Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle 11-13-20

November 13, 2020 | 26 Cheshvan 5781

Candlelighting 4:46 p.m. | Havdalah 5:46 p.m. | Vol. 63, No. 46 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Relief, jubilation, concern: Jewish Pittsburgh reacts to election results

NOTEWORTHY LOCAL 18th of Cheshvan

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JCC perseveres despite financial challenges of COVID-19

Commemorating the yahrzeit of 11 Pittsburghers

By Toby Tabachnick | Editor

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“It’s amazing to see people of all faiths coming together to celebrate the occasion,” Squirrel Hill resident Michael Kirshenbaum said .

Andrew Clinton, donning a light blue yarmulke, paraded along with masked dancers.

Clinton said that after months of effort on behalf of the Biden-Harris campaign it was time for jubilation.

“I knocked on so many doors, I donated every spare penny I had,” Clinton said. “I got over 10 people to turn out and vote. I worked really hard. I love Joe Biden.”

Fireworks lit the nighttime sky as the dancing and shouting continued.

Clinging fervently to her “Nope” sign, Adriane Pacella, of Regent Square, said she chose to celebrate Biden’s presumptive win in Squirrel Hill as an act of solidarity. Pacella recalled the events of Oct. 27, 2018, and President Donald Trump’s subsequent visit to Pittsburgh — which led to a protest — and noted that of all the locations to mark the 2020 election’s outcome, she was happy to be in Squirrel Hill.

“I hate Trump and am a Biden fan obviously,” she said. “I’m just excited to let it out

hat a difference a day makes.

On March 14, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh had 20,000 members and no long-term debt (it had paid off its last loan on March 2). The agency had been boasting positive annual operating returns for 18 consecutive years.

Just one day later, all memberships had been frozen, all facilities were closed, up to $6 million in new debt was anticipated and 80% of all operating revenues were lost.

“The sky was falling,” recalled Brian Schreiber, president and CEO of the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh.

It didn’t take the organization long, though, to sprint into action, finding new ways to serve its members who now had different and expanded needs due to COVID-19, while simultaneously calculating how to survive fiscally with disappearing revenue and increased expenses.

Though JCC leadership had spent the previous week constructing possible scenarios that included various levels of closure depending on the course of the pandemic, those were all scrapped within 24 hours, according to Schreiber.

“Literally, we went from level 1 to level 5 in 24 hours,” he said. “Everything we had worked for very, very quickly went away. We went into full closure. I think we learned that JCCs do really well being active. And psychologically we don’t do well closed. It’s not something that’s in the DNA.” The new goal was to figure out how to operate as effectively and safely as possible while realizing the scope of services would necessarily be limited because of the health constraints of the pandemic, according to Schreiber.

Please see Election, page 14

Please see JCC, page 14

Page 2

LOCAL The Change Reaction

 Andrew Clinton stands on the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues Photo by Adam Reinherz

LA philanthropists pay off locals’ loans Page 4

WORLD Baruch dayan ha’emet

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks succumbs to cancer Page 11

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

H

ours after The Associated Press called Pennsylvania in Joe Biden’s favor on Nov. 7, the streets of Squirrel Hill erupted in celebration.

Throughout the neighborhood, residents shook cowbells, clanked pots, even blew vuvuzelas. At the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues, a cacophony of car horns, shouts and screams from Biden supporters driving by — some hoisting handwritten posters from opened sunroofs — harmonized with feverish clapping, bursts of song and trumpet blasts by East End residents clustering on the four corners of the Squirrel Hill intersection.

The scene, which lasted well into Saturday evening, included celebrants of all ages, races, genders and religions. Costumed participants — one man was dressed as Uncle Sam — bopped beside supporters toting glow sticks and signs, as well as several attendees with tzitzit flailing. At one point, young Lubavitch students lifted each other into the air and chanted verses about messianic redemption, while a nearby dancing middle-aged woman said the collective levity reminded her of “being in her 20s.”

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Headlines Oct. 27 victims remembered on yahrzeit — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

V

ictims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting were remembered by congregations Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life on Wednesday, Nov. 4 and Thursday, Nov. 5 — 18 Cheshvon on the Hebrew calendar — marking their second yahrzeit.

The wider Jewish community was invited to participate in the commemoration at Torah study sessions Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon taught by rabbis and guest teachers. The topics ranged from randomness and moral agency, to the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18.

The breadth of Jewish thought and theology was represented by the speakers leading the study sessions and included the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Rick Jacobs; Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president of Reconstructing Judaism; Shuly Rubin Schwartz, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; and Conservative Rabbi Gordon Tucker. Two rabbis with Pittsburgh connections also led study sessions: Rabbi Jonathan Berkun, whose father, Alvin Berkun, is rabbi emeritus at Tree of Life, and Dor Hadash Rabbi Cheryl Klein.

In addition to a private minyan observed by all three congregations, each marked the yahrzeit privately with individual commemorations.

New Light Congregation hosted a prayer service Wednesday evening during which the congregation unveiled a memorial board honoring Richard Gottfried, Daniel Stein and Melvin Wax, who were killed during the attack.

“It had actually been completed several

months before, but we decided to wait until the yahrzeit for the unveiling,” said Stephen Cohen, co-president of New Light. “The plaques that are on the board are all the members of their families who have passed.

We’ll add to it as the years go on. It was a very emotional service.”

Tree of Life also observed a traditional evening prayer service Wednesday evening followed by a martyrology, or a catalog of martyrs, compiled by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, in memory of Joyce Fienberg, Rose Mallinger, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon and Irving Younger.

The martyrology included works by poets in response to Oct. 27, as well as other sources.

The interfaith service included Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik; Pastor Eric Manning from Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; Islamic Center of Pittsburgh Imam Chris Caras; Calvary Episcopal Church Rev. Jonathan Jensen; Rev. Liddy Barlow, executive minister of the Christian Associates of Southwestern Pennsylvania; and the wife of Mother Bethel AME Church pastor James H. McLemore, of the Hill District, who died in June.

“It was important to engage with faith leaders who reached out to us since day one and continue to give comfort, support and friendship, and reach back out to them in an expression of gratitude and to be able to show to the congregation that love is still there two years later,” Myers said.

Tree of Life member and Oct. 27 survivor Audrey Glickman attended the interfaith service.

“Everyone had a part in the service,” she said. “It was just so sweet.”

Thursday evening, Dor Hadash hosted a panel discussion immediately following sundown, concluding the yahrzeit for member

between the Oct. 27 public commemorations on the Gregorian calendar and the Hebrew yahrzeit, was hard on the families of those murdered. He noted, however, that the extended period of remembrance gave the congregation time to honor the victims and to “remember the happy times we had together — the community, the families. It wasn’t just a one and done, but a day after day thinking about them.”

While the yahrzeit ended Thursday evening, Cohen said New p New Light Congregation unveiled a new memorial board Light’s remembrance during the yahrzeit of Richard Gottfried, Daniel Stein and culminated Sunday Melvin Wax. Photo by Jim Busis with the dedication of a Jerry Rabinowitz, who was killed during memorial at the congregation’s cemetery in the attack. honor of the victims.

“The panel was about where do we go from The Oct. 27 public commemoration and here,” offered the congregation’s president, the Hebrew yahrzeit serve distinct purposes, Donna Coufal. “It looked toward next year, said Myers. to the third commemoration and where we “Oct. 27 is the Pittsburgh day of mournwant to be.” ing,” he explained. “That’s our public day Co-sponsored by Repair the World, of mourning. Yahrzeit is a uniquely Jewish 1Hood Media and the World Affairs Council thing. We need time to reflect as a Tree of of Pittsburgh, the panel included University Life family, to observe together.” of Pittsburgh law professor William Carter, “I like to quote my friend who says everyUniversity of Pittsburgh sociology pro- thing takes two years to heal,” said Glickman. fessor and Dor Hadash member Kathleen “This is the two-year mark, so we should be Blee, and Dor Hadash member Dan Leger, on our way to healing.” PJC who was shot and seriously wounded during the massacre.

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@ New Light’s Cohen said the 10-day period pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Headlines UpStreet offers teens easy access to counseling — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

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hen Stephanie Rodriguez was on her high school swimming team, a lot of her peers — some fixated on their weight — struggled with issues of body image.

“Talking to someone could have been helpful for us,” she said.

Today, Rodriguez is on the other end of the conversation, leading the efforts of Jewish Family and Community Services to break down the walls between youth and counseling. The name of the program is UpStreet and it is a teen mental wellness program offering drop-in consultations with therapists, scheduled therapy sessions, support groups for teens, and even an online “chatbot” for text-based support.

Due to COVID-19, UpStreet’s services are now 100% virtual, open to anyone ages 12 to 22, and available without having to provide proof of insurance coverage.

“From my perspective, teens are looking for more help now,” said Rodriguez, the teen and adolescent therapist with UpStreet.

“Since the pandemic started, there has been a lot more activity, especially since [young adults] can do this from their own homes.”

The program, launched earlier this

p UpStreet is a teen mental wellness program offering drop-in consultations with therapists, scheduled therapy sessions, support groups for teens and even an online “chatbot” for text-based support.

Photo by gpointstudio/iStockphoto.com

year, already has drawn in about 150 teens and young adults, officials said. It received early support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation but is now being operated entirely with JFCS funds.

The idea for UpStreet came from Dana Gold, the chief operating officer of JFCS in Pittsburgh. Her primary concern was that Pittsburgh teens lacked quick and easy access to the help they sometimes sorely needed.

“Kids end up suffering much longer than

they need to because of the shortage of professionals who treat adolescents — that’s the problem we were trying to solve,” Gold said.

“By creating a space, both virtually and physically, where kids can drop in — that’s huge.”

It starts with the chatbot, which is available on UpStreet’s website, upstreetpgh. org, and allows youth to text chat and find “brief support” with a therapist on the other end.

“Then, if their challenges continue or

they’re more involved, we can connect with a therapist for sessions,” Gold said.

UpStreet aims to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health support and to avoid the escalation of symptoms to a crisis stage.

It is important to note: It is not a crisis or suicide hotline.

Unlike health providers that require a formal intake process before connecting people with services, UpStreet offers instant access to a mental health professional, which is unusual outside of most crisis services, officials said.

While it encourages parental involvement when appropriate, UpStreet does not require parents’ consent or involvement for teens older than 14 to begin receiving services.

“Destigmatization, ease of access, removal of barriers — that’s what UpStreet is all about,” Gold said.

“We do not have long wait times,” added Erin Barr, the program’s clinical coordinator.

“UpStreet offers, we would say, ‘stigma-free’ therapy. And this can be done from the privacy of your home, from the privacy of your own phone.”

JFCS originally planned to open an UpStreet walk-in center in Squirrel Hill; plans remain to open a physical location on Murray Avenue when it is deemed safe to provide in-person services. PJC Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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Headlines LA philanthropists pay off loans of HFLA borrowers — LOCAL —

By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle

A

immediately replied something to the effect of, ‘No, I can do this. Give it to someone who is struggling more than I am,’” Serbin said. “Every single night, before falling asleep, I calculate how much income I earned that day, and which bills I would put it toward. Anxiety and worries over how to make ends meet during this crazy year has filled many nights with heartburn and nightmares. This loan forgiveness of the remaining $609 of my loan still makes me cry even days after finding out. I never expected this.”

But, as is the case with HFLA, not every borrower needs to be Jewish to be the recipient of the Perlmans’ good will. Though Perlman is Jewish, he sees it as a mission to help people regardless of their religious affiliation.

Leah Wheeler is a born-again Christian who works as an administrator at the front desk at Hillel Academy in Squirrel Hill. She said she used a $5,000 HFLA loan to buy a used car to get to and from work.

“I hurt myself at work at my job. Because of the injury, I wasn’t getting paid and, subsequently, had to give up the job. This affected everything, including repayment of the loan,” said Wheeler, whom Lubowsky later helped find an administrative job. “I recently called HFLA and asked them what the remainder of my loan was. I was told that it was $700 as of November. I began to plan on how I could possibly double up on the last few payments so that I could go into 2021 with a clean slate.

“When Aviva and I began to speak on Zoom about the loan, I was absolutely dumbfounded when she told me that a couple wanted to perform a mitzvah and pay off the remainder of my loan — I couldn’t speak, couldn’t respond and was totally overwhelmed by the entire thing. I’ve been pinching myself ever since,” she added.

Perlman launched the nonprofit group The Change Reaction in LA in 2019. Since then, it has provided more than 2,000 grants through 35 grassroots organizations and hospitals, creating a movement they hope to replicate in communities around the country. PJC

Jewish developer from Los Angeles and his wife are lending a hand to Hebrew Free Loan Association borrowers in Pittsburgh.

Philanthropists Greg and Jodi Perlman, who recently launched the nonprofit The Change Reaction to stimulate giving among those with financial means, are paying off more than $14,000 in loans for eight lucky borrowers, according to Aviva Lubowsky, director of client and community relations for HFLA. “This is an amazing gesture, and we are about to contact our borrowers who were selected to tell them that they don’t need to make any more loan payments,” Lubowsky said. “They hope the borrowers whose loans they pay off will have a little extra joy this holiday season.”

Perlman wants “to lead the way for this kind of giving nationally,” he told the Chronicle. He came up with the idea for the HFLA funding after meeting with the Jewish Free Loan Association of Los Angeles.

“I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to pay off all these loans,’” Perlman said.

“I’m all about empowering people.”

