honoring the life of Shulamit Bastacky by holding a shloshim in her honor. All who knew and loved Shulamit

6 JANUARY 29, 2021

q MONDAY, FEB. 15

are welcome to submit a short video with your memories of your time with Shulamit or the wishes you would like to share with her family. As many of these as possible will be shared during the program. 12:30 p.m. hcofpgh.org/events

Join New Light Congregation for “Sing a New Light Presents the Choral Torah: 5 Books in 4 Parts.” Guided by Josh Ehrlich, the music will take a Magic School Bus-style ride through the Bible, complete with musical detours presented by The Four Hermaneutics. 7 p.m. Free. bit.ly/choral-collective

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “Can I Support Israel but Disagree with Its Policies?” a fascinating webinar with Neil Lazarus as he discusses how to support Israel despite your views on its policies. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event

q TUESDAYS, FEB. 9, 16, 23; MARCH 2, 9 Treating Jewish jokes as text, From Sinai to Seinfeld invites students to analyze and interpret the evolving concerns, styles, rhythms, preoccupations and values of the Jewish people that lie buried deep in words that make us laugh as Jews, and that bond us as a people. $50 per person, includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org. q WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10 Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for the annual winter gathering of Pittsburghers. Log on with your fellow snowbirds for an engaging evening with New York Times columnist Bret Stephens. $10 and minimum $500 commitment to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s 2021 Community Campaign. 5 p.m. foundation.jewishpgh. org/snowbird Temple Sinai presents Prayers for Comfort in the Pandemic: A Service of Remembrance, Healing, and Hope. The service will share traditional prayers, music, reflection, and modern readings. 7 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/programs-events Beth Shalom Congregation’s Derekh Speaker Series welcomes Neal Bascomb who will discuss “Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress and a Legendary Cat Beat Hitler’s Best.” 7:30 p.m. Free. For more information, and to register for the Zoom event, visit bethshalompgh.org/speakerseries. q SUNDAY, FEB. 14 Bring your sweetie along and join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for Cooking2Gether: Let’s Make Kanafeh. Learn how to make this delicious Middle Eastern dessert in a Zoom session led by Israeli friends from Karmiel/ Misgav. 12 p.m. jewishpgh.org/event

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Join the Women of Temple Sinai Cooking Class, featuring guest chefs from the community and Temple Sinai with recipes from around the world. All are welcome. 6:30 p.m. templesinaipgh.org/event/ wots-cooking-class--virtual.html

Moishe House presents Bread and Beer: The Grains of Ancient Life. Helena Nichols, the director of the Biblical botanical garden in Pittsburgh, teaches the first course in the Moishe House plant series. The course will include adapted recipes so that students may try their hand at ancient recipes in their own homes. 7 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh.

q THURSDAY, FEB. 18; MARCH 18; MAY 6; JUNE 17 We live in a time of multiple challenges. Controversial issues and struggles confront us daily. But the truth is that Jews have never desisted from addressing tough problems. In this year’s CLE series, Rabbi Danny Schiff will dive into “Tense Topics of Jewish Law.” Each topic raises significant concerns in our contemporary lives. And Jewish law has something to say on them all. With CLE/CEU credit: $30/session or $150 all sessions; Without CLE/CEU credit: $25/session or $125 all sessions. 8:30 a.m. For more information, including a complete list of topics, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org/continuing-legal-education. q SUNDAY, FEB. 21 In observation of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, Temple Sinai is calling all storytellers to share your disAbility experience during a “Moth-like” event. The deadline to register to tell your story is Jan. 31. To sign up to be a storyteller or for more information, please contact lisaglederer@gmail.com. Join the Pittsburgh Jewish community for a conversation with Rabbi Denise L. Eger. She will discuss her new book, “Mishkan Ga’Avah: Where Pride Dwells,” and share how the Pittsburgh Jewish community can better celebrate and empower members of the LGBTQ+ community. 8 p.m. tinyurl. com/where-pride-dwells q THURSDAY, FEB. 25 The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the next installment of its Conversations Series with guest Jon Prince. His relationship with Holocaust survivor Helen Bayer was forged a few years ago from a chance meeting in a parking lot, blossoming into a close friendship that lasted until her passing in late 2020. 3 p.m. hcofpgh.org/events q SUNDAY, FEB. 28 Moishe House presents Grief Workshop (part 2): The Earth Can Hold Us. In this second workshop, discussions will include why stones are a Jewish tool for holding grief and memory, how the earth can help us hold the pain we carry, and briefly cover the concept of Yahrzeit. 7 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/moishehouse.pittsburgh. PJC

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Headlines What happened to the Webster Hall Coffee Cake? — HISTORY — By Eric Lidji | Special to the Chronicle

very decade or so, the legendary Webster Hall Coffee Cake has made an appearance in the local papers. Please join me in welcoming its return for the 2020s. Its coming-out party was in 1948, in the “Excuse Please!” section of Charles F. Danver’s adored “Pittsburghesque” column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “A fancy coffee cake made from his secret recipe comes from Andrew Trautner, head baker at the Hotel Webster Hall,” he wrote. “But please don’t write in for the secret recipe. I got fouled up once on chocolate cake and from now on I’m just a retired recipe giver-outer.” Webster Hall was a bright idea of the late 1920s, a fancy apartment building for wealthy bachelors. It tanked and soon became a hotel with an all-night kitchen. The kitchen perfectly accommodated the patterns of Oakland, which was coalescing into the rare combination of academic hub and cultural destination that makes it so beloved today. In the thick of World War II, that all-night kitchen was turned over to Emily Hall Andrews. She was one of the first women in America to run the catering operation of a major hotel. She oversaw 250 employees churning out fine fare, room service, and “coffee cake from a famous old German recipe,” as the Post-Gazette described it in 1949. In those years, under the presidency of Leon Falk Jr., Webster Hall became a popular venue for Jewish events. It attained that status partly on location. It was ringed by a crescent of about 10,000 Jewish households in Oakland, Shadyside, the East End, Squirrel Hill and Greenfield, cutting the distance to downtown by half. By the early 1960s, the hotel was actively pursuing Jewish clientele. It claimed to have the first kosher hotel kitchen in the city. “Kosher available, of course,” its advertisements casually noted. “The specialty of the house, morning, noon or night is a Bavarian coffee cake, which comes close to looking like a lightbased fruit cake,” the Post-Gazette wrote in 1961, providing the earliest documentation of the substance of the cake: its color and its accouterments. “The hotel jealously guards the recipe; sells about 700 orders each day.” This was the heyday of the Webster Hall Hotel, when Oakland was still delicately balanced between town and gown. The campuses were flourishing, as were the hot spots — the Carnegie Music Hall, the Schenley Theatre, the Syria Mosque, the Duquesne Gardens, and Forbes Field. Every night, the sidewalks were filled with so many different types of people, all of them staying up late, buzzed on life, greedy for an extra hour of conversation. They met at the Webster Hall coffee shop. They ordered coffee cake. The Webster Hall Hotel closed in 1978. People cited the usual reasons. Bad management. The economy. Looking back, it was just the normal inhale and exhale of a city. The universities expanded. Downtown was being reborn. The patterns changed. “It used to be that you could find dozens PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p An approximation of the famous Webster Hall Coffee Cake made from a recipe by Photo provided by Rauh Jewish Archives East End native Elaine Kahn Light

of people in the Webster Hall Coffee Shop at any hour of the morning — usually drinking coffee and enjoying that great coffee cake,” Joe Brown wrote in the Post-Gazette, in an obituary for all those dearly departed gathering spots of the city. “There’s a need for places where people can hang out.” The Webster Hall Hotel went out with a massive liquidation sale. Deal hunters stripped the place of its furnishings, linens and cutlery. On their way out, some of those scavengers tiptoed over to the shuttered Coffee Shop to ask what was next for head pastry chef Earl Rafaloski. They wanted to know where they could find that coffee cake.

bakery in Millvale, developed a miniature version of the coffee cake. He tested it on Vigdor Kavalier, well known as the longtime executive director of Rodef Shalom Congregation. “During Webster Hall’s heyday in the ‘60s, Kavalier was teaching across the street at the University of Pittsburgh and regularly enjoying lunch in the restaurant,” the Pittsburgh Press explained in late 1987. “Kavalier has given his full approval to Chef Chatellier’s version of this specialty.” At the end of the 1980s, Le Bistro gave way to Jacqie’s, and the coffee cake seems to have disappeared from the menu. And then a quiet longing became amplified.

The revival

The recipe

Webster Hall soon reopened as an apartment building. Its new restaurant was called Tiffany’s. Almost immediately, diners were asking for the coffee cake. The new owner spent months tracking down Rafaloski, who had started working at Heinz. He refused to sell his recipe, but he agreed to revive it, along with a few other favorites. Tiffany’s became Pinocchio’s. Customers again demanded the Webster Hall coffee cake. The new manager, Joyce Abrahams, spent years searching for the recipe, even going so far as to dispatch her staff to wander through the neighborhood where a former Webster Hall baker had once lived, hoping in vain for a serendipitous encounter. Serendipity struck on its own time, as it does. One night, as Abrahams was lamenting her failed search, a friend at the next table started laughing. The friend ran a bakery in Fox Chapel called Simply Delicious. “I make that coffeecake,” she said. So Simply Delicious sold its coffee cakes to Pinocchio’s, which resold them at the restaurant without a markup — almost as a public service. “This coffeecake was a Pittsburgh institution,” Abrahams explained to the Pittsburgh Press in 1986. “After a concert or a play at Syria Mosque, everyone would come here for coffeecake and coffee.” The following year, Le Bistro moved into Webster Hall. Its classically trained patisser Jean-Marc Chatellier, who now operates a

That longing was best expressed in 1983, in “Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh,” James D. Van Trump’s memoir of the city and its structures. Recalling faded hours in the old Coffee Shop, he wrote, “It is sacred to the memory of so many friends now gone that I almost feel like placing a wreath in it. Even in the 1960s, it was such a pleasant place to go after a concert to drink tea and consume the famous Webster Hall coffee cake.” And so, as one chef after another was reviving the coffee cake in the 1980s, area home cooks sensed the need for self-sufficiency. “I recently read about the ‘famous and unequaled Webster Hall Hotel coffee cake,’” Gloria J. Semler of Allison Park wrote to the Pittsburgh Press Food Editor Marilyn McDevitt Rubin in 1980. “The hotel no longer exists, but I was wondering if one of your readers might have the recipe for this item.” Similar requests followed, and more followed those. The most bizarre was a personal ad in the Pitt News in late 1995. It was tucked discretely amid the X-rated call lines: “Webster Hall Coffee Cake — Get the authentic, secret recipe in time for Christmas baking,” complete with a 1-900 number. “Maximum cost $10; Touch-tone req. 18+.” Writing in 1986 about one of the recent revival attempts, Rubin noted, “Not one year, of the almost seven I’ve been at the Pittsburgh Press, has passed without receiving requests for information about something called The

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Webster Hall Coffeecake.” A few weeks later, a reader causally responded with the recipe. It had been hiding in plain view for decades, published in 1964 in “Margaret Mitchell’s Mealtime Magic Cookbook.” Not the “Gone With the Wind,” Margaret Mitchell. This Margaret Mitchell came from New Kensington, where she ran a home economics department at Alcoa. Her job was to create recipes that convinced people to use Alcoa aluminum kitchen products. Her cookbook included a recipe for “Webster Coffee Cake.” Once it had appeared in the Press in 1986, that recipe became the answer to all future requests. And so the recipe made appearances in the Post-Gazette in 1996, the Tribune-Review in 2004, and once more in the Post-Gazette in 2011, each time in response to requests from readers. It showed up in other places, such as Temple Sinai’s 1991 cookbook “Incredible Edibles.” It was canonical, but it was not definitive. There was a contender. A recipe for “Gugelhopf ” appeared in newspapers all over the country in 1988, written by Elaine Kahn Light and sent across the wires by the Scripps Howard News Service. Her husband, Sam Light, was president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club from 1952 to 1976. He introduced the iconic cutaway coat and silk top hat worn by members of the club each Groundhog’s Day. But she was a child of the East End, and a University of Pittsburgh alumnus. “From the recesses of my memory,” she wrote, “this seems to me to be the closest approximation of the legendary Webster Hall coffee cake. It is delicious toasted.” Both recipes are “light-based fruit cake.” Mitchell’s uses shortening and sour cream. Light’s uses butter. Mitchell’s recipe has a streusel. Light’s does not. Light uses more eggs and less sugar than Mitchell does, as well as a tiny bit of lemon extract. Perhaps someone who remembers Oakland in the 1950s could taste both versions and issue a ruling. But I prefer not knowing. Ambiguity allows the legend to grow.

Webster Coffee Cake

From “Margaret Mitchell’s Mealtime Magic Cookbook,” 1964 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup chopped dates 1/2 cup slices candied cherries 1/2 cup chopped nuts 1/4 cup chopped citron Topping: 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 1-1/2 tablespoons flour 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup chopped nuts

Cream shortening. Add sugar, gradually Please see Cake, page 17

JANUARY 29, 2021 7

Headlines JAA to keep seniors Jewishly connected in wake of Charles Morris closure — LOCAL — By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

s the final resident moved out of the Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Jan. 11, Sharyn Rubin was already busy making plans to keep in touch with those who had transitioned to other nursing facilities or returned home to their families. Keeping tabs on former residents of Charles Morris, and ensuring they have what they need to stay connected to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, is only part of Rubin’s responsibilities in her new role as director of Jewish communal aging services for the Jewish Association on Aging. Rubin, who has worked for the JAA in various capacities — most recently as director of resident and community services — for 15 years, also will be on the lookout for Jewish seniors who may not have had a prior relationship with the JAA to see how she can help them engage Jewishly as well. “I consider myself extremely lucky and extremely blessed,” Rubin said. “I grew up in this Jewish community. My parents were here. Fortunately, one of my kids is still here and I love this community. The people I’ll be working with are often people that I knew

 Sharyn Rubin shares a kind word with a resident at Weinberg Village Photo provided by the Jewish Association on Aging

Murray Avenue Kosher 1916 MURRAY AVENUE 412-421-1015 • 412-421-4450 • FAX 412-421-4451

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Jan. 30, 1958 — U.S. commits to Baghdad pact

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10 6

We Prepare Trays for All Occasions

Jan. 29, 2005 — Writer Ephraim Kishon dies

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Serves 4

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— WORLD —

Satirical writer and filmmaker Ephraim Kishon, who escaped a Sobibor-bound train during World War II, dies at 80. His films include Golden Globe winners “Sallah Shabati” (1964) and “The Policeman” (1971).