“We’re always trying to show that, ‘Look, the Jews do good,’” he added. “We’ve been doing this for 5,000 years, helping out not just Jews but everybody.”

Perlman is founder and CEO of GHC Housing Partners, which owns and operates 30,000 housing units, including many coming under Section 8 and affordable housing; 250 partnerships; and more than $2.5 billion worth of real estate nationwide, according to GHC’s website.

Perlman also has real estate ties to Pittsburgh.

In addition to operating a 100-unit building in Baldwin, he once boasted about 2,000 housing units within 50 miles of downtown, he said.

The stories of the people who received loan forgiveness from the Perlmans speak for themselves.

Sharon Serbin is a longtime Pittsburgher and Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living Jewish educator whose furnace in her Highland in Pittsburgh.

Park home suddenly stopped working during a January 2019 cold snap.

“I could only scrape up a small part of the cost,” Serbin said. “I was not only freezing in my home, I was also panicking. I reached out to Hebrew Free Loan Association for a loan for the remaining $5,000. They were an answer to my prayers.

Being approved for an interest-free loan allowed me to breathe again.”

Serbin, who is legally deaf, struggled making payments during the COVID-19 pandemic after losing work but didn’t miss a payment, and only owed about $600 on the original loan. Lubowsky used a text-chat to inform her of the Perlmans’ generosity.

“Completely shocked, I  Greg and Jodi Perlman Photo provided by The Change Reaction

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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Headlines Community responds to Post-Gazette’s endorsement of Donald Trump — LOCAL —

By David Rullo | Staff Writer

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or some Jewish Pittsburghers, the Oct. 31 decision by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board to endorse Donald Trump for president was more trick than treat.

The editorial stated in part: “This newspaper has not supported a Republican for president since 1972. But we believe Mr. Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year.”

Both readers and newspaper employees spoke out against the endorsement. In two Facebook posts, Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman disavowed it, distinguishing between the news and editorial desks, which operate independently of one another.

Squirrel Hill resident Barbara Bauman first canceled her subscription to the daily in 2018 when editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired, and she perceived the paper’s shift from a liberal-leaning editorial stance to a more conservative position.

“That did not align with our values, to limit [Rogers’] free speech,” Bauman said.

Six months ago, Bauman decided to pay

p The exterior of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette building

for a limited digital subscription because she values “the opinion columnists of the P-G and obviously support our city and want to know what’s going on,” she said. When the paper endorsed Trump, though, she again canceled her subscription.

Bauman said her dislike of Trump is “more of a value conflict than simply a

Screenshot from Google Streetview

policy difference. I find many things about Donald Trump troubling. I’m a member of Dor Hadash. My dear friend Jerry Rabinowitz was killed, I believe, because of what Donald Trump said about people helping a caravan invade our country.”

Rabbi Jamie Gibson wrestled with the Post-Gazette’s endorsement of Trump and

Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh Airport will be there to hold your hand every step of the way.

eventually decided to cancel his subscription.

He called his decision “painful.”

The Post-Gazette “has been my lifeline to how my hometown responds to every event in our region, whether it’s good or bad,” said Gibson. “It’s not just about crime. It’s not just about sports. It covers what’s important to us, school board meetings and issues that the national news is never going to take up and that local news doesn’t have time to [cover] in a 22-minute broadcast.”

Gibson said the ownership of the paper has made a conscious decision to reflect a more conservative viewpoint, consistent with publisher John Block’s point of view.

“And I’m very much challenged by the orientation of that,” he said.

South Hills resident Alan Rosenthal canceled his subscription prior to the paper’s endorsement of Trump but continued to occasionally read it. It was another controversial editorial, published on Martin Luther King Jr., Day in 2018, that was the final straw.

“They basically said that too many people are being accused of racism,” Rosenthal said. “I think the title of the article was ‘Reason as Racism.’ It was that editorial that showed me that John Block was just Please see Post-Gazette, page 15

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Calendar Submit calendar items on the Chronicle’s website, pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

Submissions also will be included in print.

Events will run in the print edition beginning one month prior to the date as space allows.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, noon. q FRIDAY, NOV. 13-SUNDAY, NOV. 22

The Film Pittsburgh Fall Festival will screen online. The festival will feature exciting and thought-provoking independent films from the Three Rivers Film Festival and Pittsburgh Shorts and will include films from ReelAbilities Pittsburgh and the JFilm Festival. For more information, visit filmpittsburgh.org. q SUNDAY, NOV. 15

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for “At Home in Warsaw.” Take a virtual tour of the vibrant city and hear from three Warsawans as they share the joys and complexities of living in this contemporary city. 1 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org. q SUNDAYS, NOV. 15-DEC. 6;

WEDNESDAYS, NOV. 18-DEC. 9 Chabad of the South Hills presents Secrets of the Bible, a new six-week course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Study iconic stories, mystical meanings and their lessons for life. Sunday classes begin at 10:30 a.m.; Wednesday classes start at 8 p.m. Classes are presented on Zoom. For more information and to register, visit chabadsh.com.

6 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

q SUNDAYS, NOV. 15, 22, 29; DEC. 6, 13

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, NOV. 15, 22; DEC. 6;

JAN. 31; FEB. 7, 14, 21, 28; MARCH 7, 14 What does Jewish tradition have to say about God, Torah, mitzvot, suffering, messiah, Israel?

In this special course, Pittsburgh Rabbis on Jewish Belief, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will host 14 Pittsburgh rabbis, each teaching a session on fundamental aspects of Jewish belief. Fourteen sessions for $70. 10 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q MONDAY, NOV. 16

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Cardozo Society and Women’s Philanthropy for a virtual tour of the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s exhibit “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

5 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org/event/notorious-rbg. q MONDAYS, NOV. 16, 23, 30; DEC. 7, 14

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.

into one’s routine strengthens one’s ability to act with intention rather than reactively and decrease feelings of being overwhelmed.

11 a.m. To register, visit jfcspgh.org.

q MONDAYS, NOV. 16, 30; DEC. 7;

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

by Rodef Shalom Congregation. 2 p.m.

For more information and to register, visit classroomswithoutborders.org/jewish-heritagearound-the-world.

FEB. 1, 8, 15, 22; MARCH 1, 8, 15 Most people associate the term “Haftarah” with opaque prophetic reading on Shabbat morning.

This course, Haftarah, will attempt to make the opaque sparkle. Choosing selectively from the most interesting Haftarah portions, Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff will seek to imbue meaning in these powerful prophetic passages. Fourteen sessions for $70. 9:30 a.m. For more information and to register, visit foundation.jewishpgh.org. q TUESDAY, NOV. 17

As we enter the month of Kislev, join Moishe House for Rosh Chodesh Kislev Intention Setting. Take a moment to set intentions for the month ahead in the second installment of their Rosh Chodesh Intention Setting series.

7 p.m. For more information, visit facebook. com/moishehouse.pittsburgh. q TUESDAYS, NOV. 17-DEC. 22

Jewish Family and Community Services hosts Mindfulness and Meditation for Stress Management, offering the opportunity to cultivate greater awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Increasing awareness and integrating mindfulness and meditation

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Join Jewish Family and Community Services for Art and Contemplation - Teen Edition, an art-based support group just for teens.

The sessions will explore how making art can help regulate the nervous system, promote playfulness, imagination, help develop insight, and connect us more deeply to our bodies, emotions and thoughts. For the first session, blank paper and drawing materials that have some variety of color will be needed. Free.

3 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jfcspgh.org. q TUESDAYS, NOV. 17; DEC. 1, 8, 15;

FEB 9, 16, 23; MARCH 2, 9 Treating Jewish jokes as text, From Sinai to Seinfeld invites students to analyze and interpret the evolving concerns, styles, Please see Calendar, page 7

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Calendar Calendar:

Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum. 4 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org.

Continued from page 6

rhythms, preoccupations and values of the Jewish people that lie buried deep in words that make us laugh as Jews, and that bond us as a people. $50 per person, (10 sessions), includes all books and materials. For more information and to register, visit foundation. jewishpgh.org. q TUESDAYS, NOV. 17-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 TUESDAY, NOV. 17

Join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh for a webinar that will offer community members the opportunity to come together for a virtual introduction of safeguarding children and teens from abuse. Community members will walk away with a clear road map for safeguarding youth in both the home and communal settings, as well as an introduction to national youth safety efforts. 8 p.m. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org. q THURSDAY, NOV. 19

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh presents the latest installment in the Generations Speaker Series: Alison Brown Karabin.

Alison will share the story of her grandmother, Elizabeth Brown (z”l), a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who endured Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Volary death march. 3 p.m. Free.

For more information and to register, visit hcofpgh.org/events.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents “The Month that Was: Behind the Headlines in Israel — Part 1.” Join Neil Lazarus for an in-depth analysis of the latest news and views from Israel and the Middle East in the last month. 12 p.m. For more information and to register, visit jewishpgh.org.

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Liberation75, Rodef Shalom Congregation and Film Pittsburgh, presents “Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz” and post-film discussion with director Barry Avrich; former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues David Scheffer; Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Stephen Smith; former senior historian at Facing History and Ourselves Mary Johnson; and

Time for a throwback to an old Moishe House staple, Jackbox Game Night, its first game night since March. Play Jackbox games together from the safety of your home. 7 p.m.

For more information, visit facebook.com/ moishehouse.pittsburgh. q MONDAY, NOV. 23

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with the American Association of Teachers of German, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in New York City and Germany Close Up, convenes a lecture with Dr. Felix Klein, Germany’s federal government commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and the fight against anti-Semitism. RSVP to receive the Zoom link. The link will be sent out 24 hours before the program. 12 p.m. classroomswithoutborders.org q WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2

Help the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh respond to emergency pandemic needs by making a commitment to the Community Campaign today at jewishpgh. org/donate, then join them for a free thankyou Chanukah cooking demonstration with Pittsburgh native, chef Michael Solomonov.

8 p.m. To register, visit jfedpgh.org/ solomonov-demo. q THURSDAY, DEC. 3

Chabad of Squirrel Hill hosts its annual Evening of Celebration online, honoring Janie Yahr with the Community Lamplighter Award.

The program will feature a light, inspirational presentation by David Weiss, screenwriter of “Shrek 2” and other popular films, entitled “Shrekstival of Lights: Finding the Light When You Feel in the Dark.” 7:30 p.m. $50. To reserve, go to chabadpgh.com. q SUNDAY, DEC. 13

Be a superhero, join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Annual Phone-a-thon to raise funds for the community. Super Sunday will be held virtually in 2020. Represent your favorite Jewish Pittsburgh organization.

The group with the most representatives will receive $1,800. There will be a training session on Wednesday, Dec. 9. You will need a computer with internet access and a mobile device to make calls. For more information, visit jewishpgh.org/event/super-sunday. q MONDAY, DEC. 14

Join Classrooms Without Borders in Israel — virtually. Monthly tours with guide and scholar Rabbi Jonty Blackman via Zoom.

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

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www.wfspa.org NOVEMBER 13, 2020 7

Headlines Clubhouse garden grows community

p Clubhouse colleagues work in the Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse Garden.

— LOCAL —

By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer

W

alking down Beechwood Boulevard, near the bend behind Community Day School, it’s practically impossible during warmer months

8 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

not to see the raised wooden beds filled with flowers and vegetables.

For years, the Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse, which is a licensed psychiatric and social rehabilitation program of Jewish Residential Services, has used the garden to foster growth for both Clubhouse members and the community at large, said Nancy Gale, executive director of JRS.

Photos courtesy of Jewish Residential Services

Whether it’s planting and harvesting vegetables, including, eggplant, tomatoes, radishes and cucumber, or herbs, such as basil, mint, sage, thyme and parsley, laboring in the Squirrel Hill space enables Clubhouse colleagues (a JRS term for staff and members) to work side by side, derive purpose and reduce the stigma of mental illness, said Gale.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

“People who have had mental illness are people like everyone else, and they can do the same things that other people do,” said Gale. “These are people who should be valued members of the community. They’re your neighbors, they’re doing something positive in the community.”

In years past, Clubhouse colleagues operated the garden in a circular pattern. After seedlings were grown at the Clubhouse and later planted in the garden, crops were harvested then brought back to the Clubhouse, where colleagues would wash and use the items for meals.

This past year, however, with help from the Clubhouse’s food and horticulture coordinator, Hayly Hoch, and Grow Pittsburgh, a local nonprofit that helps community gardeners, Clubhouse colleagues expanded the garden’s use by starting a community supported agriculture project.

“Not only are we investing in healthier diets and exercise while we spend time in the garden, but we are able to practice business management skills such as risk assessment and problem-solving with the launch of the CSA project,” said Hoch in a statement.

Clubhouse colleagues also increased the garden’s output this year. In 2019, 94 pounds of produce were harvested. In 2020, Clubhouse members harvested 325 pounds.

Please see Clubhouse, page 15

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Headlines These two Pittsburghers are their neighbors’ keepers — LOCAL —

By Kayla Steinberg | Digital Content Manager

W

hen Julie Arnheim and Zita Iwuoha met, it was friendship at first sight.

“The minute our eyes locked, there was a sparkle that was infectious,” said Arnheim, who was helping as an Arbonne makeup consultant with makeovers for 16 nurses, including Iwuoha, at Give It Forward Together’s fashion show in December 2018.

“It was a ‘I really need to know this woman.’”

So Arnheim invited her over.

Iwuoha loved Arbonne’s products so much that she joined Arnheim’s team. And when she told Arnheim about her nonprofit, Zita’s Healthy Beginnings, which works to reduce maternal and infant mortality, Arnheim said, “Well if you’re on my team, I’ll be on your board.”

The two have supported each other since.

On Feb. 12, Arnheim woke up feeling sick.

Days later, she had surgery for a brain tumor.

Iwuoha and her sister Angela were there.

“I never opened my eyes without one of them in the room with me,” said Arnheim, who is now in remission.

And when Iwuoha’s mother passed away in early March, Arnheim went to her funeral.

“One of the things that being raised in the

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“I grew up knowing that I am my neighbor’s keeper,” said Iwuoha.

In 2002, she moved to the U.S. — first Texas, then California and then Pittsburgh. But she hasn’t forgotten her roots.

Iwuoha is Igbo, native to south central and southeastern Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea.

Some Igbo identify as Jewish — and some, like Iwuoha, see themselves as both Jewish and Christian. There’s disagreement about Igbos’ Jewish roots: Some argue that Igbo are descendants of the ancient Israelites, while others say Igbo adopted Judaism in the 1900s.

The Igbo sought indep Julie Arnheim and Zita Iwuoha pendence in the 1960s amid

Photo provided by Julie Arnheim political, ethnic and religious tensions, conflict over oil and Jewish community taught me is you show up other issues. After the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom, for your friends’ families’ funerals,” she said. eastern Nigeria seceded, declaring itself the Showing up and helping out is a lesson Republic of Biafra. War broke out.

Iwuoha grew up with, too. She was raised in a It’s estimated that in the ensuing 2½-year Nigerian village with about 300-400 families, Nigerian Civil War, over 1 million died. where everyone knew everyone, spoke the Biafra lost. same language and helped each other. When According to Iwuoha, there’s still conher father slaughtered a goat or a chicken, he flict — and family members in Nigeria have shared it with the village. sent her photos.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

When she shared a photo with Arnheim that showed women looking through slats of what appeared to be a cattle car, Arnheim said, “Oh my God, that’s like a Holocaust picture.”

“As an American of Jewish German descent and Lithuanian descent, where my ancestors escaped pogroms and the Holocaust, and some of my ancestors did not escape the Holocaust, I feel that Hashem has directed me, has given me the gifts to speak up and help advocate and bring awareness,” she continued.

Arnheim connected with the University of Pittsburgh’s African Studies Program, which agreed to host an online event titled “What You Don’t Know is Happening: Voices from Nigeria” under its preexisting “Let’s Talk Africa” series. The program featured five panelists, including Iwuoha and Arnheim. The date of the program, Nov. 10, was chosen intentionally: Kristallnacht was Nov. 9-10, 1938.

Pitt’s Jewish Studies Program cosponsored the event in addition to holding its annual Kristallnacht commemoration Nov. 9.

“By keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive even while its last survivors are passing away, we hope to help prevent other similar catastrophes, such as what is happening in Nigeria,” wrote Irina Livezeanu, the director of the Jewish Studies Program, in an email.

“Talking about Kristallnacht can help us Please see Friends, page 15

NOVEMBER 13, 2020 9

Headlines Seton Hill photo exhibit reveals details about Holocaust atrocities — LOCAL —

By Chriss Swaney | Special to the Chronicle

Seton Hill University students have worked for months to develop a series of virtual presentations showcasing photographs and materials revealing Nazi war crimes at Gardelegen, a small German town, at the end of World War II. “This has been a challenging job getting this exhibit ready because we had the collection all set up in August for an on-site viewing, but then the pandemic hit and we had to change how we were going to present the materials,’’ said Hannah Vincent, co-curator of the exhibit and a senior from Connellsville majoring in arts administration at Seton Hill. Phoebe Walczak, a senior art history major, also has helped with the exhibit planning. up Harry Knights (left) with Father James Glynn during their service together in World Image courtesy of Seton Hill University “Until I got involved with this exhibit, War II. They would remain friends for decades.

I had never heard of the massacre at Gardelegen, and we’ve also learned that much the Seton Hill University National Catholic extensive collection of photos his father, Harry, of the general public had never heard of the Center for Holocaust Education. The archive took during his time in the service as well as terrible massacre,’’ said Vincent. “We are so of photographs and letters originated from other materials, including correspondence. grateful for the experience to share this piece the collection of a U.S. soldier whose unit was Much of the collection includes photoof important history. involved in the liberation of Nazi concentration graphs taken at Gardelegen, a German town “We are also very fortunate to have expo- campus at the end of World War II. where nearly 1,000 prisoners, at the end of sure to the National Catholic Center for In the fall of 2019, retired FBI Special Agent the war, were marched to a large barn that Holocaust Education,’’ she added. “People James Knights approached the National was set on fire, killing most inside. must never forget the Holocaust.’’

Catholic Center for Holocaust Education The Knights Collection is a valuable JCThe ReSound Rechargeable FIN_Eartique 11/12/18 9:42aAM Page to 1 have the university house the resource for Seton Hill students and scholars virtual presentations are hosted by with proposal

of the Holocaust, according to James Paharik, director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill.

“The many photographs taken by the American soldier document Nazi war crimes that had occurred in the concentration camps,” said Paharik, a professor of sociology who has been at Seton Hill for 35 years.

“The Knights Collection offers us an opportunity to learn about and to honor the sacrifices that U.S. soldiers made to combat fascism in Europe. The collection of more than 200 photographs and dozens of letters provides a window on the life of a typical soldier, Harry B. Knights. It also enables us to confront, as he did and his unit did, the clear evidence of hideous war crimes that the Nazis committed.’’

The work of preserving the collection was a massive joint effort by the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the School of Humanities and the Seton Hill Archives.

Faculty and staff on the project also included John Spurlock of the history program, Maureen Kochanek and archivist William Black.

The virtual presentations are scheduled for Nov. 13 and 20. They are free and open to the public. For more information, visit setonhill.edu/centers-community-programs/ holocaust-center/knights-collection. PJC Chriss Swaney is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

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

Nov. 13, 1949 — Shagar Is Born

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S h i m on G e r s h on Rosenberg, an Orthodox rabbi and Zionist philosopher known by the acronym Shagar, is born in Jerusalem. Before being ordained, he serves as a paratrooper and a tank crewman.

Nov. 14, 2012 — Hamas military chief is killed

Ahmed Jabbari, the Hamas military chief, is killed in an airstrike on Gaza that marks the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, which aims to destroy rocket launchers targeting southern Israel.

Nov. 15, 1942 — Conductor Daniel Barenboim is born

Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, who moves to Israel in the early 1950s, is born in Buenos Aires. With Edward Said, he founds the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra of Middle Eastern musicians in 1999.

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Nov. 16, 1947 — Kadima reaches Haifa

The Kadima, a ship carrying 781 refugees trying to reach Palestine despite a British ban, arrives in Haifa under escort after being intercepted en route from Palestrina, an island south of Venice.

Nov. 17, 2008 — Gangster Alperon killed by car bomb

Yaakov Alperon, an organized-crime leader and suspected killer who has survived multiple assassination attempts, dies at age 53 when his car is destroyed by a bomb in Tel Aviv.

Nov. 18, 1951 — Rock star Yoni Rechter is born

Rock musician Yoni Rechter is born in Tel Aviv. A veteran of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and songwriter for other performers, Rechter sees his career begin with his first solo album, “Intending,” in 1979.

Nov. 19, 1957 — Singer Ofra Haza is born

Ofra Haza is born in Tel Aviv to parents from Yemen. She is named Israel’s Singer of the Year every year from 1980 to 1983 and finishes second at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest. She dies of AIDS-related organ failure in 2000. PJC

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Headlines Jonathan Sacks, former UK chief rabbi and Jewish ‘intellectual giant,’ dies at 72 — WORLD —

By Ben Harris, Cnaan Liphshiz, Gabe Friedman | JTA

R

abbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom whose extensive writings and frequent media appearances commanded a global following among Jews and non-Jews alike, has died.

Sacks died Saturday morning at age 72, his Twitter account announced. He was in the midst of a third bout of cancer, which he had announced in October.

Sacks was among the world’s leading exponents of Orthodox Judaism for a global audience. In his 22 years as chief rabbi, he emerged as the most visible Jewish leader in the United Kingdom and one of the European continent’s leading Jewish voices, offering Jewish wisdom to the masses through a regular segment he produced for the BBC. He had a close relationship with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called Sacks “an intellectual giant” and presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2018.

Sacks was also an immensely prolific author, addressing pressing social and political issues in a succession of well received

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

p Jonathan Sacks seen as the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, circa 2000.

Photo by John Downing/Getty Images via JTA

books. His popular commentary on the prayer book, published by Koren, helped to dethrone the more traditionalist Artscroll Siddur as the preeminent prayer book in American Modern Orthodox synagogues.

Sacks was normally averse to mixing religion and politics, something he discussed, along with his latest book, “Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times,” and an array of other hot-button topics with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in August.

“When anger erupts in a body politic, there is quite often a justified cause. But then the political domain has got to take that anger and deal with it very fast,” he told JTA’s opinion editor Laura Adkins. “Because anger exposes the problem but never delivers the solution.”

But he did take public stances on two topics that were often ensnared with European politics: Israel and anti-Semitism.

Sacks spoke out publicly as Britain’s Labour Party was engulfed in an anti-Semitism scandal under its previous leader Jeremy Corbyn,

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

calling Corbyn an anti-Semite.

“We have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and her majesty’s opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr. Corbyn and those who support him,” Sacks said in 2018 during an interview with the New Statesman.

That judgment paved the way for the current British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to harshly condemn the Labour Party, a precedent-setting event in British Jewish life.

Corbyn was replaced in April by centrist Keir Starmer, who has apologized for how anti-Semitism was allowed to flourish in Labour’s ranks under Corbyn. Starmer, who is married to a Jewish woman, expressed his condolences to “the entire Jewish world” in a tweet on Saturday.

“He was a towering intellect whose eloquence, insights and kindness reached well beyond the Jewish community. I have no doubt that his legacy will live on for many generations,” Starmer wrote.

Sacks was also vocal in his opposition to the forces that lead to anti-Semitism on the far left and the far right, as he wrote in a JTA op-ed in January.

“Anti-Semitism has little to do with Jews — they are its object, not its cause — and Please see Sacks, page 15

NOVEMBER 13, 2020 11

Opinion Tribute – Daniel Taub: Studying with Rabbi Sacks Guest Columnist Daniel Taub

T

he position of Israeli ambassador to the Court of St James’ comes with a number of perks. But perhaps none was more precious to me than the regular appointment I would have, as Israel’s envoy, with the chief rabbi. For the first three years of my posting, this meant a regular monthly session with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Rabbi Sacks had a keen interest in events in Israel. He had a deep personal connection himself (he would joke that when he visited during the Gulf War he was the only person who followed the government’s instructions to shave off his beard so he could wear a gas mask), but he also wanted to be able to help his rabbis be effective in connecting their communities to Israel. He was eager to be briefed on the current security situation, the political intrigues and the state of Israel-UK relations.

I had a rather different agenda. Here was an intellectual Jewish giant, who had singlehandedly created a corpus of Jewish thought unprecedented in modern times. He had energized thinking within the Jewish world and made Jewish ideas a force to be reckoned with in wider society. I was astonished at the range of non-Jewish leaders I would meet with, from archbishops to public intellectuals, who would confide what a treasured influence his writing had been on their lives. With such a teacher, I thought, there has to be a better way

p Daniel Taub (left) interviewing Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

for us to spend our time together.

I suggested to Rabbi Sacks that I would prepare briefing notes so that the business part of our meeting could be completed in fifteen minutes at most. That would leave the rest of the time for us to study together. Rabbi Sacks agreed willingly, but the truth is our earliest efforts were not a great success. He was not a natural study partner, or at least the imbalance between us made our study awkward and stilted. I suggested an alternative.

Rather than study a text together, I would send him, in advance of our meeting, a list of five or six questions that seemed to me current and important. He could choose any one of them and speak freely about it.

So did I come to have the benefit of a truly wonderful tutorial. The range of his erudition was breathtaking — we would leap from the history of language to the relationship of Judaism

to oriental philosophy — but the discussion was almost never disconnected from the challenges of our time. His focus was on ideas as moral forces in the real world: how do we balance our local, national, and global responsibilities; how do we navigate between hubris and humility in the face of scientific progress; how do we harness the power of faith without unleashing the darker sides of fundamentalism?

At the same time, our sessions together gave me a glimpse of a man who had embraced his public role with reluctance. On one occasion he spoke about the sin of the biblical spies, who gave a bad report on the land of Israel.

They were scared, he suggested, not of defeat but of victory. If they succeeded in the battle, they would have to take on the challenge of facing the real world. As he said this, it seemed this was a fear he had known himself.

Truly one of the great public speakers and

Anti-Semitism circa 1974 and in 2020 Guest Columnist Alan Ronkin

I

was just a kid, only 7 or 8. I was walking home from school on a brisk fall day in my kippah and tzitzit, a proud student at Hillel Academy in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

With my kippah, I stuck out in my neighborhood. There were no other Jewish kids.

The pennies began to rain down. First a couple and then a torrent. It didn’t last very long, but I could clearly hear the chant of “Jew, Jew, pick up the pennies.”

I ran home confused. That’s when my father explained the concept of anti-Semitism.” You see, he said, some people just hate Jews. They hate us because we are different and sometimes because their religion taught them to.