1 Kugel • 2 Pints Salad • 2 Mini Challahs

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Please see JAA, page 17

This week in Israeli history

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growing up, or I knew their kids. And I thrive on doing this kind of work.” Charles Morris officially closed on Jan. 12, the result of the convergence of three factors: a significant gap between Medicaid funding and the cost of caring for Medicaid clients; a trend toward at-home care for the elderly; and the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis, including a marked decrease in short-term rehabilitation patients due to the reduction of elective surgeries. All other arms of the JAA remain in operation, including Weinberg Village, Weinberg Terrace, AHAVA Memory Center and The New Riverview, which collectively house 341 residents. Several weeks ago, after announcing its intention to close Charles Morris, a team of its professionals, including its director of nursing, its director of social work, its care navigator and Rubin — in her role as resident advocate — began working individually with each of the approximately 50 residents of Charles Morris and their families to determine “what their next step would be,” said Debbie Winn-Horvitz, the JAA’s president and CEO. About 17 of those residents were Jewish. “That actually occurred over the course of

In Turkey, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles says the United States is committed to the defense of the Baghdad Pact nations: the Muslim-majority states of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey, plus the United Kingdom.

Jan. 31, 1922 — Hebrew ‘Dybbuk’ opens in Moscow

The Hebrew version of “The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” begins its successful run at Moscow’s Habimah Theater. The play tells of a woman (played by Hanna Rovina) possessed by a malicious spirit.

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Feb. 1, 1885 — Novelist Peretz Smolenskin dies Novelist and Hebrew editor Peretz Smolenskin dies of tuberculosis at 43. He rejected assimilation and advocated Jewish immigration to Palestine after Russian pogroms in the early 1880s.

Feb. 2, 1915 — Diplomat Abba Eban is born

Politician, diplomat and historian Abba Eban is born in South Africa. As part of the Jewish Agency’s delegation to the United Nations, he plays a crucial role in the passage of the U.N. partition plan for Palestine.

Feb. 3, 1980 — Actress Hanna Rovina dies

Hanna Rovina, “the high priestess of the Hebrew theater,” dies in Ra’anana at 91. Born near Minsk in 1888, she gave up teaching Hebrew to make her stage debut in Moscow in 1918 with what became Habimah.

Feb. 4, 1997 — Helicopter collision kills 73

Two CH-53 Yasur military helicopters collide in the middle of the night over northern Israel while ferrying troops and munitions to the occupied zone in southern Lebanon, killing all 73 personnel on board. PJC

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Organization Directory ADATH JESHURUN CEMETERY Office: 217 East Patty Lane Monroeville, PA 15146 Phone: 412-508-0817 Website: adathjeshuruncemeterypgh.org Email: office@adathjeshuruncemeterypgh.org

President, Barbara Scheinberg; Vice President, Ted Heyman; Secretary, Gail Schmitt; Treasurer, Marty Elikan; Renee Abrams, William Berkowitz, Allan Dalfen, Paul Herman, Beverly Kalson, Earl Kaiserman, Sandy Goppman, Lou Kushner, Alan Sable, Stuart Neft; Susan Cohen, Office Administrator. ••• ADAT SHALOM B’NAI ISRAEL/BETH JACOB A welcoming and inclusive synagogue serving the Fox Chapel & North Hills community

368 Guys Run Road (Fox Chapel Area) Cheswick, PA 15024-9463 Phone: 412-820-7000 Website: adatshalompgh.org Email: lrothstein@adatshalom.org

David Lazear, President; David Gurwin, 1st VP; Laurie Singer, 2nd VP; Michele Fryncko, Recording Secretary; Jill Langue, Asst. Recording Secretary; Jim Grenen, Treasurer; Marshall Dayan, Asst. Treasurer; Yaier Lehrer, Rabbi; Lisa Rothstein, Executive Director; Casey Shapira, Preschool Director; David Haviv, Religious School Director. ••• AHAVATH ACHIM CONGREGATION The Carnegie Shul

Website: thecarnegieshul.org Email: mrmike7777@yahoo.com

Lawrence Block, President; Richard D’Loss, 1st; V.P.; Paul Spivak, 2nd V.P.; Elaine Rosenfield, Secretary.; Joel Roteman, Treasurer.; Rosalyn Hoffman, Michael Roteman, Marcia Steinberger, Irwin Norvitch, and Wendy Panizzi, Board of Directors. ••• AIPAC — THE AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Phone: 410-223-4190 Website: aipac.org Email: myaffe@aipac.org

Michael Yaffe, AIPAC Pittsburgh Director. ••• ALEPH INSTITUTE— NORTH EAST REGION Hyman & Martha Rogal Center

5804 Beacon St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-0111; Fax: 412-521-5948 Website: alephne.org Email: rabbivogel@alephne.org, info@alephne.org

Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, Executive Director; Marty Davis, Chairman of the Board; Eytan Rosenthal CPA, Treasurer; Bill Rudolph, Estelle Comay, Esq., Charles Saul, Esq., Jon Pushinsky, Esq., Charles Perlow, Esq., Neil Notkin, and Jim Leiber, Esq., Board Members. ••• AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY Advancing Innovation for Israel and the World

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 365 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 Phone: 248-593-6760 Website: ats.org Email: joey@ats.org

Joey Selesny, Regional Director East Central Region. ••• BBYO KEYSTONE MOUNTAIN REGION Phone: 412-600-3989 Website: bbyo.org/region/keystone Email: elevin@bbyo.org

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Erica Levin, Regional Director: KMR BBYO. ••• CONGREGATION BET TIKVAH A welcoming, queer-centric, independent minyan.

P.O. Box 10140 Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Hotline: 412-256-8317 Website: bettikvah.org Email: info@bettikvah.org

•••

BETH EL CONGREGATION OF THE SOUTH HILLS 1900 Cochran Road Pittsburgh, PA 15220 Phone: 412-561-1168 Website: bethelcong.org Email: chris@bethelcong.org

Alex Greenbaum, Rabbi; Amy Greenbaum, Assoc. Rabbi / Edu. Dir.; Chris Benton, Exec. Dir.; Susie Seletz, Pres.; Lynda AbrahamBraff, Exec. V.P.; Barry Friedman, Admin. V.P.; William Spatz, Ed. V.P.; Todd Kart, Fin. V.P.; Karen Balk, Fundraising V.P.; Elana Glick, Membership V.P.; Margie Stang, Volunteerism V.P.; Beth Pomerantz, Fin. Secy.; Neal Ash, Asst. Fin. Secy.; David Sirota, Treas.; Cindy Platto, Asst. Treas.; Vered Cohen, Rec. Secy.; Lynda Abraham-Braff with Dara Lazar, Sisterhood Co-Pres.; Jeremy Broverman with Steve Haberman, Men’s Club Co-Pres. ••• BETH HAMEDRASH HAGODOL/ BETH JACOB SYNAGOGUE Visit us Downtown. All are welcome.

810 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Phone: 412-471-4443

Stanley J. Savage, Rabbi; Ira Michael Frank, Pres.; Sherman Weinstein, 1st V.P.; Lee Oleinick, 2nd V.P.; Joe Goldston, Secy; Brian Cynamon, Treas.; David Knoll.; Assist. Treas.; Arlene Neustein, Sisterhood Pres. ••• BETH ISRAEL CONGREGATION 265 North Ave. Washington, PA 15301 Phone: 724-225-7080 Website: mybethisrael.org Email: office@bethisraelsynagogue.com Facebook: facebook.com/bethisraelsynagogue

President, The Hon. Gary Gilman; Vice President, Marc Simon; Treasurer, David S. Posner, Esq.; Secretary, Marilyn Posner; Immediate Past President, Richard S. Pataki, M.D.: Rabbi, David C. Novitsky, Esq. Board of Directors: Richard Littman, Stephen Richman, Esq., Dana J. Shiller, Beth Tully, Fred Weber, Nick Bykowetz. ••• BETH SAMUEL JEWISH CENTER A warm and diverse Jewish community serving the needs of Western Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties.

810 Kennedy Drive Ambridge, PA 15003 Phone: 724-266-5238 Website: bethsamuel.org Email: bethsamueloffice@comcast.net

Cantor Rena Shapiro, Spiritual Leader; Barbara Wilson, Director; William Snider, Pres.; Sara Braun, V.P.; Karen Beaudway, Past Pres.; Nicole Homich, Secretary; David Bloomberg, Fin. V.P.; Jerry DeSena, Trustee 1; Michele Klein Fedyshin, Trustee 2. ••• CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM Enriching lives through community, lifelong Jewish learning and spiritual growth!

5915 Beacon St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-2288; Fax: 412-421-5923 Website: bethshalompgh.org Email: office@bethshalompgh.org

Alan Kopolow, V.P. of Finance; Mindy Shreve, V.P. of Member Engagement; Joseph Jolson, V.P. of Operations; Jordan Fischbach, V.P. Synagogue Life; Adam Kolko, V.P. of Youth; Paul Teplitz, Secretary; Fred Newman, Treasurer; David Horvitz, Immediate Past President; Ken Turkewitz, Interim Executive Director; Rabbi Jeremy Markiz, Director of Derekh and Youth Tefilah; Rabbi Larry Freedman, Director of J-JEP; Hilary Yeckel, Director of ELC; Marissa Tait, Youth Director; Dale Caprara, Controller; Amira Walker, Bookkeeper; Lonnie Wolf, Cemetery Director; Audrey Glickman, Rabbi’s Assistant; Michelle Vines, Events Coordinator; Kristin Zappone, Communications and Marketing Specialist; Kate Kim, Assistant Director of J-JEP; Pam Strasolla, Assistant Director of ELC; John Williams, Maintenance Supervisor; Tika Bonner, Receptionist; Rosie Valdez, ELC Operations; Ira Frank, Men’s Club President; Judy Kornblith Kobell, Sisterhood President. •••

ROHR CHABAD JEWISH CENTER WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY 424 Brockway Ave. Morgantown, WV 26501 Phone: 304-599-1515 Website: JewishWV.org

CONGREGATION B’NAI ABRAHAM A warm, caring, inclusive community.

CHABAD OF SQUIRREL HILL 1700 Beechwood Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-0546 Website: chabadpgh.com

519 N. Main St. Butler, PA 16001 Phone: 724-287-5806 Website: congbnaiabraham.org Email: congbnaiabraham@zoominternet.net

Rabbi Yisroel and Chani Altein, Co-Directors; Sara Deren, Director of Jewish Discovery Center; Bayla Oster, Assistant Director of Camp Gan Izzy.

Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, Spiritual Leader; Eric Levin, President; Christine Hood, V. P.; Shirley Grossman, Sec. ••• B’NAI EMUNOH CHABAD 4315 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-1477 Website: bechabad.org Email: bechabad@gmail.com

Elchonon Friedman, Rabbi; Yehuda Cowen, Pres.; Shalom Leeds, VP and Gabbi; Chanani Saks, Treas.; Ivan Engel, Rec. Secy.; Joel Pirchesky, Past Pres. ••• CHABAD OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 5120 Beeler St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-772-8505; Fax: 877-286-1434 Website: chabadofcmu.com Email: Rabbi@chabadofcmu.com

Rabbi Shlomo and Chani Silverman, Co-Directors. ••• CHABAD OF GREENFIELD 4315 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh PA 15217 Phone: 412-708-2734 Website: chabadofgreenfield.com Email: rabbi@chabadofgreenfield.com

Yitzi and Miri Goldwaser, Directors. •••

CHABAD HOUSE ON CAMPUS The heart of Jewish life on campus. Serving the needs of the Jewish college community.

Phone: 412-681-7770; Cell: 412-390-8153 Website: chabadpgh.org Email: sara@chabadpgh.org

Rabbi Shmuel, Sara Weinstein, Co-Directors; Rabbi Shua, Shoshana Hoexter, JGrads Directors; Rabbi Shmuli, Chasi Rothstein, Pitt Directors. ••• CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF MONROEVILLE 2715 Mosside Blvd. Monroeville, PA 15146 Website: JewishMonroeville.com Email: Chabad@JewishMonroeville.com

Rabbi Mendy Co-Directors.

and

Seth Adelson, Senior Rabbi; Debby Firestone, President; Kate Robinson, Executive V.P.; PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Esther

Schapiro,

Rabbi Zalman and Hindy Gurevitz, Co-Directors. ••• CHABAD OF THE SOUTH HILLS Bringing the Joy and Relevance of Judaism to the South Hills.

1701 McFarland Road Pittsburgh, PA 15216 Website: chabadsh.com Email: rabbi@chabadsh.com Phone: 412-344-2424; 412-512-3046

Rabbi Mendel and Batya Rosenblum, Co-Directors; Mrs. Mussie Rosenblum, Event Coordinator; Mrs. Barb Segel, Development Coordinator. •••

••• CLASSROOMS WITHOUT BORDERS Opens minds and hearts through learning experiences that transform education and empower educators and students.

P.O. Box 60144 Pittsburgh, PA 15211 Phone: 412-915-9182 Website: classroomswithoutborders.org Email: info@classroomswithoutborders.org

Dr. Zipora (Tsipy) Gur, Executive Director; Melissa Haviv, Assistant Director; Ateret Cope, Operations Manager; Ellen Resnek, Educational Programs and Outreach Manager; Jamie Campbell, Wheeling Program Coordinator; Board of Directors: Robert Glimcher, Chair; Lisa Allen; Michael Bernstein; Kerry Bron; Estelle Comay; Laura Penrod Kronk; Robert Mallet; Victor Mizrahi; Charles S. Perlow; Louis B. Plung; Debbie Resnick; James Rudolph; Hilary S. Tyson. ••• COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL 6424 Forward Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-1100; Fax: 412-521-4511 Website: comday.org

Avi Baran Munro, Head of School; Bari Weinberger, CFO; Mark Minkus, Head of Intermediate School and Middle School; Andrea Erven-Victoria, Head of Early Childhood and Lower School; Kelly Binning, Head of Academic and Emotional Services; Sarah DeWitt, Enrollment Management Dir.; Jenny Jones, Institutional Advancement and Donor Relations Dir.; Jordan Hoover, Technology and Strategic Initiatives Dir.; Jennifer Bails, Marketing and Communications Dir.; Derek Smith, Pres.; Debbie Resnick, Immed. Past Pres.; Evan Indianer, Vice Pres.; Stav Gil, Treas.; Barry Nathan, Secy.