I didn’t fully understand, but I already knew what it meant to feel different. I found myself wearing my baseball cap a lot more.

There were other incidents over the years.

Once, an argument ensued about Jesus. I was told that if I didn’t believe in him, I was going to hell. I responded as any good Jewish day school student would, bringing out my chumash (a book containing the Torah) and showing them that they were wrong. It didn’t end well.

We still played at one another’s homes.

And some years I even snuck a candy cane 12 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Photo via jewishnews.

timesofisrael.com

home with me at Christmas time. But that is as far as it went.

In American Jewish Committee’s new study on perceptions and experiences of anti-Semitism in the United States, we learned that 21 percent of Americans have never heard the word anti-Semitism and another 25 percent say they had heard it but did not know what it meant.

Much has changed since the pennies fell in 1974.

And yet, 88 percent of American Jews think that anti-Semitism is a problem in our country and 82 percent believe it has been increasing in the last five years, according to the AJC 2020 survey.

Anti-Semitism has taken on new forms.

Virulent anti-Zionism — the belief that Israel has no right to exist — has bled into the far left. Violent white supremacy undergirds the xenophobia of the far right. And extremism in the name of Islam has taken hold among religious fanatics around the world. And, still, like my childhood ‘friends,’ ignorance still drives the discussion in many corners of our country.

That is probably why only 43% of the general public says anti-Semitism is rising.

In some ways, it would be easy to say, “They just don’t get it.” For most Americans, interacting with Jews is not part of their daily experience. And, for those that do, overt acts of anti-Semitism seem few and often innocuous. An inappropriate joke or stereotype

— nothing more.

Thankfully, the attacks in Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City and Brooklyn are unusual.

Physical violence against Jews is rare. Only 3% report having been attacked in the last five years. But one attack is too many and we must ask, how many do not report? And, in a climate where the average American is thinking about COVID-19 or the economy, these incidents are quickly forgotten.

But anyone who looks at Twitter or other social media platforms can see a different story.

Sixty-two percent of American Jews report being targeted by anti-Semites on Facebook, 33% on Twitter. In recent days, following conversations with top AJC officials, Facebook decided to bar Holocaust denial and distortion posts. Anti-Semitic comments, threats to Jewish journalists and public figures are commonplace and they come from all sides. Israel is regularly vilified well beyond criticism of its policies. Social media can sometimes feel like the perfect storm of anti-Semitism.

Sadly, there are no simple answers to root out anti-Semitism. Tech platforms’ codes of conduct, public policy, the courts and the legislative process only go so far. Changing hearts and minds is another matter. Since George Washington’s letter to the Jewish community of Newport in 1790, in which he wrote, “For happily, the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” Jews have

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

broadcasters of our generation, this was never a role he imagined for himself. I have a passion for ideas, he would say, but I’m just not a people person. It’s easier for me to speak to a thousand people than to three, he would add. If left to his own inclinations he would, he admitted, have been happy to remain in the ivory tower.

Two things I think made him change his mind. The first was his acute sense of tzav hasha’ah, the call of the times. In a largely godless age, where the voice of faith was barely heard on the major issues of the day, he recognized that he had a unique ability to redress that balance.

And the second was that he was surrounded with a remarkable group of people who cherished his strengths and appreciated his weaknesses. “I realized I needed to surround myself with individuals with outstanding people skills,” he said — and in this he was blessed. Blessed above all with his wife, Lady Elaine, who was always in his mind when he advised people with an abstract intellectual bent like his own, to marry someone “who has a bigger heart than you do”.

Alongside the legacy of wisdom and insight that he has left us, and which is more relevant today than ever, Rabbi Sacks’ life leaves us with another lesson too: With commitment and moral vision, and some help from our friends, we can become something greater than we ever thought we would be. PJC Daniel Taub was Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2011 - 2015. This piece was originally published in Britain’s Jewish News.

had good reason to feel secure in our country. But, as we know, America has not always lived up to its ideals. Anti-Semitism persists.

When I was a kid, I had no idea how to stand up to the bullies and fight anti-Semitism head on. A few pennies on their own might not seem like a big deal. But the damage inflicted was. It must stop.

What do we do? What is our role as Jews and American citizens?

We must stand up and call out attacks, physical and otherwise, and demand to be seen and heard. Perpetrators must be held accountable.

In addition, at this time of divisiveness in our country, it is time to stand up for civility and pluralism. When countries thrive, the Jewish community is safer and more secure. No matter what your political affiliation, working to build a more civil and stable America will improve the lives of Jews. By acting as a good citizen, both on and offline, you will lower the temperature in our country. Use your voice to bring people together and watch what happens.

We cannot sit idly by or stay silent. Only by standing up and displaying self-respect will we inspire others to stand with us and eradicate this hatred once and for all. PJC Alan Ronkin is director of American Jewish Committee Washington, D.C. Region. This piece appeared in Washington Jewish Week.

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Opinion A season of change? Only if we do our part Guest Columnist Joshua Runyan

In his speech in Wilmington, Delaware Saturday night, Biden made an impassioned plea for unity,

F

or the first time since ceding the reins of a Jewish newspaper, I was called a traitor last week by a member of the Jewish community. I was guilty of betraying Israel, of betraying the United States, of betraying the Torah, because I had voted for Joe Biden. Not only had I voted for the now president-elect, but I had volunteered for his campaign. Not only had I volunteered for the Democrat’s campaign, but I had endorsed the former vice president publicly.

For that, I was deserving of censure and of ridicule.

Hogwash.

In all honesty, I couldn’t care less that a partisan, in the heat of the moment, was so overcome with anger that he lashed out at someone who had taken an opposite political stance. I only mention it here to point out that as much as we’d like to think that ours is a unified Jewish community, to the extent anybody else feels like my misguided friend by the end of this week — almost two weeks removed from Election Day — we’ve got a long, long way to go.

As a matter of fact, as much as it might seem that history was made by the victorious ticket of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their resounding defeat of soon-to-be former-President Donald Trump (at last count, the Democrats were on track to amass 306 votes in the Electoral College, the same amount that Trump secured in 2016),

reminding those celebrating with him – as well as those who voted for his opponent – that among the seasons identified by King Solomon was the “time to heal.” to quote from the same Book of Ecclesiastes that Biden did in his victory speech: There is nothing new under the sun.

Four years ago, I wrote a column reacting to Trump’s victory. My message then was similarly one of pleading for understanding and unity. I officially had no dog in the particular fight between Trump and Hillary Clinton — indeed, owing to the fact that I was a journalist for so long, the only other time I had affixed lawn signs and bumper stickers to anything was when I volunteered for Bill Bradley’s failed bid for president in the 2000 primaries — but I certainly wasn’t happy with the outcome.

Still, I saw in the results of Trump’s election that those with whom I disagreed deserved to be heard. The incoming president, despite what I might have thought of him, deserved to be given a chance. As Americans, we owed it to him and each other. Doing so would require a lot more listening, and a lot less reacting.

“Nuance, that great medium of rational thought, is practically extinct in most

— LETTERS — Time to extend the hand of conciliation

Commentary that has been printed on this page in recent months has revealed a divide in our community about which presidential candidate best represents our honorable faith and its values. Many individuals of intellect and stature chose Donald Trump to the consternation of Biden supporters and vice versa.

As we recognize the election of a new president, it is a time for jubilation for about half of the American people, while the other half are despondent, if not angry. I believe that the just and righteous choice has been made in the choice of President-elect Biden.

I respond with gratification to the election of an experienced and knowledgeable leader: a civilized human being, a man with abundant compassion, empathy, and basic dignity to be the leader of the free world.

I am not sure how much can be accomplished by a Democratic president with what is likely to be a Republican-controlled Senate which may stonewall the appointment of any judges, but I will find great relief in knowing that our people will not be plunged into chaos and civil war each day, no longer to be pitted against each other, and that we can return to be proud to identify as Americans.

This is not a time to gloat or to rub salt into wounds, rather it is a time to extend the hand of conciliation — to reach out to all with the hope that we may truly become a more united United States of America. May we begin working toward no longer being a house that is so bitterly divided.

God bless President-elect Joe Biden Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris and their families.

Mazal tov to them and to our country. I must have faith that a brighter day is ahead.

Oren Spiegler Peters Township

Nov. 6 Torah column had ‘unusual twist’

In his novel exegesis concerning the episode in last week’s Torah portion involving Abraham and Sarah, and their encounter with Abimelech, King of the Philistines, Rabbi Ron Symons mercilessly condemns Abraham as being patriarchal, misogynistic and deserving of being called out by the #MeToo movement. He blasts Abraham and Sarah as behaving PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

political discourse today,” I lamented then.

“So much so that an editorial voicing objections to an administration appointee’s past statements, but nevertheless expressing hope that his undeniably pro-Israel stances portend a better era in U.S.-Israel relations can, at the same time, consign the author to the dual charge of being beholden to the fringe of the alt-right and the pro-BDS mob.”

It’s amazing how much the same paragraph could be written four years later and still be true!

In his speech in Wilmington, Delaware Saturday night, Biden made an impassioned plea for unity, reminding those celebrating with him — as well as those who voted for his opponent — that among the seasons identified by King Solomon was the “time to heal.” “This is the time to heal in America,” he declared.

Those of us who have disagreed vehemently with the outgoing administration, who have given our time and our money to working to

reverse the electoral outcome of 2016, might be forgiven for thinking that the bulk of the responsibility for bridging the divide that is the American electorate lies with Trump and his supporters. That thought, however, is wrong. As Trump eventually rides off into the sunset — and whether or not he continues to flout tradition and undermine the integrity of America’s political institutions — the responsibility for healing America won’t even rest with Biden.

Especially here in the Jewish community, the responsibility for bridging the divide rests with each and every one of us. That’s the mandate demanded by the Torah: As all divisions not for the sake of Heaven are not destined to endure, we should refrain from breathing them into life. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t disagree, even vehemently, about things. It’s that when the dispute is not for the sake of Heaven — and it’s hard to seriously cast a presidential election, which happens every four years, as a metaphysical contest between good and evil — we must never deny those with whom we disagree their fundamental humanity.

As much as I am ecstatic over Biden’s win, and proud that I helped make it happen, there’s only one thing that I will ever gloat about: It was Pennsylvania that turned the tide.

Now that the election is over, we need to start listening to one another, because if you didn’t notice, the almost 50% of America that disagreed with you four years ago still does.

The only thing that’s changed is that more of them voted. PJC Rabbi Joshua Runyan, a former editorin-chief of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, is an attorney in Philadephia.

in a despicable manner for sharing “fake news” and boldly declares that G-d was outright wrong as he appeared in Abimelech’s dream.

Yet, somehow, in Rabbi Symons’ view, Abimelech, who initiated the entire incident by having Sarah abducted and brought against her will to his palace, was the victim. As we all know by now, or should know, one who achieves the status of “victimhood” can do no wrong and his alleged “oppressors” can do no right. Thus, in Rabbi Symons’ portrayal, Abimelech is both the battered victim and righteous hero, while G-d, Abraham and Sarah become prime candidates for the basket of deplorables. An unusual twist indeed.

Rabbi Symons rightfully maintains that it is critical to be able to see the other side’s position with an open and honest understanding of all the facts. Sometimes that open and honest understanding, however, can be subconsciously tainted by an ideologically driven mindset, in which inconvenient facts are minimized or ignored. “My side” has all the truth and the “other side” is “outright wrong” and “despicable.” Alleged victims become impervious to any challenge or criticism. Their wrongdoing is justified or ignored. They are victims after all.

You can’t expect any better. Not only is this a condescending approach. It is not particularly helpful to the “victim.”

At the end of the narrative, Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham. Abraham blessed Abimelech. Abimelech gave Abraham abundant gifts and Abraham and Abimelech signed a peace treaty (presumably with full normalization). Everyone seemed to be able to let go and forgive. A lesson for all of us.

Reuven Hoch Pittsburgh 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.

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020 13

Headlines Election: Continued from page 1

because we won.”

As of press time, Trump was contesting the election results in the courts of several states, including Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgher Jon Tucker, who was not in Pittsburgh on Nov. 7, read about the gatherings like the one in Squirrel Hill. “It’s better to have celebrations than riots,” he said.

Tucker credited Trump with strong support of Israel.

“It remains to be seen if Biden unravels some of the inarguable progress that Trump had with Israel,” he said. “I would hate to see any of that.”

Moving forward, Tucker, a member of Pittsburgh’s Republican Jewish Coalition, would like to see the Republicans retain control of the Senate.

“Say what you want about Mitch McConnell — nobody is sure how he’s going to behave — but I would like to see a push to the middle,” Tucker said. “I’m looking for balance in government.”

Jimmy Zawada, a Chatham University student, said he didn’t sleep much throughout the election and, despite Biden’s victory, remained concerned about the government’s future.

“I’m a little disappointed that the Senate is still in question because nothing will happen if Mitch McConnell is in control,” he said.

Hours before Zawada and others arrived at the Squirrel Hill corner Saturday, several organizations issued statements regarding President-elect Joe Biden’s projected win.

The American Jewish Committee emphasized the strength of democracy in a statement

JCC: Continued from page 1

Although its facilities were closed for those first few months, the JCC continued to serve and deliver an average of 1,300 meals a week to older adults and school-aged children; hosted 40 events to address the community’s blood supply shortage; offered 50 virtual fitness classes a week; completed more than 8,000 wellness checks on older adults; and reached more than 1,300 individual participants through its Virtual Senior Academy, all while following COVID-19 safety mandates, “You learn how to pivot very, very quickly,” Schreiber said, recalling the early “revenue compression” that necessitated the need for staff furloughs, including about 350 hourly part-time workers.