•••

CONGREGATION DOR HADASH Pittsburgh’s Reconstructionist Congregation

4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-422-5158 Website: dorhadash.net

President Donna Coufal; President-Elect Bruce Herschlag; VP of Ritual Wendy Kobee; VP of Administration Mel Melnick; Please see Organizations, page 10

JANUARY 29, 2021 9

Organization Directory Organizations: Continued from page 9

Secretary Miri Rabinowitz; Treasurer Rob Kraftowitz; Learning and Programming Susan Melnick; Hesed Pam Weiss; Membership Janice Gordan; Kehillah Barb Murock; Communications Jim Lenkner; Principal, Dor Hadash Religious School, Karen Morris; Interim Rabbi Cheryl Klein; Interim Administrator, Sai Koros; Bookkeeper Janey Zeilinger. ••• CONGREGATION EMANU-EL ISRAEL To support Judaism and the welfare of our community

222 N. Main St. Greensburg, PA 15601 Phone: 724-834-0560 Website: ceigreensburg.org Email: office@cei-greensburg.org

Rabbi Leonard Sarko; Sara Rae Perman, Rabbi Emeritus; Irene Rothschild, Pres. and Admin.; Terri Katzman, 1st V.P.; Julie Goldstein, Treas.; Virginia Lieberman, Secy.; Marion Slone, Sisterhood Pres.; Gary Moidel, Men’s Club Pres.; Robert Halden, Archives; Terri Katzman and Virginia Lieberman, Caring; Shoshana Halden, Edu.; Esther Glasser, Endowment; Shirley Shpargel, Library; Robert Slone, Long-Range Planning; Mary Ellen Kane, Membership; Richard Virshup, Physical Properties; Shoshana Halden, Ritual Practices; Terri Katzman and Mary Ellen Kane, Social Action; Mitch Goldstein and Zach Virshup, I.T. ••• FORWARD SHADY APARTMENTS Owned by Forward Housing Corporation and managed by the award-winning Senior Network, this 117-unit supportive senior housing community offers efficiency, one — and two-bedroom apartments in a convenient location along Forward Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

5841 Forward Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-3065 Fax: 412-521-6413 Email: forwardshady@srcare.org

Tom Netzer, Pres.; Donna Kruman, V.P.; Terry Lerman, Treas. ••• THE FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE OF PITTSBURGH Building inclusive community for those with special needs, one friendship at a time.

1922 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-224-4440 Website: fcpgh.org Email: info@fcpgh.org

Rabbi Mordy Rudolph, Exec. Dir.; Rivkee Rudolph, Dir.; Dr. Laura Marshak, Prof. Advisor; Adina Waren, Dir. of Programs; Ann Grandinetti, Development and Community Engagement Coordinator; Leighann Calamera, Grant Development and Communications Coordinator; Drew Armstrong, Membership and Inclusion Coordinator; Sara Cato, Dir. of Operations; Gila Zimbovsky, Office Manager; Paige Eddy, Friends on the Town Program Coordinator; Emily Vogt, Friends on the Town Associate and Clubs Coordinator; Alyssa Marchitelli, Program Coordinator; Alexa Taylor, Friends at Home Specialist; Bianca Kienzle, Member Experience Specialist; Esti Weiss, Office Manager Assistant; Cara Paolicelli, Friendship Fellows Coordinator; Ariel Stein, Teen Member Coordinator; Board of Directors: Alan Gordon, Chair; Aaron Morgenstern, V. Chair; Mollie Hanna Lang, Secretary; David Khani, Treas.; Michael Bernstein, Assistant Treas.; Elyse Eichner, David Goldberg, Ina Gumberg, Lee Hurwitz, Kathy Klein, Natalie Moritz, 10 JANUARY 29, 2021

Dorothy Pollon, Rachel Petrucelli, Andrew Rabin, Geri Cohen Recht, Joe Reschini, Carol Tabas, Cindy Vayonis, Dr. Laura Voigt. ••• GEMILAS CHESED CONGREGATION 1400 Summit St. White Oak, PA 15131 Phone: 412-678-8859; Fax: 412-678-8850 Website: gemilaschesed.org Email: gemilaschesed@gmail.com

Gershon Guttman, Pres.; Vice President Larry Perl; Bruce Gelman, Secretary; Richard Bollinger, Treas.; Gabbaim are Gershon Guttman and Alan Balsam. ••• HADASSAH 60 Revere Drive, Suite 800 Northbrook, IL 60062 847.205.1900 Hadassah.org/midwest midwest@hadassah.org

Rochelle Parker, Hadassah Greater Pittsburgh Immediate Past President; Ronna Ash, Managing Director Hadassah Midwest. ••• HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION 4307 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-422-8868

Website: hflapgh.org Nancy Israel, Pres.; Jesse Hirshman, 1st V.P.; Meira Russ, 2nd V.P.; Laurie Moritz, Treas./ Secy.; Ellen Clancy, Dir. of Operations; Aviva Lubowsky, Dir. of Marketing and Development. ••• HILLEL ACADEMY 5685 Beacon St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-8131; Fax: 412-521-5150

Daniel Kraut, Esq., CEO; Rabbi Sam Weinberg, Principal and Ed. Dir.; Ella Ziff, Dir. of Student Services; Elky Langer, Assistant Principal K-4; Rabbi Oren Levy, Assistant Principal K-4; Yikara Levari, Assistant Principal fifth-12th-grade girls; Rabbi Yisroel Smith, Assistant Principal Boys High School; Kira Sunshine, Dir. of Admissions; Ruth Pohuly, Early Childhood Dir.; Sarah Hartman, Fin. Mgr.; Selma Aronson, Exec. Admin. to the CEO. ••• THE EDWARD AND ROSE BERMAN HILLEL JEWISH UNIVERSITY CENTER The Mildred and Joseph Stern Building

4607 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-621-8875; Fax: 412-621-8861 Website: hilleljuc.org Email: info@hilleljuc.org

Daniel Marcus, Exec. Dir. and CEO; Danielle Kranjec, Senior Jewish Educator; Rachel Cohen, Dir. of Operations; Jennifer Poller, Dir. of Development; Lori Moorhead, Development and Special Events Manager; Isaac Minkoff, IACT Israel Engagement Coordinator; Kari Semel, Janet L. Swanson Dir. of Jewish Student Life at the University of Pittsburgh; Alex Zissman, Jack G. Buncher Dir. of Jewish Student Life at Carnegie Mellon University; Zoe Hertz, Springboard Innovation Fellow; Michael Warshafsky, Board Chair; Aaron Leaman, V. Chair Fin.; Mitchell Letwin, V. Chair Development; Adrienne Indianer, V. Chair Board Governance/HR; David Levine, V. Chair Strategic Plan; Matthew Weinstein, Immed. Past Chair. ••• HOLOCAUST CENTER OF PITTSBURGH 826 Hazelwood Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-1500 Email: info@hcpgh.org Website: hcofpgh.org

Board Chair: Barbara Shapira; Lauren Apter Bairnsfather, Director; Board: Dr. Barbara Burstin; Marc Friedberg; Paul Guggenheimer; Lori Guttman; Dr. Roy “Jake” Jacobson; Dr. Rachel Kranson; Lawrence M. Lebowitz; Debra Levenson; Dr. James Paharik; Dr. Melissa Marks; Laurie Moser; Dr. Manuel Reich; Harry Schneider; Barbara Shapira; Benjamin Simon; David Sufrin; Hal Waldman; Roberta Weissburg; Dr. Yolanda Avram Willis. ••• ISRAEL BONDS 6507 Wilkins Ave., Suite 101 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-362-5154; 1-800-362-2669 Email: Pittsburgh@israelbonds.com

Julian Elbling, Campaign Chair; Marian Ungar Davis, Advisory Council Chair; Ellen Teri Kaplan Goldstein, Women’s Division Chair; Adrienne Indianer, Registered Representative; Patty Minto, Office Manager; Harold F. Marcus, Executive Director. ••• ISRAEL HERITAGE ROOM University of Pittsburgh

Susie Rosenberg Phone: 412-298-6698 Website: nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/content/israel-heritage-room-committee Email: Susan.b.rosenberg@gmail.com

Susan Binstock Rosenberg, Chair; Ruth Gelman, Eileen Lane, Dr. Alex Orbach, Judith Robinson, Dr. Adam Shear, Marcia Weiss, Vice Chairs; Ruth Gelman, Treas.; Dr. Nancy Glynn, Corr. and Fin. Secy.; Nancy L. Shuman, Hon. Chair. ••• JEWISH ASSISTANCE FUND P.O. Box 8197 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-3237 Website: jewishassistancefund.org Email: Info@JewishAssistanceFund.org

Gean K. Goldfarb, President; Joyce Berman, VP; Alan Gordon, VP; Todd Rosenfeld, VP; Lynn J. Snyderman, VP; Harvey A. Wolsh, Treasurer; Ellen Primis, Secretary; Meyer “Skip” Grinberg, Past President; Cindy Goodman-Leib, Executive Director. ••• JEWISH ASSOCIATION ON AGING 200 JHF Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-420-4000; Fax: 412-521-0932 Website: jaapgh.org Email: info@jaapgh.org

Andrew Stewart, Board Chair; Lynette Lederman, V. Chair; Mike Levin, Treas.; John Katz, Secy.; Steve Halpern, Asst. Secy.; Mitchell Pakler, Immed. Past Chair; Deborah Winn — Horvitz, Pres. & CEO. ••• JEWISH CEMETERY & BURIAL ASSOCIATION OF GREATER PITTSBURGH P.O. Box 81863 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-553-6469 Website: jcbapgh.org Email: jcbapgh@gmail.com

Harvey A. Wolsh, President; Sharon Bogarad, Vice President; Tammy Hepps, Treasurer; Meyer Grinberg, Secretary; Barry Rudel, Executive Director; Jonathan Schachter, Administrator. ••• JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER PITTSBURGH Nurturing People, Connecting Community, Each Day, Through Every Age, Inspired By Jewish Values

Squirrel Hill: 5738 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-8010; Fax: 412-521-7044 South Hills: 345 Kane Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15243 Phone: 412-278-1975; Fax: 412-446-0146

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Website: JCCPGH.org

William S. Goodman, Chair of the Board; Carole S. Katz, Samuel W. Braver, Joshua M. Farber, Lori B. Shure, V. Chairs; Merris Groff, Treas.; Scott E. Seewald, Asst. Treas.; Hilary Tyson, Secy.; Jeffrey Galak, Asst. Secy.; James S. Ruttenberg, Immed. Past Chair; Brian Schreiber, Pres. & CEO. ••• JEWISH FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES (JFCS) Supporting people through life’s changes and challenges

5743 Bartlett St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-422-7200; Fax: 412-422-1162 Website: jfcspgh.org

Jillian F. Zacks, Esq, Board Chair; Peter J. Lieberman, Chair Elect; Scott I. Americus, Vice Chair; Carol Robinson, Vice Chair; David R. Lassman, Treasurer; Rachel Brown Clark, Secretary; Larry Schwarz, At-Large; Jordan Golin, Psy.D., President and CEO. ••• JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PITTSBURGH 2000 Technology Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Phone: 412-681-8000 Website: jewishpgh.org

David D. Sufrin, Board Chair; Stephen F. Halpern, Jan Levinson, James P. Wagner, Vice Chairs; Gilbert Z. Schneider, Treasurer; Marsha D. Marcus, Assistant Treasurer; Dr. Susan G. Berman Kress, Secretary; Ellen Teri Kaplan Goldstein, Assistant Secretary; Jeffrey H. Finkelstein, President and CEO. ••• JEWISH HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION EQT Plaza 625 Liberty Avenue, Ste. 2500 650 Smithfield Street, Suite 2400 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (412) 594-2550 Website: jhf.org; Email: info@jhf.org

Debra L. Caplan, Board Chair; Daniel Rosen, Vice Board Chair; Michael H. Ginsberg, Treasurer; Steve D. Irwin, Secretary; Carole Bailey, David H. Ehrenwerth, Ellen Kessler, Nancy Rackoff, James Rogal, and Patricia L. Siger, Executive Committee Members; Karen Wolk Feinstein, President and CEO. ••• JEWISH NATIONAL FUND-USA Administrative Center/Mailing Address: 60 Revere Drive Suite 725, Northbrook, IL 60062 Phone: 412-521-3200 x770 Email: jkoch@jnf.org Website: jnf.org/wpa Facebook: facebook.com/jewishnationalfund Twitter: twitter.com/jnfusa Instagram: Instagram.com/jnfusa

Josh Resnick and Joe Goldston, Co-Presidents. Jeffrey Koch, Director. ••• JEWISH RESIDENTIAL SERVICES From disabilities to possibilities

2609 Murray Avenue, Suite 201 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-325-0039 (administrative office) Fax: 412621-4260 Website: jrspgh.org Facebook: facebook.com/jrspgh Twitter: twitter.com/jrspgh Instagram: instagram.com/shlclubhouse Email: info@jrspgh.org

Nancy E. Gale, Executive Dir.; Nikki Finch, Off. Mgr.; April De La Cruz, Dir. of Residential Support Servs.; Caitlin Lasky, Dir. Development and Communications; Joseph Herbick, Dir. Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse; Kadidja Macina, Program. Please see Organizations, page 15

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A BIG Thank You to all our Little Night, Recovery & JCC Supporters! Together, we will Recover, Rebuild, Restore.