Once the Paycheck Protection Program loans came in, and the agency could bring back most of its full-time staff and some of its part-timers, JCC leadership had to figure out how to reopen. Thanks to guidance from the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, and a flexible staff willing to take on different job responsibilities, the problem was not insurmountable.

“We have people doing all different kinds of things,” Schreiber said. “Our camp staff are working in the all-day programs, our teen staff are doing that too. We have some staff that are working in child care all day, all of us are doing health screenings and packing lunches for the seniors and things.”

The JCC’s staff “have really embraced 14 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

p Adriane Pacella stands on the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues.

from its CEO David Harris.

“The United States is one country with one destiny,” Harris wrote. “That vision, that reality, has been sorely tested as never before, in an era of heightened polarization in American society, and amid the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, its economic consequences, and a decline of trust among some on various sides of the political spectrum in government institutions and practices. The record-high voter turnout, and hard-fought campaign by both candidates and their respective parties, is an inspiring testament to the strength of American democracy.”

American Jewish voters deeply impacted election results in several battleground states and provided Trump with “historic” support, according to Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks.

Photo by Adam Reinherz

“There is no doubt that in this election, when Donald Trump won in the key battleground state of Florida by fewer than three points, the Jewish vote was critical to his victory,” Brooks wrote.

The Jewish Federations of North America congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Facebook.

“We pray that he will lead our nation with wisdom and discernment and we pledge our support to building on the foundation of liberty that is the blessing of all Americans,” the umbrella organization posted. “We also congratulate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on her historic victory. Her rise to the vice presidency is yet another indication of the ability of the United States of America to expand its pool of leadership.”

“As 2020 voters, we changed the course of our country,” wrote Stosh Cotler, CEO

of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. “We’ll take our place in history as the people who rose up across religion, race and all aspects of our identities, to preserve the dream that our country can be a place where freedom, safety and belonging are for all of us.”

Back in Squirrel Hill, Zawada said he followed national reactions to the election.

The work ahead remains, he continued, but for the moment, he appreciated the “beautiful” scene at the corner of Forbes and Murray avenues where the community celebrated exuberantly, but cautiously: When streetlights turned green vehicles noisily passed through, and when the lamps turned red people danced in the streets. PJC

PPE, cleaning and disinfecting, the projected shortfall could reach $6 million.

Schreiber is pragmatic. He does not expect that the JCC will immediately recover after the pandemic crisis is over.

“I think this is going to be a 24- to 36-month recovery from this,” he said.

“So, we’re trying to be resourceful with the resources we have now. Because it’s not just going to bounce back the next p JCC President and CEO Brian Schreiber fiscal year, or the fiscal year after. I think delivers an organizational status update it’s going to take some time to rebuild and during the JCC’s annual meeting on Sept. 15, 2020.

Screenshot by Adam Reinherz build some comfort level.”

Addressing the budgetary shortfall the mission, this deep, deep importance of will be a challenge but other agencies and mission,” he continued. “And frankly, I’d say individuals have already stepped up to help. that the community that we’re serving, I’ve “I think that we recognized very early never seen people more appreciative and on that we needed a philanthropic backsupportive.” stop,” Schreiber said. “And I would say the Now, more than 150 days into the “green community has been exceptionally generous.” phase,” the JCC has completed over 77,000 Soon after the facilities were closed, many health screenings; is serving 195 children members voluntarily donated their dues or in its early childhood programs; has held made other charitable donations. The Jewish family camping retreats and a two-week Federation of Greater Pittsburgh provided a “fall bubble” camp for teens at its Emma range of financial relief to the JCC, including Kaufmann Camp; and is supporting virtual more than $436,000 in grants, with another learning for 120 children through its All Day $125,000 pending board approval, according @ the J program. to Adam Hertzman, the Federation’s director Although it is impossible to predict how of marketing. long the effects of the pandemic will last, “The JCC is not just a community center,” Pittsburgh’s JCC leadership knows it is facing said Hertzman. “It is central to the health and tough, long-term financial challenges ahead. human service efforts in the Jewish commuWith a drastic decrease in revenue — nity and beyond. They serve seniors, they resulting from several factors including serve people who need physical therapy, they membership loss, reduced Early Childhood serve food-insecure people in need of food enrollment and shuttered overnight camp — support, they serve people with disabilities. combined with increased expenses including These supports become much, much harder

given the health precautions and restrictions of the pandemic. Anything we can do to help the JCC help their service recipients is critical to the health of the Jewish community and the general Pittsburgh community which they serve.”

The JCC also received a $2.5 million emergency grant from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation to be used over 24 months.

“Our board is particularly proud to be able to respond to the unprecedented financial needs facing the JCC, an invaluable organization which provides crucial services to both the Jewish and the general community,” said David H. Ehrenwerth, chair of the JHF board of trustees, in a prepared statement.

“This funding will enable the JCC to continue to provide essential services to seniors, adults, children and preschoolers. These are precisely the types of urgent needs that the Jewish Healthcare Foundation exists to satisfy.”

While the JCC continues to persevere through the hardships caused by the pandemic, Schreiber admits it hasn’t been easy.

“It’s hard,” he said. “But we’re really proud.

In some ways, I feel like this is our finest hour. Two years ago [following the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting], I would have said it was our finest hour, too. This is a different finest hour, because you are going into Groundhog Day every day to some degree. You have to maintain that fidelity to practice, and that does take some level of resilience and endurance.” PJC

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

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

Headlines Post-Gazette:

what she sees in the media. She agreed with the paper’s decision, “because it’s aligned with my support of pretty much all the decisions that Donald Trump has made when it comes to the Jews,” she said, and “is in line with my general support of his policies and actions.”

Neft is not a subscriber to the paper but said that the editorial board’s decision made her feel proud. The endorsement showed the PostGazette was more progressive than people think.

“They were willing to assess the facts and made a decision, not based on the same old, same old, or because they’ve always been doing it this way,” she said. “It showed that they’re assessing the situation as it happens.”

Trump’s support of Israel and his decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem are some of the reasons Neft supports Trump.

While the paper’s endorsement did not influence her decision on whom to vote for, “it just makes me feel better,” she said.

Historically, newspapers have served as a proxy for the public, asking questions of people

in power, according to Andrew Conte, director of Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation. At one time, he said, editorial boards would meet with individual candidates before offering an endorsement.

Conte was not aware if the Post-Gazette editorial board met with Trump or Biden before making its endorsement.

Readers have a visceral reaction to a paper’s endorsement because “people that have a subscription to a newspaper feel some affection toward it,” Conte said. “They spend time with the news product every day, or at least sometimes during the week and feel a connection with the familiar byline and with the editorial positions.”

People have grown accustomed to the Post-Gazette’s editorial position, Conte said.

“To see that change now to an endorsement for Trump seems jarring for many people because it’s different than what they had come to expect from their local newspaper.”

While Gibson is troubled by the paper’s

current editorial stance, there is still an opportunity for the Post-Gazette to win him back.

“If they issue a call for reconciliation,” he said.

“If the paper issues an editorial that says we decry the president’s attempt to undermine the democratic process, as opposed to supporting the Trump administration’s attempt to gum up the works and avoid a peaceful transition. And if they came out forthrightly, the way Sen. Mitt Romney has done, the way Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland has done, the way some other brave Republican leaders have done, I would very strongly consider reestablishing myself.”

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reached out to Burris, editor, vice president and editorial director of Block Newspapers, who declined to comment. Burris directed the Chronicle to publisher, editor-in-chief and head of the editorial board John Block, who did not respond to attempts to reach him. PJC

COVID-19 necessitated some changes this season, including lessening the number of Clubhouse colleagues working in the garden at any given time, and, in an effort to reduce in-person mingling with students and staff of Community Day School, avoiding gardening during periods of the day when CDS

students would be outdoors.

If not for the pandemic, “we would be there,” said Gale. “We definitely want to be part of the fabric of the community and have that interaction with the kids, but right now, for safety reasons, we’re being separate.”

The distancing, though understandable, has interrupted a valued element of daily life at CDS, explained Avi Baran Munro, CDS’ head of school.

“When we opened our doors here in

1996, it was always with the understanding that our 7-acre urban campus would be a resource for the community at large, with a strong commitment to our Squirrel Hill neighbors and organizational partners,” said Munro. “Sharing our space with Jewish Residential Services is a fulfillment of that collaborative vision.”

JRS and CDS still share certain facilities, like a shed where tools are kept, but the pandemic has compelled separation for

everyone’s safety, said Gale.

The garden, which will soon be closed for the season, reflects a continued commitment to communal integration.

“The magnificent gardens they’ve built and tended so lovingly over the years provide inspiration and education to our students and families,” said Munro. PJC

Friends:

Sacks:

year shared the video, telling her over 600,000 Twitter followers that it is “the best explanation of antisemitism I’ve seen.”

Sacks branched out beyond religious and Jewish cultural thought as well. In 2017 he delivered a TED Talk about “facing the future without fear” and what he called a “fateful moment” in Western history after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, citing Thomas Paine and anthropologists to make an argument about returning a culture of togetherness.

Born in London in 1948, Sacks studied at Cambridge University. While a student there in the 60s, he visited Rabbi Menachem Schneerson — the spiritual leader who is credited with turning the Hasidic ChabadLubatvitch movement into a powerful organizing force of Jewry around the world

— in New York City. Sacks credits that meeting with inspiring him to get involved with Jewish studies, as he detailed in a series of videos for Chabad.org in 2011.

He became the rabbi of the Golders Green synagogue in London’s most Orthodox neighborhood in the late 70s and then rabbi of the Marble Arch synagogue in central London.

The U.K. Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl also released a statement on Saturday.

“Rabbi Sacks was a giant of both the Jewish community and wider society. His astounding intellect and courageous moral voice were a blessing to all who encountered him in person, in writing or in broadcast,” van der Zyl said.

Sacks is survived by his wife Elaine, three children and several grandchildren. PJC

Continued from page 5

repeating Trump talking points. I found it offensive, especially that they would do it on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.” Rosenthal is comfortable with opinions different than his own, he said, and reads George Will, Andrew Sullivan and other conservative columnists. “What you’re seeing with Block and [Keith] Burris (editor of the PostGazette) “is that it’s right wing,” he said. “It’s a right-wing viewpoint.”

Rosenthal understands a newspaper has the right to endorse any candidate it chooses.

“I didn’t like it, but it’s the paper’s First Amendment right to endorse a candidate I don’t like.”

Some Jewish Pittsburghers were pleased to see the pro-Trump stance.

Nonna Neft found the Post-Gazette’s endorsement a welcome change to much of

Clubhouse: Continued from page 8

Continued from page 9

Continued from page 11

understand human suffering and the dangers of becoming silent bystanders,” wrote Macrina Chelagat Lelei, director of Pitt’s African Studies Program, in an email. “If we stay silent and do not condemn acts of violence against others, then we risk having such events occur again.”

“As human beings with shared values, we all have to play a role in advocating for change that will make people’s lives better,” she added.

Arnheim and Iwuoha hope to do just that. PJC

video, Sacks called anti-Zionism a new form of anti-Semitism, arguing that it denies Jews the “right to exist collectively with the same rights as everyone else.”

The video was based on a 2016 speech Sacks delivered in Brussels, which is widely seen as having paved the way to Britain’s adoption later that year of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.

But the video went far beyond political and academic circles, and became symbolic of Sacks’ ability to reach mainstream audiences. Rachel Riley, a famous British Jewish game show television host, last

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

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

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

Pitt students and staff build bridges in Hillel-sponsored interfaith Shabbat2Go event

N

early 200 students joined the Hillel Jewish University Center and the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement for its CommUNITY Shabbat event on Nov. 6.

Students and staff picked up Shabbat2Go bags from Hillel and joined a Zoom discussion about breaking barriers and building bridges within the community.

Pitt Hillel has offered weekly Shabbat2Go bags and special Shabbat events, but this is the first time it has engaged the larger Pitt community in Shabbat2Go. The event was in lieu of PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

its usual semesterly interfaith Shabbat dinner.

“Working together with other faith groups at the University of Pittsburgh is a critical part of our work,” said Dan Marcus, executive director and CEO of Hillel JUC of Pittsburgh. “Sharing Shabbat together with other faith groups is always special.”

Kari Semel, the Janet L. Swanson Director of Jewish Student Life at Pitt, and Emiola Jay Oriola, the program manager for Pitt’s Office of Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement, knew it had been a difficult week for students because of the commemoration of

the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the election. The program was intended to offer students a moment of rest and peace.

“We really wanted to focus on the aspects of peace that our different religions and cultures bring and how we can just use Shabbat as a time to connect and take care of ourselves,” said Semel.

The message of Shabbat resonated with students of different faiths. In breakout rooms, students and staff introduced themselves and checked in with each other. Semel told a story about finding the spirit of Shabbat in

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

everyday life, leading to a conversation about what being at peace feels like.

The conversation veered to how different religions appreciate little wins while working toward change.

After the event, students texted Semel, writing that it was a calming way to start Shabbat. “People really liked having a space where they felt comfortable to talk about their shared experiences,” said Semel. “Hopefully this is the first of many more events.” PJC — Kayla Steinberg NOVEMBER 13, 2020 15

Life & Culture Books: A complex life, inside online hate — BOOKS —

By Jesse Bernstein | Special to the Chronicle

“Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters” Rosanna Warren, W.W. Norton & Co.

T

he European Jewish artists, writers and thinkers of Max Jacob’s generation tended to kill their fathers, some with greater enthusiasm than others.

Intense social, professional and political pressures, from Jews as well as non-Jews, induced those whose fathers had been rabbis and professionals to renounce the world that each had created; the first as stultifyingly provincial, the second as rapaciously acquisitive. Their new religion, in many cases, became the literary and artistic canon of the country in which they happened to live.

In Jacob’s case, this was France.

He arrived in Paris in 1894, just a few months before the Dreyfus affair, as a devotee of France’s liberal and literary tradition.

By 1900, he was an employee of a particularly vicious anti-Semitic newspaper.

In 1915, Jacob, openly gay, converted to Catholicism, and would spend a few years shuttling between Paris and a monastery. In 1944, he died a Jew in Drancy, an internment camp in the suburbs of Paris.

The story of Max Jacob, groundbreaking

poet of “The Dice Cup,” friend of Picasso and many other artistic luminaries of his age, has been set down by Rosanna Warren, a poet and literary critic whose long-nursed love for the work of Jacob led her to take her first Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Co. crack at a biography.

What Warren has produced is most certainly a poet’s biography of a poet — chronologically jumpy, and a little lighter on details than you might like, but illuminatingly perceptive as a reading of the subject’s life and work. Jacob, a long-dead figure whose relative obscurity and complexity could’ve made for a ponderous trudge, is instead brought alive by Warren’s hand in “Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters.”

Part of what makes a biography of Jacob such a difficult proposition is that, as Warren notes, he was an inveterate fabulist when it came to the details of his own life. His journal entries contradict reality and, sometimes, each other.

But the falsehoods and misremembrances that Warren piles up help create a portrait by omission, whereby what Jacob was becomes more clear as you see what he was not, or could not, be.

Why did the comfortable Jewish boy from Quimper claim a saintly Christian grandmother from Avignon, and five years honorably served in the navy? Why did Jacob, a

close friend of Picasso’s, seek to exaggerate the artistic influence of his former roommate?

He writes and he writes, for newspapers, for children, for magazines, for poetry journals. His books, most notably “The Dice Cup,” make waves. He does more than rub shoulders with the likes of Picasso, Cocteau, Chagall, Apollinaire and Modigliani. He is a close friend and even a subject of their work.

If you happen to mosey into Gallery 267 of the Philadelphia Museum of Art any time soon, you can see him represented in a Picasso as a monk.

Warren states early on that she sought to keep Jacob from being trampled by all these giants in the accounting of his own life, and she succeeds at this. He appears not as Gump or Zelig, but like a more obscure Zweig, another committed Europeanist and friend of giants who did what he could to annihilate his Judaism, until it contributed to his own annihilation.

“The Jews are men of intellect; I need men of heart,” said Jacob, the intellectual, echoing the desire of many of his coreligionist intellectuals of the era. I wanted to grab this beautiful poet by the shoulders and tell him that he’ll be wearing a yellow star soon, regardless.

“The mystery is in this life, the reality in the other,” Jacob wrote in “The Dice Cup.” “If you love me, if you love me, I will show you the reality.”

Jesse Bernstein writes for the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication.

By Sophie Panzer | Special to the Chronicle

“Culture Warlords: My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy” Talia Lavin, Hachette Books

W

hy would anyone dive head-first into some of the most hate-filled spaces on the internet?

If you’re Talia Lavin, you do it to deprive far-right extremists “of the power to organize in total darkness, to operate as the terrifying bogeymen they would so like to be.” The activist journalist is, as the jacket copy of her new book notes, a skinhead’s worst nightmare: she was raised modern Orthodox and is a self-described “schlubby, bisexual Jew” whose politics are “considerably to the left of Courtesy of Hachette Book Group, Inc.. Medicare for All.” In “Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy,” Lavin presents her findings from years of researching cesspools of online hatred that foment real-world violence. She sometimes talks to her subjects face to face, but readers are more likely to be hooked by her use of false Please see Books, page 17

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Life & Culture Books: Continued from page 16

identities to observe them in secret.

Lavin invents Tommy O’Hara, a 21-yearold man whose romantic failures drive him to seek out the violent misogynist community of “involuntary celibates,” or incels. There’s also Ashlynn, a Jew-hating waitress from Iowa seeking a mate on white supremacist dating site WhiteDate (she receives a barrage of love letters that read “like a car crash between Nicholas Sparks and ‘Mein Kampf.’”) In one of the book’s most satisfying chapters, Lavin uses Ashlynn to infiltrate the white terror group Vorherrschaft Division and expose the identity of Ukrainian neo-Nazi David Kolomiiets.

Lavin proves adept at translating the tangled mass of pseudo-science and jargon that is white supremacist ideology into plain, horrifying English. She provides readers with a solid history of anti-Semitic movements in the United States before addressing their contemporary forms.

She also skillfully navigates the interlocking mechanisms of anti-Semitism and other kinds of hate, and explains how white supremacists target Jews as the nefarious force behind immigration, racial equality, women’s rights, globalization, LGBTQ rights and any other societal change or structure they deem threatening.

There is so much material to work with here, so much hate to sift through, that some sections can’t help but feel a bit rushed. One chapter about communal defense against white supremacist violence doesn’t cite many examples of how

ATTENTION JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS!

these strategies can be used successfully, and definitions of white supremacist jargon are often repeated unnecessarily. However, Lavin’s cinematic prose and extraordinarily gutsy research keep the pages turning easily.

Learning about the vileness that lurks in the darkest corner of the internet is necessary, but it feels like flipping over a rotten log to find all the pale, slimy things squirming underneath. Lavin’s audience will probably want to shower after reading about how a former U.S. congressional candidate juxtaposed the images of two journalists he assumed to be Jewish with images of mutilated deer carcasses, or how Lavin found an online discussion about whether she was too ugly to rape.

Perhaps most tragically, the hate Lavin researches seeps into her own psyche.

“I will never forgive them for making me hate them as much as I do, for folding a red loathing into my soul,” she writes of the neo-Nazis who have threatened to kill and torture her friends. While loathing neo-Nazis is hardly a controversial or problematic stance, it is hard to escape the contradiction of someone denouncing hate while admitting to harboring it herself.

Nevertheless, Lavin’s exhaustive research and personal accounts sound an incredibly effective alarm about the dangers — both moral and physical — white supremacy and anti-Semitism pose to the fabric of society. PJC Sophie Panzer is a writer with the Jewish Exponent, an affiliated publication.

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USING SPECIALIZED ANNUITIES IN ASSET PROTECTION PLANNING This is one in a series of articles about Elder Law by Michael H. Marks., Esq.

otherwise have to be spent down before the benefits become available.

Michael H. Marks is an elder law attorney with offices in Squirrel Hill and Monroeville.

Send questions to michael@marks-law.com or visit www.marks-law.com.

For a person entering a nursing home – at a private pay or self-pay cost of $10,000 to $12,000 a month! – there are really only three ways to pay:

Usually when we think of annuities, we think of a deferred annuity or an investment type annuity.

An investment annuity is a combination of an investment and insurance policy. The annuity can be invested in many different kinds of investments, and the investor usually shops for the best rate of return. In addition, it has a death benefit, like an life insurance policy. Examples of investment annuities include fixed annuities, variable annuities and immediate annuities.

In return for promising to let the annuity company keep your money for a period of time, the company promises you a better rate of return.

Your ability to get your money back is deferred, or postponed. People purchase annuities for savings or investment, or sometimes to generate income.

Deferred annuities tie up and restrict your access to your cash and savings for a period of years.

Because the cash and savings may be needed to pay for the costs of long-term care, deferred annuities are not a good investment for my elderly clients.

In elder law asset protection planning, we sometimes use very specialized kinds of annuities in complex planning transactions that are designed to help achieve eligibility for benefits to pay for nursing home care.

Simultaneously, we protect assets that would

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• •

•

First, you can pay yourself, but that’s a mighty bleak prospect.

Second, if you had the foresight and opportunity to purchase private long-term care insurance, you’re in a much better position.

Third, enroll in Medicaid.

For most of my middle-class clients, though, who don’t want to or can’t pay these catastrophic costs themselves, and don’t have long term care insurance, I try to get Medicaid long-term care benefits to pay for them to be in the nursing home – and still save as much of their own money for them as possible.

Medicaid long-term care benefits are supposed to only be available, under Medicaid rules, after you have spent down almost all of your own money. Depending on the situation, there are lots of strategies that can be used to shelter and protect assets. if you are a single, unmarried person entering the nursing home, by using strategies involving specialized annuities we can usually help protect and save about half of everything you have left at that time – which is a lot better than losing it all.

For a single, unmarried person, this strategy involves making a gift to a trusted recipient such as a family member, who will hold the

money safely or put it into a trust for the nursing home patient. The rest of the nursing home patient’s money is converted into income that they can use to pay their nursing home bill for a period of time. Most of the gifted amount, usually about half of the total, remains available in the hands of the trusted recipient, for the benefit of the nursing home patient.

The even better news is that for a married couple, when one spouse is heading toward nursing care and the other spouse is staying home, by using these specialized annuity strategies, we can usually help you save almost everything that you have left at that time.

As a married couple using these sophisticated strategies, you can be allowed to shift all of your wealth to the non-nursing home spouse, the “community spouse” still living at home.

However, to accomplish this we need to change the character of this wealth from assets – bank accounts, stocks, investments, IRAs, etc. – into a stream of periodic income payments for the community spouse.

The community spouse is allowed to keep all the income that they receive in this manner.

These annuities must be compliant with Medicaid rules, and are only sold by very few carriers and agents. Your regular financial advisor can ordinarily not help you buy these kinds of annuities.

If this is all a little too convoluted to easily grasp, you’re not alone. Call if I can help.

At Marks Elder Law, we help people every day with issues like these. I invite your questions and feedback. Please let me know how I can help you and your family.

helping you plan for what matters the most

www.marks-law.com

412-421-8944 4231 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15217

With the increasing costs of long-term care, having the help of a legal professional when planning for your family’s future can help you make better decisions that can result in keeping more of your money.

We help families understand the strategies, the benefits, and risks involved with elder law, disability and estate planning.

Michael H. Marks, Esq. michael@marks-law.com member, national academy of elder law attorneys

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Leslie A. Dutchcot, Esq. leslie@marks-law.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2020 17

Celebrations

Torah

B’not Mitzvah

Reinventing oneself through teshuva

Mariah Eads, a seventh-grader at Pittsburgh Greenfield, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, at Rodef Shalom Congregation with the portion Chayei Sarah.

Mariah enjoys art, theater and music, as well as spending time with her friends and family. Mariah is the daughter of Joshua and Yael Eads, and the granddaughter of Kathy Lobelsohn and Roger and Cheryl Eads.

Madeleine Zabusky-Stockton is the daughter of Erica Fox Zabusky and Mitchell Stockton (Lawrence, Kansas). She is the granddaughter of the late Norman J. Zabusky and the late Charlotte Fox Zabusky, and the late Mary Ellen and Earl Stockton. Maddy is a seventh-grader at Colfax School. She moved to Pittsburgh from Lawrence, Kansas, in the summer before sixth grade and quickly made friends while getting involved in many activities. An avid musical theater lover, she has been taking dance classes since preschool and especially enjoys tap and contemporary dance. Maddy takes voice, acting and tap classes at the CLO Academy. An active Girl Scout member with her troop in Lawrence, she joined a Pittsburgh troop and has enjoyed their varied activities and service projects. She has attended EKC for several years and hopes to meet up with her camp friends next summer.

Maddy enjoys baking and cooking and has been known to prepare surprise breakfasts and other goodies. She is also teaching herself to play the ukulele and the piano. She loves reading, cooking and spending time with the family cats. Madeleine will become a bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom on Nov. 14, 2020.

Engagement

Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel Parshat Chayei Sarah Genesis 23:1 – 25:18

T

his week’s parshat has a unique name: “Chayei Sarah — the lives of Sarah.”

There is a message here about the multiple lifetimes within a single lifetime, with the multiple stages in a person’s life being referred to as “multiple lives.” In the case of our matriarch Sarah, Torah is happy to report the remarkable quality of the way she lived her life, that she performed valiantly and through every stage of her life: childhood, young adult and old age. Torah is teaching us about the shining qualities of the common ancestor of every Jew and, by doing that, challenging us to raise the bar on what we strive to be and how we endeavor to live our own lives.

But, in addition, this reference to the multiple lives of an individual leads to a larger conversation about the Torah’s belief in every person’s ability to change and even to reinvent themself for the better.

A person’s life is not a single, unstoppable continuum. Things need not continue as they are. Things need not conclude as they began. A rough childhood need not grow into a rough adulthood. And an unpleasant adulthood need not age into a sad retirement. No one is stuck in their past. We are empowered to leave a previous life behind and start a new and improved one. A person who was ill-trained, uneducated or even abused, G-d forbid, in their childhood years has the G-dgiven ability to place a period at the end of that sad chapter and write a brand-new life for themself as soon as they realize the need.

A person who takes advantage of this gift is what is called a baal teshuva — a master of return. Jewish wisdom overflows with love and respect for the baal teshuva. A person who walks away from a shameful lifestyle and builds themself anew with higher values and a higher purpose is held in the highest esteem in a Torah environment — in many ways even

higher than a person who never had anything to be ashamed of.