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JANUARY 29, 2021 11

Opinion The prophetic charge of Amanda Gorman’s ‘The Hill We Climb’ Guest Columnist Ronnie Perelis

manda Gorman’s recital of her poem “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden was a reminder of the power of poetry in the public square and our communal hunger for language to give shape to our moral imagination. I cried with awe and my heart soared with hope when I absorbed the wisdom and grace of this young poet’s words. I could riff on every line she wove, but I want to just think about one in particular, a line she invoked from Micah 4.4: “Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.” When I heard this line, I could not help but think of George Washington using it in his groundbreaking letter to the Jews of Newport (which I have written about previously). Washington wrote this letter thanking the Jews of Newport for their warm reception on his recent visit to that port city. In

that letter, Washington lays out a vision of an American republic in which religious difference is not merely tolerated, but accepted and embraced; where instead of reliance on the generosity and whims of rulers, Jews and other minorities could expect the full rights and responsibilities of citizens. In welcoming the Jews into the republic, Washington set the stage for all others to be gathered in and invited to be part of the ongoing project of making a more perfect union. Gorman understands that the Bible is not filled with platitudes; rather, it calls on us to be more and so she takes this line not as a promise but as a challenge: “If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare. It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.” In a moment when our past and present are so contested, Gorman is pushing us to realize that the responsibility is ours, to take our past and forge a new future and it must be a future that acknowledges the pain and brokenness of the past, but also its promise. The past can offer us a vision that

can sustain us. This is not a self-congratulatory ode, but a call for all of us to join in the hard work of social renewal: “So, let us leave behind a country better than one we were left. With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.” She echoes and revitalizes lines from two of our great national hymns: the radical folk song “This Land Is Your Land” and Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” both sung at the Inauguration by Jennifer Lopez: “We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful.” Was I alone in hearing a contemporary remix of “from the mountains to the prairies” and from “California to the New York Island”? I was particularly struck by the image of the Northeast, “where our forefathers first realized revolution.”

As we reckon with the demons of our history, we must at the very same time channel the “better angels” of our founding. George Washington and the Jews of Newport profited directly and indirectly from the traffic and bondage of human beings. This is inescapable. But it is also true that the founders laid down the framework for continuous, hard-won progress for a world where the truth that “all men are created equal” would expand to encompass all of us. This young poet is wise beyond her years for reminding us all that this work cannot be delegated to others. Rather, it lies within each one of us — the “diverse, and battered and beautiful” people of this land to “ … step out of the shade aflame and unafraid ... For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” May we be brave. PJC Ronnie Perelis is the Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Associate Professor of Sephardic Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University and the director of the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs of Yeshiva University. This piece was first published by The Times of Israel.

An 80-year search for ‘the student K,’ murderer of Jewish babies Guest Columnist Dr. Efraim Zuroff

his is a story about a Nazi war crimes investigation that began in 1945 and continued intermittently until 2021. It concerns the brutal murder of Jewish infants in Raseiniai (Rasein in Yiddish and Hebrew), Lithuania, and is a good example of why, even today, it is still important to try and achieve justice. This week we observe the International Holocaust Remembrance Day mandated by the United Nations in 2005, and therefore it is an especially appropriate time to share this episode in the ongoing efforts to hold the perpetrators of Holocaust crimes accountable. In 1945, Leib Kunichowsky, a Lithuanian Jewish survivor of the Kovno (Kaunas) Ghetto, began to record the testimonies of the few Holocaust survivors from the local provincial communities. This was a particularly important mission in view of the extremely high murder rate in those towns and villages. Of the 220,000 Jews who lived in Lithuania under the Nazi occupation, 96.4% (212,000) had been murdered, but most of the survivors were from the large ghettos of Vilna (Vilnius), Kovno (Kaunas), and Shavli (Siauliai). Approximately 100,000 Jews lived in the provincial communities, which had been so terribly decimated at an even

12 JANUARY 29, 2021

higher rate. For the next four years, initially in Lithuania and later in the Displaced Persons camps in Allied-occupied Germany, Kunichowsky sought out the few survivors and recorded their testimonies in Yiddish in longhand, making sure that both he and the survivors personally signed each and every page. The result of this mission was a collection of 1,684 pages of testimony in Yiddish that contained much priceless information about the fate of the provincial Jews. Kunichowsky’s collection also had another unique aspect, which made it even more valuable. Unlike many other testimony projects conducted at that time, he focused inordinate attention on the identity of the perpetrators, which in Lithuania was of particular significance due to the critical role played by local Nazi collaborators in the murders, especially in the provinces. And since, in almost all those locales, those who participated in the murders were often known to the local Jews, the survivors were able in many cases to identify their tormentors. The result was that Kunichowsky’s collection contained the names of 1,284 Lithuanian perpetrators, a veritable treasure of information of great potential value for prosecutors and investigators. I first learned of the existence of the testimonies in 1980, while working as a researcher in Israel for the US Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which prosecuted the Nazi war criminals who had immigrated to the United States after World War II. They were very interested

in obtaining access to the testimonies. The problem was that Kunichowsky had insisted his collection be published in its entirety, and until that took place, he was not willing to share any of its contents with anybody, for any reason. Thus for 40 years, it remained completely inaccessible. This obstacle was only overcome almost a decade later in late 1989, when Prof. Dov Levin, the leading expert on the Holocaust in the Baltics and, like Kunichowsky, a survivor of the Kovno Ghetto, persuaded him to donate his collection to the Yad Vashem Archives. Once the collection had been deposited in the archives, I immediately set out, with the help of my father, to extract all the names of perpetrators in the testimonies, a total of 1,284 names, of which only 121 were already known from other sources. My next step was to try and discover whether any of these criminals had emigrated to Western democracies. (By this point, it was common knowledge that thousands of Eastern European Nazi collaborators had immigrated postwar to the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand posing as innocent “refugees:”) This was possible by cross-referencing immigration data available in the International Tracing Service (ITS) records (also at Yad Vashem) with the testimonies, and in that manner I was able to find many dozens of suspects who had fled to the West and might still be alive. The testimonies in the Kunichowsky collection provide vivid details of the implementation of the Final Solution in Lithuania,

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the exceptionally critical role played by the local collaborators who were by far the majority of the killers, and the incredible cruelty of some of the perpetrators. One of the testimonies which particularly upset me and clearly reflected the latter phenomenon was that of a woman named Dina Zisa Flum from the town of Rasein (Raseiniai), who survived by hiding in a pile of hay close to the pit where the murders took place in August 1941. In her testimony of April 4, 1945, she related that “While lying on the hay, I clearly saw two women standing near the pit [which the victims fell into after being shot-E.Z.] smashing the skulls of small children with a large rock or hitting the children by smashing their heads together. One of the women was the student K——.” That image of “the student K.” has not left me ever since. Her family name (which shall remain under wraps for obvious reasons) indicated that she was single, but the witness did not indicate her first name. Even though I did not have her full name, I searched for her in the ITS records and found two possible candidates born two years apart who could fit the description and had fled Lithuania shortly after the war. The names were submitted about thirty years ago to the Nazi war crimes unit established in her emigration destination, but we never received any information on whether the local authorities had been able to ascertain whether either of the two female immigrants Please see Zuroff, page 13

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Opinion Shortly after I began converting to Judaism, I found myself in a hot tub full of neo-Nazis Guest Columnist Caleb A. Guedes-Reed

undhöllen, a public swimming pool in Reykjavik, Iceland, is located at Barónsstígur 45a, 101. The building’s simple, unadorned exterior appears to be that of a government building, or perhaps a prison, and it gives no indication of the deep clear pools and smoky hot tubs hiding on the other side of its high white walls. Though Sundhöllen isn’t one of the more glamorous thermal baths for which Iceland has become famous, it is one of the oldest and it’s an actual meeting place among the capital city’s locals. It’s also where I was soaking one gray-skied evening two years ago when I first realized the more negative implications of my impending conversion to Judaism. I was traveling through Iceland with my brother, doing all of the touristy things there: eating cod, hiking to craters, buying expensive sweaters and swimming in every pool that I could find. I had been in Sundhöllen multiple times, but in a hot tub on one particular evening, I kept hearing the terms “white supremacist” and “neo-Nazi” holding space in my fellow hot tub goers’ conversations. I don’t speak Icelandic, but through the way many Icelanders pepper their conversations with English vocabulary, I could sometimes assume the subjects about which they were speaking. After a few minutes I saw three figures, two men and one woman, stepping into the water, and through the rising steam it was clear to me that they were the neo-Nazis that people were speaking of. There’s a saying that when we’re stripped of our material adornment, we can more clearly see how similar we all are. I can tell you

Zuroff: Continued from page 12

might be the infamous ‘student K.’ Fast forward another 30 years to the present. Our researcher on a different project, Dr. Abbee Corb, comes across my list of potential suspects, which included the two young women who might have been “the student

now that this is not always the case. While their clothes and other accessories, which could have provided clues to their ideological beliefs and social class, were left in the lockers, a more permanent version of who these people were came with them. Their heads were shaved, they were wearing black uniform bathing suits and were covered in tattoos, with some of the identical symbols and images: the Nordic resistance movement insignia, the life rune, SS bolts, etc. Only the classic swastika was missing. I wondered what it would be like if I had seen one of them on the street that day while on a tour. Would they have been wearing black leather jackets covered in offensive patches, serving as a warning for the conscientious to stay away? Or would their true selves remain unseen, hidden beneath a homemade turtleneck sweater and chinos from Zara? Similarly to the way these neo-Nazis may have hidden racist and anti-Semitic symbols underneath misleading outfits, I was unintentionally hiding beneath my own Aryan-like physique an element of myself that many white supremacists would believe made me a threat: I was practicing Judaism. I officially began my conversion process a few weeks prior to the trip but, at that point, already considered myself Jewish. Though I was slow to begin the official process, I had done the required reading, watched the films, attended Shabbat services at my local Reform synagogue regularly and was an active member in the congregation’s tikkun olam society. I was invested in my local community and felt settled into a Jewish identity, regardless of a conversion certificate. What bothered me more than sharing a spa day with possible neo-Nazis was the realization, for the first time, that anti-Semitism

was slowly becoming a personal problem. For many converts, there comes a time when they becomes we, theirs becomes ours. Though my privilege as a white person is clear and will always play a huge role in the way society responds to me, my conversion to Judaism puts a new target on my back, something I had only briefly considered when working my way through the conversion checklist. Unlike Orthodox Jews and other members of more visible marginalized groups, my Jewishness was not apparent on me physically. I’ve sat around enough tables full of challah and matzah ball soup to know that most people think I don’t “look Jewish” — whatever that means. I have, however, been told I look a lot like my younger brother, a white, blue-eyed Christian man who was sitting beside me in the hot tub that day. I wondered how his experience and fear in that moment was different from my own. We are the same blood, but I represent a threat to neo-Nazis and he does not. When we talked about it over scoops of ice cream later that night, he told me it was surprising to have experienced neo-Nazis in Iceland, a country famous for its equality and peaceful society, but he didn’t reveal having felt anything beyond the surprise. I took this experience home with me though, and it helped me understand the gravity of my conversion. It was the first time that fear made me reconsider my conversion and the choices I was making in my public Jewish life. It was the first time I truly looked inward and asked myself the hard question required of converts: Was I ready to accept the realities of anti-Semitism? I also asked myself the question so many of my friends had asked already: As a gay man, why would I want to add an additional target on my back?

K.,” and finds one of them alive and healthy at 97, residing not that far from her own home. The question then became whether we could verify her first name. In theory, the best solution would have been to send a trustworthy Lithuanian to speak to elderly residents of Raseiniai who may have known “the student K” or her family. But that town is now the COVID-19 capital of Lithuania, so no one is willing to take on the mission. Appeals

on social media to find someone with links to Raseiniai residents also failed to produce a solution, but archival research appears to indicate that the elderly woman Abbee found might well be the criminal we have been looking for. Can we confirm it before the pandemic ends or she dies? I cannot be sure, but I think our efforts, which hopefully will be successful, send an incredibly powerful message: If you brutally

— LETTERS — Anti-Semitic slogan seen close to home

The Jan. 15 issue of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle included an article on hate symbols and signs on display at the Capitol riots. Sadly, I have learned of one more that the Jewish community should recognize. The local website Next Door Squirrel Hill recently posted a message someone who was walking through Schenley Park when he passed a man wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “6MWE.” 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:

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

I used to find the imagery of a target on someone’s back too grotesque and melodramatic for the context of a religious conversion, but since my encounter with presumed neo-Nazis in the hot tub that day, the question has become even more reasonable. On top of all-too-common news of anti-Semitic threats and vandalism, there have been synagogue shootings and Jewishoriented hate crimes around the world. At the time of this writing, we are dealing with the aftermath of domestic terrorists storming and overtaking the U.S. Capitol building. Some of the rioters waved Confederate flags, others held signs referencing the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory QAnon. Others wore sweatshirts that read things like “Camp Auschwitz,” an obvious glorification of the Holocaust. During the pro-Trump “Save America” rally leading up to the storming of the Capitol building, a Republican congresswoman, Mary Miller, even quoted Hitler. While I wait for my city’s mikvah to reopen after being closed due to COVID-19 in order to finalize my conversion, I find myself revisiting the same question I asked myself back in Reykjavik: Is my conversion a smart choice? In the two years that have passed since soaking in a hot tub with neo-Nazis, I have to admit that my certainty in my desire to convert has taken a few blows. But what keeps me pushing toward the mikvah, however, is that when I’m asked if I’m Jewish, I always say yes. PJC Caleb A. Guedes-Reed is a journalist based in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia. Influenced by his world travels, his work often focuses on LGBTQ issues, spirituality, religion and human rights. This piece was first published by JTA. murder Jewish babies, there will be Jews, even 80 years later, who will strive to make sure you are held accountable. And that remains an important message in 2021 as well. PJC Dr. Efraim Zuroff is the chief Nazi-hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the director of the Center’s Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs. This piece was originally published by JNS.

Never having seen it before, the person asked the wearer what it meant; the answer was “6 Million Wasn’t Enough.” Apparently the two nearly got into a fight but eventually went their separate ways. My cousin who lives in Los Angeles was surprised that I was unfamiliar with the phrase, so this must be something that is not unique to Pittsburgh. I don’t know if it was seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but snopes.com has a photograph showing this T-shirt worn by a man near the Capitol in December. The message speaks for itself. Roz Sherman Pittsburgh

Letters to the editor via email: letters@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

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

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

JANUARY 29, 2021 13

Headlines B’nai Israel: Continued from page 1

have fallen on the property and reuse some of the windows taken out of the schoolhouse as part of a future greenhouse. The developer even plans to use hempcrete, a bio composite material that combines the inner woody core of hemp plants with other products, and natural clay plaster to renovate parts of the structure that have suffered water damage. Beacon has partnered with Desmone Architects and local developers Michael Polite and David Motley who are finalizing financing, which, according to Koslow, includes funding from the URA, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority, low-income tax credits and several other sources. The developer’s plans do not incorporate the synagogue’s sanctuary/rotunda as part of the new apartments. For that part of the building, Pittsburgh native Sara Stock Mayo and transplant Alyson Bonavoglia — working with both Beacon and the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation — have other plans: a space for the arts.

When Bonavoglia, the former artistic director of the JCC of Greater Baltimore’s Gordon Center for Performing Arts, relocated to Pittsburgh, she said, she began creating a network of people in the Pittsburgh arts community, including Mayo. The two got to talking about creating an arts venue when Mayo learned of the B’nai Israel development project and tentative plans to create a co-working space in the rotunda. That concept didn’t make much sense to Mayo, who grew up in the synagogue and recalled the building’s rich history and beautiful architecture. Instead, she thought the rotunda might make a perfect location for an arts venue that could also provide space for social justice and interfaith events. “There are several places around the country that we could use as models for ways to bring together many different things: the arts, different interfaith kinds of events, community building efforts, and some type of social justice and education,” Mayo said. Bonavoglia, who often noticed the empty synagogue on her daily bike rides, thought it was a perfect site. “Sara and I got very excited about the

possibility of taking this beautiful space and really using it — although not as a synagogue — and really take advantage of the structure of the building, which is meant to hold people sitting, watching and also listening. It has amazing acoustics.” The Bloomfield Garfield Corporation hired Bonavoglia and Mayo as consultants. They have been having community conversations with arts and cultural organizations, social justice organizations and other nonprofits. “We’re asking people what challenges they’re facing,” Bonavoglia said. “We’re interested to hear how people are functioning during the pandemic, what they are looking for in a venue, how this kind of venue could support their work moving forward.” In addition to serving as a space for performing and visual arts, Bonavoglia and Mayo think it could be used for films, lectures and conferences, and could even be rented out for events like weddings and b’nei mitzvah celebrations. One of the first arts projects the community might see would not take place in the rotunda. Instead, local artists may have the opportunity to have their work printed on the wraps around

the construction fencing at the site, much like that outside the Tree of Life building. Mayo has other ideas as well. “One of the first projects we’ve been talking about doing is called ‘Layer the Walls,’” she said. “It would be a theatrical presentation of a group that comes in and tells a story about immigration. It’s a story about a Jewish immigrant and an Irish immigrant.” The two have been having community conversations to garner wide neighborhood support. “Alyson and I come from a very strong Jewish place, but we want this to be a collaboration with a lot of different stories being told here,” Mayo said. “We’re working with the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation and starting dialogue with people who have seen a lot of gentrification in their neighborhood and we don’t want this to be another project that just serves part of the community.” “The goal,” Bonavoglia said, “is to develop something that’s a true community asset.” PJC David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Colt: Continued from page 1

posted “a facially anti-Semitic meme on Facebook branding a number of prominent Jews as ‘evil,’ a term that Bowers also used when he talked about Jews on social media,” the complaint states. “We’ve seen what can happen with hate speech on social media,” said Charles Lamberton, co-counsel for Simon. “It echoes around and gets amplified. Dangerous people become more dangerous. It’s a recipe for disaster. “AR-15s are designed to kill people,” Lamberton added. “That’s the only thing they’re good for. A company that puts profits ahead of people and floods our markets with these military weapons must be held accountable.” The complaint alleges that mass shootings are profitable because donations to the gun lobby and sales of ammunition surge afterward. Simon’s lawsuit, filed on Jan. 21, 2021, also names the NRA as a defendant. However, because the NRA filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 15, 2021, no claims are brought against the NRA in the lawsuit. “Our deepest sympathies go out to those impacted by this tragic event,” said Amy Hunter, director, NRA Public Affairs in an email. “The NRA promotes the safe, lawful use of firearms and is saddened by this horrific event. We stand with those who strictly enforce our current gun laws and call for the protection of all houses of worship.” This is not the first time that a gun manufacturer has been sued for violence inflicted by its products, Bracken explained. While those cases generally have not been successful, he believes this case has a chance to prevail because of a recent court decision — and a new administration in the White House. Other cases, he said, “have been stymied” by the PLCAA (Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act), an immunity law 14 JANUARY 29, 2021

 A memorial outside the Tree of Life building after the Oct. 27, 2018, massacre

protecting gun manufacturers. But recently, a panel of judges on the Pennsylvania Superior Court deemed that law unconstitutional. “So that’s provided us with an avenue to really go after the companies like Colt that floods the market with these AR-15s,” Bracken said. The Superior Court, however, has granted re-argument for that case, Bracken acknowledged. But, he noted, one of the reasons re-argument was granted was because the United States intervened in the case.

“Now we have a new administration, and President Biden has been very clear that he is opposed to AR assault weapons being sold to the public, so who knows if they continue with that intervention,” he said. Bracken hopes the Simon case will be a game-changer. “There’s no reason for that weapon to be on the market,” he said. “Basically they were designed for our military so they would have the most lethal gun possible. Once the Vietnam War started to slow down and started

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo by Toby Tabachnick

to come to an end, Colt in particular decided, ‘We need to continue making money.’ So they put this on the civilian market.” That decision was made for “profit over safety,” said Bracken. “There’s no real purpose to this gun so we’re hopeful this lawsuit will lead to change.” Colt Manufacturing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Organization Directory Organizations: Continued from page 10

Supervisor; Alison Karabin, Project Mgr., Families in Transition; Gerri Lynn Sperling, President. Lorrie Rabin, President Elect; Jeffrey Herzog, Vice President; Ellen Berne, Vice President; Susan Leff, Secretary; Mike Samuels, Treasurer. ••• J STREET PITTSBURGH The home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans

Facebook: facebook.com/jstreetpittsburgh Email: pittsburgh@jstreet.org

Nancy Bernstein, Malke Frank, Co-Chairs. ••• JEWISH WOMEN’S FOUNDATION OF GREATER PITTSBURGH The Jewish Women’s Foundation supports organizations that improve the lives of women and girls, with a focus on social change.

1620 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-727-1108; Fax: 412-681-8804 Website: jwfpgh.org Facebook.com/jwfpgh Email: jcohen@jwfpgh.org

Paula Garret, Lauren Goldblum and Joan Gurrentz, Co-Chairs; Elyse Eichner and Susan Leff, Small Grants Committee Co-Chairs; Paula Garret, Signature Grant Committee, Chair; Judy Greenwald Cohen, Exec. Dir. ••• JOINT JEWISH EDUCATION PROGRAM (J-JEP) Providing innovative learning experiences that inspire and prepare students to engage meaningfully in Jewish life

4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh PA 15213 Phone: 412-621-6566, ext. 111 Website: www.jjep.org Email: RabbiLF@jjep.org

Rabbi Larry Freedman, Director; Kate Kim, Assistant Director; Aaron Bisno, Rabbi; Sharyn Henry, Rabbi; Seth Adelson, Rabbi; Hal Coffey and Carol Smith, Co-Chairs. ••• KEHILLAH LA LA An inclusive community engaging members in creative Jewish experiences

Phone: 412-335-0298 Website: ravchuck.com Facebook: Kehillah La Email: ravchuck@gmail.com, ravchuck@yahoo.com

Chuck Diamond, Rabbi and Executive Director; Fred Davis, President; Bobbi Gerson, Treasurer; Mickie Diamond, Secretary. ••• KESHER PITTSBURGH A community enlivening Judaism at the intersection of spirituality and social justice

Website: kesherpittsburgh.org Email: kesherpittsburgh@gmail.com

Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) Keshira haLev Fife and Sara Stock Mayo, Community Co-leaders. ••• KOLLEL JEWISH LEARNING CENTER 5808 Beacon St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-420-0220; Fax: 412-420-0224 Website: kollelpgh.org Email: info@kollelpgh.org

Rabbi Levi Langer, Rosh Kollel; Rabbi Doniel Schon, Associate Rosh Kollel; Philip Milch, Esq., President; Dr. Frank Lieberman, Vice President; Michael Kaminsky, Treasurer, Mark Sindler, Esq., Secretary; Rabbi Avrohom Rodkin, Director of Education; Stacie Stufflebeam, Director of Development.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

LADIES HOSPITAL AID SOCIETY 3459 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-648-6106; Fax: 412-692-2682 Website: lhas.net

President, Carole L. Kamin; Vice Presidents: Jackie Dixon, Peggy Smyrnes-Williams, Heather Ziccarelli; Secretaries: Denise Shipe, Judy Woffington; Treasurer, Cindy Kacerik; Directors: Brittany Holzer, Linda Melada, Jill Nolan, Denise Pochan, Ruth Rubenstein, Marcia Weiss, Gayle Zacharia. ••• LUBAVITCH CENTER SYNAGOGUE Chabad of Western Pennsylvania

2100 Wightman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (Corner of Hobart and Wightman streets) Phone: 412-422-7300

Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld; Charles Saul, Esq., Pres.; Lior Shkedi, Vice President; Rabbi Yosef Deren, Shmuel Huebner, Daniel Wein, Chaya Hoffinger, Chavie Goldshmid, Yosef Goldberg, Yosef Silverman, Arkie Engle, Shimon Zimbovsky, Board Members. ••• NA’AMAT USA Pittsburgh Council (formerly Pioneer Women) A voice for women and children in Israel. Committed to gender equality, religious pluralism, the status of women in and out of the home, the prevention of domestic violence and education. We have moved from Tree of Life to Rodef Shalom - please come visit us!!

4905 Fifth Ave. (inside Rodef Shalom) Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-5253 Cell: 412-303-5769 Website: naamatpgh.org • naamat.org Email: naamatpgh@gmail.com

Roselle Solomon and Dorothy Greenfield, Co-Presidents; Barbra Bowman-Labbie, Fundraising VP; Judy Kobell, Treasurer; Natalie Rosenbloom and Rhoda Judd, Recording Secretary; Barbara Caplan and Elinor Young, Correspondence Secretary; Gail Neft and Diana Spodek, American Affairs and Allied Activities VP; Gloria Elbling Gottlieb, Julian Elbling and Carole Wolsh, Spiritual Adoption/Scholarship Chair; Lisa Steindel, Past President; Jackie Braslawsce, Executive Director. ••• NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN Pittsburgh Section

1620 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-6118; Fax: 412-421-1121 Website: ncjwpgh.org

Teddi Horvitz, Pres.; Lynn Farber, V.P.; Paula Garret, Treas.; Debbie Levy Green, Imm. Past. Pres.; Cristina Ruggiero, Exec. Dir.; Megan Rose, Director of the Center for Women (a joint project of NCJW and the JWF); Misi Bielich, Director of the Children’s Rooms in the Courts; Meredith Brown, Manager of Programs and Operations; Lynn Tomasits, Director of Retail-Thriftique; Amy Herlich, Dir. of Development. ••• NEW COMMUNITY CHEVRA KADISHA OF GREATER PITTSBURGH The New Community Chevra Kadisha of Greater Pittsburgh provides the opportunity for interested members of the greater Pittsburgh Jewish community to perform the mitzvah of taharah, the age-old preparation of Jewish deceased for burial, and acts as a resource for education about Jewish end-of-life traditions and practices

Email: NewCommunityCK@verizon.net Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/NCCKPGH/ Website: ncckpgh.org Phone: 412-422-8044

NEW LIGHT CONGREGATION/ OHR CHADASH Conservative, egalitarian • Come join us

5915 Beacon Street Pittsburgh PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-1017 Website: newlightcongregation.org

Jonathan Perlman, Rabbi; Barbara L. Caplan, Stephen Cohen, Co-Presidents; Janet Cohen, Corresponding Secretary; Debbie Salvin, Membership V.P.; Barbara Caplan, Social V.P.; Harold Caplan, Treasurer; Carl Solomon, Fin. Secy.; Ileen Portnoy, Secy.; Sharyn Stein, Sisterhood Pres.; Harold Caplan, Men’s Club Pres. ••• THE NEW RIVERVIEW APARTMENTS A senior loving community®

52 Garetta St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-521-7876; Fax: 412-325-7041 Website: jaapgh.org/our-residences/the-new-riverview

Amy Weiss, Chair; Mitchell Pakler, Vice; Barry Roth, Secretary; Alec Stone, Treasurer; Debbie Winn-Horvitz, JAA President & CEO; Hanna Steiner, Riverview Executive Director. ••• PARKWAY JEWISH CENTER Egalitarian Conservative synagogue in the East Suburbs

300 Princeton Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15235 Phone: 412-823-4338; Fax: 412-823-4338 Website: parkwayjewishcenter.org Facebook: facebook.com/parkwayjewishcenter Email: parkwayjc@verizon.net

Cantor Henry Shapiro, Spiritual Leader; Lynda Heyman, Hal Lederman, Robert Caplan, Executive Committee; Laurie Barnett Levine, Sisterhood Pres.; Rick Sternberg, Office Manager. ••• PASTE Pittsburgh Association of Synagogue and Temple Executives

Drew Barkley (Temple Sinai), President; Leslie Hoffman, Treasurer (Temple Emanuel of South Hills); Barb Feig, FSA (Tree of Life Congregation); Lisa Rothschild (Adat Shalom Synagogue); Chris Benton (Beth El Congregation of the South Hills), Ken Turkowitz (Congregation Beth Shalom), Barbara Wilson (Beth Samuel Jewish Center). ••• PENN STATE HILLEL 114-117 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center University Park, PA 16802 Phone: 814-863-3816 Email: Hillel@psu.edu Website: pennstatehillel.org