Jewish law forbids, in the harshest terms, condemning a genuine baal teshuva for his or her past lives. Ignoring his or her commendable behavior of the present to condemn his or her misbehavior of the past is one of the lowest crimes against a person’s humanity. A person must feel that they have the trust of their community, that when they finally choose to change for the better, their teshuva will be accepted and not mocked.

This is one of the hallmarks of the potential penitence to be found in prisons. When a person serving prison time for the crimes of their past resolves to reinvent themself — their way of thinking, speaking and behaving — only an honest society can make their teshuva work. It is societal honesty that sees justice through so that a person who presents a danger to society is put behind bars; and it is the same societal honesty that recognizes real change and embraces a person who comes out changed, having abandoned a past life and committed to a kinder, more dignified one.

Torah commands us to love others as we love ourselves. The desire to be accepted after teshuva is one of the deepest in the human heart. More than anything, we look to our friends, family and society for second chances. Our self-love allows us to realize that regardless of what we once were, we should be given a second chance to be what we are now. That attitude must be applied to others as well. With a good measure of the wisdom to distinguish between teshuva and calculated posturing, we can suppress the worst in man while encouraging and nurturing G-d’s greatest gift to mankind: teshuva.

With teshuva, one life can end, another can begin and a self-serving stain on society can transform himself or herself into a baal teshuva, one of society’s most precious members. PJC Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel is executive director of The Aleph Institute - North East Region. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabanim of Greater Pittsburgh.

Did You Know?

Machsikei HaDas Cemetery – Shaler Township

Nanette and Larry Rosenzweig of Monroeville are pleased to announce the engagement of their granddaughter Zia Rosenzweig to Ricardo Reyes, both from San Francisco. Zia’s parents are Fred and Elise Rosenzweig of Los Altos, California. Ricky’s parents are Jose Ramon Reyes and the late Irene Varela Reyes of Houston. Zia and Ricky met at their first job out of college in Houston after Zia graduated from Rice University and Ricky graduated from University of Houston in 2015. Zia now works as a data analyst for YouTube and Ricky works as a data analyst for Apple. Though COVID-19 may change their plans, their small wedding is planned for January 2021 PJC 18 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

In 1897, twelve immigrants from southeast Poland, organized For more information about the JCBA, to inquire about an Orthodox congregation known as Machsikei HaDas (Upholders of Faith) in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The plot purchases, to view full histories, to volunteer, and/or to make a contribution please visit our website “Galitzianers” differed from other Eastern European Jewish at www.jcbapgh.org, email us at jcbapgh@gmail.com immigrants in the Pittsburgh area. They were fewer in number, and being associated with the Belzer Hasidim, they followed or call the JCBA at 412-553-6469. the synagogue ritual of the Sephardic tradition rather than that of the Ashkenazic tradition. In 1909, a new synagogue was JCBA’s expanded vision is made possible by a generous grant from the Jewish Federation constructed at 1849 Wylie Avenue. Despite its small size, the of Greater Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community shul boasted an illustrious succession of rabbis: Moshe Shimon Foundation Sivitz, Samuel Zahler; and Wolf Leiter. In 1953 a house at 814 North Negley Avenue was purchased for the congregation.

The congregation disbanded in 1989 with synagogue’s contents, ark, and archival records donated to the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives. The Santman Family are longstanding leaders within Machsikei HaDas. In 2010, the cemetery came under JCBA’s care.

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Obituaries EISNER: Jay William “Bird” Eisner. Aug. 16, 1960 - Nov. 4, 2020, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Coral Springs, Florida. Jay is survived by his loving wife Cindy (Laychak) Eisner. Loving son of Mathilda (Weisberg) and the late Morton Eisner, brothers, Howard Eisner (Kathleen), Robert Eisner (Pamela), loving sister Caryn Eisner Kelly (Brian), loving son, Scott Eisner (Tiffany) and Nicholas Guercio, daughters, Jennifer Eisner and Andriea Hernandez (Richard), loving grandchildren, Camryn, Ella, Zachary, Ace and Zane. Many nephews and nieces. Jay enjoyed spending time with family and friends, the gym and riding his Harley Davidson, traveling, golf, jet skiing and working around his house. He always took the time to help out his neighbors and enjoyed his time with his dogs. His love for the Steelers never went unnoticed with making yearly trips to Pittsburgh to catch a game. He lived his life to the fullest and will truly be missed. Graveside service and interment private. Donations may be sent to Humane Society Miami, 1601 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami Beach, Florida 33160, humanesocietymiami.org (for website donations). Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com HOROWITZ: Shirley Stein Horowitz of Pittsburgh and Boynton Beach, Florida, died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. She was preceded in death by her husband Max “Mickey” Horowitz and son Ira Horowitz. Shirley was loved greatly by her family and was the mother

of Sondra (Philip) Gefsky, Lou (Harold) Dunn and the late Ira (Joan) Horowitz.

Cherished grandmother of Rachel (Bill), Lisa (Jason), Brandon (Leanne), Adam and Brett. Greatgrandmother of Jacob and Nathan. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at noon at The Homewood Cemetery, 1599 S. Dallas Ave., Pittsburgh. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her honor to your favorite charity.

MEYERS: Shirley Kopelman Meyers. On Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Beloved wife of the late George Milton Meyers; loving mother of Devera Meyers, Alan Meyers, Margery (Arthur) Haber, Varda “Barbara” (Dov “Blair”) Epstein; daughter of the late Ellis A. and Elizabeth Kopelman; sister of Marie (late Kenneth) Joseph and the late Violet (late Harold) Grodsky and the late Myron (late Mildred) Cope; aunt of Arlene (Dr. Robert) Lubin, Marcia Grodsky and Larry Grodsky.

Also survived by her longtime friend and caregiver, Linda Horseley. Shirley was an avid bridge player, writer, jewelry artist and amazing cook. Services and interment private.

Shirley’s brother, Myron Cope, invented the “Terrible Towel” and had designated all of the proceeds for the sales to go to the Merakey Allegheny Valley School, Attn: Dorothy Gordon, 1996 Ewings Mill Road, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania 15108. The family requests donations in Shirley’s name be made to this

fund. Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SHENSA: With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Dr. David Robert Shensa on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. Beloved husband and best friend of Patti Greenberger Shensa of Bonita Springs, Florida, formerly of Pittsburgh.

David was the son of the late Dr. Lewis Samuel Shensa and the late Gladys Henkin Shensa of Youngstown, Ohio, and the brother of the late Dr. Stanley Henkin Shensa of Cleveland.

David was the proud father of Craig Shensa (Ariel Singer Shensa) and the late Jodi Shensa.

He was the dear stepfather of Rick Aranson (Nancy Barnett Aranson) and Jill Aranson Snyder (Michael David Snyder). He loved his grandchildren, Ezra Shensa and Samara Shensa, and his step-grandchildren, Eli, Brett and Adam Snyder, and Lindsey and Danny Aranson. David loved his profession as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, which he had to give up in his late 40s due to health issues. He later enjoyed doing office anesthesia for dental offices and helped set up a program called Dental Education Inc. to provide continuing education credits for oral surgeons to maintain their dental licenses. David handled his numerous medical problems with grace and humility for many years. He will be missed and loved by his family and friends forever. Graveside services and interment are private. Please

send contributions in memory of David to the Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida, 2575 Northbrooke Plaza Drive, Suite 301, Naples, Florida 34119 or The Community Free Synagogue, 10868 Metro Parkway, Fort Myers, Florida 33966. Arrangements entrusted to the Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., family owned and operated. schugar.com SIMON: Richard (Dick) Simon passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. Richard was born in Pittsburgh on April 27, 1921. Richard was a devoted husband to his wife of 65 years, Nancy (Lichtenstul), until her passing in 2015. Dick is survived by his beloved children, Sharon Dunlap (Donnie) and Kenneth Simon (Linda), and his cherished grandchildren, Chad, Jessica, Wesley and Kevin, who were his pride and joy.

Richard, a graduate of the University of Michigan in 1943, devoted his life to giving back: He served his country in World War II, his community as a dedicated volunteer leader with several local organizations — most notably Rodef Shalom Congregation and Jewish Healthcare Foundation — and was “ever loyal to his ZBT.” Dick will be remembered by his family, friends, bridge and poker buddies, and brothers for his kindness, wisdom and wit. Services and interment were private. Contributions in Richard’s memory will be welcome by The Biblical Botanical Garden at Rodef Shalom Congregation or the Zeta Beta Tau Foundation.

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

Please see Obituaries, page 20

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Though at press time we cannot foretell the results of the election, we do know that the SECURE Act imposed massive new tax hikes on IRA and retirement owners. If Biden wins the election and Democrats take the Senate, more extensive tax hikes will likely follow, especially for higher income taxpayers. If Trump wins, please don’t assume a Trump presidency will mean lower taxes.

The SECURE Act passed at the end of last year, and I consider that a massive tax increase on IRA owners.

In the meantime, below are prudent actions to consider taking before year-end.

Roth IRA Conversions: The concept of converting more of your funds from taxable to tax-free didn’t go out of fashion! For many clients, I would likely recommend additional Roth IRA conversions in 2020, even if you already have substantial funds in Roth IRAs. Why is this such a great year to make Roth IRA conversions?

1. For IRA owners aged 72 and older, this may be the only year for the rest of your life where

2. Roth IRA conversions are a great defense against the SECURE Act. 3. We have the lowest tax rates in history for 2020.

Most people agree tax rates are going up in the future and better to lock in tax-free growth in your accounts at today’s lower rates.

4. If you are married, you are currently filing your tax return as married filing jointly. After one of you passes, the year after death, the survivor will have to file as a single taxpayer. Rates for singles are much higher and it is better to do your Roth conversions while both of you are alive.

5. If Biden wins the presidency and Democrats win a majority in the Senate, tax increases could be passed sooner than the 2025 “sunset” provisions take effect.

6. Many clients’ earned income as well as interest and dividends are down this year which also makes it a good year to make Roth IRA conversions.

In March 2020, I published an article on Forbes .com titled Now is the Best Time in History To Do a Roth IRA Conversion that has had 175,150 views—clearly I am not alone in this thinking!

portunity to donate up to 100% of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) to philanthropy. Along those same lines, still consider up to a $100K Qualified Charitable Deduction (QCD) gift.

Even though there wasn’t a RMD in 2020, if you have a large IRA, QCDs might make a lot of sense for 2020.

2. Large Gifts: Consider large gifts in 2020 to get the appreciation out of your estate but more importantly, to take advantage of the large current exemption that would most likely be significantly reduced if Biden wins the election and Democrats win a majority in the Senate.

The step-up-in-basis rules are fodder for elimination, so a gift of securities to an individual in a lower tax bracket might be wise Glenn Venturino, our veteran CPA and strategic thinker, got into the nitty gritty: 1. Older taxpayers who have incurred higher than usual medical expenses in 2020 (while still subject to 7.5% of AGI limits), while also suspending RMDs, might qualify to itemize deductions in 2020. If that is the case, bunching deductions before year-end can be advantageous. Donating non-cash items to charity would provide additional tax savings.

Matt Schwartz, our senior estate attorney, offers great year-end strategy suggestions too.

2. Those who have suspended RMDs in 2020 and had the accompanying Federal Income Tax (FIT) withheld should review their federal tax picture to determine if estimated taxes should be paid to replace the lack of withholdings and reduce potential underpayment penalties.

1. Charitable: Take advantage of the unique op-

3. For those with suspended RMDs, consider rec-

ognizing long-term capital gains at a 0% tax rate while still preserving other tax benefits gained by having a lower AGI or modified AGI in 2020. Dominic Bonaccorsi, our newest CPA, adds: “Older taxpayers who have suspended RMDs and have little taxable income for the year can recognize long-term capital gains and pay 0% tax on the gain. If the holding was not one the taxpayer wanted to part with permanently, he can buy the holding back essentially increasing his basis in the holding for little to no tax cost.”

4. You may not have initially qualified for an economic recovery rebate based on your 2018 or 2019 tax return figures. If you have experienced reduced income in 2020 due to COVID19, additional steps taken to lower your AGI before year-end may qualify you for a partial or full tax credit on your 2020 tax return.

Steve Kohman, CPA, CSEP, CSRP, adds,“Be sure to take advantage of the $300 donation deduction that taxpayers can take in 2020 for cash gifts to 501(c)(3) charities if you do not itemize deductions.”

If you would like a copy of our new best-selling book, Beating the New Death Tax, please call Alice at 412-521-2732, and we will mail you a hard cover copy pronto.

Opinions expressed herein are solely those of Lange Financial Group, LLC, unless otherwise specifically cited. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources, but no representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.

All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation.

The foregoing content from Lange Financial Group, LLC is for informational purposes only, subject to change, and should not be construed as investment or tax advice. Those seeking personalized guidance should seek a qualified professional.

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020 19

Obituaries Obituaries: Continued from page 19

TUCKER: Murray Allen Tucker, 80, living in Atenas, Costa Rica, passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 27 of heart failure. Murray was born on May 6, 1940, in Pittsburgh, son of the late Frances and Joseph Tucker, brother of the late Robert Tucker and late sister-inlaw Jackie Tucker. Murray attended Taylor Allderdice High School, graduated from Oberlin College and received his doctorate in economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

Academic appointments followed at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and later at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

Murray also worked in various departments of the government. His last position was as an economist with the IRS where he specialized in pharmaceutical companies. During retirement he authored two books. “Screamer: The Forgotten Voices of the Pittsburgh Steelers” is his father Joe Tucker’s broadcast history adapted

from his notes by Murray. “The Journeys of Brothers”, a novel, is partially based on his family’s immigration story with lots of Murray’s imagination. He enjoyed studying Spanish in Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Spain.

Photography and gardening were among his hobbies. He was a big fan of both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins. A memorial Zoom service was held on Sunday, Nov. 1, led by former Pittsburgher James Levinson. Family from all over the United States, with a strong Pittsburgh presence, and his wife JoAnne from Costa Rica remembered and celebrated Murray. He is survived by his wife, JoAnne, a former Pittsburgher; his daughters Julie and her husband Ed Needham, and Rachel and her husband David Robinson; three grandchildren, Jessica, Jonathon and Brandon Robinson; and his sister Lynne Levenbach. Contributions in Murray’s name may be made to a charity of your choice.

ZEIDENSTEIN: Sondra Zeidenstein died at home on Oct. 20, 2020, in the early morning with George, her husband of 67 years, beside

her. She was 88. The Pittsburgh native was born on Sept. 7, 1932, and grew up with her three sisters, Phyllis, Myrna and Janice. Sondra attended Peabody High School and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh in 1953. She was awarded a master’s degree in literature from Radcliffe/Harvard in 1954 and a doctorate in literature from Columbia University in 1969. Sondra and George married in 1953. They moved to Brooklyn, where their children Laura and Peter were born, and then to the Bronx, where Sondra was in the first cohort of college teachers at Bronx Community College. Sondra’s international life began in 1965 in Kathmandu, Nepal, when George joined the Peace Corps.

In Nepal, Sondra taught literature at Tribhuvan University. After Nepal, Sondra lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 1971 to 1976. She taught at Dhaka University and co-authored a book, “Village Women of Bangladesh Prospects for Change.” Sondra was also a consultant on gender equality in countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. In 1976 the family moved back to the U.S. In Goshen, Connecticut, Sondra

became a gardener extraordinaire. Later she dedicated much of her time and energy to writing poetry. In 1987 Sondra founded Chicory Blue Press in the “flush of the feminist movement.” It was a small feminist literary press that focused on the strong voices of older women.

Chicory Blue Press ultimately published 12 trade paperbacks and 11 chapbooks of poetry, prose and anthologies. Sondra’s own titles included: “Late Afternoon Woman,” “A Detail in that Story” and “Resistance.” Sondra encouraged creativity in everyone and extended her own inventiveness, making books and art out of scraps of paper and glittery objects, some glued in with her own words and drawings.

Sondra was a Zen Buddhist practitioner for more than 50 years. She lived in quiet courage. “I am so grateful for what writing has given us,” she said. Sondra is survived by her husband, George, her children, Laura and Peter, her grandsons, Colin and Julian, her great-grandson, Valentine, her sister, Myrna Silverman, and a gaggle of nephews and nieces.

Contributions can be made to the charity of one’s choice. PJC

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Lawrence D. Kanselbaum . . . . . . . . . . . . Arnold Kanselbaum Janice Mankin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Levine Beverly S. Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annette Nussbaum Susan Melnick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Natterson Alan Nathan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Nathan Ralph Reese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annette Nussbaum Barry Reznick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aron Reznick Harvey L. Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fannie Rice Marc Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fannie Rice Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler . . . . . . . .Milton Henry Platt Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Saxen Richard, Mindy, & Logan Stadler . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Platt Gloria Shapiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irwin Shapiro Avi Silverman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gerry Silverman Avi Silverman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sid Silverman Audrey & Ralph Silverman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morris J. Semins Freda Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethel Greenberg Richard S. Stuart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Supowitz Howard & Rhea Troffkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irving Troffkin

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THIS WEEK’S YAHRZEITS — Sunday November 15: Jeannette Tafel Alman, Charlotte Ginsburg, Hymen L. Kaplan, Benjamin Klawansky, Esther S. Levine, Lafe B. Murstein, Sadie Rossen, Fannie Ruben, Leah W. Schlesinger, Helen G. Sheinberg, Lena Frieman Sieff, Michael Stone, Rebecca Tillman Monday November 16: Sam Benowitz, Esther Berschling, Saul Cabin, Fannie Fleischer, Jay David Glasser, Hyman Goldenson, Meyer Helfer, Bella Kalson, David London, Alvin Meyers, David Pudles, Ida Radbord, Anna Shapira, Edward I. Solomon, Jack Joseph Sussman, Harry Edward Traub Tuesday November 17: Carol Lee Anatole, Nathan Bliman, Rebecca Needelman Bodek, Sadie Chotiner, Benjamin M. Cohen, Hyman Daly, Rebecca Friedman, Isaac Glick, Dr. Henry Goldstein, Selma Goldstein, David Gross, Raymond E. Gusky, Hyman H. Kimel, Alfred Malt, Alvin Marks, Max Schwimer, Elmer Solomon, David G. Tarshis, Dora B. Whiteman Wednesday November 18: Sam Birnkrant, Sara Chotiner, Goldie Fishman, Benjamin Himmel, Abraham Korsunsky, Louise Lebby, Adeline Levitt, Isaac Lieb, Mary N. Lustig, Annie Mermelstein, Ida Nusin, Fred Nussbaum, Noah Saxen, Raymond Irwin Sloan, Sherwin Smalley, Arthur Speizer Thursday November 19: Miriam Abramovitz, Martin Bass, Bernard Israel Bernstein, Samson Finn, Gerald Goldberg, Hermina Gropper, Lillian Karp Grossman, Goldie Handelsman, Celia Harris, Anna Miller, Harriet M. Nicholson, Harry Seiavitch, Sarah Silberblatt, Goldie Stein, Irving Troffkin, Sylvia S. Vinocur, Molly Weiss Friday November 20: Abraham J. Caplan, Sam A. Caplan, Dr. Samuel Cirota, Louis Daniels, Harry Gomberg, Bernard J. Grinberg, Isadore Kurfeerst, Esther Cohen Lubovsky, Dorothy Miller, Leah Rosen, Rae F. Schwartz, Sara Schwartz, George Stern, Frances Turk Saturday November 21: Hyman Balis, Bessie Glantz Bauman, Martin A. Berezin, Norman Black, Charles G. Brown, Dr. Frederick Carlton, Joseph Chernovitz, Abe M. Cohen, Esther Eisman, Carle Joseph Enelow, Yetta Gerson, Selma Jeremias Kostova, Abe Kotovsky, David Isadore Mandelblatt, Seymour H. Miller, Irving Nixon, Anna E. Reubin, Sidney Rosenfeld, Fannie Katzman Rubenstein, Walter Sigel, William Weinberg, Florence Bella Wolf

pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

IT’S amazing WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR.



Selling? Buyers are flocking to the ’s Business & Professional Directory To advertise, call 412.687.1047.

20 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Real Estate FOR SALE

FOR SALE

F O R S A LE FOX CHAPEL • $1,100,000 Situated behind Shadyside Country Day school on 3+ acres. Fabulous rustic contemporary with wrap around deck, stone patio, hot tub, fire pit. 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths. Wonderful 3 car garage. Unbelievable first floor living space. Too much to list.

SQUIRREL HILL • $1,125,000 For the most discriminating buyer. Fabulous 6 year young grand property with a gourmet great room kitchen, 6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, unbelievable living spaces, coveted 3 car attached garage, wonderful yard. Finished and unfinished spaces approximately 7,000 square feet, a whole house generator. Must see!

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

SHADYSIDE CONDO • $1,200,000 • 5000 FIFTH AVE Rare find. Lovely updated 1.5 units. Approximately 4,500 square feet with a 3 car side by side garage. Enjoy top floor with skylights. 3 bedrooms, den, 3.5 baths including his & hers bath in master suite. Must see.

SQUIRREL HILL • $220,000 • IMPERIAL HOUSE New listing. 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.

Upsizing, downsizing or new in town - we’ll help you fall in love with the perfect home.

SQUIRREL HILL • $185,000 • 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, libaray and transportation Occupant must be 62+. See with Kate White 412-310-0765

OAKLAND • DITHRIDGE HOUSE • $299,000

New listing! Desired spacious 3 bedroom (rarely DINGcome on market). 2.5 bath, in-unit laundry, balcony, in building with lots of PENindoor parking and so much more. Rare find! amenities. Pool, exercise room, guest suites,

Melissa Reich

412.215.8056 melissa@rubinoffrealty.com www.rubinoffrealty.com

SQUIRREL HILL • BEACON PLACE CONDO • $140,000

DING storage and closets in unit. Enjoy a balcony. Enjoy the proximity to shopping, the New Listing! Move in condition. Renovated. Unbelievable PEN movies, library and restaurants. This is a Senior building. Occupant must be 62+ years

SQUIRREL HILL • $330,000

BUYING OR SELLING?

FOR RENT 5125 Fifth Ave.

2 & 3 Bedrooms Corner of Fifth and Wilkins Spacious 1500-2250 square feet

ING First Time offered! Renovated house withPpossible END 3-5 bedrooms, c/a, 2 car detached garage and in the Colfax School District. Just what you have wanted. Unbelievable first floor living space. Too much to list.

MURDOCH FARMS • $899,000

DING PEN3.5 bath unique home. Beautiful architectural appointments.

First Time offered! Private road. 6 bedroom Needs to be updated, but a real jewel.

JILL and MARK PORTLAND RE/MAX REALTY BROKERS 412.521.1000 EXT. 200 412.496.5600 JILL | 412.480.3110 MARK

”Finest in Shadyside”

Contact me today to discuss all of your real estate needs!

412-661-4456

www.kaminrealty.kamin.com

FOR SALE

95 EAST WOODLAND ROAD This very unique Home of Distinction

www.pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Business & Professional Directory HANDY MAN

LANDSCAPING

ADVERTISE HERE!

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Affordable Landscaping

SHOWCASE YOUR PROPERTIES

COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL, PAINTING, DRYWALL, CARPENTRY, DECKS/PATIOS, INTERIOR FLOORING, MASONRY, CONCRETE REPAIR, HAULING AND DEBRIS CLEANUP ALL FACETS OF HOME IMPROVEMENT!

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Fall Cleanup, Shrub & Tree Trimming, Retaining Walls, Clean ups, New Plantings, Sodding, Seeding, Grading, Concrete Work, Mulching with shredded hardwood and mushroom manure

EVERY WEEK IN THE PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Contact Kelly Schwimer to schedule your advertising kschwimer@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

the Chatham University campus in Shadyside is truly an urban oasis!

Today’s buyers are increasingly desiring more space & seclusion, which abounds in this very private & pastoral 1 acre country-like estate featuring a stunning 5,000+ sq. ft.

French chateau style updated home which boasts 6 bedrooms & 4.5 baths.

Private tours by appointment only.

Contact Denise Serbin for details.

412-721-5931 advertising@ pittsburghjewishchronicle.org

Denise Serbin, Realtor

Edward 412-951-3437

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

property at 95 E. Woodland Road on

HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE

PA#36491

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

Squirrel Hill Office 6310 Forbes Ave. , Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-480-6554 mobile/preferred 412-421-9120 office deniseserbin@howardhanna.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2020 21

Community L’zecher Nishmas

Weight for it

In memory of those killed on Oct. 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life building, Chabad at Pitt invited 11 students per day to lay tefillin for 11 days.

Ninth-graders at Yeshiva Girls School learned about freefall and acceleration due to gravity.

Students measured the acceleration of gravity on earth by using the Vernier picket fence as it falls through a light sensor to find the average and the percent error.

p Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein, left, and Josh Feldman

p Jake Rubin recites the blessing. t Ben Barash safely shows his Pitt pride.

p This is not a laminator.

q Ben Bobeck is all smiles (maybe).

p “I’m not changing my motion unless you force me to.”

Photos courtesy of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh

Committed to growth First-graders at Yeshiva Boys School observed and measured how fast bean plants grow.

In the process, students learned that new plants need sunlight, air and water to grow.

p Planting the seeds

Photos courtesy of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh

p Ben Koby focuses on prayer.

22 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Photos courtesy of Chabad at Pitt

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

p Inch by inch

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

Community Walk4Friendship The Friendship Circle’s Walk4Friendship on Sunday, Nov. 1 brought people of all abilities together and engaged more than 500 donors, 25 walk teams and 184 registered “walkers.”

With help from generous sponsors and donors, Friendship Circle Pittsburgh raised $82,275 in its quest to break down social barriers and connect friends of all ages and abilities.

p SHAPE Training kicked off the day with a Zumba warmup.

p Walkers participated in the event both in-person and online.

p Supporting Friendship Circle is a family affair.

Photos courtesy of Friendship Circle Pittsburgh

p This dog paws-itively loves Friendship Circle.

Tuesday from the other week

p Walk4Friendship participants were able to make a valuable contribution to inclusion and build meaningful connections one step at a time.

p Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh fourth-grade students acted out scenes from Norma Fox Mazer’s “Tuesday of the Other June.”

Photo courtesy of Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG

PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

NOVEMBER 13, 2020 23

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Visit gianteagle.com for location information.

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Price effective Thursday, November 12 through Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Available at 24 NOVEMBER 13, 2020

and PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE

PITTSBURGHJEWISHCHRONICLE.ORG