Executive Director: Aaron Kaufman; Chair: Jill Epstein, CFP®, First Vice President, Wealth Management, Wealth Advisor, UBS; ViceChair: Todd Goodstein, Owner, Company NameEnergy Transfer Solutions, Inc.; Secretary: Cindy Ruben; Treasurer/Finance Chair: Jeffrey Ruben, WSFS Mortgage. ••• PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE Connecting Jewish Pittsburgh

5915 Beacon St., Fifth Fl. Pittsburgh, PA 15217-2005 Phone: 412-687-1000 Website: pittsburghjewishchronicle.org Email: newsdesk@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Evan Indianer, Chairman; Gayle R. Kraut, Secretary; Jonathan Bernstein, Treasurer; Gail Childs, Dan Droz, Malke Steinfeld Frank, Seth Glick, Tammy Hepps, Richard J. Kitay, Cátia Kossovsky, David Rush, Charles Saul, Evan H. Stein, Board Members; Jim Busis, CEO and Publisher; Liz Spikol,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Editorial Director; Toby Tabachnick, Editor. ••• PLISKOVER ASSOCIATION, INC. Pliskov Landsleit org, manages Pliskover Cemetery

P.O. Box 8237 Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Website: pliskover.com Email: pliskover@pliskover.com

Kimball Rubin, President; Bruce Ibe, 1st Vice President; Pam Ludin, Vice President of Budgets, Investments, and Audits; Carole Rubenstein, Vice President of Marketing; Steven Speck, Vice President of Membership; Honey Forman, Vice President Scholarship and Special Events; Jared Kaufman, Treasurer; Cheryl Kaufman, Financial Secretary; Joel Dresbold, Recording Secretary; Anastasia Abramson, Marilyn Brody, Marshall Cohen, Cookie Danovitz, Andrew Pearl, Frank H. Rubin, Paula Rubin, Gloria Shapiro, Ruth Stock Zober, Board members. ••• CONGREGATION POALE ZEDECK 6318 Phillips Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-9786 Website: pzonline.org Email: info@pzonline.org

Rabbi Daniel Yolkut, Spiritual Leader; Dr. Louis Felder, Pres.; Joe Ungar, 1st V.P.; Richard Levine, 2nd V.P.; Ethel Harmon, 3rd V.P.; Rabbi Ari Goldberg, Fin. Officer; Howard Siegel, Exec. Dir.; Naama Lazar, Avital Goldwasser, Shana Ziff, Sisterhood; Shmuel Isenberg, Men’s Club Pres. ••• RAUH JEWISH ARCHIVES AT THE SENATOR JOHN HEINZ HISTORY CENTER Preserving the History of Western Pennsylvania’s Jews

1212 Smallman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Phone: 412-454-6406 Websites: heinzhistorycenter.org/collections/rauh-jewish-history-program-and-archives; jewishfamilieshistory. org; jewishhistoryhhc.org Email: RJArchives@heinzhistorycenter.org

Eric Lidji, Director, eslidji@heinzhistorycenter.org; Seth Glick, Chair. ••• RODEF SHALOM CONGREGATION An Inclusive Reform Jewish Community, LGBTQ+ Safe Zone, & Fully Accessible Gathering Place.

4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-621-6566; Fax: 412-687-1977 Website: rodefshalom.org Email: info@rodefshalom.org

Aaron B. Bisno, Senior Rabbi; Sharyn H. Henry Rabbi; Dr. Walter Jacob, Rabbi Emeritus and Senior Scholar; Karen Brean, Pres.; Mathew Falcone, Sr. V.P.; Alex Heit VP; Peter Rosenfeld, V.P.; Bob Rosenthal, Secy.; Eric Kruman, Treas.; Joel Katz, Asst.Treasurer; Bill Klingensmith, Asst., Sec; Mimsie Leyton, Family Center Dir.; Rabbi Lawrence Freedman, Dir. of J-JEP; Amy Langham, Dir. of Finance & Admin; Lindsey Smith, Interim Dir. of Communications & Marketing; Yael Eads, Dir. of Informal Jewish Life; Mayda Roth, Dir. of Development, Kristin Karsh, Dir. of Membership and Human Resources. ••• RODEF SHALOM BROTHERHOOD

Tim Litman, Pres.; Peter Rosenfeld, Edward Mandell, V.P.s; Don Shaw, Brotherhood Treas.; Al Rosenfeld, Brotherhood Rec. Secy.

Please see Organizations, page 16

JANUARY 29, 2021 15

Organization Directory Organizations: Continued from page 15 WOMEN OF RODEF SHALOM

Terry Starrett, Pres.; Andi Kaufman, Sandie Brand, Elaine Rybski, Colleen Wolfson, V.P.s; Shelia Werner, Rec. Secy.; Marjorie Goldfarb, Assist. Rec. Secy.; Phyllis Feinert, Corr. Secy.; Emmeline Silk, Assist. Corr. Secy.; Gail Lefkowitz, Treas.; Nancy Rosenthal, Assist. Treas.; Carol Leaman, Judy Kampert, Directors; Marion Damick, Parliamentarian.

•••

SHAARE TORAH CONGREGATION At the gateway to the community — come visit or join our family

2319 Murray Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-8855; Fax: 412-521-9938 Rabbi: 412-377-1769 Website: ShaareTorah.net Email: Office@ShaareTorah.net Email Sisterhood: dorseyhannahb@aol.com

Daniel E. Wasserman, Rabbi; Eliezer M. Shusterman, Assoc. Rabbi; Jonathan Young, Pres.; V.P. Adam Rothschild; Secy. Leah Ackner; Treasurer Avram Avishai; Brian Cynamon, Jay Luzer, Salomon Murciano and Bryan Shuman, Gabbaim; Sisterhood Pres. Hannah B. Dorsey. ••• TEMPLE B’NAI ISRAEL A friendly progressive congregation with traditional values

2025 Cypress Drive White Oak, PA 15131 Phone: 412-678-6181; Fax: 412-896-6513 Website: tbiwhiteoak.org Email: tbioffice@gmail.com

President: Lindi Kendal; Vice President: Lou Anstandig; Secretary: Janice Greenwald; Treasurer: Steve Klein; Office Manager: Debbie Iszauk; Rabbi: Howard Stein. ••• TEMPLE DAVID CONGREGATION Making our house of prayer, learning and gathering into your second home.

4415 Northern Pike Monroeville, PA 15146 Phone: 412-372-1200; Fax: 412-372-0485 Weiger Religious School: 412-372-1206 Website: templedavid.org Email: tdoffice@templedavid.org

Barbara AB Symons, Rabbi; Jason Z. Edelstein, Rabbi Emeritus; Beverly Reinhardt, Office Mgr.; Rabbi Barbara Symons, Dir. of Education; Barbara Fisher, School Admin. Assist.; Reena Goldberg, Pres.; Vacant, Exec. V.P.; Harvey Wolfe, Fin. V.P.; Melissa Cooper, Religious School V.P.; Bruce Antonoff, Worship and Ritual V.P.; Kay Liss, Past Pres.; Brett Pechersky, Comptroller; Jay Goodman, Rec. Secy.; Greg Casher, Treas.; Mary Bendorf, Fin. Liaison.

•••

TEMPLE EMANUEL OF SOUTH HILLS Living, Learning, Leading Judaism

1250 Bower Hill Road Pittsburgh, PA 15243-1380 Website: templeemanuelpgh.org Facebook: facebook.com/templeemanuelpittsburgh Twitter: @TEPGH

Aaron C. Meyer, Senior Rabbi; Jessica Locketz, Rabbi and Director of Education; Mark Joel Mahler, Rabbi Emeritus; Kate Louik, Early Childhood Development Center Director; Leslie Hoffman, Executive Director; Michelle Markowitz, President; Melissa Bihary, Vice President; Beth Schwartz, Vice President; Lisa Steinfeld, Vice President; David Hepps, Vice President;

16 JANUARY 29, 2021

Jeffrey Young, Financial Secretary; Tracy Barnett, Treasurer; Nate Eisinger, Secretary. ••• TEMPLE OHAV SHALOM A vibrant, inclusive Reform community in the North Hills

8400 Thompson Run Road, Allison Park, PA 15101 Phone: 412-369-0900; Fax: 412-369-0699 Website: templeohavshalom.org Email: jleicht@templeohavshalom.org

Jeremy R. Weisblatt, Rabbi; Sandy Strover, Preschool Dir.; Jackie Leicht, Temple Admin.; Stefanie Greene, Cantorial Intern; Ken Eisner, Pres.; Arnie Begler, Immediate Past President; Bob Gibbs, Treas.; Yuval Kossovsky, VP Administration Cindy Harrison, VP Fundraising; Herb Cohen, VP Membership; Aaron Brauser, VP Lifelong Learning; Beth Mongilio, VP Social Action; Sam Joseph, VP Youth; Alysia Knapp, Corresponding Secy.; Andi Turkheimer, Member at Large; Brian Kline, Member at Large; Seth Corbin, Member at Large; Stacy Siegal, Member at Large; Mike Daninhirsch, Men’s Club; Rebecca Mason, Women of Ohav. ••• TEMPLE SINAI 5505 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-9715; Fax: 412-421-8430 Website: templesinaipgh.org Email: office@templesinaipgh.org

Darryl Crystal, Interim Sr. Rabbi; Keren Gorban, Associate Rabbi; Laura Berman, Cantor; Rabbi Jamie Gibson, Rabbi Emeritus; Drew Barkley, Executive Dir.; Saul Straussman, President; Alison Yazer, 1st Vice President; Stephen Jurman, 2nd Vice President; Elizabeth Collura, 3rd Vice President; Jerry Katz, Treasurer; Mara Kaplan, Assistant Treasurer; Lynn Rubenson, Secretary; Josh Lederer, Financial Secretary; Immediate Past President: Philip Lehman. ••• TEMPLE SINAI BROTHERHOOD Email: hartonwolf01@gmail.com

Co-Chair: Joe Weinkle; Co-Chair: Harton Wolf; Program Vice President: Todd Miller; Membership Vice President: Josh Lederer; Treasurer: Marc Brown; Senior Advisor: Stephen Jurman ••• WOMEN OF TEMPLE SINAI Email: wotspgh@gmail.com

Susan Blackman, President; Lynn Rubenson, Vice-President; Carolyn Schwarz, Treasurer; Kate Passarelli, Assistant Treasurer; Anita Gordon, Recording Secretary; Louise Malakoff, Corresponding Secretary ••• TEMPLE SINAI PRIDE TRIBE FOR LGBTQ INCLUSION Email: Susan.blackman@verizon.net

•••

TIPHERETH ISRAEL CEMETERY Oakwood Street Shaler Township, PA 15209 Send correspondence to: 2233 Ramsey Road Monroeville, PA 15146 Phone: 412-824-7460 Email: adamwgusky@yahoo.com

President, Harvey Wolsh; Vice President, Adam Gusky; Secretary and Treasurer, Judy Gusky. ••• TORATH CHAIM CEMETERY Email: torathchaimcemetery@gmail.com

Cemetery Committee: Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) Keshira haLev Fife, A J Gross, Sanford P. Gross.

TREE OF LIFE 5898 Wilkins Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217-1299 Mailing address: P.O. Box 5273, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (Current office, Shabbat services, operations and deliveries at Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213) Phone: 412-521-6788 Website: treeoflifepgh.org Email: office@treeoflifepgh.org

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey S. Myers; Alvin K. Berkun, Rabbi Emeritus; Barb Feige, Executive Director; Alex Speck, Program Director; Carol Sikov Gross, President; Alan Hausman, Vice President; Irwin Harris, Vice President; Stacey Hausman, Treasurer; Ben Simon, Assistant Treasurer; Sarah Pfeffer, Secretary; Sam Schachner, Immediate Past President. ••• TREE OF LIFE

Bob Fierstein, Co-President; David Lilien, Co-President/Treasurer; Michael Eisenberg, Harold Lessure, V.P.s; Irwin Harris, Immediate Past President. ••• TREE OF LIFE Email: sisterhood@treeoflifepgh.org

Kara Spodek, Co-President, Stacey Hausman, Co-President. ••• TRI-STATE REGION FEDERATION OF JEWISH MEN’S CLUBS

Alex Kiderman, President; Robert Fierstein, David Lilien, Jeremy Broverman, Steve Haberman, Ira Frank, Vice Presidents; Mark Frisch, Secretary; Michael Rosenberg, Treasurer; Irwin Harris, Immediate Past President. Rabbi Seth Adelson, Spiritual Advisor. ••• FRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH OF ISRAEL Israel’s fastest, free emergency medical service ... when every second counts, we save more lives!

2682 Green Road, Suite 101 Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122 Phone: 216.544.3010 Email: cari@israelrescue.org Website: israelrescue.org

Cari Margulis Immerman, Director - 17 Midwest/Central States ••• WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AUXILIARY FOR EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE To help make a better life for those less fortunate

Phone: 412-421-4690

Rabbi, Eli Hershman; Fargotstien. •••

Seidman; Treas., Marian Activity Director, Ruth

WESTMORELAND JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL (WJCC) To provide and support cultural and philanthropic activities for all the Jews of Westmoreland County and Greensburg, PA

E-Mail: wjccwestmoreland@gmail.com

Committee members: Marilyn Davis, Robert Gelman, Esther Glasser, Gary Moidel, Rabbi Sara Perman, Mark Shire, Loren Vivio, Marsha Wong. ••• YESHIVA SCHOOLS Seventy years of changing the world for good

2100 Wightman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-422-7300; Fax: 412-422-5930 Website: yeshivaschools.com Email: mail@yeshivaschools.com

Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Dean; Chaim Oster, President; Charles Saul, V.P.; Yonason Sanford, Treasurer; Chaya Engle, Secretary;

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Benny Greenberg, Donna Katz, Skip Grinberg, Shlomo Jacobs Board Members; Mrs. Blumi Rosenfeld, Assist. to the Dean; Rabbi Chezky Rosenfeld, Chief Operating Officer; Rabbi Manis Frankel, Boys School Principal; Rabbi Elimendy Shusterman, Boys High School Principal Mrs. Mindy Small, Boys General Studies Dir.; Mrs. Batsheva Deren, Girls School Principal; Mrs. Nami Friedman, Girls Assist. Principal; Mrs. Leah Shollar, Girls School General Studies Dir.; Mrs. Chaya Sara Barrocas, The Early Learning Center Director. •••• YOUNG ISRAEL of PITTSBURGH/ CONGREGATION SHAARE ZEDECK Orthodox

5831 Bartlett Street Pittsburgh PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-0508 Email: halochoscope@hotmail.com

Rabbi Shimon Silver, Rabbi; John Earnest, President. ••• PITTSBURGH YOUNG JUDAEA & CAMP YOUNG JUDAEA MIDWEST Young Judaea is a Jewish Zionist youth movement operating year-round youth activities, volunteering and leadership development, summer camps for children and teens; programs to Israel for teens during the summer, Israel gap year following high school and college programs.

Contact: Barbara Baumann Phone: 412-421-9713 Website: youngjudaea.org Email: pghyj@youngjudaea.org

Youth Advisor: Chaim Steinberg; Parent Committee: Barbara Baumann, Karen Morris; CYJ Midwest Director: Robin Anderson; Year Round Programs Manager: Miriam Alexander ••• YOUNG PEOPLES SYNAGOGUE 6404 Forbes Ave. P.O. Box 8141 Pittsburgh, PA 15217-8141 Phone: 412-421-3213 Website: yps-pgh.org Email: Rebecca.spiegel1@verizon.net

Rebecca Spiegel, President; Diane Spodek, Treasurer; Vice President Steven Santman; Secretary Heather Harr; Gabbaim Allen Spiegel and Harold Scheinman; Allan Zeman Chairman of the Board. ••• ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA: PITTSBURGH ZIONISM — The right of the Jewish people to live in their Jewish homeland in peace.

6507 Wilkins Ave., Suite 102 Pittsburgh, PA 15217-1367 Phone: 412-665-4630 Email: stuart.pavilack@zoa.org

Stuart V. Pavilack, Executive Director; Jeffrey L. Pollock, Esq., President; Stephen A. Neustein, Esq., First Vice-President; Lawrence N. Paper, Esq., Vice President; Andrea Chester, Vice President; Jason Small, Treasurer; Julie Paris, Asst. Treasurer; Judy Kobell, Recording Secretary; Lyn Silverman, Corresponding Secretary; Ira M. Frank, Immediate Past President. Board members: Jeanne Bair, Hirsh Dlinn, Julian Elbling, Alexandra Greenberg, Rhonda Horvitz, Linda Hurwitz, Gerald Kobell, Esq., Linda Safyan, Charles Saul, Esq., Dee Selekman, Joe Titelbaum, Sibyl Treblow, Helene Wishnev, Dr. Murray Gordon, Michael Vanyukov, PhD., Richard Wice, David Weisberg. Please send corrections, changes and additions to orgsdirectory@pittsburgh jewishchronicle.org. PJC

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Headlines Initiative: Continued from page 4

policy challenges that lie ahead for each generation. The programs touches thousands of students and teachers in nearly 200 schools, said Cruz. While noting the Council has a long history of youth programming, Cruz was quick to add that “it’s not just about doing programming for people. It’s about programming with them. So, how are we programming with young people and really handing over

Cake: Continued from page 7

continuing to cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Sift flour; set aside 1/4 cup flour. Sift remaining flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Alternately add sifted dry ingredients and sour cream to shortening mixture; blend. Roll dates, cherries, nuts and citron in the 1/4 cup flour. Add to batter mixture; blending well.

JAA: Continued from page 8

probably about six weeks,” she said. “In any given week, there were a few different residents who would be moving to a different location. Our last two residents left on the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 11. And those two particular residents actually ended up going home with family members.” About 20% of Charles Morris residents stayed within the JAA continuum of care, said Winn-Horvitz, transitioning to the personal care facility Weinberg Village or to the Ahava Memory Center, when medically appropriate. Those who stayed under the JAA umbrella were members of the Jewish community. Close to 50% of Charles Morris residents transitioned to other nursing homes, WinnHorvitz said, and “a handful of individuals went home with family.” “As we approached the closure, it was important to us to look at a combination of both the clinical needs of our residents who were here as well as their spiritual needs and try to figure out what was the best environment to meet both of those things,” she said. For those Jewish residents now living outside of JAA facilities, Rubin will be keeping in touch — which is more challenging in the midst of a pandemic. “Right now, during COVID, she’s trying to figure out how we can, even on a remote basis, keep them involved in our programming and activities,” said Winn-Horvitz. “For example, we have Purim coming up and so we are working on virtual ways to keep them connected, and with the goal of expanding this capability to anyone in the Jewish community who is in a nursing home within Allegheny County.” The JAA will be working with the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Council, and with “other faith-based organizations” to let them know Rubin is available to help keep Jewish residents connected to the Jewish community, PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

the reins to not just amplify youth voices but have them in the driver’s seat?” The two organizations, Cruz said, already have some synergy. For instance, both have been working on youth career development — the Council is talking to leaders from the business and global communities, while Global Minds has been working within its grassroots network, learning what young people want. The result is a much stronger program. “Really, it’s about how we can maintain fidelity to the Global Minds program, that is now a program of the World Affairs Council, so that it keeps its ‘by youth, for youth’

roots and keeps its presence in schools and keeps growing, in our region and other markets?” Cruz said. By combining the two organizations, and adding more youth voices and leadership, the World Affairs Council returns to its roots — gathering leaders in Pittsburgh to talk about global affairs and think about the impact made on the world, said Cruz. The new partnership, Klein said, will give Global Minds the opportunity to reach even more students, while maintaining its current chapters, and providing youth leaders with new experiences by being part of the

legacy organization. “We will see Global Minds in even more schools, and we will have even more new ways to reach young people once we’re on the other side of all this,” Cruz said. “I’m really excited,” Klein said, “because I think that both the World Affairs staff and board members have a lot to learn from the Global Mind students, and vice versa. So, I think it’s going to be an incredible partnership.” PJC

Combine topping ingredients and mix well. Set aside. Pour batter into greased and floured 8-inch tube cake pan. Sprinkle topping over mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool; wrap in aluminum foil. For short-term storage, place in refrigerator. For longer storage, place in freezer.

and 1 egg yolk and continue to blend thoroughly. Add vanilla and lemon flavoring. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Blend flour slowly into egg mixture, a little at a time. Stir in mixed fruits. Spread nuts evenly on bottom of greased 10-inch tube pan and pour batter. Bake about 1 hour or until done. PJC

Gugelhopf

1 cup sugar 6 eggs 2 egg yolks, divided 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon lemon flavoring 4 cups sifted, all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup mixed candied fruits and raisins 1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in 3 of the eggs

by Elaine Kahn Light

said Winn-Horvitz. Rubin intends to work with Jewish Family and Community Services, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and the Holocaust Center to find seniors who the JAA may not yet know to see if they could benefit from any services offered by the JAA, such as Mollie’s Meals, a kosher meal delivery service. “As long as COVID’s here, I won’t be able to physically go and visit some of these people, but my goal is ultimately I will be able to so that we can put a name to a face and they can put a name to a face,” Rubin said. Rubin will also be working with the JAA’s new director of pastoral care, Rabbi Dovid Small, to connect Jewish seniors to the community. Her goal is to “make a difference,” she said. “If I can do that for the people in my community that I love and respect, how blessed am I?” So far, there are no plans regarding use of the facility that housed Charles Morris, said Winn-Horvitz. “We are just starting to put closure on two major, major events for the organization,” she said. “One, obviously, is the closure of Charles Morris and the other is COVID. Getting that first dose of the vaccine to everyone is huge.” Earlier this month, 99% of the residents in the JAA continuum received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as did “a significant majority” of the JAA’s staff. CVS will return to the JAA on Feb. 2 and 3 to administer the second dose. “That’s really allowed everyone to take a little bit of a breath, a little sigh of relief,” Winn-Horvitz said. “We are still continuing to test all of our staff on a weekly basis in compliance with federal regulation. Everyone is continuing to come back negative. We have no positive cases. We are hoping to keep it that way through the second round of the vaccines. Then we will begin our planning to start to reunite families and residents as soon as we can, as safely as we can.” The agency also has been “focusing on quality

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

Eric Lidji is the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. He can be reached at rjarchives@heinzhistorycenter. org or 412-454-6406.

 Sharyn Rubin takes a resident of the JAA to exercise class Photo provided by the Jewish Association on Aging

improvement for the remaining facilities that we have here,” Winn-Horvitz said. “We’ve made some upgrades, if you will, to the supports and services, clinical and otherwise, at Weinberg Village, Weinberg Terrace and Ahava.” The JAA is in the process of finalizing a contract with UPMC to place medical directors in both Weinberg Terrace and Weinberg Village. Medical directors were in place at Charles Morris, and are in place at Ahava, but are not required for personal care facilities such as Weinberg Terrace or Weinberg Village, explained Winn-Horvitz. “But we feel it is the right thing to do to ensure high levels of clinical care within those facilities,” she said, adding that the agency has also increased its social work support at both Weinberg Village and at Weinberg Terrace from part-time to full-time. JAA leadership is also focused now on two “technology opportunities” made possible by two grants: one from the R.K. Mellon Foundation, for monitoring devices to be installed in residences of seniors at Riverview

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and Ahava to monitor health status; and another grant from the Association of Jewish Aging Services to help train seniors to use technology to stay connected with friends and family and for telemedicine. “Very shortly, we are going to begin the planning process to take a step back and figure out what comes next, what really is the best way to utilize these resources in the form of the Charles Morris space for our community, for the benefit of our community,” Winn-Horvitz said. “We’re looking forward to getting started on that process in the next couple months. “This was a very challenging time, these past several months,” she added. “It finally feels like we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we’re going to be able to think about forward-thinking strategy for the community as opposed to fire-fighting every day.” PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org. JANUARY 29, 2021 17

Celebrations

Torah

Bar mitzvah

Joseph’s unveiling Rabbi Barbara AB Symons Parshat Beshalach Exodus 13:17 - 17:16

Maxwell Edward Farber will become a bar mitzvah on Feb. 6 at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Max is the son of Julie and Joshua Farber and big brother to Zachary, Jacob and Samantha. His maternal grandparents are Zelda and the late Dr. Edward Curtiss of Pittsburgh. His paternal grandparents are Nancy and Shelley Farber also of Pittsburgh. Max is a student at Dorseyville Middle School. PJC

he death toll from COVID-19 is heartbreaking. Death from any cause is heartbreaking to the mourners, and now, in this time of pandemic, the funerals themselves are heartbreaking. We have not been able to lay our loved ones to rest in ways that traditionally bring comfort such as gathering at the synagogue or funeral home, and then before the grave, in large, comforting numbers. We cannot participate in the painful but meaningful mitzvah of burying our dead one shovelful at a time. We do not enter a shiva house full of photos and stories and too much food. If there is such a thing as closure, this week’s Torah portion offers some. Joseph had asked that his bones be brought up from Egypt (Genesis 50) and from generation to generation, the word was passed down, finally into Moses’ ear. In this week’s Torah portion, as the Israelites are freed from Egyptian bondage, we are told that Moses brings the bones of Joseph with him as the Israelites leave forever. Not for another 40 years would Joseph be laid to rest in Israel, though not by Moses, and not even by Joshua, but by the Israelites after him. We read in Joshua 24:32: “The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in

the piece of ground which Jacob had bought for a hundred kesitahs from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, and which had become a heritage of the Josephites.” At last, Joseph was laid to rest in the land of Israel, approximately 600 years after he died. I imagine that they did not just bury his bones but perhaps they also said a few words and called him “Yosef ben Yaakov v’Rachel.” Perhaps they noted the sacred space in which he was being buried and spoke of the other patriarchs and matriarchs buried there. Maybe they mentioned that his wife and sons were not buried alongside him. This year, since funerals could not be what they were in years past, and though we are thankful for Zoom, I believe that unveilings should and will take on greater significance. With thanks to the world’s vaccine creators, distributors and administrators, it will be the first time that family members and friends will be able to gather at the burial site, a sacred space, and tell stories and read the name and loving nouns and adjectives inscribed in the stone. Then they will look at the other family plots and tell those stories as well. The handfuls of stones that mourners will bring will stay behind to say to the deceased, “You are not forgotten” and to future mourners, “You are not alone.” PJC Rabbi Barbara AB Symons is the rabbi of Temple David in Monroeville. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

Pittsburgh approves ADL resolution condemning domestic terrorism

ayor William Peduto, along with all members of Pittsburgh City Council, approved a resolution in conjunction with the ADL “condemning the insurrection against the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and all domestic terror actions in the country,” according to a press release from the City of Pittsburgh. The resolution, which was approved on Jan. 26, calls on all residents to reject extremism and disinformation, “and to uphold democratic values, particularly in response to hate crimes such as the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life [building] in Squirrel Hill, which was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history,” the press release states. The resolution was sponsored by City Council members Corey O’Connor and Erika Strassburger, who represent Squirrel Hill, along with Peduto.

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The resolution says, in part: “The Mayor and the Council of the City of Pittsburgh are hereby committed to countering hate, extremism, misinformation, and disinformation through engagement with community leaders, governmental transparency, and public information-sharing regarding efforts to fight extremism, and through the investigation and prosecution of those who commit criminal acts in a manner that is consistent with civil liberties protections; and … the Mayor and Council of the City of Pittsburgh do hereby urge Pittsburgh’s residents, institutions, and corporations to join us in adopting anti-extremist values, condemning and rejecting misinformation, disinformation, hate, and extremism in all forms, and calling attention to these harms to keep us all safe.” PJC

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Obituaries APTER: Marcella Apter, age 92, of Shadyside, died Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Daughter of the late Pauline and Hyman Moravitz. Beloved wife of the late Allan S. Apter. Loving mother of Sally and Fred Scheeren, Linda and Jeffrey Mates and the late Joseph Apter and surviving spouse, Jodi Apter. Sister of the late Flo Mae and Stanley Moravitz and Phyllis Weinstein. Sister-in-law of the late Ethel Halpern and Nathaniel Apter. Proud grandmother of Jonathan, Brandon (Tanja), Brett (Callie), Blaine, Stacey, Jenna and the late Ari and Aaron. Proud great-grandmother of Ari, Brynn, Mia, Mateo, Hailey and Mackenzie. Also survived by many caring nieces and nephews. Special thanks go to Tamara McKinzie, who she loved dearly, and to our many loving caretakers. Services and interment were private. Contributions may be made to the Marcella and Allan Apter Endowment Fund at Jewish Family and Community Services, 5743 Bartlett St., Pittsburgh, PA. 15217. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com BUNCHER: Bernita Lee Buncher, 83, died Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. She was born Dec. 29, 1937, in Pittsburgh, the daughter of Jack G. and Renee Buncher. She was the president of The Buncher Family Foundation which she ran to carry on the traditions of giving championed by her father. These causes included her father’s Buncher Leadership Program, various charities in Israel and other causes in Western Pennsylvania, including Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Ms. Buncher was a longtime supporter of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, The Carnegie Library and Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. Buncher was for many years a volunteer at Planned Parenthood and spent

many afternoons reading books to the children at Children’s Hospital. She was also a long time member and supporter of Rodef Shalom Congregation. Ms. Buncher is survived by her four children, Amy Rubinoff, Caryn Rubinoff (Craig Dunham), Michael Rubinoff (Donna Snow) and Daniel Rubinoff (Joice Davis), as well as her seven grandchildren, Roy Faigenbaum, Anna Faigenbaum, Erica Faigenbaum, Melina Dunham, Max Dunham, Maddie Rubinoff and Richie Rubinoff, and her brother Steven Buncher. Services and interment private. A memorial service will be announced at a later time. Donations can be made to any of the many causes Ms. Buncher supported over the years. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com LEDERMAN: Carolyn Lederman, 73, of Pittsburgh, formerly of Steubenville Ohio, peacefully passed away in her sleep on Dec. 26, 2020. She was the daughter of Florence Greenburg. Carolyn met her husband, Jack Lederman, in 1967 in Israel, and then spent 54 years married to the love of her life. Mother to Genia (Hunter) Simpson, Zachary (Becky) Lederman and the late Matthew Lederman. Bubbie to Leah and Asher Simpson. Carolyn loved to talk to people; she was outgoing and witty and showed a generous interest in the lives of everyone she met. The years that Carolyn battled serious medical issues showed her determination, courageousness and love for life. She cherished time with her grandchildren, a good meal and a great laugh. Graveside service and interment were held at Homewood Cemetery on Dec. 27, 2020. Arrangements were entrusted to the Gesher Hachaim Jewish Burial Society. Contributions in Carolyn’s memory may be sent to Shaare Torah Congregation, 2319 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

Did You Know? Workmen’s Circle Cemetery #975– Reserve Township For more information about the JCBA, to inquire about plot purchases, to view full histories, to volunteer, and/or to make a contribution please visit our website at www.jcbapgh.org, email us at jcbapgh@gmail.com or call the JCBA 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

Workmen’s Circle had four branches in Pittsburgh. The organization supported Jewish and non-Jewish labor, including coal miners, to whom they distributed food during strikes in 1919, 1921, and 1923. The Circle worked closely with the region’s steelworkers as well. The original Workmen’s Circle #975 Cemetery was separated into two distinct sections, one for Communists and one for Socialists. This cemetery, in the early 1990’s, was one of the first to join the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association.

SELTMAN: Morton Alfred Seltman, DMD: Morton “Mort” Alfred Seltman passed away peacefully on Jan. 15, 2021, in Boca Raton, Florida, at the age of 88 after a two-week battle with COVID-19 and other illness. Mort was a first-generation American, born in Pittsburgh to ethnic Hungarian Jewish parents. By age 14, Mort knew he wanted to be a dentist. He attended the undergraduate and dental schools at the University of Pittsburgh and, after serving two years as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was accepted to New York University for a post-graduate degree in periodontics. Only 20 students were accepted to this graduate program. Mort opened his solo practice in periodontics in Pittsburgh in 1961 that he maintained until retirement when he was 78 years old. During his years in practice, he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Dental School, various dental organizations and academies. He continually attended continuing education programs in various areas of the country. Mort’s passion was educating his patients about the importance of saving, if at all possible, each tooth. Mort was a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He was a great audience for his wife Barbara’s sense of humor and loved social dancing and travelling with her throughout their marriage. He was extremely happy in his retirement at Boca West Country Club. Mort was an avid tennis player for many years, collecting quite a few trophies in city tournaments. One tennis colleague referred to him as a “human backboard” because he rarely made an unforced error, frustrating his foes on the court. He shared his love of sports

with his children, teaching them how to catch, throw, hit and kick every type of ball imaginable. Next to his family, football was his second love; the Steelers have lost one of their greatest fans. Mort is survived by his wife Barbara Abelson Seltman; sons Paul Seltman (Jeanne Ireland) of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Scott Seltman (Anja) of Berlin, Germany; and grandchildren Mia, Karenna, and Jacob. Mort was predeceased by his son Stephen Ross Seltman. In addition to his immediate family, Mort was the brother of Herbert Seltman (Eleanor) of Boca Raton, Florida, and was predeceased by his sister Flora Rosen (Alvin). Mort’s nieces and nephews include Marc Seltman (Sharon) of Atlanta, Georgia; Dori Rubin (Michael) of Boynton Beach: Tami Seltman of Boca Raton, Florida; Keith Rosen (Eve) of Plantation, Florida; Kevin Rosen (Lori) of Kendall, Florida; Dori Rubin (Michael) of Boynton Beach, Florida; and Nanci O’Hara (Jack) of Pembroke Pines, Florida. Mort will be sadly missed by all who knew him. In memory of Mort, contributions may be made to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation (givetochildrens.org/donate) designated for the Stephen Ross Seltman and Dr. Paul C. Gaffney Fund. You also can send a check payable to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation (with the name of the fund noted on the memo line) to the following address: Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, P.O. Box 535240, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-9926. Funeral services were private and at a later date in Pittsburgh. A service by 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rose Zwick

Jean Metzger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erna Metzger

Rhoda & Jay Gefsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mollie Barnett

Allen & Charla Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rose Sherry

Ms. Marjorie Halpern . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Farber

Norman & Judy Orr . . . . . . . . . . . . . William D. Orr

Ms. Marjorie Halpern . . . . . . . . . Leonard Chasick

Toby Perilman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morris Ackerman

Mary Jatlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Farber

Toby Perilman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bertha Ackerman

Mary Jatlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Margowsky

Mal & Ann Powell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pearl Sheckter

Rhoda Judd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jacob Marks

Anne D. Rosenberg . . . . . . . . .Minnie Rosenberg

Leonard & Joyce Mandelblatt . . . Raye Supowitz

Dorothy Samitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Miriam Steerman

Jean Metzger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ernest Metzger

Mrs. Snider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dan Snider

THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday January 31: Myer Borovetz, Saul Frank, Marcus Gropper, Max Halle, Irving Hochhauser, Lillian Y. Horwitz, Samuel M. Krause, Ernest Metzger, Mildred Pechersky, Jennie Pink, Elsie L. Plesset, Freda Z. Rosen, Rose Rosenfeld, Irving Ross, Alexander Roth, Mark J. Serbin, Philip Solomon, Leon Stein, Mabel Z. Swartz Monday February 1: Bertha Ackerman, William Barnett, Newman Cohen, Esther Goodman, Ethel Greenberg, Myer Grossman, Selma B. Katz, Sally Marcovsky, Rose Schlessinger Tuesday February 2: Fannye P. Balkman, Edith Cohen, Reuben A. Cohen, Hattie Debroff, Hannah R. Eliashof, Rose Fireman, Celia Glantz, Herman Glass, Samuel Horelick, Robert Kane, Rose Klein, Haim Lazarus, Dr. William B. Lieberman, Mathilda Marcus, William D. Orr, Rena Pollock, William Racusin, Sara Rubenstein, Philip Schmeiser, Frank Stark, Joseph Stein, Geraldine Tyson, Ruth Weinberger, Arthur Weiner Wednesday February 3: Rose Avner, Jacob E. Canter, Gerald Lee Goldman, Lena Gutkind, Aaron Hirschman, Samuel Pasekoff, Edward Schultz, Bella M. Sherman, Isaac Wolovitz, Oscar Zeidenstein Thursday February 4: Mary Americus, Phillip Caplan, David Cohen, A. L. Davidson, Sara R. Kitay, Miriam F. Kopelson, William M. Lowenstein, Melvin Morgan, Esther Phillips, Abraham Ripp, Sylvia Rosen, Pauline Salkovitz, Milton Sapir, Benjamin Silberman, Abraham Silverberg, Frances Simon, Jacob I. Slotsky, Norman Stern, Wilma J. Tumpson, Herman Weisberger, Harry A. Wilkofsky, Rose Zwick Friday February 5: Irwin Alper, Dorothy (Neerebecca) Buckdrucker Lewinter, Harry N. Cohen, Jacob Gerber, Harry Glick, Belle Green, Joseph Hirsh, Benjamin Horvitz, Hyman Koss, Sarah Liebman, Eli London, Abe Markowitz, Esther Rice, Sophie Rosen, Cele Rosman, Jack Weber, Anna Witt Saturday February 6: Ida Sylvia Shaffer Barron Hochberg, Morris Marvin Berger, Max Coffee, Frieda Feinberg, Reuben Goldstein, Rose Goldstein, George Kalb, Rae G. Labovitz, Bertha Lieber, Meyer Maglin, Anna Myers, Lillian W. Rothman, Benjamin Sachs, Sara Stuart, Jacob D. Titlebaum, Tillie T. Udman, Eli G. Weinthal, Fannie Williams

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JANUARY 29, 2021 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

SNYDER: Ann Snyder, age 97 of Pittsburgh, formerly of Coraopolis, passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she met the love of her life, Barney Snyder.

They moved to Coraopolis in 1945, where the planted their roots and reared their family of 10 children. She was an amazing lady who gave her family so much love, wisdom, joy and wonderful memories. Her greatest enjoyments were being a caring mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She loved traveling and celebrating any event that included her family. She

was the loving wife of the late Barney Snyder, and was preceded in death by her daughter, Lois Krash; her parents, Pauline and Isaac Krassner; and her siblings. She was the devoted mother to Irene (Edward) McDonald, James (Cheryl) Snyder, Charles Snyder, Karen (Anthony) Captline, Robin Snyder, Sally (Douglas) Kitchen, William (Patricia) Snyder, Jay (Bonnie) Snyder

and Daniel (Rochelle) Snyder. She is also survived by 23 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Her passing has left a rich legacy. Funeral Arrangements by William Slater Funeral Service, Scott Twp. Memorial donations may be made to the West Hills Food Pantry, 522 Carnot Road, Coraopolis, PA 15108. slaterfuneral.com. PJC

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CT NTRA ! O C R k UNDE One Wee y l In On

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• Pets allowed The real estate market is very strong! If you are wondering what your house would sell for, please give me a call!

Jordana Zober Cutitta, Realtor, Associate Broker, MBA 412-657-3555 | Jordanazc@kw.com

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SQUIRREL HILL • $210,000 • IMPERIAL HOUSE Reduced. 2 bedroom/2 bath in move in lovely condition. Enjoy beautiful screened in balcony. Building has many amenities including pool, exercise room guest suites, and party room.

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SQUIRREL HILL • $183,000 • BEACON PLACE • Can Be Rented For $1350/Mo SOUTH FACING BALCONY. Updated 2 bedroom, 1.5 Bath lots of storage and a pantry. Convenient to shopping, restaurants, library and transportation. Occupant must be 62+. See with Kate White 412-310-0765

DOWNTOWN • $950,000 Gateway Towers. Primo sensational double unit. Over 3000 square feet. 4 bedrooms, DING 4.5 baths. View of all three rivers. New PEN windows installed (approx $70,000). The best unobstructed space and views in Pittsburgh. This is a full service building and PET FRIENDLY.

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JANUARY 29, 2021 21

Community Little Night is big fun Local benefactors and celebrities enjoyed Little Night on Jan. 23. The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual celebration and fundraising event aided the organization’s recovery from the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

p Little Night co-hosts Natalie Bencivenga and Gisele Fetterman

p JCC Recovery Campaign chairs Rita and Andy Rabin

p Little Night chairs Dr. Elie Aoun and Justin Matase

p Little Night co-host Natalie Bencivenga and JCC President and CEO Brian Schreiber

p Award-winning actor and singer Billy Porter

p Former Pittsburgh Steeler Brett Keisel

Screenshots by Toby Tabachnick

Macher and Shaker Hillel JUC Senior Jewish Educator Danielle Kranjec received the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award during the Hillel International Global Assembly. The award showcases its recipient’s remarkable passion and outstanding devotion to the Jewish campus community. Kranjec, who provides a number of fellowship opportunities for student leaders and works to enrich Jewish life on campus, is nationally known for creating “The Kranjec Test,” an effort to ensure the inclusion of non-male voices in teachings by Jewish educators. Photo courtesy of Hillel JUC

p Award-winning producer and writer Maxine Lapidus

22 JANUARY 29, 2021

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Community Friends give back Friends of The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh supported local organizations, including 412 Food Rescue, Casa San Jose, Animal Friends and Beverly’s Birthdays, during recent programs.

p Ilan and Lisa Zur and their three children join The Friendship Circle on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by donating clothing, food and birthday gifts.

p Kieran Taylor, left, and Jordan Rabner bake challah during The Friendship Circle’s Teen Challah Bake.

p Victoria, left, and Elizabeth Zesch work on their challah dough together.

No sun, still yummy

All slides lead to fun

p Community Day School student Cobi Davidson enjoys lunch during a chilly gray Pittsburgh day. Photo courtesy of Community Day School

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh student Brianna Banks descends with glee.

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Photos courtesy of The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

JANUARY 29, 2021 23

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16 oz. pkg.

• All-natural, corn-fed beef — steaks, roasts, ground beef and more Available at select Giant Eagle stores. Visit GiantEagle.com for location information.

79 ea.

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Price effective Thursday, January 28 through Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Available at 24 JANUARY 29, 2021

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

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